SAS For Dummies [Paperback]

Stephen McDaniel (Author), Chris Hemedinger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471788325 | ISBN-13: 978-0471788324 | Publication Date: June 12, 2007 | Edition: 1

• Created in partnership with SAS, this book explores SAS, a business intelligence software that can be used in any business setting or enterprise for data delivery, reporting, data mining, forecasting, statistical analysis, and more
• SAS employee and technologist Stephen McDaniel combines real-world expertise and a friendly writing style to introduce readers to SAS basics
• Covers crucial topics such as getting various types of data into the software, producing reports, working with the data, basic SAS programming, macros, and working with SAS and databases

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Use SAS on the Web, in Excel or PowerPoint, and from your desktop

The fun and easy way to manage and analyze data

Need to get up and running with SAS? This plain-English guide offers information on all the SAS basics, including getting data into the software, generating reports, creating graphs, and sharing results. Step-by-step instructions and screenshots show you how to work with analytics, databases, reports, and queries.

• Gather and present data

• Use the powerful analytics of SAS

• Access SAS from Microsoft Office and the Web

• Master SAS Enterprise Guide

• Work with SAS and databases

About the Author

Stephen McDaniel works at Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, CA, and is the Senior Manager of User Empowerment–Business Intelligence and Analytics. He is a strategic advisor and mentor for the business units in Yahoo! Search Marketing, helping business users to harness the potential of their data assets for planning and decision-making. As a member of Strategic Data Systems, he works closely with the data warehousing, business intelligence, and analytic teams on behalf of the business units to provide user-centric vision and guidance to their efforts. You can reach him at www.stephenmcdaniel.us. Previously, Stephen was the senior manager in charge of the SAS Enterprise Guide and the SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office development teams at SAS. Stephen has been a SAS user for more than 17 years and has experience at over 50 companies as a statistician, statistical programmer, product manager, and manager of data warehousing and business intelligence.

Chris Hemedinger is a senior software manager in the Business Intelligence Clients division at SAS. Chris began his career at SAS in 1993 as a technical writer, creating such hits as SAS Companion for the OS/2 Environment (remember OS/2?) and SAS Companion for the Microsoft Windows Environment. In 1997, he became involved in a prototype project to make SAS easier to use for non-programmers, and that project evolved into the hugely popular SAS Enterprise Guide, a product that Chris has worked with ever since.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471788325
• ISBN-13: 978-0471788324
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #780,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Please Change the Title of the Book, June 26, 2007

By 

Steven G. Sanders "Steve Sanders" (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SAS For Dummies (Paperback)

This book should be titled "SAS Enterprise Guide for Dummies", not "SAS for Dummies".

If you are looking for a beginner's guide to SAS Enterprise Guide, this is a good choice. However, if you are looking for a guide to classic SAS, the SAS Datastep language, Proc SQL, etc... this is not the book you want.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars False Advertising, June 27, 2007

By 

Monica E. Hackett (Wayne, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SAS For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is going back to the store. It is not a guide to SAS but to SAS Enterprise. Thank goodness a colleague quickly short circuited my learning curve on this book. He told me as I sat with a data set about to plunge in. We don't even have Enterprise on our company computer.

Too bad...I had high hopes.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to "new" SAS, August 9, 2007

By 

Anonymous Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SAS For Dummies (Paperback)

SAS For Dummies, like all of the books in the Dummies series I've read, is an enjoyable to read, easy to understand introduction to a broad and complex topic. As some have mentioned, the focus of this book is not on "SAS programming." Rather it covers getting your analysis and reporting work done using some of the newer offerings from SAS in the "business intelligence" area, including Enterprise Guide and other products. There is, however, a helpful chapter on what kinds of programming tasks can be done by more advanced users and what long-time SAS programmers may miss. (For a good book on SAS programming, I'd recommend The Little SAS Book). Also included in SAS For Dummies is good coverage of data integration, "Stored Processes" for analysis and reporting, and 2 chapters on analytics. These 2 chapters are especially helpful as an introduction to difficult concepts. Overall, this book provides a helpful overview of getting your data manipulation, analysis, and reporting tasks done with SAS, and a no-nonsense, nuts and bolts understanding of some of the newest software from SAS.