February 2026

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Global Food Loss and Waste - The Trillion Dollar Bin analyzed using SAS Visual Analytics
Falko Schulz used SAS Visual Analytics on SAS Viya to map the "Invisible Cost" of our food system. The report combines mass, economic value, and emissions intensity to show the triple-bottom-line impact of what we throw in the bin.

Dear Reader,

We’re excited to share that Western Users of SAS Software (WUSS) Virtual Classes are returning for the Spring 2026 season! This popular training series brings back several of our most in‑demand live, half‑day classes, all taught by seasoned industry experts who know how to turn theory into practical, real‑world skills.

These classes are an exceptional value at just $99 per class and are held live from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PT. Be sure to click on each class title to view a detailed course description and learn more about the instructors leading each session.

Why not sign up for a class or two and take those skills with you to SAS Innovate? It's our biggest data and AI event of the year for SAS customers, users, and partners. There will be over 200 breakout sessions, 50 workshops and labs, 20 certification opportunities, and more. I hope to see you there in Texas from April 27th through the 30th!

Thiago De Souza
Editor, SAS Tech Report

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Tech tips with Chris

The active members of SAS Analytics Explorers recently celebrated "12 days of SAS magic" by sharing tips and tricks with each other. The best tips were curated into an enduring resource for all members to learn from. Productivity and automation were big themes! Here's some of what was covered:

API Integration: Automating JSON exports to share results seamlessly with external APIs.
Variable Management: Using macro logic to auto-rename entire batches of variables (adding prefixes/suffixes) instead of manual mapping.
Code Snippets: Utilizing "nicknames" or abbreviations in SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Studio to instantly insert frequently used blocks of code.
Pre-import Checks: Implementing macros to verify file existence on shared drives or SharePoint before running import jobs, preventing batch-run failures.

If you would like to learn more about these tips and find more ways to advance your SAS learning, consider joining SAS Analytics Explorers! It's free to use, and you can earn points toward rewards (such as SAS swag or courses). Of course, the learning is the most rewarding part, but the perks make it even more fun!

Tips & tricks

A New Frontier for AI Agents: Cybersecurity
Sophia Rowland examines how the growing use of AI agents creates a new cybersecurity challenge, shifting risk from human error to autonomous systems that can be exploited through techniques like prompt injection and self‑replicating prompt worms.

Why are some dispersion statistics re-scaled?
Rick Wicklin explains why robust measures of spread such as the median absolute deviation and interquartile range are commonly rescaled to align with the standard deviation for normally distributed data.

Properties of the "Min Matrix"
Rick Wicklin introduces the Min Matrix, a simple symmetric and positive definite test matrix defined by min(i, j), and explores its useful properties including a closed‑form inverse, integer‑valued Cholesky factor, and explicit eigenvalues that make it valuable for numerical and statistical algorithms in SAS IML.

Efficiency Matters: Compressing SAS Datasets
Carleigh Jo Crabtree explains how using SAS dataset compression options can significantly reduce storage and I/O demands while maintaining data integrity, helping programs run more efficiently when working with large datasets.

Why do descriptive statistics differ across SAS Viya applications?
Lincoln Groves explains that descriptive statistics can differ across SAS Viya applications because tools like SAS Visual Analytics compute exact statistics on full data, while SAS Information Catalog may use sampling or approximation to prioritize speed and data discovery.

Navigating SAS Content using the Content Components Library in the SAS Viya SDK
Nithin Ramu shows how developers can use the SAS Viya Content Components Library to browse, filter, and navigate SAS content when embedding reports or jobs into custom web applications.

Set it and Forget it: Scheduling and Deploying Jobs in SAS Studio
Greg Treiman walks through how to deploy, schedule, and automate SAS Studio jobs so recurring tasks like data loads and reports can run on a schedule with minimal manual effort.

Relationship Search in SAS Visual Investigator
Allison Lin explains how relationship search in SAS Visual Investigator helps investigators uncover hidden connections across entities by exploring degrees of separation and visualizing results as interactive network diagrams.

Use case

Solving real-life public health challenges using data and AI
The Sax Institute uses SAS analytics to securely manage and analyze sensitive health data, enabling researchers and policymakers to turn evidence into real‑world public health insights at scale.

Upcoming learning events

(Each Ask the Expert webinar is one hour and complimentary unless stated otherwise.)

Virtual Classes presented by WUSS
Western Users of SAS Software (WUSS) is excited to announce that virtual classes will be returning for the Spring 2026 season. They will be offering several of their most popular live, half-day training classes taught by seasoned industry experts. These classes are a tremendous value at just $99 per class. All classes are held from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm PT.

Ask the Expert: SAS Health Cost of Care Analytics: Turning Episode Data into Actionable Insights
Join this webinar on Thursday, March 5 at 11:00 AM EST to explore a modern, analytics-driven framework to modify and evaluate episode reimbursement for outcome using integrated claims and clinical data. You will learn how to:

Simplify data management and episode analysis.
Strengthen cost efficiency.
Better understand risk and provider attribution.

Ask the Expert: How Can Synthetic Data Improve ML Training and Fairness?
Join this webinar on Thursday, March 12 at 11:00 AM EST to discover how synthetic data accelerates model development while preserving data integrity. You will learn how to:

Eliminate bottlenecks in data access and sharing that slow model development.
Address issues of sufficiency and balance for your training data.
Evaluate synthetic data for realism, fairness and analytical value.
Accelerate experimentation, model building and deployment while minimizing privacy and compliance risks.

Ask the Expert: What’s Possible With the New Email Designer?
Join this webinar on Thursday, March 19 at 9:00 AM EST to learn how to simplify email creation and enhance user experience within SAS Customer Intelligence 360. You will learn about:

The new SAS Email Designer – A Stripo-powered drag-and-drop editor that makes email creation faster and easier.
Features that were previously unavailable in Layout Manager, plus see how the designer fits alongside current tools.
Building better and faster with layout simplification and styling while reducing hand-coding.

Ask the Expert: Empower Your AI Agents With Analytics and Decisioning Expertise With SAS MCP Server
Join this webinar on Tuesday, March 24 at 10:00 AM EST to explore how to upskill your AI agents to perform advanced data processing, analytical and decisioning tasks, with trust and governance by design. You will learn about:

The fundamentals of empowering AI agents.
The capabilities SAS offers to AI agents through MCP-enabled tools.
Use cases illustrating the value of incorporating advanced analytics into your AI agents.