Kirk Paul Lafler recently presented his popular presentation, Google Search for SAS Users, for DCSUG. Google (www.google.com) is the world’s most popular and widely-used search engine.  As the premier search tool on the Internet today, SAS® users frequently need to identify and locate SAS content wherever and in whatever form it resides. Topics include learning how Google search works by illustrating relevant search examples, tips, and techniques for finding content of interest, including examples, reference works, information tools, directories, PDFs, images, SAS communities and user groups announcements / examples / solutions, current news stories, and various techniques on how you can quickly and easily improve / optimize your Google searches to satisfy your every need.   In this post, you'll find the recorded meeting, plus his slides and his original paper with Charlie Shipp. Thank you, Kirk, for another informative presentation!   ... View more

July 25, 2024 11:00am ET   About the webinar   SAS administrators create and perform a multitude of tasks, not all of which are obvious or easy. If you want help understanding the role of a SAS Viya administrator or want to build confidence and improve the configuration, stability and performance of your SAS Viya deployment, this webinar is for you.   Register to join this webinar to receive a checklist of tasks and more.   You will learn: The role of a SAS Viya administrator. Which parts of SAS Viya administration are relevant to your role. How to use a checklist of SAS Viya administration tasks.   Presented by: David Stern Principal Technical Architect, SAS As a part of the SAS Global Enablement and Learning team, David Stern develops and conducts technical workshops and learning events worldwide, and writes papers, implementation best practice guides and how-tos for SAS Viya platform administration. His main interests are in deployment and post-deployment tasks, including migration, modernization, security model design, implementation and ongoing administration, and SAS upgrades. ... View more

In this presentation, SAS' Jason Colon shows you how to use Python and the SAS Viya platform to turn complex questions into understandable, actionable insights using the SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS) engine on the platform for massively parallel processing. The presentation uses Python and the SAS Viya platform to build a data pipeline--from data access, exploration, and analysis to interactive dashboard.   Virtual meeting on Zoom; email researchtrianglesasusersgroup@gmail.com for the Zoom link. ... View more

PhilaSUG presents: From Muggles to Macros: Transfiguring Your SAS® Programs With Dynamic, Data-Driven Wizardry   The SAS macro facility is an amazing tool for creating dynamic, flexible, reusable programs that automatically adapt to change. This presentation uses examples to demonstrate how to transform static "muggle" code full of hardcodes and data dependencies by adding macro language magic to create data-driven programming logic. Cast a vanishing spell on data dependencies and let the macro facility write your SAS code for you!   Presented by: Josh Horstman is an independent statistical programming consultant and trainer based in Indianapolis with over 25 years of experience using SAS, primarily in the life sciences industry. Josh is a SAS Certified Advanced Programmer who loves coding and presenting at SAS user group conferences and other industry events. Josh also enjoys travelling and hiking with his family and has been to 47 states and 28 national parks.   Richann Watson is an independent statistical programmer and CDISC consultant based in Ohio who loves to code and is very active in the SAS User Group community. When Richann is not busy coding or volunteering in the SAS User Group community, she is spending time with her family and cute but psycho puppy, Loki, or doing some of her favorite crafts such as crocheting or sewing.   Register today! ... View more

A Review of "Free" Massive Open Online Content (MOOC) for SAS® Learners Leading online providers are now offering SAS® users with “free” access to content for learning how to use and program in SAS. This content is available to anyone in the form of massive open online content (or courses) (MOOC). Not only is all the content offered for “free”, but it is designed with the distance learner in mind, empowering users to learn using a flexible and self-directed approach. A MOOC represents online content such as a PDF document, course, video or other resources and content that is freely available to the masses using the web. Topics include the various ways anyone who wants to learn SAS programming techniques can access “free” learning technologies including SAS On-Demand for Academics and SAS Studio software, SAS technical support, published PDF “white” papers, code examples, comprehensive notes, instructor lesson plans, hands-on exercises, data files, webinars, videos, audio files, and other content.   Intended Audience: All SAS users Prerequisites: None Type of Presentation: Tutorial with access to MOOC providers Length: 50 minutes   Presented by: Kirk Paul "sasNerd" Lafler Kirk Paul Lafler is a consultant, developer, programmer, educator, and data scientist, and has been a SAS user since 1979. Kirk works as a lecturer and adjunct professor at San Diego State University; and teaches dozens of SAS, SQL, Python, and Excel courses, workshops, and webinars to users around the world. Kirk is the author of several books including PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Third Edition (SAS Press. 2019) along with hundreds of papers and articles on a variety of SAS, SQL, Python, and Excel topics. Kirk currently serves as the Open-source Advocate and Coordinator for the Western Users of SAS Software (WUSS) organization, and has been selected as an Invited speaker, educator, keynote and section leader at conferences and meetings worldwide; and is the recipient of 29 “Best” contributed paper, hands-on workshop (HOW), and poster awards.   Register today! ... View more

Join the 2024 Minnesota SAS User Group Conference sponsored by SAS!   This 1-day event is FREE and great way to grow your SAS skills and your professional network! A full agenda will be released in the next couple of months, but the presentations will cover fuzzy matching with PROC SQL, efficient sorting, using formats, macros, and integrating Python with SAS. Whether you're new to SAS or an advanced user, this conference is for you!   This FREE event includes: Full day of in-person presentations with time to network Learn more about fuzzy matching, macros, formats, integrating Python, and more! Presentations by SAS trainers Mark Jordan and Kathy Kiraly Opportunities to network with other local SAS users FREE food (continental breakfast, lunch, and afternoon treats!) FREE parking   REGISTER today!   Location: University of St. Thomas James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall North Anderson Student Center, 3rd Floor 2115 Summit Ave St. Paul, MN 55105   There is FREE parking at the Anderson Parking Facility at the corner of Cretin Avenue and Grand Avenue.   For more information, visit the website (https://sites.google.com/site/minnesotasasug/home) and join MinnSUG on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14113391/).  ... View more

Google® Search for SAS® Users    - Kirk Paul Lafler Google (www.google.com) is the world’s most popular and widely-used search engine.  As the premier search tool on the Internet today, SAS® users frequently need to identify and locate SAS content wherever and in whatever form it resides. Topics include learning how Google search works by illustrating relevant search examples, tips, and techniques for finding content of interest, including examples, reference works, information tools, directories, PDFs, images, SAS communities and user groups announcements / examples / solutions, current news stories, and various techniques on how you can quickly and easily improve / optimize your Google searches to satisfy your every need.  Tutorial with examples   Length: 50 minutes   Registration is not required. Simply join https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZjBmZDI0OTgtMjQyYy00MTkzLWIxYzQtMzVhNWZhY2VkODFi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22b1c14d5c-3625-45b3-a430-9552373a0c2f%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22a0399228-6892-40c9-bca0-a81a60bcdfc2%22%7d at 10:30am on June 26.   Presenter Bio Kirk Paul Lafler is a consultant, developer, programmer, educator, and data scientist; and teaches SAS Programming and Data Management in the Statistics Department at San Diego State University. Kirk also provides project-based consulting and programming services to client organizations in a variety of industries including healthcare, life sciences, and business; and teaches “virtual” and “live” SAS, SQL, Python, Database Management Systems (DBMS) technologies (e.g., Oracle, SQL-Server, Teradata, MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, AWS), Excel, R, cloud-based technologies as well as other software and tools. Currently, Kirk serves as the Western Users of SAS Software (WUSS) Executive Committee (EC) Open-Source Advocate and Coordinator and is actively involved with several proprietary and open-source software, DBMS, machine learning, cloud-computing user groups and conference committees. Kirk is the author of several books including the popular PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Third Edition (SAS Press. 2019), along with other technical books and publications. He is also an Invited speaker, educator, keynote, and leader; and is the recipient of 28 “Best” contributed paper, hands-on workshop (HOW), and poster awards. ... View more

Join MSUG for their 1-Day SAS Conference! Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 Time: 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Place: VisTaTech Center            Schoolcraft College            18600 Haggerty Rd            Livonia, MI 48152 Cost:  $50 on or before May 28, 2024;  $95 after May 28, 2024.  $10 students with proof of student status.   Register Now!   Agenda Know Thy Data: Techniques for Data Exploration - Charu Shankar, SAS Bayesian Time Series in PROC MCMC - Danny Modlin, SAS Introduction to Data Simulation - Jason Brinkley, Abt Associates Inc. SAS HPSPLIT: A Powerful Machine Learning Tool - Russ Lavery, Independent Consultant NHANES Dietary Supplement Component: A Parallel Programming Project - Jay Iyengar, Data System Consultants, LLC Being a Statistical Expert Witness - David Corliss, Grafham Analytics Transforming Sales & Marketing: The Power of Generative AI - Gene Grabowski, SAS Binning Procedures for Logistic Regression - Bruce Lund, Independent Consultant Confessions of a PROC SQL Instructor - Charu Shankar, SAS Missing Data in PROC MCMC - Danny Modlin, SAS Regression Models for Count Data - Jason Brinkley, Abt Associates Inc. An Animated Introduction to Git and GitHub - Russ Lavery, Independent Consultant SAS Job Searching and Interviewing Tips – Strategies in the Post-Pandemic Era - Jay Iyengar, Data System Consultants, LLC They are also planning to hold the following training classes before and after the conference.  Cost is $185 for a half-day class, and $370 for a full-day class.  All classes will be held at the VisTaTech Center at Schoolcraft College (18600 Haggerty Rd, Livonia, MI 48152).  Click on the titles for the course descriptions. Tuesday, June 11 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM: SAS Macros in Cartoons: Complex Stuff Made Easy! - Russ Lavery, Independent Consultant Thursday, June 13 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM:  An Overview of Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Quantitative Data (PCA, FA, and Clustering) - Jason Brinkley, Abt Associates Inc. 1:00 - 5:00 PM:  An Overview of Causal Inference, Counterfactual Data Analysis, and Propensity Score Methods - Jason Brinkley, Abt Associates Inc.   Register Now! ... View more

Plan to Attend WUSS 2024 in Sacramento   Mark your calendar for the Western Users of SAS Software 2024 annual conference! This year’s event will be September 4-6, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento in Sacramento, California.    Registration and hotel reservations are now open!   We are once again offering a broad variety of classes.   ... View more

We are so excited to have our in person conference in Bethesda, Maryland in Sepember of 2024!   SESUG registration for the 2024 Conference is now open!   What’s New for SESUG 2024 Featured Paper Competition New and Revised Academic Sections Revised Grant Application and Perks Quick Hit Presentations–which do not require a paper submission Expanded Networking Opportunities SESUG 2024 will be held at the North Bethesda Marriott! ... View more

Many programming tasks require merging time series of varying frequency. For instance you might have three datasets (YEAR, QTR, and MONTH) of data, each with eponymous frequency and sorted by common id and date variables. Producing a monthly file with the most recent quarterly and yearly data is a hierarchical last-observation-carried-forward (LOCF) task. Or you may have three irregular times series (ADMISSIONS, SERVICES, TESTRESULTS), in which you want to capture the latest data from each source at every date encountered (event-based LOCF). These are tasks often left poorly optimized by most SQL-based languages, in which row order is ignored in the interests of optimizing table manipulation.   This presentation shows how to use conditional SET statements in the SAS® DATA step to update specific portions of the program data vector (i.e. the YEAR variables or the QTR variables) to carry forward low frequency data to multiple subsequent high frequency records. A similar approach works just as well for carrying forward data from irregular time series. We’ll also show how to use “sentinel variables” as a means of controlling the maximum time-span data is carried forward, i.e. how to remove historical data that has become “stale.” Finally, we will demonstrate how to modify these techniques to carry future observations backward, without re-sorting data.   Presented by Mark Keintz Mark Keintz has been using SAS® since it was documented in one book. His interests are largely in development of applications for financial research and education, addressed in several presentations at SAS Global Forums and various regional SAS user groups. Mark's primary SAS expertise is in DATA step programming, hash programming techniques, efficient use of large data sets, and macro programming.   REGISTER for this virtual event today. ... View more

Compared to other therapeutic studies, oncology studies are generally complex and difficult for programmers and statisticians. There is more to understand and to know such as different clinical study types, specific data collection points and analysis. In this seminar, programmers and statisticians will learn oncology specific knowledge in clinical studies and will understand a holistic view of oncology studies from data collection, CDISC datasets, and analysis. Programmers and statisticians will also find out what makes oncology studies unique and learn how to lead oncology study projects effectively. The seminar will cover four different sub types and their response criteria guidelines. The first sub type, Solid Tumor study, usually follows RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor). The second sub type, Immunotherapy study, usually follows irRC (immune-related Response Criteria). The third sub type, Lymphoma study, usually follows Cheson. Lastly, Leukemia studies follow study specific guidelines (e.g., IWCLL for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). The seminar will show how to use response criteria guidelines for data collections and response evaluation.   Programmers and statisticians will learn how to create SDTM tumor specific datasets (RS, TU, TR), what SDTM domains are used for certain data collection, and what Controlled Terminology (e.g., CR, PR, SD, PD, NE) will be applied. They will also learn how to create Time-to-Event ADaM datasets from SDTM domains and how to use ADaM datasets to derive efficacy analysis (e.g., OS, PFS, TTP, ORR, DFS) and Kaplan Meier Curves using SAS Procedures such as PROC LIFETEST and PHREG.   Finally, programmers and statistician will understand how to build end-to-end standards driven oncology studies from protocol, study sub-types, response criteria, data collection, SDTM, ADaM to analysis.   Presented by Kevin Lee.    REGISTER today. ... View more

This seminar shows you how to take advantage of SAS Macro Language capabilities that enable you to write dynamic programs and applications. By mastering the concepts and techniques presented in this class your programs will become free of hard-coded data dependencies, thus eliminating the need to re-write the code every time a data set name, variable name, or other data attribute changes. Topics will include how to build and process macro variable lists, using the macro language to control the data environment, using control files, working with datasets and libraries in the macro language, accessing the SAS data dictionaries, and other miscellaneous macro topics that will help you create dynamic code. Let “them” change the project’s specifications as often as “they” want … your code is ready!   Presented by Josh Horstman.   REGISTER today. ... View more

ChatGPT is at the forefront of the next revolution, and in this class, we’re about to embark on a journey that will demystify this remarkable technology. Imagine a virtual assistant that can comprehend and generate human-like text from Clinical Trial Data, a tool that can answer questions about specific patients, write SAS/R/Python codes, assist in content creation such as tables/listing/graphs, and even unleash its creativity in the realm of art. To truly harness its potential, you need to understand how to use ChatGPT in the art of prompt engineering, application development using ChatGPT API in Python/SAS and fine-tuning ChatGPT with your own data. In the class, we will embark on an exploration of ChatGPT that will equip you with the knowledge and skills to leverage its capabilities effectively while ensuring ethical and responsible use.   The class will cover various aspects of Large Language Models (LLM), with a focus on ChatGPT. It will begin with an introduction to LLM. The class then delves into ChatGPT, explaining its purpose, development history, and potential impact on organizations and individuals. The class will explore ChatGPT applications, including website prompts, API integration, Python coding and fine-tuning, and presents use cases ranging from simple inquiries, SAS coding, SAS migration to R/Python, to art generation. There’s an emphasis on how to effectively use ChatGPT through prompt engineering techniques. Concerns regarding ChatGPT, such as data privacy, bias, and ethical considerations, will be addressed. Finally, the class touches on enterprise-level ChatGPT implementation, discussing risk mitigation and regulatory compliance.   After attending the class, you will emerge with a comprehensive understanding of the LLM and ChatGPT phenomenon, including its architecture, practical use cases, prompt engineering, and API applications using Python/SAS. You will learn practical skills to effectively utilize ChatGPT in various domains, from effective prompts, content development, coding, art generation and more. Furthermore, you will gain insights into the ethical considerations surrounding LLM and ChatGPT, encompassing data privacy, bias, and regulatory compliance. You will also be equipped with knowledge about enterprise-level ChatGPT implementation and risk mitigation strategies. Ultimately, this class will empower you to leverage ChatGPT’s transformative potential while adhering to ethical and responsible ChatGPT practices in Biometric Department.   Presented by Kevin Lee.   REGISTER today. ... View more