In my previous post Sisyphus didn’t need a fitness tracker, I recommended that you only collect, measure and analyze big data if it helps you make a better decision or change your actions. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to know ahead of time which data will meet that criteria. We often, therefore, collect, measure and analyze
Being that today is a Throwback Thursday, I decided to re-create one of my favorite events from elementary school -- show-and-tell! And of course I'll be showing and telling you about a graph ... using school data! OK - that SAS graph (above) is definitely "Throwback" but it's not the one
In the last edition of the European elections, the main question was not only “Who is going to win the elections?” but also “What is going to be the turnout?” As it has taken a month and half to establish the real figure (the previous figure was based on exit polls so
In his pithy style, Seth Godin’s recent blog post Analytics without action said more in 32 words than most posts say in 320 words or most white papers say in 3200 words. (For those counting along, my opening sentence alone used 32 words). Godin’s blog post, in its entirety, stated: “Don’t measure
When the recent earthquake hit California, one of my friends commented that "California is so dry right now, I'm surprised it didn't just break off and fall into the ocean!" It got me wondering, just how bad and widespread is California's drought? I did a few Web searches and found lots
It's easy to plot events that happened at a certain time, but what about events that extended over a range of dates, such as recessions? ... This blog post teaches you a nice trick to use for that! Let's say you have a plot of the labor force participation rate
Did you hear that Prince William is getting a new job? Next year, he’ll fly emergency helicopters for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. The prince, who’ll donate his salary to charity, called his new gig “one of the finest forms of public service.” The Duke of Cambridge won’t get any
If you read SAS blogs but never click through to the comment sections, you're missing some great information. Need proof? Check out some of these comments from the last few weeks. And then leave one of your own. Kelly McGuire has been studying the effects of negative hotel reviews online.
"Trending" is one of those words that's trending these days, as we verbify everything. And if you understood that, then you'll probably love this blog! :-) For those of you not hip to the lingo ('hip' meaning 'knowing about and following the newest styles, fashions, etc.'), dictionary.com defines trending as "to emerge
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an expert to answer your SAS Visual Analytics question? Now you do and the best part, it’s free! Beginning September 8, SAS will be hosting a one-hour Ask the Expert session each Monday through November. Each interactive session will focus on a specific Visual
I’m sitting here staring at a book on my shelf entitled, “Impending Crisis”. Even knowing the copyright date, 2003, it could still be about any one of several possible crises: healthcare, financial, energy, education, environment. But no, in this case the impending crisis in question is provided by the subtitle: “Too many jobs,
You may have heard the phase that big data is the new oil. Well (pun intended), if that is the case, then analytics should be thought of as the fracking technique used on data to improve the value you get from this new oil. Fracking is actually just one
You are the new SAS Administrator. After the initial shock or excitement, you sit back and wonder, “What does that MEAN???” In an enterprise environment there are often divisions of duties. The SAS Intelligence Platform is no exception. Just take a look at the architecture. Just looking at this picture,
For those of you who are classic rock fans, you may remember Alice Cooper’s title track “School’s Out for Summer” on the album “School’s Out.” That song captures students’ excitement of a taking a hiatus from the classroom. But for professors, summer is a time to continue their own education
Es ist ein lauer Sommerabend im Juli am Neusiedler See. Die Teilnehmer der traditionellen YES-Cup Regatta sitzen bei Bier und Grillkotelette auf der Terrasse unseres Clubhauses. Die Stimmung ist ausgelassen, jeder hat nach zwei ereignisreichen Wettfahrten seine Geschichte zu erzählen. Eine Unterhaltung am Ende unseres Tisches zieht meine Aufmerksamkeit auf
A few years ago I discussed the idea of analytic resources as ‘all-stars’ rather than ‘rock stars.’ While this previous blog certainly touched on the team aspect of analytic work, recently I’ve been thinking about just how much teamwork is required to make an analytics project successful. From extracting data,
In my last three posts on data ethics, I explored a few of the ethical dilemmas in our data-driven world. From examining the ethical practices of free internet service providers to the problem of high-frequency trading, I’ve come to realize the depth and complexity of these issues. Anyone who's aware of these
IT folks love SQL (Standard Query Language). Once you know how to program in SQL, you can work with almost any database because it is a standard. However, SQL is NOT a standard for doing analytics. The SAS programming language pre-dates SQL and even though SAS does SQL, SQL does not
The sun has gone eerily quiet, in the middle of what should be the height of the 11-year sunspot cycle... Here's a superb photo of some sunspots that Stephen A. Carr posted to the Telescope Addicts Facebook group - a group which I follow with great interest. (Thanks for allowing
Although I’m not particularly excited about football (I admit, I don’t completely understand what offside means), I did follow the last World Cup with more than average attention. Not only for the handsome players, but especially for all the fascinating statistics that appeared. It struck me that heat maps popped
I’ve been told I have rocks for brains before, but right now I have rocks on the brain – the kind that are millions of years old and contain precious stores of oil and gas. One reason I have petroleum on my mind is that I’ve just returned from Brazil, where
SAS is great at helping make important business decisions - how about helping decide where to take your next vacation?... Here's a picture from one of my favorite vacations with my buddy Joe. As you can see, I like "nature vacations." Can you guess where this one was? (leave a comment with
This was probably my favorite of the myth-busters webcasts I have been spewing about, and now I definitely want to meet James Dallas so we can discuss and nod emphatically at each other’s insights on this topic! The “You can’t have analytics without IT” myth is the fourth myth covered
A recent project with a supportive housing provider in New York City showed how analytics leads to insights that can change, even save, lives. The New York City Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence (CIDI) is the analytics research arm of the City’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services
Visual analytics es una solución, que puede impactar los resultados de una compañía independientemente del tamaño. Según Sanjeev Aggarwal, socio de la consultora tecnológica SMB Group, Visual analytics es el futuro del análisis avanzado de datos para las empresas en crecimiento. Las hojas de cálculo y las herramientas de Business
The word “analytics” is widely misused and misunderstood. While SAS arguably invented the advanced analytics and predictive analytics categories more than 38 years ago, other software vendors have used the term to describe things like reporting, monitoring, and tracking what happened. The value of these more simple capabilities are easily
This morning, a fairly strong earthquake struck southern Mexico - can SAS analyze past earthquake data to help predict future earthquakes?... I don't have any pictures of earthquake damage, but here's one I took of the main house/prop from the Snow Camp Outdoor Theatre here in North Carolina - I imagine this
There are many factors that go into creating the next advanced analytics products at SAS, but Radhika Kulkarni, Vice President of Advanced Analytics told me there’s one main driving force. I caught up with her at the Analytics 2014 conference to talk more about advanced analytics and what products you
The old saying KISS (Keep It Simple) can be applied to just about anything, including sports analytics. Here I use SAS to create some simple charts to analyze a winning soccer team... To get you into the right mood, here is a picture of my friend Jennifer's dog, who loves soccer :) In
In the energy industry, oil and gas companies as well as utilities are struggling with many changes at once. First, they're facing what the oil and gas industry has coined "the big crew change," meaning the retirement of those with the most skills and experience on how to run their
