Agentic AI autonomously navigates the entire data and AI lifecycle. It accesses raw data, cleans and transforms it, identifies the best algorithms, builds and validates models, deploy them seamlessly into production, and monitor model performance over time—often at a scale and speed beyond human capabilities. All that’s left for humans is to interpret insights in real time, orchestrate AI systems, and make strategic decisions while AI Agents handle the rest.
Game Details
The SAS Support Community trivia event, SAS Bowl LV, Agentic AI is scheduled for Wednesday, October 22, at 10 AM ET.
Register for the event. and receive an invite to a Microsoft Teams meeting and a calendar event.
On game day, join the Teams meeting and access the game here.
Here is a list of resources to help you out in the game:
A series of SAS Communities article on Agentic AI
Building a foundation for agentic AI success with SAS Viya
Beyond the black box: How agentic AI is redefining explainability
Agentic AI, Generative AI and AI Governance
SAS Bowl and event details
For those who may be new to the SAS Bowl, you can find game history and specifics in this Community memo. There you'll also find links to previous events, which include recordings.
Register for the event and receive an invite with game details and a Teams meeting link. On game day, Join the TEAMS meeting to play, and show off your SAS and worldly knowledge while competing for bragging rights and SAS Community game gear.
We can't wait to meet in-person at The Link in Kendall Square, Cambridge. Pre-registration by Oct 21 is required. No on-site registration or walk-ins.
Time & Location
Oct 24, 2025, 8:15 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
The Link, 255 Main St 8th floor, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
BASUG is thrilled to announce our IN-PERSON SAS Blowout!
Pre-registration by Oct 21 is required. No on-site registration or walk-ins.
The meeting will be held on Friday, October 24, at the The Link in Kendall Square, Cambridge. The full-day meeting, co-hosted by SAS® and BASUG, features presenters from SAS and the SAS community, presenting on a range of SAS programming topics. We can't wait to see you! Abstracts are listed below. If you have questions, feel free to email us: registrations@basug.org.
The meeting will not be recorded, and will not be live-streamed. We hope to see you in-person.
BASUG welcomes students with a 50% discount if they register by Friday, October 17. Please email an image of your current student ID to registrations@basug.org to request the coupon code.
PRESENTATIONS
Enhance your Coding Experience with the SAS Plugin for VS Code (any SAS)
Jim Box (Principal Data Scientist, SAS Institute Inc.)
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) from Microsoft® is an open-source code editor that is very popular among developers for its ease of use across all programming languages which is driven by a robust extension ecosystem. The SAS VS Code extension is an open-source, freely available add-on that allows you to use VS Code to connect to any modern SAS® Environment, from SAS 9.4 on your local machine to SAS Viya® in the cloud. The key features include Syntax Highlighting, Code Completion, Syntax Help, Data Viewer, and my favorite, SAS Notebooks, which offer an exciting way to share content and comments. We’ll look at the extension, how to use it, and explore how you can get involved with the direction of how this product evolves.
Check Your Biases – Understand How AI systems Work, What Can Go Wrong, And What You Should Be Asking Before Using
Jim Box (Principal Data Scientist, SAS Institute Inc.)
Everybody is talking about AI and how to use it, but not enough people understand or are considering the potential problems that using AI can bring to society. Let’s talk about how AI systems are made, the types of problems they are being used to solve, and how to be more responsible in how we use it. We’ll talk about the sorts of questions you should be thinking about and asking any time you are interacting with an AI powered system
Making a Readable PROC COMPARE Report in Excel
Jane Eslinger (President and CEO of Eslinger Enterprises)
When using PROC COMPARE to examine two data sets for differences, the default output is a verbose and segmented report optimized for the ODS Listing destination. When sent to Excel, the report, with one variable holding all the information, becomes hard to comprehend. This paper demonstrates how to capture and manipulate key ODS OUTPUT data sets generated by PROC COMPARE, and then use those data sets with PROC REPORT to create a cleaner, more readable report in Excel perfect for review, documentation, or delivery.
Highlighting the Differences: PROC COMPARE in Excel
Jane Eslinger (President and CEO of Eslinger Enterprises)
PROC COMPARE is great for examining the differences across two data sets—but the default output doesn’t always paint the full picture. Though the printed report is informational, its wordy presentation does not facilitate the identification of patterns in the differences within and across variables. This paper shows how to turn raw comparison data from the OUT= options in PROC COMPARE into a polished spreadsheet that uses color strategically to highlight the details and make variable-level differences easy for the reviewer to spot.
Using SAS With Microsoft 365: A Programming Approach
Chris Hemedinger (Director of SAS User Engagement, SAS Institute Inc.)
In today's cloud-connected world, traditional methods of accessing Excel data from SAS are becoming obsolete. With more content stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive (hosted in Microsoft 365), it can be challenging to get SAS to read these files and publish new ones to these locations. This presentation guides you through the steps of connecting your SAS programs to Microsoft 365 using the Microsoft Graph APIs, enabling you to read and write files to SharePoint folders, OneDrive folders and Microsoft Teams.
From Chirps to Charts: Using BirdNET-PI and SAS to Monitor Backyard Biodiversity
Chris Hemedinger (Director of SAS User Engagement, SAS Institute Inc.)
Chris shares his journey of combining open-source technology and SAS analytics to track and visualize birdsong data from his backyard in Raleigh, NC. Using a Raspberry Pi-powered BirdNET-PI device, Chris has collected over 160,000 bird detections, transforming raw audio into interactive dashboards that reveal seasonal patterns, species frequency, and confidence scores. This presentation showcases how data science can bring nature closer to home—and how even a casual hobby can evolve into a compelling analytics project.
Panel Discussion
Michael Salé, DPS (Associate Dean, Leo J. Meehan School of Business at Stonehill College)
Mike will moderate an engaging panel discussion featuring all of the presenters from the meeting, with time for audience questions as well.
Schedule
8:15 AM - 9:00 AM Registration / Breakfast
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Presentations
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Presentations
We're excited to welcome you to a spook-tacular day of learning, networking, and celebrating data on Halloween! This year's onsite meeting will feature thought-provoking presentations, hands-on discussions on SAS, open-source integration, AI, and advanced analytics - plus a festive twist with costumes encouraged.
We're also thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new Mentor/Mentee Program for early career professionals and students - a unique opportunity to connect with experienced industry leaders. More details will be shared in the coming weeks!
📢 Call for Abstracts is now OPEN! Submit your abstracts by 10th October, 2025. Authors will be notified of their acceptance/rejection shortly after the submission deadline.
Date and Time: Friday, October 31, 2025, from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Location: Room F95, Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut St, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104
📢 REGISTRATION EXTENDED - Register by 10th October, 2025 Registration is free but required in advance for a smooth check-in.
