About Data Preparation :: SAS(R) Visual Analytics 7.3: Getting Started with Data Preparation

Data preparation involves getting data ready for use in reports and explorations. In SAS Visual Analytics, you can prepare data using the SAS Visual Data Builder (the data builder).

Here are some of the tasks that you can perform using the data builder:

join data from multiple tables
append tables (data union)
create aggregations
sort data
filter data
create calculated columns
pivot data

Data preparation is needed only if the data that you want to use is not ready as is. If the data is ready as is, you can start working with it immediately in the designer or the explorer.