What is a system date field?
A system date field is the field the Smart Connector uses to store your data against. Along with the unique field, Smart Connector uses the date field you specify in your configuration to appropriately store and display data in a time series. In order to do so, your data must include a date field and must be configured and follow the following best practices.
Accepted Date Formats
The best practice for the date format within your file is the ISO Standard of YYYY-MM-DD. However, the system will accept other formats as well. Overall the system accepts all ISO 8601 date formats. Below is the listing of acceptable date formats for April 5th, 2016. As a general rule, you will always be okay if the month number precedes the day number or if you use letters to describe the month.
| Format | Example 1 | Example 2 | Ex 3 | Ex 4 |
| YYYY-MM-DD | 2016-04-05 | |||
| YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM | 2016-04-05 11:30 | 2016-04-05 22:30 | ||
| YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM: SS | 2016-04-05 11:30:05 | |||
| MM-DD-YYYY | 04-05-2016 | 4-05-2016 | 04-5-2016 | 4-5-2016 |
| M-D-Y | 04-05-16 | 04-5-16 | 4-05-16 | 4-5-16 |
| M-D | 04-05 | 4-05 | 04-5 | 4-5 |
| D-Mon-YYYY | 05-Apr-2016 | 5-Apr-2016 | ||
| DMon | 05Apr | 5Apr | ||
| Mon-D-YYYY | Apr-05-2016 | Apr-5-2016 | ||
| Month-D-YYYY | April-05-2016 | April-5-2016 | ||
| Day of Week, Month D, YYYY | Tuesday, April 05, 2016 | Tuesday, April 5, 2016 | ||
| Day of Wk, Month D, YYYY | Tue, April 05, 2016 | Tue, April 5, 2016 | ||
| Day of Week, Mon D, YYYY | Tuesday, Apr 05, 2016 | Tuesday, Apr 5, 2016 | ||
| Day of Wk, Mon d, YYYY | Tue, Apr 05, 2016 | Tue, Apr 5, 2016 |
What if I have multiple date fields in my dataset?
Although the system can only recognize one date field as the system date field, you can have multiple date fields in the dataset. You will need to choose one that makes the most sense to store your data against.
What if my dataset does not have a date field?
Although it’s preferable to have a date field, you can configure a Smart Connector to not require one. To do so you will need to toggle on the “Data does not contain Dates” switch under the Additional Features section.