Overview of SAS/Warehouse Administrator

Tour of the Main Windows

The following table lists the main windows in SAS/Warehouse Administrator. Each window is briefly described in the sections that follow.

Main SAS/Warehouse Administrator Windows
Window	Description
Desktop	Initial window for SAS/Warehouse Administrator. Used to add or open Warehouse Environments.
Explorer	Used to add, edit, and browse the properties of groups and data stores.
Define Items Used Globally Window	Used to manage host definitions and other metadata shared within a Warehouse Environment.
Process Editor	Used to define Jobs and Process Flows which define how data moves from sources to targets.
Job Properties	Used to define Jobs which execute the code that moves data from sources to targets.
Load Generation/Execution Properties	Used to generate and manage SAS code for a Job.

Displaying Help for the Main Windows

For full details about each of the windows that are listed in Main SAS/Warehouse Administrator Windows, see the online help. To display the relevant online help, in the SAS Help contents for Using SAS/Warehouse Administrator Software, select Overview, then Main SAS/Warehouse Administrator Windows.

Desktop

To display the desktop for SAS/Warehouse Administrator, run SAS on a machine where SAS/Warehouse Administrator has been installed, then type dw on the command line. The desktop will look similar to the one shown in Desktop for SAS/Warehouse Administrator.

Desktop for SAS/Warehouse Administrator

[Desktop for SAS/Warehouse Administrator]

The default desktop includes folders for Data Utilities and Exploitation Tools, which are described under Starting SAS/Warehouse Administrator. If any Data Warehouse Environments have been defined for your site, their icons will appear on the desktop. Think of a Warehouse Environment as a container for some of the metadata associated with one or more data warehouses. The Toy Store Env icon in Figure 2.1 represents the main example Environment described in this document.

For details about the SAS/Warehouse Administrator desktop, display its online help as described in Displaying Help for the Main Windows. See also Starting SAS/Warehouse Administrator.

Explorer

To display the Explorer window, display the SAS/Warehouse Administrator desktop, position the cursor on an Environment icon, click the right mouse button, and select Edit from the pop-up menu. (Under Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating environments, you can simply double-click the Environment icon.)

When you first open an Environment in the Explorer, it might look similar to Explorer with Toy Store Environment, Unexpanded.

Explorer with Toy Store Environment, Unexpanded

[Explorer with Toy Store Environment, Unexpanded]

The Explorer is used to define and browse the metadata for groups and data stores in a Warehouse Environment. SAS/Warehouse Administrator uses this metadata to generate or retrieve the code that extracts, transforms, and loads the data into your data stores.

The white area at left displays the hierarchy of groups and data stores in the Explorer. The tabs on the right display the metadata for the element that has been selected with the left mouse button. For example, in Explorer with Toy Store Environment, Unexpanded, the metadata for the Toy Store Warehouse Environment is displayed.

In the Explorer hierarchy, the main groups are indented under the Environment, and other groups or data stores are indented under the main groups. For example, in Explorer with Toy Store Environment, Unexpanded, there are two main groups indented under the Toy Store Warehouse Environment: a Data Warehouse (Toy Store Whouse), and an ODD Group (Sales Source Data).

For details about the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Explorer, refer to its online help.

Define Items Used Globally Window

To display the Define Items Used Globally window, open an Environment in the Explorer, then select File Setup from the pull-down menu above the Explorer. A window will be displayed that looks similar to the one shown in Define Items Used Globally Window.

Define Items Used Globally Window

[Define Items Used Globally Window]

The Define Items Used Globally window is used to define global metadata for hosts, libraries, and other resources that are shared at the Environment level. By adding metadata records for these resources, you register them in the current Environment. After these records have been saved, you can include them in the metadata for groups, data stores, processes, Jobs, or other objects in the current Environment.

For details about the Define Items Used Globally window, refer to its online help.

Process Editor

One way to display the Process Editor is to open an Environment in the Explorer, click a data store with the right mouse button, and select Process from the pop-up menu. The Process Editor is used to manage Jobs, which specify the processes and Process Flows that create one or more data stores. Process Editor illustrates the Job and Process Flow for the Customer table.

Process Editor

[Process Editor]

In Process Editor, the Job for Customer is represented by the icon with the rectangle around it in the left panel. A Job is a metadata record that specifies the processes that create one or more data stores. It enables you to connect a series of process steps into a single unit. A Job may include scheduling metadata that enables the processes to be executed in batch mode at a specified date and time.

In Process Editor, the Process Flow for Customer appears in the right panel. A Process Flow is a diagram that is composed of symbols, with connecting arrows and descriptive text, that illustrate the sequence of each process associated with the Job that is selected in the left panel of the Process Editor. The Process Flow illustrates how the data moves from input source(s) to output table(s) and what extractions and transformations occur in between.

Keep in mind that in a Process Flow, data moves from the bottom to the top. The top icon is the output table that is created by the active Job (Job selected in the left panel of the Process Editor). For example, in Process Editor, data moves from the source data at the bottom of the flow, through a Mapping process, to the Customer table at the top. Between the source and the target, columns can be added, data can be scrubbed, and other transformations can take place.

For details about the Process Editor, refer to its online help.

Job Properties

To display the properties window for an existing Job, display the Job in the Process Editor as shown in Process Editor. Click the Job with the right mouse button and select Properties from the pop-up menu. The Job Properties window displays. Job Properties Window shows the Source Code tab of this window.

Job Properties Window

[Job Properties Window]

In Job Properties Window, note that the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Generated option is selected. If this option is selected, SAS/Warehouse Administrator will use the Process Flow associated with the active Job to generate source code for the Job. For example, if the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Generated option was selected for the Customer Job shown in Process Editor, SAS/Warehouse Administrator would use the Process Flow shown in that figure to generate source code for the Job.

If the SAS/Warehouse Administrator Generated option is not selected, you must specify the location of user-written source code for the Job.

The Date/Time tab, Server tab, and Prolog/Epilog tab on this window can be used to enter scheduling metadata for the Job. For details about the Job Properties window, refer to its online help.

Load Generation/Execution Properties

To display the Load Generation/Execution Properties window, open a data store in the Process Editor. In the left panel, click the Job for the data store with the right mouse button and select Run from the pop-up menu. The Load Generation/Execution Properties window displays. It will look similar to the one shown in Load Generation/Execution Properties Window.

Load Generation/Execution Properties Window

[Load Generation/Execution Properties Window]

From this window, you can submit, save, or edit the code generated for the Job you selected in the Process Editor. For details about the Load Generation/Execution Properties window, refer to its online help.

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