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SAS Press» Authorline

Authorline Interviews Sunil Gupta, Author of Upcoming Book Quick Results with the Output Delivery System

Sunil Gupta is author of the upcoming BBU book Quick Results with the Output Delivery System. Sunil has written and presented numerous papers about ODS at the local, regional, and international SAS users group conferences, including an invited paper for SUGI 27 and SUGI 26 titled Using Styles and Templates to Customize SAS ODS Output. He presented another invited paper about ODS in the Beginners Tutorial section of SUGI 27. Sunil developed and taught Customized Reports with SAS Output Delivery System at the regional Western Users of SAS Software conference and at several large corporations. Sunil has been working with ODS since it was introduced. His experience includes projects that use ODS for RTF file generation with SAS applications such as a case report form tracking information system, which is essential for clinical data compliance.

Sunil Gupta talks with Authorline about his first BBU book.

• Authorline (AL): What was your motivation for writing your book?
• Sunil Gupta (SG): It has always been my dream to write a technical book. It would be a great accomplishment that I would be proud of. After I developed and taught my class on Customizing Reports with the Output Delivery System at the Western Users of SAS Software conference in 2000, I decided to submit this idea as a book proposal.

• (AL): Who are you targeting with your book?
• (SG): The beginner to intermediate SAS user or anyone new to the Output Delivery System can benefit from my book. The focus is on learning and applying the basic Output Delivery System syntax since many people are still new to ODS.

• (AL): What features of the book are you especially pleased with?
• (SG): I am very pleased with how the book is easy to follow and understand, especially the more difficult ODS concepts such as output objects. I like the fact that my book has the key features and examples about ODS to enable users become productive quickly.

• (AL): How will your book benefit SAS users?
• (SG): The examples in my book show how simple it is to take advantage of ODS to create great looking reports in HTML, RTF and PDF files using styles. In addition, other examples show how to selectively save the results from any SAS procedure to SAS data sets.

• (AL): What were some of the joys of writing this book?
• (SG): Knowing that I will have helped SAS users learn more about ODS by sharing my knowledge is a rewarding experience. I also enjoyed learning more about ODS as I needed to clearly explain each concept.

• (AL): How did you develop as a writer while you were creating this book?
• (SG): Writing this book was not an easy task. It was one of my most difficult projects because it demanded my time along with my technical and writing skills. Throughout the process, I developed better writing skills and am now better able to prioritize my ideas.

• (AL): What did you learn while writing this book that would be important for other authors to know?
• (SG): I learned that it is important to stay focused and help guide the user throughout the book. This helps the user learn better without getting confused.

• (AL): How did you decide to publish with SAS?
• (SG): It was a natural choice for me. I love programming in SAS and I knew that working with the BBU program would make my book the best it could be.

• (AL): Are you glad you decided to publish with SAS? If so, what has made the experience a good one?
• (SG): Yes. I received great technical and support assistance throughout the process. They answered all of my questions and provided great suggestions on my approach and wording.

• (AL): Your book will be going to the printer in just a few weeks. How does it feel to be in the home stretch of such a long project?
• (SG): Great! All of the hard work was worth it.

• (AL): What advice would you give to potential authors?
• (SG): Strive for excellence in the content and organization of your book. Your users will appreciate it. Do not be afraid to take constructive criticism.

• (AL): How were you able to balance your time between your career and writing this book?
• (SG): I was able to balance my time, but it was not easy. I had to make some sacrifices on my work schedule. I allocated time each week and if necessary, an hour each day. The amount of work was more than I expected.

• (AL): When you aren't writing or consulting, how do you like to spend your free time?
• (SG): I enjoy spending time with my wife and two daughters, playing tennis, and taking walks.