C5i Discovery vs. SAS Enterprise Guide

Course5 Discovery was able to help my organization with cross-functional data by monetizing it. Our data was transformed into augmented dashboards which are easy to navigate - I've never used a platform like this, so I found that this solution minimal enough for a beginner, but also intelligent enough for a seasoned professional. Course5 Discovery was able to curate personal stories around our data which allowed us to make better business decisions because we were basing them on facts and analytics. More importantly, these analytics are presented in a way that makes sense! The insights provided to our business were a mix of facts that were both predictive and prescriptive, which brought out the business to the next level. We no longer have to take the time to run endless reports, and then spend hours trying to decipher them. Instead, with Course5 Discovery all the information, data, and insights we need are right in front of us when we need it most.

Incentivized

SAS Enterprise Guide is good at taking various datasets and giving analyst/user ability to do some transformations without substantial amounts of code. Once the data is inside SAS, the memory of it is very efficient. Using SAS for data analysis can be helpful. It will give good statistics for you, and it has a robust set of functions that aid analysis.

Incentivized

• Data Visualization.
• Predictive Modeling.
• Trend Analysis.
• Data Analysis.

Incentivized

• Ability to load an AutoExec when opening a session ensuring everyone has the same global variables.
• Formatting with Ctrl I. If you're reading someone else's code and it's not formatted correctly you can highlight the area and hit Ctrl I.

Incentivized

• Multi-Platform use.
• Mobile Suport.
• Customization.

Incentivized

• Process time of data is a bit long. It depends on the size of your data and complexity of your project tree.
• There is not enough online free training videos.
• While working with the project tree sometimes the links between the modules are broken or the order for running the modules get mixed up. You should know your project tree by heart.

Incentivized

On account of current user experience and the organization-wide acceptance.

It's not all bad, but I don't believe that an enterprise purchase of SAS is worth the expense considering the widely available set of tools in the data analytics space at the moment. In my company, it's a good tool because others use it. Otherwise, I wouldn't purchase a new set of it because it doesn't have some of the better analytical functions in it.

Incentivized

Although I use SAS support for information on functions, these are SAS related and haven't really come across anything that is specifically for SAS EG.

Incentivized

I've not worked hands-on with the implementation team, but there were no escalations barring a few hiccups in the deployment due to change in requirement & adoption to our company's remote servers.

Why I prefer SAS EG: Data processing speed is much faster than that R Studio. It can load any amount of data and any type of data like structured or unstructured or semi-structured. Its output delivery system by which we have the output in PDF file makes it very comfortable to use and share that file to clients very easily. Inbuilt functions are very powerful and plentiful. Facility of writing macros makes it far away from its competitors.

• We saved time because the analytics were presented in a way that made sense.
• Return on Investment.
• Scalability as a company.

Incentivized

• Positive (cost): SAS made a bundle that include unlimited usage of SAS/Enterprise Guide with a server solution. That by itself made the company save a lot of money by not having to pay individual licences anymore.
• Positive (insight): Data analysts in business units often need to crunch data and they don't have access to ETL tools to do it. Having access to SAS/EG gives them that power.
• Positive (time to market): Having the users develop components with SAS/EG allows for easier integration in a production environment (SAS batch job) as no code rework is required.