Data
Analysis as an Operational Resource
Over the past decade, there has been a huge increase in collected data by organizational enterprise. The information has been generated both from traditional sources such as computerized systems for tracking operations, customers, and sales and new data sources such as web site visits, social network chatter, and public records accessible over the Internet in digital form. This data explosion is an
untapped asset at most organizations which lack the tools and skills to exploit it. The challenge is to use data for fine-grained analysis of markets, customer behavior and operations, and transform
business operations more toward evidence-based decision-making. This market is a huge opportunity for software companies.
For the better part of 40 years, SAS Institute software has been the leader in the business intelligence software. Historically, this has
been a niche market where SAS software is used to analyze huge datasets and generate predictive statistical models for large corporations and government agencies. According to leading market research firms, over ninety percent of the largest companies 100 worldwide use SAS software. Developed in response to industry specific operational requirements, SAS has a significant advantage
in its software technology, programming language, and tools.
SAS has always invested heavily in research and development. The SAS
stronghold is advanced analytics and predictive modeling software
which uses historical and current data to model and predict future
outcomes. However, SAS comparative advantage has been for the most
part derived from the legacy world of statisticians and programmers.
Developed in the 1970's for the mainframe platform, SAS EIP:
Enterprise Intelligence Platform is comprised of the business
intelligence and analytic/data mining toolset and data integration
stack analytics. There are also versions available on other
platforms: MS Windows and Linux-variants.
The challenge facing SAS is to transition and develop software for
deployment to be used by information technology and business professionals in a global market.
Towards that end, SAS has been moving toward the Internet model of
software delivery as a service that customers access into over the
web; some initial products have been launched.
Advances in
Business Intelligence Software
Business intelligence software has become increasingly mainstream; there are now both free open source and commercial software alternatives to SAS emerging in the
market. Until recently SAS has been slow to recognize the challenge from free, open source alternatives to some of its products. The R programming language is a free programming language and set of software tools for statistical computing; it has become increasingly popular at universities and labs. Programs written with R work
integrate with SAS technology and there is a long-term commitment
from management at SAS to work with the open source community. Red
Hat is working with SAS Institute to optimize performance and I/O
throughput for SAS software and applications running on the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux based operating system. The preliminary results
have been excellent scalability in tests up to 64 cores on a single
system.
In response to the growth and success of SAS software, new competition is emerging from major software companies to gain market share with lower prices and substitute technology. Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, and especially, IBM have invested considerable resources in bringing competitive business intelligence software to market. Oracle bought Hyperion and SAP bought Business Objects. In the summer of 2009,
IBM bought SPSS, a maker of predictive modeling software, and prior to that purchased Cognos. IBM has placed SPSS and Cognos into a new business analytics and optimization group. That business will be supported by 200 scientists, and the company has said it will
retrain or hire 4,000 consultants and analysts to work in the group. IBM has stated that business intelligence software is part of its strategy for growth.
SAS Training by SYS-ED
Since 1980, SYS-ED has been providing consultancy services and training on SAS software. Our
fast-track SAS courses teach industry standard subject matter and
educational consultancy in interrelated information technology required for efficient data management, data mining, and report generation such as:
- Credit card companies for detecting unusual buying patterns in real time, and spotting potentially fraudulent charges.
- Retail chains for tailoring pricing and product offerings down to the store level.
- Telecommunications companies for identifying the few thousand customers, among millions, that are most likely to switch to another cellphone carrier.
- Energy companies parsing sensor signals from oil rigs and combining that information with weather and structural data, to predict failure of parts.
SAS software has evolved and been upgraded for utilization in a comprehensive range of operating systems, systems software, and industry-specific environments. It is utilized by a substantial and diverse client base of Fortune 1000 companies, government municipalities, and
healthcare providers. SAS is important mainstream software and utilized in combination with a variety of databases and operating systems - mainframe, MS Windows, and
Linux and UNIX-variants.
SYS-ED's multi-platform SAS training teaches the Base SAS Procedures and the language enhancements.
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CALLRFC |
Invoking RFC-Remote Function Call or RFC-compatible functions on an SAP System from a SAS program. |
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FCMP |
Creating, testing, and storing SAS functions and subroutines before using them in other SAS procedures. |
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JAVAINFO |
Provides information to the user about the Java environment that SAS is using. |
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PROTO |
Registering in batch mode, external functions that are written in the C or C++ programming languages. |
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SCAPROC |
Specifying a filename or fileref that will contain the output of the SAS Code Analyzer, and to write the output to the file. |
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SOAP |
Reads XML input from a file that has a fileref and writes XML output to another file that has a fileref. |
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HTTP Procedure |
The HTTP procedure invokes a Web service that issues requests. |
SYS-ED's staff of system consultant instructors average 30 years experience in information technology and provide insights required for effective maintenance coding and web based utilization of SAS data. Our SAS courses provide ongoing support for the
questions that our client’s routinely ask after a course is over. Tailored course offerings are conducted on-site at client locations. Few independent training companies have been providing SAS training
longer or better than SYS-ED.
For organizations evaluating whether to send an employee to SYS-ED for SAS training, we require that a profile form be completed and submitted both by the manager and the
employee who will be attending the course. It is our prerogative to ensure that the employee has the prerequisite background for the training. Not everyone is allowed to enroll in a SYS-ED course.
Qualifying a Request for SAS Training
It is standard operating procedure to schedule a telephone consultation with our Director of Education. As part of this process we will review the subject matter, sample programs,
workshops, and installation standards and provide a training plan in writing.
Tailored subject matter, examples, and exercises are then used to address client specific web-based query and reporting requirements with SAS software in hybrid
operating environments.
- How to code and utilize SAS procedures for data manipulation, information storage, information retrieval, statistical analysis, and report writing.
- How to utilize the Java client, XML
Mapper, for importing and exporting XML documents to the SAS
platform.
- How to use ODS: Output Delivery System for reporting, report formatting, and report delivery for:
- Capturing data output from any Base procedure into a SAS dataset for additional processing or reporting.
- Creating and separating datasets for a subgroup.
The course workbooks and training aids included in SYS-ED SAS instructor-led and distance-learning training services are highly respected. SYS-ED courseware extends the source vendor documentation with an examination of program logic, diagrams, and sample programs which have been validated on consulting projects.
Upon completion of a instructor-led course at the client location, it is standard policy to organize subject matter for future utilization in a web-based training infrastructure. |
Information Technology in Transition
Alternative to the Information Technology Training
Offered by the Software Companies
Technology Updates
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| IBM Mainframe Technology Update |
Learning Paths
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