What is SAS: Certification, Courses, Career, Salary, Admission & Fees

Updated on Jan 8, 2025 04:29 IST
Jaya Sharma

Jaya SharmaAssistant Manager - Content

Today, business decision-making is all data-driven. By 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be generated, as many experts claim. The current digital revolution makes business analytics essential for companies to scale up. The zettabytes of available data need careful analysis through software with faster computational power. That’s why business intelligence suites such as SAS are all-in-one solutions for accurate data visualisation, data analysis, security and data management. 

Find more about Business Intelligence Tools Courses

SAS - Definition 

SAS is the full form of Statistical Analysis Software, comprising a variety of data management tools and algorithms. The system stores, analyses, and retrieves information for identifying patterns and reporting. 

SAS History 

SAS originated to support an agricultural research project analysis at North Carolina State University in the late 1960s. Then, it was a mere statistical tool. Soon by the mid-1970s, it began to be sold as a package. By 1980 it got upgraded to a programming language that could be customised by respective industries. From 1990 onwards, it was sold both as a package and language. 

Industries that Rely on SAS

  1. Education
  2. Government/Public
  3. Banking
  4. Healthcare
  5. Insurance
  6. Manufacturing
  7. Technology

Get more insights on the topic with Top SAS Interview Questions and Answers

Why is SAS Important?

Reliability for Global Companies

A majority of Fortune 500 companies use the SAS system. According to the SAS website, from the top 100 Fortune 500 companies in the world, 91% of them use it. The reason - it offers the best security solution.  The software system is unlike other analytics systems that are built as open-source. 

At the same time, the software requires complete training of its own cross-functional modules for many different industries. It is the standard of efficiency for worldwide companies that rely on extracting and analysing statistical data.

Best for Large Amounts of Data

SAS can read data from multiple sources and process them in a parallel manner. It can run complex simulations using a variety of statistical models. It reads all formats and offers support for SQL and Hadoop. The in-built libraries of SAS are its winning feature. It also minimises repetitive tasks and has a modular system to allocate work. 

An Adaptive 4GL 

The entire system has an intuitive GUI with dedicated customer support. The SAS Syntax is very easy to learn as opposed to other programming languages. It is a fourth-generation programming language that uses English phrases and words that is convenient for non-programmers to understand. 

What is SAS Software Used For?

The SAS product suite features the following solutions. 

  1. Advanced Analytics for data mining, statistical analysis, forecasting, econometrics, optimisation, etc. 
  2. AI and Machine Learning
  3. Cloud Computing for SaaS, AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, and each of their integration with SAS
  4. Data Management for Data Quality and Governance. 
  5. Fraud and Security
  6. IoT
  7. Marketing Analytics for charting customer journey, marketing data management, planning, etc. 
  8. Operational and risk analytics

SAS Modules List

Some of the widely used SAS modules/components are mentioned below. 

  1. SAS/Base - It is commonly known for its various types of data manipulation capabilities. The module integrates information through its cross-platform architecture and the 4GL interface that makes reporting complex information easier. 
  2. SAS/STAT - It is a handy statistical analysis tool featuring customisable charts and over 100 statistical procedures already written into it. 
  3. SAS 360 Engage - This one is a marketing management module featuring automation and customer data management capabilities. 
  4. SAS QC - This module is used for improving processes. The statistical process control software comes with a variety of different charts and standard monitoring capabilities. 
  5. SAS/IML - This software lets you run multiple algorithms. Algebra, differential equations, eigenvalues, etc are built-in functions here. 
  6. SAS/OR - It is an operations research software, used for planning through limited resources and simulation. 

SAS Architecture

The structured SAS architecture ensures accessibility to large amounts of data and provides information to users in real-time. It is divided into a three-tier system. 

  1. Client Tier: It is where the application is installed and the components of the SAS software can be viewed. For users to interact, this tier features a web browser with an HTTP or HTTPS connection. 
  2. Middle Tier: This tier comprises all data that can be accessed and changed. It is sub categorised into multiple hosts including a web tier, web application portal, servlet container/engine, and web server. 
  3. Back Tier: This final tier is like a server containing all metadata of processes. 

List of Important Topics

DS2

It is the SAS programming language. It is object-oriented and is used for manipulating data. 

Access Descriptor

For the SAS system to access an external data file, access descriptors are used. They comprise the structure of the external file. When the structure of the external file is changed, one has to re-create the access descriptor. 

SAS Operators

The SAS system needs different symbols to represent functions. 

Arithmetic Operators - They are defined by the following symbols.

Symbol

Meaning

/

Divide

*

Multiply

+

Addition

-

Subtraction

**

Exponentiation

Logical Operators - Also known as Boolean operators, they are defined in the following manner of symbols. 

Symbol

Meaning 

!

OR

|

OR

^

NOT

~

NOT

&

AND

Comparison Operators -  They are used to calculate comparisons among variables.

Symbol 

Meaning 

=

Equal to

^=

Not equal to

Less than

>

Greater than

Libref

It is the first part of the library of the SAS file. The second part of the SAS file is the specified name. 

How to Get Started Learning SAS?

  1. You will need to have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant science domain to get certified as a SAS-certified programmer. 
  2. To start learning pick up a SAS course. 
  3. Do check for free resources on the official SAS website to learn more. 

Free Resources to Learn SAS

You must check out SAS Academic Hub on the official SAS site. You will find access to how-to videos, webinars and free courses as well. To log in you will need an email address verified by your university. 

Top Courses in SAS

  1. Statistics with SAS on Coursera
  2. Getting Started with SAS Programming on Coursera
  3. Data Analysis and Reporting in SAS Visual Analytics on Coursera
  4. SAS Programmer Professional Certificate on Coursera
  5. SAS Visual Analytics by SAS Institute India Pvt Ltd
  6. Analytics on SAS on Great Learning  

Conclusion 

SAS software is a leader in the business analytics domain. As big data is becoming the focus for businesses, learning this software will open up good career opportunities. 

Popular SAS Colleges in India

Following are the most popular SAS Colleges in India. Learn more about these SAS colleges (Courses, Reviews, Answers & more) by downloading the Brochure.
1.38 L - 16.72 L
3.7

IT & Software Applications open. Apply Now

0 - 14.28 L
35 K - 6.16 L
2.4 - 3.65 LPA
4.38 L - 11.9 L
5.16 - 6.14 LPA
1.3 L - 17 L
4.35 - 6 LPA

IT & Software Applications open. Apply Now

2.37 L - 8.96 L
4.0

Popular Private SAS Colleges in India

2 Courses
1.95 L - 2 L
3 - 4.8 LPA
2.17 L - 7.65 L
2.51 - 3.5 LPA

IT & Software Applications open. Apply Now

1.27 L - 16 L
4 - 8.1 LPA

IT & Software Applications open. Apply Now

2.5 L
1.25 L - 5.5 L
4.7
84 K - 3.6 L
3.9

Popular SAS Specializations

Following are the most popular SAS Specializations . You can explore the top Colleges offering these Specializations by clicking the links below.

Popular Specializations

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