Date Difference Calculated Column

Last update: February 20, 2024

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This topic outlines the purpose and uses of the Date Difference calculated column available in the Manage Data > Data Warehouse page. Below is an explanation of what it does, followed by an example, and the mechanics of creating it.

Explanation

The Date Difference column type calculates the time between two events belonging to a single record, based on the event timestamps. The raw value calculated in this column is in seconds, but it auto-converts to minutes, hours, days, and so on, for display on reports. When used as a filter/group by, however, you want to use the value in seconds.

A date difference calculated column can be used to create a metric which calculates the average or median time between two events, such as average time between customer registration and their first orders.

Example

idtimestamp_1timestamp_2Seconds between timestamp_2 and timestamp_1
A2015-01-01 00:00:002015-01-01 12:30:0045000
B2015-01-01 08:00:002015-01-01 10:00:007200

In the above example, the Date Difference column is the Seconds between timestamp_2 and timestamp_1 column. It performs the calculation timestamp_2 minus timestamp_1.

Mechanics

The following steps describe how to create a Date Difference column.

  1. Navigate to the Manage Data > Data Warehouse page.

  2. Navigate to the table on which you want to create this column.

  3. Click Create a Column and configure your column as follows:

    • Select Column Definition Type > Same Table
    • Select Column Definition Equation > DATE_DIFF = (Ending DATETIME - Starting DATETIME)
    • Select Ending DATETIME column > Choose the ending datetime field, which is typically the event that occurs later
    • Select Starting DATETIME column** > Choose the starting datetime field, which is typically the event that occurs earlier

  4. Provide a name to the column and click Save.

  5. The column is available to use immediately.

As an example, the following example is configured to calculate the Seconds between order date and customer's creation date:

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