Advanced Insights - Report Builder: Date Formats and Ordering

This guide details how to simplify time-based data in your reports, focusing on two key tasks:

1. Converting Granular Dates & Timestamps:
2. Ordering Data and Charts by Month:

Converting granular dates & timestamps to months or weeks

Learn to simplify detailed date and time information, enabling you to analyse trends from monthly or weekly data.

• Click the triangle for the menu on the date field in the column/row
• Select Advanced Function
• Use the Data Field Extrapolator (Fig.1) to choose your preference from the list – be that Day, Week number, Month etc

Fig.1

Ordering data and charts by month

Discover how to organise your data in a month-by-month chronological order, enabling clearer insights and more effective data visualisation.

• Click the triangle for the menu on the date field in the column/row
• Select Format
• Within the Display section (Fig.2), for the Format drop down chose ‘Reference Code’
• For the resulting Reference Type dropdown select ‘Date Order’
• If you subsequently build a chart, it will in most cases adopt the same order as the data.
• If not – or if perhaps the chart already existed – you can set it using the triangle menu on your date item used in the chart (fig.3). Select Sort and from the following choices select ‘Reference Code’

Fig.2

Fig.3