SAS Viya Copilot  ·  Tips & Tricks Everything You Need To Get the Most Out of SAS Viya Copilot SAS Viya Copilot is changing the way we work — bringing conversational AI into analytics, modeling, and coding to make complex tasks faster and more intuitive. Whether you're an administrator, data scientist, or business analyst, this guide collects practical resources across every product it touches. Bookmark this page and check back often — we'll keep it updated as new content drops. Getting Started & Setup New to Viya Copilot? Start here. How to Activate SAS Viya Copilot: An Administrator's Guide Walk through the setup process step by step, with each task mapped directly to official SAS documentation. Article Automating SAS Viya Copilot Setup Automate credential configuration with a ready-to-use script, plus troubleshoot common activation pitfalls across multiple environments. Article Try SAS Viya Copilot Free for 14 Days Want to give SAS Viya Copilot a try? Sign up for the free, 14-day SAS Viya trial and explore Copilot hands-on across analytics, modeling, and coding. Free Trial   SAS Extension for Visual Studio Code   Full Demo: SAS Viya Copilot for Code Assistance Watch a full product demo — from generating code to enhancing programming tasks — all without leaving VS Code. Video Let Copilot be your guide to efficient coding See how Viya Copilot generates, comments, and refines a SAS program into a reusable macro — all through conversational prompts. Article SAS Model Studio   Full Demo: SAS Viya Copilot in Model Studio Take a full tour — see how Viya Copilot recommends nodes, automates pipeline steps, and helps you move from data to model faster. Video How Can SAS Viya Copilot Help Me Build Better Models? Replay this Ask the Expert webinar to hear how Viya Copilot accelerates modeling and coding, plus answers to real user questions from the live Q&A. Webinar How to Generate Complete Model Pipelines Using Conversational Prompts Use natural language to explore modeling options, ask about nodes, and automatically build a complete pipeline — step by step. Article SAS Viya Copilot Explained: Building ML Pipelines in Minutes, Not Hours Get answers to common questions — what Viya Copilot is, how it works, who it's for, and how it helps teams build ML pipelines more confidently. Article SAS Viya Copilot in Action (Part 1): Intelligent Assistance for Building Model Studio Pipelines Go beyond the basics with a detailed walkthrough of submitting prompts, adding nodes, running pipelines, and interpreting model results. Article   SAS Model Manager   SAS Viya Copilot Available for SAS Model Manager See how Viya Copilot pulls answers from official documentation in real time — right inside the product, right when you need it. Article   SAS Visual Analytics   Full Demo: SAS Viya Copilot for Augmented Analytics Watch a complete demo — from conversational data exploration to auto-generated dashboards — all inside the Visual Analytics experience. Video Where insight begins: Building smarter analytics with SAS Visual Analytics Explore how visualization, advanced analytics, and collaboration connect in one platform — and why it's built to scale with AI and the full SAS Viya ecosystem. Blog Where insight keeps moving: Augmented analytics inside SAS Visual Analytics See how Viya Copilot keeps analytical momentum moving — turning exploration into interpretation without breaking the flow of work. Blog From question to clarity: how SAS Viya Copilot changes the way we work with data Follow the full analytics journey — from shaping data and building visuals to surfacing insights — and see how conversational AI makes every step more intuitive. Blog   Quick Reference: Where Does Viya Copilot Live? SAS Product What Viya Copilot Does There Best For SAS Extension for Visual Studio Code Viya Copilot for Code Assistance Generates and enhances SAS code via the VS Code extension Data Scientists, Developers   SAS Model Studio Viya Copilot for Model Studio Builds ML pipelines using conversational prompts Data Scientists   SAS Model Manager Viya Copilot for Model Manager Answers product questions from embedded documentation in real time Data Scientists, MLOps Engineers   SAS Visual Analytics Viya Copilot for Visual Analytics Conversational data exploration and auto-generated dashboards Business Analysts   SAS Intelligent Decisioning Viya Copilot for Intelligent Decisioning Assists with building and managing decision flows — combining business rules, analytic models, and logic to automate real-time decisions Data Scientists, Business Analysts, Risk Teams   SAS Information Governance Viya Copilot for Data Discovery Answers product documentation questions in context — from what items can be cataloged to how to analyze a table Data Scientists, Business Analysts   SAS Visual Investigator Viya Copilot in Visual Investigator Searches, interprets, summarizes, and documents complex information using natural language and AI-assisted analysis Investigators   Have a tip of your own? Share it in the comments below — we'd love to feature community-sourced tips in future updates. And if you haven't activated Viya Copilot yet, start with the Administrator's Guide and get your team up and running today. Want to see what's new? Visit the SAS Viya Release Updates to explore the latest features and enhancements that include Viya Copilot: SAS Viya Release Updates: Viya Copilot ... View more

As described in this SAS Knowledge Base article, the default setting for the YEARCUTOFF option in most SAS environments is 1940. (As a reminder, the YEARCUTOFF option influences the behavior of how SAS calculates date values that have only a two-digit year.)   In SAS Viya 3.5 (and some older SAS 9.4 releases), the YEARCUTOFF default value is still 1926. As we are now in 2026 (happy new year!), this setting can cause issues for SAS programs that access data with date values that rely on two-digit years.   You can change the value of YEARCUTOFF by adding an option to your SAS config file (affecting all users and programs), or by using an OPTIONS statement in your affected SAS program. SAS recommends setting the value to 1940 (to be consistent with the shipped default value), but you can decide the best value to use for your situation.   To affect just the current program, add this statement at the beginning of your code:   options yearcutoff=1940;   To affect all programs and users in the SAS environment, add this setting to the SAS config file:   -yearcutoff 1940   To check the current value of YEARCUTOFF, use this SAS program code: proc options option=yearcutoff; run;   Notes: In SAS 9.4M7 and later, the YEARCUTOFF option is set to 1940 as a default. In SAS Viya 4 (any version), the YEARCUTOFF option is set to 1940 as a default. ... View more

For this Juletip, let's unwrap a gift that you might have never found or perhaps forgot that you had: the SAS Macro Variable Viewer in SAS Enterprise Guide.   Ever wonder what’s happening behind the scenes with your macro variables? When your SAS programs rely on  %LET  statements,  %SYSFUNC  calls, or conditional logic, keeping track of macro values can feel like detective work. Fortunately, SAS Enterprise Guide has a built-in Macro Variable Viewer that makes this easy—and even fun.   SAS Macro Variable Viewer in EG Why Use the Macro Variable Viewer? The Macro Variable Viewer is your one-stop shop for inspecting and debugging macro variables without cluttering your log with  %PUT  statements. Here’s what it can do: List all macro variables currently defined in your session. Show values instantly—no extra code required. Search by name to find what you need fast. Evaluate macro expressions using the built-in Macro Expression Quick View. Refresh as your program runs.   How to Access It In SAS Enterprise Guide, go to Tools → SAS Macro Variable Viewer. The viewer opens in a separate window, displaying all macro variables in your session. You can keep this window open while you continue to edit and run your SAS programs!   Quick Tips for Using It Search for a Macro Variable Type part of the name in the search box—like  _CLIENTAPP  or  MYVAR —and the list filters instantly. Check Values Without Code Click any macro variable to see its value. No need for  %PUT  statements. Evaluate Expressions Use the Macro Expression Quick View field and test macro functions and values on the fly: %eval(5+3) Or here's a more complext example, showing the date 3 weeks from today: %sysfunc(intnx(week,"&sysdate9"d,3),date9.); Wrap-Up Use the Macro Variable Viewer to help debug your programs and check macro output. It saves time and helps you avoid surprises when your macro-driven logic depends on dynamic values.   Next time you’re troubleshooting a macro-heavy program, skip the guesswork. Open the Macro Variable Viewer and take control of your macro environment—fast, easy, and interactive. ... View more