Getting Started with Time Series Forecasting


Sharing Projects

If you plan to work with others on a forecasting project, you might need to consider how project information can be shared. The series, models, and results of your project are stored in a forecasting project (FMSPROJ) catalog entry in the location you specify, as illustrated in the previous section. You need only read access to the catalog to work with it, but you must have write access to save the project. Multiple users cannot open a project for update at the same time, but they can do so at different times if they all have write access to the catalog where it is stored.

Project options settings such as the model selection criterion and number of models to keep are stored in an SLIST catalog entry in the SASUSER or TSFSUSER library. Write access to this catalog is required. If you have only read access to the SASUSER library, you can use the -RSASUSER option when starting SAS. You will be prompted for a location for the TSFSUSER library, if it is not already assigned. If you want to use TSFSUSER routinely, assign it before you start the Time Series Forecasting System. Select New from the SAS Explorer file menu. In the New Library window, type TSFSUSER for the name. Click the Browse button and select the directory or folder you want to use. Turn on the enable at startup option so this library will be assigned automatically in subsequent sessions.

The SASUSER library is typically used for private settings saved by individual users. This is the default location for project options. If a work group shares a single options catalog (SASUSER or TSFSUSER points to the same location for all users), then only one user can use the system at a time.