SAS Modernization Checklist
A step-by-step checklist for enterprises rationalizing SAS estates into governed, AI-ready data products, powered by Next Pathway's Enterprise SLM Platform.
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What Next Pathway's SAS Modernization Checklist covers
SAS estates hide business logic several macro calls deep, and span six interdependent layers that all have to move together. This checklist walks the three phases that get you there — map the estate, define your data products, then build and certify across all six layers.
The Foundation: Full-Estate Scan
Our SLMs extract logic buried in nested macros, catalog SAS7BDAT dependencies and hardcoded libnames, and map transformation logic down to the column. Full lineage means downstream reports don't break.
Data Product Definition
Historical utilization logs determine what gets rationalized. Redundant and dead jobs flagged for retirement, the rest scored against real usage, with schema and consumption patterns defined for each product.
Build & Certify Across Six Layers
Data access, transformation, models, reporting, scheduling, and governance — each layer rebuilt on its modern cloud-native equivalent, validated independently, then tested end to end.
1 Billion+
Lines of code translated automatically
160+
Enterprise modernizations completed
80%
Faster time-to-market for AI-ready infrastructure
Latest Cloud Migration Case Study
A multinational insurance and financial services provider accelerated legacy application modernization with Databricks and Delta Lake.
Read the case study to see how Next Pathway delivered:
Download Databricks Migration Case Study
A leading insurance and financial services provider modernized legacy data workloads with Databricks automation.
What Industry Analysts Say
Rob Enderle
ENDERLE GROUP
Eric Kavanagh
THE BLOOR GROUP
What a Structured SAS Modernization Covers
A successful SAS modernization requires a clear plan across four disciplines — any source, any target.
Discovery and dependency mapping
Business logic buried several macro calls deep, extracted and mapped. SAS7BDAT files and hardcoded libnames create hidden dependencies that must be cataloged, with lineage traced down to the column so downstream reports don't break.
Retention and data product definition
Historical utilization logs determine what gets rationalized. Redundant and dead jobs flagged for retirement, the rest scored against real usage — with objective retirement criteria set upfront to prevent scope creep.
Layer-by-layer rebuild
SAS spans six interdependent layers: data access, transformation, models, reporting, scheduling, and governance. Each one gets rebuilt on its modern cloud-native equivalent rather than lifted and shifted.
Certification and validation
Define what "certified" means before build begins. Each layer validated independently, then the full pipeline tested end to end, with usage tracked after launch to confirm ongoing adoption.
Latest Insights on Modernization
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Cloud Migration Resources
IBM DB2 & SQL Server to Snowflake & DBT
