Does Anybody Know... ???

[Me]

Is there a place in cyberspace where TAS users meet to try to console and help each other?

I'm guessing there's not enough TAS-user traffic at this board to get my very specific question answered. And heaven knows, I'm never going to get my answer by contacting the people at TAS. Are there any other options I might try?

Thank you kindly.

[kooky cookie]

I've seen that TAS is sometimes a requirement or preference for job applicants. I have never worked with it. Can you tell me a bit about it?

[Me]

TAS is the most common (I think) actuarial software.

It has several areas in which to work. First, there's Data Entry, where you tell it about your insurance. You give it/ create files about inforce business, new business, assets, credited interest rates, etc. Next there's the Calcualtions area where you tell it which of those data files you want it to use and then it calculates projections of reserves and everything else. You can use it for company planning, cash flow testing, illustration actuary work, and a bunch of other things. After that you go off to the Reports area to look at / print / export what you've calculated. There are also a few other areas, such as Calcuflex where you can modify how TAS calculates things, and so on.

Tillinghast is always working on a new version, which means each version is always pretty buggy. Hence the need for consoling and helping.

That's TAS (as I understand it) in a nutshell.

[an2001on]

We used TAS but lately switched to PTS. I don't work with either now but, according to people who do, the new version of PTS is a winner when it comes to pricing and ALM. It's true that TAS was very popular but I am not sure how much of it is still around.

As far as the skill set, it helps to be familiar with C if you use TAS and APL if you use PTS.

[sb_jim]

Me: There have been several very specific TAS discussions on this forum or its predecessor forum.

You may want to put TAS in the topic so you get the right kind of traffic. Also most TAS talk has been in the Software section. Ask your question and you will get better replies than these.

[Han Solo]

I'd like to be able to help you, but since my company is still in the dark ages and using TAS 7.2c, I don't think I'd be of any use to you.