WHITE PAPER

Data Visualization Techniques

Title
From Basics to Big Data With SAS Visual Analytics
®
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Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................................................1
What Is Data Cardinality? ...........................................................................................2

Tips to Get Started ...............................................................................................2

The Basics: Charting 101 ....................................................................................2

Line Charts .....................................................................................................................2

Bar Charts ......................................................................................................................3

Scatter Plots ...................................................................................................................4

Bubble Plots: A Scatter Plot Variation ......................................................................5

Pie and Donut Charts ..................................................................................................6

Visualizing Big Data .............................................................................................7

Handling Large Data Volumes ..................................................................................7

Visualizing Semistructured and Unstructured Data Using

Word Clouds and Network Diagrams .....................................................................9

Visualization With Correlation Matrices ............................................................... 10

Filtering Big Data ...................................................................................................... 12

Data Visualization Made Easy With Autocharting ...................................... 12

See Into the Future With Automated Forecasting Techniques ............... 13

Understanding Influence With Decision Trees ........................................... 15

Use Location Analytics to Augment Geo Maps........................................... 16

Improve Employee Collaboration With Visualization on

Mobile Devices .................................................................................................. 17

Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 18

Learn More About SAS® Visual Analytics...................................................... 18

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Introduction
A picture is worth a thousand words – especially when you are trying to understand and
discover insights from data. Visuals are especially helpful when you’re trying to find rela-
tionships among hundreds or thousands of variables to determine their relative impor-
tance – or if they are important at all.

Organizations generate and collect data each minute. Everyone – from executives and
departmental decision makers to analysts, call center workers and production line One of the easiest ways to
employees – hopes to learn things from those diverse sets of data that can help them
make better decisions, take smarter actions and operate more efficiently. discern important relation-
ships in data is through
Regardless of how much data you have, one of the best ways to discern important rela-
tionships is through advanced analysis and easy-to-understand visualizations. You don’t
advanced analysis and easy-
want to miss a significant correlation or draw an incorrect conclusion that could to-understand visualizations.
adversely affect your decision making. When sophisticated analyses can be performed
quickly, even immediately, the results can be presented in ways that are easy to
consume while allowing queries and exploration. Therefore, people across all levels in
your organization can dive deeper into data and use the insights for faster, more effec-
tive decisions.

To create meaningful visuals of your data, there are some basics you should consider.
Data size, data type and column composition play an important role when selecting
graphs to represent your data. This paper discusses some basic issues of data visualiza-
tion and provides suggestions for addressing them. In addition, big data brings a
unique set of challenges. This paper covers some of those, as well as potential
solutions.

If you are working with massive amounts of data, one challenge is how to display
output in a way that’s not overwhelming. You may need to collapse and condense the
This paper discusses
data but still provide graphs and charts that decision makers are accustomed to seeing. some basic issues of data
And, in today’s on-the-go society, visualizations must be delivered quickly to mobile
devices while giving people the ability to easily explore data on their own in real time.
visualization and provides
suggestions for addressing
SAS® Visual Analytics enables a broad range of business users to prepare, visually
them.
explore and find valuable insights in data without coding or the need for data science
skills. Intelligent autocharting creates the best possible visual based on the data that is
selected. These data visualizations highlight relevant findings (such as clusters, excep-
tions, correlations or links in data) without requiring users to build or write algorithms.
Smart visualizations also provide citizen data scientists and analysts with fast proto-
typing, and reduce the amount of time spent on manual, labor-intensive
experimentation.
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The heart of SAS Visual Analytics is an in-memory, distributed processing engine that
accelerates analytical computations. The combination of powerful analytics and an
easy-to-use data exploration interface enables different types of users to create and
interact with graphs so they can get the most value from their data faster than ever. This
creates an unprecedented ability to identify the best opportunities, understand risks,
improve business performance, promote collaboration and support better decisions.

Tips to Get Started

It’s a good idea to begin with a data visualization pilot program. Start small. Think about
a short list of business problems you want to solve, or identify a few new opportunities
(e.g., segments) to investigate, or even use it to challenge your current interpretations.
What Is Data
Here are a few basic concepts that can help you generate the best visuals for displaying Cardinality?
your data:
Cardinality is the unique-
• Understand the data you are trying to visualize, including its size and cardinality, and
consider (honestly) the data preparation effort that will be required.
ness of data values
• Determine what you are trying to visualize and what kind of information you want to contained in a column.
communicate. High cardinality means
• Know your audience and understand how it processes visual information.
there is a large percentage
• Use a visual that conveys the information in the best and simplest form for your
audience. of unique values (e.g.,
bank account numbers,
The Basics: Charting 101 because each item
Here is a quick guide to help you decide which chart type (or graph) to use for your data. should be unique).
Low cardinality means a
Line Charts column of data contains
Line charts show the relationship of one variable to another. They are most often used
to track changes or trends over time. Line charts are also useful when comparing
a large percentage of
multiple items over the same time period. The stacking lines are used to compare the repeat values (such as
trend or individual values for several variables (see Figure 1).
a “gender” column).
You may want to use line charts when the change in a variable or variables clearly needs
to be displayed and/or when trending or rate-of-change information is of value. It is
also important to note that you shouldn’t pick a line chart merely because you have
data points. Rather, the number of data points that you are working with may dictate the
best visual to use. For example, if you only have 10 data points to display, the easiest
way to understand those 10 points might be to simply list them in a particular order
using a table.

When deciding to use a line chart, you should consider whether the relationship
between data points needs to be conveyed. If it does, and the values on the X axis are
continuous, a simple line chart may be what you need.
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Figure 1: Line charts show the relationship of one variable to another and are often
used to track trends over time.

Bar Charts
Bar charts are most commonly used for comparing the quantities of different categories
or groups. Values of a category are represented using the bars, and they can be config-
ured with either vertical or horizontal bars, with the length or height of each bar repre-
senting the value. Bar charts can be config-
ured with either vertical or
When values are distinct enough that differences in the bars can be detected by the
human eye, you can use a simple bar chart. However, when the values (bars) are very horizontal bars, with the
close together or there are large numbers of values (bars) that need to be displayed, it length or height of each bar
becomes more difficult to compare the bars to each other.
representing the value.
To help provide visual variance, bars can have different colors. The colors can be used
to indicate such things as a particular status or range. Coloring the bars works best
when most bars are in a different range or status. When all bars are in the same range
or status, the color becomes irrelevant, and it is most visually helpful to keep the color
consistent or have no coloring at all.

Another form of a bar chart is called the progressive bar chart, or waterfall chart. A
waterfall chart shows how the initial value of a measure increases or decreases during a
series of operations or transactions (see Figure 2). The first bar begins at the initial value,
and each subsequent bar begins where the previous bar ends. The length and direc-
tion of a bar indicates the magnitude and type (positive or negative, for example) of the
operation or transaction. The resulting chart is a stepped cascade that shows how the
transactions or operations lead to the final value of the measure.
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Figure 2: One type of bar chart is called a waterfall chart. This one shows how the
initial value of a measure increases or decreases during a series of operations or
transactions.

Scatter Plots
A scatter plot (or X-Y plot) is a two-dimensional plot that shows the joint variation of two Scatter plots can help you
data items. In a scatter plot, each marker (symbols such as dots, squares and plus signs)
represents an observation. The marker position indicates the value for each observa- gain a sense of how spread
tion. Scatter plots also support grouping. When you assign more than two measures, a out the data might be or
scatter plot matrix is produced. A scatter plot matrix is a series of scatter plots that
displays every possible pairing of the measures that are assigned to the visualization. how closely related the data
points are. They can also
Scatter plots are useful for examining the relationship, or correlations, between X and Y
variables. Variables are said to be correlated if they have a dependency on, or are
quickly identify patterns
somehow influenced by, each other. For example, “profit” is often related to “revenue.” present in the distribution of
The relationship that exists might be that as revenue increases, profit also increases (a
positive correlation). A scatter plot is a good way to visualize these relationships in data.
the data.

In a scatter plot, you can also apply statistical analysis with correlation and regression.
Correlation identifies the degree of statistical correlation between the variables in the
plot. Regression plots a model of the relationship between the variables in the plot.

Once you have plotted all of the data points using a scatter plot, you are able to visually
determine whether data points are related. Scatter plots can help you gain a sense of
how spread out the data might be or how closely related the data points are, as well as
quickly identify patterns present in the distribution of the data (see Figure 3). Scatter
plots are helpful when you have many data points. If you are working with a small set of
data points, a bar chart or table may be a more effective way to display the information.
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Figure 3: A scatter plot is a good way to visualize relationships in data.

Bubble Plots: A Scatter Plot Variation

A bubble plot is a variation of a scatter plot in which the markers are replaced with Bubble plots are a variation
bubbles. A bubble plot displays the relationships among at least three measures. Two
of scatter plots. They’re
measures are represented by the plot axes. The third measure is represented by the
size of the bubbles (see Figure 4). Each bubble represents an observation. especially useful for data
sets with dozens to
A bubble plot is useful for data sets with dozens to hundreds of values or when the values
differ by several orders of magnitude. You can use color to represent an additional hundreds of values or when
measure, and you can animate the bubbles to display changes in the data over time. the values differ by several
A geo bubble map is a bubble plot that is overlaid on a geographic map. Each bubble orders of magnitude.
is located at a geographic location or at the center of a geographical region. A geo
bubble map requires a data item that contains geographical information and is
assigned to a geography role.

Figure 4: A bubble plot can be animated to show data changing over time.
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Pie and Donut Charts

There is much debate around the value of pie charts (and their more modern counter-
part, donut charts), which are used to compare the parts of a whole. However, they can
be difficult to interpret because the human eye has a hard time estimating areas and
comparing visual angles. Another challenge with using this chart for analysis is that it is
difficult to compare slices, or sections, of the pie or donut that are similar in size but not
located next to each other.

If you do use these charts, they are most effective when there are limited components
Pie and donut charts are
and when text and percentages are included to describe the content. By providing
additional information, report consumers do not have to guess the meaning and value most effective when there
of each slice. If you choose to use a pie or donut chart, the slices/sections should be a
are limited components and
percentage of the whole (see Figure 5).
when text and percentages
When designing reports or dashboards, another consideration for the efficacy of a pie are included to describe the
or donut chart is the amount of space the chart requires in the sizing of the report.
Because of their round shape, these charts require extra real estate, so they may be less content.
than ideal when developing dashboards for small screens or mobile devices. Other
charts (like a bar chart or line chart) may provide a better way to represent the same
information in less space.

Of course, there are many other chart types you can use to present data and analytical
results. The selection of charts usually will depend upon the number of categories and
measures (or dimensions) you want to visualize. By following the tips outlined here and
understanding the examples, you may need to try different types of visuals and test
them with your audience to make sure the correct information is being conveyed.

Figure 5: A donut chart helps you compare the percentages of different

components.
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Visualizing Big Data

Big data brings new challenges to visualization because of the speed, size and diversity
of data that must be taken into account. The cardinality of the columns you are trying to
visualize should also be considered.

One of the most common definitions of big data is data that is of such volume, variety
and velocity that an organization must move beyond its comfort zone technologically to
derive intelligence for effective decisions.

• Volume refers to the size of the data.

• Variety describes whether the data is structured, semistructured or unstructured.
• Velocity is the speed at which data pours in and how frequently it changes.

Building upon basic graphing and visualization techniques, SAS Visual Analytics has
taken an innovative approach to addressing the challenges associated with visualizing
big data. Using innovative, in-memory capabilities combined with SAS Analytics and
data discovery, SAS provides new techniques based on core fundamentals of data
analysis and the presentation of results.

Handling Large Data Volumes

One challenge when working with big data is how to display results of data exploration
and analysis in a way that is meaningful and not overwhelming. You may need a new
way to look at the data that collapses and condenses the results in an intuitive fashion
but still displays graphs and charts that decision makers are accustomed to seeing. You
may also need to make the results available quickly via mobile devices, and provide
users with the ability to easily explore data on their own in real time.

When working with massive amounts of data, it can be difficult to immediately grasp
what visual might be the best to use. The autocharting capability in SAS Visual Analytics
takes a look at the data you wish to examine and then, based on the amount of data
and the type of data, it presents the most appropriate visualization. This helps business
analysts and nontechnical users easily visualize their data. They can build hierarchies on
the fly, interactively explore data and display the data in different ways to answer
specific questions or solve new problems without having to rely on constant assistance
from IT to provide changing views of information.

Data volume can become an issue because traditional architectures and software may
not be able to process huge amounts of data in a timely manner, thus requiring you to
make compromises and aggregate the details you want to visualize. Even the most
common descriptive statistics calculations can become complicated when you are
dealing with big data and don’t want to be restricted by column limits, storage
constraints and limited support for different data types. The SAS in-memory platform
solves these issues by speeding up the task of data exploration, and a visual interface
displays the results in an easy-to-understand visualization.

For example, what if you have a billion rows in a data set and want to create a scatter
plot on two measures? It would be impossible to see so many data points. And the
application creating the visual may not be able to plot a billion points in a timely or
effective manner. One potential solution is to use binning (the grouping together of
data) on both axes so that you can effectively visualize the big data.
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Box plots are another example of how the volume of data can affect the visual being
shown. A box plot is a graphical display of five statistics (the minimum, lower quartile,
median, upper quartile and maximum) that summarize the distribution of a set of data.
The lower quartile (25th percentile) is represented by the lower edge of the box, and
the upper quartile (75th percentile) is represented by the upper edge of the box. The
median (50th percentile) is represented by a central line that divides the box into
sections. Extreme values are represented by whiskers that extend out from the edges of
the box. Usually, these display well when using big data (see Figure 6).
A binned box plot with
Often, box plots are used to understand the outliers in the data. Generally speaking, the
number of outliers in the data can be represented by 1 percent to 5 percent of the data.
whiskers enables you to
With traditionally sized data sets, viewing this proportion of the data is not necessarily view the distribution of
hard to do. However, when you are working with massive amounts of data, viewing 1
percent to 5 percent of the data is challenging.
large data and easily see
outliers.
For example, if you were working with a billion rows of data, the outliers would repre-
sent 10 million data points. If you bin the results and show a box plot with whiskers
(Figure 6), you can view the distribution of the data and see the outliers – all calculated
quickly on big data.

Figure 6: This box plot compares the distribution of data points within a category.
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Visualizing Semistructured and Unstructured Data Using Word

Clouds and Network Diagrams
The variety of big data brings challenges because semistructured and unstructured
data require new visualization techniques. A word cloud visual (where the size of the
word represents its frequency within a body of text) can be used on unstructured data
as a way to display high- or low-frequency words (see Figure 7).

SAS Visual Analytics takes the concept of word clouds a step further by taking advan-
tage of taxonomies and ontologies to make associations. Words are then organized
into topics based on how the words are used. SAS Visual Analytics word clouds can
display the hot topics of the day gleaned from such text analysis. Users can drill down
by clicking on an individual topic to see exactly what words or phrases comprise that
topic.

Figure 7: A word cloud shows the words or phrases associated with a topic.

For example, you could use the topic cloud to categorize customer comments on
Twitter about your products or services and then click on a topic to drill down to see the
actual comments.

Another visualization technique that can be used for semistructured or unstructured

data is the network diagram. Network diagrams view relationships in terms of nodes
(representing individual actors within the network) and ties (which represent relation-
ships between the individuals, such as friendship, kinship, organizations, business rela-
tionships, etc.). These networks are often depicted in a diagram where nodes are
represented as points and ties are represented as lines.
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Network diagrams can be used in many applications and disciplines. For example, busi-
nesses analyze social networks to understand their interactions with customers, while
counterintelligence and law enforcement might map a clandestine or covert organiza-
tion such as an espionage ring, an organized crime family or a street gang. You can also
superimpose the network diagram on a map, for example, to show the relationship or
product sales across geographic areas (see Figure 8).

Figure 8: Network diagrams explore relationships within a data set, including A correlation matrix
connections across geographic areas.
combines big data and fast
response times to quickly
Visualization With Correlation Matrices
identify which variables
Velocity is all about the speed at which data is coming into the organization. The ability
to access and process varying velocities of data quickly is critical. among the millions or
billions are related. It also
A correlation matrix combines big data and fast response times to quickly identify
which variables are related. It also shows how strong the relationships are between vari- shows how strong the rela-
ables. SAS Visual Analytics makes it easy to assess the relationships. Simply select a tionship is between the
group of variables and drop them into a visualization pane. The intelligent autocharting
function displays a color-coded correlation matrix that quickly identifies strong and variables.
weak relationships between the variables.

Darker boxes indicate a stronger correlation; lighter boxes indicate a weaker correlation
(see Figure 9). If you hover over a box, a summary of the relationship is shown. You can
double-click on a box in the matrix for further details.
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Figure 9: In this correlation matrix, darker boxes indicate a stronger correlation; lighter
boxes indicate a weaker correlation. You can double-click on a box for further details.

Another concern with big data is cardinality because the data may have many unique
values per column. If there are too many columns in your bar chart, you cannot see the
labels for each bar and the graph becomes less meaningful.

SAS has adopted a method for dealing with high cardinality in SAS Visual Analytics – bar
charts with an overview bar that zooms into the bar chart and enables information consumers to
scroll through the entire chart (see Figure 10). The level of zoom can also be controlled.

Figure 10: An overview axis bar chart shows the high cardinality in big data more
clearly. You can scroll through the entire chart.
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Filtering Big Data

When working with large amounts of data, being able to quickly and easily filter your
data is important. What if you only want to view data for a certain region, product line or
some other variable? SAS Visual Analytics has filtering capabilities that make it easy to
refine the information you see. Simply add a measure to the filter pane or select one
that’s already there, and then select or deselect the items on which to filter.

But what if the filter isn’t meaningful or it skews the data in undesirable ways? One way
to better understand the composition of your data is through the use of histograms.
Histograms provide a visual distribution of the data along with cues for how the data
will change if you filter on a particular measure. Histograms save time by giving you an
idea of the effect the filter will have on the data before you apply it. Rather than relying
on trial and error or instinct, you can use the histogram to help you decide what to
focus on.

The autocharting capability

Data Visualization Made Easy in SAS® Visual Analytics
With Autocharting takes a look at all of the data
In SAS Visual Analytics, intelligent autocharting produces the best visual based on what you wish to examine and
data you drag and drop onto the visual palette. It is important to note that autocharting
then, based on the amount
may not always create the exact visualization you had in mind. In that case, you also can
select a specific visual to build. However, when you are first exploring a data set, this of data and the type of data,
feature is useful because it provides a quick view of the data. You then have the ability it presents the most appro-
to switch to another specific visual as desired. For example, with autocharting, when a
single measure is selected, distribution of that measure is shown in a bar chart. The priate visualization.
addition of a second measure results in either an autocharted heat map (Figure 11) or a
scatter plot (Figure 3). A heat map present data values as rectangular areas with varying
shades of color or different colors.

A category of data can be one of three types: standard, date or geographic. When the
category type is standard, SAS Visual Analytics will show a frequency count of data. If
the category is a date, then a measure is also required and the visual will be a line
graph. If the category is geographic, a map will be displayed.

Autocharting in SAS Visual Analytics also takes into account the cardinality of the data
and adjusts the visuals accordingly. As mentioned previously, if cardinality is deemed
high, a bar chart with an overview axis is displayed (see Figure 10).
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Figure 11: With autocharting, two measures can either result in a heat map (above)
or a scatter plot. Heat maps present data values as rectangular areas with varying
colors or shades of color.

See Into the Future With Automated

Forecasting Techniques
Forecasting estimates future values for your data based on statistical trends. As such, it
is an extremely important tool for organizational planning. Fortunately, SAS Visual
Analytics can help you expand the culture of forecasting in your organization. Easy-
to-use capabilities take the complexity out of forecasting, so that users of all skill levels
can see for themselves what might happen in the future.

A simple menu guides users through the process of generating forecasting results.
Select the date, time or date-time data items you want to use for the forecast. The
software automatically chooses the most appropriate forecasting algorithm for the data
chosen. You also have the option to select the forecasting intervals. When you click OK,
a line chart is created, along with a brief description of the forecasting chart and the
results, as shown in Figure 12. This is just another way SAS Visual Analytics brings
advanced analytics to nontechnical users in an approachable format.
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When additional measures are added to the forecast, three things happen in SAS Visual
Analytics:

1. Each variable is evaluated to determine whether it “influences” the forecast.

Variables deemed to be influencers are added to the bottom of the screen for simu-
lation purposes.
2. When influencers are found, the forecast is recalculated and refined.
3. Users can manually modify the future values of the one or more underlying factors
data points to determine how the forecast is affected.

Figure 12: With automated forecasting capabilities, SAS Visual Analytics chooses the
most appropriate forecasting algorithm for the selected data. Pop-up explanations
(bottom of screen) provide brief descriptions of the forecasting chart and results to
help nontechnical users understand what the data means.
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Understanding Influence With Decision Trees

Decision trees, also known as classification trees, allow you to analyze problems (or
even predict behaviors) that are influenced by multiple factors in a way that’s easy to
understand. Decision trees present influencing factors incrementally as a series of one-
cause, one-effect relationships that are easier to understand than more complex,
multiple-variable techniques.

Decision trees attempt to find a strong relationship between input values and target
values in a group of observations that form a data set. When the analytics identifies a
set of input values as having a strong relationship to a target value, then all of these
values are grouped in a bin that becomes a branch of the decision tree. A strong rela-
tionship is defined as one where knowledge of the value of an input improves the
ability to predict the value of the target.

The decision tree algorithm will immediately indicate which variable has the most influ-
ence and at what value it has the greatest impact. The next branching point shows the
second most important factor and so on down the tree. Each branch in the tree increas-
ingly refines the various elements that affect our analysis, and we segment our data
according to the various branching-out points, until we find the next potential segment
that we want to investigate further. While business users with no background in
advanced analytics can use this powerful tool, advanced users also have access to
many parameters so they can further fine-tune this analysis (shown in Figure 13).

Figure 13: On this decision tree, we can see the data segmented according to the
various branching points.
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Use Location Analytics to Augment Geo Maps

Location data has long been collected and used for GIS and mapping purposes. Urban
planners, law enforcement and real estate companies have been using geographical
data for years. But with more and more location data being collected from smart
phones, smart watches, iBeacons and sensors, interest in location analytics is growing in
almost every industry.

Location analytics is more than just putting points on a map. It’s about augmenting
geographical information with other data and analytics to produce deeper insights that
are easy to see and understand. With SAS Visual Analytics, you can combine traditional
data, such as transactional, customer and operational, with location data for analysis in a
geographical context. Enriching your data with mapping capabilities lets you analyze
data in new ways, understand opportunities and risks, and visually engage with the
information for more informed decision making.

In addition, you can use maps to conduct spatial visual queries by selecting an area on
a map or choosing a specific drive time or drive distance to better understand what’s
happening and why.

Figure 14: Combining geographical maps and advanced analytics provides deeper
insights that are easy to see and understand.
 17

Improve Employee Collaboration With

Visualization on Mobile Devices
Proliferation of mobile devices means that businesses need to deliver company information
to smartphones and tablets any time and from anywhere. SAS Visual Analytics includes
mobile apps providing front-line and mobile employees with access to visual business
intelligence. With SAS Visual Analytics Apps, employees can look at a vast array of
different types of company business intelligence reports, KPIs and dashboards on their
iOS, Android and Windows 10 mobile devices (see Figure 15). Rather than having to
wait until they get back to the office, mobile users can quickly and easily gain a deeper
analytical understanding of business performance.

Figure 15: You can interact with dynamic reports from your iPhone®, iPad®, Android
tablets, Android smartphones and Windows 10 mobile devices.
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Conclusion
Visualizing your data can be both fun and challenging. It is much easier to understand
information in a visual compared to a large table with lots of rows and columns.
However, with the many visually exciting choices available, it is possible that the visual
creator may end up presenting the information using the wrong visualization. In some
cases, there are specific visuals you should use for certain data. In other instances, your
audience may dictate which visualization you present. In the latter scenario, showing an
alternative visual that conveys information more clearly may provide just what’s needed
to easily grasp the most relevant factors affecting important decisions.

You can choose the most appropriate visualization by understanding the data and its Visualizing your data can
composition, what information you are trying to convey to your audience, and how
be both fun and challenging.
viewers process visual information. Ease of use is key to getting the most from data visu-
alization tools, which in turn can help you realize value from your other BI and analytics It is much easier to under-
investments.
stand information in a visual
SAS Visual Analytics enables you to explore all of your data using visual techniques compared to a large table
combined with industry-leading analytics and incredibly fast processing. Smart visual- with lots of rows and
izations automatically present data in the best-suited format, order and color to high-
light relevant insights. Visualizations such as box plots and correlation matrices help you columns.
quickly understand the composition and relationships in your data – no matter what
size.

With SAS Visual Analytics, large numbers of users (including those with limited analyt-
ical and technical skills) can quickly view and interact with reports via the web or mobile
devices, while IT maintains control of the underlying data and security. This puts infor-
mation quickly in the hands of decision makers and speeds time to insights.

At the same time, data visualization provides a bridge between business users and data
scientists. Business users can easily see what’s important to focus on, and data scientists
can use visualizations as a starting point for building models based on the most
relevant variables. Everyone becomes more productive and collaborative.

The net effect is the ability to accelerate the analytics life cycle, performing analytical
modeling more often with more data. Users can quickly view all options, ask additional
questions, make precise decisions and succeed faster than ever before.

Learn More About SAS® Visual Analytics

To learn more about using SAS Visual Analytics to understand your data, download
white papers, view screenshots and see other related material, please visit
sas.com/visual-analytics.
To contact your local SAS office, please visit: sas.com/offices

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