Use the CData ODBC Driver for PingOne in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for PingOne, you gain database-like access to live PingOne data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This article explains how to create a library for PingOne in SAS and create a simple report based on real-time PingOne data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live PingOne data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to PingOne, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to PingOne and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can easily visualize and analyze PingOne data in SAS.

Connect to PingOne as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to PingOne follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for PingOne must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).

To connect to PingOne, configure these properties:

• : The region where the data for your PingOne organization is being hosted.
• : The type of authentication to use when connecting to PingOne.
• Either (required when using the default PingOne domain) or , configured as described below.

Configuring WorkerAppEnvironmentId

is the ID of the PingOne environment in which your Worker application resides. This parameter is used only when the environment is using the default PingOne domain (auth.pingone). It is configured after you have created the custom OAuth application you will use to authenticate to PingOne, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.

First, find the value for this property:

1. From the home page of your PingOne organization, move to the navigation sidebar and click Environments.
2. Find the environment in which you have created your custom OAuth/Worker application (usually Administrators), and click Manage Environment. The environment's home page displays.
3. In the environment's home page navigation sidebar, click Applications.
4. Find your OAuth or Worker application details in the list.
5. Copy the value in the Environment ID field. It should look similar to:
   

   WorkerAppEnvironmentId='11e96fc7-aa4d-4a60-8196-9acf91424eca'

Now set to the value of the Environment ID field.

Configuring AuthorizationServerURL

is the base URL of the PingOne authorization server for the environment where your application is located. This property is only used when you have set up a custom domain for the environment, as described in the PingOne platform API documentation. See Custom Domains.

Authenticating to PingOne with OAuth

PingOne supports both OAuth and OAuthClient authentication. In addition to performing the configuration steps described above, there are two more steps to complete to support OAuth or OAuthCliet authentication:

• Create and configure a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.
• To ensure that the driver can access the entities in Data Model, confirm that you have configured the correct roles for the admin user/worker application you will be using, as described in Administrator Roles in the Help documentation.
• Set the appropriate properties for the authscheme and authflow of your choice, as described in the following subsections.

OAuth (Authorization Code grant)

Set to OAuth.

Desktop Applications

Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

• : GETANDREFRESH. To avoid the need to repeat the OAuth exchange and manually setting the each time you connect, use .
• : The Client ID you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
• : The Client Secret you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
• : The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application. For example: https://localhost:3333

When you connect, the driver opens PingOne's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver then completes the OAuth process:

1. The driver obtains an access token from PingOne and uses it to request data.
2. The OAuth values are saved in the location specified in , to be persisted across connections.

The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications, Headless Machines, or Client Credentials Grant, refer to the Help documentation.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for PingOne in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData PingOne Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for PingOne
Description = My Description
AuthScheme = OAuth
WorkerAppEnvironmentId = eebc33a8-xxxx-4f3a-yyyy-d3e5262fd49e
Region = NA
OAuthClientId = client_id
OAuthClientSecret = client_secret
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a PingOne Library in SAS

Connect to PingOne in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for PingOne.

1. Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
2. In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
3. Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
4. Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK. 👁 Creating a library for PingOne in SAS.
   

Create a View from a PingOne Query

SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live PingOne data for reports, charts, and analytics.

Using the Query Tool

1. In SAS, click Tools -> Query
2. Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK. 👁 Selecting table(s) to visualize.
   
3. Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc. 👁 Selecting columns(s) to visualize and configuring the query.
   
4. Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK. 👁 Create a local view to work with PingOne data.
   

Using PROC SQL

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
   NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.

   proc sql;
    create view [cdata].[administrators].users_view as
    select 
    id, 
    username 
    from 
    odbclib.[cdata].[administrators].users 
    where 
    EmployeeType = 'Contractor';
   quit;
   

3. Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.

Report On or Visualize PingOne Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze PingOne data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.

Print an HTML Report

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the PingOne [CData].[Administrators].Users data.

   proc print data=[cdata].[administrators].users;
    title "PingOne [CData].[Administrators].Users Data";
   run;
   

   👁 A simple PingOne data report.
   

Print a Chart

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the [CData].[Administrators].Users data.

   proc gchart data=[cdata].[administrators].users;
    pie id / sumvar=username
    value=arrow
    percent=arrow
    noheading
    percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
    slice=inside value=none
    name='[CData].[Administrators].UsersChart';
   run;
   

   👁 A simple PingOne data chart.