Learn · The scheduling behind it
The data date: the day your schedule is speaking from
After this subject you can say what a data date is in plain words, read the one your project is measured as of, and know what changes the day it moves.
A schedule that knows what day it is
A look-ahead with no date on it is a picture of a plan. Nothing on the page says which morning the plan it shows was true of, so a fresh print and a month-old one look exactly the same. A schedule in Brikt carries that date with it, and everything it tells you is stated as of that day.
Why it matters — an undated page is not wrong. It simply cannot tell you how old its view of the plan is.
Before it is history; after it is still the plan
Think of a bank balance. It is a real number, and it is a number as of a moment — spend something after it and the figure is not wrong, it is just older than you are. A schedule works the same way. Progress is recorded through this date. Anything before it is history; anything after it is still the plan.
As of, data date, status date
Brikt's own chrome keeps it plain: the schedule header reads As of and the day it is measuring from, and the Gantt draws a line down that same day. Schedulers call it the data date, or the status date, and printed sheets keep that name. All three are one day.
Look at
- 1The As of readout in the header — the day this schedule is speaking from.
- 2The line down the Gantt on the same day.
- 3The forecast finish beside it, which is what the plan says from there.
Why the check-in asks about that date, not about today
The morning list is what the schedule expected, not what the calendar on the wall says. The two agree for as long as the date is kept current. When it is not, the header says so — it names the day it is measuring from, and how many days behind that is.
Why it matters — it is why a row can read “due to start today” on a morning that is not today.
What moves when it advances
Moving the date forward tells Brikt that everything planned before it should have started. Three things follow. Work that should have started and did not gets asked about. Work still running is re-counted from the new line. Work already finished stops being a question.
Why it matters — the days left on a running activity are re-counted from the new date, so its expected finish does not slide out just because the date moved.
Work that should have started and did not
Brikt does not quietly push those rows into the future. It asks. The check-in puts them in front of you, and each one is either marked started, with the real date, or moved to start no earlier than the new date. Until you choose, a banner says so and does not go away.
Why it matters — a choice you did not make is never recorded on your behalf, and the schedule never tidies itself.
A finish before the line is a choice, not an assumption
Enter a finish date that has already passed and Brikt will not read it as work with days left on it. Nor does it decide for you: it says what the date reads as, and offers the two honest answers — record it as started and finished, or pick a finish on or after the date if it is still going.
Why it matters — only you finish an activity; Brikt never assumes it.
Days, not hours
Durations are whole working days. A day is a day whatever the calendar's hours are, one week is five duration days, and nothing starts or finishes in the middle of one. So a running activity re-counted onto a new date lands on a whole day, and the smallest honest answer is one day left.
Why it matters — zero days left would mean finished, and finishing is something you say rather than something a count decides.
Who moves it, and when
Reporting progress never moves the date. Someone moves it deliberately, and only forward — a project admin or editor, from the schedule header or from the check-in. Inside an update cycle the date sits behind today quite legitimately; that is the cycle working, not a fault.
Ask about the date, not about the mood
Ask
What date is this schedule measured as of?
Instead of
Is this schedule current?
Ask
What was due to start before that date and has not?
Instead of
What is late?
Ask
When are we bringing the date forward?
Instead of
When is the next update?
What to remember
- A schedule states its facts as of a date. Before it is history; after it is still the plan.
- Brikt's header reads As of; schedulers call the same day the data date, or the status date.
- The check-in asks what the schedule expected as of that date, not what today is.
- Advancing it asks about work that should have started, re-counts what is still running, and leaves finished work alone.
- Durations are whole working days, and the smallest honest answer on a running activity is one day left.
Find the date your schedule is speaking from
Open a project you are running and read the As of date in the schedule header. If it is behind today, the header says how far — and the check-in is where you bring it forward. If you would rather see a whole update cycle on a real job first, bring one to a demo and we will run a morning on it together.