Many mainframe shops have had SAS around for years. Often, the current programmers have all but forgotten what unique features SAS was originally licensed for. SAS was designed to be a complete, all encompassing statistical analysis package. As such it comes with a hefty annual price tag. But at many shops, SAS is now mainly used an expensive, CPU-intensive, report writer. Why should you keep on paying so much money for bells and whistles that no one is even using anymore?

If your shop is using SAS primarily as an ad hoc report writer
we have great news for you!
Spectrum Writer can provide you with the same
4GL reporting abilities at a much lower cost!

Spectrum Writer is a powerful 4GL report writer and file-format utility for IBM mainframes. It is perfect for those quick-and-dirty one-time queries and analyses. But it is also ideal for quickly creating attractive new reports for production use. Use it to add custom reporting capabilities to any of your existing systems, whether home-grown or from a third party. Use it to report on the VSAM files maintained by your CICS applications. Or on DB2 data. Spectrum Writer can even export any of your mainframe data in PC format. The possibilites are endless for accomplishing more and more — while paying less and less, year after year.

Spectrum Writer's annual costs are much less than SAS's. (We publish our low prices right here. Compare that to what you are currently paying for SAS!) Yet Spectrum Writer provides the same sort of report writing and file manipulation capabilities, including dozens of the same powerful date and string functions found in SAS. In fact, Spectrum Writer actually has valuable Web and export features that are missing from SAS.

Spectrum Writer features a simple syntax that is easy to learn and use. Your programmers will be up and running with Spectrum Writer in no time. And Spectrum Writer accepts your existing COBOL or Assembler record layouts so you can get started using it right away. It is also written entirely in fast, efficient Assembler language to be easy on your CPU.

Best of all, it comes from Pacific Systems Group, with its 25-year history of providing inexpensive, rock solid mainframe software, backed up with first class service and support.

  • Use Spectrum Writer to:
  • create brand-new custom reports or queries in just minutes
  • create custom files by mixing, combining, extracting and reformatting your flat files, VSAM files and DB2 tables
  • compute your own new fields using powerful built-in functions
  • get break-wide and report-wide statistics
  • turn any of your mainframe data into Web reports (HTML format)
  • convert your mainframe data into ASCII files (comma-delimited or fixed format) for use in:
    • spreadsheet programs like Excel and Lotus
    • database programs like Microsoft Access
    • e-mail attachments
    • Oracle databases
    • Unix Web servers
    • any other mainframe, mini, or PC application that requires a custom file format
  • use existing COBOL or Assembler record layouts as your data dictionary  

Suggested SAS Replacement Strategy:
Most shops find it easier to have both products at their shop for a short period, while they convert their critical jobs to run under Spectrum Writer. Therefore, we suggest this staged approach to completely replace SAS with Spectrum Writer at your shop.

1. Download a free 30-day trial of Spectrum Writer right away. See for yourself how powerful and easy Spectrum Writer is.

We will be happy to help you convert some existing SAS reports to run under Spectrum Writer during this time. You'll be able to run both versions right at your own shop, to compare the outputs and run-times. That way there is no risk at all to switch to Spectrum Writer. Just the opportunity to save on your software costs, year after year.

2. Purchase a Spectrum Writer license for your shop, either permanently or just for one year to start with.

3. Start right away to use Spectrum Writer for all new ad-hoc report requests. Your programmers will quickly gain experience using Spectrum Writer, while you will be lessening your dependence on SAS.

4. Now you can begin converting the essential existing SAS applications to Spectrum Writer. We have the following handy links to help you with your conversion:

  • our online SAS conversion utility will give you a big headstart by converting your SAS input file definitions to Spectrum Writer for you
  • this useful SAS conversion FAQ answers common questions about converting from SAS to Spectrum Writer
  • and refer to our SAS functions chart to see which Spectrum Writer function will replace a particular SAS function

5. Then you can drop SAS altogether and enjoy your big savings year after year! You'll quickly recoup your modest investment in Spectrum Writer.

 


See for yourself why Spectrum Writer is already in use at over 300 mainframe shops worldwide. Follow these links to:

Attention Mainframe Software Vendors! Spectrum Writer is the ideal choice for adding custom reporting and file export functions to your own product. Learn more about OEM, VAR and bundling opportunities.