What is SPSS?

SkyHog

SkyHog

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I'm working through the FY2009 budget at work today, and I came across a yearly charge from SPSS that we pay. I am trying to determine what exactly SPSS is, and what we're paying for, but their website is more buzz-wordy than Troy Martin's, and I can't figure out what the hell they do.

Anyone hear of this company, anyone know what they do?
 
Nick, they use lean six-sigma processes, along with green initiatives and lean-building principles, to create synergies between users, data and vegetable-based synthetic lifeforms.
 
SCCutler said:
Nick, they use lean six-sigma processes, along with green initiatives and lean-building principles, to create synergies between users, data and vegetable-based synthetic lifeforms.
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LOL! I love it. Also - "predictive analytics solutions that take a step beyond basic business intelligence tools, using complex statistical models and algorithms"

FWIW, the website is http://www.spss.com
"What is SPSS?"
SPSS provides consulting services to assist you, before, during, and after your purchase, in making the most effective use of your SPSS software. We use proven methodologies to ensure that the installation and deployment of our solution achieves the objectives you set, within the budget and timeframe you establish. Whether your organization is large or small, and whether you're a commercial enterprise, a government agency, or an academic institution, SPSS Services can assist you. In addition to customized consulting engagements, we also provide a number of "packaged" services that have proven helpful in specific situations.
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SkyHog said:
LOL! I love it. Also - "predictive analytics solutions that take a step beyond basic business intelligence tools, using complex statistical models and algorithms"
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Sounds like how they were certain of the predictions of the risks in mortgage-backed securities.
 
jmaynard said:
SPSS software is a statistical analysis package.
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So then, to make sure I understand: We provide them data, they provide us with statistics?

Guess what's getting slashed first. lol
 
SkyHog said:
So then, to make sure I understand: We provide them data, they provide us with statistics?
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Maybe they offer some kind of services, but I know it as a software package. It's software that does statistical analysis that's way, way, WAY over my head, but I know it's like big for people who do regression analysis and predictive stats and stuff like that.

SkyHog said:
Guess what's getting slashed first. lol
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Lol... Axe it!

Careful, though... There were entire business units at my last gig that I know used it extensively.
 
SkyHog said:
So then, to make sure I understand: We provide them data, they provide us with statistics?
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The software does the statistics. That's what you're paying licensing fees for. They're both a software and a services company.

Guess what's getting slashed first. lol
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Before you do that, check with your users...you might find that there is a group there that can't get their job done without SPSS.
 
There may be some value to SPSS in a fluctuating environment. Marketing department uses statistical analysis to keep up with changing market forces. Financial department uses statistical analysis to monitor trends. Educational department uses statistical analysis for nearly everything except teaching (and even there, some). Testing and Quality Assurance use statistical analysis to preserve quality. I think SPSS is also used for data mining. If so, then it is used for document search and retrieval.
 
Looks like a forecasting-ish type of package. I agree with Jay - find out who's using it. As an Operations guy, I have learned to rely VERY heavily on good statistical analysis. Marketing use it for planning sales and Operations uses it to predict production - there's a balancing act (?battle?) between Marketing and Operations, but good analytics reduce the amount of bloodshed. ;)
 
In all reality--you need to figure out what it is, figure out who is using it, and then figure out if the cost is justified. Just because something does not make sense to us techies doesn't mean that it isn't valuable to some employee in your organization.

Give the company a call--tell them you don't have any clue where their software is--or if it's being used and you're going to slash it. They'll probably tell you who they worked with in your company previously..and now you've got a lead to tracking it down.

If you can't get anywhere doing the above--and no one knows what it is--you won't miss it when it expires.
 
Well, I've determined that it was used by IT at some point in the past. How, and by whom? Well, no one that is currently here.

I talked to every program manager in the company to see if anyone else uses it at all, and no one even knows what it is.

Bye bye, SPSS. I'll reconsider your product when you come up with promotional material that is actually written in a way that a normal person knows what you're talking about.
 
SkyHog said:
Bye bye, SPSS. I'll reconsider your product when you come up with promotional material that is actually written in a way that a normal person knows what you're talking about.
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Their website looks pretty clear to me:
http://www.spss.com/statistics/

Their target market appreciates such websites--where as tech users like us prefer things a little differently. Either way--you're not a statistics guy so it isn't likely to make a ton of sense to you--like development environment software wouldn't make much sense to a statistics guy. This is the fun of information technology--you have to support software you don't always understand.

In the end--if no one uses it---no reason to have it. Bye SPSS :)
 
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statistics? normal people knowing what its talking about? yea right!
 
SkyHog said:
Well, I've determined that it was used by IT at some point in the past. How, and by whom? Well, no one that is currently here.

I talked to every program manager in the company to see if anyone else uses it at all, and no one even knows what it is.

Bye bye, SPSS. I'll reconsider your product when you come up with promotional material that is actually written in a way that a normal person knows what you're talking about.
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Might I recommend a simple off-line test before canceling the licenses. ;)

jesse said:
Their website looks pretty clear to me:
http://www.spss.com/statistics/

Their target market appreciates such websites--where as tech users like us prefer things a little differently. Either way--you're not a statistics guy so it isn't likely to make a ton of sense to you--like development environment software wouldn't make much sense to a statistics guy. This is the fun of information technology--you have to support software you don't always understand.

In the end--if no one uses it---no reason to have it. Bye SPSS :)
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This is my career goal - to be the 'go-between' between Operations/Supply Chain folks and the IT Department and be able to UNDERSTAND and speak both languages.
 
CJones said:
Might I recommend a simple off-line test before canceling the licenses. ;)



This is my career goal - to be the 'go-between' between Operations/Supply Chain folks and the IT Department and be able to UNDERSTAND and speak both languages.
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+1.

Cancelling a license agreement can be disastrous if you end up needing the software again. Generally with software like this you pay a purchase price, then a maintenance fee yearly that covers support and upgrades. Cancel the maintenance and you have to purchase the software again - most companies will not let you "make up" for missing maintenance coverage.

Make an announcement, then take the software off-line and see who screams. In many companies statistical packages are used by one or two nerds where even their manager doesn't know what they're doing, until they can't do it anymore... then it becomes a BIG deal.

Or, to quote Buckaroo Banzai... "No, don't pull on that, you don't know what it's attached to."
 
LOL, yeah, I have a plan for every decommission that starts with moving it to a new, unreachable location to see if anyone notices. After 90 days, it goes away permanently.

Its how I remove deprecated tables from our databases too.
 
SkyHog said:
LOL, yeah, I have a plan for every decommission that starts with moving it to a new, unreachable location to see if anyone notices. After 90 days, it goes away permanently.

Its how I remove deprecated tables from our databases too.
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Problem with 90 days with some packages is that they may only be used once a year, and therefore your experiment may not reach the correct conclusion. You (don't) pay your money and you takes your chances! :)
 
Call the company and ask for a copy of the last invoice and the purchase order number that was used to pay it. Assuming your company uses purchase orders, you can track it now.
Get a copy of that purchase order from your company and see who bought it and if it is noted why. Be a little work on your part, but may solve the "mystery" for you in short order also.

Mark B
 
gprellwitz said:
Problem with 90 days with some packages is that they may only be used once a year, and therefore your experiment may not reach the correct conclusion. You (don't) pay your money and you takes your chances! :)
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Even worser, you could have somebody hand you a CD 4 years from now because they have to run the program and view the data for an audit. :yikes:

I could tell you stories about 15 year old PC hardware moving billions of bucks around, too.
 
So I was standing outside today, one of the people from another department joins me and starts complaining about some basic computer class he had to attend. He said the following:

"I taught myself everything. For example, I am the only one here that uses SPSS. Since no one else uses it, I had to teach myself."

A light bulb went off.....funny how that works.
 
SPSS has been around forever. If you've ever taken any statistics classes in college, you probably used SPSS. Company recently rebranded and renamed it, but for those of us who were first introduced to it many decades ago, it'll always be SPSS.

True, the company website is not terrible clear on the package itself, so try here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS

Quick summary of functionality:


 
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