SAS^® OnDemand for Academics

• How can I find out more information about SAS^® OnDemand for Academics?
  Visit the SAS OnDemand for Academics Support Site for information including how to videos and other documentation.
• How do I sign up for SAS OnDemand for Academics?

  With a valid SAS Profile, to sign up, visit welcome.oda.sas.com and sign in to begin the registration process.

  Setting up an account for SAS OnDemand for Academics is a two-step process. This offering is only available to users who have a SAS Profile. Hence, the first step is to create a SAS Profile unless you already have one. Creating a SAS Profile is free. For convenience, a link is provided to the SAS Profile site from our Sign In page.

  Once your SAS Profile is ready to use, sign in to SAS OnDemand for Academics through welcome.oda.sas.com to step through your registration. Please select your desired home region. See the in-page help information to guide that decision if you are unsure which region to select. This process normally takes 5-10 minutes, but may take longer in some cases. You will be notified by e-mail when the process completes and you are ready to begin using the offering.

• Why is my sign in not working?
  Below, we summarize common causes of sign-in problems and how best to resolve each. Here, we refer to the offering sign-in page. The list order below reflects the order we recommend checking each possibility. If none of the remedies below resolve your problem, you can contact SASoda@sas.com for further assistance.

  • The site is experiencing a disruption or undergoing maintenance. To determine whether the site is currently experiencing problems or undergoing maintenance, check the status for your region at status.oda.sas.com. Ongoing maintenance or problems can impact access until resolved in some cases. Normally, important status information will also be shown within the pages. You should never attempt to use the site while maintenance is being performed as this may lead to corruption of your content or account.
  • You are using the wrong password. If you are unsure of the password associated with your SAS Profile, consider resetting it. See Resetting your SAS Profile Password for details.
  • You used the wrong password too frequently. Multiple failed log in attempts within a short period can cause your SAS Profile to become temporarily locked to protect it from possible security threats. When in this situation, your log in attempts will be rejected even if you are providing correct information. If you accidentally cause your account to become locked in this way, no special action is needed. The lock will naturally expire, so you need only wait for a while and try again.
  • Your SAS Profile has problems. Problems signing in to SAS OnDemand for Academics may indicate a problem with your SAS Profile. Try signing in to www.sas.com using your SAS Profile first to test your profile outside of SAS OnDemand for Academics. If you cannot, see the SAS Profile Help page for advice. If your attempt succeeds, it may still be possible that conducting this test caused some issue with your SAS Profile to be corrected. Try waiting 5-10 minutes to allow time for any changes to fully apply and then try to sign in to SAS OnDemand for Academics again.
  • You have not signed up. While this offering uses SAS Profiles, those profiles are not automatically signed up for the offering upon creation. Once your SAS Profile is created and fully activated, you must register to use SAS OnDemand for Academics using our Welcome Page and registration process. See the related question for details on how to sign up.
  • Your account has been suspended. The use of SAS OnDemand for Academics can be suspended in response to some unresolved problems, such as the license agreement expiring. Visit welcome.oda.sas.com and attempt to sign in. Provide your SAS Profile information on this page and be sure to accept the terms of the license and the terms of use and condition.
  • You just changed your email address. When you update your SAS Profile email address, both your previous and new email values may stop working as login IDs while the system is applying that change. However, it should still be possible to sign in with your User ID during this period. For this reason, it is good practice to note your User ID and also try signing in with it as an alternative to using your email address when you experience problems signing in. The inability to use your current email address to sign in should only be temporary.
  • You might have a special account. There are some SAS Profiles associated with SAS that are incompatible with SAS OnDemand for Academics. SAS Profiles utilizing federation or single sign-on (SSO) services to SAS are unsupported. SAS Profiles utilizing SAS Managed Application Services are also unsupported.
• What are the system requirements for SAS OnDemand for Academics software applications?
  The system requirements vary based on the software application being used.

  • SAS Studio - The desktop computer which will be using SAS Studio to connect to ODA must have a supported browser installed: See "Which Internet browsers can I use with SAS OnDemand for Academics?" below.
  • SAS Enterprise Guide - Please refer to the System Requirements and select the appropriate version of SAS Enterprise Guide.
  • SAS Enterprise Miner - Currently supports Windows and Windows for x64. For more information, please see the SAS Enterprise Miner 15.2 Thin Clients System Requirements.
  • SAS Forecast Server Client - Currently supports Windows and Windows for x64. For more information, please see the SAS Forecast Server 15.2 Clients System Requirements.
• How do I find the LIBNAME or FILENAME Statement that points to my uploaded course data?
  If you were teaching a course prior to August of 2014 and you uploaded data using FTP, then you had a specific LIBNAME and FILENAME statement for your course. Due to a system upgrade, the format for LIBNAME and FILENAME statements associated with uploaded course data has changed.

  To identify the LIBNAME or FILENAME statement for your course, do the following:

  • Sign in through welcome.oda.sas.com.
  • From the Courses tab, locate the appropriate course.
  • Click Details next to the appropriate course.
  • Review the Course Data Directory field. The path in this field is the LIBNAME or FILENAME statement associated with your uploaded course data.

  See Step-by-Step Guides for more information.

• How do I access a SAS^® OnDemand for Academics client software application?
  All users have access to SAS Studio software. A link for this software is available on your dashboard. To access your dashboard, you must register for SAS OnDemand for Academics or log on to SAS OnDemand for Academics (if you have previously registered).

  Additionally, instructors can register courses and select other software applications during the registration process. Users can be invited to register for these courses. Once either of these activities occur, links for the software associated with these courses will be available on a user's dashboard.

  See Step-by-Step Guides for more information.

• Can I bookmark the links to SAS OnDemand for Academics applications?
  This is not advised. If you bookmark links to applications such as SAS Studio, SAS Enterprise Miner, or SAS Forecast Server, then you will bypass the normal flow of the site and prevent you from seeing alerts and other messages that may be important to you. In some cases, this can even lead to failures in the software. Additionally, bookmarks are not guaranteed to continue working in future versions of the site. The recommended approach is to access the site through welcome.oda.sas.com.
• How can I learn more about using SAS software for learning or teaching?
  Please refer to the SAS^® Analytics U community.
• Which Internet browsers can I use with SAS^® OnDemand for Academics?
  An Internet browser is required to register for SAS^® OnDemand for Academics, use the SAS^® OnDemand for Academics Dashboard, and download specific SAS^® OnDemand for Academics software.

  • Please refer to the SAS^® 9.4 Support for Web Browsers and Plug-Ins for more information.
  • SAS^® Studio has specific Internet browser requirements. See System Requirements for SAS Studio for more information.
• What is a SAS Profile?
  A SAS Profile is an account that you create to access specific information and resources from SAS. If you are a current SAS user, you might already have a SAS Profile. If you are a new SAS user, you must create a SAS Profile in order to register for SAS^® OnDemand for Academics. You can visit the SAS Profile site to create or edit your profile.

  If you forget your SAS Profile password or are concerned about whether it meets expected password strength criteria, see What should I do if I forget my password?

• Does my account expire?
  Access to SAS OnDemand for Academics can expire after an extended period of inactivity. However, to reactivate your access to SAS OnDemand for Academics, visit welcome.oda.sas.com enter your SAS Profile credentials and accept the terms of the license and the terms of use and conditions.
• Does my data or content expire?
  If your account is not reactivated after an extended period of time, SAS OnDemand for Academics will deactivate your account and archive your content. After an additional period of inactivity the archived content will be removed from the SAS OnDemand for Academics systems. Archived accounts are subject to having content removed without notice and this is at the discretion of the SAS OnDemand for Academics Team. Per the license agreement, SAS has the right to remove any Content at any time.
• Can a SAS program (job) be submitted to the server and then checked upon at a later time?
  This is not supported in SAS OnDemand for Academics. If you are using the software to process your SAS programs, you should wait for your program (job) to run before exiting the software.

• Do SAS sessions expire?
  SAS sessions are established when you connect to our hosted SAS servers from the SAS software application that you are using. If a SAS session has been inactive for three hours, it will expire. All SAS sessions will expire after six hours. These limitations are in place in order to conserve computing resources. Typical educational usage of the system often requires sessions that are much shorter than the expiration periods noted.

  SAS recommends saving your work and exiting the SAS software application that you are using after completing your work. If you have an active session that is approaching six hours and you need to continue, save your work and exit the software. You can then start a new SAS session.

  SAS is not responsible for any data or content that is lost due to session expiration.

• Are there limits on what I can do in my SAS sessions?
  Yes. Since SAS^® OnDemand for Academics supports a large population of SAS learners, we focus considerable attention on ensuring the site is available and reliable to all users. To help meet this goal, we rely on our users to also be mindful of resources consumed by their jobs, and the resulting impact on their fellow users as well as the site.

  Due to the nature of certain procedures, SAS OnDemand for Academics does not allow "high performance" tasks to run as they are resource intensive. They may include (and are not limited to) HP Linear Regression, HP Logistic Regression, and Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Analysis. In addition, SAS "CAS" and SAS "Viya" procudures are also prohibited.

  As a safeguard, resource consumption by user sessions is continuously monitored. This includes, for instance, the number of user processes, duration of the session, processing time consumed, process memory consumed, and the number of bytes transferred between files or network resources. Sessions found to be consuming excessive resources are subject to termination without notice. This practice is necessary to maintain the fair and equal access to the site for all users. SAS is not responsible for any data or content that is lost due to such actions. Chronic offenders may also be subject to further action.

  This policy may be particularly notable to researchers and instructors for advanced courses who wish to use resource-intensive SAS code. While such users are welcome to use the site, such intensive workloads are not appropriate for a widely shared learning environment. Other options, such as obtaining a SAS license for a private environment, should be pursued instead. However, these users may still use the site for their less intensive workloads.

  We also recommend avoiding large long-running jobs where possible. Such jobs tend to eventually report high resource usage, and hence are more likely to be terminated. In addition, these are more likely to be terminated due to the duration of the session. Sessions are subject to termination after 6 hours, and after 3 hours of inactivity.

  In the event your session is terminated due to this policy, a notice including the time of the action should get logged to the special path ~/my_system_notices/termination within your home directory. This path will not exist otherwise. If it does, you can open the "termination" file as a text file within SAS Studio to view the details.

• Can SAS^® OnDemand for Academics software be installed on university lab machines?
  An employee of a university can download SAS^® OnDemand for Academics software with the intent of installing it on university lab machines (per the legal click license that must be accepted when registering for SAS^® OnDemand for Academics).

  After the software is installed on the lab machines, only registered users can sign in with their SAS^® OnDemand for Academics credentials.

• How will students find out about SAS^® OnDemand for Academics?
  Instructors are responsible for communicating their intent to use SAS^® OnDemand for Academics to their students. If desired, instructors can access a sample message by performing the following steps:

  1. Sign in through welcome.oda.sas.com.
  2. Find the appropriate course under the Courses tab.
  3. Click Details.
  4. Review the sample message template. The template can be copied or edited as needed.
• Are there tips for student registration and log in?
  After you invite students to register for your course, they can do so at any time. We strongly recommend students create their SAS Profiles and register ahead of time as these processes are not immediate and sensitive to the number of simultaneous requests being processed.

  If you must have students register together during your course, then we suggest you stagger the registrations (a few students every five minutes) to reduce the risk of complications.

  Also be aware that we naturally experience higher numbers of requests during certain times of the school year, such as the beginning of semesters. Allow for more time to get started during these periods.

  The process of logging in is similarly sensitive to the number of requests. Consequently, we recommend staggering logins in situations where all students will be using the site simultaneously.

• If I have trouble with my software, how do I get support?
  Technical support is available for issues that are related to registering your software, deploying your software, and viewing e-Learning and tutorials. To request support for these issues, send e-mail to SASoda@sas.com. To request support for programming or content-related issues, consult the resources that are available in the SAS Analytics U online community.
• How do I reset my SAS Profile Password?

  See Forgot Password using the SAS Profile for password management.

  Please note:
  • The password can not be the name that you used to register or exceed two consecutive characters from that name. For example, if you registered as 'Jonathan Smith', you could not use either 'Jonathan' or 'Smith' and you could not include three consecutive characters such as 'jon' or 'ith'.
  • The password must be at least eight characters in length.
  • The password must contain characters from three of the following four categories:
    • English uppercase characters (A through Z)
    • English lowercase characters (a through z)
    • Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
    • Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)
• What encoding is used by SAS in SAS OnDemand for Academics?

  UTF-8 is the only SAS session encoding that is supported by SAS OnDemand for Academics. Do not attempt to override the default UTF-8 encoding. If your data encoding is non-UTF-8, the SAS software will attempt to convert the data to UTF-8. Be aware this conversion can impact your performance while using SAS OnDemand for Academics. It is strongly advised that you convert your data to the appropriate UTF-8 encoding while using SAS OnDemand for Academics.

• Are there email domains that cannot be used for SAS OnDemand for Academics?

  Generally speaking, this should not be an issue. We do not actively block domains. There are several domains that we are aware of that will reject these emails (including registration emails) if you have an email address associated with them. Often this requires that you work with your provider to add an exception for email originating from @sas.com. All email sent from SAS OnDemand for Academics will originate from @sas.com. Your provider should have instructions on their web site for this process or you can request help from their technical support team. SAS Technical Support cannot help in this case. We are currently aware that the following domains are affected.

  • @qq.com
  • @126.com
  • @163.com

  There may be others but we have noticed a significant number of bounces from these particular domains.

  If you experience issues, you should use a different email address not associated with the affected domain. If you cannot provide another email address, you will need to let your instructor know so they can work with your school's IT department to allow access for @sas.com emails.

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Data Questions

• Which operating systems does SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide support?
  Please see the appropriate version of SAS Enterprise Guide system requirements for supported Operating System information: SAS Enterprise Guide
• Does SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide require Microsoft .NET Framework?
  Yes, SAS Enterprise Guide requires third party packages. These packages should be deployed during the SAS Enterprise Guide installation.

  If you would like more information, please see the above link for system requirements.

• Can I install SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide on a machine that already has SAS Enterprise Guide installed on it?
  No. If you have SAS Enterprise Guide installed on an existing machine, then you must install SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide on a different machine.
• Are there any tasks that do not work in SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide?
  Yes. Due to their nature, "high performance" tasks, as well as "CAS" and "Viya" procedures do not work with SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide. They may include (and are not limited to) HP Linear Regression, HP Logistic Regression, and Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Analysis.
• Which region do I choose when signing in to SAS OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Guide?
  After the interface loads a login prompt will appear. Select the region based on your home region and enter your credentials to sign in.

  If you need help determining your home region, see "How do I know which region I am using?" in the Regions Questions section.

• How do I find sample or instructor data in SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Miner^TM?
  You can access default sample data, sample data associated with SAS course materials, or data that has been uploaded by an instructor for your course (if applicable). To learn how to access this data, see Selecting Data from SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Miner^TM.
• What if I need to install the SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Enterprise Miner client or the SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Forecast Studio client for multiple users to have access? (for example, a lab environment or multi-user accessible machines)
  These clients must be downloaded and used in Microsoft Windows systems.
  For a multi-user lab deployment at a university, provide the following value for the "SAS Environments URL" during the client installation:

  https://welcome.oda.sas.com/sas-environment.xml

  After the client is installed, the user will select their "Home Region" during sign in. See "How do I know which region I am using?" in the Regions Questions section.

• Is there additional information or usage videos available for SAS Studio?
  Yes. Visit the SAS^® Studio Product Documentation Site.
• SAS Studio is not launching properly for me. What is wrong?
  There are a few common situations under which SAS Studio may not launch normally:

  • You are using old files. The most common source of launch, appearance or behavior problems is your browser attempting to use old copies of files that were cached during a previous session. To ensure you are using the latest versions of these files, perform the following steps:
    1. Close any tabs that have SAS Studio currently open.
    2. Clear the cache in your browser. Each browser presents this action differently; try searching on "how to clear your browser cache" along with your browser name and version if you need instructions for your particular browser.
    3. Now try launching SAS Studio again to repopulate the cache. This launch may be slower than normal due to the browser fetching all files from the ODA servers.
    Note that the above steps will need to be performed separately in each browser you use, if you use more than one. Additionally, you may notice an option to clear site cookies grouped with the cache option. This action is not needed to resolve the situation here. However, if you choose to perform that action anyway, then you should first close all tabs using the SAS OnDemand for Academics site to end any current session you have with it.
  • You are restoring a bad tab. Certain actions available through SAS Studio may exceed the resources available to your browser or other components. Regardless of whether such actions result in actual failures or just very long delays, they create a situation where the SAS Studio application becomes unresponsive. A common example of such an action is attempting to open a very large file. Closing and re-opening SAS Studio usually does not resolve the situation. Whenever you launch SAS Studio, the application will attempt to restore any tab you had open at the end of your previous session, including tabs that caused problems during the previous session. As a result, you will usually be unable to close the offending tab through SAS Studio. However, options are available to help address and avoid this situation:
    1. First, you will need to prevent SAS Studio from restoring the bad tab. This can be accomplished by using the "Clear my saved tabs" action provided under the SAS Studio launch link on the Dashboard page. After using this action, SAS Studio should launch into a state with no tabs open except for the default new-program tab.
    2. Once you can successfully launch SAS Studio again, you can optionally choose to avoid this possibility by disabling the feature that remembers tabs across sessions. To do so, perform the following steps:
       1. Click the "More application options" icon in the top-right of the SAS Studio window (beside the help icon).
       2. Select the "Preferences" option from the drop-down menu.
       3. Move to the "Start Up" section in the preference window.
       4. Under the "On startup" heading, change the option to "Open a new program/process flow tab."
• When using the Apple Safari browser, can I upload multiple files to a project at once?
  Yes, if you are using Apple Safari 6 or greater. If you are using an older version of Apple Safari, then you can upload only one file to a project at a time.

  Note: Some versions of Apple Safari will not allow you to choose files to load data. You must drag and drop the data to upload in SAS Studio. Please see the following SAS Note for more information and steps.

• I don't see a change in the displayed tab width after making change to editor preferences. What is wrong?
  After opening the Preferences window, you can select Editor. You will then see a Tab width setting.

  This setting may not function when using certain versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Apple Safari. Spaces are often used instead of tab characters in these Web browsers. If this is the case, then select the Substitute spaces for tabs check box within the Editor preferences.

• Are there any search capability limitations within SAS Studio?
  Yes. For more information, see the following documentation links:

  SAS Studio User's Guide.

  SAS Help Center Tips.

• Does SAS Studio automatically save my files?
  SAS Studio auto-saves any previously saved program file every 30 seconds. To change the interval or turn this feature off, see Setting the Code and Log Preferences.
• Does SAS Studio save my files when I sign out or close my browser?
  Unless you are using the Apple Safari browser, you will be prompted by the application to save your files if they contain unsaved changes.

  Apple Safari prompts you only when you sign out. If you exit the browser, close the browser tab, refresh the browser page, or navigate to a different browser page, Safari will not prompt you, and your unsaved changes will be lost.

• How do I avoid losing my work when using SAS Studio?
  SAS Studio auto-saves any previously saved program file every 30 seconds. To change the interval or turn this feature off, see the Setting the Code and Log Preferences.

  Additionally, you can avoid refreshing your Web browser. This will result in a loss of any work that has not been saved. Most Web browsers provide a warning to let you know that your work will be lost if you choose to proceed with a page refresh/reload.

• I have uploaded a file using SAS Studio, but am receiving errors when calling the file in my code. What is the issue?
  If the file (or files) that you uploaded were created using Microsoft Windows or Macintosh operating systems, then the issue could be related to the file format. SAS Studio processes files using Unix.

  To resolve the file format compatibility issues between Windows, Macintosh, and Unix, you will need to include a FILENAME statement that uses the TERMSTR option.

  If you are using a file created with the Microsoft Windows operating system, use the TERMSTR=CRLF option, such as in the following example:

  FILENAME cars "~/Projects/data/cars.txt" TERMSTR=CRLF;

  If you are using a file created with the Macintosh operating system, use the TERMSTR=CR option, such as in the following example:

  FILENAME cars "~/Projects/data/cars.txt" TERMSTR=CR;

  The file names and paths listed above are for example purposes only; your values might vary. For more information about SAS syntax, refer to SAS Studio Documentation.

• I am trying to upload a file, but it doesn't appear to be working. What is wrong?
  If the file that you are trying to upload is larger than 1 GB, then SAS Studio is unable to upload the file. Try using smaller files.

  Alternatively, if the file is large, your Web browser could be timing out or your wireless connection might not be ideal. Consider trying a smaller file size or verify that your wireless network is working properly.

• Can I connect to the SAS OnDemand for Academics resources with Python, including Jupyter Notebook, using SASPy?
  Yes. With an active ODA account you can use your credentials to connect to the ODA hosted servers.

  For more information, see Working with SASPy, including Jupyter Notebook, or click on the link available in the ODA interface.

• What are the requirements for SASPy?

  Java version 1.8.0_162 or higher, Python 3.3 or higher, and SASPy 3.3.4 or higher (using the latest version is recommended).

  For more information on SASPy, please see SASPy on sassoftware.github and the installation and configuration instructions.

• What operating systems are supported for JMP^®?
  Please see the JMP^® System Requirements for details.
• Can I Connect to the SAS OnDemand for Academics server using JMP^® Software?
  Yes. If you are registered for a course in the United States that has JMP^® software selected you will be presented with a link to download an additional package. This package verifies you have a copy of JMP^® software (Version 11 or greater), which must be obtained separately. After installing this additional package, you can use JMP and your SAS® OnDemand for Academics credentials to access SAS® OnDemand for Academics resources. For more information, see Working with JMP^®.

• What is a region?

  While SAS OnDemand for Academics is presented as a single web site, the site actually consists of multiple instances of SAS distributed around the world. This is necessary to ensure that every user will receive reasonable performance regardless of his or her geographic location. The location of each instance is referred to as an ODA region.

  While some parts of ODA are shared across regions, other parts are limited to a single region due to technical restrictions. Most notably, file content (both home and course files) usually only exists in the region associated with each user. Similarly, metadata made by applications, such as project or library definitions, is created only in the region being used at the time.

• What is a home region?

  Your home region is the region that your account has been configured to use. When you first register an ODA account, the region that performs that registration automatically becomes your home region and is the region that you are expected to use consistently. Due to this, it is important that the region used during account registration reflect the best choice for your typical location. Users should not choose a home region based on temporary locations like a training room or lab unless the account will be exclusively used from that location.

• Can I change my home region?

  Currently, the home region for an account cannot be changed after the initial registration. Several situations that may motivate this question are discussed in later entries below. If your own situation is not covered by the information provided here, then technical support can be contacted for further assistance if needed.

• Can I use a different region while I am traveling?

  No. This would still be changing your home region (just temporarily), and hence the answer to the previous question still applies. When traveling, you should continue to use your normal home region.

• How do I know which region I am using?

  After signing in through welcome.oda.sas.com, the home region is displayed within the regional pages. All regional web pages report the region name in the upper right section of the page header, beside your user information.

• How do regions impact courses?

  In most cases, a course instructor and all enrolled students will be from the same region naturally due to residing in the same geographic location. In that case, regions require no special consideration during course planning. However, courses involving multiple regions can arise from other situations including:

  • on-line courses
  • travel by students or instructors

  As the hosted applications are generally configured for individual rather than collaborative use, file access is usually the main issue for students from other regions. In particular, these students will not be able to access any shared course files provided by the instructor since that shared directory naturally only exists within the instructor's region.

  For cases where the instructor's course data directory is not used to share content with students, the concern can be ignored. Outside of practical considerations like the availability of the region and timing of its maintenance periods, all students should have a similar experience. Such situations typically involve enrolled users receiving course materials directly from the instructor by other means (email, file sharing site, etc.) and then individually uploading the files into their home directories as needed for the course work. Some instructors prefer to embed course data into their example SAS code by providing data steps that load the data through a datalines statement. Regardless, the course definition in this case mainly exists to manage the enrollments and access to needed applications, neither of which are impacted by using multiple regions.

  For cases where the instructor's course data directory is used to share content with students, that instructor can request through technical support that those shared files be copied to the other regions being used by those non-local students. Copying files in this way is a manual process that only copies the state of the files at the time of the request. In addition, the time needed to perform the request will vary. Additional requests will also be needed if the primary copies of the files in the instructor's region are later changed. Hence, a best practice in this situation is to finalize the course data content and request this copy well before the related coursework is scheduled to begin. Delaying the request risks delays that may impact the course due to the material being unavailable in the remote regions. If you are an instructor and need to make such a request, please provide the following information to technical support:

  • your User ID
  • the paths within the course data directory that you need copied
  • the other regions where copies of the data are needed

  When handling situations where a course might involve multiple regions, communication and planning are the key factors. To avoid late discovery of issues, the following practices are recommended:

  • Instructors: If you intend to provide course content through the ODA servers, clearly indicate that in the course information and identify what region that content will be accessible through. Also indicate whether accommodations for other regions have already been made. Be mindful of modifying that content afterwards.
  • Students: For any course you are taking that provides course content through the ODA servers, make sure to ask which region the content will be available through and compare it to your home region. If they do not match, inform the instructor as early as possible so that accommodations can be made.

• Why does Forecast Studio now have a personal environment instead of a course-based environment?

  Support for course-based shared environments ended on May 15, 2018. Shared environments existed only in the course instructors' home regions, and provided no means of accommodating students from other regions. Course instructors also could not fully manage these environments as they needed to. As there was no way to correct the various problems identified over time, a different approach was needed.

  With the newer personal environment option, each user authorized to use Forecast Studio is granted the ability to create/destroy a single forecasting environment for personal use. The environment files reside under the special my_forecast_environment directory in that user's home directory and the environment is labeled Personal Environment: account-name. This environment is not visible or accessible to any other user making it a private workspace.

• How do I manage my personal environment or check its status?

  The Manage your personal environment link can be found within the Forecast Studio entry under Applications on the Dashboard page. Clicking on this link will take you to the management page, which will report whether your personal environment currently exists. That page will then also present either the Create or Delete action as appropriate.

  Note that deleting the environment will permanently remove all content and configuration associated with it, including files. The environment can then be created again, but no prior content or other customizations will be restored. Instead, the new environment is created with the default configuration and no projects. Hence, deleting and re-creating an environment is a quick way to reset the environment back to its original starting state.

• Why does Forecast Studio report "Unable to find an environment that is accessible by the current user." when I launch it?

  This message means that your personal environment has not been created yet. See the earlier entry on managing this environment for details on how to create it.

• What if I need to install the SAS^® OnDemand for Academics: Forecast Studio client for multiple users to have access? (for example, a lab environment or multi-user accessible machines)

  Please see the SAS Enterprise Miner Questions for the proper URL to provide during lab installation.

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