SAS/ASSIST software provides a task-oriented visual interface to the SAS System. Anyone who wants to use the SAS System--regardless of their experience level--has a personal gateway to productivity and task completion. No matter how you approach the SAS System, or what tasks you need to perform, SAS/ASSIST software will put you at the forefront of the SAS System's powerful components in just seconds.

Completion of Tasks - Using An Iterative Approach

In all types of industry and business, people have tasks to complete every day, and typically use an iterative approach to complete these tasks. This process involves understanding the data, turning it into meaningful information, visualizing the desired outcome, and obtaining the final results through trial and error. SAS/ASSIST software enables you to complete tasks more efficiently by providing templates to help you get started, and also offers a cross-functional approach to task completion--all within a client/server enabled environment.

Shared Benefits for All Users

The software enables all levels of professionals--from novice computer users to seasoned programmers--to utilize a common interface for task completion, while providing the same benefits to all those different people. These benefits include different interfaces for different types of users. SAS/ASSIST software also gives you screen recall, with screen information saved from session to session.

Other benefits include capabilities for customizing the look of menus to individual preferences. Out of the box, SAS/ASSIST software can be used by anyone. For more effective deployment, you may wish to use customized profiles for your department. Customized profiles make many tasks transparent to the user and allow different people to use the same applications in ways most comfortable for them. SAS/ASSIST software gives you a point-and-click interface to invoke any SAS System task without requiring you to know SAS programming syntax.

Your Personal Productivity Tool

The menu screens within SAS/ASSIST software are powered by common sense keywords. You can simply tab to the appropriate icon and press ENTER, or use a mouse to point and click. The software aids in the completion of tasks with features such as identification of required fields and selection lists to prevent user error. In the background, documented SAS code is being generated automatically and can be saved. SAS/ASSIST software provides tools for code management tasks such as editing and executing code interactively or in batch. For added productivity, a facility is provided for bundling independent tasks which can then be executed with a single command. And, if you have questions at any time, there is an on line help system included for your convenience.

Your Personal Selection of Interfaces

SAS/ASSIST software acknowledges that there are varied user skill levels across the organization. For example, an executive's comfort level with technology is probably different than that of the business analyst, programmer, statistician, or customer service representative. However, the proliferation of software packages throughout an organization can cause major problems--lack of integration of software, hindered information sharing, increased cost, and decreased productivity. SAS/ASSIST software breaks these barriers by providing a variety of user interfaces--all in one package--that meet the diverse needs of the many different users in your organization. Depending on your comfort level, you may choose one of three different types of interfaces--generalized, specialized, or customized.

Generalized Interface
The generalized interface is made up of tools within the SAS System that cross a broad range of user needs--from accessing data to creating, editing, and presenting a report or graph.

Specialized Interface
The specialized interface typically targets a specific audience. Through SAS/ASSIST software, you can surface these specialized interfaces. For example, a marketing department may need a trend analysis interface for sales forecasting. An analyst who works with geographic data may need a Geographic Information System interface. An application developer may require a specialized interface to develop an Executive Information System.

Customized Interface
The customized interface is one that is built to user specifications, using the rapid applications development tools found in the SAS System. SAS/ASSIST software is a welcome time saver for applications development and prototyping. Code that was generated and saved previously with SAS/ASSIST software can be re-used in your customized interfaces.

One Tool for Many Tasks

The power and flexibility of SAS/ASSIST software make it easy for you to complete many different types of common, everyday business tasks efficiently and effectively.

End User Reporting
Take advantage of the software's extensive report writing capabilities with templates to popular report types. You can generate detailed listings, summary tables, and counts, and even design your own reporting formats. A report builder environment enables you to interactively build and shape your report. Change your report from a listing to a summary report with group subtotals. Create new variables as needed. Add and delete columns as you wish. Then save your report definition for later use.

Presentation Graphics
Once you've created your text report, you may want to add graphics--such as bar or pie charts, plots, or maps. The software provides you with graphics templates and the graphics editor to further enhance your output.

Query and Reporting
SAS/ASSIST software includes tools which allow you to generate Structured Query Language (SQL) queries and reports with minimal effort and little or no knowledge of SQL or SAS System syntax. As you point and click, the SAS System automatically builds SQL queries behind the scenes. You can quickly and easily query your data by using either an interactive, point-and-click, windowing environment or a text-based environment. The query tools let you specify data location, access modes, user preferences, and automatic lookups for subsetting. Inner and outer joins are supported and can be made transparent to the user. An added benefit is the integration of flexible reporting capabilities.

Decision Support
The SAS System's renowned analytical capabilities are immediately accessible through logical menu selections. Included are interfaces to components that provide forecasting, project management, quality control, and experimental design; multidimensional data analysis, guided data analysis, and exploration; advanced statistics such as regression and analysis of variance; and planning tools for loan analysis, time series analysis, and spreadsheet analysis.

Universal Data Access and Management
The SAS System's data access capabilities allow you to get to data stored in virtually any format or location, in more than fifty different file formats--from flat files, VSAM files, PC files, SAS files, SAS views, and relational databases to popular database management systems such as DB2, dBASE, SYBASE, ORACLE, SQL/DS, Rdb, INGRES, and INFORMIX IMS, and many more. The SAS System also supports access to Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) from both client and server perspectives.

You don't have to worry about access methods, database terminology, data format, the internal structure of specific file types, or other obstacles that can stand between you and your data. With these unique capabilities, you can save time and concentrate on managing and analyzing data without worrying where the data resides. Once you've accessed your data, SAS/ASSIST software gives you a variety of ways to store, manipulate, and transfer that data. You can create data entry panels, import data, create subsets, save and sort data, and more.

Client/Server Processing
The SAS System gives you complete control over where and how to execute each part of an application. For example, you may want to integrate existing data that resides on different platforms, or need to off load applications development and report generation to local workstations. You can also use client/server capabilities to balance network load by scheduling data distribution during off-peak hours. SAS/ASSIST software makes it easy for you to use the SAS System's client/server technology to maximize resources.

Rapid Applications Development
SAS/ASSIST software enables you to access interactive applications development tools. You can combine saved SAS/ASSIST code with pre-defined objects and screen control language (SCL)--found in our applications development toolset--to create customized applications. A private menu option lets you save common SAS/ASSIST tasks to a private menu, where you can add or delete buttons at any time.

Local Language versions of SAS/ASSIST Software available

Increasing numbers of organizations make SAS/ASSIST software their strategic choice for end-user computing. The software provides users with an intuitive, menu-driven interface to the full range of the SAS System's powerful and flexible computing facilities. In addition, the SAS/ASSIST interface meets the most essential aspect of user friendliness - it is available in the user's local language.

The fact that various pull-down menus, Help functions, and system messages from Base SAS Software have been translated into local languages, also makes it easy for a beginner to quickly become productive with the SAS System. In addition, selected Computer-Based Training (CBT) courses are also available in local language versions, so that users can learn at their own pace and according to their needs.

The SAS/ASSIST software itself has now been translated into no less than eight European languages: Finnish, French, German, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian. SAS/ASSIST software is available on the Windows and OS/2 platforms and under MVS, CMS, VMS and Unix.

For end-users who are learning to work with computers for the first time, SAS/ASSIST documentation in the appropriate local language provide valuable support. Examples are: "An introduction to SAS/ASSIST software," and "Getting started with SAS/ASSIST software." Translation of the companion volume, "Doing more with SAS/ASSIST software" is now available in Italian and Spanish.

Put SAS/ASSIST Software to Work in Your Organization

SAS/ASSIST software's integrated tools, task-oriented visual interface, and ease of use bring the world's leading information delivery system to your desk. A myriad of ready-to-use tools enable you to access, manage, analyze, and present your business-critical information in a timely manner.