I guess we’ve said it thousands of times in thousands of ways: SAS Global Forum is a meeting place. It’s a great opportunity to discuss SAS software and make connections with others who have similar interests and objectives. I can hear what you’re thinking: In this advanced communications age, many
Although you probably didn’t notice, I stepped away from this blog for the last two months to think about something more important: The current state of business forecasting. I’d come to realize there is a lot of animosity in the world of forecasting. We have advocates of statistics, and advocates
SAS For Dummies 2nd Edition is now available. It's not just more of the same -- it's got lots of cool new stuff in it too. It's completely updated for SAS 9.2. It's got a new chapter on data mining. And it's got a new chapter on SAS programming. I
A lot of you have been using the Personal Agenda Builder since I first blogged about it on January 15. As you may recall, this handy tool allows you to plan your conference schedule with point and click ease. It has the latest up-to-date information on the papers, posters and
There was a time when climbing the social and professional ladder meant you had to join the right clubs and shake the right hands. Effective networkers smiled at all of the right jokes, went to this party but not that and handed out business cards like a politician hands out
SAS users groups are run by SAS users, with support, but not directives, from SAS. During my 15 year tenure in the SAS users group program, I’ve seen up close how important user feedback is in helping to improve the conference experience. Typically we gather feedback informally in presentation sessions
Robert Springborn has a special relationship with his SAS software. Like many long-time SAS users, Robert’s livelihood depends upon his advanced skills with SAS technology, as well as his analytical expertise. He’s been using SAS for over 28 years, which means when it comes to writing SAS programs, he’s comfortable
Every person in my department at SAS (User and Customer Marketing) is involved in supporting SAS Global Forum in one way or another. One of the major roles is to coordinate the SAS Demo Area. I recently had a chat with my co-worker Katie Strange, who is responsible for teaming
Today, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of high school students at a community outreach event sponsored by the Human Resources division at SAS. Approximately 80 students from schools as far away as Charlotte came to visit SAS and hear about the impact that SAS and analytics
It's March, and in North Carolina all of the talk is about college basketball. At SAS, we like to brag about how these guys use SAS analytics to predict the NCAA "dance card" with astounding results. This year, the fun question revolves around conference bias and how it affects a
When you connect to a SAS environment with SAS Enterprise Guide, are you a single, consistent person? Or do you have more identities than Chevy Chase in Fletch? When you connect to a SAS environment, you can be many people at once: You are logged into your Windows account on
The SAS Talks series is a big hit, and now we've got a landing page where you can find previously recorded talks, plus information about upcoming talks. You can learn about SAS programming with SAS Enterprise Guide, ODS statistical graphics, fancy multi-sheet output for Microsoft Excel from SAS, and more!
As Dr. Goodnight explains, SAS Global Forum (formerly known as SUGI) was started by SAS users, who held their first conference in 1976, several months before SAS was even incorporated as a company. The successful tradition of a user run conference, guided by an Executive Board of SAS users, continues
While at SAS, I hope to get the opportunity to talk with all of the SAS icons. I’ve had the privilege to meet many. Before the SAS winter break, I had the privilege to talk with another: Michael Raithel. At SAS® Global Forum 2010, Raithel will be presenting the Tuesday
Check out AnnMaria's blog covering what she's learned by being on the bleeding edge: using SAS 9.2 for Windows x64 on a Win7 virtual machine. Also, her short primer on XPT files makes me want to add some native capability into SAS Enterprise Guide. If your goal is to send
Last month I pointed you towards the conference t-shirt contest on sasCommunity.org. The designs and coding techniques on display were quite creative, and the contest triggered some fun conversation among community members. Now the votes have been cast. And the winner is …self-proclaimed “new kid” Lynne Krajevski. I loved what
Which versions of MySQL are supported by SAS 9.1.3 for Windows? Is the 64-bit version of Oracle 11g supported on the 64-bit version of SAS 9.2 on Linux? You can find the answers to these questions and others like it by consulting the SAS/ACCESS Validation Matrix: pick your SAS version,
Within SAS, we have a strong blogging community made up of SAS employees. Those of us who read or contribute to the blog content on the internal SAS web got a special "shout out" from Fortune magazine, within its coverage of SAS as the top workplace in the USA. The
I've been to a bunch of SAS Global Forum (née SUGI) events over the years. I always look forward to going, because I always think that by being there in person, I'll be able to provide some customers with exactly the information they need to use SAS better. And I
As you use the Query Builder task in SAS Enterprise Guide, you might notice that it refers to tables and computed columns using names that are different than you expect. For example, instead of a table named CANDY_SALES_HISTORY, the Query Builder might show t1. This is called an alias, and
Even with more than 45,000 global customer sites, I often hear SAS users say that “SAS” is a small world. Perhaps conferences enhance the feeling: From the moment you get in line to get your conference materials, you start to recognize people from your SAS “family.” An attendee also described
Andy wrote in the NOTE: blog that he's stumbled upon a few custom tasks to extend features in SAS Enterprise Guide. He wondered aloud whether there might be more "free" tasks out there, available for use by anyone who can find them and download them. The answer is: You betcha!*
In case you missed the business news last week, SAS (the company that pays me to write this blog, and the leader in business analytics) was named #1 on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 list. Having been a user (and huge fan) of SAS software since
Subtitle: An accounting of accounts which, by all accounts, you should hold accountable. With the introduction of the SAS metadata server for use with SAS Business Intelligence, the role of the SAS administrator became more important. In SAS 9.1.3 a number of new standard "accounts" -- user IDs that serve
Back in December I wrote about the t-shirt contest on sasCommunity.org. Meanwhile, awards season kicked into high gear with the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards - just to name a few. Now it’s time for the first annual Best SAS t-shirt Award Show, and it’s
This sign greeted me as I was driving into work this morning for a routine appointment at our onsite health care center. Appropriate, don't you think? Last year at this time, I downplayed the importance of being the actual #1 company to work for, stating that the "staying power" that
I hate shopping. Going to the local mall is a form of torture for me. But send me to a virtual store, and I’ll happily browse online and likely place an order. Now I can do the same thing, of sorts, with SAS Global Forum since the presentation schedules and
SAS' Tonya Balan answers this question, plus many other basic business analytics questions, right here in the current issue of sascom magazine. It sure helps me, a statistical layman, to talk the talk.
This year the SAS Global Forum group is sponsoring a t-shirt design contest to create the official garb of SAS Global Forum 2010. It sounds like a fun activity, but as a SAS employee I'm not eligible to participate (or more importantly, to win). Still, I can't resist an attempt.
