Dates, filters & data freshness

Last updated: July 22, 2026

What this is for — One place that explains the date controls appearing on nearly every Analytics page, how "compared to prior period" works, and why today's numbers can still be settling. Other articles link here instead of re-explaining it.

How to get here

The date filter lives at the top of most Analytics pages — for example Analytics → Overview and every tab under Analytics → Dashboards.

[SCREENSHOT: Analytics → Overview]

How to read the filter

Most pages share the same date filter with four modes:

  • Daily — A single day (defaults to today). Good for the day sheet view of production and collection.

  • Weekly — One calendar week.

  • Monthly — One calendar month (first to last day). This is the default on the Overview page.

  • Custom — Any start-and-end range you pick. If no range is set, custom falls back to the last 90 days.

Change the mode (or the specific day/week/month/range) and the whole page updates to match — every chart and number reflects the window you chose.

"Compared to prior period"

Many metrics show a % change versus the prior equivalent period — never an arbitrary comparison. The comparison window always matches the one you're viewing:

  • A month compares to the previous month.

  • A year-to-date figure compares to the same span last year.

  • The Overview Big 4 sidebar compares MTD, YTD, and the trailing-twelve-month total each to its own prior equivalent.

Green means up versus that comparison window; red means down.

Provider and role pickers

Some pages add their own controls beyond the date filter — for example a provider or role picker (doctor / hygiene / practice) or a year multi-select. Those are documented on the pages that use them (for example, Practice → Provider Reports and the Treatment Plans dashboard).

What the numbers mean

  • MTD — Month-to-date: from the 1st through today.

  • YTD — Year-to-date: from Jan 1 through today.

  • Trailing twelve months (12-Mo) — A rolling total of the last 12 months, not the calendar year.

  • Prior period — The matching earlier window used for the % comparison (previous month, same span last year, etc.).

For power users

  • How the range is resolved. The page tracks two things: which mode you're in (defaulting to Monthly) and a reference date (defaulting to today when none is supplied). It combines those two into the concrete start-and-end range that every chart and number on the page uses.

  • What each mode resolves to. Daily = the full day; Weekly = the calendar week; Monthly = beginning-of-month through end-of-month; Custom = the supplied range, or the last 90 days (from the start of the day 89 days back through the end of the reference day) when none is given.

  • Goals are monthly. Goal figures are stored per month, so goal-backed metrics (production, collection, hygiene visits, new patients, exams) come from that month's goal. On Daily/Weekly/Custom views the values are recomputed from the narrower range rather than read off the monthly total. See "The Overview page & your Big 4."

  • Comparisons. The Big 4 sidebar uses a rolling twelve-month window and compares each period against its equivalent earlier period to compute the % difference.

Data freshness & sync lag

Analytics reads from data synced out of your PMS, not from the PMS live. Two practical consequences:

  • Today's numbers may be incomplete. Same-day figures reflect the most recent sync, so procedures posted after that sync won't appear until the next one. Give today a little time to settle before reading too much into it.

  • A past number can change slightly. If your PMS was updated after Analytics synced — a corrected charge, a late-posted payment, a backdated procedure — the next sync pulls that change in, so yesterday's figure can shift overnight. That's the system self-correcting, not an error.

⚠ TODO (confirm): The actual data sync cadence — how often Analytics pulls from the PMS, roughly when overnight numbers settle, and whether cadence differs by PMS. Confirm with engineering before publishing and replace this callout with the real timing.

Common questions

Why don't these numbers match my PMS exactly? Two reasons. First, Analytics works off synced data, so it reflects the last successful sync rather than the live PMS. Second, a metric always covers a defined date range and may count records slightly differently than an ad-hoc PMS report. Small differences are expected; large or persistent gaps are worth reporting.

Why did yesterday's number change overnight? Because your PMS changed after the previous sync — a late payment, a correction, or a backdated entry — and the next sync brought it in. The number is catching up to your PMS, not breaking.

Why is MTD smaller than last month? Month-to-date only counts through today, so partway through the month it's naturally lower than a full prior month. You're comparing a partial period to a complete one.

Can I compare two arbitrary date ranges? The built-in comparison is always "this period vs. the prior equivalent period." For a fully custom span, use the Custom filter mode to set the window you want; the % comparison still uses the matching prior window.