SASReferences

Each SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit process (for example, a primary task or action such as validating source data against a SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit standard) requires using a SASReferences data set. The SASReferences data set identifies all of the inputs required and the outputs that are created by the process. Each process might have its own unique SASReferences data set.

SASReferences File describes the content and usage of SASReferences data sets. The following table identifies and describes each column within a SASReferences data set.

SASReferences Data Set Structure

Column Name	Column Length	Description
standard	($20)	Standard name. This value should match the `standard` field in the Standards data set in `<global standards library directory>/metadata` and in other metadata files referenced in SASReferences (for example, CDISC SDTM and CDISC CRT-DDS). This column is required.
standardversion	($20)	Specific version of a standard. This value should match one of the standardversion values associated with the `standard` field in the Standards data set in `<global standards library directory>/metadata` and in other metadata files referenced in SASReferences (for example, 3.1.1 or 1.0). This column is required.
type	($40)	The type of input and output data or metadata. This is a predefined set of values that are documented in the `<global standards library directory>/standards/cst-framework-1.3/control/standardlookup` data set. These values are also itemized in Table 5.1. This column is required.
subtype	($40)	The specific subtype within type of input and output data or metadata. This is a predefined set of values that are documented in the `<global standards library directory>/standards/cst-framework-1.3/control/standardlookup` data set. These values are also itemized in Table 5.1. This column is optional, depending on type.
SASref	($8)	The SAS libref or fileref that references the library or file in the SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit SAS process. This value should match the value of sasref that is used in any other associated metadata files (for example, in the Source Columns data set, the value is type=srcmeta). This column is required. It must conform to SAS libref or fileref naming conventions.
reftype	($8)	Reference type. This column is required. Valid values are libref and fileref.
path	($200)	The path of the library or the path portion of the file reference. If you want to use the default value for a standard, standardversion, type, or subtype, then leave the path blank. The value is added to the &_cstSASRefs working version of the SASReferences data set from the standard-specific StandardSASReferences data set. Specific paths should be provided for any type or subtype that is study- or run-specific. Paths might be relative to an environment variable (for example, !sasroot) or to a SAS macro variable (for example, &studyrootpath).
order	(8.)	Processing or concatenation order within type. If this value exists, then it should be a positive integer with no duplicates within type. This column is optional, depending on type. The order should be specified if one of the following is true: Multiple records exist within these types—autocall, fmtsearch, messages. Library concatenation is wanted (multiple librefs are within the same value of SASref for a type). There is a need to establish precedence within a type (for example, look first in this library, then look in another library).
memname	($48)	The name of a specific SAS file (data set or catalog) or file that is not created by SAS (for example, properties or an XML file). The memname column should be blank for library references. This column is optional, depending on type. As a general rule, memname should be provided if the path is provided, except where individual file references are not appropriate (for example, type=autocall and type=sourcedata). If you want to use the default value for a standard, standardversion, type, or subtype, then leave memname blank. The value is added to the &_cstSASRefs working version of the SASReferences data set from the standard-specific StandardSASReferences data set. The file suffix for SAS files is optional.
comment	($200)	Explanatory comments. This column is optional.

The following display shows some information in a typical SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit SASReferences data set.

A Sample SASReferences Data Set

From this display, you can see that the data set contains information about types of data and metadata and where they are located. SAS Clinical Standards Toolkit imposes a rigid SASReferences file structure. No additional or fewer columns are allowed. No changes to column attributes are allowed (for example, changing column length).