Using Enterprise Guide Effectively. BI Tom Miron Systems Seminar Consultants, Madison, WI

Transcription

1 Using Enterprise Guide Effectively BI Tom Miron Systems Seminar Consultants, Madison, WI

2 Using Enterprise Guide Effectively Enterprise Guide is not a fancy program editor! EG offers a new window onto the power of SAS software

3 Using Enterprise Guide Effectively Enterprise Guide requires a different perspective on system design Visual coherence vs. tight coding

4 Using Enterprise Guide Effectively We will discuss the use of the EG environment and Features of Enterprise Guide that can make your applications more user friendly and maintainable

5 What Is Enterprise Guide? Enterprise Guide is not SAS Enterprise Guide is a user interface for SAS

6 Enterprise Guide Generates SAS Code %_eg_conditional_dropds(work.sorttemptablesorted); /* Sort data set LE5274.HIERARCHYMAPFROMTERESA */ PROC SQL; CREATE VIEW WORK.SORTTempTableSorted AS SELECT * FROM LE5274.HIERARCHYMAPFROMTERESA ;

7 Enterprise Guide Architecture Client Server architecture EG is not running SAS or running as a SAS application A server somewhere on your network is running SAS

8 Enterprise Guide Architecture Your EG Session SAS server 1 SAS server 2 SAS server 3 Data 1 Data 2

9 Enterprise Guide Architecture EG generates SAS code and sends it to a workspace server for execution Results are returned to your EG session

10 EG Servers List

11 Enterprise Guide Architecture SAS servers are usually set up for you by a SAS administrator The SAS BI client-server architecture is a deep subject!

12 Client-Server Considerations The OS of your EG session may differ from the server OS Example: EG on Windows workspace server on UNIX

13 Client-Server Considerations UNIX file names are case sensitive Record/line termination differs

14 Line Termination on Windows and UNIX Windows = CR/LF UNIX = LF Use INFILE termstr= option

15 EG Projects vs SAS Programs In Enterprise Guide you work with projects An EG project is a single file (.egp)

16 Enterprise Guide Tasks EG projects are a collection of tasks Most tasks map to a SAS Procedure Tasks are grouped into Process Flows

17 Enterprise Guide Tasks EG Task List Window

18 List Data Task Interface

19 List Data Generated Code %TRIM(%QSYSFUNC(DATE(), NLDATE20.)) at %TRIM(%SYSFUNC(TIME(), TIMEAMPM12.))"; PROC PRINT DATA=WORK.SORTTempTableSorted OBS="Row number" LABEL ; VAR oldcat oldline newcat newline; RUN; /* End of task code */

20 EG Tasks vs Program Code The code you can write will always be more compact and efficient than that generated by EG. It doesn t matter.

21 EG Tasks vs Program Code Life cycle efficiency is what matters Life cycle efficiency is highly dependent on: - Development effort - Maintenance effort

22 EG Tasks vs Program Code Life cycle efficiency is usually not dependent on: - The number of statements executed - Absolute machine efficiency

23 EG Tasks vs Program Code It doesn t matter if EG generated 100 statements where you could written a 10 statement SAS program because You don t have to write any statements

24 The Temptation Experienced SAS programmers are often tempted to open a program object and start coding

25 The Rule for Effective Use of EG Avoid programs and custom code like the plague

26 Why Not Program? Programs and custom code introduce a black box to your EG project

27 The No Program Advantage EG tasks have a consistent interface across all projects EG tasks constrain the user/developer to valid options and settings EG tasks minimize spelling and naming ambiguities

28 The Downside The downside of EG tasks is that standard tasks may not offer options or processes you need It s tempting to turn to programs and inserted code but don t

29 Inserted Code

30 The No Program Upside To maintain a project with no custom code you need to know EG To maintain a project that does contain custom code you need to know EG and understand the SAS programming

31 The Answer to Task Limitations More tasks You can almost always duplicate the processing of a well coded SAS procedure or DATA step with a series of EG tasks.

32 Done In One DATA Step

33 EG Alternative Three Query tasks (SQL) But wait three passes of the data is less efficient than one!

34 EG Alternative Development and maintenance time for you vs. Machine resource time

35 Is The EG Way OK? Are there practical execution time constraints? What s the marginal cost of accessing data?

36 EG Project Design Tasks are grouped into process flows All process flows together make up your EG project

37 Process Flows It s tempting to put all tasks into a single process flow which leads to A visual mess A project flow that s hard to understand A project that s hard to maintain and modify

38 Process Flows and Lots of Em One processing function = one process flow One table = one process flow

39 Process Flows and Lots of Em Don t be afraid of multiple process flows in your project Grouping tasks into logical process flows is one of the greatest benefits of using EG don t limit yourself

40 Example Process Flows Set SAS options Establish SAS libraries or external file FILEREFs Import data from a spreadsheet or database

41 Example Process Flows Validate or clean data Create a report Export results to PDF s or spreadsheets

42 Benefits of Multiple PF s Each process flow workspace grid has a minimal number of objects on it so it s easier to grasp what s going on The EG project is modular and can be developed, tested, and run step-by-step

43 Benefits of Multiple PF s Using consistent, meaningful process flow names the project tree acts as a high level flow chart and helps minimize written documentation You can quickly navigate through a complex project with the EG project tree

44 Common Process Flows Standardize common process flows from project to project Use consistent names and position in the process flow sequence

45 Some Common Process Flow Names Documentation Start Up Wrap Up SAS Libraries Utility

46 Process Flows and Lots of Em One function/table = one process flow means Modularity Easier to understand Easier to develop and test Easier to maintain/modify

47 Many Tasks = Many Intermediate Tables When you avoid custom code you often end up with many intermediate tables Keep these tables in a permanent library because You can restart in the middle They re useful for testing and debugging Disk space is cheap

48 Many Tasks = Many Intermediate Tables Keep intermediate tables and final output in separate folders/libraries Different sharing options Different servers Local or network

49 Use Note Objects To Document program objects (if you must)

50 Use Note Objects To Document process flows

51 Use Note Objects To Document your project in the Documentation process flow

52 EG Backup EG projects are stored as a single binary file (not plain text) Always back up the.egp file Back up to plain text with Export All Code

53 Export All Code In Project

54 Wrap Up Effective use of SAS Enterprise Guide requires visual thinking rather than thinking in terms of efficient SAS statement coding

55 Wrap Up A good EG project is organized around a clear and logical visual display of linked components that requires a minimum of additional written documentation

56 Wrap Up Avoid the use of custom SAS code, either as program objects or user modifications of EG tasks When you use custom code you introduce a black box process that doesn t benefit from the the built-in task dialogs or context Help

57 Wrap Up Don t be afraid of using multiple EG tasks to accomplish something that could be done is a single SAS step Use intermediate result tables to stage data through your project

58 Wrap Up Use multiple process flows to break your project into logical components Use standard names for common process flows ( Documentation, Start Up, etc.)

59 Wrap Up Make use of Note objects linked to their subjects to document specific processes Back up your project as both a.egp file and as plain text SAS code

60 Contact Information Name: Tom Miron Enterprise: Systems Seminar Consultants Address: 2997 Yarmouth Greenway Dr. City, State ZIP: Madison, WI Work Phone: Fax: Web: sys-seminar.com Twitter: