Time intervals

Time intervals define the actual spans of time for each time grouping. For example, you must define the start date and end date for each fiscal year. Ensure that you leave no gaps in time for any grouping. For example, if you are creating intervals for a fiscal year grouping that begins in February and ends in January, ensure that the end date for one interval (for example, January 31, 2018) precedes by exactly one day the start date of the next interval (for example, February 1, 2018). For more information about time groupings, see Time groupings.

Remember to create intervals for future dates to avoid ongoing maintenance of your intervals. Also remember to create intervals sufficient to span all dates for which your company has surveys. (Use the TimeIntervalGaps button to identify any dates not covered.) If an interval does not exist for a date, surveys on that date are not assigned to an interval for that grouping, and are not available when filtering reports.

If you need to create only a few intervals for a grouping (such as for a year), consider creating them manually. If the intervals are all of equal length, consider using the Interval Creator screen to create all intervals for a grouping automatically.

Time intervals are needed when creating custom calendars. For more information, see Custom calendars.

Creating individual intervals manually

  1. Open the Reporting > Report Helpers > Time > Intervals screen.
  2. Click New.
  3. Enter a Name for the interval.

    For example, for a retail year grouping, with data ranging from 2017 to the present day, you might name the first interval RY2017.

  4. Select the TimeGrouping to which this interval applies.
  5. Enter the StartDate in yyyy-mm-dd format.
  6. Enter the EndDate in yyyy-mm-dd format.
  7. Optionally, enter a CycleIndex to place this interval within the context of other intervals in the grouping.

    For example, in the Gregorian calendar, July is 7. In the US, where weeks begin on Sunday, Tuesday is 3. This is useful only when using the Year Ago benchmark. For more information about benchmarks, see Benchmarking.

  8. If you are localizing your reporting application, consider entering a TranslationExplanation to assist the person translating your text.
  9. Click Save.

    An interval named RY 2016

  10. Repeat these steps to create all of the intervals you need for a grouping.

  11. When you have created all of a grouping's intervals validate that you have no interval gaps for your data by turning on the Confirm property and then clicking TimeIntervalGaps.

    A validated interval with no gaps

Note: Time intervals must appear in chronological order. After clicking TimeIntervalGaps, if you see an error about a missing interval you are certain you created, verify that your intervals are in chronological order. If they are out of order, edit the # Key for your intervals in bulk mode:
  1. From the Bulk dropdown, select Bulk (tabs).

    Bulk Export options

  2. Edit the rows to reorder your intervals according to # Key.
  3. Ensure that only the Update property is turned on.
  4. Click Preview to validate the changes you made.
  5. Click Save.

Creating a series of intervals automatically

  1. Open the Reporting > Report Helpers > Time > Interval Creator screen.
  2. Select the TimeGrouping to which this series of intervals applies.
  3. Select the StartDate of the first interval in the series, in yyyy-mm-dd format.

    If you have already created at least 1 interval manually for this grouping, either enter a date for the beginning of the next interval in that series, or enter the date for the beginning of the first interval and then enter a SequenceStart number to indicate where in the sequence to begin creating intervals.

  4. For the IntervalDays property, enter the number of days in each interval.

    For example, for a week it might be 7 days. For a month it might be 30 days. For a year it might be 364 days.

  5. For the IntervalCount property, enter the number of intervals to create in this series.
  6. For the SequenceStart property, enter a number representing where in the sequence to begin creating intervals.

    For example, if you are creating week-long intervals, and you have already created an interval for the first week in the year, ensure that the StartDate represents the beginning of the first interval, and then enter a SequenceStart of 2. If you have not already created intervals for this grouping, enter 1.

  7. For the TimeIntervalName property, enter the naming convention to use for each interval.

    Use the %d parameter to add the sequence number to each interval name. For example, if you are creating a series of week-long intervals for a Retail Weeks grouping you might enter Retail 2016 Week %d to create intervals named Retail 2016 Week 1, Retail 2016 Week 2, Retail 2016 Week 3, and so on.

  8. Turn on the Confirm property, and then click Create TimeIntervals.
    Warning: Do not click Save on this screen.

    Interval Creator screen, configured to create new intervals

  9. Open the Reporting > Report Helpers > Time > Intervals page, and verify that your intervals were created.

    Verification that new intervals were created