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Alex Dmitrienko: Can you tell us more
about the history of Add-In for Microsoft Office?
Jennifer Clegg: The Add-In came about as
a result of some research we were doing on how best
to provide the interfaces our customers expected. With
the millions of Office users around the world, Office
was an obvious application to look at more closely.
Around the same time, strategy was polling our customers
about business pains involved in integrating Excel and
SAS. Out of a desire to provide additional ways to access
SAS capabilities and a desire to ease these business
pains, the Add-In was born.
Alex Dmitrienko: What are the main features
of Add-In for Microsoft Office SAS uses should be aware
of?
Jennifer Clegg: There are three main features
of the Add-In:
First, the Add-In allows you to access any
size data source directly from Microsoft Excel by allowing
you to view a subset of the data source at a time. You
can navigate through the data source using navigational
buttons. You can also use the Add-In's filter/sort support
to apply a filter to or sort the entire data source
on the server.
Second, you can do ad-hoc analytics using
the Add-In. The Add-In that ships with SAS 9.1.3 includes
61 SAS tasks for you to use. These tasks are interactive
dialogs that generate SAS code to perform a particular
analysis.
Third, you can run stored processes. Stored
processes are SAS programs that can be executed directly
from the familiar environment of Excel and Word.
Alex Dmitrienko: Both SAS Enterprise
Guide and Add-In for Microsoft Office are part of the
SAS Business Intelligence Suite and so they have a lot
in common. What is the main difference between the two
products?
The main difference between SAS Enterprise
Guide and the Add-In for Microsoft Office is the interface
and target user. Enterprise Guide is meant for a more
advanced user who wants to write their own SAS programs
or do more advanced analyses. The Add-In for Microsoft
Office is targeting the Office user who wants to view
data or run analyses without writing the programs themselves.
Alex Dmitrienko: I have found an interesting
phrase on the SAS web site that the Add-In delivers
"one version of the truth" across the organization via
stored processes. What exactly does that mean?
Jennifer Clegg: Stored processes allow you
to make sure everyone is looking at the same result
generated by the same program. Stored processes are
programs stored in a central location on a server. These
programs can be accessed by multiple clients and you
can guarantee each person is seeing the same result.
Alex Dmitrienko: We know that Add-In
for Microsoft Office is easier to learn and use than
Enterprise Guide and is aimed at nontechnical users.
Can you describe industries that will benefit most from
the Add-In?
Jennifer Clegg: Since Excel is used by many
industries, I think it is difficult to identify particular
ones. I believe it is easier to say that any organization
that is using Excel and is looking for more powerful
analytic capabilities can benefit from the Add-In. In
addition, the Add-In allows organizations to expand
their use of SAS to more non-technical users.
Alex Dmitrienko: In your SUGI 29 paper
with Stephen McDaniel you described an interesting series
of studies SAS conducted to gather feedback on Add-In
functionality. Do you continue conducting studies of
this type? What feedback did you receive?
Jennifer Clegg: Our case studies for SUGI
29 were based on early adopter agreements with a variety
of companies. For each release, we like to have early
adopters to provide feedback on particular features
of the product. We use this forum to confirm usability.
The feedback for this last release was great. The early
adopters confirmed the Add-in was a valuable addition
to SAS' product line. They were very excited about it
and were anxious to get the final product. They also
identified a few bugs in the code that everyone will
appreciate we resolved before shipping.
Alex Dmitrienko: To use a phrase coined
by one of my friends, Add-In for Microsoft Office is
"carpal tunnel friendly" in the sense that users are
not expected to type much -- everything is just a click
away. Can the user add custom SAS code if necessary?
Jennifer Clegg: If you are using one of
the SAS tasks, you have the option to insert custom
code into the code that is generated by the task. You
cannot create SAS programs using the Add-In. You also
have the option to use Visual Basic .NET to create your
own custom tasks. These tasks would be available to
run in the Add-In or Enterprise Guide.
Alex Dmitrienko: When are you planning
to release the new version of the Add-In?
Jennifer Clegg: The next release of the
Add-In is planned for the summer of 2005.
Alex Dmitrienko: Can you describe any
new interesting features that will be included in the
upcoming release?
Jennifer Clegg: We are adding many features
in the next release that will greatly enhance the product.
A major feature is the addition of Microsoft PowerPoint
as a client for the Add-in. You will be able to run
analytics within PowerPoint to create charts or graphs
and refresh those as you desire just like you can do
in Excel or Word today.
Alex Dmitrienko: Are you planning to
publish Add-In documentation? If you look at the SAS
9.1.3 documentation on the SAS web site, you will find
dozens of SAS products from SAS/ACCESS to SAS/Warehouse
Administrator but there is nothing about SAS Business
Intelligence software, including Add-In for Microsoft
Office.
Jennifer Clegg: On the web, some information
exists about the add-in. You can go to the SAS
Enterprise BI Server page to retrieve information
on the BI Server in general and some information on
the Add-in. Since the Add-in is a new product and is
so easy to use, we don't have much additional documentation
at this time. We will be adding to the content in the
future.
Alex Dmitrienko: How is the Add-In distributed?
Is it possible to buy individual licenses?
Jennifer Clegg: The Add-In is part of the
Business Intelligence server and is part of the broader
BI offering from SAS. The Add-In is not available for
purchase outside that packaging.
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