computer science

SAS Viya

SAS Viya is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SAS Viya rather than just read about it. In short: SAS Viya is an artificial intelligence, analytics and data management platform developed by SAS Institute. History SAS Viya was released in 2016.

Key takeaways

SAS Viya belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SAS Viya to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SAS Viya from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SAS Viya is an artificial intelligence, analytics and data management platform developed by SAS Institute.

History SAS Viya was released in 2016. The software was containerized with the release of Viya 4 in 2020. Viya has become one of SAS' most widely used platforms during the AI boom, as artificial intelligence becomes more widely used in business and computing.

Technical overview The platform is cloud-native, and is executed on SAS's Cloud Analytics Services (CAS) engine. It is compatible with open source software, allowing users to build models using open sources tool such as R, Python and Jupyter. It integrates with major large language models like GPT-4 and Gemini Pro. The platform uses econometrics to create predictive models for forecasting scenarios based on complex data. It also has features for detecting algorithmic bias, auditing decisions and monitoring models. It is implemented through a low-code, no-code platform. The software is available on Amazon AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift, and on Microsoft Azure Marketplace under a pay-as-you-use model.

Software SAS Viya has released software as a service (SaaS) modules for creating AI content. These include Viya Workbench, Viya App Factory, Viya Copilot, and SAS Data Maker. The company also develops industry specific models, used by companies including Georgia-Pacific.

Applications

Banking The software is also widely used in business, especially in areas such as predictive modelling and fraud detection.

Insurance SAS Viya is used in insurance for tasks such as actuarial analytics and modelling, as well as regulatory reporting.

Healthcare and life sciences In 2023, the company introduced SAS Health, a common health data model built on the SAS Viya platform. AstraZeneca has partnered with SAS to use SAS Viya and SAS Life Science Analytics Framework in its delivery and approval processes. In 2024, SAS partnered with the University of Cambridge's Maxwell Center to use SAS Viya for healthcare research and development.

Public sector SAS Viya is used in partnership with national and local governments to provide services and detect tax fraud.

Education SAS Viya is used in research and education, particularly studies related to business intelligence, cybersecurity and data management. SAS Institute has partnered with educational institutions such as Appalachian State University, Clemson University, University of Arkansas, Stockholm University, and Marian University, to provide access to and training for using SAS Viya.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SAS Viya

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SAS Viya claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SAS Viya before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SAS Viya ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SAS Viya

In research: SAS Viya appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SAS Viya in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SAS Viya is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Applied data mining, Applied machine learning, Data mining and machine learning software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SAS Viya outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study SAS Viya in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SAS Viya means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SAS Viya out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SAS Viya in simple terms?

SAS Viya is an artificial intelligence, analytics and data management platform developed by SAS Institute. History SAS Viya was released in 2016.

Why does SAS Viya matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SAS Viya?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SAS Viya.