SAS Visual Analytics Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Project Manager - Business Intelligence at www.datademy.es

Jul 6, 2015

When it comes to statistical analysis tools, SAS and R lead the way, but are different in important ways such that the pro's and con's of each should be considered.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user254223

Project Manager - Business Intelligence at www.datademy.es

Aug 10, 2015

Data preparation, exploratory analysis, and Report Designer make this visual BI tool an effective solution, but there are competitors that also provide similar features.

Originally posted in Spanish at https://sasybi.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/sas-visual-a...

SAS Visual Analytics is a business analytics solution that allows you to visually explore all data in an easy-to-use platform that's accessible to users of all levels without statistical, technical, or design skills.

Visual Analytics within BI solutions that are available on the market are positioned within the analytical displays solutions group. In this group, we have solutions such as QlikView, Tableau, and TIBCO Spotfire, amongst others. In summary the proposed solutions have:

Analytical visualization tools that allow interactive analysis, relying on visualization capabilities and agile data management, allowing them to perform a free analysis of the data model imported into the tool.
The orientation of these tools is usually self-BI, facilitating the integration and analysis of data with little IT intervention.
The visualization capabilities likewise allow you to make clear and effective presentations that aid decision-making.
Agility and speed data management technologies rely on in-memory.
These tools are supported by an intuitive interface that facilitates data exploration aimed at both IT and business analysts profiles.

SAS Visual Analytics offers a complete analytical platform for displaying information, allowing you to identify patterns and relationships in data that were not previously apparent. The interactive capabilities of self-service BI and reporting combine with advanced analytics for all to help discover knowledge of data of any size and type.

Let us now look at the features of the tool, analyzing each of the main modules, and its technical architecture:

Data Preparation importation and preparation of data for later viewing and analysis.
Exploratory analysis is a module to explore, analyze and visualize data in order to identify patterns, trends and knowledge in the data.
Report Designer is the reporting module for report design and dashboards.

Data Preparation

SAS Visual Analytics has a module for importing data and other data preparation based on SQL which allows adapting imported data to the optimal structure for its exploitation. For most potential analyses, the recommended tool works on a table that consolidates aggregate information from multiple tables and starting file. This is the classic board obtained as N junction fact tables and dimensions. The tool also enables the option of working with a model in which star felling facts and dimensions would be separate tables.

The tool has a module for data preparation that allows data transformation on imported data for performance analysis based on a SQL query builder. This module may, thus, stop a little when transformations to be performed are fairly complex. In this case, I propose using SAS Enterprise Guide, offering the choice of Visual Analytic Pro (Visual Analytics + Enterprise Guide).

With the fields of the imported tables, it is relatively easy to derive the calculated fields using elements in a simple way, giving access to a powerful expression editor.

Exploratory analysis

One of the main differences of SAS over other analytical tools are its display analytic capabilities (predictive techniques, time series, associations, etc.) based on the long experience of SAS tools such as SAS Enterprise Miner. The algorithms apply predictive analytics for automatic detection, and you can get detailed info on the selected algorithm. You can easily create decision trees for groups or classifications in the data, as well as box-plot diagrams to learn more about the distribution of data.

The ability to easily obtain time series for process Forecasts. These processes are very simple to implement, but would fall short if we think of a more industrialized forecast that would make a massive entry which would result forecast for other systems (e.g. forecast need for stocks), in these cases it is advisable to go solutions SAS Forecast Server type.

In predictive processes, we can use the functionality " underlying factors "that allows us to evaluate how other variables affect our prediction can perform scenario analysis and simulations, "what-if".

It has the ability to connect through add-in to Visual Statistics for processes that need more advanced statistical analysis.

Utilities to learn about the relationships between variables, such as correlation matrices. Descriptive statistics that provide insight into the distribution of values in the variables (minimum, maximum, average, zero, etc.)

Report Designer:

Report Designer very intuitive use (drag and drop). We can easily create reports or dashboard using the graphics and visualization objects as include indicators or classifiers select.

Ability to incorporate dashboards analysis documents obtained in the process of exploratory analysis.

Once you designed a serial graphic objects on a document we can define interactions between them, to relate the selections made some of them to other objects or to define navigation between them.

SAS Visual Analytics incorporates multiple possible visualization box plots, heat maps, animated bubble charts, network diagrams, decision trees, geolocation. Likewise, auto charting capabilities help determine the most appropriate graph to display the data according to the elements selected for analysis. A bar overview allows you to zoom on the range of data that you want, without losing the whole picture.

Dimensions and hierarchies Organization for OLAP analysis multidimensional.

Creation, display, publication and distribution of multi-device analysis and reporting. Integration with Office Outlook, SharePoint, Excel and Power Point

Technical architecture:

Response times are nimble because the data is loaded into memory based on SAS LASR (server analytical high performance memory). It also has solution oriented Cloud with an on-premise option.

In short it is a powerful analytical tool display, which is an interesting option for companies without having to make a large initial investment, want to start making analytical, with the ability to scale and grow into other tools.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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reviewer1268517

Head of BI at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 21, 2022

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Integrates well, has a good interface, simple to learn and easy to use

Pros and Cons

"It integrates well with SAS, making it simple and quick for developers."

"It is not as mature as competitors such as Tableau and QlikView."

What is our primary use case?

It's an interesting platform for the front-end.

It can be deployed both on-premise and on the cloud. Our customers prefer to use the on-premise version for their financial institution.

What is most valuable?

SAS Visual Analytics is an excellent platform. The user interface is good, it has a good look and feel. It is simple to use. It integrates well with SAS, making it simple and quick for developers.

It does not require a high level of skill, but rather a medium level. It is very easy, and fast to learn. It is not a problem. I have people who don't know the product but can work in a very autonomous manner after one week.

What needs improvement?

It is not as mature as competitors such as Tableau and QlikView.

It is expensive, and not really easy to install.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

SAS Visual Analytics is extremely scalable.

One of our clients is an Italian bank. One of their installations serves 12,000 people at the same time across Europe.

Tableau and QlikView, in my opinion, would have difficulty doing this, whereas SAS Visual Analytics can do it easily.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Power BI by Microsoft is currently growing rapidly in Italy, but I believe this is due to the fact that it is much less expensive than its main competitor. It's inexpensive, which is the primary reason, it is rapidly expanding in the Italian market at the moment, and we are working with it.

How was the initial setup?

SAS Visual Analytics is not easy to install.

This is a platform issue, but from what I understand with the SAS competitor, other on-premises installations have the same problems. These problems may be linked when we use a cloud solution. This could be the difference. This is yet another reason why Power BI over Azure is gaining popularity and is growing quickly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

SAS Visual Analytics is expensive, as is the rest of the platform.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate SAS Visual Analytics a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user254223

Project Manager - Business Intelligence at www.datademy.es

Aug 9, 2015

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It enables forecasting without a background in statistics, but data preparation and management need work.

What is most valuable?

Visual analytics
Reporting
Predictions features

How has it helped my organization?

We have detected a high margin group of customers with very little work.

What needs improvement?

Data preparation, and data management need work, as without Enterprise Guide, if you use SAS/VA alone (not SAS/VA pro), it will be hard to do the data preparation.

Forecasting is a very easy tool to use, and you don't need a great background on statistics. However, if you need to do forecasting with many groups of data in an industrialized way, then SAS/VA is not a suitable solution, because forecasting in SAS/VA is easy, but it needs a lot of manual work.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for one year, alongside other SAP products such as SAS/Enterprise Guide.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Data preparation problems, as SAS/VA needs a big, aggregated (all columns) table to work well. We didn't know the importance of data preparation.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We work in the cloud, and therefore it was quick and easy to implement.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I would rate them high as they're good and quick.

Technical Support:

I would rate them high as they're good and quick.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I knew Business Objects and QlikView. I started with SAS/VA because the client needed prediction and forecasting features.

What about the implementation team?

I used a vendor team whose expertise was high. There was also a third party consulting team, with high-medium expertise

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The initial cost is just for the licenses, and the day-to-day cost is the consulting services.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at Qlikview. It was good at visualization, but poor about prediction and forecasting features, so we chose SAS Visual Analytics.

What other advice do I have?

It's important to have a data preparation tool like SAS/Enterprise Guide if your data model is complex or your volume of data high.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user298716Senior Systems Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees

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Aug 25, 2015

Great to hear feedback from a long term real-world situation!

it_user7437

Director of Data Analytics at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 1, 2013

Can do statistics on ratios that were more complex and advanced than other BI tools but it's not as user friendly as other BI tools

I worked on a CMS project which used hadoop, my sql, rolled into a DW (inofrmatica) which included the powercenter, metadata, dataquality moduals and SAS BI. We choose SAS because of the predictive modeling piece, they can do statistics on ratios that were more complex and advanced than other BI tools. The difficulty is that it's hard to implement and not as user friendly as other BI tools.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Santosh Tiwari

Director - Global Presales and Solutions at GainInsights Solutions

Jun 13, 2022

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It's good for enterprise reporting

Pros and Cons

"I use Visual Analytics for enterprise reporting."

"A bit more flexibility in the temperatization will be helpful."

What is our primary use case?

I use Visual Analytics for enterprise reporting.

What needs improvement?

A bit more flexibility in the temperatization will be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using SAS Visual Analytics since it was launched in 2013.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SAS Visual Analytics is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

SAS Visual Analytics is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

SAS support is good. I rate it eight out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Setting up SAS Visual Analytics is straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is good.

What other advice do I have?

I rate SAS Visual Analytics eight out of 10. I recommend it. It's a good product. Some temperatization flexibility would be helpful, and I would rate it 10 out of 10 if they improved that.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

it_user543933

MSc. Health Informatics at a training & coaching company

Aug 20, 2017

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the best tool for insightful and analytical dashboard development and reporting

Pros and Cons

"The alert generation feature also helps in sending out ad hoc messages to the business users if business thresholds have been crossed."

"Colours used on report objects"

What is most valuable?

Majorly, SAS is a statistical analysis tool and the statistics incorporated within the VA/VS of a business intelligence tool is quite sufficient. It enables the users to generate insightful reports rather than just descriptive reports. Automated mechanisms of dissemination of reports to business users on emails doesn’t require them to login to the portal to view the reports. The alert generation feature also helps in sending out ad hoc messages to the business users if business thresholds have been crossed. Reports for administrators help customers to follow up on the usage of SAS VA/VS and can also contribute in understanding how to improvise the usage of the tool. The licensing policy of SAS VA is not user-based, but it’s based on the volume of data to be loaded on SAS VA.

How has it helped my organization?

I cannot comment on this since I belong to an organisation who sells and implements this tool, but our customers are satisfied with this tool.

What needs improvement?

Colours used on report objects
Look and feel
Nested calculations

For how long have I used the solution?

I’ve used this solution for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, as I mentioned earlier the licensing policy for SAS VA is flexible according to data volumes and concurrency of development, and it isn’t user-based.

How are customer service and technical support?

Good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No.

How was the initial setup?

That depends on the environment. There are two different setups: Distributed and Non-distributed deployment. I cannot comment on the complexity of the installation and configuration.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Know your data volumes needed for reporting, and project your data growth for at least five years to size your servers right!

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I sell and implement this tool. The evaluation is always at the customer end.

What other advice do I have?

Go ahead and do it! It’s the best tool for insightful and analytical dashboard development and reporting.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller

it_user392361

Principal Engineer Processing at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 21, 2016

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It provides self-service for analytics where other systems are not so intuitive.

What is most valuable?

Since it is simply drag and drop it makes data inspection easy. It is the most complete in its fulfilment of the "vision". Mostly used for creating structured reports that can be replicated. It provides self-service for analytics where other systems are not so intuitive.

How has it helped my organization?

The advanced and predictive analytics where disparate time series dataset need to be combined based on irregular time and other, it was not the best tool. It was fairly structured in how it wanted the data. It was however good for visualisation of individual datasets and transformed datasets. Serves a specific purpose in making analytics more "self service". The more advanced calculations etc. are best done elsewhere, specifically time series.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see the ability to use Python or other codes within the workflow. The helpdesk was not great. Part of the reason why we went back to open source Python was that their help desk could not solve our problems quickly enough.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've had it for two months on a trial basis to assist with data visualisation and data quality control.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

There were no issues with the deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The LAZR server did not like some datasets being uploaded which was perfectly fine to visualise in something as simple as Excel. Could not figure it out.

How are customer service and technical support?

3/10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Used Python and R, as well as Rapidminer for data exploration and visualisation. Tried SAS for two months and found it too slow and not flexible enough. Visual Analytics is recommended for a "production" environment and not development. We were heavily focused on development.

How was the initial setup?

Simple to set up. No issues. Fairly intuitive.

What about the implementation team?

Through the vendor. Make sure that the correct level of support is available to work though early issues. So that help desk tickets can be escalated.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Reasonable for what you get. Very good production/operations tool to enable self services of analytics. Not good for development.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

What other advice do I have?

Make sure you know your functional requirements up front. It is a great visualisation tool however if it does not support the tasks and objectives it may not work out for you.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.