Today more than ever the CFO must balance a role as financial caretaker with that of business strategist. Considering the current climate of regulation and compliance, the CFO faces formidable challenges.

This white paper presents five questions that keep these executives awake at night, questions involving costs, revenues, compliance and performance management. The paper then argues that addressing the technology implications of these questions requires a holistic approach to financial intelligence. In the end you will learn about SAS Financial Intelligence, a comprehensive solution suite that helps the finance group become a trusted adviser to all other areas of the company.

The current regulatory environment in financial services has left most institutions in need of a more effective approach to the detection and prevention of money laundering. This white paper discusses some relevant regulations, explores current trends in anti-money laundering (AML) technology strategy and proposes ways to achieve competitive advantage through AML solutions.

Financial institutions must strengthen their anti-money laundering programs to identify and report suspicious activity, meet new regulatory mandates and manage compliance risk. Read this white paper to learn how SAS Anti-Money Laundering can help you detect unknown behavior patterns, gain a clearer view into transactions and report suspicious activity.

This white paper discusses the nature of business risk, from credit risk to market risk and operational risk, primarily in the context of the banking industry. The paper provides a history of the Basel accords, outlining in detail the implications of Basel II on risk management. You will also learn about the processes and systems  required for implementing internal ratings-based approaches to risk management.

In September 2005, the Federal Reserve Board will disclose pricing data on higher cost loans with respect to applicant race, ethnicity, gender and income status. This new pricing information, in the officially filed HMDA data, will be used to monitor mortgage lending practices and assist in identifying possible discriminatory pricing patterns.

This paper presents a systematic approach for statistical analysis of HMDA pricing data. You will learn how an effective and powerful method to detect statistically significant pricing disparities amongst various groups is beneficial for lending institutions. The method described in this paper can be applied to HMDA filing data and a broader set of information including additional applicant and transaction information, credit bureau data, and credit underwriting and pricing policies.

Credit scoring models can assist bankers with credit decisions and can enhance compliance with fair lending laws and regulations. This white paper examines the current deployment of credit scoring models, the challenges banks often encounter and future credit scoring trends. You will learn about common types of models, how to measure their performance and the impact of regulations on credit scoring.

The federal government has enacted laws and standards making discrimination in lending illegal. To help financial lenders improve the accuracy of their disparate treatment testing evaluations, SAS has developed a methodology called the Dynamic-Conditional Process (DCP). This methodology dynamically classifies lending decision factors and captures variations in policy thresholds among loan products, markets and/or programs. Read this white paper for an introduction to the DCP methodology.

For European financial services firms, compliance with MiFID is mandatory. Nevertheless, MiFID provides numerous opportunities for companies to improve profitability and shareholder value. This white paper explores those opportunities. You will learn how the people, process and systems changes required by MiFID can position your organization to be more agile and successful.

To meet global competition, a nation must spend more on education. While that is true, it is even more important how the money gets spent. There is legitimate concern in both Europe and the US that education systems are not fully preparing communities to thrive in today's knowledge-based economy. Indeed, if communities and countries want to prosper on the road ahead, we must support bold, innovative, and transformative education policies and practices. This white paper presents five guiding principles for evaluating 21st century educational policies.

According to analysts, business intelligence applications are a top priority for CIOs. To help cut through the clutter of conflicting and overstated vendor claims, SAS has developed a comprehensive framework that can be used to evaluate any and all BI vendors. This white paper outlines the criteria included in this framework, which include measures of technology, alignment with customer needs corporate vision and geographic scope.

Business intelligence (BI) has evolved beyond isolated tools. Successful BI can only be achieved with the backing of a rigorous process that starts with source data and finishes in a useful form in the hands of the user.

This white paper, written by Butler Group, first provides a brief overview of Butler's vision for the advanced deployment of BI technologies according to this end-to-end process. It then focuses on the SAS Industry Intelligence Solutions for Banking, Insurance and Telecommunications, outlining the industry-specific, model-driven architecture of these advanced BI solutions, which allows them to be implemented quickly and easily.

This paper discusses the role of quality in SAS products and services. You will learn about the importance of quality in every aspect of the company, from personnel to research and development, production and customer service. The paper also includes six appendices addressing specific issues such as FDA compliance and employee training.

Analysis of microarray data is used extensively to search for and discover clues to the molecular causes of important biological phenomena. As microarrays increase in popularity, the demand has grown for biologist-friendly applications that simplify the quality-control and analysis processes and present useful graphical representations of high-dimensional data sets. Expression Console, recently introduced by Affymetrix, provides a simple interface for normalization and summarization of data from Affymetrix CEL files to produce CHP files for further analysis. This paper explains how the Affymetrix Expression CHP Wizard in JMP Genomics automates many steps in a comprehensive microarray analysis workflow by combining an interactive interface with standard JMP Genomics tools.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics from SAS introduces copy number-specific functionality, giving users the ability to easily assess copy number differences across experimental groups. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number and allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on all Affymetrix Genome-Wide SNP arrays, including the Mapping 500K, SNP 5 and SNP 6 arrays.

Release 3.1 of JMP Genomics software from SAS adds specific menu items for copy number analysis. In this white paper, we will review a simple JMP Genomics workflow to determine differences in copy number or B-allele frequencies. These workflows have been tested on Illumina DNA Analysis BeadChips, including the Human1M DNA Analysis BeadChips.

This document, together with the on-demand Web training session, is intended to give existing and new customers and evaluators a brief overview of the JMP Genomics solution and an introduction to some of the new features in JMP Genomics 3.2. For more detailed information about specific processes, please consult the JMP Genomics User Guide and JMP Genomics User Guide Supplement, found under Genomics > Documentation and Help.

Many providers are struggling with the increasing complexity and cost of networks, service choices and business processes. Read this white paper to learn how a customer value optimization approach can help service providers understand how customers engage with the company, identify ways to reduce churn, and systematically record customer management activities and results. You will also learn how a customer value optimization approach transformed the profit picture for a top-tier wireless carrier.

It is no longer sufficient for an organization to be lean, agile and efficient. Its entire supply chain must also perform as the company itself does. If some customers are excessively high-maintenance, they erode profit margins. Who are these troublesome customers, and how much do they drag down profits? Once you know, what corrective actions should you take? This detailed white paper explores the value of activity-based cost management (ABC/M) in determining customer profitability. It describes the insights gained from validly measuring customer profitability and how organizations apply performance management systems to manage changing strategies for increasing profit, reducing cost and improving performance throughout the enterprise.

SAS for Customer Experience Analytics is designed to enable organizations to tailor every customer contact and optimize value at every opportunity, from visitor arrival through web site interaction to the business response. This white paper describes the technology landscape leading up to the current demand for true, actionable multi-channel intelligence, together with the key elements required for a successful customer experience analytics solution.

SAS for Customer Experience Analytics is designed to enable insurers to tailor every customer contact and optimise value at every opportunity, from visitor arrival through web site interaction to the business response. This white paper describes the technology landscape leading up to the current demand for true, actionable multi-channel intelligence, together with the key elements required for a successful customer experience analytics solution.

SAS for Customer Experience Analytics is designed to enable retail banks to tailor every customer contact and optimize value at every opportunity, from visitor arrival through web site interaction to the business response. This white paper describes the technology landscape leading up to the current demand for true, actionable multi-channel intelligence, together with the key elements required for a successful customer experience analytics solution.

This white paper provides a blueprint for action for senior marketers and decision makers across the enterprise. It provides straightforward advice on how to build a more durable and profitable customer base by:

- Building a more competitive business model.
- Enabling customer-centric business strategies in a product-centric organization.
- Turning expanding volumes of customer data into actionable insight for smarter decision making.
- Providing a roadmap for integrating technology to achieve competitive advantage.

Banks can no longer view their customers from the perspective of specific products or a snapshot in time. To maximize lifetime profitability from valued customers, they must abandon the traditional silo mindset and work to gain a comprehensive view of customers across products, channels and time.

This white paper focuses on the analytic capabilities of SAS Banking Intelligence Solutions, including customer segmentation, cross-selling and up-selling, and customer retention. The paper also includes a brief discussion of the open, flexible architecture on which these solutions are built — including analytic models built specifically for banks.

Banks and financial institutions are recognizing that they can no longer look at a consumer from a specific product or snapshot perspective but must encompass the entire customer relationship to fully understand a client's profitability. It is now necessary to invest in a more customer-centric vision.

This white paper explores the benefits of customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking industry. By reading about failed business scenarios that could have been prevented with the right CRM solution, you will learn how banks can shift the focus of their business to maximize customer profitability. The paper also offers six business imperatives, and their implications, for a successful CRM strategy.

While it is essential to employ customer-centric strategies to improve revenue, it is also necessary to balance customer needs with shareholder value. This white paper outlines a method for achieving this balance by tying retention spending to customer financial value. You will learn how to evaluate customers by combining financial value with loyalty, and about requirements for a properly customer-focused strategy.

Understanding customers' credit scores is essential for banks, and there is much to be gained by conducting credit scoring activities in-house, including consistency, accuracy, faster integration of new models, and privacy.

Read this white paper to learn how SAS helps build and maintain their own credit scoring function. The paper discusses the development and deployment of scoring models, as well as the process of monitoring those models for improvement.

This white paper highlights how SAS for Customer Experience Analytics helps organizations optimize the Web experience for their customers and analyze customer data for more effective marketing. Ultimately, you will learn how SAS for Customer Experience Analytics allows you to gain deeper customer insights, choreograph more meaningful customer interactions and improve overall marketing performance.

Nowhere is customer acquisition and retention more important than in the telecommunications industry, where customer defection costs companies around the world tens of billions of dollars each year and annual churn remain high.

This paper provides a detailed look at the process of churn analysis using a well-implemented information delivery system. It also discusses the importance of deploying churn management to more business users and targeting campaigns based on more than just churn likelihood. A step-by-step process flow also illustrates the value and power of churn management using a dependable information delivery system.

Every relationship between a business and a customer is best viewed as an ongoing conversation. This white paper provides an overview of Behavior Maps, a concept unique to SAS Interaction Management that allows businesses to conduct more meaningful conversations with their customers. Key topics include the importance of context, the structure of Behavior Maps and the use of Behavior Maps to complement traditional predictive models.

The secret to consistently beating both profitability goals and competitors may sound simple - just understand your customers better and faster than anyone else, and then target them more effectively than anyone else. But with the scope and scale of marketing today, delivering meaningful, personal service to customers is a difficult task.

This white paper discusses the evolution of analytics-based marketing automation and then looks briefly at the critical technologies that support the latest generation of marketing automation: an enterprise architecture, sophisticated analytics, capabilities that give more control to business users and the ability to extend into other areas of marketing.

Organizations increasingly look to hosted applications as a way to get the business solutions they need. This white paper outlines the benefits of SAS Solutions OnDemand, a collection of hosted solutions for a variety of business needs. Read this paper to learn how SAS has extended the traditional model of solution hosting and about the advantages of choosing SAS Solutions OnDemand -- including analytics, fast deployment, a proven delivery methodology and more.

This paper details challenges that affect how communications are planned and deployed, including limiting factors such as budget caps, campaign volumes and channel capacities. Communications often can't be anticipated until a trigger-based or real-time interaction uncovers a need and the opportunity for an additional communication. Successful processes utilize the latest analytical techniques and consider a company's corporate objectives and business rules. This paper discusses a process called adaptive contact planning as a way to create more effective, and thus more profitable, marketing campaigns.

In an increasingly dynamic marketplace, organizations can no longer stay ahead of the competition by using only a product differentiation strategy. Instead, organizations that use a real-time decision making strategy to enhance the customer experience are leading the way. This white paper discusses four key components of a successful real-time decision strategy, and how SAS Real-Time Decision Manager helps organizations successfully implement such a strategy. Additionally, it provides a technical overview of SAS Real-Time Decision Manager.

Discovery organizations are identifying a lot of promising compounds, but clinical research processes haven't kept pace with timely testing of all those potential therapies. This white paper describes how SAS Drug Development supports true innovation across the clinical trial process. You will learn how to assemble data to foster better collaboration, get up-to-date information during clinical trials and make informed decisions earlier in the trial process.

This paper describes how colleges and universities can use strategic enrollment management to improve relationships with students, alumni, donors and others. You will learn about the importance of information in each phase of the enrollment management life cycle, and about the specific benefits that strategic enrollment management can provide.

Today more than ever the CFO must balance a role as financial caretaker with that of business strategist. Considering the current climate of regulation and compliance, the CFO faces formidable challenges.

This white paper presents five questions that keep these executives awake at night, questions involving costs, revenues, compliance and performance management. The paper then argues that addressing the technology implications of these questions requires a holistic approach to financial intelligence. In the end you will learn about SAS Financial Intelligence, a comprehensive solution suite that helps the finance group become a trusted adviser to all other areas of the company.

Driven by regulation, restructuring, increased accountability and shareholder scrutiny, the CFO has become a key strategic decision maker who helps set company strategy. This white paper argues that financial professionals must do more than report on the past; they must interpret past results for their impact on the current business environment and affect on the future. The paper also discusses how SAS can help CFOs address key challenges as they adapt to their changing role.

The Fast Close process – the ability to rapidly close the books, collect, consolidate and publish the results of a group globally – is widely seen as a proxy for good corporate governance. This white paper, written by FSN Publications, considers the common impediments to a Fast Close process, the principle steps needed to correct them and illustrates how SAS Financial Management, coupled with other SAS solutions respond to these challenges.

As a valuable costing methodology, this paper looks at how ABC has evolved over its life cycle, what lessons have been learned from its evolution and what ABC can do today that it could not do 20 years ago. It also describes the current state of ABC as a key input and value adder to performance management systems.

Shared services departments in organizations have traditionally been called "overhead functions." Today, shared services are being defined as the sharing and leveraging of resources, people and information to more effectively meet the business needs of an organization. In order to transform overhead functions into more than merely cost-effective internal suppliers, fact-based information, such as that provided by activity-based cost management, is required.
This white paper gives an overview of the shared services model, focusing on activity-based cost management as an enabler. The paper also includes a primer on activity-based management and some ground rules for effective shared services.

A key element of performance management is to use fact-based data, for analysis and decision support. For this reason, activity-based cost management (ABC/M) is one of the more important methodologies in performance management. This paper discusses the pressures for improved cost accounting in government, explains why there is some resistance to ABC/M and describes some successful applications of ABC/M in the public sector to date.

It is no longer sufficient for an organization to be lean, agile and efficient. Its entire supply chain must also perform as the company itself does. If some customers are excessively high-maintenance, they erode profit margins. Who are these troublesome customers, and how much do they drag down profits? Once you know, what corrective actions should you take? This detailed white paper explores the value of activity-based cost management (ABC/M) in determining customer profitability. It describes the insights gained from validly measuring customer profitability and how organizations apply performance management systems to manage changing strategies for increasing profit, reducing cost and improving performance throughout the enterprise.

While it is essential to employ customer-centric strategies to improve revenue, it is also necessary to balance customer needs with shareholder value. This white paper outlines a method for achieving this balance by tying retention spending to customer financial value. You will learn how to evaluate customers by combining financial value with loyalty, and about requirements for a properly customer-focused strategy.

The Fast Close process – the ability to rapidly close the books, collect, consolidate and publish the results of a group globally – is widely seen as a proxy for good corporate governance. This white paper, written by FSN Publications, considers the common impediments to a Fast Close process, the principle steps needed to correct them and illustrates how SAS Financial Management, coupled with other SAS solutions respond to these challenges.

Read this white paper to learn how SAS helps governments reduce the taxpayer burden for fraud, error and abuse, ultimately allowing governments to better fund efforts for improving the lives of citizens. This paper focuses on three key areas: improper payments, purchase card fraud and Medicare/Medicaid fraud. The paper discusses how governments can develop anti-fraud strategies to improve collection rates and reduce improper payments, fraud, waste and abuse.

It's no secret: fraud drains profits, and lax fraud management practices put a company at a competitive disadvantage. Unfortunately, there is no one bulletproof fraud-detection technique. However, multiple techniques working in concert can be very effective for detecting both opportunistic and professional/organized fraud. This paper briefly traces the evolution of fraud detection approaches, and closely examines eight techniques that insurers should include in their arsenal of anti-fraud strategies.

Organizations that respond to regulatory pressures by simply documenting their existing fraud management practices are selling themselves short. This paper describes how an enterprisewide approach to fraud mana