Full instructions for implementation of user-defined formats in SAS 9
clients can be found in the SAS OnlineDoc under
  "SAS Intelligence Platform" ->
    "Administration" ->
      "Data Administration Guide" ->
        "Connecting to Common Data Sources".

If the catalog is named FORMATS, you can copy it to the
\Lev1\SASMain\SASEnvironment\SASFormats location under the configuration
directory. This approach means you need to define any and all user
defined formats to the same catalog.

The other option is to modify the sasv9.cfg file located in the
\Lev1\SASMain directory and add the following option:

   -config <configuration directory path>\Lev1\SASMain\userfmt.cfg

The file named userfmt.cfg should have both the SET and FMTSEARCH
options defined. For example,

   -set fmtlib1 "<path>\userFormats"
   -fmtsearch (work fmtlib1.usrFmt library)

This second approach can be used if your format catalogs have different
names or are located in different directories. All the directories must
be accessible by the SAS servers.

Options included in a configuration file are executed in the order in
which they are found. For example, if a -SET statement with the same
library name and a different path is executed later in the start up
process, this will overwrite the library defined earlier. To prevent
this from happening, add the option in the highest level configuration
file. In English installs of SAS for Windows platforms, this file is
located in !  sasroot\nls\en. The location of this file will vary
depending on the installation language and the operating system.

Operating System and Release Information