What Is SAS Information Map Studio? :: SAS(R) Information Map Studio 4.2: Getting Started with SAS(R) Information Maps

Overview

SAS Information Map Studio provides a graphical user interface that enables you to perform the following tasks:

create and manage SAS Information Maps
define how the items in an information map are presented so that they are most relevant to your business user
run test queries and preview query results
set various properties and permissions on an information map to control query generation, query execution, and data access

What Is a SAS Information Map?

Overview

A SAS Information Map is a business metadata layer that is applied on top of the data sources in your data warehouse. (Metadata is information about the structure and content of data. An information map does not contain any physical data.) Information maps provide business users with a user-friendly way to query data and get results for themselves.

An information map contains data items and filters, which are used to build queries. A data item can refer to a data field or a calculation. Filters contain criteria for subsetting the data that is returned for a query. Folders can be used to organize the data items and filters so that business users can easily locate information within the information map.

Benefits of SAS Information Maps

An information map provides business users with easy access to enterprise-wide data.

Information maps shield users from the complexities of data.
Information maps make data storage transparent to users. It does not matter whether the data is relational or multidimensional, or whether the data is in a SAS data set or in a third-party database system.
Information maps predefine business formulas and calculations, which makes them usable on a consistent basis.
Information maps enable users to easily query data for answers to business questions without knowing query languages or being aware of the data model.

What Software Products Use SAS Information Maps?

An information map can be used by these SAS software products:

Base SAS software
SAS AppDev Studio (custom applications developed with)
SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office
SAS Enterprise Guide
SAS Information Delivery Portal
SAS Marketing Automation
SAS Web OLAP Viewer for Java
SAS Web Report Studio
SAS BI Dashboard

The SAS Information Map Studio User Interface

The SAS Information Map Studio main window consists of these parts:

1	The Relationships tab displays relational data sources (tables), their columns, and the relationships between data sources. You can create and modify the relationships between data sources. You can also add or remove data sources. This tab is displayed only for relational information maps.
2	The Design tab displays the currently open information map and its resources. You can modify the information map and change its resource selections.
3	The menu bar contains the menus for performing tasks in SAS Information Map Studio.
4	The toolbar contains buttons that enable you to quickly access many of the options that are available on the menu bar.
5	The Resources pane provides access to existing information maps and to resources that you need for creating new information maps. Click to hide this pane and to show this pane.
6	The status bar displays the name of the connection profile that you used to log on to the metadata server, your identity, and the machine name and port number for the metadata server.
7	The Properties pane displays the properties of items that you select in the Resources pane, on the Design tab, or on the Relationships tab. You can use the Properties pane to modify certain properties. If you select multiple data items, then you can modify all of them at the same time. Click to hide this pane and to show this pane.