Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/sas-programming-advanced
For business analysts and SAS programmers looking to elevate their data manipulation skills, Coursera’s ‘Doing More with SAS Programming’ is an invaluable next step. This course builds directly upon the foundational knowledge acquired in ‘Getting Started with SAS Programming,’ making it an ideal progression for those already comfortable with the basics of SAS.
This course delves deep into the power of the SAS DATA step and various procedures, equipping learners with the techniques to efficiently access, transform, and summarize data. It’s not a course for complete beginners; rather, it’s tailored for those who have a grasp of SAS and are eager to unlock more advanced data wrangling capabilities.
The syllabus is meticulously structured to guide you through a comprehensive array of data manipulation techniques. You’ll begin by understanding and controlling the intricate processing within the DATA step, learning how to manage row outputs for greater precision. A significant portion of the course is dedicated to summarizing data, including the creation of accumulating columns for running totals and the sophisticated processing of data in groups, allowing for actions at the start or end of each data segment.
Further modules explore the manipulation of data using a variety of functions, covering numeric, date, and character values, as well as data type conversions. The ability to create and utilize custom formats is also a key takeaway, enabling you to present your data in a more readable and insightful manner.
For those who frequently work with multiple datasets, the ‘Combining Tables’ module is particularly impactful. It provides a thorough understanding of concatenating tables, merging datasets, and identifying matching and non-matching rows, crucial skills for integrated data analysis. The course also addresses efficiency by introducing iterative processing with DO loops, both iterative and conditional, which can significantly reduce coding time and complexity.
Finally, the course tackles the common challenge of restructuring tables, offering techniques to transpose data using both the DATA step and the TRANSPOSE procedure. This ensures you can adapt your data to various analytical needs.
Overall, ‘Doing More with SAS Programming’ is a highly recommended course for anyone serious about mastering SAS for business analysis. The practical, step-by-step approach, combined with the depth of topics covered, makes it an excellent investment for enhancing your data manipulation toolkit.
Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/sas-programming-advanced