June 2024

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Post-pandemic travel to and from Australia surged once strict border rules were relaxed. SAS’ Falko Schultz uses SAS^® Visual Analytics to reveal which countries sent the most visitors.

Dear Reader:

Summer vacation season has arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere. I can hardly wait for our annual family trip to Sunset Beach, NC. Where are you going? Headed to Australia? You’re part of an uptick that got underway last year! See where your country ranked in 2023 visits Down Under.

So, a big ol’ mea culpa from me. More than 500 of you tried to take the survey in the May edition of Tech Report and got an error. How embarrassing. We fixed and tested the form. It works! Please take a couple of minutes to shape future editions of Tech Report (or whatever we end up calling it.) It’s mostly multiple-choice, but text fields allow for more nuanced input. Apologies and thank you.

Scroll on to see the usual plethora of tips, upcoming events and more.

Thanks for reading!

Beverly Brown
Editor, Tech Report

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Learn about SAS® Viya Workbench
What is it? What does it do? Tune into the latest episode of the SAS Viya Release Highlights Show to get answers to these and other questions about one of our newest products. (Code with SAS and Python? Don’t miss this!) You’ll also get details on the latest SAS Viya features like semantic type classification, a new data step in SingleStore and new SAS^® Studio steps.

How to import, export Excel and SAS data
These topics generate a lot of discussion in the SAS Support Community. This post contains two video tutorials by SAS’ Kathy Kiraly that reveal ways to do each—using a LIBNAME statement and PROC IMPORT or PROC EXPORT.

Find the label of a variable in SAS
Did you know that you can use a DATA step function to obtain the label for a variable? SAS’ Rick Wicklin shows the details for this and other functions that you can use to obtain the attributes of variables.

Scale a density curve to match a histogram
It is common to overlay a histogram and a probability density such as a normal curve. Rick Wicklin explains how SAS scales these two graphical objects so that they are automatically plotted on the same scale.

How to use SAS for asset performance management
SAS' Bahar Biller guides you through an asset lifetime prediction scenario using a synthetically generated historical data set and a solution built on SAS reliability modeling.

How to detect anomalies accurately by identifying time delays in batch manufacturing
SAS’ Kevin Scott reveals how batch manufacturing relies on taking into account inherent time delays that occur at various stages of producing goods such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals.

How to use centrality metrics to detect illicit financial flows
SAS’ Onur Dinc reveals how to spot corrupt movement of money through drug trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion and more.

SAS Administrator: How do you find the PID of a specific WORK folder?
This topic on the Administration and Deployment Community was solved in less than 20 minutes. It also sparked a robust discussion that continues to attract attention, years later.

SAS Tip: How to generate holiday lists
This article in the SAS Community Library uses several examples that reveal how to use rules to generate holiday lists.

WUSS 2024 attendees: Sign up separately for classes
WUSS, Sept. 4-6 in Sacramento, CA will once again offer a full menu of optional pre- and post-conference training classes on a variety of topics taught by seasoned experts. Classes are not included in conference registration and must be added separately. Through the regular registration deadline, your first half-day class is just $200 and each additional half-day class is only $150, so bundle multiple classes for the best value.

SESUG: Logistics make it easy to learn and connect with your northeastern friends
SESUG is Sept. 22-24 in Bethesda, MD, and the conference hotel is one block from the North Bethesda Metro Station, making it easily accessible from standard points of entry into Washington, D.C. Plenty of inexpensive flights are available, and you can hop on the metro from Reagan National (Yellow and Red Lines) or Dulles (Silver and Red Lines). Train travel is easy from many destinations as well, and Union Station is on the same line as the hotel stop. It’s easy to join in on the expert SAS training, valuable presentations, networking and social activities. We hope to see you there!

Code in your language of choice with SAS Viya for Learners 4
Educators and students, sign up for free access to advanced analytics software for teaching and learning leading-edge data science skills. SAS Viya for Learners is a full suite of cloud-based software that supports the entire analytics life cycle and lets you code in SAS, Python or R.

How can I use SAS^® Optimization from Python?
Join SAS’ Philipp M. Christophel at 11:00 a.m. ET on Tues., July 9 to learn several ways to use SAS Optimization from Python, even if you’re familiar with mathematical optimization.

Jupyter Notebook: Your Coding Canvas
Join SAS’ Rachel McLawhon at 11:00 a.m. ET on Tues., July 16 to learn how you can create reports in SAS Visual Analytics more efficiently using page and object templates.

What are the Top 10 Tips for SAS^® Viya^® Administrators in 2024?
Join SAS’ David Stern at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thurs., July 25 to learn the role of a SAS Viya administrator, build confidence, and improve the configuration, stability and performance of your SAS Viya deployment.