Utilities

A collection of code useful for maintaining a SAS-based data warehouse, and other various possibly useful bits of code.

%Transition

Smoothly and (I hope) safely replaces a production dataset with an updated version. The joy here is:

1. Makes the actual update just a file rename so as to avoid locking the dset (or worse, being thwarted by others' locks).
2. Refuses the update if the new file doesn't contain at least &count_tolerance percent of the records in the old.
3. Refuses the update if the new file doesn't have all the same variables as the old.

The down-side is that you need disk space enough to hold 2 copies of your data (including index files if any).

Signature:

%transition(dset            =     /* One-part name of the dset we are transitioning (e.g., encounters). */
          , lib             =     /* Name of the lib where the dsets to be transitioned live.  There should be a &lib..&dset and a &lib..&dset._next versions */
          , backdir         =     /* Folder spec for where archives of current-prod dsets go. */
          , count_tolerance = 99  /* New dset must have at least this percent of the n(recs) as the old in order to proceed. */
          , ignore_vardiffs = 0   /* Set to 1 to override the abort-if-any-vars-are-missing check. */
          , leave_last      = 1   /* Set to 0 to have the macro remove the _last version of the replaced dset. USE WITH CAUTION! */
          ) ;

To use it:

1. Create a new dset with a _next suffix on it in the production library (so e.g., //server/warehouse/folder/encounters_next.sas7bdat).
2. Create whatever indexes, integrity constraints, etc. on that _next dset.
3. Call %transition w/those first two args specified at least (if backdir is null you’ll get a warning, but the code will run).

The macro will put ERROR:s and WARNING:s as necessary, but should keep quiet if its expectations are met & it can do its thing w/out error.

%Profile

Produces a summary report for an input dataset. Useful for initial exploration of a dataset you're unfamiliar with.

test_sas_install.sas

Script that exercises various bits of the SAS install that KPWA typically has. Used for testing new packagings of the SAS client, to make sure all expected modules are installed, dbs are reachable, etc..

runsas.ps1

A powershell script that helps in scheduling SAS jobs on windows. See instructions here.

Enrollment Utilities

Enrollment-specific useful routines

de_overlap

Excellent routine that will resolve overlapping periods in VDW enrollment. Also useful for interleaving multiple start/stop files (e.g., one is enrollees, the other is non-member patients). See the powerpoint & demo program for details.

annual_churn

Written to explore the # and insurance type of members we lost/gained in the transition to Obamacare. But change the years around to see this information for any transition.

retention

Produces data and plots indicating the rate at which people enrolled on date X disenroll, by sex and age category.

Test change.