230 231 Glossary administrator the person who is responsible for maintaining the technical attributes of an object such as a table or a library. For example, an administrator might specify where a table is stored and who can access the table. See also owner. alternate key another term for unique key. See unique key. analysis data set in SAS data quality, a SAS output data set that provides information on the degree of divergence in specified character values. business key one or more columns in a dimension table that comprise the primary key in a source table in an operational system. change analysis the process of comparing one set of metadata to another set of metadata and identifying the differences between the two sets of metadata. For example, in SAS Data Integration Studio, you have the option of performing change analysis on imported metadata. Imported metadata is compared to existing metadata. You can view any changes in the Differences window and choose which changes to apply. To help you understand the impact of a given change, you can run impact analysis or reverse impact analysis on tables and columns in the Differences window. change management in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a facility for metadata source control, metadata promotion, and metadata replication. change-managed repository in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a metadata repository that is under metadata source control. cluster in SAS data quality, a set of character values that have the same match code. comparison result the output of change analysis. For example, in SAS Data Integration Studio, the metadata for a comparison result can be selected, and the results of that comparison can be viewed in a Differences window and applied to a metadata repository. See also change analysis. 232 Glossary cross-reference table a table that contains only the current rows of a larger dimension table. Columns generally include all business key columns and a digest column. The business key column is used to determine if source rows are new dimensions or updates to existing dimensions. The digest column is used to detect changes in source rows that might update an existing dimension. During updates of the fact table that is associated with the dimension table, the cross-reference table can provide generated keys that replace the business key in new fact table rows. custom repository in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a metadata repository that must be dependent on a foundation repository or custom repository, thus allowing access to metadata definitions in the repository or repositories on which it depends. A custom repository is used to specify resources that are unique to a particular data collection. For example, a custom repository could define sources and targets that are unique to a particular data warehouse. The custom repository would access user definitions, group definitions, and most server metadata from the foundation repository. See also foundation repository, project repository. data analysis in SAS data quality, the process of evaluating input data sets in order to determine whether data cleansing is needed. data cleansing the process of eliminating inaccuracies, irregularities, and discrepancies from character data. data lineage a search that seeks to identify the tables, columns, and transformations that have an impact on a selected table or column. See also impact analysis, reverse impact analysis, transformation. data transformation in SAS data quality, a cleansing process that applies a scheme to a specified character variable. The scheme creates match codes internally to create clusters. All values in each cluster are then transformed to the standardization value that is specified in the scheme for each cluster. database library a collection of one or more database management system files that are recognized by SAS and that are referenced and stored as a unit. Each file is a member of the library. database server a server that provides relational database services to a client. Oracle, DB/2 and Teradata are examples of relational databases. delimiter a character that separates words or phrases in a text string. derived mapping a mapping between a source column and a target column in which the value of the target column is a function of the value of the source column. For example, if two tables contain a Price column, the value of the target table’s Price column might be equal to the value of the source table’s Price column multiplied by 0.8. digest column a column in a cross-reference table that contains a concatenation of encrypted values for specified columns in a target table. If a source row has a digest value that differs from the digest value for that dimension, then changes are detected and the source Glossary 233 row becomes the new current row in the target. The old target row is closed out and receives a new value in the end date/time column. dimension a category of contextual data or detail data that is implemented in a data model such as a star schema. For example, in a star schema, a dimension named Customers might associate customer data with transaction identifiers and transaction amounts in a fact table. dimension table in a star schema or snowflake schema, a table that contains data about a particular dimension. A primary key connects a dimension table to a related fact table. For example, if a dimension table named Customers has a primary key column named Customer ID, then a fact table named Customer Sales might specify the Customer ID column as a foreign key. fact table the central table in a star schema or snowflake schema. A fact table typically contains numerical measurements or amounts and is supplemented by contextual information in dimension tables. For example, a fact table might include transaction identifiers and transaction amounts. Dimension tables could add contextual information about customers, products, and salespersons. Fact tables are associated with dimension tables via key columns. Foreign key columns in the fact table contain the same values as the primary key columns in the dimension tables. foreign key one or more columns that are associated with a primary key or unique key in another table. A table can have one or more foreign keys. A foreign key is dependent upon its associated primary or unique key. In other words, a foreign key cannot exist without that primary or unique key. foundation repository in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a metadata repository that is used to specify metadata for global resources that can be shared by other repositories. For example, a foundation repository is used to store metadata that defines users and groups on the metadata server. Only one foundation repository should be defined on a metadata server. See also custom repository, project repository. generated key a column in a dimension table that contains values that are sequentially generated using a specified expression. Generated keys are used to implement surrogate keys and retained keys. global resource an object, such as a server or a library, that is shared on a network. impact analysis a search that seeks to identify the tables, columns, and transformations that would be affected by a change in a selected table or column. See also transformation, data lineage. intersection table a table that describes the relationships between two or more tables. For example, an intersection table could describe the many-to-many relationships between a table of users and a table of groups. iterative job a job with a control loop in which one or more processes are executed multiple times. Iterative jobs can be executed in parallel. See also job. 234 Glossary iterative processing a method of processing in which a control loop executes one or more processes multiple times. job a metadata object that specifies processes that create output. locale a value that reflects the language, local conventions, and culture for a geographic region. Local conventions can include specific formatting rules for dates, times, and numbers, and a currency symbol for the country or region. Collating sequences, paper sizes, and conventions for postal addresses and telephone numbers are also typically specified for each locale. Some examples of locale values are French_Canada, Portuguese_Brazil, and Chinese_Singapore. lookup standardization a process that applies a scheme to a data set for the purpose of data analysis or data cleansing. match code an encoded version of a character value that is created as a basis for data analysis and data cleansing. Match codes are used to cluster and compare character values. See also sensitivity. metadata administrator a person who defines the metadata for servers, metadata repositories, users, and other global resources. metadata model a definition of the metadata for a set of objects. The model describes the attributes for each object, as well as the relationships between objects within the model. metadata object a set of attributes that describe a table, a server, a user, or another resource on a network. The specific attributes that a metadata object includes vary depending on which metadata model is being used. metadata repository a collection of related metadata objects, such as the metadata for a set of tables and columns that are maintained by an application. A SAS Metadata Repository is an example. metadata server a server that provides metadata management services to one or more client applications. A SAS Metadata Server is an example. metadata source control in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a feature that enables multiple users to work with the same metadata repository at the same time without overwriting each other’s changes. See also change management. operational data data as it exists in the operational system, which is used as source data for a data warehouse. operational system one or more programs (frequently relational databases) that provide source data for a data warehouse. owner the person who is responsible for the contents of an object such as a table or a library. See also administrator. . the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a facility for metadata source control, metadata promotion, and metadata replication. change-managed repository in the SAS Open Metadata Architecture, a metadata. of comparing one set of metadata to another set of metadata and identifying the differences between the two sets of metadata. For example, in SAS Data Integration Studio, you have the option. an example. metadata server a server that provides metadata management services to one or more client applications. A SAS Metadata Server is an example. metadata source control in the SAS Open Metadata