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The Month To Date option is available in Summary view (both the current and previous periods need to include the same month for each respective year) and in Variance mode and Stream mode (the displayed periods need to include the current month). 

Info

Typically, month to date is used when your period range (both current and previous) is set to a single month.  Month to date will also be available if your period range spans a number of months, however the range must not exceed 12 months, and the range must not project into the future.

As its name suggests, the month to datethe Month To Date option allows you to compare data for the current month with the corresponding number of days in a comparison month.

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How month to date works

Typically, when you compare sales in the current calendar month with sales in the corresponding month last year the results sales for the whole of the 'previous' month, while the current month will only include transactions up to 'today', instead of a 'like for like' comparison.

When you select Options > Month to date only the transactions from the previous month

  • When this option is turned OFF (default*; checkbox is clear), the data in the current calendar month (Current column) is based on the transactions so far, up to today. Whereas, the data in the corresponding month in the previous year (Previous column) is based on the transactions for the whole of that month. In this case, a 'like for like' comparison is difficult.

  • When this option is turned ON (checkbox is selected), the data in the corresponding month in the previous year (Previous column) updates; only the transactions up to the same day of the current month are included.

, e.g

  • In this case, a 'like for like' comparison is easy.

For example, if today is the 7th of the month, the

current month

data in the Current column would typically include transactions from the 1st to 6th of the month. In the first image below, the Month To Date option is turned off, so the

month and so

data in the Previous column is based on the full month of transactions. Whereas, in the second image below, the Month To Date option is turned on, so the data in the Previous column includes only the transactions from the 1st

-

to 6th of the

comparison month would be included. Note: Be aware that, depending

month. The values in the two columns are now more comparable.

Image Added
Info

*Administrators might set the Month to date option to be turned on by default.

Note

Depending on what time your overnight database updates occur,

month to date may

Month To Date might use the day prior to 'yesterday' as its reference point.

You can use month to date in summary view (both the current and previous periods need to include the same month for each respective year) and in variance mode and stream mode (the displayed periods need to include the current month). 

Example: Compare data for part of a month 

In this example, the user wants

Use the Month To Date option to compare data for the first few weeks of February with the same part of the month in the previous year.

We will assume

Assume today's date is 16 February 2017.

We

You want a like-for-like comparison with the first 15 days in February last year (2016)

. We do this by using 'Month to Date'

.

  1. Set your date range

. Here we want

  1. to display data from this February

vs

  1. and last February

. Select

  1. : Click Period > Custom

. Set the current period

  1. , then set the Current Period to start and end in February 2017

, and the previous period

  1. . The Previous Period automatically changes to start and end in February 2016.

 

  1. Click Apply. 

Select

  1. Click the

'

  1. Customer

'

  1. dimension

and select

  1. .

  2. Click Mode > Variance. The grid

will display

  1. displays results for the entire month of February 2016, and the first 15 days of February 2017. The image below highlights the disparity in these results.

    Image Modified
 Select

  1. Click Options > Month

to

  1. To Date.

    Image Modified

Data in the 'previous' column will change

  1. The Previous column updates to display data for the first 15 days of February 2016

.  The

  1. , as illustrated in the image below

highlights that these

  1. . These results are much closer in range than in the image above

without month to date

  1. , where Month To Date was not applied.

    Image Modified
 You could save this (

  2.  (Optional) Save this view as a favorite or

as a

  1. dashboard widget

), and share it with other users

  1. .

The Month to Date setting (whether on or off) will also apply to the shared user.

Administrators may set some databases to turn on the Month to date option by default.

Info

Typically, month to date is used when your period range (both current and previous) is set to a single month.  Month to date will also be available if your period range spans a number of months, however the range must not exceed 12 months, and the range must not project into the future.

Month to Date will remain on in your current session. 

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