Imputing a variable in SAS Viya doesn't replace the existing variable but creates a new variable.

[Saurabh_Rana]

Whenever I Impute a variable in SAS Viya interface in "Model Build" it doesn't replace the existing variable but creates a new variable.

Even when I convert the format of a variable it creates a new variable instead of updating the existing one.

Is there any way I can impute/convert a variable without creating a new variable?

[SophiaRowland · Accepted solution]

Yes, the imputation node does not replace the existing variable (https://go.documentation.sas.com/?activeCdc=vdmmlcdc&cdcId=capcdc&cdcVersion=8.5&docsetId=vdmmlref&d...) I would think of the "Model Build" interface as more of a model-pipeline builder. This model pipeline contains a series of steps to process data and build supervised machine learning models. As new data comes in, this model pipeline has everything it needs to process and score new data with minimal intervention. 

In the "Prepare Data" interface,  I would recommend creating the imputed column, removing the existing column, and then you can rename the imputed column if you like (https://go.documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=dprepcdc&cdcVersion=2.5&docsetId=datastudioadv&docsetTarget=...). When you save the table, you can overwrite the existing table and that should allow you to replace the existing column with the imputed column (https://go.documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=dprepcdc&cdcVersion=2.5&docsetId=datastudioadv&docsetTarget=...). 

If you like coding in SAS, you can also use the "Develop SAS" interface as well either through a DATA step or an imputation action. Does this answer your question?