topic Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai in Administration and Deployment

SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are available

Donna_SAS — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:25:44 GMT

The fourth maintenance release for SAS 9.4 is now available and includes the Analytical Products 14.2 release. SAS continues to harden the SAS 9.4 platform and provide customer-requested functionality. Our latest maintenance release, SAS 9.4M4—and the associated Analytics 14.2, Data Management, and Decision Management releases—reflect our ongoing commitment to provide our customers the ability to maximize the value of their SAS® software investment. For additional information, start here http://support.sas.com/software/94/ and follow the links to the general What’s New document, and other resources.

The SAS administrator for your site can request delivery of SAS 9.4M4 on-line http://support.sas.com/adminservices/index.html . Choose the option “Software Maintenance Request”. You will need to login with your SAS Profile.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

Quentin — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 15:22:15 GMT

Is there a good summary of what's new specifically in M4?

To help with making the business case that it is worth upgrating a server from 9.4M3?

I can search the "what's new" doc for "The fourth maintenance release", but was wondering if someone has already compiled a list of the exciting news. Particuarly since the "what's new" doesn't highlight fixes like the wonderful (i hope) fix to DOSUBL, and oftent the fixes are just as valuable as new features.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

sewa_bal_gmail_com — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 08:07:24 GMT

I want to upgrate SAS 9.4M4 from SAS 9.4M3...Could you please suggest how we can upgrate this request.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

Mark_sas — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 13:14:21 GMT

As you mention, the What's New in SAS 9.4 doc is the definitive location for a list of new features/functionality in 9.4M4. Since this guide contains information on all 9.4 maintenance releases, you'll need to search for references to the "fourth maintenance release" to get a list specifically tailored for this latest maintenance. That said, here's a quick, but certainly not exhaustive, list of associate enhancements:

JSON LIBNAME engine
ODS accessibility support (tagged PDF output)
Updates to certain included 3rd party software
SAS Deployment Wizard enhancements, especially related to configuration updating
SAS Studio 3.6
Enterprise Guide 7.13, including enhanced DATA step debugger
New 14.2 versions of Advanced Analytics products (SAS/STAT, SAS/ETS, SAS/IML, ...)
SAS Viya enablement of code node in SAS Enterprise Miner, SAS Studio, and DI Studio

I encourage you to consult the What's New guide for a more complete list.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

Mark_sas — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 13:21:24 GMT

Check out the information on the Maintenance Release Announcement site for information on how to acquire and upgrade to SAS 9.4M4.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

Quentin — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 22:05:06 GMT

Thanks @Mark_sas,

Perhaps we can use this thread as a place for people to comment on the new features/fixes they are most excited about in M4.

I totally forgot about he Data Step Debugger in EG, I'm desperate to play with that.

Also high on my list would be the fix to DOSUBL as reported hear: https://communities.sas.com/t5/Base-SAS-Programming/DOSUBL-scope-of-returned-macro-variables/m-p/138691/highlight/true#M27993.

And I've heard there are good fixes to ODS Excel destination as well, such as the the problem in M3 where multi-sheet output was grouped worksheets. http://support.sas.com/kb/56/878.html

Nifty, I just realized I can search problem notes on support.sas.com to see which notes are fixed in M4, by using the "Results Filter" tab. That'll give me plenty to read.

Re: SAS 9.4M4, Analytics 14.2, & new Data Management & Decision Management products are avai

MichelleHomes — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 05:30:35 GMT

To add to your post @Quentin about what people like about SAS 9.4M4 and the EG Data Step Debugger, there have been some posts/demos that people might want to look at that I think are pretty handy for admins and programmers.

In SAS Community Nordic - Juletip #15 - SAS and advanced Excel
In SAS Community Nordic - Juletip #13 - A new (old) debugging tool
@ChrisHemedinger's SAS Blog - Debugging the difference between WHERE and IF in SAS
@ChrisHemedinger's SAS Blog - Using the DATA step debugger in SAS Enterprise Guide
@ScottMcCauley's SAS Blog - Easier Space Management for EV Data Mart Tables in 9.4M4

Cheers,

Michelle