How to Accelerate and Simplify Data Entry: Working with Dates in Business Central

Posted on: March 1, 2021 | By: Guy Logan | Microsoft Dynamics Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central offers multiple ways to enter dates and times, providing powerful features that accelerate data entry and simplify calendar expressions. Within the BC platform, there are various places where you can enter dates and times in fields. For example, on a sales order, you can set the shipment date. When filtering lists or report data, you can enter dates and times to pinpoint only the data that you are interested in. In this blog post, we will provide a comprehensive guide to using dates to optimize your business processes in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.

Entering Dates

In a date field, you can enter a date using the standard format for your region setting. Different regions can use different separators between the days, months, and years. For example, some regions use dashes (mm-dd-yyyy) and others use forward slashes (mm/dd/yyyy). However, you can use any separator (e.g. a space) and the date will automatically be changed to use separators that match your region.

Digit patterns

In a date field, you can enter two, four, six, or eight digits:

  • If you enter two digits, this is interpreted as the day. The system will automatically add the month and the year of the work date.
  • If you enter four digits, this is interpreted as the day and the month. The system will automatically add the year of the work date. The order of the day and month is determined by your region settings. Even if your region settings have the year before the day and month, four digits are interpreted as the day and month.
  • If the date you want to enter is in the range 01/01/1930 through 12/31/2029, you can enter the year with two digits; otherwise, enter the year with four digits.

Period

To filter for a specific accounting period, enter the letter p, or the word period, followed by a number that identifies the accounting period (e.g. p2 or period4) in a date field. The accounting period is relative to the fiscal year of the current work date that set in your Role Center. For example, if the work date is 03/21/20, then p1, or just p, filters on the first accounting period of the fiscal year 2020 (such as 01/01/20 to 01/31/20). p15 filters on the fifteenth accounting period from the start of fiscal year 2020 (such as 03/01/21 to 03/31/21).

Setting Ranges

On lists, totals and reports, you can set filters on dates, times and datetimes containing a start value and optionally an end value to display only the data contained in that range. The standard rules apply to the way you set date ranges:

Using Date Formulas

A date formula is a short, abbreviated combination of letters and numbers that specifies how to calculate dates. You can enter date formulas in various date calculation fields or filters.

The date formula can contain a maximum of 20 characters, both numbers and letters. You can use the following letters, which are abbreviations for calendar units. Below are the relevant letters and their corresponding meaning:

  • C: Current
  • D: Day(s)
  • W: Week(s)
  • M: Month(s)
  • Q: Quarter(s)
  • Y: Year(s)

You can construct a date formula in three ways. The following example shows how to use C, for current, and a time unit:

  • CW: Current week
  • CM: Current month

The following example shows how to use a number and a time unit. A number cannot be larger than 9999.

  • 10D : 10 days from today
  • 2W: 2 weeks from today

The following example shows how to use a time unit and a number.

  • D10: The next 10th day of a month
  • WD4: The next 4th day of a week (Thursday)

The following example shows how you can combine these three forms as needed.

  • CM + 10D: Current month + 10 days

The following example shows how you can use a minus sign to indicate a date in the past.

  • -1Y: 1 year ago from today

 

Next steps

Logan Consulting has helped various brands transform their business using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. If you are interested in Business Central or want to find out how Logan Consulting can help you optimize your business, contact us today for a consultation.