Concepts

SAS Data Quality Server Concepts

To access a Quality Knowledge Base, SAS programs reference path specifications in the setup file dqsetup.txt. The location of the setup file is specified with the DQSETUPLOC= system option . The value of the system option can be the path to dqsetup.txt, or a path to the root directory of a Quality Knowledge Base.

In the z/OS operating environment, the setup file DQSETUP is a member of a SAS Data Quality Configuration PDS.

Note: SAS programs running jobs and services on a DataFlux Integration Server do not reference the setup file. These programs do not directly access a Quality Knowledge Base. [cautionend]

If you move your Quality Knowledge Base, update the path specifications with DQSETUPLOC= accordingly.

If your site uses multiple Quality Knowledge Bases, reference the intended setup file with the DQSETUPLOC= option.

Edit the SAS Data Quality Setup File

The data quality setup file consists of a table with two columns. The first column lists file access methods. The second column provides fully qualified paths to the contents of the Quality Knowledge Base.

You can access the file in the following ways:

specifying paths separated by commas to each individual directory

Example:

DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\casetab; 
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\chopinfo; 
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\grammar; 
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\locale;
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\phonetx;
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\regexlib; 
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\scheme; 
DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A\vocab;

specifying a path to the QKB-root directory

DISK C:\Program Files\DataFlux\QltyKB\CI\2009A;

If you edit the setup file, complete these tasks:

Include a semicolon at the end of each fully qualified path.
Specify the DISK access method.
In the Windows and UNIX operating environments, do not change the last directory or filename in any path.
For the z/OS operating environment, do not change the PDS names. Do not change the names of the PDS contents. For example, in the following entry in the setup file, you would retain the GRAMMAR PDS name and not change any member names inside that PDS:
```
DISK SAS91.DQ.GRAMMAR;
```

To add comment lines to your setup file, specify an exclamation point (!) as the first non-blank character in each line that contains comments. When an exclamation point is detected in this position, the software ignores any other text on that line.

You can insert blank lines into the setup file.

In the setup file, the maximum record (line) length is 1024 characters.

Configure Your SAS Session for Data Quality

Use the DQOPTIONS= system option to configure your SAS session for data quality. Specify the option in your SAS start-up command or in your SAS configuration file, SASV9.CFG. DQOPTIONS= enables you to specify one or more option-value pairs that pertain to the operation of the SAS Data Quality Server software.

The DQOPTIONS= system option currently enables two option-value pairs. The DQSRVPROTOCOL=WIRELINE pair improves the performance of the DQSRVSVC procedure by streamlining data transfer to and from the DataFlux Integration Server. It is the default on z/OS, and improves performance on all other platforms. In other operating environments, the default SOAP protocol is recommended.

TRANSCODE=IGNORE | WARN specifies that transcoding errors between character sets are to be ignored, and SAS processing is allowed to continue. By default, transcoding errors terminate SAS processing.

See: DQOPTIONS.

Specify Definitions In SAS Data Cleansing Programs

To specify definitions in your SAS data cleansing programs, you need to know the names of the definitions that are available in a particular locale. Use the AUTOCALL macro %DQPUTLOC.

To display information about a locale that is currently loaded into memory, use the DQLOCALEINFOGET Function.

To display a list of definitions in a specified locale, use the DQLOCALEINFOLIST Function.

Use the DQLOCALEGUESS Function to return the name of the locale that best fits your data.

Considerations for Installing and Updating the Software

The SAS Data Quality Server software is delivered with a sample Quality Knowledge Base. After you install the SAS Data Quality Server software, download the latest Quality Knowledge Base, including your choice of locales, from the DataFlux Web site www.dataflux.com.

To maximize performance, download new Quality Knowledge Bases as they are made available by DataFlux. On the DataFlux Web site, check the release notes of the latest release. Determine whether your locales have been updated. Decide whether you need any of the new locales that might have been added.

When you update your Quality Knowledge Base, you might want to install it in a new location rather than overwriting your existing Quality Knowledge Base. This decision is particularly important if you have customized your Quality Knowledge Base in the previous release. Customizations are made with the DataFlux dfPower Customize software. If you install your updated Quality Knowledge Base in a new location, either change your setup file or reference a new setup file in your SAS programs.

If you customized your previous Quality Knowledge Base, evaluate those changes and carry them over to your new Quality Knowledge Base as needed.

CAUTION:: When you upgrade your Quality Knowledge Base, be sure to regenerate your existing match codes so that they are consistent with the newly created match codes.

Top of Page