In my first Actuarial position at Pru Re(1980-1981), I used SAS to manipulate
and summarize data. Final calculations for the project were done in APL.
At NCCI almost all of the ad hoc analyses were done in SAS, (1983-1988). SAS
has a language for manipulating matrices that is very useful. Given the choice
I would rather have access to SAS than APL on a mainframe.
At Farmers Insurance Group, I used SAS for various projects (1990-1995). Again
the focus is on taking legacy application files on a mainframe and putting them
in a format that was useful for actuarial analysis. Some of the analyses were
also performed in SAS.
For Actuarial work, the ability to take data in any "mainframe" file format and
restructure it into the desired format is most useful. There is a matrix
manipulation language in SAS that is nearly as powerful as APL and generally
more readable. The canned statistical routines while very good are less
useful for actuaries. It is a wonderful package for "data mining" and
accessing legacy application files.
A down side of SAS is that it is/was extremely expensive (annual site
licenses). It would be a major commitment for a department to license the
entire package. The PC version requires a fairly powerful machine. The
interface is less "intuitive" than a spreadsheet. Many of the "run of the
mill" actuarial analyses can be performed more easily in a spread sheet. My
SAS experience was acquired from 1972- 1995. I have not worked with the
newer, updated PC version. Nor, have I checked their prices recently.
Thomas G. Hess
To: casnet@lists.casact.org @ INTERNET
cc:
From: AEGISLAN/AEGIS/FLEMINK%Aegis@MCIMAIL.COM ("Fleming, Kirk") @ INTERNET @
CSERVE@FFIC
Date: 11/05/97 12:30:43 PM EST
Subject: Do people use SAS
Do people use SAS as a database or statistical package? I think I've seen
references to people in actuarial departments using this package. I'm
wondering if it's popular, and if people like it if they do use it.
Thanks in advance,
Kirk Fleming
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