SAS Marketing Optimization might return the following error message in the MarketingOptimization.log file when you use a blocking contact policy in a scenario:

ERROR: A character operand was found in the %EVAL function or %IF condition
where a numeric operand is required. The condition was:
       &start_time_id
ERROR: The %FROM value of the %DO J loop is invalid.
ERROR: A character operand was found in the %EVAL function or %IF condition
where a numeric operand is required. The condition was:
       &end_time_id
ERROR: The %TO value of the %DO J loop is invalid.
ERROR: The macro MO_CREATE_PROC_BLOCKS will stop executing.

This problem occurs when you have missing time periods. When the TIME_PERIOD table is not empty, SAS Marketing Optimization assumes that the communications have time periods, and it applies blocking contact policies in a forward-looking way. However, when no time periods are defined for communications, the error occurs. If you use a start period and an end period, the error does not occur.

Click the Hot Fix tab in this note to access the hot fix for this issue.

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for this issue for SAS Marketing Optimization 6.3 is available at:

A fix for this issue for SAS Marketing Optimization 6.1_M1 is available at: