INEST= Input Data Set

You can specify starting values for the maximum likelihood iterative algorithm in the INEST= data set. The INEST= data set has the same structure as the OUTEST= data set but is not required to have all the variables or observations that appear in the OUTEST= data set.

The INEST= data set must contain variables that represent the regression coefficients of the model. If BY processing is used, the INEST= data set should also include the BY variables, and there must be one observation for each BY group. If the INEST= data set also contains the _TYPE_ variable, only observations with _TYPE_ value ’PARMS’ are used as starting values.