More than 3,800 people attended SAS Global Forum this year from 48 different countries. More than 22 percent of the participants were from outside the US. Canada came in at the No. 1 position, with 5 percent of all non-US participants. The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark were close behind. A record-making 33 percent of participants were first-timers at the conference. 18 percent have been using SAS for less than five years, and 15 percent have been using SAS for 20 years or more. A rich variety of industries was represented, including pharmaceuticals and healthcare, banking, education, insurance and government. http://support.sas.com/events/sasglobalforum/2008/index.html

There were a lot of exciting announcements at Opening Session, but the one that got attendees most excited was the release of SAS 9.2. Designed to help the business user become more self-sufficient and help IT deliver to the business more effectively, SAS 9.2 has more enhancements and benefits than we have room to list, but here are a few:

• New analytic capabilities: Users will find hundreds of changes and enhancements to SAS/STAT®, SAS/ETS®, SAS/OR®, SAS/QC® and SAS Stat Studio.
• Statistical graphics created automatically by procedures: With SAS 9.2, analytics procedures now create production-quality graphics as automatically as they create tables.
• More manageability for SAS processes: SAS 9.2 enhances the manageability of SAS processes that will be executed in batch and improves the traceability of SAS programs. This mechanism offers tremendous value for program and batch auditing and tuning.
• Easier deployment: With SAS 9.2, customers can obtain their software electronically over the Internet, giving them more distribution options.
• Lower hardware cost and more choices with x86/x64 enhanced support: Through increased support for x64-based environments, SAS 9.2 technologies will be available as a 64-bit enabled application supporting 64-bit extended architectures.

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An interactive Web site and online community for SAS users worldwide was unveiled at SAS Global Forum last year. Since then, the Web site has had more than 150,000 hits with more than 2,400 registered users accessing this site as their single point of entry for any and all SAS resources. Owned and managed by the SAS Global Users Group Executive Board, the site is “of the users, by the users and for the users.” Visit sasCommunity.org today to check out these features and more:

• A wiki where users can share their knowledge about the use of SAS software.
• A consultant’s (provider) registry implemented as wiki pages.
• A job registry (Opportunity Registry).
• Archived video presentations.
• A list of consultants and others providing services to the SAS community.

This Web site is an exciting development for the SAS user community and enhances its ability to share and grow knowledge of SAS software and its use. All SAS users are welcome to participate in sasCommunity.org!

SAS® Global Forum has gone green
Helping to protect the environment with fewer handouts, more recycling containers and tips for how you can go green too!

Stop the Flow – Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save four gallons a minute. That’s 200 gallons a week for a family of four.

Think Warm – With today’s improved laundry detergents, hot water is unnecessary to remove smells and stains. Cut the energy consumption by washing on warm; going cold saves even more.

News from Education

Every year SAS features training at Global Forum. This year one of the well-received courses was SAS BI Dashboard: Developing and Using Dashboards. This course teaches how to use the SAS BI Dashboard portlet in the SAS Information Delivery Portal. This course covers the steps needed to create and customize the four required components needed to display dashboards. We have now added this course to our Toronto public schedule. Find out more…

SAS certification was another hot topic at Global Forum. The new Predictive Modeling Certification is a globally recognized certification which validates your current level of expertise and provides a competitive advantage in today's challenging job market. To qualify for the exam successful candidates should have at least one year of experience with data mining and at least six months of experience with SAS Enterprise Miner™ 5.2. Basic principles tested are covered in a three-day course, Applied Analytics Using SAS Enterprise Miner 5.

Exams are soon to be scheduled in Toronto. Add your name to our interest list to be informed of the Canadian testing schedule for the Predictive Modeling certification.