Introduction to SAS 9.4 Software Masterclass (3-Day Format)

Welcome to the Introduction to SAS 9.4 Software Masterclass (3-Day Format)!

Join us for an exciting hands-on learning experience at the Iowa Department of Education.

This event is perfect for beginners looking to dive into the world of SAS software. Over three days, you'll master the ins and outs of SAS 9.4, from a powerful library of procedures, a DATA step language for handling “custom” user-written programming tasks, an assortment of built-in functions, and many other amazing features and tools. In this course attendees learn how to effectively use tools to write SAS programs that access SAS datasets, import CSV and Excel data files, view dataset metadata, manipulate data, transform and reshape data, produce detail- and summary-level output and reports, compute basic descriptive statistics, visualize data, and acquire essential programming techniques to enhance their skill set.

Course Topics:

• Introduction to SAS 9.4 Software.
• SAS dataset terminology – Observation, Variable, Types of Data (e.g., character data, and numeric data).
• Learn SAS Display Manager, Enterprise Guide, and SAS Studio Integrated Development Environments (IDEs).
• SAS dataset and variable naming conventions.
• Create, view, and inspect SAS datasets.
• Write your first SAS program - A simple program to access a SAS dataset and produce metadata information.
• Enhance your program to produce detail-oriented results.
• Enhance your program to produce summary-oriented results.
• SAS statements (or keywords), operators, and expressions to fully understand what you’re coding and why.
• Import raw data files (e.g., CSV and XLSX) into SAS software.
• Create permanent SAS datasets.
• Understand the building blocks of basic SAS programs, how to use SAS as a programming language, and how to debug programs for accuracy and correctness.
• Select Observations with Subsetting IF and WHERE; and Select Variables with KEEP= / DROP= dataset options.
• Explore Logical (e.g., AND, OR, NOT) and Comparison (e.g., =, <, >, <=, >=) Operators.
• Introduction to SAS procedures including PRINT, REPORT, and SQL to produce detail output; FREQ, MEANS, SGPLOT, SQL, and UNIVARIATE to summarize and create summary, graphical, tabular, and statistical output; and utility procedures including IMPORT, CONTENTS, DATASETS, and SORT to read, access, and manage data and SAS libraries.
• Introduction to program control flow using statements, conditions, operators, and loops (IF-THEN-ELSE, SELECT-WHEN-OTHERWISE, CASE logic, Iterative DO, DO WHILE, and DO UNTIL).
• Introduction to strings, determine the length of strings, compare strings, parse strings, and format strings.
• Introduction to dates and times.
• Introduction to SAS functions (e.g., character, numeric, date, and time).
• Combine SAS datasets (e.g., merge / join, inner and outer joins, concatenation, and interleaving).
• Produce HTML, PDF, and XLSX output and results using SAS Output Delivery System (ODS).
• Hands-on SAS use cases including programming techniques to access and open data files, perform exploratory data analysis, perform data cleaning and data transformation, create subsets, sort data, append / concatenate data, transpose data structures, merge / join data, apply logic with comparison and logical operators, use functions as powerful building blocks, produce descriptive statistics, create output files, and produce reports.

Intended Audience: Data Analysts, Programmers, Data Scientists, Statisticians, and Statistical Programmers.

Prerequisites: No previous SAS programming experience required.

Delivery Method: Instructor-led Hands-on with code examples.

Length: 3-Day format (Day 1 – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM; Day 2 – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM; Day 3 – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM). Lunch is included for all attendees 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM each day.

Location: Iowa Department of Education, 400 East 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319.

Course Material: e-Course Notes (PDF format) and code are provided to Attendees.

Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your skills and boost your career prospects. Sign up now and take the first step towards becoming a SAS expert!

Host or Publisher Kirk Paul Lafler - SAS, SQL, Python Trainer