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Proceedings of the South-Central Regional SAS Conference

1994

Monday, November 7th through Tuesday, November 8th, 1994 Sheraton Gunter Hotel

KeITil B auerly

Matthew Grover Conference Chairs

San Antonio, TX

TomWinn Editor of Proceedings

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PROCEEDINGS

of the

FOURTH ANNUAL

SOUTH-CENTRAL SAS

REGIONAL CONFERENCE

Held at

San Antonio, Texas November 7-8, 1994

Tom Winn, Jr. Kerril Bauerly & Matthew Grover Conference Co-Chairpersons Editor of Proceedings

The South-Central SAS Users' Group

Note: SAS is a registered trademark of SAS Institute Inc., of Cary, North Carolina. This mark is used throughout this book to identify a particular system of computer software products.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Conference Schedules

Abstracts of Papers to be Presented

Contributed Papers:

Kerril Bauerly "Very Cool Reports in Very Little Time with SAS" (Abstract)

Randy Betancourt "The SAS System as an Information Database in a Client/Server Environment"

Harriet Brichta "Lead Time to Return"

David B. Cohen

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15

16

23

"Intervention Analysis in Vocational Rehabilitation" 29

Jesse Davis & Helen Spade "Up to 50 X SAS Performance Gains on Large Data Volumes USing Scalable Parallel Computing" 41

Jim DeFoor "Using PROC SQL Effectively With SAS Data Sets" 47

Joel A. Dubin & Carol M. Ashton "Comparing Patient Quality of Care Scoring Methods with SAS-Produced Paired Boxplots" 59

111

Chris Greene & Dan Laredo "The Reports Management System (RMS) -- Meeting Agencies' Reporting and Querying Needs" 68

. Scott Groussman & Robin Yeldell "Flexibility of SCL Lists" 76

Jeff Heckathorn & Mark F. Munsell "Two Macros for Calculating Often Used Statistics of Symmetry and Agreement in the Biopharmaceutical Industry" 81

James Hefner "Your Map to the Sea of GUls: A Primer on Moving SAS Applications Across Graphical Operating Systems" 93

Clarence Jackson "Using the SAS System to Help Manage Data" 100

Mike Kalt & Peter Ruzsa "Exporting SASIGRAPH Output to Other Applications" 104

Mack Lindsey "A One-Size-Fits-AII Macro to Reduce Repetitive Coding" 111

Donna Martinez "A Development Environment for Applications Based on SAS Software" 123

Doyle McDonald "Creating an Autocall Macro to Convert SAS Datasets to Text Delimited Files" 127

Paul Pope "Using the SAS System in an Integrated Survey Application" 136

iv

S. David Riba "New Tricks for an Old Tool: Using Custom Formats for Data Validation and Program Efficiency" 142

Kathe Richards "SAS and DB2: Making the Connection'" 150

Samuel L. Seaman & Kris K. Moore "Forecasting Criminal Activity Using SAS System Software" (Abstract) 159

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, & Philip Baczewski "Porting SAS Application from Mainframe to Other Platforms: Some Considerations" (Abstract) 160

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, & Philip Baczewski "Building a SASIEIS Application in the University Environment: The UNT Experience" (Abstract) 161

Christine A. Stroup-Benham & Laura A. Ray "From Optical Scan Sheets or Databases to Output: How SAS Takes Us There" 162

David Swift "Creating 'Variable Name' Data Sets with CALL VNAME and PROC TRANSPOSE" 178

Huixing Tang, David Swift, & Kerril Bauerly "Plotting Confidence Intervals and Prediction Bands With SASIGRAPH" 186

Beverly Wells & Henrietta Cummings "Intelligent Query Tools for Querying and Reporting" 191

Marsha S. Weston, & Darlene M. Reinhard "Predicting Managed Care Hospital Discharges and Bed Days" 195

v

Thomas J. Winn, Jr. "Debugging SAS Macros"

Thomas J. Winn, Jr. "Exploring Data Using Base SAS Software"

Stella Wang "Coping With SAS Error Messages"

Dean M. Young & Samuel L. Seaman "On A More Efficient Use of Quadratic Logistic Discrimination" (Abstract)

The following papers were not available when this volume was printed. Copies should be available as separate handouts at the conference. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Kerril Bauerly . "Very Cool Reports in Very Little Time with SAS"

Samuel L. Seaman & Kris K. Moore "Forecasting Criminal Activity Using SAS System Software"

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, & Philip Baczewski

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230

236

239

"Porting SAS Application from Mainframe to Other Platforms: Some Considerations"

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, & Philip Baczewski "Building a SAS/EIS Application in the University Environment: The UNT Experience"

Dean M. Young & Samuel L. Seaman "On A More Efficient Use of Quadratic Logistic Discrimination"

Diagram of Physical Facilities at Sheraton Gunter Hotel 241

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1994 SOUTH-CENTRAL REGIONAL SAS USERS' CONFERENCE Sheraton Gunter Hotel, San Antonio

Sunday, November 6

6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Registration Mezzanine Level Foyer Mixer Padre Muldoon's (Upper) Lounge

Monday, November 7

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Registration Mezzanine Level Foyer Continental Breakfast Gunter Terrace

8:30 - 9:25 a.m. Opening Session & Keynote Presentation Crystal Ballroom

9:30 -10:25 a.m. Concurrent Sessions: Tutorials & General Interest

Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

10:25 - 10:45 a.m. Refreshment Break Mezzanine & Third Level Foyers Begin Display of Poster Presentations Third Level Foyer

10:45 - 11 :40 a.m. Concurrent Sessions: Tutorials & General Interest

Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

12:00 noon - 1 :30 p.m. Roundtable Discussion Luncheon Travis Center 1 :45 - 2:40 p.m. Concurrent Sessions:

Tutorials & General Interest Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms

Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

2:40 - 3:00 p.m. Refreshment Break Mezzanine & Third Level Foyers 3:00 - 3:55 p.m. Concurrent Sessions:

Tutorials & General Interest Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms

FonnalDemonstrauons Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions

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Tuesday, November 8

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Registration Mezzanine Level Foyer Continental Breakfast Gunter Terrace

8:30 -10:25 a.m. Concurrent Sessions: Applications Development & Statistical Computing

Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

10:25 - 10:45 a.m. Refreshment Break Mezzanine & Third Level Foyers 10:45 - 11 :40 a.m. Concurrent Sessions:

Systems Architecture, Applications Development & Statistics Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms

Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

12:00 noon - 1 :30 p.m. Roundtable Discussion Luncheon Travis Center 1 :45 - 2:40 p.m. Concurrent Sessions:

Applications Development & Statistical Computing Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms

Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

2:40 - 3:00 p.m. Refreshment Break Mezzanine & Third Level Foyers 3:00 - 3:55 p.m. Concurrent Sessions:

Applications Development & Statistical Computing Crystal Ballroom, Bluebonnet & Alamo Rooms

Fonnal Demonstrations Baker Room Video Tutorials Robert E. Lee Room Problem-Solving Sessions Frontier & Trail Drivers Rooms

4:00 - 4:30 p.m. ClOSing Session Crystal Ballroom 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Mixer Gunter Terrace

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1994 South-Central Regional SAS Users' Group Conference, Sheraton Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas Schedule of Events for Monday, November 7

Crystal Ballroom Bluebonnet Room Alamo Room Baker Room Robert E. Lee I

, Room ------- - ---- -_ .. _--------- -- - - -

7:30-8:30 a.m •. Check-In Check-In Check-In Check-In Check-In & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter Terrace) Terrace) Terrace) Terrace) Terrace)

8:30-9:25 a.m. CarilaChapelle - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Keynote Presentation"

9:30-10:25 a.m. Kerril Bauerly - TomWinn - Randy Betancourt- Formal Demonstration: Video Tutorial: 'Very Cool Reports in "Exploring Data With Base "The SAS System as an "SQl Query Window" "Getting Started With Very little Time With SAS Software" Information Database in Henrietta Cummings SAS/ASSISr SAS" a Client/Server

Environmenf'

10:25-10:45 a.m. Break Break Break Break Break (Opening of Poster Area (Opening of Poster Area (Opening of Poster Area (Opening of Poster Area (Opening of Poster Area at Third Level Foyer) at Third Level Foyer) . at Third Level Foyer) at Third Level Foyery at Third Level Foyer)

10:45-11:40 a.m. Mike Kalt & Peter Ruzsa . Kathe Richards - Clarence Jackson - Formal Demonstration: Video Tutorial: "Exporting SAS/GRAPH "SAS and DB2: Making "Using the SAS System "Encrypting SAS Data in "Getting Started With the I Output to Other the Connection" to Help Manage Data" Release 6.11" REPORT Procedure" I Applications" Billy Clifford

12:00 noon-1:30 p.m. Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis I

Center Center Center Center Center 1 :45-2:40 p.m. S. David Riba - Beverly Wells & Henrietta Stella Wang - . Formal Demonstration: Video Tutorial:

"New Tricks for an Old Cummings- "Coping With SAS Error "SAS/GEO Software" "Building SCl Tool: Using Custom "Intelligent Query Tools Messages" Delpfine Weich Applications With Formats for Data for Querying and SASIFSP Software" Validation and Program Reporting" Efficiency"

2:40-3:00 p.m. Break Break Break Break Break

3:00-3:55 p.m. TomWinn - Jim DeFoor- Donna Martinez - Formal Demonstration - Video Tutorial: "Debugging SAS "Using PROC Sal "A Development To Be Announced "Building SCl Macros" Effectively With SAS Data Environment for Applications With

Sets" Applications Based on SAS/AF Software" SAS Software"

4:00-5:30 p.m. Birds-of-a-Feather Birds-of-a-Feather Birds-of-a-Feather - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Sessions Sessions Sessions

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1994 South-Central Regional SAS Users' Group Conference. Sheraton Gynter Hotel, San Antonio. Texas Schedule of Events for Tuesday, November 8

Crystal Ballroom Bluebonnet Room Alamo Room Baker Room Robert E. Lee Room

7:30-8:30 a.m. Check-In Check-In Check-In Check-In Check-In & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at & Late Registration at Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer Mezzanine Foyer (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter (Breakfast at Gunter Terrace) Terrace) Terrace) Terrace) Terrace)

8:30-9:25 a.m. Chris Greene & Dan Mack Lindsey - Joel Dubin & Carol Formal Demonstration: Video Tutorial: Laredo - "A One-Size-Fits-AII Ashton - "An Inside Look at "Moving to the SAS "The Reports Macro to Reduce "Comparing Patient Clent/Server Computing System Under OSI2 and Management System Repetitive Coding" Quality of Care Scoring With the SAS System" Windows' (RMS) - Meeting Methods With SAS- Randy Betancourt Agencies' Reporting and Produced Paired Querying Needs" Boxplots"

9:30-10:25 a.m. Scott Groussman & Panu Sittiwong, Roger Samuel Seaman & Kris. Formal Demonstration: Video Tutorial: Robin Yeldell- Speas, & Philip Moore- ·SQL Query Window" ·Using SAS Macro "Flexibility of SCL Lists" Baczewski - . "Forecasting Criminal Henrietta Cummings Variables'

"Porting SAS Application Activity Using SAS from Mainframe to Other System Software" Platforms: Some Considerations"

10:25-10:45 a.m. Break Break Break Break Break

10:45-11:40 a.m. Jesse Davis & Helen Doyle McDonald - Marsha Weston & Formal Demonstration - Video Tutorial: Spade - "Creating an Autocall Darlene Reinhard - To Be Announced 'Using SQL in the SAS "Up to 50 X SAS Macro to Convert SAS "Predicting Managed System" Performance Gains on Datasets to Text Care Hospital Large Data Volumes Delimited Files" Discharges and Bed Using Scalable Parallel Days" Computing"

12:00 noon-1:30 p.m. Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Luncheon Roundtable Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the Travis Discussions in the TraviS Discussions in the Travis Center Center Center Center Center

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Crystal Ballroom Bluebonnet Room

-_ .. -

1 :45-2:40 p.m. Christine Stroup- Panu Sittiwong, Roger Benham & Laura Ray - Speas, & Philip "From Optical Scan Baczewski -Sheets or Databases to "Building a SAS/EIS Output: How SAS Takes Application in the Us There" University Environment

The UNT Experience" 2:40-3:00 p.m. Break Break

3:00-3:55 p.m. James Hefner - David Cohen -"Your Map to the Sea of "Intervention Analysis in GUls: A Primer on Vocational Rehabilitation" MovingSAS Applications Across Graphical Operating Systems"

4:00-4:30 p.m. Closing Session - - - - - - - -Mixer at Gunter Terrace Mixer at Gunter Terrace 4:30-6:30 p.m.

-- ---- ---- -

Yellow Rose Room - SAS Institute Exhibit Area Baker Room - Formal Demonstrations Robert E. Lee Room - Video Tutorial Theater Third Level Lobby Area - Poster Presentations Frontier Room - Problem-Solving Sessions Trail Drivers Room - Problem-Solving Sessions Overflow Travis Center - Luncheon & Roundtable Discussions

Alamo Room Baker Room J Robert E. Lee Room

-

Dean Young & Samuel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Seaman· "On a More Efficient Use of Quadratic Logistic Discrimination"

.

Break Break Break Harriet Brichta - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Lead Time to Return"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Mixer at Gunter Terrace Mixer at Gunter Terrace Mixer at Gunter Terrace

.- -_ .. - - _ ..

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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED AT SC-SUG '94 Listed Alphabetically by Last Name of (first listed) Author

Kerril Bauerly, The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio "Very Cool Reports in Very Little Time with SAS"

Customized reports are easy to do in SAS. This paper covers some advanced techniques to improve the appearance of ordinary reports. It explains some quick ways to put some pizazz into reports using PROC PRINT, PROC REPORT, DATA _NULL_, and PROC FORMS. The end result can be a really cool report that didn't take a lot of time.

Kerril Bauerly works as a programmer in measurement services for the Psychological Corporation in San Antonio. She also is a co-chair of this year's SCSUG conference.

Randy Betancourt, SAS Institute Inc., Cary NC "The SAS System as an Information Database in a Client/Server Environment"

This paper examines the role of the information database in a client/server environment and database features of the SAS System that allow it to be a cost-effective alternative to a commercial DBMS. The paper also will demonstrate how popular SAS routines can easily be applied to views of operational data in order to turn raw data into meaningful information.

Randy Betancourt is an enterprise computing specialist at SAS Institute inc. in Cary, NC. He has been with the Institute for 10 years.

Harriet Brichta, Electronic Data Systems, Plano "Lead TIme to Return"

This paper presents a practical business application of the Cross Lag Panel design -- a statistical methodology utilized to infer causality from correlation data. Lead time to return is a procurement analysis tool in which correlations between purchases and revenues are used to identify whether acquisitions are reactive, proactive, or just in time. When coupled with independent profitability measures, optimal procurement strategies may be identified.

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David B. Cohen, Texas Rehabilitation Commission, Austin "Intervention Analysis in Vocational Rehabilitation"

Rehabilitation outcomes are an important aspect of state vocational rehabilitation agencies operations because funding must be determined by what positive outcomes can be achieved, on a lag basis each year. The paper describes the use of time-series techniques in analyzing the impact of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 in the state of Texas.

Jesse Davis, Consultant & Helen Spade, MasPar Computer Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA "Up to 50 X SAS Performance Gains on large Data Volumes Using Scalable Parallel Computing"

The ability to perform fast data reduction on large data volumes is limited by traditional computer systems, which can take hours of CPU time and days of elapsed time to process multi-gigabyte datasets. This paper describes how a company addressed the volume issue in health decision support processing, and also improved the end users' toolsets.

Jim DeFoor, Lockheed Fort Worth Company, Fort Worth "Using PROC SQl Effectively With SAS Data Sets"

This paper is a beginning tutorial on reading and reporting indexed SAS data sets with PROC SOL.

Jim DeFoor works for the Lockheed Fort Worth Company. He has been a SAS user for 14 years. Jim was a co-founder of the South-Central Regional SAS Users' Group, and he also was Vice-Chairman of the 1991 and 1992 SCSUG conferences. Jim has been a frequent presenter at SC-SUG and SUGI conferences.

Joel A. Dubin & Carol M. Ashton, VA Medical Center, Houston "Comparing Patient Quality of Care Scoring Methods with SAS­Produced Paired Boxplotsn

This paper discusses a SAS program which produces side-by-side boxplots for comparing the spread of several measures for patient quality of care among 12 Veteran Affairs hospitals. The goal of the program is to be able to show each hospital the spread of their unweighted and weighted adherence scores compared to all of the other hospitals. The program uses SAS Macro Language and SAS/GRAPH.

8

Chris Greene & Dan Laredo, American Management Systems Inc., Austin, TX and Rosslyn, VA "The Reports Management System (RMS) -- Meeting Agencies' Reporting and Querying Needs"

This paper describes a mainframe-based, menu-driven application that allows users to access and retrieve data from one or more legacy systems, and to produce pre-defined or custom reports from that data. RMS utilizes a powerful and intuitive user interface which gives users the ability to perform queries and create reports without technical expertise. RMS was developed in SAS/AF, using Screen Control Language and Base SAS.

Scott Groussman & Robin Yeldell, Value Health Management, Dallas "Flexibility of SCL Lists"

This paper describes the usefulness of SCL lists in developing a GUI with SAS Frame and Method entries. Lists provide functionality, flexibility and simplicity. The authors used lists extensively to design and build a proprietary reporting system GUI for analyzing the performance of health plans.

Jeff Heckathorn & Mark F. Munsell, Applied Logic Associates Inc., Houston "Two Macros for Calculating Often Used Statistics of Symmetry and Agreement in the Biopharmaceutical Industry"

This poster presents two macros which are used in the biopharmaceutical industry to calculate and display the symmetry, concordance rate, sensitivity, specificity, predictive value positive, and predictive value negative, along with their associated confidence intervals and p-values. These statistics are used to provide measures of symmetry or agreement which are useful in comparing results from two diagnostic tests, or in evaluating changes in experimental results from a single test over time.

James Hefner, Entergy Corporation, Beaumont "Your Map to the Sea of GUls: A Primer on Moving SAS Applications Across Graphical Operating Systems"

Increasingly, application developers are finding that they must develop and support interfaces for use across multiple platforms. This paper presents many of the fundamentals of graphical user interface programming, as well as some important considerations relating to the movement of SAS/AF and SAS/EIS applications from one operating system to another.

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Clarence Jackson, City of Dallas, Dallas "Using the SAS System to Help Manage Data"

This paper describes how the SAS System can be used to help manage data. Actions such as adding, deleting, and updating of data must be handled in such a way as to ensure data integrity, as well as to make the most efficient use of data resources.

Clarence Jackson is Senior Systems Analyst with the Revenue and Taxation Department of the City of Dallas. He was a co-founder of the South-Central Regional SAS Users' Group. Clarence has been a frequent contributor at SUGI and SCSUG conferences.

Mike Kalt & Peter Ruzsa, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC "Exporting SAS/GRAPH Output to Other Applications"

This paper shows how to create files in common output formats, such as CGM, TIFF, PostScript, and HPGL; describes available drivers that can be used to export to popular word processing and desktop publishing packages; and discusses certain experimental drivers (available from SAS Institute Technical Support) that can be used to export SAS/GRAPH output to other packages.

Carl LaChapelle, SAS Institute Inc., "Cary, NC "Keynote Address"

Carl LaChapelle is Display Products Manager at SAS Institute.

Mack Lindsey, Texas State Comptroller's Office, Austin "A One-Size-Fits-AII Macro to Reduce Repetitive Coding"

This paper will present a macro which was developed to simplify repetitious program code for a report-writing application.

Donna Martinez, SAS Consulting Services Inc., Austin "A Development Environment for Applications Based on SAS Software"

Data structures, design methodologies, and programming tools are the foundation components of an application development environment. This paper describes these components using a SAS software perspective.

Donna Martinez is a regional consultant with SAS Consulting Services.

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Doyle McDonald, Texas Education Agency, Austin "Creating an Autocall Macro to Convert SAS Datasets to Text Delimited Files"

This paper describes a generic SAS dataset conversion macro which is used to create standard text files from SAS datasets, with just a few lines of code, and without the necessity of coding line after line of tiresome PUT statements. The macro also creates an accompanying descriptor file. It is made available for agency use by means of the Autocall macro facility.

Paul Pope, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, College Station "Using the SAS System in an Integrated Survey Application"

This poster presentation describes how the SAS System's file format conversion tools were exploited to create an application that integrates various software to analyze, query, and present survey data.

S. David Riba, JADE Tech Inc., Clearwater, FL "New Tricks for an Old Tool: Using Custom Formats for Data Validation and Program Efficiency"

This paper examines some ways in which user defined custom formats can be used for data validation, for developing more flexible SAS program code, and for other programming efficiency techniques. The paper also discusses recent enhancements to PROC FORMAT.

Dave Riba is the chief executive officer at JADE Tech Inc., in Clearwater, Florida. His specialties include applications development and training in the SAS System. Dave is President of the Florida Gulf Coast SAS Users Group, and he also served as a co-chairman of the 1 993 SouthEast SAS Users Group Conference.

Kathe Richards, Texas State Comptroller's Office, Austin "SAS and 082: Making the Connection'"

How do you find your data, pull it out and put it together when you're a SAS programmer and the data has found a home in DB2? What's the difference between an Access Descriptor and a View Descriptor? And what does PROC Sal have to do with it? This paper includes tales from a SAS programmer who found answers to these and other questions when the data moved and a lot of people had to follow.

Kathe Richards is a technical support analyst at the Texas Comptroller's Office in Austin. She has been a SAS user for many years.

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Samuel L. Seaman and Kris K. Moore, Baylor University, Waco "Forecasting Criminal Activity Using SAS System Software"

This paper describes the results of an extensive study of factors associated with criminal activity in a Central Texas community. A tremendous data base consisting of census data, police department records, weather data, alcoholic beverage data, economic forecasting data, and housing authority data was examined for significant associations. SAS software was used to identify a statistical model which has proven to be useful in forecasting crimes within police beats in the city.

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, and Philip Baczewski, University of North Texas, Denton "Porting SAS Application from Mainframe to Other Platforms: Some Considerations"

This paper provides comparisons in the areas of performance, suiitability of task, and some financial considerations of the impact of moving SAS applications between VM/CMS, UNIX, and Windows.

Panu Sittiwong, Roger Speas, and Philip Baczewski, University of North Texas, Denton "Building a SASIEIS Application in the University Environment: The UNT Experience"

This paper presents menu systems developed to meet the needs of the University of North Texas, and various lessons which were learned in the course of the project.

Christine A. Stroup-Benham, and Laura A. Ray, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston "From Optical Scan Sheets or Databases to Output: How SAS Takes Us There"

This paper illustrates the power and utility of the SAS System's ability to read and analyze data from a variety of software packages and formats. The paper describes applications which integrate data from databases, ASCII text files, and scannable forms. The usefulness of PROC DBF, PROC COMPARE, and SAS/ACCESS software also are described.

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David Swift, The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio "Creating 'Variable Name' Data Sets with CALL VNAME and PROC TRANSPOSE"

This purpose of this poster presentation is to illustrate the usefulness of the . CAll VNAME routine in creating "variable name" data sets. CAll VNAME returns a variable name as the value of a specified variable. This poster also discusses some important characteristics and uses of "variable name" data sets.

Huixing Tang, David Swift, and Kerril Bauerly, The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio "Using SAS/GRAPH to Create Error Bounds Around Prediction Lines"

This purpose of this poster presentation is to show how shaded error bounds can be created around prediction lines generated from statistical regression procedures, using SAS/GRAPH software. Examples are included.

Beverly Wells & Henrietta Cummings, SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC "Intelligent Query Tools for Querying and Reporting"

The SAS System offers interactive query tools which allow easy access to data. This paper examines features of two query tools: the SQl Query Window, and Query and Reporting from 082.

Marsha S. Weston, and Darlene M. Reinhard, Systems Research and Applications Corporation, San Antonio "Predicting Managed Care Hospital Discharges and Bed Days"

This paper shows how elements of the SAS System were used to derive hospital utilization rates from insurance claims data, and then to predict the number of discharges and bed days that might be generated by local area populations.

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Tom Winn, Texas State Comptroller's Office, Austin "Debugging SAS Macros"

This paper describes a strategy for using the MPRINT, MLOGIC, and SYMBOLGEN system options, as well as O/OPUT statements, for identifying and correcting code involving macro expressions which is not working correctly.

Thomas Winn is a mathematician and economist with the Texas State Comptroller's Office. Tom was a founder of the South-Central Regional SAS Users' Group.

Tom Winn, Texas State Comptroller's Office, Austin "Exploring Data Using Base SAS Software"

This paper is an introduction to some of the basic tools of exploratory data analysis using Base SAS software. It explains how to produce and to interpret scatter plots, histograms, stem-and-Ieaf plots, box-and-whisker plots, and various descriptive statistics.

Tom has been a SAS user for twelve years. He has been President of the Austin-Area SAS Users' Group since its formation in 1988. He was the chairman of the SC-SUG conferences which were held in 1991 and 1992.

Stella Wang, Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin "Coping With SAS Error Messages"

This tutorial presents several aspects of error messages which are generated from SAS code by the SAS System. The paper will furnish answers to the following questions: What kinds of errors are there? How and when are errors detected? How can a SAS programmer avoid encounters with error messages?

Dean M. Young, and Samuel L. Seaman, Baylor University, Waco "On A More Efficient Use of Quadratic Logistic Discrimination"

This paper demonstrates that, under certain population configurations, a dimension reduction procedure is theoretically correct, and can be used to combat the ill effects of dimensionality in the quadratic logistic discrimination problem. The paper offers documented SAS code for a technique that would be useful to statisticians working in the health sciences field.

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