Use the Time ID Creation using Informat window to add a SAS date valued time ID variable to an input data set. Use this window if your data set contains a date variable that is stored as a character string. Using the appropriate SAS date informat, the date string is read in and used to create a date or date-time variable. To access this window, select “Create from existing variable/informat” from the Create pop-up list in any window where you can select a Time ID variable.