SAS Stored Processes

A stored process is a SAS program that is stored on a server and can be executed as required by requesting applications. You can use stored processes for Web reporting, analytics, building Web applications, delivering packages to clients or to the middle tier, and publishing results to channels or repositories. Stored processes can also access any SAS data source or external file and create new data sets, files, or other data targets supported by SAS.

The ability to store your SAS programs on the server provides an effective method for change control management. For example, instead of embedding the SAS code into client applications, you can centrally maintain and manage this code from the server. This gives you the ability to change your SAS programs and at the same time ensure that every client that invokes a stored process will always get the latest version available.

The stored process concept becomes even more powerful when you consider that these SAS programs can be invoked from multiple client contexts. For example, you might deploy Java applets and Windows-based applications that invoke your stored processes. If your strategy is to use a multi-tiered architecture, you can use Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technology, for example, to invoke the same stored processes from an application server.

Using stored processes also enhances security and application integrity because the programs that access your sensitive data are contained on the server instead of being widely distributed with the client applications.

There are two different types of stored processes. A limited form of stored processes, IOM Direct Interface Stored Processes, was introduced in Version 8. This type of stored process operates on a SAS Workspace Server and produces packages only. IOM Direct Interface Stored Processes are still fully supported. However, the focus of this documentation is on SAS Stored Processes. SAS Stored Processes are new with SAS Integration Technologies 9, and they can be used with either a SAS Workspace Server (to produce packages) or a SAS Stored Process Server (to produce packages or streaming results).

You must use a SAS Metadata Server to administer SAS Stored Processes. To make a stored process accessible to client applications, you must allocate a storage location that your server can access. Then, use BI Manager to create metadata that describes the stored process and its location. BI Manager stores this metadata on the SAS Metadata Server so that it can be accessed by client applications.

Note: BI Manager is available beginning with SAS Foundation Services 1.2. If you have not upgraded to this release, then you can use Stored Process Manager to register and manage stored processes. BI Manager replaces Stored Process Manager. For more information about using BI Manager to create and maintain the metadata defining a stored process, see the Help in SAS Management Console.