PROC LCA

[Raquell]

Hi all! 

I need to use PROC LCA for a project I am working on, however the company I work for is transitioning from SAS Base to SAS Enterprise Guide. Has anyone used PROC LCA with Enterprise Guide? Will I still be able to install the plug-in and run the code?

Thanks!!

[ChrisHemedinger]

If you can install the PROC on your SAS server (might require admin help), then the code should work from EG.  However, I believe that only Windows versions of the PROC are available.  So if your environment switch includes changing to Linux SAS (common), you might be out of luck with this custom procedure.

[Raquell]

Hi Chris! Thanks for the quick reply. As far as I know we will keep a windows based system. Now that you mentioned installing on the server I have a follow-up question: is this safe, or could it affect SAS for other users? I am just asking as Penn State mentions the plug-in was developed for individual installations and was not tested for server installations.

Once again, thanks for your help!

[ChrisHemedinger]

I can't speak to its "safety", but I know several SAS customers use this.  As a SAS procedure built using SAS/TOOLKIT (I assume), I'd expect the PROC modules would be loaded only when called in a SAS program, so should not affect anyone who doesn't use it.  It might even be possible to configure so that it is in the path only for certain users to even access.

[Raquell]

Thanks!!

[DWilson]

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@Raquell wrote:

Hi Chris! Thanks for the quick reply. As far as I know we will keep a windows based system. Now that you mentioned installing on the server I have a follow-up question: is this safe, or could it affect SAS for other users? I am just asking as Penn State mentions the plug-in was developed for individual installations and was not tested for server installations.

Once again, thanks for your help!

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The company at which I work produces a similar 3rd party set of procedures (SUDAAN) using the SAS/TOOLKIT and as long as the 3rd party procedure you are using is compiled to work on the operating system and SAS version used by your company then that procedure will work. It shouldn't affect anything else about the SAS system for other users.  We have run into situations where an upgrade to a minor SAS release (9.4 TS1M3 -> 9.4 TS1M4) required our procedures to be recompiled with an updated SAS/TOOLKIT. This typically isn't an issue with standalone SAS installs because each user can decided whether or not to upgrade SAS. In a server environment, however, decision to upgrade may be out of your hands and may cause 3rd party procedures to fail. Something to keep in mind when SAS or the OS get updated on the server.

We have noted an issue with SAS Studio, however. If you use SAS Studio then proc LCA output may not display in SAS Studio. This is because the SAS/Toolkit supports listing output only and SAS Studio uses html output. Your proc should work, you just won't see the output in the output window. This isn't an issue for SAS EG, however.

[Raquell]

Thanks! That's very helpful!