As we have seen my previous post "Seeing SAS data through metadata", there is a fundamental difference between accessing a SAS library using a physical reference or a metadata reference to that library. By now, you should now be an expert on the nuances of physical references to SAS data
In today's fast-paced, jam-packed work day, many people answer email and read reports after business hours. And more and more, they're doing those things on a smartphone or tablet. How are your users accessing and using your reports? Statistics South Africa has found that their end-users would prefer a mobile
If you're a SAS administrator and haven't registered or planned your agenda for SAS Global Forum 2013, here are a few key happenings to tempt you!
I have been on both sides of the table during an interview to hire a SAS administrator. I’ve been hired as a SAS administrator, and I have hired SAS administrators. Today, I work with SAS customers to help them find the best software for their business needs. I get asked-
SAS software benefits from the high performance of solid state drives (SSD), whether it is in the form of flash memory cards or hard-drive form-factor SSDs. The following general points should be considered when planning SSD storage for SAS usage:
For many organizations, having traceability for members of staff accessing and leveraging customer data is a key requirement. There is the obvious security focus when leadership teams think about traceability, but there are additional uses for audit data within the organization: Using it to identify potentially broken work practices and
You can create SAS publication channels based on topics (3rd Quarter Results), organization (Business Unit X), user audience (new product release), or any other category. Once defined, authorized users can subscribe to the channels and automatically receive information whenever it is published.
One of the roles my team enjoys is working with SAS customers on performance issues along with testing SAS software on selected hardware configurations. We also work closely with other groups within SAS who work with SAS partners to test the latest and greatest features. My team then takes what
Last time we discussed the fundamentals of SAS data and how we reference that data in SAS Foundation. Now, we will turn our attention to how you access and protect data when you want to expose data through SAS clients versus the traditional LIBNAME method.
Thanks for reading my previous post about the importance of understanding your performance issues before trying to determine the cause. Compiling all the available information about the problem and finding a repeatable SAS process that can be monitored are the first steps toward fixing the issue. Since we now have
So let’s get down to it, what exactly do we mean by data in SAS? We hear all about “big data”, tiny data, datasets, metadata, OLAP, relational data, but what do I really need to know when it comes to SAS?
I am a big fan of SAS Management Console. This is the central location where you can perform many of your SAS administration tasks. One of the most important tasks of a SAS Administrator is making sure data is available to the right people when they need it. Most of
The SAS Metadata Server holds all of the metadata for a given SAS EBI installation. For most SAS administrators, the sole view into the Metadata Server is through SAS Management Console. This is a very limited perspective out of the box, as much of the metadata is not surfaced by
I think most people would agree that there's not much point in locking your front door if you're going to leave the keys in the lock. With a SAS platform metadata security implementation, it is just as important to ensure that the metadata access controls that you have carefully put
My team and I are often called on to help customers optimize SAS system performance, particularly when the root cause of performance problems is hard to track down. This is the first of a two-part article on practices and tools we’ve found most useful.
Happy belated New Year! For what it’s worth, no, I am not calling you a “dummy” or writing this just for Chris Hemedinger– just wanted to get your attention. This blog is actually an introduction to a series that I am kicking off this year entitled: "It's all about the data…"
In version 4.3 of SAS BI Dashboard, data caching is not enabled by default. Each time a user opens a dashboard, each element on the dashboard executes a query to return the result. Enabling data caching can improve dashboard performance by generating data results in advance.
Happy New Year! If you have “adopting SAS metadata” as one of your New Year’s resolutions, I’m here to help you! In my last post in the metadata series, I shared with you all of the reasons why I love SAS metadata. I’d like to kick off 2013 with helping
SAS programmers will immediately recognize the importance of reviewing the SAS log to provide insights into what’s going in a SAS program. As a SAS Administrator, however, you rarely have the luxury of being able to sit down with a cup of coffee and read through the server logs to
In my first episode of "Adventures in SAS Administration", I want to share how I discovered that "software not licensed for this platform" may actually mean "this software is only licensed to be installed according to a plan".
All users must first enter a user name and password to view portal pages and other content. In prior releases of SAS Information Delivery Portal, the Public Kiosk owned by internal SAS user SASGUEST was available to present users with a single screen that could include any content the organization
When I started using SAS back in 1995, every SAS user was a SAS programmer. We wrote code, and we were proud of it! We accessed our data via the DATA step, PROC IMPORT and SAS access engine code. If you had asked me back then what metadata is, I’m
Recently, I shared a summary of Brian Varney’s SESUG presentation on How to document your SAS environment. One important step was determining where files that control overall processing, such as autoexec.sas files, are deployed. For installations on a single server or platform, Varney suggested using the OPTIONS procedure, which lists
Kirk Paul Lafler, Software Intelligence Corporation, has written four SAS books and more than 500 peer-reviewed papers - 19 of which were awarded Best Contributed Papers or Poster, so I’m going to believe him when he says that he’s figured out a thing or two about tuning SAS systems.
As one of the external instructors for the SAS Platform Administrator Fast Track course in Australia, I have found that the students who attend the courses come from diverse backgrounds. My experience so far has been an approximate 50-50 split, with half being IT system administrators wanting to learn how
Editor's note: This post was updated on 8/5/16. “One time a fellow came up to me and said, ‘Tell me something unique about you,” said David Chapman, of Chapman Analytics, “I said, ‘I used SAS when SAS was free.” Needless to say, Chapman has been using SAS for a long
IBM Global Financing offers 100 percent financing on your SAS purchase In this economy, many companies are counting their pennies. Those budget constraints can put a real damper on requests for the SAS products and solutions that you need for your data challenges. IBM Global Finance (IGF) – the world's
There are people who claim that an IT expert professional with no knowledge of SAS can get the SAS Administrator job done. That's probably true. It also depends on your definition of getting the job done. At some SAS sites, it can be that the administrator's role in supporting SAS is to install it and
You’ve just started a new job as SAS administrator, and there’s no documentation. How do you know which SAS products are installed? Where they are deployed? Where do the data and programs reside? Brian Varney tells us that SAS administrators often run into undocumented environments whenever they begin working in a new
In my 26 plus years of experience, I would contend that the best SAS administrator would be an individual with a deeply skilled understanding of server and/or desktop administration, as well as SAS software usage.
