Details of the PARETO Procedure

Syntax

The syntax for the PARETO procedure is as follows:

PROC PARETO < options >;

VBAR (variable-list) < / options > ;

< BY variables ; >

You must specify the PROC PARETO statement and at least one VBAR statement (also referred to as a chart statement). If you specify two or more variables in the VBAR statement, they must be enclosed in parentheses. All other statements, such as TITLE statements and BY statements, are optional. You can use multiple VBAR statements with one PROC PARETO statement. The components of the PROC PARETO and VBAR statements are described as follows.

options

can be specified in the PROC PARETO and VBAR statements. In the PROC statement, options specify the input data set as in the following example:

   proc pareto data=failures;
      vbar reason1 / cbars  = blue
                     cframe = green ;
   run;

In the VBAR statement, options specify the layout and features of the chart, and they are listed after a slash (/) that follows the variables to be analyzed.

The "Summary of Options" section, which follows, provides summary tables of options organized by function. The "Dictionary of Options for the PROC PARETO Statement" and the "Dictionary of Options for the VBAR Statement"

describe the options in detail.

variable-list

specifies the process variables to be analyzed. A chart is created for each variable, and the values of each variable determine the Pareto categories for that chart. A list of two or more variables must be enclosed in parentheses.

The variables can be numeric or character, and the maximum length of a character variable is 16. Formatted values are used to determine the categories and are displayed in labels and legends. The maximum format length is 16.