Understand effective dates

An effective date is the day a value or change starts to apply. For example, a position can belong to one department today and move to another next month. Choosing the right date lets you see the old information, the new information, and when the change happens.

Before you begin

The date selector never expands access. For example, reviewing positions requires the View positions permission, changing them requires the Manage positions permission, reviewing employees requires the View employees permission, and financial values require their separate labor budget or actual compensation permission for the relevant departments.

Read displayed dates

Tables, filters, and other compact areas show dates such as Dec 5, 2026. Details and explanations may show December 5, 2026; both mean the same day. When entering a date, follow the date-entry hint beside the field or use the calendar.

View all dates or one date

On a record’s Details page, choose All fields and set Show to All dates to see the dated entries for its fields together. Select an individual field to narrow the table while keeping the same date view. Choose Selected date to show the values that apply on the selected Effective date, then select Apply.

In All dates, changing the Effective date and selecting Apply keeps earlier and later entries visible and updates their status. Open the calendar to choose your history start date, a recorded change date, or another date. This is a reading choice; it does not save or approve a change.

Choose Today to follow the current date in your organization’s timezone. Choose Specific date to keep reviewing the same day, including when that day happens to be today. A specific date stays fixed when you change other filters, reload the page, or reopen its link. Historical view and Future view identify a selected date before or after today. Return to today changes the date without clearing your other filters; Clear other filters keeps your date choice.

Where Saved change date is available, search for a year, a month and year, or an exact date to find a recorded change. More dates appear as you scroll through the choices. Selecting a date, Previous change, or Next change fills in Effective date and chooses Specific date. Select Apply to view your choices together. Closing the filter panel without applying keeps the previous choices. You can still enter any valid effective date or use the calendar, including a day without a saved change.

If a Today view is left open when a new day starts, choose Refresh to view today to update the information. The displayed date stays visible until you refresh. A specific date stays fixed, and dates entered for a change are separate from the date you are reviewing.

Draft and In review appear only where approval is required. They use badges; the four approved statuses use plain text. Effective date says when a value starts to apply. Recorded says when the entry was saved. Neither date is an approval status.

Position requirements and the history start date

The History start date is the earliest date your organization records. A Position that existed then needs its opening information and initial status at that date. A Position created later begins on its own first effective date.

When your organization makes a new position field required, it first completes current and approved future positions. This does not require filling earlier historical periods. Approval history remains recorded. Approval dates say when decisions were made; effective dates say when the saved information applies. Required values must cover the position’s date, but reviewers do not need to approve every field on the same calendar day.

Add a real change

On a details page with field buttons, choose All fields to review the values together or select a field to see its dated values. Choose Add change at the top of the page to open the entry form. From All fields, choose the field first. Save change records the new entry; Cancel returns to the list without saving. Your viewing date stays with you when you move between the record’s tabs.

Record the new value and its Effective date. A budget rate, employee pay amount, department GL value, or other dated field has no effective end date. Adding a value leaves earlier and later entries in history.

For the day you are reviewing, FTE Tree uses the value with the latest effective date on or before that day. When entries have the same effective date, the most recently saved entry applies. A future-dated value takes effect when that date arrives.

Example: a rate history

January uses $70,000. February and March use $72,000. April 1 onward uses $75,000: it is the newest entry for April 1. The February entry does not replace the later April value. All four entries remain in history.

To plan a temporary value, record two dated values: the temporary amount and the amount that should apply on the return date. Neither entry has an end date.

For a temporary position budget rate, the return entry can instead select the job classification rate. For example, enter $30 per hour from March 1 and choose to use the job classification rate again from April 1. From April 1, the position follows the job classification rate, including later changes to that rate. Entering a specific return amount keeps that amount until another position rate entry changes it.

Review entries already scheduled within the temporary period. If a position rate of $32 per hour is already scheduled for March 15, it still takes effect on March 15. Adding the March 1 and April 1 entries does not remove that scheduled change.

Clear an optional value

On a normal edit form, clear an optional value and choose the date when it should become blank. The earlier value remains in history and applies through the day before that date. The value stays blank until another dated value begins. Where the field supports inheritance, clearing a direct override uses the applicable inherited value instead; check the field guidance and the displayed source.

Saving a dated value also records your chosen date when the value already matches, including when it is already blank. For a position proposal, this happens when the approved change is applied. For example, a blank recorded for March 1 still clears a value later entered with a February 1 effective date. Any change already scheduled after March 1 keeps its own date.

Zero and No are values, not blanks. A field with no recorded information is also different from one deliberately cleared on a known date.

In an Update import, a blank cell normally leaves the existing value unchanged; use <clear> only when the downloaded template guidance allows it.

Use an end date for a period

Assignments and applied adjustments can cover a period. Their end date describes when that assignment or adjustment stops. Budget rates, employee pay amounts, department GL values, and other replacement values use effective dates only.

An end date is not included in the period. It is the first date the information no longer applies. Do not enter the last day the information should apply; enter the following day.

For example, an assignment with an effective date of March 1 and an end date of April 1:

• applies from March 1 through March 31;
• does not apply on April 1; and
• allows another assignment to begin on April 1 without a one-day overlap or gap.

If the next assignment begins April 2 instead, April 1 is a gap.

Leave the end date blank when no end is known or planned. A blank end date means the period remains open-ended; it does not mean that the record ends today. Add the real end date when it becomes known instead of entering a distant placeholder date.

End date compared with Through date

A Through date is included in the period. It is the last date the information applies.

Therefore, an end date of April 1 and a Through date of March 31 describe the same final included day. The difference is that an end date names the first excluded date, while a Through date names the last included date.

Correct recorded information

Use a row’s Correct entry action only when an existing recorded value or date was wrong. Use Void entry only when that dated entry should never have existed. These actions preserve Activity history while showing the corrected information on the record.

Approved and proposed position values

A proposed position change becomes official after final approval of a position request and successful saving of its changes. The new value applies from its effective date, which can be later than the approval date.

Reports and completed results

A report uses the dated information included when it is prepared. Later corrections do not rewrite an older completed report; run it again when you need the corrected result.

Optional practice: choose the day you want to see

For exercises that change records, use a separate practice organization and complete the preparation below.

Practice steps and checks

The walkthrough’s position and Avery’s assignment both begin January 1, 2027.

1. Open Patient Services Coordinator and choose January 1, 2027.
2. Check 1.0 approved FTE and, after assignment, 1.0 assigned FTE.
3. Choose a day before the position starts. It should not appear as an active position yet.
4. Open Activity history with the clock beside the page actions and compare when the change was recorded with when it begins.

A position can be approved before its start date. Recording it early does not make it active early.

For a report, January 1 through December 31, 2027 includes the whole year. On a separate practice record, add a midyear value and a second entry with the same effective date. Confirm that the most recently saved entry applies and both remain in history.