March 2026

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Fun With SAS ODS Graphics: What Are the 2026 Best Picture Oscar Nominees' Odds of Winning?
"Here's a SAS ODS Graphics annotated text + needle chart of the implied probability + odds of winning for the Best Picture nominees (Spoiler Alert: things look good for One Battle After Another!)." -SAS Communities user tc.

Dear Reader,

We’re incredibly grateful to our customers who continue to share their feedback and experiences with SAS! Thanks to verified reviews from users like you, SAS Viya was recognized in the 2026 G2 Best Software Awards across AI Products, IT Infrastructure Products, and Analytics Products. These awards are driven entirely by real user experiences; your voice truly matters. If you’d like to share your own experience, we’d love to hear from you.

As we look ahead, we are a month out until SAS Innovate 2026, and we couldn’t be more excited to connect with you all in person. SAS Innovate is THE data & AI event of the year, designed with SAS users at the center, whether you’re working in SAS 9, SAS Viya, or both.

In his latest article, SAS Innovate 2026 and you: the SAS user, Chris Hemedinger shares how this year’s conference doubles down on what users value most: practical learning, peer‑to‑peer knowledge sharing, and real‑world experience. Highlights include SAS Users Day, user‑led sessions, dedicated content for SAS 9 users, and much more.

And here’s something you may not know: SAS Explorers can redeem points for a full pass to SAS Innovate 2026. For just 7,000 points, you can secure your spot at the event taking place April 27–30 in Texas. This offer is limited to 50 passes and available through April 17, so don’t miss your chance to turn points into an unforgettable conference experience.

We hope to see you there in the flesh, but if travel isn't in the cards, don't forget that a Digital Pass is also available! And be sure to tune into the next SAS Viya Release Highlights Show, where we'll recap the conference with key takeaways and exclusive interviews you won’t want to miss…

Cheers,

Thiago De Souza
Editor, SAS Tech Report

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Tech tips with Chris

Did you know you can create your own reusable functions in SAS? With PROC FCMP, you can wrap complex logic into a simple, reusable function—and then call it anywhere you need it. Think of it as creating your own mini function library that makes your programs cleaner, clearer, and easier to maintain.

A LinkedIn connection recently shared a handy GitHub repo with clear instructions and examples for getting started.

I’ve used this technique myself in SAS consulting work. One example: I created a custom function to validate National Provider Identifiers (NPIs) in health care records. Customers in the medical insurance industry told me it significantly simplified a tricky data quality task.

What SAS function would you like to build? Have you used PROC FCMP in your work? Let me know. I’d love to hear about your examples.

Tips & tricks

SAS Data Maker | SAS Viya December 2025 and January 2026 Release
In this month’s episode of the SAS Viya Release Highlights Show, discover how SAS Data Maker uses synthetic data to generate safe, high-quality data and accelerate innovation. We also explore the 2025.12 and 2026.01 SAS Viya releases, featuring SAS Viya Copilot for Intelligent Decisioning, Data Step Debugger enhancements, and new SAS ESP APIs with OpenAPI support.

SAS Viya Copilot in Action (Part 1): Intelligent Assistance for Building Model Studio Pipelines
Sharad Saxena kicks off a three-part series showing how SAS Viya Copilot provides intelligent, conversational assistance in Model Studio, helping users build, run, and understand machine learning pipelines more efficiently. He walks through core capabilities like submitting prompts, asking modeling questions, adding pipeline nodes, and interpreting results with automated explanations and summaries.

Don't crash this ship! DuckDB is heading straight for Iceberg!
Joe Cabral explores how SAS Viya’s SAS/ACCESS Interface to DuckDB now supports Apache Iceberg, enabling efficient access, querying, and updates of data stored in open formats like Parquet across cost‑effective object storage. He explains why combining DuckDB and Iceberg improves performance, flexibility, and data management while keeping data where it lives.

Selective backup and restore of SAS Viya Content
Gerry Nelson explains how SAS Viya administrators can selectively back up and restore specific content (such as reports, models, and jobs) without performing a full system backup or causing downtime. He shows how to use the SAS Viya transfer service and CLI to gain more granular, efficient control over content protection while keeping environments running.

Configuring New Publishing Destinations via a User Interface in SAS Environment Manager
Sophia Rowland shows how SAS Viya administrators can configure new publishing destinations directly through the user interface, reducing reliance on command-line tools. She walks through setting up and managing destinations more easily, helping teams streamline model and content publishing workflows.

How can SAS improve my city driving experience?
Peter Christie explores how SAS analytics and AI can improve everyday city driving, from optimizing traffic flow and parking to enhancing road safety and reducing congestion. He highlights real-world use cases where data-driven insights help cities deliver smoother, safer, and more efficient urban mobility experiences.

How SAS Event Stream Processing and MCP Bring Real‑Time Intelligence to GenAI
Michael McCahill explains how integrating SAS Event Stream Processing (ESP) with the Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables GenAI systems to access trusted, real-time operational data instead of relying solely on static or historical information. Together, ESP and MCP allow AI applications to detect events, analyze context, and act immediately, bringing real-time intelligence into enterprise AI workflows.

The Best of Both Worlds: Using SAS and R Together in SAS Viya Workbench
Shelby Taylor shows how SAS Viya Workbench lets users combine SAS and R in a single, connected environment, making it easy to move seamlessly between languages without switching tools. Using a practical example, she demonstrates how to prepare data in SAS and analyze it in R, leveraging the strengths of both within one workflow.

Going for Gold: Visualizing Olympic Medal Counts with SAS Viya
Greg Treiman walks through an end‑to‑end data science workflow in SAS Viya, showing how to collect Olympic medal data, prepare it, and create compelling visualizations like maps and charts. He demonstrates how SAS Viya combines Python, SAS programming, and visualization tools to turn real‑world data into clear, engaging insights.

Using network analytics to analyze social interactions among needle sharers
Hossein Tohidi demonstrates how SAS Viya network analytics can uncover hidden patterns in needle‑sharing networks by identifying highly connected individuals, risk pathways, and community structures. Using real public health data, he shows how network measures like centrality and community detection can support more targeted and effective intervention strategies.

Use case

The state of Iowa turns student data into academic progress
Using SAS EVAAS analytics, the Iowa Department of Education is helping school districts turn student assessment data into clear, actionable insights so educators can identify learning gaps, target interventions, and better support student growth over time.

For developers

How to use SAS to work with ServiceNow APIs
Chris Hemedinger walks through a practical, end-to-end approach for calling the ServiceNow REST API from SAS using PROC HTTP and OAuth 2.0.

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: Using Git With Your SAS Projects
Join this webinar on Thursday, April 2 at 11:00 AM EST to learn how to integrate Git with your SAS code projects and improve code quality and collaboration – plus maximize efficiency. You will learn how to:

Unlock the power of version control: Improve code quality and collaboration.
Streamline your workflows: Learn practical techniques for connecting SAS tools to your Git environment.
Incorporate Git into your daily routines for maximum efficiency.

Ask the Expert: Data Manipulation Techniques
Join this webinar on Tuesday, April 7 at 11:00 AM EST to build practical skills using DATA step tools and techniques for application to your own SAS workflows. You will learn about:

Controlling DATA step processing and summarizing data with the SUM statement.
Manipulating data with character, numeric and date functions, and creating custom formats.
Combining tables and processing repetitive code with iterative and conditional DO loops.

Ask the Expert: How Do We Fit Machine Learning Models in SAS® Viya®?
Join this webinar on Thursday, April 16 at 11:00 AM EST to explore how to fit, evaluate and compare machine learning models with ease in SAS Viya. You will learn:

What a machine learning model is, including different types.
How to assess and compare machine learning models.
How to fit multiple machine learning models, including open source models, using SAS Viya.

Ask the Expert: Server-Side Tagging for Content Request and Events APIs in SAS Customer Intelligence...
Join this webinar on Tuesday, April 21 at 9:00 AM EST (30 min.) 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:

How server-side tagging works in SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
How events and content request APIs support real-time personalization across all channels, including MCP- and AI-driven interactions.
Best practices and lessons learned from real implementations.