To Obtain a Temporal Causal Model

This feature requires the Statistics Forecasting option.

From the menus, choose:

Analyze > Forecasting > Create Temporal Causal Models...

  1. If the observations are defined by a date/time field, then specify the field.
  2. If the data are multidimensional, then specify the dimension fields that identify the time series.
    • The specified order of the dimension fields defines the order in which they appear in all subsequent dialogs and output. Use the up and down arrow buttons to reorder the dimension fields.
    • You can specify subsets of dimension values that limit the analysis to particular values of the dimension fields. For example, if you have dimensions for region and brand, you can limit the analysis to a specific region. Dimension subsets apply to all metric fields used in the analysis.
    • You can also customize the analysis by specifying dimension values by role at the metric field level. For example, if you have a dimension for sales channel (with values 'retail' and 'web') and metrics for sales and advertising in those channels, then you can specify web advertising as an input for both retail and web sales. By default, this type of customization is enabled and limited to selecting from up to a specified number of distinct values (250 by default) of each dimension field.
  3. Click Continue.
    Note: Steps 1, 2 and 3 do not apply if the active dataset has a date specification. Date specifications are created from the Define Dates dialog or the DATE command.
  4. Click Fields to specify the time series to include in the model and to specify how the observations are defined. At least one field must be specified as either a target or as both an input and a target.
  5. Click Data Specifications to specify optional settings that include the time interval for analysis, aggregation and distribution settings, and handling of missing values.
  6. Click Build Options to define the estimation period, specify the content of the output, and specify build settings such as the maximum number of inputs per target.
  7. Click Model Options to request forecasts, save predictions, and export the model system to an external file.
  8. Click Run to run the procedure.