Changing date and string variable for regression analysis

[scottmaya]

I have a set of Direct Mail Program data, which includes the mail campaign start and end dates, the offers provided to customer and the number of customer responses.

I want to do multiple regression analysis to how these variables can impact the response rate of customers. I am new to SAS so can you give me any idea on how to convert the dates and offer types into useful numeric variables for analysis.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Reeza]

Depending on the PROC you use you may not need to change your character variables. The CLASS statement will handle the parameterization. 

Otjerwise, for dates, make sure they're numeric with a dare format. Use INPUT() to convert them if required. If you need to calculate date variables such as lag lead or moving averages look at PROC EXPAND. 

[scottmaya]

Thank you very much. I will check that.