Before new courses are presented to the public, we have internal ‘test teaches’ giving SAS employees the opportunity to attend new courses and give feedback to the course developers on how to make the course top quality for our customers.  A few weeks ago, I attended a ‘test teach’ for SAS Office Analytics: Fast Track, a four-day intense training course on how to use SAS Office Analytics.  This software provides applications that enable you to access, analyze and report on data.

SAS Office Analytics: Fast Track is geared towards Business Users and BI Content Developers.  Being in the marketing department, I consider myself a Business User.  (Check out our job roles page to determine where you fit in.) I use reports that others create to analyze my marketing campaigns and report on results.  The course was perfect for these types of activities because it taught how to use tasks, wizards and stored processes to create these analyses and reports.

DAY 1
On Day 1 we learned about using the SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office in some of the Microsoft Office programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  Within the SAS tab, it is very easy to access tasks and wizards and begin exploring your data.

DAY 2
On Day 2 we entered the wonderful world of SAS Enterprise Guide!  We learned how to append tables, filter and sort, and use the Query Builder.  There are so many cool features in SAS Enterprise Guide, and all of them are there to make our lives (or work) easier.  And who doesn’t want an “easy button” during the day?!

DAY 3
Day 3 was tough for me.  It seemed like it was geared more towards the BI Content Developer.  We created stored processes and prompts within SAS Enterprise Guide.  Several times I thought to myself, “I won’t ever use this.”  But then I began to realize… this is what my BI Content Developer will be creating for me to use in building my reports.  Now I know the possibilities of the software and the language to use in my requests.  I also know enough now to go in and customize the processes without having to get the BI Content Developer to go back and adjust it.

DAY 4
Day 4 was when it all clicked.  Even the tough parts of Day 3 began to make sense in the context of SAS Office Analytics.  We started using the stored processes and prompts within the Microsoft Office applications to run reports.  It was SO cool!  I was back in my “comfort zone” of SAS Office Analytics, but using the Power of SAS to create some really awesome analyses and reports.  The second half of Day 4 was working through a case study.  This exercise tested what we learned in the previous three days of lecture, demos and exercises.  It was great to see it all come together – taking the individual parts and building a machine that solved real world business problems.

This course is now available and on our public training schedule.  It can also be scheduled as an onsite course.  I highly recommend it for both the Business User and the BI Content Developer.  It offers a seamless transition from solely using Microsoft Office applications at work to incorporating the power of SAS analytics into your daily routine.