Hi all,
I am unable to enter data for some previous periods.
I have a dataset whose period type is monthly and it has the following configurations:
Expiry days: 240
Open future periods for data entry: 6
Days after period to qualify for timely submission: 10
When I want to enter data for April 2024, I get the message: data entry has concluded and the fields are greyed out.
What might the problem?
Thanks
Hi @fernandoshake ,
The period of April 2024 ended on April 30th 2024, so if you calculate from today, that is 282 days ago. Since the expiry days are set to 240 days, you cannot modify the data. This seems like expected behavior to me. Were you expecting something different?
Best regards,
Jason
Hi @jason,
I thought defining expiry days is related to future data entry and not past data entry. Is my thinking correct? So to allow data entry for April, would it advisable to clear the field and enter zero or ,modify the number of days.
Thanks
The “Expiry days” refer to the number of days after the end of a given period where you can enter data. So in this case, if you adjusted your “Expiry days” to say 300, you should be able to enter data for that period.
“Zero” has a special meaning and this removes all restrictions on which past periods can be modified. This may be what you want, but just be sure before you change it.
“Open future periods” refers to the number of periods in the future which can be entered. Normally, this is set to “0”, which in this case, means that no future data can be entered. A value of “1” would me that one future period could be entered. Its also important to keep in mind that “future” really refers to the end date of the period. So, if today’s date is February 7 2025, and you have a monthly data set, setting the “Open future periods” to 1 would allow data entry into “February 2025”. This is because the end date of the period (February 28th 2025) has not yet passed.
Hope this helps to demystify it a bit. Let us know if you need more help.
Best regards,
Jason
Hi @jason,
If I understood your explanation well, The “Expiry days” refers to entering data only in the past in relation to the current date. If I have a monthly data set and the current date (month) is February, then defining 150 as the expiry date means that a user can enter data now (this month) and backwards?
Hi Fernando,
I think so…yes.
Today is Feb 10 2025. 150 days ago it was August 13th 2024. So, if we consider your scenario, users would be able to enter data for any month between August 2024-Jan 2025.
They can enter data for August 2024, because that periods end date does not exceed the expiry days. They would have approximately 17 days to enter data for August 2024, at which point that period’s end date (August 30th 2024) would exceed the expiry days (150).
They cannot enter data February 2025 yet, since the period has not elapsed yet. Should future periods be set to 1, they would be able to enter data for February 2025. Since the period has not fully elapsed, it would be considered to be a “future period”. Usually for normal reporting, you want to set this to zero, but there can be cases (such as targets and population data) when you need to enter data in the future.
Clearer now? 
Best regards,
Jason