Dates Format

PrevContributor

Can the dates be set to format as 00/00/00? (mm/dd/yy)

harish_bk

Hi Lindsay

As of now I guess there is only one format for the Date and it by default eliminates the 0, i.e., 08/05/2016 gets converted to 8/5/2016 automatically.

If you are not using the date and if its only for the display purpose then you can just format the line item as Text and then have your own formats but it would lose all its intelligence related to date format.

dianaplan

Within Anaplan, there is not a way to change the date format.  Even though your date format in your browser is set to dd/mm/yyyy, you may not necessarily see those leading 0s (it just means there's room for 2/4 digits in that area).  


If you would like you can write a post in the Request for Enhancements forum topic: https://community.anaplan.com/forums/-/message_boards/category/37848

dianaplan

How dates are presented to you depends on your browser settings.  When data is imported into Anaplan modules, you "tell" Anaplan which of the numbers is the day/month/year, and then it's presented to the user based on their individual browser settings. For example, here in the US, my browser is set to give me dates in month/day/year, but our friends in EMEA will likely see them as day/month/year.

harish_bk

Hi Diana

As per my browser settings and windows control panel settings the date dispaly is DD/MM/YY so 8th august 2016 should look like 08/08/16 but in anaplan still it looks as 8/8/2016, so I guess we cannot get 08 in display but it would just be 8.

Could you please check in your system and let us know.

tbeck

Navigate to the Module that contains the Date Format you are using for the Date Output, insert a Line Item "Format Date" and populate the Formula referencing the Line Item with the Date, but format the line item as TEXT. Once you have your date format, the Formula should be as such:
TEXT(YEAR(Format Date)) & "-" & (IF LENGTH(TEXT(MONTH(Format Date))) < 2 THEN "0" & TEXT(MONTH(Format Date)) ELSE TEXT(MONTH(Format Date))) & "-" & IF LENGTH(TEXT(DAY(Format Date))) < 2 THEN "0" & TEXT(DAY(Format Date)) ELSE TEXT(DAY(Format Date))

 

This will give a date output of YYYY-MM-DD but you can switch around the logic to obtain MM-DD-YYYY or replace the "-" with "/" if you want that format. 

 

rob_marshall

@tbeck 

 

While you can do that, it is best practice that  you don't and instead break that up into multiple line items so it is cleaner, easier to read/maintain, as well as it performs better because the formula is no longer single threaded.  So, you would have four line items: one for Year, one for Month, one for Day, and the last one which puts them all together.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

DavidSmith

What is even simpler is to use a defined format of YYYYMMDD and specify that in the import

No need for any manipulation!

 

Just a little change for the end user and you save a bunch of calcs

 

Remember "simple is better than complex"

David

VDPriya

Hello @rob_marshall ,

 

I am uploading a csv template into Anaplan. The csv contains date as column entered by user. Is there a way where Anaplan automatically date formats from MM-DD-YYY to MM/DD/YYY?

 

Because no matter in which format user enters the date, either using "-" or "/", Anaplan should automatically change it to "MM/DD/YYYY" in an import mapping. I have tried giving custom format mapping to "MM/DD/YYYY", but still, I receive error as Invalid Date.

 

Can you please help me on this?

rob_marshall

@VDPriya 

 

Yes, the custom mapping should work.  You have to be careful about CSV's in that how the data is displayed might not be how the data is stored.  I would look at the data (in the cell) and then use custom mapping to load it.

 

Rob