Setting Up Panel Data

[Anirban]

I am having trouble setting up my data as a panel in SAS. My id variable is company ticker. As such, it is categorical in nature. Do I need to encode it before I set it up as a panel in SAS or is it okay to keep it as it is? 

In STATA I use encode for that purpose.

As seen from the following snapshot, 'symbol' is my id variable.

[Ksharp]

PROC TRANSPOSE:

proc transpose data=have out=want;

by date;

id symbol;

var trd_val;

run;