The Month To Date option is available in the following circumstances:
In Period mode, in Summary view only (when no dimension is selected): Period and Stream. Both the current and previous periods need to include the same month for each respective year.
In Variance mode and Stream mode, with any dimension selectedWhen a dimension is selected: Variance, Stream, Period Stream, Period Variance, and Matrix Variance modes. 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 Date option allows you to compare data for the current month with the corresponding number of days in a comparison 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. In this case, a 'like for like' comparison is easy.
For example, if today is the 7th of the month, the 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 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 month. The values in the two columns are now more comparable.
| 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 might use the day prior to 'yesterday' as its reference point. |
Example: Compare data for part of a month
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. Assume today's date is 16 February 2017. You want a like-for-like comparison with the first 15 days in February last year (2016).
Set your date range to display data from this February and last February: Click Period > Custom, then set the Current Period to start and end in February 2017. The Previous Period automatically changes to start and end in February 2016. Click Apply.
Click the Customer dimension.
Click Mode > Variance. The grid 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.
Click Options > Month To Date.
The Previous column updates to display data for the first 15 days of February 2016, as illustrated in the image below. These results are much closer in range than in the image above, where Month To Date was not applied.
(Optional) Save this view as a favorite or dashboard widget.