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PowerPaddy's avatar
PowerPaddy
Frequent Visitor
9 years ago
Solved

DATEDIFF month interval not working as expected.

Hello again,   I'm using the DateDiff function to work out after how many months a policy was cancelled but it's not giving me the expected results. Cancellation Month = DATEDIFF([POLICYSTARTDAT...
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Need Help
  • v-sihou-msft's avatar
    v-sihou-msft
    9 years ago

    PowerPaddy

     

    To get more accurate "MONTHDIFF", you can create a column like below:

     

    Cancellation Month =
 ( 1
    * ( [CANCELDATE] - [POLICYSTARTDATE] ) )
    / DAY ( EOMONTH ( [CANCELDATE], 0 ) )

    Regards,

Greg_Deckler's avatar
Greg_Deckler
Icon for Community Champion rankCommunity Champion
9 years ago

Your understanding is incorrect. DATEDIFF counts the "interval boundaries" crossed between the two dates. Therefore, going from Jan 31st to Feb 1st crosses the month interval boundary (new month).

PowerPaddy's avatar
PowerPaddy
Frequent Visitor
9 years ago

Thank you.

IBM gives the description of the DATEDIFF function on their website...
"The result will be the integer portion of the number of months between the two dates, with any fractional component truncated."

 

I will have to count number the number of days instead as a workaround.

  • v-sihou-msft's avatar
    v-sihou-msft
    Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
    9 years ago

    PowerPaddy

     

    To get more accurate "MONTHDIFF", you can create a column like below:

     

    Cancellation Month =
 ( 1
    * ( [CANCELDATE] - [POLICYSTARTDATE] ) )
    / DAY ( EOMONTH ( [CANCELDATE], 0 ) )

    Regards,