FLXathon 2020
FAQs
What is FLXathon?
A voluntary event where cross functional teams can showcase their innovative thought leadership. Teams are max of 3 people and can be from different groups, departments, roles and regions. We’ve assigned 4 categories to innovate Customer Experience, Open and Operationalize, Decisioning or our solutions (Fraud and Risk).
Why are we doing the FLXathon?
The reason we’re doing this is to create Any Innovation Tied to Value, in doing so our people will be able to:
- Show SAS innovation - It is an opportunity for all SAS Canada employees to showcase their ability to find innovative solutions for our customers' business problems of today.
- Create reusable innovative assets - It is a great way to refresh and update our demo assets with new and innovative showcases. Demo assets are critical sales assets, and hence these must be kept fresh and exciting to secure our future.
- Create cross organization collaboration – By having multiple teams from across SAS work together to show SAS innovation in action.
What's in it for you?
The main reasons you should participate are:
- Show innovation - Be our customers’ guide and show them the new SAS. Illustrate your ideas using real-world use cases.
- Build your brand - Showcase your ideas to the region, your peers and our management. Be a leader who creates vision. Set yourself apart, build trust, build credibility, and reflect who you are.
- Bragging rights – Earn the right to say we’re the Canadian FLXathon 2020 winning team. For the top teams there will also be cash prizes.
- Global exposure - Proudly represent Canada at the Global FLXathon competition to a SAS Executive in Cary (to be confirmed)
It is a unique opportunity for all SAS Canada employees to build their brand and be a leader with vision who strives for excellence. Set yourself apart, build trust, build credibility and reflect who you are.
When does the FLXathon Canada 2020 event start?
The FLXathon Canada 2020 event is launched as of March 5, 2020.
When will the FLXathon Canada 2020 event conclude?
The Canadian 2020 event will end during the week of June 8, 2020 with the judging of the participating submissions and the awarding of the winning teams.
If you are the winning team, you will be travelling to Cary to represent Canada in the Global FLXathon competitions and will present to SAS Executives in Cary including Oliver and Dave Mac. Dates are to be determined (but likely in July or August 2020).
What are the key dates that I need to consider?
March 5, 2020 | Formal launch of FLXathon Canada 2020 |
March 9, 2020 | Team Registration Opens |
March 30, 2020 | Team Registration Close |
March 31, 2020 | FLXathon work officially begins |
June 1, 2020 | Deadline for Team Submissions of Projects |
June 8, 2020 | Presentations and Judging of Submissions |
June 15, 2020 | Winners announced |
July/August 2020 | Representation by Canadian Winner in presentation to SAS Executive in Cary |
When should I start building my application?
You can start at any time, the earlier, the better. However, please remember to register in time to ensure your team’s spot in the competition.
Can I reuse something that I worked on previously?
Yes, you can reuse assets that you created previously. However, you may need to improve your application to take into consideration the judging criteria:
- Business Value
- Innovation
- Collateral
- Portability
- Collaboration
What if I don't know what I want to work on yet?
At registration, you will also need to provide a synopsis for your project. However, this can change as you progress with your project.
If you do not know what you want to work on yet, the recommendation is:
- Choose your category
- Provide your synopsis as an idea of your project
Naturally, you can discuss your considered project with a mentor for that category to obtain maybe some additional thoughts and pointers. They are there to help.
Is there a possibility for an extension of the deadline?
No, the deadline for the final submission of your project on the June 1st cannot be changed. The FLXathon Canada 2020 event, which is part of a greater SAS Global innovation initiative, cannot extend into 2H 2020.
What are the categories that I can compete in?
- Customer Experience - This could include using CI360 create a new approach or improve on an existing approach which would enhance a customer’s experience
- Open and Operationalization - Using SAS Viya and optionally Open Source languages (Python/R), create a model which solves a business problem, and operationalize it using SAS technologies
- Decisioning - Using an analytical approach, create a real-time decision-making application which utilizes SAS on Viya plus any other additional components required. The decision should be analytically driven
- Solutions - SAS solutions solve many business problems today. Using a SAS solution, such as fraud, solve a new use case that is not commonly solved by our solution as of yet
Are there any prizes?
All team members of the three top teams will win a prize. The three awards that will be up for grabs and will be determined at the final judgement in Canada during the week of June 8, 2020 are as follows:
1st Place Team: $3,000 per person
2nd Place Team: $1,000 per person
Who can be in a team?
The competition is open to any SAS Canada employee to participate, including employees from HR, Sales, Marketing, Finance, PSD, etc. as an example. The event is not just for technical employees. Everyone brings their unique skills that can contribute and differentiate your team from the competition. Overall success is not only being judged on your team's technical capabilities but also:
- The idea
- How it is pitched
- The validity of the business problem and quantification of the value
Do I need a team to register?
Yes, you need to register a team of maximum 3 members. Note, multi-disciplinary teams and or multi-region teams will automatically gain bonus points.
Can I be in mutiple teams?
Yes, a participant can be in multiple teams.
Will there be mentors to help us through the FLXathon?
Yes, for each category, there are mentors from the global technology practice. Check back before the end of March for the names
How does the judging work?
There will be two rounds of judging as follows:
Round 1: You will be required to upload content including a video of your presentation. From this we will select a series of finalists. The finalist teams will then move on to Round 2.
Round 2 or Final Judgment: In this round the finalist teams will compete for the position of the overall winning team and runner up team, the winner will move on the Americas round.
Who are the judges?
A group of panellists from the Canadian leadership team
What are the judging criteria?
Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Business Value
- Innovation
- Collateral
- Portability
- Collaboration
How will the project be judged? Can I have some guidance?
You should plan to meet all 5 broad judging criteria where possible (Business Value, Innovation, Collateral, Portability, Collaboration). For each criterion, we have listed some details below which should be observed as guidance only, they are suggestions that you can take into considerations and you may not have to cover them all.
Business Value
Your project will be judged in how well you defined the business value of the problem you are attempting to solve. To the judges, how well defined it is, not how big the problem is, but how real you are representing the magnitude of the problem. Quantifying the size of the business problem will be crucial. Most likely, during this process, you will have to make assumptions. Assumptions are normal, but record them, and substantiate the quantifications of your assumptions.
The workings in how you quantified your business problem will mainly interest the judges. Naturally, it would be best if you kept in mind that the solution to the business problem needs to derive sufficient return for our clients to act on it. Think net present value, rate of return, payback etc.
Innovation
This criterion focuses on creative idea generation. The judges assess the degree of exploration incorporated in areas such as Variation, Risk-taking, Experimentation, Flexibility and Discovery. The Right balance of exploration (free-thinking, unstructured activation) with exploitation (structured activity focused on refinement, efficiency, productivity, implementation, and execution).
Collateral
To submit your project for judgement, you will need to provide the following by June 8, 2020:
- A video recording of your pitch (10-minutes), including the associated written script of the talk tracks
- A business problem statement including the workings to the quantification of the estimated value for the problem
- Access to a running instance of your developed application, preferably via an end-point or URL to get to it
- Your portable demo assets.
Any additional collateral submitted could attract bonus points. Remember you are trying to sell your solution to the judges. So any further marketing or sales materials that could swing their decision will help. Be modern and think multimedia!
Portability
It is the ease with which a system or component can be transferred from one hardware or software environment to another. The quality attributes are judged based on portability between different:
- hardware platforms
- operating systems
- virtual machines/containers
- versions
- Where applicable, this may include tier separation (ie. compute vs database tiers) and code portability (ie. use of platform specific APIs).
Collaboration
This criterion recognizes the importance of effective relationships and collaborations within and across disciplines to tackle difficult issues. Where teams have collaborated, you will be judged against the following:
- Show evidence of collaboration having a direct impact or improved outcome
- Evidence of other departments/divisions having influence as a result of collaboration
- How the collaboration led to the success of the project eg. incorporating Marketing’s feedback
What will the judges require for me to submit for judgment?
For Round 1 you will need to submit:
- A video recording of your pitch (10-minutes), including the associated written script of the talk tracks
- A business problem statement including the workings to the quantification of the estimated value for the problem
- Access to a running instance of your developed application, preferably via an end-point or URL to get to it
- Your portable demo assets
- You will also be pitching your project via a video conference.
For Round 2, you will be using the Round 1 assets to pitch your project to the SAS executive team. Think Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den style!
Where can I build my content or innovation?
The team may choose between any of the following demo infrastructure options (keeping in mind portability judging criteria):
- RACE
- SAS Trial Environments
- Work Issued Laptops
- Canada Demo Landscape
- Please avoid using external cloud hosting (to manage costs and ensure a level playing field).
Do not use the CA Presales environment as it is often used for external customer facing activities