The programme was based on the SAS Viya platform. SAS describes Viya as “The quickest way from a billion points of data to a single point of view.” It is the newest software architecture designed to enable a distributed in-memory analytics. The resource person for the FDP was Mr Akshay Dixit, trainer on behalf of SAS.

Day 1 of the FDP set the ball rolling with the orientation regarding SAS and the application of Viya to analytics; the second part of the day focussed on the statistics of machine learning. Day 2 began with a discussion on the concept of analytics in the modern age; a part of it related to AI and machine learning. The afternoon session dealt with the use of machine learning in cloud analytics. Day 3 was dedicated to the interesting case of the use of SAS Viya in text analytics, while Day 4 wrapped things up by considering the forecasting applications of SAS Viya.

The FDP was a very fruitful endeavour as it exposed the participants to diverse aspects of applying a cutting edge tool like SAS. The experience of hands on sessions with SAS via the website access was a priceless opportunity. Being from the academic fraternity, most of the participants were familiar with statistical software; nevertheless, the knowledge of concepts like pipelining was a revelation. The takeaway for the participants was the confidence of applying statistical approaches to newer phenomena like AI and machine learning.