SAS LA Forum Abstracts
From sasCommunity
[edit] 2008 Invited Speakers
[edit] The Dangers and Wonders of Statistics Using SAS
[edit] AnnMaria DeMars, USC, Information Technology Services
Over the past twenty-five years, due to improvements in statistical software capabilities, it has become increasingly easy to obtain output for complex statistical procedures. Unfortunately, this does not mean that statistical analysis has become easier. Common problems occur when analysts proceed without getting to intimately know the data. These include failing to accommodate for sampling methods, overlooking data entry errors, incorrect distributional assumptions and just plain poor measurement.
This presentation will address how to use extremely common SAS procedures for meeting your statistical needs both right and right away. Topics covered include:
- How to explore almost everything using PROC CORR
- The G in PROC GLM really does stand for “General”, and
- Getting intimate with your data
For those who are not called on to use statistics on a daily basis, this presentation will provide a good basis for conducting statistical analyses that make sense to both you and your audience. For those who have forgotten more statistics than most people will ever know, this presentation will serve to remind them of important points and why they needed to learn (and remember) those to begin with. (Paper)
[edit] Celebrating the SAS User--A History of the Partnership between SAS and Its User Community
[edit] Kathy Council, VP Publications, SAS Institute Inc.
Celebrating the SAS User - A history of the partnership between SAS and its user community Since 1986, SAS has grown from its beginnings as a "statistical analysis system" to becoming the world's largest privately-held software company. SAS is the leading business intelligence provider, with software installed at more than 44,000 sites in 108 countries. With this success came the challenge of sustaining close customer relationships while extending operations globally.
On the anniversary of its 3 decades of being a company, Jim Goodnight, president and CEO of SAS, said to all SAS employees, "When we started 30 years ago...we had a solid customer base to build from. Many of these customers are still SAS customers today. Frankly, it's that focus on the customer that has allowed us to get as far as we have for as long as we have..." He challenged all employees "...to build on our success, always focus on the customer and make our 30th year our best ever." And we did.
This focus on the customer continues to be the mantra for all of us at SAS. And because we listen, we have developed very close relationships with you. We listen to you via many channels, and that knowledge feeds back to all departments at SAS including R&D, Publications, Education and Technical Support.
To show our appreciation for your valuable feedback, we even reward users for their contributions with the annual User Feedback and Enterprise Intelligence Awards.
In this presentation, you will hear stories of how SAS has improved its software and services by listening carefully to what you have to say. You will learn how SAS focuses on maintaining good customer relationships that improve customer satisfaction and loyalty -- even in tough economic times. And every indicator points to an even stronger future: after 30 consecutive years of growth and profitability, SAS continues to be acclaimed as an outstanding employer, vendor and corporate citizen.
[edit] Find Out What You’re Missing: SAS Enterprise Guide for SAS Programmers
[edit] Mike Porter, Senior Developer Enterprise Guide, SAS Institute Inc.
More and more SAS programmers are adopting SAS® Enterprise Guide® as their programming environment. Many are “willing converts” because they see the productivity benefits. Others are reluctant, but are forced down this path because their organization has centralized SAS on a server, and SAS® Enterprise Guide® is their new gateway to SAS. Whatever your motivation, there are many techniques and features that can help you to get the most out of your new SAS environment. (Paper)
[edit] SAS Fundamentals For Survey Data Processing
[edit] Renato G. Villacorte, Vice-President, Information Systems, Fairbank, Maslin, Maulin & Associates
This paper offers several programming solutions to problems and challenges that commonly confront survey researchers. Arrays and Do Loops are presented as methods to handling data cleaning and transforming. Proc Freq, Tabulate, and Means are demonstrated for elementary analyses. Lastly, Formatting techniques are used to improve analyses and enhance the clarity of output. A number of advanced techniques are also demonstrated for more experienced programmers. (Example Slides)
[edit] ODS for PRINT, REPORT, and TABULATE
[edit] Lauren Haworth, Associate Director, Genentech, Inc.
For most procedures in the SAS system, the only way to change the appearance of the output is to change or modify the ODS style definition. There are three exceptions: REPORT, TABULATE, and PRINT. These procedures allow you to change the output style attributes on the fly when the output is generated. With these three procedures, you can create almost any type of tabular report. Add in the extra control over style attributes, and you have a reporting pow-erhouse. This presentation will show how to change the fonts, col-ors, and alignment of your output. You will also learn how to use formats to highlight key results in special colors and use images in table headings. (Paper)
