Use the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics, you gain database-like access to live Adobe Analytics data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This articles walks through creating a library for Adobe Analytics in SAS and creating a simple report based on real-time Adobe Analytics data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Adobe Analytics data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Adobe Analytics, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Adobe Analytics and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can easily visualize and analyze Adobe Analytics data in SAS.

Connect to Adobe Analytics as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Adobe Analytics follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).

Adobe Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

Retrieving GlobalCompanyId

GlobalCompanyId is a required connection property. If you do not know your Global Company ID, you can find it in the request URL for the users/me endpoint on the Swagger UI. After logging into the Swagger UI Url, expand the users endpoint and then click the GET users/me button. Click the Try it out and Execute buttons. Note your Global Company ID shown in the Request URL immediately preceding the users/me endpoint.

Retrieving Report Suite Id

Report Suite ID (RSID) is also a required connection property. In the Adobe Analytics UI, navigate to Admin -> Report Suites and you will get a list of your report suites along with their identifiers next to the name.

After setting the GlobalCompanyId, RSID and OAuth connection properties, you are ready to connect to Adobe Analytics.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a Adobe Analytics Library in SAS

Connect to Adobe Analytics in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics.

1. Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
2. In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
3. Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
4. Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK.

Create a View from a Adobe Analytics Query

SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live Adobe Analytics data for reports, charts, and analytics.

Using the Query Tool

1. In SAS, click Tools -> Query
2. Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK.
3. Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc.
4. Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK.

Using PROC SQL

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
   NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.

   proc sql;
     create view adsreport_view as
     select 
       page, 
       pageviews 
     from 
       odbclib.adsreport 
     where 
       City = 'Chapel Hill';
   quit;
   

3. Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.

Report On or Visualize Adobe Analytics Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Adobe Analytics data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.

Print an HTML Report

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the Adobe Analytics AdsReport data.

   proc print data=adsreport;
     title "Adobe Analytics AdsReport Data";
   run;
   

Print a Chart

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the AdsReport data.

   proc gchart data=adsreport;
     pie page / sumvar=pageviews
         value=arrow
         percent=arrow
         noheading
         percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
         slice=inside value=none
         name='AdsReportChart';
   run;