Everything is not a hammer: How new tools can make sense out of streaming data
@philsimon says that old stalwarts sometimes just don't cut it.
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U.S. Marshals Service use analytics to save more than $200 million
The U.S. Marshals Service is the federal agency known for bringing wanted fugitives to justice. Often, the Marshals Service gets attention for these arrests, but once the publicity has died down they face a basic challenge --- where to put the individuals in their custody. The agency uses data to
Plotting markers on a map at zip code locations, using GMap or SGplot
Users frequently ask how to plot their data as markers on a map. There are several ways to do this using SAS software. If you're a Visual Analytics user, you can do it using a point-and-click interface. But if you're a coder, you might need a little help... In this
Graph presentations at SAS Global Forum 2017
SAS Global Forum 2017 is around the corner and SAS users are gearing up to travel to Orlando for a blockbuster conference. ODS Graphics is now a well known component of Base SAS and many readers of this blog who are proficient users of SG Procedures and GTL can look
Guest blogger Len Tashman previews Spring 2017 issue of Foresight
Preview of the Spring 2017 Issue of Foresight Since our first issue in 2005, Foresight has strived to serve up articles that unite the scholarship of our field’s academic researchers with the perspectives of experienced organizational practitioners, all the time emphasizing lessons learned—and sometimes those lessons are learned the hard
Lists: Nonmatrix data structures in SAS/IML
Lists are collections of objects. SAS/IML 14.2 supports lists as a way to store matrices, data tables, and other lists in a single object that you can pass to functions. SAS/IML lists automatically grow if you add new items to them and shrink if you remove items. You can also
Changing variable type and variable length in SAS datasets
There is a well-known Russian saying that goes “Если нельзя, но очень хочется, то можно.” The English translation of it can span anywhere from “If you can’t, but want it badly, then you can” to “If you shouldn’t, but want it badly, then you should” to “If you may not,
Diabetes Alert Day
The American Diabetes Association recognizes March 28, 2017 as Diabetes Alert Day. The intention of this day is to bring awareness to the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in America. http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/alert-day/ I have a strong family history of type 2 diabetes, which throughout the years has motivated me to learn
Magical Thinking: Not just for kids!
Magical thinking is a typical behavior in which a child believes their thoughts and actions can control outcomes. Take the example of when a pet dies and the young child has to reason with the new concept of loss. The child perceives this loss as something they could have controlled or something they can potentially fix. Examples:
A new season for SAS Event Stream Processing
Batters assess the game before hitting the ball. Similarly, Todd Wright says businesses can make faster, better decisions by understanding events in motion.
How to design a meteorite infographic using NASA data and SAS
How many meteorites have hit the earth in the last 4,000 years? Where have they landed? And which ones were the biggest? Can we show all of this information - and more in an intuitive data visualization? It turns out NASA provides public data about recorded meteorite impacts on earth all the
Using the Robust Analytics Environment of SAS Viya
I have been using the SAS Viya environment for just over six months now and I absolutely love it. As a long-time SAS coder and data scientist I’m thrilled with the speed and greater accuracy I’m getting out of a lot of the same statistical techniques I once used in
How many records are in that PROC SQL result?
Did you know that PROC SQL captures the record count for a result set in a special automatic macro variable? When you create a subset of data to include in a report, it's a nice touch to add a record count and other summaries as an eye-catcher to the report
Scatter with layer
This article is motivated by a recent question on the Communities Web Site on creating a scatter plot with additional summary information. Recently, I described how to create a scatter plot with a box overlay. While such graphs have been discussed in earlier posts, this article provided a visual benefit
Let's analyze 32 years of basketball tournament data!
Here in the US, it's the nationwide men's college basketball tournament season! Therefore let's use some data from the previous years' tournaments to sharpen our analytics & visualization skills... But before we get started, I must mention (brag?) that my alma mater, NC State University, won this tournament in 1983.
Data visualization helps University of Louisville achieve its 2020 strategic plan
When senior leaders at the University of Louisville (UofL) approached Vice Provost Bob Goldstein in early April 2016 with a request for a fully functioning data visualization platform by start of the 2016 fall semester—just four months away—he did not panic. Instead, Goldstein, along with Becky Patterson, Executive Director of
Is ODS graphics enabled? Use automatic macro variables to determine the state of SAS
Did you know that you can check a SAS macro variable to see if ODS graphics is enabled? The other day I wanted to write a SAS program that creates a graph only if ODS graphics is enabled. The solution is to check the SYSODSGRAPHICS macro variable, which is automatically
Don't let data issues delay analytics
In a recent presentation, Jill Dyche, VP of SAS Best Practices gave two great quotes: "Map strategy to data" and "strategy drives analytics drives data." In other words, don't wait for your data to be perfect before you invest in analytics. Don't get me wrong -- I fully understand and
Data quality and data preparation in self-service
The rise of self-service analytics, and the idea of the ‘citizen data scientist’, has also brought a number of issues to the fore in organizations. In particular, two common areas of discussion are the twin pillars of data quality and data preparation. There is no doubt that good quality, well-prepared
Exploring the content of the DICTIONARIES table and VSVIEW SASHELP view
SAS® users have an easy and convenient way to quickly obtain useful information (referred to as metadata) about their SAS session with a number of read-only SAS DICTIONARY tables or SASHELP views. At any time during a SAS session, information about currently defined system options, libnames, tables, columns and their
Bringing the heat! - Creating heat maps with proc sgplot ...
If you're a fan of SAS' ODS Graphics, you probably know that it does pretty much everything except geographical maps. But it's flexible enough that you can "fake it 'till you make it"! This example describes how to fake a geographical (choropleth) heat map using Proc SGplot polygons. In my
SAS at the 2017 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research
SAS will be well represented at the 2017 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research, which takes place April 2-4 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. Two dozen SAS staff will participate in this conference. SAS/OR, the SAS Global Academic Program, and JMP will have adjacent and coordinated
Make an accurate prediction without watching a single basketball game
The second round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was an interesting one. Eight-seeded Wisconsin took out the reigning champion Wildcats, despite pundit predictions that Villanova could go all the way again. South Carolina, 24-10 in the SEC during the regular season, upset perennial favorite Duke by seven points.
Does age matter? A question of analytics maturity
Does age matter? Perhaps not, but maturity certainly does. The level of analytics maturity, in particular, makes a big difference to the options open to companies, and the strategies that they can adopt to get best value from analytics. A model of analytics maturity I like Thomas Davenport’s model of
Visit the code clinic at SAS Global Forum
The code clinic at SAS Global Forum 2017 $0 copay, no deductible. No waiting rooms, no outdated magazines. What kind of doctor’s office is this? While we might not be able to help with that nasty cough, SAS Code Doctors are here to help – when it comes to your
Event stream processing, data quality and risk mitigation
David Loshin extends his exploration of ethical issues surrounding automated systems and event stream processing to encompass data quality and risk considerations.
Cauliflower Rice...Wait, What?
With new health recommendations suggesting 8-10 servings of low carbohydrate vegetables daily, it’s been exciting to see how the creative foodie community is using vegetables in place of high carb starches in recipes. If you haven’t heard, cauliflower rice is the newest kid on the block. The premise behind the
Data tables: Nonmatrix data structures in SAS/IML
Prior to SAS/IML 14.2, every variable in the Interactive Matrix Language (IML) represented a matrix. That changed when SAS/IML 14.2 (released with SAS 9.4m4) introduced two new data structures: data tables and lists. This article gives an overview of data tables. I will blog about lists in a separate article.
GDPR – sounding the death knell for self-learning algorithms?
In just a few short months the European General Data Protection Regulation becomes enforceable. This regulation enshrines in law the rights of EU citizens to have their personal data treated in accordance with their wishes. The regulation applies to any organisation which is processing EU citizens’ data, and the UK
Win-win model is the key to digital transformation of companies
Innovation and transformation of established companies needs to be through a collaborative model. Done right, it can be profitable for all players. I have always thought that human evolution and development is one of the most interesting and challenging processes in the world, especially in terms of innovation and investing.