About Course
About SAS Certified Programming Training (Base Programming)
Write SAS the way the exam tests it: the DATA step, the PROC step, merge and by-group logic, and macro programming.
SAS asks for a habit most spreadsheet users never form: read the program as a sequence of steps, with the DATA step reading and reshaping the rows and the PROC step summarising and reporting them. This course trains that reading and then the writing – input statements, merge and by-group processing, functions and date handling, the procedures that carry most reporting work, macro variables and ODS for delivery. It is the two-step language taught as two steps, and the exam paper follows the same order.
Course Overview
12-week SAS programming and certification training (72 hours) on the DATA step, PROC SQL, procedures, macro language, ODS and the exam format.
Why Learn SAS Certified Programming Training (Base Programming)
SAS still runs the reporting backbone in banking, insurance, pharmaceuticals and clinical research in India, and the people who write those programs are in short supply. Employers hire SAS programmers for a specific reason: the monthly pack has to be reproducible, auditable and rerunnable by somebody else. The A00-231 fundamentals exam screens for exactly that discipline.
It is a short route from a statistics or life sciences background into a named programming credential, and it still carries weight in BFSI and clinical research. Once it is on the record you can be handed a legacy program and asked to repair it, which is the job. It also teaches you to package recurring work as a macro.
Who Should Join This Course
- Statisticians Moving Into Programming — Turning analysis scripts into repeatable, reviewable SAS programs
- Graduates in Statistics and Life Sciences — Adding a programming credential to a research profile
- Report Developers in Banking and Insurance — Building the SAS programs behind the monthly reporting pack
- Clinical and Research Data Teams — Writing the programs that produce validated submission-ready data
- Excel Power Users — Replacing hand-built spreadsheets with versioned, rerunnable programs
- Fresh Graduate Trainees — Entering analytics work through the SAS fundamentals exam
Prerequisites
You need comfort with programming logic, whether in SQL, Python or R. SAS is taught as a two-step language: the DATA step and the PROC step, and the labs are written in that shape from day one. No SAS experience is required.
Learning Objectives
- Read a DATA step and explain what each statement does to the program data set
- Subset, keep, drop, rename and format a data set in a single pass
- Merge data sets with the BY statement after sorting the keys correctly
- Summarise data with PROC MEANS, PROC FREQ and PROC SQL group by
- Write a macro that takes arguments and returns a finished report
- Debug a SAS program using the log and the data step trace output
- Produce a report with PROC REPORT and deliver it through ODS destinations
- Sit the timed SAS programming exam and score above the published pass mark
Certification Objectives Covered
The syllabus follows the published SAS Certified Programming Fundamentals objectives: SAS 9.4, DATA Step, PROC SQL, SAS Macro Language, SAS Functions, ODS and SAS Studio, and the objective-to-topic map for the fundamentals exam, the timed practice paper and the exam-day plan.
Career Opportunities After This Programme
- SAS Programmer
- Statistical Programmer
- Clinical Data Programmer
- Research Analyst
- Reporting Developer
- Data Analyst
Hands-on Practice and Capstone
Capstone: You are given two extracts from different systems, both covering the same reporting period and neither with a usable date format. You ingest both, validate the row counts, clean the fields in the DATA step, merge the transaction data against a reference set, and build the summary with PROC SQL and PROC MEANS, checking both figures against each other. You package the run as a macro that takes the reporting period as a parameter and deliver it through ODS.
Production scenario: A clinical team needs a submission-ready data set by Friday, the incoming extract has a new column nobody documented, and last quarter numbers were restated twice. Decide how you validate the file, what you change in the program, and how you leave behind something the next analyst can rerun without asking you a question.
Course Duration, Mode and Certification
The course runs for 12 weeks (72 hours), three sessions a week of two hours each. Modes: Classroom / Live Online / Hybrid. Certificate issued: SkilBrill Course Completion Certificate. This programme prepares you for the SAS Certified Programming Fundamentals exam, which is booked and paid for with the vendor separately from the course fee.
Why Train at SkilBrill
SkilBrill Training Institute in Thoraipakkam focuses on making you employable. Trainers are working SAS programmers and clinical data programmers, every module produces portfolio evidence rather than a completion badge, and the placement cell connects eligible candidates with hiring companies. Fee: ₹35,000 – ₹60,000. Enquire on +91 8610964691.
Career and Job Support
- Resume assistance tailored to the target role
- LinkedIn profile rewrite and recruiter outreach
- Mock interviews covering role scenarios
- Assessment and capstone walkthrough preparation
- Placement assistance with 200+ hiring partners
- Typical salary band after completion: ₹6 – 16 LPA
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the SAS programming course cover?
The course is built on the SAS programming fundamentals exam, which tests the two-step language: the DATA step to read, transform and write, and the PROC step to analyse and report. Eight modules cover reading files, reshaping data, merging and by-group processing, the procedures that carry most reporting work, functions and date handling, macro programming, a SAS/STAT section and output through ODS, ending with a full reporting program and a timed practice paper.
How is this different from the Data Analytics course?
The data analytics course is a survey of the analyst toolset: spreadsheets, SQL, Python, dashboards and statistical reasoning for business questions, with an emphasis on interpreting results. This course is narrower and deeper on one tool. You learn to write maintainable SAS programs, read the log, control a merge, and package recurring work as a macro, which is what a SAS programmer is hired and judged for.
Do I need a licence to practise SAS?
No. SAS University Edition, the free virtual machine version of SAS 9.4, runs in a browser or a local virtual machine and supports the full DATA step, PROC step and macro language used in this course. That is enough for every lab here. If your employer already has SAS, point the course exercises at that installation instead and the work is identical.
Which SAS exam am I preparing for?
The SAS Certified Programming Fundamentals exam, which follows the base programming objectives for SAS 9.4 and carries the code A00-231. It is 60 to 65 multiple choice and short-answer questions in 120 minutes, and you need 68 percent to pass. SAS also offers specialist and advanced programming credentials built on the same language, and the fundamentals exam is the foundation for both.
Is base SAS enough, or do I need SAS/STAT and ODS?
Base SAS is the core and the course spends most of its time there. SAS/STAT gets a focused introduction so that a t-test, a chi-square and a linear model make sense, and ODS is covered because a report you cannot deliver is not finished work. You are not asked to memorise procedure options you would never use, and the exam does not test them either.
What is the duration and fee?
Twelve weeks, three sessions a week of two hours each, totalling 72 hours, with programming done in class so each session ends with working code. Fees run from Rs 35,000 to Rs 60,000 depending on batch and mode, with classroom, live online and hybrid options and placement support through 200+ hiring partners. This is the entry-level course in the data cluster, and the fee band reflects that.
What certificate do I receive?
A SkilBrill Course Completion Certificate for the full 72 hours of the programme, listing the modules completed and the SAS reporting program you built and delivered. The SAS certification is issued by SAS after you pass their exam through Pearson VUE. We prepare you for that exam and mark your programs; we do not issue the vendor credential.