Metacoda getting ready for SAS Global Forum 2013

Posted: 10 April 2013

Metacoda Koalas getting SASGF13 agenda readyWe very much enjoyed being a sponsor at SAS® Global Forum last year and we’re looking forward to being a sponsor again this year at SAS Global Forum 2013 (SASGF13) in San Francisco.

Since the last conference, we’ve been busy working on our add-ons to SAS software and we look forward to meeting more SAS users and talking about Metacoda Plug-ins, Metacoda Commutual and Enterprise Guide Custom Tasks.

Metacoda Plug-ins
Our Metacoda Plug-ins software continues to provide enhanced visibility of SAS metadata security implementations, in whole-of-server views, to significantly improve the productivity of administrators when it comes to managing SAS metadata security. The software allows administrators to rapidly review and troubleshoot metadata security by providing fast and thorough answers to questions. It’s also beneficial in the ongoing governance and auditing requirements for an organisation. Feel free to contact us if you would like an evaluation to try out the software in your own environment.

Metacoda Commutual
We’re developing a new web-based product that allows organisations with SAS software to search and communicate about SAS metadata, both business and technical. This product allows business users to contribute their knowledge, via discussions, about columns, tables, cubes, jobs, stored processes etc. It provides a way to ensure that business definitions and ‘reasons why things were done a certain way’ are not buried in personal emails. We’ll be demoing this on the iPad at SASGF13, so please drop by our stand to try it out for yourself. More information, with screenshots, can be found in this blog post – http://platformadmin.com/blogs/paul/2012/11/getting-social-with-your-sas-metadata/

Custom Tasks for Enterprise Guide
We’ve also been exploring the development of custom tasks for SAS Enterprise Guide. If you have a pressing need for a particular custom task, please come and talk to us. To see one example, check out Paul’s blog post at http://platformadmin.com/blogs/paul/2013/02/custom-tasks-for-sas-enterprise-guide/

Drop by and say G’Day
Metacoda Koalas Qantas Ticket and Bag readyIf you’re going to the Forum and are responsible for the implementation, management and ongoing maintenance for your SAS platform, then make sure you stop by to get a demo of how Metacoda software can help. Come and say G’Day and get a Metacoda koala and an Aussie chocolate treat…

See you at the TweetUp?
Also if you happen to be in San Francisco on Saturday 27th April, don’t forget the #SASGF13 #TweetUp, we’ll be there too – details can be found at http://www.bi-notes.com/2013/03/sas-global-forum-2013-tweetup/

Look forward to seeing you soon!

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Metacoda Plug-ins used in SAS Australia’s Remote Admin Service

Posted: 12 March 2013

We are very excited to see a recent press release on the SAS® Australia website. It mentions how SAS Australia are using Metacoda Plug-ins as part of their SAS Remote Administration Service, helping to ensure fast and effective resolution of their customers metadata security related issues.

If you’re looking for assistance with the ongoing management of your SAS platform in Australia, we would encourage you to consider this remote admin service from SAS Australia. It provides a designated SAS technical administration specialist, giving you access to SAS admin expertise for a fixed annual fee that can be budgeted into your overall SAS investment.

For more information about their remote admin service contact Darryl Fox (Darryl.Fox@sas.com), National Enablement Manager at SAS Australia.

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Metacoda Security Plug-ins: a “must have”

Posted: 14 January 2013

At Metacoda, we enjoy helping organisations get the most out of their SAS® metadata. Our Metacoda Security Plug-ins provide a way for organisations to benefit from enhanced metadata visibility. Feedback from our customers and evaluators has significantly contributed to the evolution of our software over the last few years and we’d like to share with you some of their experiences, Continue reading →

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Metacoda Plug-ins 3.0 R2

Posted: 4 December 2012

We’ve just released an update to our Metacoda Plug-ins software (3.0 R2) which includes support for use with SAS® Software version 9.3 M2. One of the new features SAS Institute have added to SAS 9.3 M2 are metadata bound libraries and tables for enhanced data security. This include some new metadata model types (SecuredLibrary and SecuredTable) and so our 3.0 release has been updated in R2 to provide access to these new metadata types. We would encourage all existing users of Metacoda Plug-ins 3.0 to upgrade to R2. This latest release can be downloaded by logging in from our support page.

If you are interested in experiencing, in your own SAS® environment, the productivity savings Metacoda Plug-ins can provide in managing your SAS metadata security, feel free to request an evaluation.

Some of the most significant new features available in our Metacoda Plug-ins 3.0 release and continued with R2 include: Continue reading →

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Metacoda Plug-ins V3.0 BETA2 (with free Metadata Explorer & ACT Reviewer!)

Posted: 7 August 2012

Metacoda Plug-ins version 3.0 BETA2 is now available for testing. We’re keen to get feedback from people who are interested in trying it out. Version 3.0 of our Metacoda Plug-ins software can be used with SAS® software versions 9.3 and 9.2. Metacoda Plug-ins version 2.0 is our current production release for SAS software 9.3 and 9.2 and Metacoda Plug-ins version 1.0 is also available for those still using SAS software version 9.1.3.

Metacoda Plug-ins SAS 9.3 SAS 9.2 SAS 9.1.3 SP4
V3.0 BETA2 Metacoda Plug-ins V3.0 is available for testing with SAS 9.3 Metacoda Plug-ins V3.0 is available for testing with SAS 9.2
V2.0 R1 Metacoda Plug-ins V2.0 is supported for use with SAS 9.3 Metacoda Plug-ins V2.0 is supported for use with SAS 9.2
V1.0 R4 Metacoda Plug-ins V1.0 is supported for use with SAS 9.1.3 SP4

The most notable changes in Metacoda Plug-ins version 3.0 include:

  • A new Identity Permissions Explorer providing a way to find an identity (user or group) and review their effective permissions on multiple objects (folders, libraries, tables, information maps etc.). For more details check out the YouTube screencast as demonstrated at SAS Global Forum 2012.
  • A new Object Permissions Explorer providing a way to browse or search for an object (folder, library, table, information map, report etc.) and then review it’s effective permissions across multiple identities. For more details check out the YouTube screencast as demonstrated at SAS Global Forum 2012.
  • Metadata Explorer – a new, free, utility from Metacoda. This was an internal tool we have been using at Metacoda for finding and exploring technical metadata. We find it really useful for metadata programming and administration and so we thought others might too. Please give it a go and let us know what you think. Keep an eye out for a blog post with more technical details on the Metadata Explorer at PlatformAdmin.com.
  • The existing ACT Reviewer is now being made available for free. We are doing this to encourage good metadata security practices through the use of ACTs. Of course, we also hope you like it enough to investigate our other Security Plug-ins. All of the other plug-ins are available for you to explore in limited evaluation mode (showing a subset of your metadata).

Our existing Metacoda customers and current evaluators are being sent new V3.0 licenses and can login to download the V3.0 BETA2 installation packages.

If you’re not yet a Metacoda customer and would like to find out more about Metacoda Plug-ins, please contact us. You can also request an evaluation to register for an account to download Metacoda Plug-ins and get access to the free ACT Reviewer and Metadata Explorer. If you’d also like to try the other Limited Evaluation Mode features on your entire metadata then let us know and we can provide a 1 month evaluation license too.

We’re excited about this new release and we hope you are too.

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New Metacoda Affiliate: Analytic Intelligence Architecture Solutions

Posted: 1 July 2012

Metacoda is pleased to welcome Analytic Intelligence Architecture Solutions (AIAS) as an affiliate. AIAS offer statistical software solutions architecture services in the field of business intelligence, business analytics, operational research and statistical modelling in the United Kingdom. AIAS specialise in the IT solution architecture using statistical and mathematical software packages and look forward to offering their customers, who are using SAS® software, a way to improve their productivity through enhanced metadata visibility with Metacoda Security Plug-ins.

Metacoda Security Plug-ins can be used within the SAS Management Console to help platform administrators who need immediate feedback about their metadata security implementations. Metacoda software helps them to be more productive, follow best practices and generate necessary documentation for security reviews, audits, governance and compliance.

AIAS look forward to recommending Metacoda software to their customers in the United Kingdom as part of their integrated solution design offering.

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Metacoda at SAS Global Forum 2012

Posted: 22 May 2012

Metacoda Stand with KoalasMetacoda enjoyed being a sponsor at SAS® Global Forum 2012 and having the opportunity to meet SAS users from around the world. Thanks for dropping by our Metacoda stand and seeing how our Metacoda Security Plug-ins can help you manage your SAS platform. The Metacoda koalas seemed popular and they certainly enjoyed being at the SAS Global Forum as you can see on our Facebook page and YouTube video.

For those people we didn’t get to see at our stand (or those that would like a refresher on what you did see) we have uploaded the rolling presentations as a YouTube playlist. Our current production releases support SAS 9.3, SAS 9.2 and SAS 9.1.3 platforms and the software demonstrated at the SAS Global Forum is our upcoming V3 release for use with SAS 9.3 and SAS 9.2. The new version will include 2 new explorers for effective permissions (Identity Permissions Explorer and Object Permissions Explorer). Please let us know if you are interested in becoming a beta tester for the V3 release.

There is more information about our plug-ins here. You can also request a free 30 day evaluation to try out the software with your own metadata in your own environment. If you have any other questions feel free to send us a message. We’d love to hear from you.

To quote one of our customers… “SAS metadata security requires careful planning and execution. Metacoda Security Plug-ins, with it’s unique birds-eye view, provide an ideal way to validate our security model once implemented. As we evolve our security model it’s comforting to know that we can get an instant overview of the results.” Ivor Moan, Verivox GmbH

We look forward to seeing you again at SAS Global Forum 2013 in San Francisco.

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Metacoda at SAS Global Forum 2012: iPad Winner

Posted: 6 May 2012

Winner of the draw for a new iPad at the Metacoda stand - Per Anderson from Denmark with Michelle Homes from Metacoda

Metacoda enjoyed being a sponsor at the SAS® Global Forum 2012 (SASGF12) on the 22-25 April 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

We met many SAS users who dropped by our stand to get a demonstration of our Metacoda Security Plug-ins software, collect a Metacoda koala, and enter the draw to win a new iPad.

Angela Hall told us we had very cool swag and it seemed that others thought so too. We had a lot of interest at our stand and the lucky iPad winner was… Per Andersen from Denmark.

Thanks to everyone who visited us and suggested others visit us too. It was great to meet you all. Hope to see you again next year at SASGF13 in San Francisco.

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New Metacoda Affiliate: Real Numbers

Posted: 6 May 2012

Metacoda is pleased to welcome Real Numbers as an affiliate. Real Numbers, based in Australia, specialise in the development of Business Intelligence and Data Repository Solutions in many business areas from health, insurance, banking and education. Real Numbers provide consulting services that leverage the full potential of an organisation’s data infrastructure and information delivery systems.

Metacoda Security Plug-ins can be used within the SAS® Management Console to help platform administrators who need immediate feedback about their metadata security implementations. Metacoda software helps them to be more productive, follow best practices and generate necessary documentation for security reviews, audits, governance and compliance.

Metacoda looks forward to working with Real Numbers in their implementation of innovative business intelligence solutions for SAS customers.

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Say G’Day at SAS Global Forum 2012…

Posted: 17 April 2012

It’s almost time for SAS® Global Forum 2012 and we’re really excited about showing you what we’ve been working on!

You might already know how our Metacoda Security Plug-ins software can help SAS administrators with their SAS platform security requirements and that we have versions compatible with SAS 9.3, SAS 9.2 and SAS 9.1.3. Our current releases provide quick whole-of-server views for the applied security from a number of different perspectives (ACTs, ACEs, users, groups, protected objects, roles, capabilities, logins, internal logins). The reason why we’re so excited this year is that we’ll be showing extra facilities for getting a broad view of effective permissions and access levels. Would you like to see an overview of who has the ability to view and update the contents of all of your SAS folders? Perhaps you want to see access levels for all of your libraries, or even search for related stored processes, reports, tables, cubes and see all the effective permissions? If so, then come and see us at our stand in the Alliance Cafe area of the SAS Support and Demo Area, where we’ll be showcasing 2 new tools, the Identity and Object Permissions Explorers. These are a preview of our next V3 release. If you can’t see us in person at the SAS Global Forum, Paul Homes from Metacoda has recently posted a sneak peek on his blog at platformadmin.com.

Metacoda KoalaIf you’re going to the Forum and are responsible for the implementation, management and ongoing maintenance for your SAS platform metadata security, then make sure you stop by and visit us to get a demo of how our software can help. At the same time you can enter our draw to win a new iPad. Those willing to say g’day in an Aussie accent will also get a Metacoda koala, so start practicing…

Look forward to seeing you soon!

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