Set defined periods for a database

Owned by Helen Gosper
Last updated: Dec 06, 2023 by Denise McGettigan
4 min read

Periods are a core concept in Phocas. Read the Phocas basics > Periods page to learn more about the Period menu in Phocas and the different types of periods.

If you have the Administration > Databases permission, you can determine what defined periods (date ranges) are available for use in a database. In Analytics and Financial Statements, this correlates to the defined periods that display in the Period menu. While users can add their own user-defined periods, if a particular period is required by several users, it is better to add it as a defined period at the database level. This makes the period available across the database, so all users can access it from the Period menu. 

Defined periods are based on period types. Therefore, you might need to add a new period type before adding a defined period. For example, if you want to add a defined period for the Current Financial Week, you must first add a period type for Financial Weeks to the database.

The Month to Date option in Analytics only works for defined periods based on the Month period type.

View the defined periods for a database

  1. Click Administration > Databases, then click the database name (blue link) to open the database settings page.

  2. Click the Defined Periods tab. This tab displays the defined periods available for the database. 

Add a built-in defined period 

The simplest way to assign defined periods to a database is to select from a list of common periods built into Phocas.

  1. On the Defined Periods tab, click Add.

  2. Select the defined period you require.

Edit a defined period

  1. On the Defined Periods tab, click the period name (blue link) to open its setup window.

  2. In the Defined Period window, make your changes. See the Add a new defined period steps below for more information.

  3. Click Save.

Add a new defined period

If none of the built-in defined periods meet your needs, you can add your own defined period.

  1. On the Defined Periods tab, click New.

  2. In the Defined Period window, enter the name of the period.

  3. Select the period type (time unit) upon which the defined period is based. Typically the period type options are Year, Month or Day but other types might be available, such as Quarter and Week, depending on whatever has been added to your Phocas site. See Period types to learn how to add new period types.

  4. (Optional) Select the Reversed checkbox. By default, time units (years, months, weeks or days) display in the grid in chronological order from left to right. To avoid users having to scroll across to the most recent time unit, you can reverse the display order.

  5. Select the Start and End dates for your Current period. Often a fixed set of dates is of limited use, so you have the following dynamic date options. The use of a dynamic date is a simple way to get a date range that updates each year and it saves you from having to update dates each new calendar or financial year. 

    • Dynamic month option (available when defining a date range based on months) - Select either a fixed month or one of two dynamic options: Most recent (the past 12 months) or Second most recent (the 12 months before that).

    • Offset dates - Define a date range based on today's date, so that the data continues to update. The defined period becomes a dynamic date range, such as Year to Date or Last Six Months. Selecting the Offset checkbox converts the date range into a number. For example, if using the Month type, an offset of zero means the current month, and an offset of -2 means two months ago. See Use offset dates for more information and examples.

    • Special offsets (available when defining a date range based on days) - Select from one of four matches (First Day, Last Day, Match Today or Match Yesterday) and offset that match against a chosen month. See Use offset dates for more information.

  6. Review the Start and End dates for the Previous period. These dates are automatically set by Phocas based on what you selected for your Current period. If they are not correct, change them using one of the same methods above.

  7. Click Save. Your newly defined period is added to the list and also becomes available to users in the Period menu when they open the database.

Delete a defined period

  1. Click Administration > Databases, then click the database name (blue link) to open the database settings page.

  2. Click the Defined Periods tab. This tab displays the defined periods available for the database. 

  3. (Optional) Use the dropdown list on the top right to filter by period type. 

  4. Select the row of the defined periods you want to delete.

  5. Click Delete > Yes.