Introduction

The chapters that have been examined so far treat calculations as a point in time data. That is, some event or occurrence that occurs at a given point in time. Further, the modeling that we have looked at aggregates this data by other tables, which may be thought of as dimensions for analyzing the data.

The ability to manipulate this type of data by dates and date-derived types is one of the most common forms of analysis, and includes a variety of different types of calculations. The most basic form of this analysis is the concepts of trending, and the comparative questions that arise regarding performance against prior periods. This type of analysis always includes the concept of date, and the business implications of a date aggregation (such as month to date value, year to date value, balance to date value, and running balances). Common performance metrics includes trending by time and comparatives to prior periods.

The recipes in this chapter examine how to manipulate and...