October 2025

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Fun With SAS ODS Graphics: Monster Mash (Band + Polygon + Ellipseparm Plot Mashup)
"It's Halloween week, so here's a quick SAS ODS Graphics take on a cute Halloween Card craft project for kids. Happy Trick-or-Treating, all!" -SAS Communities user tc.

Dear Reader,

BOO! You know what’s truly terrifying? Missed opportunities! Nothing haunts me more than letting a great chance slip away. So consider this your warning: two exciting opportunities are just ahead…

First, the legend of SAS Analytics Explorers…
Whether you’re starting your analytics journey or ready to conjure next-level skills, SAS Analytics Explorers is your global community for learning, sharing, and growing with SAS.

Connect with like-minded professionals, unlock exclusive tutorials and tips, tackle eerie challenges, and earn frightfully good rewards—all while expanding your SAS expertise and professional network.

If you’ve joined before, now’s the perfect time to rise from the shadows and see what’s new.

Visit SAS Analytics Explorers today and brew your next opportunity to learn, connect, and earn!

Second, beware—the Call for Content for SAS Innovate 2026 closes November 7!

Got some magical ideas in data and AI? Share them with a worldwide audience on April 27–30 in Grapevine, Texas. If your session is selected, you’ll receive:

Complimentary conference registration
Complimentary hotel stay
Airfare reimbursement up to $500–$1,500 (restrictions apply)

The spirits of success are calling you... answer before they vanish into the mist!

Thiago De Souza
Editor, SAS Tech Report

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Tech tips with Chris

I recently had the pleasure of attending the annual "SAS Blowout" hosted by the Boston SAS Users Group—a day packed with sharp technical presentations and lively networking. We wrapped up with a panel discussion that posed a fun question: What’s your favorite underrated or underutilized SAS feature? The answers were as varied as the attendees: PROC DELETE (yes, it's real now), PROC SQL, PROC UNIVARIATE, and my personal favorite—PROC HTTP.

We also talked about features that might be a bit overhyped. SAS macro topped that list—not because it's not powerful (it absolutely is), but because too many folks reach for it when a simpler, more straightforward program would do the trick.

SAS offers a rich pantry of ingredients for building your analytics recipe. Everyone has their own favorite flavors. So, I'll ask you: What’s your favorite underdog SAS feature? Let me know with a message!

Tips & tricks

SAS Data Accelerator, Column-level Lineage in SAS Studio | SAS Viya August and September Release
In this episode, you'll also learn more about SAS Data Accelerator and its transformative role in large-scale analytics. Rather than bringing the data to the compute, data acceleration takes the compute to the data. The Data Accelerator relaunch introduces a standardized architecture that simplifies support for new data sources, improves consistency, reduces custom code, and enhances software support and customer experience.

Build AI Agents in SAS Viya | Introducing the SAS Agentic AI Accelerator
Looking to move beyond basic chatbots and start building intelligent, multi-step AI agents with human in the loop? The SAS Agentic AI Accelerator is your launchpad. In this video, we introduce a structured, enterprise-ready framework for SAS Viya customers' to design, deploy, and govern AI agents using standard Viya capabilities—with support for no-code, low-code, and yes-code users.

Quickly and easily register Python models in SAS Viya Workbench
Learn how to seamlessly register Python models in SAS Viya Workbench using the sasctl and pzmm packages. This guide walks through preparing files, connecting to SAS Viya, and automating registration into SAS Model Manager for efficient ModelOps and production readiness.

Speeding Up Workloads with Ducks(?!): Case Study of New DuckDB ACCESS Engine
See how the new DuckDB Access Engine delivers lightning-fast, in-memory processing for large datasets. This case study highlights how SAS Studio users can boost performance and streamline data workflows with DuckDB integration.

Visualize an ordinal response regression model
Rick Wicklin shows two ways to visualize a regression model for an ordinal response variable. You can use the EFFECTPLOT statement in PROC LOGISTIC to automatically create a visualization. You can also create a graph manually by using the output from PROC LOGISTIC.

Use a high-low plot to emulate a histogram in SAS
Discover how to emulate a histogram using a high-low plot in SAS when you need to overlay custom curves. This technique leverages PROC SGPLOT’s HIGHLOW statement for flexible visualization and includes a macro to simplify the process.

Using the AI Copilot in SAS Customer Intelligence 360
The new AI Copilot in SAS Customer Intelligence 360 helps marketers work smarter and faster. From generating personalized content to streamlining campaign workflows, this feature makes it easier to deliver impactful customer experiences. Learn how to put AI to work for your marketing strategy.

Visual Studio Code for SAS Analytics Pro Users
SAS Analytics Pro now supports coding in Visual Studio Code with the SAS Extension, offering a modern, customizable development experience. This article introduces the VS Code interface and shows how SAS users can combine familiar functionality with the flexibility of a full-featured editor.

Use case

Modern MarTech drives retail customer connections for Germany’s leading drugstore
dm-drogerie markt modernized its marketing with SAS Customer Intelligence 360 and Snowflake, enabling real-time personalization and cutting campaign cycles by up to 90%, while ensuring strict data privacy.

For developers

Introducing the SAS Agentic AI Accelerator: Build AI Agents Seamlessly in SAS Viya
Check out this Communities article featuring Marinela Profi and Dave Weik. Many of us are exploring how to use Large Language Models (LLMs) for more than just simple chat. The logical next step is building systems that can perform multi-step tasks - often called AI agents - systems that go beyond basic chat and can perform multi-step tasks, orchestrate workflows, and drive decisions.

SAS Bowl LVI, LLMs and Getting Started with SAS Coding
LLMs aren’t perfect, but they can help you get started and speed up SAS code generation. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to leverage LLMs for SAS coding and share tips you can apply to any model. We’re featuring this topic in the November edition of the SAS Bowl!

Upcoming learning events

(Each is one hour and complimentary unless stated otherwise.)

Ask the Expert: Exploring SAS Programming Interfaces
Join SAS' John McCall at 11:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, November 4 to explore the many features available at your fingertips when using SAS. You will learn:

How to automate library reference setup and other code at the start of a new session.
How to investigate table properties.
Other features you may not have noticed.

Ask the Expert: Welcome to SAS® Viya®
Join SAS' Stacey Syphus at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, November 6 to explore and learn how to make the most of your data and AI investment. You will learn how to:

Understand the core qualities and basic architecture of SAS Viya.
Use the suite of SAS Viya applications to manage and explore data, develop models and deploy insights.
Develop code using either SAS or Python in SAS Viya.

SAS AI and Machine Learning Skills Fest: Level up your analytics game!
Join us November 12–14, 2025, for a free, virtual SAS AI and Machine Learning Skills Fest packed with live expert-led sessions on SAS Viya and Visual Analytics, machine learning and model ops, forecasting, text analysis, optimization, and more. Explore powerful tools and gain the skills to tackle real-world challenges and unlock new career opportunities. Register now.

Ask the Expert: How Can SAS® Viya® Transform Public Health Strategies?
Join SAS' Meg Schaeffer and Parker Ince at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, November 13 to discover how public health organizations can use SAS with open source in unique ways to save time and streamline software costs. You will learn:

New ways to use R and Python with SAS.
Options for ingesting public health FHIR data into SAS Viya using open source.
About SAS solutions for outbreak management and environmental health monitoring.

Ask the Expert: CDP Capabilities in SAS Customer Intelligence 360: Activating Dynamic Customer Profi...
Join SAS' Hayo Baas at 9:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, November 18 to see how you can unify, enrich and activate customer data in real time for personalized engagement at scale. You will learn:

How to build dynamic customer profiles.
How to activate these profiles across marketing touchpoints.
Advanced CDP capabilities with SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
Best practices and real-life applications.

Live Webinar: How to Prepare for the Visual Business Analytics Using SAS® Viya® Certification
If you’re using SAS Visual Analytics in a business analytics role, this webinar can help you move your career forward. With recent updates to the exam, you’ll gain the skills you need to better prepare for Visual Analytics certification. November 19 at 10 a.m. ET.