Summer is winding down, and cooler fall weather is just around the corner. You might soon be able to take a pleasant drive with the windows down, while enjoying the scenery. But where should you go? What are the most scenic roads for that drive? Read along to see a
Most SAS programmers know how to use PROC APPEND or the SET statement in DATA step to unconditionally append new observations to an existing data set. However, sometimes you need to scan the data to determine whether or not to append observations. In this situation, many SAS programmers choose one
This summer the Accessibility and Applied Assistive Technology team at SAS launched a new course that teaches students with visual impairments how to independently analyze data, which is a critical skill that all students need for success in college and their careers. However, many students with visual impairments don’t have
Each week in August, the Work/Life Team has invited educational experts to address concerns parents have in the process of choosing a school. For our fourth and final blogpost in this series, we have invited our experts to respond to the following questions: What factors/issues might prompt a family to
IT managers see the potential for cost-cutting from transitioning application development to open source software (OSS). Today, companies can hire recent college graduates with skills in open source development and avail themselves of the free software. But is all that glitters really gold? Users groups and more formal workgroups are
David Loshin gives CIOs 4 suggestions for shaping successful digital transformation initiatives.
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series by Conor Hogan, a Solutions Architect at SAS, on SAS and database and storage options on cloud technologies. This article covers the SAS offerings available to connect to and interact with the various database options available in Amazon Web Services.
1. Injuries Suck It could’ve been worse. A torn Achilles Tendon requires months and months of recovery. I was lucky. I spontaneously ruptured my Plantaris Tendon teaching a really fun Step class. My Orthopedic Dr. and Foot Specialist explained that I had, in effect, performed ‘my own surgery’. Roughly 3-5%
The impact of analytics on our daily lives can sometimes feel abstract and indirect. Even important decisions made using analytics – like an employer deciding whether to give you an interview – often take place behind a screen, in a location far away from us. Data-driven decisions like these are no
An important application of nonlinear optimization is finding parameters of a model that fit data. For some models, the parameters are constrained by the data. A canonical example is the maximum likelihood estimation of a so-called "threshold parameter" for the three-parameter lognormal distribution. For this distribution, the objective function is
It’s been over a year since my previous blog post, so it seemed like a good time for a refresh. Also, it’s just over a year since the EU implemented GDPR. This regulation promised users could take back control of their data and opt-in/opt-outs, while businesses could get fined up
You can now easily embed a python script in a SAS decision with SAS Intelligent Decisioning. If you want to execute in MAS, you do not need to wrap it in DS2 anymore. The python code node does it for you. Here is how you can achieve it in less than 5 minutes.
It's that time of year again - the summer is coming to a close, and students are heading to college... And starting the clock ticking on accumulating that student loan debt! Before we get started, here's a little something to set the stage for this topic. This is a picture
News outlets share stats and graphs that they source from public data. It takes data literacy skills to critique the stats you see, and investigate more.
The concept of analysing increasingly complex data to inform decision making is very relevant to policing today. Data science can and should support modern police forces to serve their communities. But what do we mean by data science and data scientists? One dictionary definition of a data scientist is: “a
One of my friends likes to remind me that "there is no such thing as a free lunch," which he abbreviates by "TINSTAAFL" (or TANSTAAFL). The TINSTAAFL principle applies to computer programming because you often end up paying a cost (in performance) when you call a convenience function that simplifies
As you will have read in my last blog, businesses are demanding better outcomes, and through IoT initiatives big data is only getting bigger. This presents a clear opportunity for organisations to start thinking seriously about how to leverage analytics with their other investments. Demands on supply chains have also
Have you ever thought of selling sand on the beach? Neither have I. To most people the mere idea is preposterous. But isn’t it how all great discoveries, inventions and breakthroughs are made? Someone comes up with an outwardly crazy, outlandish idea, and despite all the skepticism, criticism, ostracism, ridicule
You have data that you want to visualize. You need to explore your graphing options using SAS, but you don’t know where to start. Help is here with the recently revised Base SAS guide, Introduction to SAS® Platform Graphing. This guide is helpful for novice SAS users as well as
Each week in August, the Work/Life Team has invited educational experts to address concerns parents have in the process of choosing a school. For our third blogpost in this series, we have invited our experts to respond to the following questions: What factors should I consider when determining best fit
Phil Simon flip-flops from his last post.
A few examples to demonstrate some of the common output-related problems with ODS Graphics Procedures. If your graphical output does not appear as you wanted, consider the options that you are using and make sure that you are using the correct option.
In a world of fast, convenient, personalized service, customers expect businesses to go the extra mile to meet their expectations. How can organizations establish closer relationships, especially in crowded markets? With industry disruptors nipping at their heels, established companies are looking for fresh ways to strengthen relationships with new and
You know those movies where the two friends learn only years later that the perfect relationship they were looking for was right in front of them the whole time? It’s been kind of the same for me during my time here at SAS... well, minus the romance. When I joined
I saw an interesting kangaroo map on reddit, and although the data was deemed "not entirely reliable" it seemed like a fun topic. And also a good exercise to try out the map labeling capabilities in the new Proc SGmap choropleth maps in SAS! For those of you not really
When we hear the words AI and call centres, we immediately imagine dialling a number, only to be greeted by a semirobotic voice (think Siri or Google). While it’s true that AI can be more efficient than humans (at some things), does it really mean that human call centre agents
Combining analytical resources and expertise from across the organisation is a prerequisite for effective, well-informed decisioning. How can your bank break down analytics silos and inspire a culture of collaboration? Organisational silos are holding banks back from driving innovation and meeting customer demands. When your customers expect convenient, personalised and
What comes to mind when you think of college living? Pulling an all-nighter in the library with a bag of chips and an energy drink? Late night pizza runs? Partying until the wee hours of the morning on any given night of the week? Living off cheap and easy microwavable
Many programmers are familiar with "short-circuit" evaluation in an IF-THEN statement. Short circuit means that a program does not evaluate the remainder of a logical expression if the value of the expression is already logically determined. The SAS DATA step supports short-circuiting for simple logical expressions in IF-THEN statements and
Across all industries, organizations are adopting a cloud-first strategy. What does it mean to be cloud-first? Broadly speaking, cloud first means using shared infrastructure instead of building and hosting your own private storage facility, systems, etc. Benefits of adopting a cloud-first strategy include cost savings and productivity improvements. However, what
