SAS Visual Analytics Gives Flexibility Like You’ve Never had Before

SAS Visual Analytics (VA) has been around for a while, but the features that come along with Visual Analytics on Viya make it the shiny new toy that every analytics leader wants for Christmas. So what makes SAS Visual Analytics on Viya so cool and sought after? That’s the big question.

Top 5 Benefits of Upgrading to SAS Visual Analytics 8.4

Users with appropriate access can now update and make changes to reports. Report creators might squirm at the thought of others being able to change their hard work. However, report authors can make reports as flexible as they like. A trusted colleague may have full access while a user from another department may only be able to make simple edits. Whatever situation you’re facing — whatever customized access you desire — the options you want are now available.

SAS Visual Analytics Software Development Kit (SDK)

Of all the enhancements to the tool that come with this upgrade, you may find this one to be your absolute favorite! Using SAS Visual Analytics SDK, organizations can leverage reports or individual objects on web pages and applications. A neat feature is that the objects on your web pages or applications can be driven by multiple reports, including filtering and interactions.

Report Creation Flexibility

There are several new features that allow for greater reporting flexibility. Each could very well be their own subcategory of this reporting tools advantages.

• Freezing columns just like a spreadsheet is now a feature in SAS Visual Analytics. For those who are unfamiliar, frozen columns allow you to analyze large data tables while maintaining visibility on selected columns.
• Swapping between edit and report view is much simpler. This allows for consistency when creating large reports or dashboards.
• Right clicking on a visualization now gives you a multitude of charting options, from changing report styles to making font selections. Along these same lines, custom groups can be created within the visualization.

Easier Sharing and Printing Options

Reuse and recycle doesn’t only apply to plastic these days. Saving report objects as a template, including the data, is now an option. An object can be saved and utilized in another report with the data attached.

Report Options

These options exist in 8.3 but you’ll love them combined with all the above benefits of 8.4.

You need options when visualizing data! The latest release of visual analytics includes visual options like bar sizing within a bar chart, selecting the amount of white space you want in your tables and the ability to control totals on list tables. Additionally, you can now create common filters! Common filters mean exactly what that seems to imply: Filters can be shared across objects in a report. You don’t need to recreate the same filter for multiple report objects any more. You can share one across report objects.

If you’re looking to turn your analytics into action but are unsure of where to start, Zencos offers a Viya Quickstart program.

There are several things that make this program unique. With Quickstart you work with an experienced SAS Platform Administrator through the entire experience and it only takes a week or less to install and configure the tool – yes, a week or less! So that means in under two weeks you can be reporting, designing dashboards and creating analytical models.