Periods
Learn about periods, a core concept in Phocas.
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Learn about periods, a core concept in Phocas.
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All the data you see in the Phocas grids is tied to a period. Therefore, to become a confident Phocas user, you must understand how periods work. For example, before you start analyzing data you should stop and ask yourself, ‘What data range am I looking at?’
In Phocas, periods are time and date ranges (typically months or years) for the data that is displayed. Often, a period consists of two date ranges: a Current period and a comparative Previous period. You can see the Current and Previous columns in Analytics > Period mode, and in Financial Statements, in all statements except for the Trial Balance.
In Analytics and Financial Statements, when you open a database, you use the Period menu to view the data in the grid over different timeframes. For example, you might want to view data for the rolling 12 months, then change the period to view data for the year to date. In the Period menu, a default period is applied and several defined periods are available for you to select. If the date range you want is not featured in any of those defined periods, and you have the required user permissions, you can either apply a custom period or add your own user-defined period.
In Budgets & Forecasts, the budget period is based on one of the period types that have been enabled for the underlying database.
The default period is the timeframe you see first when you open a database; it is automatically selected for you in the Period menu. This period is initially set by your administrator (when they give you access to the database) but you can change it.
A defined period is a period that is set for the database by your administrator. You see a list of defined periods when you open the Period menu in a database. You can switch between these periods to quickly change your view of the data. Defined periods are usually dynamic, meaning they adjust according to today's date.
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A user-defined period is a period that is set by you. You add this period to the list of defined periods, so it is available for you (only) to select the next time you open the database. In the Period menu, user-defined periods sit below the defined periods (administrator-set) and a line separates the two categories.
You might want to add a user-defined period if there is a specific date range you frequently want to apply to your analysis but it is not included in the existing defined periods. User-defined periods can have fixed or dynamic dates, depending on the options you select when you add them.
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A custom period is a temporary date range that you apply to your current analysis; it is not added to the list of defined periods.
You might want to apply a custom period to view data for a one-off timeframe, such as the duration of a sales promotion. Custom periods can consist of a range of months, sections of months, one month at a time, and so on, depending on what period types are available in the database.
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Period types apply mainly to administrators. They define the core increments of time, forming the basis of defined periods. The default period types are Year, Month and Day. Other period types, known as custom period types, might also be available for a database. Examples of custom period types include Quarters and Weeks.
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Custom period dates are fixed, for example, January 2022, as opposed to last month, which dynamically updates as you move into a new month. However, in the Financial Statements module, you can use the option when applying a custom period to set a date (or date range) based on today's date, so that the data updates.
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