Prerequisites
The following software is required prior to attending the class. Some of the software will be supplied by the instructor while others is required on the student's machine.
Student's Requirements
- Windows XP
- Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox
- Microsoft Office: Word and Excel
- SAS version 8.12 or higher
Download Available
- Team Viewer - Desk sharing software for viewing course
- MXI Plugin - Connectivity software to
deliver SAS data to MS Office
Latest download will be made available before week of class.
About Instructor
Sy Truong is the cofounder and president of MXI (Meta-Xceed, Inc.) since 1997. MXI provides software solutions within the Pharmaceutical Industry specializing
in CDISC data standards, SAS validation, electronic submission, data analysis and reporting. Sy is one of the committee members of the Bay Area SAS User Group (www.basas.com). He is a frequent contributor and presenter
at PharmaSUG, WUSS, and SUGI conferences. He's currently writing a book for SAS Publishing entitled
Becoming a SAS Clinical Trials Programmer. |
Course Introduction
The ubiquity of Microsoft Excel and Word on desktop computers has made it a default entry point for many users to view and edit their information. Once Excel was included into the MS Office suite in 1993, it became the killer app overtaking other spreadsheet heavy weights such as Lotus 1-2-3. Although Excel has analysis capabilities, it does not have the powerful statistical procedures and depth
of SAS. There are two types of analysis that are being performed. One method is to use visual interactive spreadsheets to draw conclusions with Excel. The other method is to program SAS code to apply more nuanced statistical models. Many Excel jockeys do not have the knowledge or interest in learning to program in SAS since the interface of Excel is relatively easy to pick up. When analyzing certain types of data, such as financial information, Excel is the tool of choice. Its capabilities to easily generate graphs along with the visual pivot table provide powerful methods to view data. In certain cases, however, Excel is not capable of performing particular tasks which SAS can provide.
In the SAS programming camp, a common way to deliver dynamic reports is in the form of SAS macros. This gives the programmer the ability to parameterize specific views of the data and options for the selected statistical models. The challenge is that macros are developed by and used by programmers who are familiar with scripting programs rather than using the wizard GUI screens of Excel. This
course will demonstrate tools and methods for SAS programmers to easily convert SAS programs such as macros into user friendly screens that MS Excel users can access directly from within Excel or Word.
The software used for demonstration will
include MS Excel/Word, SAS 9.1.3 and MXI Plugin?. The gaps that exist between Excel and SAS users can be closed. The union of these tools enables power users and decision makers who may not be SAS programmers to fully explore the business data with the full analytical power of the SAS system. |
