Date comparison

Date Comparison in Analysis Workspace lets you take any column containing a date range and create a common date comparison, such as: year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month, etc.

Here is a video on the topic:

Compare time periods section_C4E36BFE0F5C4378A74E705747C9DEE4

NOTE
Compare Time Periods leverages advanced Calculated Metrics. As a result, it is available only to customers with Analytics Select, Prime, and Ultimate SKUs.

Analysis requires context, and often that context is provided by a previous time period. For example, the question “How much better or worse are we doing than at this time last year?” is fundamental to understanding your business. Date Comparison automatically include a “difference” column, which shows the percentage change compared to a specified time period.

  1. Create a Freeform table, with any dimensions and metrics you want to compare over a time period.

  2. Right-click a table row and select Compare time periods.

    note note
    NOTE
    This right-click option is disabled for metric rows, date range rows, and time dimension rows.
  3. Depending on how you have set the table’s date range, you have these options for comparison:

    table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2
    Option Description
    Prior week/month/quarter/year to this date range Compares to the week/month/etc. immediately before this date range.
    This week/month/quarter/year last year to this date range Compares to the same date range a year ago.
    Custom date range to this date range Lets you select a custom date range.
    note note
    NOTE
    When you select a custom number of days, for example October 7 - October 20 (a 14-day range), you will get only 2 options: Prior 14 days before this date range, and Custom date range to this date range.
  4. The resulting comparison looks like this:

    Rows in the Percent Change column appear red for negative values and green for positive values.

  5. (Optional) As in any other Workspace projects, you can create visualizations based on these time comparisons. For example, here is a Bar graph:

    Note that in order to show the percentage change in the bar chart, you have to have the Percentages setting checked in the Visualization Settings.

Add a time period column for comparison section_93CC2B4F48504125BEC104046A32EB93

You can now add a time period to each column in a table, enabling you to add a time period that is different from the one your calendar is set to. This is another way you can compare dates.

  1. Right-click a column in the table and select Add time period column.

  2. Depending on how you have set the table’s date range, you have these options for comparison:

    table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2
    Option Description
    Prior week/month/quarter/year to this date range Adds a column with the week/month/etc. immediately before this date range.
    This week/month/quarter/year last year to this date range Adds the same date range a year ago.
    Custom date range to this date range Lets you select a custom date range.
    note note
    NOTE
    When you select a custom number of days, for example October 7 - October 20 (a 14-day range), you will get only 2 options: Prior 14 days before this date range, and Custom date range to this date range.
  3. The time period will be inserted on top of the column you selected:

  4. You can add as many time columns as you want, as well as mix and match different date ranges:

  5. In addition, you can sort on each column, which will change the order of days depending on the column you are sorting on.

Align column dates to start on the same row section_5085E200082048CB899C3F355062A733

You can align the dates from each column to all start on the same row.

For example, when you choose to align the dates, if you do a month-over-month comparison between October and September 2016, the left column will start with October 1 and the right column will start with September 1:

NOTE
Consider the following when using this option:
  • This setting is enabled by default for all new projects.

  • This setting applies to the entire table. For example, if you change this setting for a breakdown within the table, it will change the setting for the entire table.

To enable this setting, if it is not already enabled:

  1. In the table where you want to align column dates, select the Settings icon in the table header.

  2. On the Settings tab, select Align Dates from each column to all start on the same row (applies to entire table).

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