Use the CData ODBC Driver for Exact Online 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 Exact Online, you gain database-like access to live Exact Online data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This articles walks through creating a library for Exact Online in SAS and creating a simple report based on real-time Exact Online data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Exact Online data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Exact Online, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Exact Online 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 Exact Online data in SAS.

Connect to Exact Online as an ODBC Data Source

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

Exact Online uses the OAuth authentication standard. You can use the embedded OAuth credentials or you can register an OAuth app with Exact to obtain your own. In addition to the OAuth values, provide the Region. If Division is not set, the default Division is determined.

See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for more information.

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 Exact Online 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 Exact Online Library in SAS

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

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 Exact Online 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 Exact Online 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 accounts_view as
     select 
       name, 
       creditlinepurchase 
     from 
       odbclib.accounts 
     where 
       IsCompetitor = 'False';
   quit;
   

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

Report On or Visualize Exact Online Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Exact Online 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 Exact Online Accounts data.

   proc print data=accounts;
     title "Exact Online Accounts Data";
   run;
   

Print a Chart

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

   proc gchart data=accounts;
     pie name / sumvar=creditlinepurchase
         value=arrow
         percent=arrow
         noheading
         percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
         slice=inside value=none
         name='AccountsChart';
   run;