Define custom monthly period

Hi everyone! In some countries, they use a monthly reporting period from the 26th to the 26th of next month. Is there a way I can implement that in DHIS2 so that fixed period and relative period match the local reporting period?
Thanks,
Camille

Hi @CamilleR

Unfortunately, it is not possible to define a new set period or relative period in DHIS2 yet. It is something that we’ve looked into, but it would require a fairly big overhaul of the backend as the periods are foundational to how the data is stored.

We have had other request from the education sector to be able to define school terms as set periods for example, but I have not heard of a need for a 26th-26th month period before. Could you tell us a bit more about the use-case and kind of data you are capturing the requires this?

All the best,
Scott

Hi @Scott
Thanks for this feedback.
In Somalia, they report monthly data based on a 26th to 25th month (but I don’t know the rationale behind). So for example the January monthly report contains data from the 26th of December to the 25th of January.

A work around would be to shift the year so that 2021 start on the 26th of December 2020. Would that be feasible (from front end or back end)?
Would then 26th of December be considered as 1st of January? The perfect scenario would be to keep dates as they are, to not mess with report dates but only shift the date when the year starts (and hence the month of January)…

Best,
Camille

@scott and @CamilleR

Ethiopia has also a different Calender which starts at 29th of the month and ends on the 28th. ,

Kind regards
Derebe

Hi @CamilleR,

That’s interesting, but no it is not possible to trick the system to starting the new month on the 26th as the time and date is set on the server itself. DHIS2 just uses the server time and date. This is also one of the main reasons why it is difficult to accommodate multiple calendars in DHIS2 (Ethiopian, Napali, Lunar, etc) because globally all servers are set based upon UTC.

Those calendars previously mentioned are supported in DHIS2, but it does require a massive amount of work by a highly skilled developer team per calendar to enable them.

If Somolia has that reporting cycle due to an operational or programatic decision then it would be great to know what that is as there are dozens of other countries that are able to support their operations with a standard monthly calendar. Maybe we could work with them to modify their reporting schedule to better align with these technical limitations.

All the best,
Scott

Hi @Scott
Thanks for these inputs. Too bad we can’t really do something about that.
The problem with the calendars is that the whole system is changed (years and months names and length etc) and not just a shift of the ISO calendar.

@Derebe: did you find a work around or are you using the Ethiopian calendar or are you also interested in a potential solution?

Best,
Camille

@CamilleR
I am currently using the DHIS2 Calender but would appreciate if there is a possibility to use our different Calenders. I am hoping @Scott and the team will have a solution at some point in the future.

Hi @Scott,
Would it be feasible then to add “last 30 days” in the reporting periods?
Best,
Camille

Hi @CamilleR,

Sorry, no, we are not really able to be flexible with aggregated reporting periods. It is either daily, weekly, monthly, quartily, or yearly.

You can use tracker to capture a single repeating stage every 30 days if you wanted. There is no issue in reporting aggregated data in tracker. The only issue might be that you might have two stages reported in the same month for months with 31 days. In which case you would not be able to show the first data captured that month in the analytics.

There is a last 30 days relative period in analytics. I don’t think this is what you are refering to, but just incase it is.

All the best,
Scott