Very interesting article on “The challenge of change” in the 3Q 2010 issue of sascom magazine. Renee Nocker, the director who leads the business analytics effort at CPG giant Kimberley-Clark Corp., shares her insights on value realization. Contrary to popular belief, technology is only one element of transformation. Surrounding the
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 webinar time again! This hour session is designed for business analysts, directors of analytics and BI, and business users on the topic of Centers of Excellence. This live "101" webinar will take place live on Aug. 18, and it's the fifth installment in the 2010 Applying Business Analytics Webinar
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
A new SAS Analytics Facebook page helps customers, prospects, partners and employees connect via a larger online community. As part of our efforts to reach out to customers and raise awareness about analytics, we created a SAS Analytics Facebook page, and it's ready for you to "like." What's to "like"?
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
Several of us at SAS are gearing up for the 16th annual ACM SIGKDD conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. If you are not familiar with this, it is the premier international forum for data mining researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government to share their ideas, research
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
Plans are underway for a day of getting dirty with data! My SAS colleagues, Tapan Patel and Wayne Thompson, along with workshop host Dean Abbott, President of Abbott Analytics, are hosting a Hands-On Predictive Analytics Workshop on October 18th. This session is one of several workshops that kick off the
Contributed by Angela Hall, Technical Architect Wait, what? Doesn’t everyone have a favorite college textbook? Maybe I’m that much of a SAS geek, my favorite college text is sitting right next to my desk & has ever since I left college. Coffee stains, battered edges, sticky notes around the top
~ Contributed by Jens Olivarius ~ Wednesday at The Premier Business Leadership Series in Berlin, Futurist Thornton May challenged a group of international business executives with this question: Has the way people think about analytics changed over time? The response was a resounding yes, but for several different reasons. Yes,
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
On Wednesday the 23rd June, Tom Davenport, best-selling co-author of Competing on Analytics and Analytics at Work and President's Distinguished Professor at Babson College, led a masterclass of 20 business leaders in examining how organisations go from being analytically impaired to analytical competitors. In Tom’s view, most companies have massive
I spent last week in the UK for the SAS Professionals Convention. It was my first time visiting the UK. If my experience is any indication, then the area (just outside of London) is constantly warm and very bright. However, I did visit very near the summer solstice and I'm
Next up in the SAS Applying Business Analytics Webinar Series is Forecasting 101! This Webinar is appropriate for anyone involved in the creation, review or utilization of forecasts: demand planners and forecast analysts who generate forecasts; managers in sales, marketing, finance and operations; and executives who oversee the forecasting and
Are you a SAS DATA step programmer? If so, be sure to take advantage of this exclusive "buy 2 books, get 1 free" offer from SAS Publishing. Solutions for SAS Data Step Programmers: The Essential Three-Book Set of Examples from Michele Burlew features 3 of her most popular books, including:
Since deregulation, the energy and utilities industries have counted among the most complex, posing virtually insoluble problems thanks to a variety of trends and counter trends. That was the key conclusion of discussions in the Energy & Utilities insight session at The Premier Business Leadership Series, which was led by
