Date:         Wed, 17 Dec 1997 15:53:51 -0800
Reply-To:     Erik Scott <escott@SFO.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Erik Scott <escott@SFO.COM>
Organization: San Francisco Online (Televolve, Inc.)
Subject:      Data collection and tracking
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I would be interested in anybody's ideas on this subject.
 
I need to receive data from a number of locations (400) each week.  The
data comes back to in a lotus file stamped with a date value.  I want to
know for any given week how many I locations HAVE NOT returned their
data.
 
To make this even more challenging the number of locations each week
fluctuates - if a location closes I need the data up until the last week
they are in operation.  And, if a there is a new location I need to
start receiving data from them.
 
I know when a location opens and when they close.
 
What would be the best way to track the status of returned data.  I'm
starting with the following idea - create a data set with 53 variables:
      location id#     week1    week2    week3   week4 ....
 
If a location gets added I would set the value of the current week plus
all future weeks to a value of 1.
If I receive the data I would add 1 to the appropriate variable
representing the week received.
 
I could then array the dataset to determine you has not returned the
data.
 
If anyone has any other ideas I would be interested.   Ultimately, this
process will be incorporated into a frame application so the use of scl
lists or scl could be used.
 
Thanks for any ideas,
Erik Scott