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9.3. Filtering on Future Dates in Recurring Reports

Last Updated 01/24/2025

Future Relative Dates

Occasionally you may need to run a report that generates a list or count of items or people by future dates, such as a list of patrons whose accounts will expire in the next three months. This is straightforward when running a one-off report on which you can set a specific date range. However, when setting up a recurring report, you will need to use relative dates. 

The default setting for relative dates includes a drop-down menu of numbers up to 90, with a field label of "days ago."

Set the Field Transform

To create a report that will function using relative dates in the future, you have to create the filters in the template. The first step of this is to add your date filter in the template, then edit the field transform. Rather than using Date, Month, or any of the more common transforms, select Months Ago or Quarters Ago.

Set Your Filter

After selecting the appropriate transform, you need to set your filter. When working with past dates, this step can be done in the report set-up. However, the report filter parameters only allow you to choose positive integers. In this case, we need to create double negative: A negative integer combined with the "Months Ago" transform will function like a "Months in the Future" transform. 

When setting up the template, after selecting the appropriate transform, right click on the filter line and select Change Filter Value. 

In the pop-up box, fill in the field with a negative integer equivalent to the length of time in the future you want to capture. For example, if you want a list of patrons whose accounts will expire over the course of the next month, set the field transform to Months Ago and the filter value to -1. 

Setting up Recurrence

After you have set your template and saved it, you'll need to set up the recurrence schedule. 

1. In the Reporter interface, select your template. Choose Create a New Report from Selected Template from the drop-down menu.
2. Check the box next to Recurring Report.
3. Set your recurrence interval to the same amount of time your transform covers. For example, if you created your template for -1 Months Ago, set your recurrence interval to 1 Month.
   
4. Uncheck the box for "Run as soon as possible." This will automatically check the date box.
5. Set the date to the last day of the current month. For example, if you wanted a monthly recurrence starting in September, and you were creating the report in mid-July, you would schedule it to run for the first time on Jul1 31st.
6. Fill in your email address.

Note: setting up recurrence like this will always provide output for the month or quarter following the month you are in. So if it's July and you run the report, you will get the data for August. If you need current month data as well as future month data, you will have to set up two separate reports for this.