This research report explores how leading insurers are using business analytics solutions to reduce reaction times to competitive pressure, respond more efficiently to market changes, improve the precision and efficacy of operational decisions, and increase business managers effectiveness in driving organizational value.

This white paper discusses some of the key infrastructure challenges that IT faces in meeting the ever-increasing demands for intelligence across their organizations. It provides an overview of how the platform for SAS Business Analytics can help overcome those challenges. It also describes SAS strengths within each of the platform components -- data integration, analytics, and reporting. Most importantly, it outlines how SAS is here to help organizations achieve success through analytic solutions built upon an integrated framework. 

Today more than ever the CFO must balance a role as financial caretaker with that of business strategist. Considering the current climate of regulation and compliance, the CFO faces formidable challenges.

This white paper presents five questions that keep these executives awake at night, questions involving costs, revenues, compliance and performance management. The paper then argues that addressing the technology implications of these questions requires a holistic approach to financial intelligence. In the end you will learn about SAS Financial Intelligence, a comprehensive solution suite that helps the finance group become a trusted adviser to all other areas of the company.

Current economic conditions heighten the need for financial services firms to accurately gauge required levels of regulatory compliance and economic capital to support business strategy and risk appetite. More regulations are on the way, demanding transparency, accurate information about company operations, robust and comprehensive risk management, regulatory compliance and efficient governance. What does this mean for many organizations? This paper takes a step back to examine how all components of a successful company must work in an integrated manner in order to produce the best results, and how SAS approaches governance, risk, compliance and performance management issues by providing a comprehensive framework for analyzing and managing risks in the context of corporate strategy and performance.

The current regulatory environment in financial services has left most institutions in need of a more effective approach to the detection and prevention of money laundering. This white paper discusses some relevant regulations, explores current trends in anti-money laundering (AML) technology strategy and proposes ways to achieve competitive advantage through AML solutions.

Financial institutions must strengthen their anti-money laundering programs to identify and report suspicious activity, meet new regulatory mandates and manage compliance risk. Read this white paper to learn how SAS Anti-Money Laundering can help you detect unknown behavior patterns, gain a clearer view into transactions and report suspicious activity.

This white paper discusses the nature of business risk, from credit risk to market risk and operational risk, primarily in the context of the banking industry. The paper provides a history of the Basel accords, outlining in detail the implications of Basel II on risk management. You will also learn about the processes and systems  required for implementing internal ratings-based approaches to risk management.

In September 2005, the Federal Reserve Board will disclose pricing data on higher cost loans with respect to applicant race, ethnicity, gender and income status. This new pricing information, in the officially filed HMDA data, will be used to monitor mortgage lending practices and assist in identifying possible discriminatory pricing patterns.

This paper presents a systematic approach for statistical analysis of HMDA pricing data. You will learn how an effective and powerful method to detect statistically significant pricing disparities amongst various groups is beneficial for lending institutions. The method described in this paper can be applied to HMDA filing data and a broader set of information including additional applicant and transaction information, credit bureau data, and credit underwriting and pricing policies.

Credit scoring models can assist bankers with credit decisions and can enhance compliance with fair lending laws and regulations. This white paper examines the current deployment of credit scoring models, the challenges banks often encounter and future credit scoring trends. You will learn about common types of models, how to measure their performance and the impact of regulations on credit scoring.

The federal government has enacted laws and standards making discrimination in lending illegal. To help financial lenders improve the accuracy of their disparate treatment testing evaluations, SAS has developed a methodology called the Dynamic-Conditional Process (DCP). This methodology dynamically classifies lending decision factors and captures variations in policy thresholds among loan products, markets and/or programs. Read this white paper for an introduction to the DCP methodology.

For European financial services firms, compliance with MiFID is mandatory. Nevertheless, MiFID provides numerous opportunities for companies to improve profitability and shareholder value. This white paper explores those opportunities. You will learn how the people, process and systems changes required by MiFID can position your organization to be more agile and successful.

To meet global competition, a nation must spend more on education. While that is true, it is even more important how the money gets spent. There is legitimate concern in both Europe and the US that education systems are not fully preparing communities to thrive in today's knowledge-based economy. Indeed, if communities and countries want to prosper on the road ahead, we must support bold, innovative, and transformative education policies and practices. This white paper presents five guiding principles for evaluating 21st century educational policies.

According to analysts, business intelligence applications are a top priority for CIOs. To help cut through the clutter of conflicting and overstated vendor claims, SAS has developed a comprehensive framework that can be used to evaluate any and all BI vendors. This white paper outlines the criteria included in this framework, which include measures of technology, alignment with customer needs corporate vision and geographic scope.

Business intelligence (BI) has evolved beyond isolated tools. Successful BI can only be achieved with the backing of a rigorous process that starts with source data and finishes in a useful form in the hands of the user.

This white paper, written by Butler Group, first provides a brief overview of Butler's vision for the advanced deployment of BI technologies according to this end-to-end process. It then focuses on the SAS Industry Intelligence Solutions for Banking, Insurance and Telecommunications, outlining the industry-specific, model-driven architecture of these advanced BI solutions, which allows them to be implemented quickly and easily.

This paper discusses the role of quality in SAS products and services. You will learn about the importance of quality in every aspect of the company, from personnel to research and development, production and customer service. The paper also includes six appendices addressing specific issues such as FDA compliance and employee training.

Analysis of microarray data is used extensively to search for and discover clues to the molecular causes of important biological phenomena. As microarrays increase in popularity, the demand has grown for biologist-friendly applications that simplify the quality-control and analysis processes and present useful graphical representations of high-dimensional data sets. Expression Console, recently introduced by Affymetrix, provides a simple interface for normalization and summarization of data from Affymetrix CEL files to produce CHP files for further analysis. This paper explains how the Affymetrix Expression CHP Wizard in JMP Genomics automates many steps in a comprehensive microarray analysis workflow by combining an interactive interface with standard JMP Genomics tools.

Analysis of alternative splicing in expressed genes is of growing interest to researchers. While powerful, the standard 3’-biased expression microarrays do not provide a full picture of the molecular events that may be involved in disease. Apparent increases or decreases in summarized transcript levels may be due to alternative exon splicing or, conversely, differences in transcript levels due to alternative splicing may not even be detectable in a 3’-biased assay.  Affymetrix microarray platforms can measure exon-level expression levels in humans or rats, and other exon-level assays are also available. The workflow described in this white paper can be generalized for any exon analysis where there is annotation available for grouping probes or sequences at the transcript and exon level.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics from SAS introduces copy number-specific functionality, giving users the ability to easily assess copy number differences across experimental groups. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number and allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on all Affymetrix Genome-Wide SNP arrays, including the Mapping 500K, SNP 5 and SNP 6 arrays.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics software from SAS adds specific menu items for copy number analysis. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number or B-allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on Illumina DNA Analysis BeadChips, including the Human1M DNA Analysis BeadChips.

Statistical methods and software available for identifying common and rare copy number variations (CNVs) are still evolving. Here, tools in JMP Genomics 4 were used to find shared regions of CNV and correlate SNP intensities with gene expression differences. A similar approach can be applied to examine pairwise correlations between other genomic measures.

This document, together with the on-demand Web training session, is intended to give existing and new customers and evaluators a brief overview of the JMP Genomics solution and an introduction to some of the new features in JMP Genomics 3.2. For more detailed information about specific processes, please consult the JMP Genomics User Guide and JMP Genomics User Guide Supplement, found under Genomics > Documentation and Help.

Many providers are struggling with the increasing complexity and cost of networks, service choices and business processes. Read this white paper to learn how a customer value optimization approach can help service providers understand how customers engage with the company, identify ways to reduce churn, and systematically record customer management activities and results. You will also learn how a customer value optimization approach transformed the profit picture for a top-tier wireless carrier.

It is no longer sufficient for an organization to be lean, agile and efficient. Its entire supply chain must also perform as the company itself does. If some customers are excessively high-maintenance, they erode profit margins. Who are these troublesome customers, and how much do they drag down profits? Once you know, what corrective actions should you take? This detailed white paper explores the value of activity-based cost management (ABC/M) in determining customer profitability. It describes the insights gained from validly measuring customer profitability and how organizations apply performance management systems to manage changing strategies for increasing profit, reducing cost and improving performance throughout the enterprise.

Most pharmaceutical companies focus their sales and marketing activities on the top-decile prescribing physicians for a given therapeutic area, based on purchased data. But such practices are no longer yielding desired results. This white paper discusses why now is the right time to make sales and marketing decisions based on deeper analytic insights - using predictive modeling - and how organizations that take control over their own physician targeting will get more timely insights, targeting decisions aligned with business issues and real competitive advantage.

This white paper provides a blueprint for action for senior marketers and decision makers across the enterprise. It provides straightforward advice on how to build a more durable and profitable customer base by:

- Building a more competitive business model.
- Enabling customer-centric business strategies in a product-centric organization.
- Turning expanding volumes of customer data into actionable insight for smarter decision making.
- Providing a roadmap for integrating technology to achieve competitive advantage.

Banks can no longer view their customers from the perspective of specific products or a snapshot in time. To maximize lifetime profitability from valued customers, they must abandon the traditional silo mindset and work to gain a comprehensive view of customers across products, channels and time.

This white paper focuses on the analytic capabilities of SAS Banking Intelligence Solutions, including customer segmentation, cross-selling and up-selling, and customer retention. The paper also includes a brief discussion of the open, flexible architecture on which these solutions are built — including analytic models built specifically for banks.

This research report from SAS, Peppers & Rogers and Jubelirer Research provides insights into building authentic and profitable long-term customer relationships. The research outlined here attempts to understand how a broad range of companies manage customer experiences, explore the advantages of superior customer experience, document the enablers and inhibitors to excellent customer experiences, and assess the maturation of companies along a developmental spectrum.

Banks and financial institutions are recognizing that they can no longer look at a consumer from a specific product or snapshot perspective but must encompass the entire customer relationship to fully understand a client's profitability. It is now necessary to invest in a more customer-centric vision.

This white paper explores the benefits of customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking industry. By reading about failed business scenarios that could have been prevented with the right CRM solution, you will learn how banks can shift the focus of their business to maximize customer profitability. The paper also offers six business imperatives, and their implications, for a successful CRM strategy.

While it is essential to employ customer-centric strategies to improve revenue, it is also necessary to balance customer needs with shareholder value. This white paper outlines a method for achieving this balance by tying retention spending to customer financial value. You will learn how to evaluate customers by combining financial value with loyalty, and about requirements for a properly customer-focused strategy.

Understanding customers' credit scores is essential for banks, and there is much to be gained by conducting credit scoring activities in-house, including consistency, accuracy, faster integration of new models, and privacy.

Read this white paper to learn how SAS helps build and maintain their own credit scoring function. The paper discusses the development and deployment of scoring models, as well as the process of monitoring those models for improvement.

SAS for Customer Experience Analytics is designed to enable organizations to tailor every customer contact and optimize value at every opportunity, from visitor arrival through web site interaction to the business response. This white paper describes the technology landscape leading up to the current demand for true, actionable multi-channel intelligence, together with the key elements required for a successful customer experience analytics solution.

SAS for Customer Experience Analytics is designed to enable insurers to tailor every customer contact and optimise value at every opportunity, from visitor arrival through web site interaction to the business response. This white paper describes the technology landscape leading up to the current demand for true, actionable multi-channel intelligence, together with the key elements required for a successful customer experience analytics solution.

Nowhere is customer acquisition and retention more important than in the telecommunications industry, where customer defection costs companies around the world tens of billions of dollars each year and annual churn remain high.

This paper provides a detailed look at the process of churn analysis using a well-implemented information delivery system. It also discusses the importance of deploying churn management to more business users and targeting campaigns based on more than just churn likelihood. A step-by-step process flow also illustrates the value and power of churn management using a dependable information delivery system.

Every relationship between a business and a customer is best viewed as an ongoing conversation. This white paper provides an overview of Behavior Maps, a concept unique to SAS Interaction Management that allows businesses to conduct more meaningful conversations with their customers. Key topics include the importance of context, the structure of Behavior Maps and the use of Behavior Maps to complement traditional predictive models.

The secret to consistently beating both profitability goals and competitors may sound simple - just understand your customers better and faster than anyone else, and then target them more effectively than anyone else. But with the scope and scale of marketing today, delivering meaningful, personal service to customers is a difficult task.

This white paper discusses the evolution of analytics-based marketing automation and then looks briefly at the critical technologies that support the latest generation of marketing automation: an enterprise architecture, sophisticated analytics, capabilities that give more control to business users and the ability to extend into other areas of marketing.

This paper details challenges that affect how communications are planned and deployed, including limiting factors such as budget caps, campaign volumes and channel capacities. Communications often can't be anticipated until a trigger-based or real-time interaction uncovers a need and the opportunity for an additional communication. Successful processes utilize the latest analytical techniques and consider a company's corporate objectives and business rules. This paper discusses a process called adaptive contact planning as a way to create more effective, and thus more profitable, marketing campaigns.

In an increasingly dynamic marketplace, organizations can no longer stay ahead of the competition by using only a product differentiation strategy. Instead, organizations that use a real-time decision making strategy to enhance the customer experience are leading the way. This white paper discusses four key components of a successful real-time decision strategy, and how SAS Real-Time Decision Manager helps organizations successfully implement such a strategy. Additionally, it provides a technical overview of SAS Real-Time Decision Manager.

Discovery organizations are identifying a lot of promising compounds, but clinical research processes haven't kept pace with timely testing of all those potential therapies. This white paper describes how SAS Drug Development supports true innovation across the clinical trial process. You will learn how to assemble data to foster better collaboration, get up-to-date information during clinical trials and make informed decisions earlier in the trial process.

This paper describes how colleges and universities can use strategic enrollment management to improve relationships with students, alumni, donors and others. You will learn about the importance of information in each phase of the enrollment management life cycle, and about the specific benefits that strategic enrollment management can provide.

Today more than ever the CFO must balance a role as financial caretaker with that of business strategist. Considering the current climate of regulation and compliance, the CFO faces formidable challenges.

This white paper presents five questions that keep these executives awake at night, questions involving costs, revenues, compliance and performance management. The paper then argues that addressing the technology implications of these questions requires a holistic approach to financial intelligence. In the end you will learn about SAS Financial Intelligence, a comprehensive solution suite that helps the finance group become a trusted adviser to all other areas of the company.

Driven by regulation, restructuring, increased accountability and shareholder scrutiny, the CFO has become a key strategic decision maker who helps set company strategy. This white paper argues that financial professionals must do more than report on the past; they must interpret past results for their impact on the current business environment and affect on the future. The paper also discusses how SAS can help CFOs address key challenges as they adapt to their changing role.

The Fast Close process – the ability to rapidly close the books, collect, consolidate and publish the results of a group globally – is widely seen as a proxy for good corporate governance. This white paper, written by FSN Publications, considers the common impediments to a Fast Close process, the principle steps needed to correct them and illustrates how SAS Financial Management, coupled with other SAS solutions respond to these challenges.

Being bound to a traditional, 12-month budget can create problems for organizations, problems such as an underutilized staff, inefficient use of resources and a lack of flexibility when economic circumstances change. Employing a 90-day budget based on processes and making better use of scenario planning and forecasting can make a difference. That is the commitment of this paper: to provide a catalyst for change and a road map for achievement to the financial planning and analysis manager who wants to shake up the status quo and get his or her team engaged at the high level of value they are capable of.

As a valuable costing methodology, this paper looks at how ABC has evolved over its life cycle, what lessons have been learned from its evolution and what ABC can do today that it could not do 20 years ago. It also describes the current state of ABC as a key input and value adder to performance management systems.

Shared services departments in organizations have traditionally been called "overhead functions." Today, shared services are being defined as the sharing and leveraging of resources, people and information to more effectively meet the business needs of an organization. In order to transform overhead functions into more than merely cost-effective internal suppliers, fact-based information, such as that provided by activity-based cost management, is required.
This white paper gives an overview of the shared services model, focusing on activity-based cost management as an enabler. The paper also includes a primer on activity-based management and some ground rules for effective shared services.

A key element of performance management is to use fact-based data, for analysis and decision support. For this reason, activity-based cost management (ABC/M) is one of the more important methodologies in performance management. This paper discusses the pressures for improved cost accounting in government, explains why there is some resistance to ABC/M and describes some successful applications of ABC/M in the public sector to date.

It is no longer sufficient for an organization to be lean, agile and efficient. Its entire supply chain must also perform as the company itself does. If some customers are excessively high-maintenance, they erode profit margins. Who are these troublesome customers, and how much do they drag down profits? Once you know, what corrective actions should you take? This detailed white paper explores the value of activity-based cost management (ABC/M) in determining customer profitability. It describes the insights gained from validly measuring customer profitability and how organizations apply performance management systems to manage changing strategies for increasing profit, reducing cost and improving performance throughout the enterprise.

While it is essential to employ customer-centric strategies to improve revenue, it is also necessary to balance customer needs with shareholder value. This white paper outlines a method for achieving this balance by tying retention spending to customer financial value. You will learn how to evaluate customers by combining financial value with loyalty, and about requirements for a properly customer-focused strategy.

The Fast Close process – the ability to rapidly close the books, collect, consolidate and publish the results of a group globally – is widely seen as a proxy for good corporate governance. This white paper, written by FSN Publications, considers the common impediments to a Fast Close process, the principle steps needed to correct them and illustrates how SAS Financial Management, coupled with other SAS solutions respond to these challenges.

Read this white paper to learn how SAS helps governments reduce the taxpayer burden for fraud, error and abuse, ultimately allowing governments to better fund efforts for improving the lives of citizens. This paper focuses on three key areas: improper payments, purchase card fraud and Medicare/Medicaid fraud. The paper discusses how governments can develop anti-fraud strategies to improve collection rates and reduce improper payments, fraud, waste and abuse.

It's no secret: fraud drains profits, and lax fraud management practices put a company at a competitive disadvantage. Unfortunately, there is no one bulletproof fraud-detection technique. However, multiple techniques working in concert can be very effective for detecting both opportunistic and professional/organized fraud. This paper briefly traces the evolution of fraud detection approaches, and closely examines eight techniques that insurers should include in their arsenal of anti-fraud strategies.

Organizations that respond to regulatory pressures by simply documenting their existing fraud management practices are selling themselves short. This paper describes how an enterprisewide approach to fraud management -- spanning all contact channels and account types and including powerful analytics, holistic intelligence and integrated case management -- is the best approach for financial organizations looking to turn the tide on fraud.

Analysis of microarray data is used extensively to search for and discover clues to the molecular causes of important biological phenomena. As microarrays increase in popularity, the demand has grown for biologist-friendly applications that simplify the quality-control and analysis processes and present useful graphical representations of high-dimensional data sets. Expression Console, recently introduced by Affymetrix, provides a simple interface for normalization and summarization of data from Affymetrix CEL files to produce CHP files for further analysis. This paper explains how the Affymetrix Expression CHP Wizard in JMP Genomics automates many steps in a comprehensive microarray analysis workflow by combining an interactive interface with standard JMP Genomics tools.

Analysis of alternative splicing in expressed genes is of growing interest to researchers. While powerful, the standard 3’-biased expression microarrays do not provide a full picture of the molecular events that may be involved in disease. Apparent increases or decreases in summarized transcript levels may be due to alternative exon splicing or, conversely, differences in transcript levels due to alternative splicing may not even be detectable in a 3’-biased assay.  Affymetrix microarray platforms can measure exon-level expression levels in humans or rats, and other exon-level assays are also available. The workflow described in this white paper can be generalized for any exon analysis where there is annotation available for grouping probes or sequences at the transcript and exon level.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics from SAS introduces copy number-specific functionality, giving users the ability to easily assess copy number differences across experimental groups. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number and allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on all Affymetrix Genome-Wide SNP arrays, including the Mapping 500K, SNP 5 and SNP 6 arrays.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics software from SAS adds specific menu items for copy number analysis. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number or B-allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on Illumina DNA Analysis BeadChips, including the Human1M DNA Analysis BeadChips.

To support alignment and drive cultural change (including accountability and collaboration) in government, SAS recommends three key steps in this paper: 1) See it: Get an integrated, organizationwide view of all factors related to performance 2) Manage it: Align resources, strategy, finances, programs/initiatives and activities to support the agency's mission 3) Improve it: Drive results with intelligence, collaboration and accountability.

How can the chief human capital officer optimize the work force in alignment with organizational goals? This paper discusses how aligning goals is possible, as well as addressing workforce demands at every stage of the talent life cycle, mitigating workforce risks, proactively responding to changing workforce trends and demographics, planning for mergers, acquisitions and downsizing, and synchronizing financial and operational workforce strategies.

Government agencies are facing a human capital crisis where CHCOs and managers will need to be more strategic and gain a more holistic view of the work force to support the agency mission. This paper presents how to align the human capital strategy with organizational goals, address workforce demands, mitigate workforce risks, proactively respond to changing workforce demographics, plan for change, and synchronize financial and operational workforce strategies. 

This paper explores the concepts of Information Management, including the challenges and importance of effectively managing ALL data whether it is structured, unstructured or semi-structured. It discusses the evolution of information management and outlines the SAS approach for a coherent IM strategy, which includes implementing a business intelligence competency center and the use of a comprehensive, integrated software platform.

To provide more value to lines of business, IT departments must gain a complete understanding of how resources are being used and how much IT services cost. Read this paper to learn how SAS can help you understand and plan your IT resource capacity, measure the success of service level agreements, and determine the cost of those services.

Written by Computerworld and sponsored by SAS, this technology brief explores sustainability as a driver for business innovation and the positive role that information technology can play. Compiled from custom research and interviews with SAS, topics include green-sizing the data center, data integration for sustainability and how IT executives can leverage sustainability to drive business innovation.

Ironically, as companies have become dependent on IT services and computer systems in general, they have tended to take these services for granted. Because of this disconnect, IT organizations are struggling to reconcile shrinking budgets with ever-expanding service expectations.

This white paper first provides an overview of IT service level management in general, including a discussion of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework of best practices for service level management. It then discusses SAS IT Service Level Management, including the key capabilities and benefits of implementing a service level management solution built on an ITIL-compliant infrastructure and designed to clearly communicate the value of IT.

Retailers are commonly faced with the challenge of forecasting demand for items that are sold only at certain times of the year, but in high volumes. This paper suggests a compression approach for dealing with these kinds of highly seasonal forecasts using SAS software, which could produce more accurate results than forecasts based on standard time series modeling. It provides an illustrative example based on real-life data.

 

Competition in retail is ever more intense as companies face slow domestic growth, rapid increases in selling space, and new and innovative channels and formats. To achieve merchandising dominance, it is critical to improve core merchandising processes.

This white paper will give you a head start in evaluating the potential of revenue optimization to deliver significant, sustainable profit improvements. You will learn about the key components of revenue optimization, the steps required to implement such a system and the lessons learned by several companies who have already implemented this technology.

In a perfect world, retailers would always have just the right assortment of merchandise at each store. But with tens of thousands of SKUs across thousands of stores, most retailers constantly deal with too many stock-outs. Read this white paper to learn how SAS software helps retailers create size profiles that translate into more accurate purchase orders. The paper also includes a detailed case study featuring Kohl's.

Organizations increasingly look to hosted applications as a way to get the business solutions they need. This white paper outlines the benefits of SAS Solutions OnDemand, a collection of hosted solutions for a variety of business needs. Read this paper to learn how SAS has extended the traditional model of solution hosting and about the advantages of choosing SAS Solutions OnDemand -- including analytics, fast deployment, a proven delivery methodology and more.

To support alignment and drive cultural change (including accountability and collaboration) in government, SAS recommends three key steps in this paper: 1) See it: Get an integrated, organizationwide view of all factors related to performance 2) Manage it: Align resources, strategy, finances, programs/initiatives and activities to support the agency's mission 3) Improve it: Drive results with intelligence, collaboration and accountability.

This white paper provides five steps to resource optimization, with a visual model and a variety of real-world examples to help business leaders understand how to allocate resources in alignment with enterprise-level objectives. You'll also learn about the technology required to support resource optimization.

The batch-mode mindset of annual budgets, quarterly forecasts and monthly reports hit a real-time speed bump during 2008, revealing its shortcomings. This Webcast summary offers ways to move your business to the real-time status necessary when risk and volatility are standard operating conditions; when the extraordinary is now the ordinary.

Healthcare leaders are challenged to improve care delivery, reduce costs and enhance physician and employee engagement. Doing so requires the ability to access data from a variety of siloed and disparate systems, and then to get that data into the hands of those closest to the issues. Applying business intelligence in a healthcare setting is a powerful way to break down political barriers, overcome resistance to change, align strategic priorities and improve communication.

This white paper explores the ways that business intelligence and performance management software systems can facilitate evidence-based healthcare delivery in hospitals. The paper provides background on implementing business intelligence and then offers case studies demonstrating successful BI at several prominent hospitals.

The amount of information in business is growing exponentially. This white paper shows how the dashboarding and scorecarding capabilities of SAS Strategic Performance Management can help you maximize the value of this information. The paper describes the progression through focus, alignment and agility that SAS facilitates using advanced data access, alerts and traffic lighting, and dynamic diagramming functions.

Effective performance management integrates an enterprisewide framework of associated methodologies and supporting software. In this paper published by Manufacturing Business Technology ("Alert"), the value and benefits of integrated performance management throughout the manufacturing organization is explored, along with the roles of predictive modeling and analytics to operate a circulatory and simultaneous system for proactive decision support and planning.

Today more than ever the CFO must balance a role as financial caretaker with that of business strategist. Considering the current climate of regulation and compliance, the CFO faces formidable challenges.

This white paper presents five questions that keep these executives awake at night, questions involving costs, revenues, compliance and performance management. The paper then argues that addressing the technology implications of these questions requires a holistic approach to financial intelligence. In the end you will learn about SAS Financial Intelligence, a comprehensive solution suite that helps the finance group become a trusted adviser to all other areas of the company.

Government departments and agencies at all levels must demonstrate transparency, accountability and effectiveness. The bottom line is that funding is now tied to the clear demonstration of results. This paper explores how departments and agencies are defining meaningful measures and incorporating performance management methodologies to understand program effectiveness, drive performance improvements and realize significant cost savings.

In June 2008, SAS brought together executives and consultants across a range of federal agencies to discuss their experiences with performance management initiatives. Some were planning and performance management executives within government agencies. Some were business or IT consultants working with federal agencies.  From all of their accounts, three key themes emerged. Successful performance management initiatives must realign the cultural framework, set the strategic vision and establish the supporting information infrastructure. This paper explores issues and best practices around performance management in government from the people who live and breathe it every day.
 

This white paper describes a powerful and economical managerial accounting system that collects and transforms data at the detailed transaction level. You will learn about the structure and benefits of such a system, including its ability to scale to accommodate billions of transactions, access data from diverse sources, allow remote Web-enabled analysis and report profits at a moment's notice.

A global survey of 334 executives from around the world in March 2009 by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of SAS reveals that only one-third of respondents think that risk management principles in financial services remain sound, and more than half surveyed say that they have conducted, or plan to conduct, a thorough overhaul of their risk management practices. Read this paper to learn more about implications for how financial organizations are approaching risk management as a result of the financial crisis.

The current regulatory environment in financial services has left most institutions in need of a more effective approach to the detection and prevention of money laundering. This white paper discusses some relevant regulations, explores current trends in anti-money laundering (AML) technology strategy and proposes ways to achieve competitive advantage through AML solutions.

Data management is a critical component of any enterprise risk management (ERM) system. A bank's approach to data management should be holistic and unified, with a platform that is scalable, open and capable of supporting the needs of multiple risk management functions. This white paper discusses the various components required for successful ERM and explores their cumulative benefits as part of a unified structure.

As part of a series that highlights technologies related to best practices in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), this paper discusses the importance of reporting as part of an ERM framework. A sound reporting framework allows a bank to monitor all the risks pertaining to its portfolio (e.g., market, credit, liquidity, etc.) and intervene if necessary, as well as ensure that all decision makers have the intelligence needed to determine the appropriate course of action on the daily activities of the bank. This paper details the aspects of the risk management process that reporting should cover as part of a sound enterprise risk management platform.

To survive and emerge stronger from the current financial crisis, it is essential that insurance companies implement an enterprise risk management strategy. And for any ERM project to be successful, it must be fundamentally linked to a holistic, unified approach to data management - one that ensures a smooth flow of information throughout the organization. This white paper discusses how using SAS for data management enables decision makers at all levels to see a complete picture of enterprise risk.

The increasing dynamism and complexity of the modern global economy has put enterprise risk management (ERM) high on the agenda of many companies. This report presents the 2007 results of SAS' annual international benchmark survey on ERM in the financial services industry. Read this paper to learn about the drivers and benefits, economic rewards, implications for staff and systems, and the future of ERM.

Anticipated regulatory changes will demand more transparency from capital markets firms. They can deliver this transparency and accountability more readily and gain a competitive advantage by creating a model and scenario library linking the front office, middle office and risk management teams. This paper outlines an approach for creating a common model, security and scenario library for modeling structured, fixed-income securities and equities for use by front office, middle office and risk management teams.

For European financial services firms, compliance with MiFID is mandatory. Nevertheless, MiFID provides numerous opportunities for companies to improve profitability and shareholder value. This white paper explores those opportunities. You will learn how the people, process and systems changes required by MiFID can position your organization to be more agile and successful.

As global markets mature, institutions recognize that risks are intertwined with performance and should be measured in an integrated manner. This white paper provides an explanation of enterprise risk management (ERM), describing both the reasons for managing risk and the components necessary to do it successfully. These components include the ability to communicate risk measures throughout the organization, establish effective diagnostic techniques and effectively allocate risk capital.

Current economic conditions heighten the need for financial services firms to accurately gauge required levels of regulatory compliance and economic capital to support business strategy and risk appetite. More regulations are on the way, demanding transparency, accurate information about company operations, robust and comprehensive risk management, regulatory compliance and efficient governance. What does this mean for many organizations? This paper takes a step back to examine how all components of a successful company must work in an integrated manner in order to produce the best results, and how SAS approaches governance, risk, compliance and performance management issues by providing a comprehensive framework for analyzing and managing risks in the context of corporate strategy and performance.

Developed by SAS, the Comprehensive Credit Assessment Framework (CCAF), is a unique rating system that extends existing credit scoring to embrace all relevant factors and business context so that lenders can classify credit risk and decide all transactions in a more effective, transparent and forward-looking manner. CCAF's systematic segmentation approach has implications for both intervening in the mortgage crisis and preventing future financial disruption.

In September 2005, the Federal Reserve Board will disclose pricing data on higher cost loans with respect to applicant race, ethnicity, gender and income status. This new pricing information, in the officially filed HMDA data, will be used to monitor mortgage lending practices and assist in identifying possible discriminatory pricing patterns.

This paper presents a systematic approach for statistical analysis of HMDA pricing data. You will learn how an effective and powerful method to detect statistically significant pricing disparities amongst various groups is beneficial for lending institutions. The method described in this paper can be applied to HMDA filing data and a broader set of information including additional applicant and transaction information, credit bureau data, and credit underwriting and pricing policies.

This white paper discusses the nature of business risk, from credit risk to market risk and operational risk, primarily in the context of the banking industry. The paper provides a history of the Basel accords, outlining in detail the implications of Basel II on risk management. You will also learn about the processes and systems  required for implementing internal ratings-based approaches to risk management.

Credit scoring models can assist bankers with credit decisions and can enhance compliance with fair lending laws and regulations. This white paper examines the current deployment of credit scoring models, the challenges banks often encounter and future credit scoring trends. You will learn about common types of models, how to measure their performance and the impact of regulations on credit scoring.

Unlike any other software tool, spreadsheet programs have found their way into everyday reporting and quick calculations. Because of this popularity, there is frequent talk of overuse and even serious risks posed by spreadsheets. However, spreadsheets are insufficient for regulatory reporting and risk management. This paper explains the risks posed by spreadsheet reliance, proposes the optimum use for spreadsheets as part of an integrated data framework and discusses the role of SAS Business Intelligence software as a risk management solution.

Service organizations an increasingly important source of revenue for many companies. For these organizations, better methods for forecasting warranty reserves and accruals mean greater efficiency and profitability. This paper outlines some of the pitfalls of traditional methods for allocating warranty reserves, the best practices that can transform the process, and the significant monetary gains that can be achieved by improving the accuracy and adaptability of warranty reserve forecasts.

Manufacturing and supply chain organizations must not only optimize resources and minimize waste, but also predict future growth and demand. Event-handling and transactional systems cannot merge data into an integrated source of business intelligence; organizations need adequate data management, forecasting, optimization and modeling techniques to bring disparate data together and gather useful intelligence from it. With key performance indicators and process metrics that span functional areas, managers and other stakeholders can see changes and trends as they occur and make business decisions based on those indicators.

Many companies are beginning to realize that warranty data is an integral part of the customer's voice. It is essential not just to the bottom line, but to customer satisfaction and brand reputation. To understand how companies analyze warranty data, SAS commissioned a study to look at the warranty reporting and analysis systems of 20 companies. This paper summarizes the study and provides three case studies of companies that are now reaping the benefits of automated analytics.

This white paper looks at a proof-of-value (POV) process that a pragmatic organization embarked on with SAS to better understand how SAS forecasting and inventory optimization could improve the results from an already installed enterprise resource planning system. It not only shows surprising results, it provides a layman's pathway to attaining those results.

The difference between a good service chain and a great one typically lies in a company's ability to respond to key activities within their operations, predict future demand and performance, and optimize the various service elements. This paper describes the importance of, and the methodology behind, optimizing service operations to improve operational efficiencies, profitability, customer satisfaction and loyalty levels.

This white paper looks at a proof-of-value (POV) process that a pragmatic organization embarked on with SAS to better understand how SAS forecasting and inventory optimization could improve the results from an already installed enterprise resource planning system. It not only shows surprising results, it provides a layman's pathway to attaining those results.

Service organizations an increasingly important source of revenue for many companies. For these organizations, better methods for forecasting warranty reserves and accruals mean greater efficiency and profitability. This paper outlines some of the pitfalls of traditional methods for allocating warranty reserves, the best practices that can transform the process, and the significant monetary gains that can be achieved by improving the accuracy and adaptability of warranty reserve forecasts.

Many companies are beginning to realize that warranty data is an integral part of the customer's voice. It is essential not just to the bottom line, but to customer satisfaction and brand reputation. To understand how companies analyze warranty data, SAS commissioned a study to look at the warranty reporting and analysis systems of 20 companies. This paper summarizes the study and provides three case studies of companies that are now reaping the benefits of automated analytics.

Service organizations an increasingly important source of revenue for many companies. For these organizations, better methods for forecasting warranty reserves and accruals mean greater efficiency and profitability. This paper outlines some of the pitfalls of traditional methods for allocating warranty reserves, the best practices that can transform the process, and the significant monetary gains that can be achieved by improving the accuracy and adaptability of warranty reserve forecasts.

This white paper provides five steps to resource optimization, with a visual model and a variety of real-world examples to help business leaders understand how to allocate resources in alignment with enterprise-level objectives. You'll also learn about the technology required to support resource optimization.

The amount of information in business is growing exponentially. This white paper shows how the dashboarding and scorecarding capabilities of SAS Strategic Performance Management can help you maximize the value of this information. The paper describes the progression through focus, alignment and agility that SAS facilitates using advanced data access, alerts and traffic lighting, and dynamic diagramming functions.

In June 2008, SAS brought together executives and consultants across a range of federal agencies to discuss their experiences with performance management initiatives. Some were planning and performance management executives within government agencies. Some were business or IT consultants working with federal agencies.  From all of their accounts, three key themes emerged. Successful performance management initiatives must realign the cultural framework, set the strategic vision and establish the supporting information infrastructure. This paper explores issues and best practices around performance management in government from the people who live and breathe it every day.
 

In the second half of 2003, top purchasing executives from dozens of private- and public-sector organizations convened for SAS and IBM cosponsored forums on the changing role of procurement. The participants represented a broad range of industries and markets — from medical to military, package delivery to police protection — but they shared a common interest in evolving procurement into a more strategic function within their respective organizations.

This paper attempts to capture the themes of these discussions, specifically outlining five keys to evolving the procurement organization toward that elusive, strategic ideal. The paper also includes a brief discussion of what it means to be strategic.

This white paper discusses the critical elements of a supplier risk solution that integrates sustainability factors into a holistic supplier analysis, necessitating not only a thorough analysis of a supplier's financial track record, but also environmental and social performance as well.

This white paper explores several critical facets of SAS Sourcing Data Quality, a solution designed to ensure the quality of your sourcing data. The paper begins with a discussion of data integration, which involves gathering supplier data into one location, cleansing it, augmenting it with additional information and then classifying commodity data for use in supplier and spend analysis. Then you will learn more specifically about the SAS commodity classification engine, which helps automate the process of preparing commodity data for analysis.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is spreading quickly through the global network of supply chains. The technology promises improved efficiency and more accurate tracking--along with untold amounts of data. Read this white paper to get a brief introduction to RFID and learn about a variety of SAS technologies that can help you harness the value of your RFID-related data. Such technologies include data quality, business intelligence, predictive analytics and even retail-specific applications.

In today's unstable economy, many organizations are finding out that they have inadequate processes to handle demand planning, and traditional methods of predicting demand aren't efficient in a fluctuating market. The paper makes specific recommendations for organizations striving to move up the demand forecasting maturity curve by providing them an assessment framework to evaluate their current stage, and highlighting the characteristics common to best-class companies.

This white paper discusses multi-causal analysis as a way of integrating consumer demand information with shipment forecasts to capture the impact of marketing activities on shipments. With improvements in technology, data collection, data storage and analytical knowledge, CPG companies are now looking to integrate consumer demand with their shipment forecasts to capture the impact of marketing activities on shipments. As a result, multi-tiered causal analysis (MTCA) is receiving renewed interest. This paper explains the MTCA process, including an anonymous beverage industry case study that describes the process used to develop and link the Consumer Demand and Factory Shipment models. The by-product of this process was a more accurate forecast that reflected the company's marketing investment strategy.

This white paper discusses the critical elements of a supplier risk solution that integrates sustainability factors into a holistic supplier analysis, necessitating not only a thorough analysis of a supplier's financial track record, but also environmental and social performance as well.

This white paper illustrates a new patent-pending approach that may be helpful in certain new product forecasting situations.  It combines human judgment with time series mining and statistical modeling.  This "structured analogy" approach helps automate the selection of analogous products ("like items"), facilitates review and clustering of past new product introductions, and generate statistical forecasts.  Users can make manual overrides to the statistical forecasts, and get a better sense of the risks and uncertainties in new product forecasts through visualization of past new product introductions.

In today's unstable economy, many organizations are finding out that they have inadequate processes to handle demand planning, and traditional methods of predicting demand aren't efficient in a fluctuating market. The paper makes specific recommendations for organizations striving to move up the demand forecasting maturity curve by providing them an assessment framework to evaluate their current stage, and highlighting the characteristics common to best-class companies.

Economic conditions are reinforcing the mandate for tighter, more demand-driven supply chains.  Supply chain executives are searching for new value-add and cost reduction vehicles. In this paper, experts from SAS and HAVI Global Solutions argue that because demand management has become such a critical tool for carving out economic value, companies whose core competency is not supply chain management should outsource their demand management functions. The authors explain the benefits, discuss the conditions and technologies that have converged to make those benefits significantly outweigh the risks, and provide tips on assessing if outsourcing demand management is the right strategy for your organization.

Written by Computerworld and sponsored by SAS, this technology brief explores sustainability as a driver for business innovation and the positive role that information technology can play. Compiled from custom research and interviews with SAS, topics include green-sizing the data center, data integration for sustainability and how IT executives can leverage sustainability to drive business innovation.

Attitudes about how corporate citizenship strengthens profitability and revenue growth in American companies are presented in this report from both interviews and an online survey of 566 US-based executives conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit in September 2008. SAS was one of the sponsors of the research.

This report provides the topline results of a survey commissioned by SAS but conducted independently by Computerworld Research of business leaders on sustainable IT initiatives at their organizations. With nearly 8 out of 10 survey respondents expecting an impact of sustainability on the goods and services their organizations offer to end users, they recognize the impact on their brands and are turning to the adoption of performance management frameworks to strategize, analyze and implement effective sustainability initiatives.

This white paper highlights how SAS for Customer Experience Analytics helps organizations optimize the Web experience for their customers and analyze customer data for more effective marketing. Ultimately, you will learn how SAS for Customer Experience Analytics allows you to gain deeper customer insights, choreograph more meaningful customer interactions and improve overall marketing performance.