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The Offset date option allows you to set a date (or date range) based on today's date, so that the data continues to update. Instead of a fixed date such as 'Start: January 2016' or 'End: March 2016' you can define a dynamic range such as 'year to date' or 'Last month'.

When offset dates are available

Offset dates are available when adding a period to the defined period list and when setting period option as part of defining a measure (for custom mode or advanced search). You will be presented with a slightly different window depending what you are doing, but the concept is the same. Offset dates are also available to administrators when setting a defined period across a database.

How to apply offset dates

• For all period types other than 'day', enter the offset date as a number. The timeframe will be displayed in words next to the offset field, e.g., if you select 'Month' as your time unit, an offset of 0 means the current month, an offset of -2 would be two months ago (as shown in the image below), and so on. You can choose to set both the start and end dates as offsets, or just one. Save & Apply.
  
  See below for information about setting day-based date ranges.
  
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Offset options for day-based date ranges

When you are defining a date range using 'Day', you can choose from Actual, Offset and Special options. 

• Actual - choose the required date.
  
  
• Offset - enter or select a number of days.
  
  
   Tip. A quick way of getting the correct offset value is to set an actual value and then switch to offset. It will set the offset value to match the previously selected date.
  
  

• Special  - choose one of four 'matches' ('First Day', 'Last Day', 'Match Today' or 'Match Yesterday') and offset that match against a chosen month. 
  
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  About each match
  
  

  • First Day: First day of the offset month.

  • Last Day: Last day of the offset month.

  • Match Today: Tries to match today's date in the offset month.

    • If today is the 13th, you will get the 13th of the offset month.

    • If today is the 29th, 30th or 31st and a direct match is unavailable, you will get the closest match.

  • Match Yesterday: Tries to match yesterday's date in the offset month.

    • If yesterday is the 12th, you will get the 12th of the offset month.

    • If today is the 1st, you will get the last day of the month prior to the offset month.

    • If yesterday is the 29th or 30th and a direct match is unavailable, you will get the closest match.

When do I choose a special date over an offset date?

• The offset option is essentially a day offset (either forwards or backwards from 'today'. You could choose this option to set a rolling 7 day period, for example.
• The special option allows you to choose a day that is based on a month offset (choosing a certain type of day in a particular month). For example, you would choose this option for analysing month-to-date.
• See the video below.

Examples of date settings