Initiating Program Lock
The first step in initiating the validation process is to lock the program.  This will ensure that the validation is not trying to test a moving target.  You apply this by right mouse clicking on the program and selecting "V - Lock for Validation".  

This will change the program name by adding a new file extension (.sas7bak).   

By changing the file extension, the file options are changed.  You therefore will not be able to submit this file as a SAS program.

It is optional to have the same entered comment inserted into the SAS program in the header section.  Sy/Validate can decipher two types of SAS comments in the header section.>

/*** Comment Style 1 ***/
 *** Comment Style 2 ***;

If the header in the program is of comment style 1 then the following code will be inserted.

This will be at the bottom of the comment section before the ending ***/.

If the header in the program is of comment style 2 then the following code will be inserted.

The selection of "Yes" and "No" for the note insertion will be retained for each user.  This means that the next time you enter a note as part of a backup; the same selection will be defaulted according to what you selected previously.

For convenience, a log evaluation is presented at this step.  It is optional to insert this text to the notes that is recorded within the audited history.  

The selection of "Yes" and "No" for the log evaluation insertion will be retained for each user.  This means that the next time you enter a note as part of a backup; the same selection will be defaulted according to what you selected previously. The notes field can only contain up to 1000 characters.  When this is combined with a long log evaluation, part of the log evaluation may be truncated if it exceeds the maximum length. If notes exceed 1000 characters, this will be truncated in the history database.  If however you select the notes to be inserted into the program header, the whole message will be inserted into the program header but the database will contain the truncated text.

If the program has never been versioned before, you will get the following message. WARNING: The selected program: myprogram.sas does not exist in the audit history. Do you want to version the current program? You will then have the choice to version this program with notes before proceeding.

Performing Log Evaluation
An effective way to ensure that the program has executed successfully is to evaluate the log file. It is common to search for error or warning messages.  In addition to these messages, you can perform a more detailed evaluation by right mouse clicking on the log file and selecting "V - Log Evaluation".  

This captures all "cautionary" messages that are considered important for review.  The messages are preceded by the line numbers where they were found within the log file.  If you need to record this for documentation, you can click on the save button and a text file will be created within the same location named "logeval_" followed by the name of the original log file.

Log evaluation can also be executed in batch mode on multiple log files at once with the %logeval macro.

During program debugging or verification, it is useful to use the "V - Log Evaluation" option.  However, when you need to generate documentation for multiple log files, it is recommended that you use the %logeval macro.  This gives you the option of capturing the evaluation of all programs in your specified directory more efficiently.

You can also select on the folder level and select "V - Log Evaluation".  In this case, all the log files in the directory is available for log evaluation.  All the log files would then be listed at the top list.  Upon selection, the log evaluation will be displayed below.

Adding Notes During Verification
The verification process involves checking the log, output and perhaps creating a separate program to verify that the results are correct.  It is important to record the status and results during this verification process.  This is accomplished by right mouse clicking on the locked file and selecting the option "V - Notes".

You can select the items within the task list that have been completed.  The status is intended to record where you are during the process.  For example, it can signify that there are problems found and that corrections are needed, or it could indicate that verification is completed successfully.

The status indicates what step of the validation process is being performed.  The items in the pull down menu can be customized through the %vconfig macro.  By default, Sy/Validate contains examples including:

• Development - The program is still in development.
• Verification Started - This initiates the verification process.
• Verification Passed - This captures that verification passed all tests conditions.
• Verification Failed - This signifies that something had failed during testing.
• Verification Passed + Production - This combines the step of indicating that the verification was a success and it also promotes the program into production.  In this case, the version number is incremented by one integer number.

Items within the tasks and the status can be configured and customized.  This is done through the %vconfig macro.

Unlocking Program
In the event that the verification process reveals that there are required corrections, the program needs to be unlocked and changed.  This is accomplished by selecting the option "V - Unlock".  This does the following:

• Changes the file name back to its original name without the lock (.sas7bbak) extension
• Allows you to add a note recording additional comments about this step

The original author of the program or the person who applied the lock is the person that can apply the unlock.

Setting Program to Production
After the program has been verified, the program can be set to production mode.  This is accomplished by selecting the "V - Production + Unlock" option.

A production version can have any version number associated with it.  You can use decimal values such as 1.1 to represent incremental updates or integer increments such as 2.0 for larger updates to production releases.  Upon setting this to production, the program name will be set back to its original name without the lock (.sas7bbak) file extension.