The SASEXFSD Interface Engine

Overview: SASEXFSD Interface Engine

The SASEXFSD interface engine enables SAS users to access both FactSet data and FactSet sourced data that are provided by the FactSet OnDemand service (formerly known as FASTFetch). This service provides access to many FactSet Data Sources and to many other databases. This chapter focuses on accessing the FactSet Fundamentals database, but many databases and data types are available that use the SASEXFSD interface engine. For a more comprehensive list of available data, enter the following URL in your web browser:

http://www.factset.com/data/data

For detailed descriptions of other databases that you can access, refer to the FactSet workstation Online Assistant.

The SASEXFSD engine uses the LIBNAME statement to specify which factlet (provided by FactSet) to use to open a database and what parts of the database to access. Factlets are functions that encapsulate business logic and data collection procedures. The technology is capable of cross referencing and dealing with time series for a large amount of data.

To specify the factlet, name one of the supported factlets that are listed in Table 44.1. Table 44.5 shows where to find a summary of each factlet’s options.

Table 44.1: Supported FactSet OnDemand Factlets

Supported Factlet

Example

ExtractEconData

Example 44.1, Example 44.2

ExtractEconData (cont.)

Example 44.3, Example 44.4, Example 44.5

ExtractFormulaHistory

Example 44.6, Example 44.7, Example 44.8

ExtractDataSnapshot

Example 44.9, Example 44.10

ExtractBenchmarkDetail

Example 44.11, Example 44.12

ExtractOFDBItem

Example 44.13

ExtractOFDBUniverse

Example 44.14

ExtractScreenUniverse

Example 44.15


The Prefix column in Table 44.2 contains the parameters that you are most likely to refer to when requesting data, but each factlet has its own set of optional parameters and default settings. Often the items that you select use a prefix (see the Prefix column) to designate the database where the item resides. Because the availability of data libraries and their contents are constantly changing, Table 44.2 is included for instructional purposes only.

Table 44.2: Sample Databases Available through FactSet

Prefix

Database

ff

FactSet Fundamentals

fe

FactSet Estimates

fg

FactSet Global

p

FactSet Prices—Security Price Data


Table 44.2 shows only a subset of the available FactSet databases. For a more comprehensive list that also includes third-party databases available through FactSet, refer to the FactSet Online Assistant, page ID 2014.

To specify the data library, specify both a physical path to indicate the location of the data files (XML data returned from FactSet OnDemand) and the LIBNAME statement options to specify which factlet to use to request data items and the desired key IDs (identifiers, such as tickers or country codes) for your selection. The orientation of the data that are returned is ETI, entity-time-item, and is kept with sorted keys (entities or BY groups); each observation is indexed by time interval, and each time series data item is organized in columns by item name (time series variable name). The SASEXFSD engine supports the parameters that are required for each supported factlet.

Use the SASEXFSD engine to access all available data library items. To get started, look at the FactSet Fundamentals data items in Table 44.3.

For a complete list of data items for every category, refer to the FactSet Online Assistant, page ID 16331. FactSet workstation user name and serial number credentials are necessary to launch the FactSet Online Assistant from the FactSet workstation. A FactSet representative can provide these credentials.

Because the availability of data libraries and their contents are constantly changing, Table 44.3 is included for instructional purposes only. At the time of this writing, the available data list and items for the FactSet Fundamentals database are as shown in Table 44.3.

Table 44.3: FactSet Fundamentals Database Sets

Formulas by Category

Data Items (SAS Variable Names) in Category

Identifiers

FF_CUSIP, FF_DISCL_ID, FF_ISIN, FF_SEDOL, FF_TICKER, FF_WS_ID

Balance sheet

FF_ASSETS, FF_BDEBT, FF_GW, FF_INVEN_FG, FF_PPE_DEP, FF_PPE_GROSS, FF_PAY_ACCT

Income statement

FF_COGS, FF_DEP_EXP, FF_DIL_ADJ, FF_EBIT, FF_EQ_AFF_INC, FF_EXP_OPER, FF_GROSS_INC

Cash flow

FF_DEBT_CF, FF_DIV_CF, FF_FIN_CF, FF_CAPEX, FF_INVEST_CF, FF_INVEST_PURCH_CF, FF_SALE_ASSAETS_BUS_CF

Ratios

FF_ASSETS_EQ, FF_DEBT_EQ, FF_LIFE_INS, FF_LOAN_ASSETS, FF_NET_CAP_REQUIRE, FF_RD_SALES

Market data

FF_ACQ_DATE, FF_DIV_RATE, FF_ENTITY_TYPE, FF_PRICE_CLOSE, FF_PRICE_HIGH_52WK

Corporate data and classifications

FF_GEN_IND, FF_IND_GRP, FF_MAJOR_SUBIND, FF_SIC_CODE, FF_EMP_NUM

Financial records

FF_ACTG_STANDARD, FF_COVERAGE, FF_CURN_DOC, FF_DEPS_BK, FF_FREQ_CODE, FF_US_GAAP_AVAIL


For a comprehensive list of FactSet Fundamentals data items, refer to the FactSet Online Assistant, page ID 15099. If the page is not found, enter “FactSet Fundamentals” in the search box near the top of the page.