Common Techniques Used In Reporting › 5.5 Using Summarization

5.5 Using Summarization

Summarization combines the observations from one cycle of a
file to produce a data set with fewer observations than the
cycle being summarized.  This is the same as aggregating to
obtain fewer observations.

When using the CA MICS database, you must be aware of the
sort order (sequencing) of observations in the files and the
effect of summarization on the variables:

o Knowledge of sequencing is valuable so you can save
  computer time used for sorting since there is no point
  sorting a cycle if it is already in the proper sequence.

o The effects of summarization must be taken into
  consideration when using variables because they may have
  lost their meaning as a result of the summarization
  process. For example, summarization is always performed on
  a common date or time variable for the purpose of
  aggregating observations when changing timespans (going
  from DAYS to WEEKS for example).

If a file is in summarized form in a timespan, the lowest
sequence variable is the one on which the file is summarized.

In general, a timespan's file can be viewed as being
summarized from a previous timespan: DAYS is summarized from
DETAIL, YEARS from MONTHS, and so on.

These topics show you how to perform summarization on CA MICS
files:

  1 - Summarization Concepts
  2 - Defining a File Summarization Process
  3 - Structure and Operation of the Summary Macro
  4 - Augmenting the Summarization with %NEGATE
  5 - Summarization Examples