PharmaSUG 2013 - Paper MSO5 Be a Dead Cert for a SAS® Cert How to prepare for the most important SAS Certifications in the Pharmaceutical Industry Hannes Engberg Raeder, inVentiv Health Clinical, Germany ABSTRACT Itis a fact that SAS has become the standard for analyzing and reporting clinical data in the pharmaceutical Industry, thus it is one of the most important tools for the clinical database programmer, statistical programmer land statistician, Getting certfied raises your overall programming awareness, impraves the quality of your work ‘and, eams official recognition from SAS. There are currertly three certifications of relevance for the clinical SAS programmer; SAS Cerified Base Programmer, SAS Certified Advanced Programmer and SAS Certfied Clinical Trials Programmer. However, lack of time and good leaming strategies are potential obstacies that may discourage candidates from trying. Based on my own experience, the aim of this paper Isto provide an overview, resources for self-study and advice on dealing with practical aspects lke integrating leaming into dally work and Con the exams themselves such as the type of questions encountered and exam strategy. INTRODUCTION (On the SAS web site you can read that SAS Is the de facto industry standard for cinical data analysis and reporting in the ife sclences/pharmaceutical industry, and not surprisingly SAS Is de facto the most important tool you have as a cinical database programmer, stalstical programmer or statistician in the pharmaceutical industry’. This paper will focus on, what | belleve to be, the most important SAS certificates for SAS programmers in the pharmaceutical industry, namely: + SAS Cortfied Base Programmer for SAS 9 + SAS Certified Advanced Programmer for SAS + SAS Certilied Clinical Trials Programmer Using SAS 9 Leaming and preparing for a SAS certification is @ rewarding experience where you will + be exposed to new techniques, procedures, statements and options + raise your awareness of your own programming ‘+ Increase the quality and productivity of your work and expand your SAS programming toolbox + eam official recognition from SAS for your knowledge Nevertheless, mast SAS programmers are working full ime which make it dificult to find time for learning and preparation. But you do not need to spend every evening and weekend for six months preparing, and it does not need fo be expensive — with four to five hours a week and some well-chosen SAS publications these certifications ‘are manageable forall SAS programmers — beginners and seasoned ones alk. This paper is based on my own experience learning and preparing for these certifications and consists of three parts. The frst focuses on the certifications themselves — a brief overview of the content as well as resources for self-study. The second part focuses on how fo prepare and on the practical aspects of learning. The third part focuses on the exam and situations to be aware of at the exam such as allocation of time and types of questions to-expect. * For simplicity the tom SAS programmer wil bo used from hare on to denote any ole that includes use of SAS praducts to handle, prepare and analyze data fom ciinca talsPART ONE: THE CERTIFICATIONS. SAS Certfied Base Programmer for SAS 9 and SAS Certiied Advanced Programmer for SAS 9 are two cerifications that will greatly strengthen your SAS programming toolkit and raise your overall programming awareness®. For the SAS programmer working with clinical data ~ preparing, analyzing and reporting ~ these are the comerstones of your programming tooibox. ‘Although you can pass the base programmer certification and then the accelerated version of the clinical trials programmer certfication, skipping the advanced programming certification, strong DATA step and macro language knowledge, which are key topics in the advanced, are required forthe clinica tials certification. Hence, | highly recommend you to take both the base and the advanced programmer certiications before taking the linia tials programmer credential. ‘SAS CERTIFIED BASE PROGRAMMER This exam has 64 multiple-choice and short-answer questions. To pass the exam you must achieve a score of 70% in 110 minutes. The main focus Is the DATA step, for example when to use the SELECT statement instead of IF-THENIELSE statements, how to use arrays, read in different structures of raw data, convert from numeric to ‘character and, apply formats and informats, and so an. Some of the topics covered are: + Accessing data, combining datasets, access an Excel workbook + Creating data structures + Managing data, modifying variable attributes, process data using loops and arrays + Generating reports, ODS + Handling errors, resolve logical, syntax and data problems Fora detailed sylabus see SAS Institute's web site wnw.sas.com/certiylcreds!. WHAT To STUDY? ‘SAS offers an official guide called SAS Certification Prep Guide Base Programming for SAS 9 which covers the subjects relevant to the exam and each chapter includes a small quiz In the end. The guide Is comprehensive and detailed, athough the real exam questions are in my opinion harder than to those in the official uide. Depending ‘on your current experience and work tasks Involving SAS you might need to consult other Iterature as well: + SAS Functions — its not unlikely that the exam contains questions about functions not covered in the SAS Certification Prep Guide Base Programming for SAS 9. SAS has all functions Iisted on their web site with examples, but for a more structured presentation ofthe functionally of SAS functions | strongly recommend ‘SAS Functions By Example by Rod Cody. + Carpenter's Guide to innovative SAS Techniques by Art Carpenter Is a comprehensive book which emphasizes how DATA step techniques can be used to solve complex data problems. You will find many questions from both the base and advanced certification covered in this Book. + Reading raw data is not as trivial as you might think — particulary i you are nat doing t every day and geting all sors of raw data problems to solve. In my opinion the SAS Certification Prep Guide Base Programming for SAS 9 is sufficient. Though, if you need more examples | recommend Reading External Data Files Using ‘SAS: Examples Handbook by Michele Buriew. This book prepares you for many different scenarios on how toread raw data into SAS. * Ts paper only alscusses SAS Version 9. The version number Wl not be wren out When discussing he certicatons 2SAS CERTIFIED ADVANCED PROGRAMMER ‘The foundations of the advanced certfcate are the SQL procedure, the SAS macro language and advanced SAS programming techniques. The exam contains 63 muftiple-choice questions and you must scare at least 65% in {wo hours to pass. In order to receive the advanced programmer credential, you must alfeady have gained the bbase programmer certfication. Areas covered are: + Accessing data using SOL + Macro processing + Advanced pragramming techniques ‘These three categories are comprehensive and require more preparation time compared to the base programmer certificate. The advanced programmer certificate actually tests your sklls in three programming languages, the DATA step language, SQL which is introduced here, and the SAS macro language. Advanced programming techniques include topics such as creating indexes and when they should be used, combining data vertically using the SET statement, the INFILE statement and the APPEND procedure, hash objects as lookup tables, creating formats with the PICTURE statement in the FORMAT procedure. It also intraduces you to efficient programming, how SAS uses memory, disk space and CPU time. For a detailed list of requirements see SAS's web site The SAS Cortied Advanced Programmer certification Is comprehensive and therefore a highly rewarding experience. WHAT To STUDY? General one-fits-al advice Is hard to give, considering each SAS programmers different background, but there are several resources to consider: SAS has an official guide for the advanced programmer certification as wel: SAS Certfcation Prep Guide Advanced programming for SAS 9. Though the book Is comprehensive, | recommend taking a look at the following books as well: + To boost your SAS macro language knowedge: Carpenter's Complete Guide fo the SAS Macro Language by {Art Carpenter is an excellent book on this topic, and SAS's own SAS 9.3 Macro Language Reference Is not a bad choice either. + Carpenter's Guide to innovative SAS Techniques by Art Carpenter Is also a book you should consider. | recommend this book as a preparation resource for the base programmer certification as well In my opinion, the SQL procedure is well covered by SAS Certification Prep Guide Advanced programming for SAS 9, therefore | have chosen nat fo recommend altemative literature even if there are comprehensive options avaliable. ‘SAS CERTIFIED CLINICAL TRIALS PROGRAMMER, This is the newest ofthe three certifications discussed in this paper and is simed directly at SAS programmers in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently there are two versions offered: One, accelerated, version for those with the ‘base programmer credentials and one for those without. The accelerated version contains 71 questions and you have to pass 70% of them in two hours. The full length clinical trials programmer certification has $9 questions ‘and 70% must be achieved in three hours to pass and you do not need fo have the base programmer credential | wil focus on the accelerated version since | assume that most SAS programmers wil take the base certification before going forthe dlinical tals programmer certification. The accelerated version covers the folowing topics: + Clinical rials process, SAP, principles of 21 CFR Patt 11, Good Clinical Practices + Clinical als data structures, CDISC