STOP PRESS: I’ll be presenting “Writing Reusable Macros, Part 1: Managing Data Sets” at the SUGUKI Lunch & Learn on Friday 10 January @ 1210 (GMT)

STOP PRESS: I’ll be presenting “Writing Reusable Macros, Part 1: Managing Data Sets” at the SUGUKI Lunch & Learn on Friday 10 January @ 1210 (GMT).

Please use this link to join me on Friday!

SAS-related Jobs from Recruiters in the US in January 2020

Looking for a SAS-related job?

There are a number of SAS-related jobs in the SAS Jobs Listing this month in the US, and the links are open to all site visitors:

US: IT contract and pharmaceutical contract-to-hire positions from Pinnacle Solutions.
US: Pharmaceutical permanent positions from Covance.

Please use the links in the job listings to apply for these positions.

Recruiters

I’m always looking for new recruiters to post SAS-related jobs on this site covering India, UK, the Americas, Europe and the Rest of the World. In particular, I would like to include jobs in Europe and India, where nearly half of the registered blog members are located, but currently there are no active recruiters for them. In fact, if you have SAS jobs located anywhere in the world, and no jobs for that location can be found in the SAS Jobs Listing, then please contact me, as I can get your jobs seen!

If you have a regular supply of jobs, then there is a free trial which is open to all recruiters, but with 2 simple rules:

The free trial will be extended by an additional calendar month only when a job is posted, and will expire automatically if no job has been posted in that calendar month.
The posted jobs must be SAS-related.

The current regional breakdown of registered blog members is as follows, but note that the SAS Jobs Listing is open to all site visitors:

Indian sub-continent: 32.9% (208)
The Americas: 24.1% (152)
UK: 21.4% (135)
Europe: 15.2% (96)
Rest of the World: 6.5% (41)

A Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone, but especially to this blog’s members!

I have a number of plans for 2020, and hope to achieve them all:

February 2020: Publish VIEWS News issue 59. Follow the link to learn how to get free access!
March/April 2020: Present a paper at SAS Global Forum (SASGF) in Washington DC. Hope to meet you there!
May 2020: Publish VIEWS News issue 60. Follow the link to learn how to get free access!
July 2020: See the Oberammergau Passion Plays in Germany, which occur only every 10 years!
August 2020: Present a paper and SAS training seminar at PharmaSUG China in Beijing. Hope to meet you there!
August/September 2020: Publish VIEWS News issue 61. Follow the link to learn how to get free access!
November 2020: Publish VIEWS News issue 62. Follow the link to learn how to get free access!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone, but especially to this blog’s members!

Looking forward to meeting you in 2020!!…………..Phil

Microsoft Exchange 365 is dead! Long live Google Mail! …but maybe not!

I’ve finally realised that my company’s email server on Microsoft Exchange 365 is too unreliable to use for emails from my SAS blog server, so I have configured the email client to send emails through Google Mail instead. This means that:

Emails will no longer be sent from phil@hollandnumerics.com
Emails will now be sent from hollandnumerics1992@gmail.com
Hopefully emails will be sent more reliably

If you have existing email filters that accept emails from phil@hollandnumerics.com, please can you add hollandnumerics1992@gmail.com to your accepted email addresses.

In case you are wondering why I phrased the title of this post as I did, it is based on the announcement from Buckingham Palace when a monarch dies and the succession of a new monarch to the throne of the United Kingdom. It is a statement of continuity!

Stop Press

Various attempts to send out emails to members have made me realise that the reliability of the Microsoft Exchange 365 servers is better than the traffic restrictions of the Google Mail servers. As a consequence I’ve decided to revert back to sending emails from phil@hollandnumerics.com.

However, I may make use of the email server on my hollandnumerics.org.uk server in the future, so watch this space!

VIEWS News 58 (2019Q4) has been published!

VIEWS News issue 58 has been published today.

Articles in this issue are by Jonathan Boase (SAS performance), Laura illingworth (SUGUKI report), and myself (SAS macros). I’ve also added more interesting/useful formats, options and functions, and future SAS-related events.

If you would like to contribute an article on any SAS topic, or a SAS-related event date from March 2020 onward, to the next issue in February 2020 then please send an email with a description/attachment of your contribution to view-uk@hollandnumerics.org.uk or phil@hollandnumerics.org.uk.

To be able to read this and all previous issues you will need to follow these steps:

If you have not already registered on this blog site, go to blog.hollandnumerics.org.uk and register for free membership.
Once successfully registered, click the menu item [Subscriptions for Forums and Features] > [Request access to the VIEWS UK forum] to request free access to the VIEWS UK forum, then add your name and email address to the form before clicking [Send].
On receipt of a request for an existing blog member I will register them for free access to the VIEWS UK forum, and then send them an email to confirm this.
The next time they log onto the blog site they will see VIEWS UK in the forum list, where you will find the latest issue of VIEWS News, forum topics to find the backissues, functions and formats in every published issue, and a tag cloud covering every forum on the site to which you have access, including VIEWS UK and the VIEWS News issues.
They will also be automatically informed of any VIEWS UK updates.

Enjoy!……………..Phil

SAS-related Jobs from Recruiters in UK and US in December 2019

Looking for a SAS-related job?

There are a number of SAS-related jobs in the SAS Jobs Listing this month in the UK and US, and the links are open to all site visitors:

UK: Pharmaceutical permanent positions from SQN Recruitment.
US: IT contract-to-hire positions from Pinnacle Solutions.
US: Pharmaceutical permanent positions from Covance.

Please use the links in the job listings to apply for these positions.

Recruiters

If you have a regular supply of jobs, then there is a free trial which is open to all recruiters, but with 2 simple rules:

The free trial will be extended by an additional calendar month only when a job is posted, and will expire automatically if no job has been posted in a calendar month.
The posted jobs must be SAS-related.

The current regional breakdown of registered blog members is as follows, but note that the SAS Jobs Listing is open to all site visitors:

Indian sub-continent: 33.2% (200)
The Americas: 24.2% (146)
UK: 21.2% (128)
Europe: 14.8% (89)
Rest of the World: 6.6% (40)

UK Contractors: How will IR35 reforms affect Contractors and Companies?

I am an independent SAS consultant and have been working through my own company, Holland Numerics Limited, since 1992. In the UK the vast majority of IT contractors use Limited companies when working for other companies, which protect both the contractors and their clients. Contractors also benefit from the clients paying their company, and then the company paying them, so there can be tax and National Insurance savings. This has been seen by Labour and Conservative governments as tax avoidance, and the Labour government introduced IR35 legislation in 2000 to restrict these benefits for contractors who are also company directors when they were only working for a single client, labelled as “deemed employees”. This forced contractors to pay the same tax and National Insurance as permanent employees, but without any employee benefits.

It should be noted here that permanent employees receive a number of benefits as part of their employment, but contractors have to pay for these themselves:

payroll processing, including tax and National Insurance payments
pension payments
employer National Insurance contributions
business-related insurance
travel expenses
conference attendance fees
equipment purchase
office facilities

Until now the responsibility of stating whether a contractor is inside or outside IR35 and paying the correct tax and National Insurance payments has been with the contractor’s company, but the reforms move these responsibilities to the client (determining IR35 status) and agency (paying the correct tax and National Insurance payments). Some companies have already decided to set the IR35 status of all of their contractors to inside, including Lloyds Bank, Barclays and GlaxoSmithKline, making them “deemed employees”. The following article describes the issues of this reform for contractors and companies:

Companies IR35 Fears of Contractors Leaving After Conservatives Reform (ITContractor.com)

There is now a question about what can contractors do to stay outside of IR35, and then persuade their clients not to state that they are inside. I can’t claim to be an expert on this subject, but I can suggest some organisations who are much better qualified to answer this question. The following links will help to explain the problem and possible solutions:

CK Associates IR35 Event held on 07Nov2019:

IPSE (Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed)

SAS-related Jobs from Recruiters in UK and US in November 2019

Looking for a SAS-related job?

There are a number of SAS-related jobs in the SAS Jobs Listing this month in the UK and US, and the links are open to all site visitors:

UK: Pharmaceutical permanent positions from SQN Recruitment.
US: IT contract-to-hire positions from Pinnacle Solutions.
US: Pharmaceutical permanent positions from Covance.

Please use the links in the job listings to apply for these positions.

Recruiters

If you have a regular supply of jobs, then there is a free trial which is open to all recruiters, but with 2 simple rules:

The free trial will be extended by an additional calendar month only when a job is posted, and will expire automatically if no job has been posted in a calendar month.
The posted jobs must be SAS-related.

The current regional breakdown of registered blog members is as follows, but note that the SAS Jobs Listing is open to all site visitors:

Indian sub-continent: 32.8% (192)
The Americas: 24.3% (142)
UK: 21.2% (121)
Europe: 14.9% (87)
Rest of the World: 6.8% (40)

Blog member Jonathan Tugman is presenting at the SUGUKI meeting in London on Nov 7

London SAS Meetup

Thursday, November 7, 2019, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

The Hub @ SAS London, 7th Floor, 199 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TY

Details

• 18:00 – Arrive
• 18:30 – Helpful Macros by Jonathan Tugman (Vanquis Bank)
• 18:50 – Sasensei Quiz Break
• 19:00 – Tackling insurance claims fraud with SAS Visual Investigator (Nick Feast, SAS)
• 19:20 – Wrap up and drinks
• 20:00 – Vacate to a local watering hole

Entrance is free but you must RSVP to confirm attendance for security/capacity reasons.

SAS-related Jobs from Recruiters in UK and US in October 2019

Looking for a SAS-related job?

There are a number of SAS-related jobs in the SAS Jobs Listing this month in the UK and US, and the links are open to all site visitors:

UK: Pharmaceutical permanent and contract positions from SQN Recruitment and Aerotek.
US: Financial and IT contract-to-hire positions from Pinnacle Solutions.

Please use the links in the job listings to apply for these positions.

Recruiters

If you have a regular supply of jobs, then there is a free trial which is open to all recruiters, but with 2 simple rules:

The free trial will be extended by an additional calendar month only when a job is posted, and will expire automatically if no job has been posted in a calendar month.
The posted jobs must be SAS-related.

The current regional breakdown of registered blog members is as follows, but note that the SAS Jobs Listing is open to all site visitors:

Indian sub-continent: 32.9% (188)
The Americas: 24.3% (139)
UK: 21.2% (121)
Europe: 14.9% (85)
Rest of the World: 6.7% (38)

VIEWS News 57 (2019Q3) has been published!

VIEWS News issue 57 has been published today. To be able to read this and all previous issues you will need to follow these steps:

If you have not already registered on this blog site, go to blog.hollandnumerics.org.uk and register for free membership.
Once successfully registered, reply to the registration confirmation email, and ask me to give you free access to the VIEWS UK forum.
On receipt of a request for an existing blog member I will register them for free access to the VIEWS UK forum, and then send them an email to confirm this.
The next time they log onto the blog site they will see VIEWS UK in the forum list, where you will find the latest issue of VIEWS News, forum topics to find the backissues, functions and formats in every published issue, and a tag cloud covering every forum on the site to which you have access, including VIEWS UK and the VIEWS News issues.
They will also be automatically informed of any VIEWS UK updates.

Enjoy!……………..Phil

Advance notice: VIEWS News 57 will be published on September 16

VIEWS News 57 will be published on September 16. This will be the 2nd issue in 2019, and the SAS world is changing, but still retaining it roots in Base SAS programming at the same time.

Articles in this issue are by LeRoy Bessler (ODS Graphics), Allan Bowe (web apps), and myself (SAS macros and my PharmaSUG US report). I’ve also added more interesting/useful formats, options and functions, and future SAS-related events.

If you would like to contribute an article on any SAS topic, or a SAS-related event date from December 2019 onward, to the next issue in November 2019 then please send an email with a description/attachment of your contribution to view-uk@hollandnumerics.org.uk or phil@hollandnumerics.org.uk.

Note that access to all issues of VIEWS News from issue 1 to the current issue requires a blog registration (https://hollandnumerics.org.uk/membership-join/membership-registration/), AND then requesting access to the VIEWS UK forum by email or via this link (https://hollandnumerics.org.uk/request-access-to-the-views-uk-forum/).