We all have challenges in getting an accurate and consistent view of our customers across multiple applications or sources of customer information. Suggestion-based matching is a technique found in SAS Data Quality to improve matching results for data that has arbitrary typos and incorrect spellings in it. The suggestion-based concept
In the US presidential election, each of the 50 states has a certain number of electoral votes, based on the population. Typically, most states cast all their electoral votes for the candidate who wins in their state (all or nothing). But states can split their electoral votes if they want
Just by looking at a plantain it’s easy to see that it’s a member of the banana family. Plantains are a very common food in tropical climates all over the world such as South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. While not quite as common in the U.S., they
This article uses graphical techniques to visualize one of my favorite geometric objects: the surface of a three-dimensional torus. Along the way, this article demonstrates techniques that are useful for visualizing more mundane 3-D point clouds that arise in statistical data analysis. Define points on a torus A torus is
Last week a user asked about BY variable group processing for SGAnnotate with SGPLOT procedure. The user provided a simple use case for the question (always a good idea) using the sashelp.class data set. The graph included a display of reference lines for the mean value of height using annotation. The
Most enterprises employ multiple analytical models in their business intelligence applications and decision-making processes. These analytical models include descriptive analytics that help the organization understand what has happened and what is happening now, predictive analytics that determine the probability of what will happen next, and prescriptive analytics that focus on
Rotation matrices are used in computer graphics and in statistical analyses. A rotation matrix is especially easy to implement in a matrix language such as the SAS Interactive Matrix Language (SAS/IML). This article shows how to implement three-dimensional rotation matrices and use them to rotate a 3-D point cloud. Define
Elections in the US are a 'target rich environment' for data analysts. There are surveys and forecasts before the election, and the presentation of results during and after the voting. What's your favorite election-related graph of all time? For the current (2016) presidential election, my favorite graphs are on the
The digital age has fundamentally changed how brands and organisations interact with consumers. This shift has been a crucial part of the Third Industrial Revolution and helped spark the era of consumers sharing their data with different organisations. But now organisations are heralding the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and data is
My river walk last week turned into a spectacular fall show. But if it rains this week in San Antonio, like the weatherman predicts, what will I do? In the coming days, I’ll be presenting at two user groups, one in eastern Canada in Halifax, and the other all the
After the financial crisis of 2008, concerns have been raised about “too little, too late” provisioning for loan losses and IFRS 9 is coming to enforce the adoption of a new expected credit loss (‘ECL’) model for the measurement and recognition of impairment. This aims to address concerns and accelerates
Electronic health records (EHRs) and the overall advancement of information technology have produced a tsunami of data that must be stored, managed and used. Some had naively hoped that EHRs would bring a simpler, more streamlined industry. Instead, we’re finding that the delivery and management of health care is more
Being an Eagle Scout, the data for good movement caught my attention. I wondered if I could apply my computer skills in a way that might help. How about showing people better ways to visualize HIV/AIDS data - that might help doctors better understand the data, and therefore better treat
Occasionally on a discussion forum, a statistical programmer will ask a question like the following: I am trying to fit a parametric distribution to my data. The sample has a long tail, so I have tried the lognormal, Weibull, and gamma distributions, but nothing seems to fit. Please help!! In
SAS Community member @tc (a.k.a. Ted Conway) has found a new toy: ODS Graphics. Using PROC SGPLOT and GTL (Graph Template Language), along with some creative data prep steps, Ted has created several fun examples that show off what you can do with a bit of creativity, some math knowledge,
With DataFlux Data Management 2.7, the major component of SAS Data Quality and other SAS Data Management solutions, every job has a REST API automatically created once moved to the Data Management Server. This is a great feature and enables us to easily call Data Management jobs from programming languages
One request came in for the previous article on Circle link graph, for the addition of arrow heads to indicate the direction of the flow. Given that I am using a SERIES plot to render the links, it is relatively easy to add arrow heads to the links as the SERIES
.@philsimon says that even seemingly useless information can be useful under the right circumstances.
Everyone all sugared up? I remember the annual scene of Halloween night as my sister and I shed our costumes, poured our loot onto the living room floor and began the negotiations. Fortunately, I was partial to the chewy fruity candies and and she was partial to chocolate. The only chocolate bar I was
What would happen if we could ask any type of scientific or clinical question about patients, and then go out and find the data to answer our questions? With "real-world data," we can do just that. Real-world data is all medicinal product data that comes from real-life patients. In contrast,
Many people have the perception that data governance is all about policies and mandates, committees and paperwork, without any real "rubber on the road" impact. I want to dispel this viewpoint by sharing a simple example of how one company implemented data governance to enforce something practical that delivered long-term
Every year near Halloween I write an article in which I demonstrate a simple programming trick that is a real treat to use. This year's trick (which features the CMISS function and the crossproducts matrix in SAS/IML) enables you to count the number of observations that are missing for pairs
There has been some interest in "Circle Link Graph" diagrams where the nodes are laid out in a circle, with links going from one node in the circle to another. I recall seeing one diagram during the 2014 World Cup Soccer tournament, showing the number of players from one country that
Halloween appears to be my favorite holiday, because I seem to have more graphs related to it than any of the others. And since Halloween is just a few days away, I thought you might like an easy way to see all those graphs. Here's are links to my previous Halloween-related blog
In my prior posts about operational data governance, I've suggested the need to embed data validation as an integral component of any data integration application. In my last post, we looked at an example of using a data quality audit report to ensure fidelity of the data integration processes for
I've been reflecting on my life and career recently and was amazed to discover that I just hit 30 years of working with industrial and manufacturing applications. While it’s a bit tough to admit my age, I’m quite happy with my career and have enjoyed manufacturing and industrial applications. I
Aphorism 6: The Surest Way to Get a Better Forecast is to Make the Demand Forecastable Forecast accuracy is largely dependent on volatility of demand, and demand variation is affected by our own organizational policies and practices. So an underused yet highly effective solution to the forecasting problem can be
Consumers want content 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all around the world. It's a tall order for media & entertainment (M&E) companies and a 180 degree shift from days past. How do they provide enough content to meet demand? Audiences are binge watching over-the-top (OTT) programming, creating
Like unexpectedly seeing this beautiful bird in nature, SAS has tons of free goodies you might be surprised to encounter as you explore your software. A user asked me how to find products licensed at their workplace and that's how this informative blog got started. While individual organizations may have
Aphorism 3: Organizational Policies and Politics Can Have a Significant Impact on Forecasting Effectiveness We just saw how demand volatility reduces forecastability. Yet our sales, marketing, and financial incentives are usually designed to add volatility. We reward sales spikes and record weeks, rather than smooth, stable, predictable growth. The forecast
