The START function returns the first date of a time period.
Syntax
START(Time period)
Arguments
| Argument | Data type | Description |
| Time period | Time period | The time period to find the first date of. If left blank, returns the first date from the source module. If a line item with the time period data type is used, returns the first date from that time period. A blank time period returns a blank result. If a direct reference to a time period is used (Time.'Period'), returns the first date from that time period. |
The START function returns a date result.
Additional information
The format used to display the date depends on your OS/browser settings. For example, the U.S. date format displays the month before the day (mm/dd/yyyy).
Examples
The example below shows START(). No parameter is used and the module is time period formatted for months.
| Jan 14 | Feb 15 | |
Period Start Date
| 01/01/2014 | 01/02/2014 |
The example below shows START with a parameter. Start Month is formatted for months and Start Quarter is formatted for quarters.
| Key Dates | Expiry Dates | |
| Month Period | Feb 14 | Apr 16 |
| Quarter Period | Q2 FY14 | Q3 FY16 |
Start Month
| 01/02/2014 | 01/04/2016 |
Start Quarter
| 01/04/2014 | 01/07/2016 |
The final example below shows START with a hard-coded parameter. The current year is set to FY16 and the model Time Scale includes the past 2 years.
| Key Dates | Expiry Dates | |
| Month Period | Feb 14 | Apr 15 |
| Quarter Period | Q2 FY14 | Q3 FY14 |
Start Date Absolute
| 01/01/2014 | 01/01/2014 |
