Recently, one of sons came to me and asked about something called “The Monty Hall Paradox.” They had discussed it in school and he was having a hard time understanding it (as you often do with paradoxes). For those of you who may not be familiar with the Monty Hall
Data integration teams often find themselves in the middle of discussions where the quality of their data outputs are called into question. Without proper governance procedures in place, though, it's hard to address these accusations in a reasonable way. Here's why.
Whether you are a vegetarian, a vegan or are just trying to eat more meatless meals, consuming a diet without meat or fish can raise concerns about not getting enough protein. Have no fear, you can still meet your protein needs IF you structure your meals in the right way
How far away is the nearest hospital? How far is the nearest restaurant? The nearest gas station? These are commonly asked questions whose answers depend on the location of the person asking the question. Recently I showed an algorithm that enables you to find the distance between a set of
GDPR, or the European General Data Protection Regulation, will be upon us in just 15 months’ time. Companies not just in Europe but around the world are preparing for it, because it affects any personal data held about any European customer, no matter where a company is based. But how
Last December, The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law to ensure opportunity for all students in the United States. As part of this federal legislation, states now have the flexibility to design their own accountability systems following certain parameters outlined in ESSA. These accountability systems include academic and non-academic indicators. By
When someone is sick or in the hospital, it may not be long before the casserole patrol comes a knockin'. "Casserole patrol" is the term a witty colleague of mine used to describe the friends and neighbors who bring food when someone is sick. I've been there before, standing at a doorstep with a pot of chili
Have you ever wanted to modify a graph title that is produced by an analytical procedure? You can make a wide variety of changes by modifying the graph template. Modifying the graph template is straight forward. You specify ODS TRACE ON, run the procedure, find the template name, display the
This past weekend, Hurricane Matthew came through the Carolinas. Some areas had record flooding, while other areas didn't. I was anxious to get back to work today, so I could use SAS software and create a custom map showing who got how much rain. But before we get to the official
Data governance must encompass management of the full life cycle of a data policy – its definition, approval, implementation and the means of ensuring its observance - David Loshin, Data Policies and Data Governance I was checking out my Google stats on Data Quality Pro recently and observed that "How
The WHERE clause in SAS is a powerful mechanism for selecting observations as you read or write a data set. The WHERE clause supports many operators, including the IN operator, which enables you to compactly specify multiple conditions for a categorical variable. A common use of the IN operator is
Have you ever been involved in executing an exploratory analysis based on an integrated clinical trial database? If so, you've probably experienced firsthand how elaborate the initial phase of data access and data processing can be. Market analysts estimate the ratio for preparing the data, compared to actually analyzing the information,
When you were growing up, did you ever imagine that the most popular show on TV would be 24-hour coverage of a storm?!? Yes, for better or for worse, the weather has become our new reality TV. And as you watch the weather coverage, you probably see all the weather reporters showing the
Data governance has been the topic of many of the recent posts here on the Data Roundtable. And rightfully so, since data governance plays such an integral role in the success of many enterprise information initiatives – such as data quality, master data management and analytics. These posts can help you prepare for discussing
Machine learning is taking a significant role in many big data initiatives today. Large retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are using machine learning combined with predictive analytics to help them enhance consumer engagement and create more accurate demand forecasts as they expand into new sales channels like the
Are you happy with the ROI on your analytics investments? Recently we’ve seen an upswing in organisations investing in analytical platform capabilities. One can assume the goal of these investments is to turn transactional data into a strategic asset. However, analytics alone will not do it. Unless your organisation is
Real world data collected in a functioning health care setting instead of a controlled clinical environment can provide opportunities for new and deeper insights across life science and health care organizations. However, managing, analyzing and extracting actionable information from the varied available sources can present unique challenges. The sheer size of these
One very useful type of auditing for a SAS administrator is to have summary data about the availability and performance of various resources (platforms, servers, services) from the 30,000-foot view. $1000 loan guaranteed. Using SAS Environment Manager, it's easy to go in and look at the availability of any one resource over
Digitalization - the move towards a more digital world - is a well-established phenomenon. But the digitalization journey is not the same in every sector. Traditional practices, available skills and competitive forces are creating a new set of dynamics in the credit risk sector. Providers are coming under significant pressure
Energy suppliers are fighting for prime position in the domestic energy supply market. Disillusioned customers, increased competition due to a flood of new entrants and tighter regulations are forcing suppliers to reassess their business models. According to UK regulator Ofgem, there were 3.8 million account switches in the first six
It was like any other day in autumn. The brightly covered leaves that had once been attached to the cascading tree branches had finally let go. The summer heat had taken its toll and there they were lying on the ground fading into the Earth’s surface. I remember looking out
Lately, the definitions of data governance and data management look very much alike. In this two-part series, we'll define data governance and data management. And we'll see that there's a big difference in the two.
What is weighted regression? How does it differ from ordinary (unweighted) regression? This article describes how to compute and score weighted regression models. Visualize a weighted regression Technically, an "unweighted" regression should be called an "equally weighted " regression since each ordinary least squares (OLS) regression weights each observation equally.
While men still outnumber women in the analytics field, there are plenty of opportunities available for women. At a recent Chief Data and Analytics forum, I was encouraged to see a well-balanced number of senior executives presenting about the business of analytics. Speakers included 12 women and 14 men, which indicates a
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting my paper "Graphs are Easy with SAS 9.4" at the Boston SAS Users Group meeting. The turn out was large and over 75% of the audience appeared to be using SAS 9.4 back home. This was good as my paper was focused on the cool new
I was with my two grown sons and their spouses this past month for a family wedding. I have to say that they have turned out well. They seem to have great relationships with their spouses and children; they are working productively in their fields of interest; they care about
Like many words, if you just say "Cat 5" different people might think you're talking about different things. Computer geeks might assume you're talking about category 5 network cabling. But around this time of the year, most people in the southeast US will probably assume you're talking about a category
.@philsimon asks, Rather than trying to tackle a new form of governance, wouldn't your organization do better to shore up its existing data-governance practices?
The recent releases of SAS 9.4 have featured major enhancements to the ODS statistical graphics procedures such as PROC SGPLOT. In fact, PROC SGPLOT (and the underlying Graph Template Language (GTL)) are so versatile and powerful that you might forget to consider whether you can create a graph automatically by
With today’s customers able to access rich sources of product and service information – especially pricing data – when they are mobile, retailers are being forced to innovate in the way they capture consumers’ attention. Unfortunately, attention spans are rapidly decreasing to just the few seconds that a user spends
