When you run SAS^® Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning 8.5 in the SAS Viya 3.5 environment, you might see some noticeable differences between the results of running the gbtreeTrain CAS action than when it is executed in SAS^® Viya^® 3.4.  The results differ because of a change in the underlying algorithm for sorting the levels of a nominal variable.  

Click the Hot Fix tab in this note for a link to instructions about accessing and applying the software update.

This hot fix contains a new option called nominalHandling= parameter that is added to the gbtreeTrain action.

Valid values for this option are shown below:

• CLASSIC (SAS Viya 3.4)
• ENHANCED (SAS Viya 3.5 and later)

The default value is ENHANCED.

Operating System and Release Information

Viya on Windows: An update for this issue is available for SAS Viya 3.5. For instructions on how to access and apply software updates, see the Updating Your SAS Viya software section in the SAS Viya 3.5 for Windows Deployment Guide at

Viya on Linux: An update for this issue is available for SAS Viya 3.5. For instructions on how to access and apply software updates, see the Updating Your SAS Viya software section in the SAS Viya 3.5 for Linux Deployment Guide at