For the first time in a decade, I have a new official role and title at SAS. But what's remarkable about my new role isn't how much of my job will change, but how much of it will remain the same. I'm giving up my role as a software manager,
Look out, SAS and software nerds: there are more techy blogs headed your way via blogs.sas.com. Beginning this week, I've been joined by two of my fellow SAS R&D staffers: Rick Wicklin presents The DO Loop, which focuses on SAS/IML and other subjects of interest to statistical programmers, and SAS
No matter how much we want it, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t always achieve the forecast accuracy desired. Forecasting Heads or Tails in the toss of a fair coin gives the perfect illustration (being right 50% of the time is all we can achieve over a
A frequently performed task in data analysis is identifying all the observations in a data set that satisfy certain conditions. For example, you might want to identify all of the female patients in your study or to identify all patients whose systolic blood pressure is greater than 140 mm Hg.
"How do I apply a format to a vector of values in IML? In the DATA step, I can just call the PUTN function.” This question came from a SAS customer that I met recently at a conference. My reply? Use the PUTN function, but send it a vector of
The R You Ready blog posed an interesting problem. Essentially, you have a vector that contains n(n+1)/2 elements, and you want to pack those elements into the upper left triangular portion of a matrix. For example, if your data are proc iml; /** vector v is given: ncol(v) = n(n+1)/2 for
This week, SAS introduced SAS Rapid Predictive Modeler, a component of SAS Enterprise Miner that allows a business user to drive the modeling from Microsoft Excel (via the SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office) or SAS Enterprise Guide. It was made possible thanks to the close collaboration of R&D staff on
When Marilyn Manson sang of “The Beautiful People,” I think it was about how symmetry of facial features makes a person more visually attractive. At least that was the message I got out of the song. But unfortunately, even facial symmetry cannot compensate for an insufferable personality, as both Marilyn
When programmers begin learning a new computer language, the first program they write is often one that prints the text “Hello, World!” Successfully writing a Hello World program assures the programmer that the software is successfully installed and that all necessary features are working: parsers, compilers, linkers, and so on.
The secret to long life is good genes, right? This publication titled "Joint influence of small-effect genetic variants on human longevity" showed up on my Google alerts, and from what I can read (all of it) and understand (very little of it), that assertion is true. The researchers used PROC
Shane and others have already discovered this. The new version of SAS Enterprise Guide is now available. The latest version offers tremendous enhancements for all users, especially SAS programmers. It includes a new SAS program editing environment that supports syntax suggestions and autocomplete, embedded syntax reference help, and a SAS
Did the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles regain its sanity? Or was this just another tease? As you recall from last year, my application for “THE BFD” personalized license plate was accepted – then rejected – even though that extra $30 fee could have eased at least some of
Self-anointed as The Aristocrat of forecasting related blogs, The BFD takes its public service role seriously (or at least as seriously as anyone who self-anoints on a regular basis can be taken). Among the services The BFD provides, both publicly (on webcasts or speaking engagements) and privately (by phone, email,
Today's Australian news journal features an article about how Dr. Jim Goodnight swept into Australia for the SAS Forum event, delivered his remarks and pressed a few palms, and then was on his way back home -- according to the article -- on the very same day. That's not exactly
It's been a very busy week for me here in Sydney, Australia. For starters, I led a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide for experienced SAS users. We used SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, which is just about to ship from SAS. I told my students that they were the first
This week I received an urgent text message from a good friend and former colleague in the consulting business: Mike, I am down 24 pages in your book and [besmirching my trousers]. Is there no hope for consultants like me? My response was to not let the book ruin a
I've completed my first day of teaching a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide. I'm in Sydney, Australia...but my biological clock is still tuned into Cary, North Carolina time. I woke up at 1 a.m. today and even though I tried to convince my body that it was still time
An alarming percentage of major software implementations fail to be delivered on time, on budget, or even at all. Implementations of new forecasting software, or of new forecasting processes, are not immune from this legacy of failure. Why does this happen, and is there anything we can do about it?
I received this offer in the post the other day: "University apparel just for you, featuring the name HEMEDINGER!" Yes, the offer has it correct. This would be just for me, because I can't think of anyone else who might order it. I regret that I didn't receive the offer
There is a long running debate among forecasting professionals, on whether to use Forecast or Actual in the denominator of your percentage error calculations. The Winter 2009 issue of Foresight had an article by Kesten Green and Len Tashman, reporting on a survey (of the International Institute of Forecasters discussion
Art Carpenter offers tremendous advice to SAS programmers who want to maximize their job security: make your programs impossible for others to read and understand. In his published papers, Art (in his tongue-in-cheek manner) presents practical examples for how to accomplish this. I'm afraid that with our new code formatter
The Summer 2010 issue of Foresight is now available. Here is Editor Len Tashman’s preview: For so many years, we forecasters have developed and refined models for demand forecasts – forecasts for product and item sales, orders, shipments – without paying adequate attention to the details of how these forecasts
Better forecasting can, of course, help address many business problems. We want to believe that more accurate forecasts are always possible. “If only,” management bemoans, “if only we had bigger computers, more sophisticated software, more skilled forecast analysts – or if the analysts we have just worked harder!” Unfortunately, there
Supporting SAS Global Forum is a year-round effort, but for me, the opening of the Call for Papers is basically the start of the upcoming conference. The section chairs have been selected, and they’ve posted what they are looking for in their sections. You’ll need to submit your abstract and
Have you ever inherited a SAS program from a "gifted" SAS programmer? By "gifted", I mean a person who regards line feeds and white space as a waste of precious bytes, who knows that his program is worth the tremendous effort it might take to read and understand it, as
You can use SAS Enterprise Guide to automate most aspects of queries, analytics, and reporting -- including sending e-mail notifications with the results. In this blog post, I'll show you how you can send these results and use Gmail as your e-mail provider. First, some background: SAS Enterprise Guide provides
I'm a computer geek -- much more comfortable behind a keyboard than in front of a camera. But I was glad to put on a nice shirt and visit the SAS video studio so that I could record this message for SAS customers: how does SAS R&D work to support
Just as we all eagerly awaited announcement of the $1 million prize winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off(R), every forecasting software vendor has endured the "bake-off" hosted by organizations in the market for new forecasting software. Software selection teams utilize a bake-off to help evaluate competing vendors. Vendors are given a
As I mentioned in a recent post, I've just completed reading Dear Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. I acquired a copy of Tim's book at the SAS Professionals Convention, and I was fortunate enough to meet Tim in person and have him sign the book. He impressed me as very
The F2010 Business Forecasting Conference wrapped up on June 8. Chaired by Tim Rey of Dow Chemical and Jerry Oglesby of SAS, this was another strong event, bringing together 248 forecasters from business, government, and academics, representing 27 states and 11 countries. It was also an opportunity for all to
