problem with modify statement

Keywords: sasbase bi server sas modify datastep problem
Abstract: using modify statement in the datastep is risky

When it comes to updating data, SAS datastep with modify strategy has an importan advantage - it preserves index of the modified dataset. So the consistency of your data is guaranteed at all times. However, I came across a big problem. If something happens during the execution (BI server does not response, somebody runs weird outter join and BI server hangs) the modified dataset got corrupted. Basically you loose it. I experienced this already two times in half year during weekly updates of my datamart. This makes modify statement quite risky to perform on the server side. Even stronger, this fact discourages me to use BI server at all because most of the things work faster on the local computer. (given the fact that you have your major datasources not on the BI server and good local hardare configuration).