8:30 am - 4:30 pm*

Monday Classes
August 31, 2009

8:30 am - 4:30 pm*

Friday
September 4, 2009

8:30 am - 4:30 pm*

Instructor

*  Lunch is on your own
Note: The use of laptops and all recording devices is not permitted without the instructor's prior approval.

Abstract: The regulatory requirements are going to include CDISC in the near future and the benefits are obvious. It is therefore wise and prudent to implement with techniques and processes refined from lessons learned based on real life implementations. CDISC standards have been in development for many years. There have been structural changes to the recommended standards going forward from version 2 to 3. It is still an evolving process but it has reached a point of critical mass that organizations are recognizing the benefits of taking the proposed standard data model out of the theoretical and putting it into real life applications. The complexity of clinical data coupled with technologies involved can make implementation of a new standard challenging. This paper will explore the pitfalls and present methodologies and technologies that would make the transformation of nonstandard data into CDISC efficient and accurate. It is important to have a clear vision of the processes for the project before you start. This provides the ability to resource and plan for all the processes. This is an important step since the projects can push deadlines and break budgets due to the resource intensive nature of this effort. The organization and planning for this undertaking can become an essential first step towards an effective implementation.

Monday Full-Day Class Descriptions

Abstract: This one day course is designed for students with a good understanding of the DATA and PROC steps and who already understand the basic structure and syntax of the SAS Macro Language.  The course will start with a short review of the macro basics and quickly move on to topics selected to improve your macro language expertise.  Several key macro functions will be introduced, explained and demonstrated.  Course topics include: Macro Language Review; Macro Functions, Using and Creating; Writing Dynamic Code; Controlling Your Environment; Working With SAS Data Sets; SAS Macro Libraries; Miscellaneous Macro Topics.

Additional Fee: $40 for “Carpenter's Complete Guide to the SAS Macro Language, 2nd Edition”

Abstract: There are literally hundreds of techniques used on a daily basis by the users of SAS® software as they perform analyses and generate reports. Although often obscure, most of these techniques are relatively easy to learn and generally do not require specialized training before they can be implemented. Unfortunately a majority of these techniques are used by only a very small minority of the analysts and programmers. They are not used more frequently, because a majority of SAS users have simply not been exposed to them. Left to ourselves it is often very difficult to ‘discover’ the intricacies of these techniques and then to sift through them for the nuggets that have immediate value. This one day course presents a series of those nuggets. It covers a broad range of SAS topics that have proved to be useful to the intermediate and advanced SAS programmer that is involved with the analysis and reporting of data. The intended audience is expected to have a firm grounding in Base SAS. For most of the covered topics, the course will introduce useful techniques and options, but will not ‘teach the procedure’.

The course includes options and techniques associated with: MEANS/SUMMARY, User Defined Formats,
REPORT Compute Blocks, The Macro Language, Output Delivery System, ODS, Operating System Interfaces, DATA Step Functions and Options, . . . . much, much more