Creating Custom Days

Owned by Stonebranch
Last updated: Jun 01, 2023
13 min read

Overview

A Custom Day defines a single one-time date, a repeating date, or a list of dates. Custom Days are assigned to Calendars.

There are two types of Custom Days:

Custom Days

Custom Days are global custom days; they can be assigned to any Calendar. You create a Custom Day via the Custom Days page, which is accessed via the Automation Center navigation pane.

Local Custom Days

Local Custom Days are assigned automatically only to the Calendar for which they were created. You create a Local Custom Day via the Local Custom Days tab in a Calendar Details.

Creating (Global) Custom Days

Note

The Custom Day Global Permitted Universal Controller system property must be set to true (the default) in order for you to create global Custom Days. If Custom Days already exist on the Controller, you cannot set the property to false.

Step 1

From the Automation Center navigation pane, select Calendars > Custom Days. The Custom Days list displays.
 
To the right of the list, Custom Day Details for a new Custom Day displays.
 

Step 2

Enter / select Details for a new Custom Day, using the field descriptions below as a guide.

  • Required fields display an asterisk ( * ) after the field name.
  • Default values for fields, if available, display automatically.

To display more of the Details fields on the screen, you can either:

  • Use the scroll bar.
  • Temporarily hide the list above the Details.
  • Click the  button above the list to display a pop-up version of the Details.

Step 3

Click the  button. The Custom Day is added to the database, and all buttons and tabs in the Details are enabled.

Note

To open an existing record on the list, either:

  • Click a record in the list to display its record Details below the list. (To clear record Details below the list, click the New button that displays above and below the Details.)
  • Clicking the Details icon next to a record name in the list, or right-click a record in the list and then click Open in the Action menu that displays, to display a pop-up version of the record Details.
  • Right-click a record in the a list, or open a record and right-click in the record Details, and then click Open In Tab in the Action menu that displays, to display the record Details under a new tab on the record list page (see Record Details as Tabs).

Custom Day Details

The following Custom Day Details is for an existing Custom Day.

Depending on the values that you enter / select for these fields, more (or less) fields may display. See the field descriptions, below, for a description of all fields that may display in the Custom Day Details.

For information on how to access additional details - such as Metadata and complete database Details - for Custom Days (or any type of record), see Records.

Custom Day Details Field Descriptions

The following table describes the fields, buttons, and tabs that display in the Custom Day Details.

Field Name

Description

Details

This section contains detailed information about the Custom Day.

Name

Name of this Custom Day.

Version

System-supplied; version number of the current record, which is incremented by the system every time a user updates a record. Click the Versions tab to view previous versions. For details, see Record Versioning.

Description

Description of this record. Maximum length is 255 characters.

Category


Category of this Custom Day.

Options:

Day

This Custom Day defines any day.

Business Day

This Custom Day defines a business day.

Holiday

This Custom Day defines a holiday. Dates flagged as holidays become involved when the user enables Special Restriction on a trigger and selects a situation of On Holiday.

Period

This Custom Day defines a custom period of days (for example: quarters, fiscal year, or 4-5-4 calendar).

You can select a Period Custom Day in:

You can select Day, Business Day, and Holiday Custom Days in:

Type

Type of Custom Day.

Options:

  • Single Date - Any one-time date.
  • Relative Repeating Date - An annual (repeating) date that changes from year to year. For example, the U.S. Thanksgiving falls on the 4th Thursday of November, and is therefore on a different date every year.
  • Absolute Repeating Date - An annual (repeating) date that does not change from year to year. For example, the Canadian holiday Canada Day falls on July 1st of every year.
  • List of Dates - The dates are listed below.

Date (yyyy-mm-dd)

If Type = Single Date; specific date for this Custom Day (selected from the drop-down lists or the Calendar tool).

Dates

If Type = List of Dates; multiple specific dates for this Custom Day.
 

 
The icons at the top of the list let you perform the following tasks:
 

Add Dates

Displays a Date Picker dialog that lets you:

  • Add one or more Dates to the list.
  • Clear all Dates from the list.
  • Display a list of selected Dates.

Add item

Lets you add a single Date to the list.

Remove selected item

Lets you remove one or more selected Dates from the list.

Remove Past Dates

Lets you remove all Dates prior to the current Date from the list.



Note

The Purge Dates From Custom Day List Older Than Universal Controller system property lets you automatically purge dates from a List of Dates.

When

If Type = Relative Repeating Date; Occurrence of this day in the month. Options: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Last, Last Day, Last Business Day, Every, Nth. Example: The 4th Thursday of November.

Nth Amount

If Category = Day, Business Day, or Holiday and When = Nth; Value of N.

Nth Type

If When = Nth; Type of Nth Day.
 
Options:

  • Day
  • Business Day

Default is Day.
 

Note

Business Day is not allowed if Category is Holiday or Business Day.

Day Of Week

If Type = Relative Repeating Date and When is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Last, or Every; Day of the week. Example: The 4th Thursday of November.

Month

If Type = Relative Repeating Date or Absolute Repeating Date; Month of the year, or All. Example: The fourth Thursday of November.

Day

If Type = Absolute Repeating Date; Day of the month (1 through 31). Example: December 25.

Adjustment

If Type = Relative Repeating Date; Allows you to adjust the Relative Repeating Date by a less or plus number of Days or Business Days.
 
Options:

  • - - None - -
  • Less
  • Plus

Default is - - None - -.
 

Note

The Adjustment field is not available if the Category is Period.

Adjustment Amount

If Adjustment = Less or Plus; Allows you to specify the number of Days or Business Days to adjust the Relative Repeating Date. Maximum is 366. Default is 1.

Adjustment Type

If Adjustment = Less or Plus; Allows you to specify the type of day by which to adjust the Relative Repeating Date.
 
Options:

  • Day
  • Business Day

Default is Day.
 

Note

Business Day is not allowed if Category is Holiday or Business Day.

Observed Rules

If Category = Holiday and Type = Relative Repeating Date or Absolute Repeating Date; Allows you to specify the actual day of the week on which the holiday occurs and a day of the week on which you want the holiday observed.
 

 
You can specify any number of actual days of the week for a holiday, and any corresponding observed days. The specified observed day for a holiday is the day of the week closest to the holiday, whether it is a preceding day or a following day.
 
For example, if you specify the day of the week for a holiday as Sunday, and the observed day as Monday, the observed day will be the Monday following the Sunday holiday, since that is the Monday closest to the holiday. Similarly, if you specify the day of the week for a holiday as Saturday, and the observed day as Friday, the observed day will be the Friday preceding the Saturday holiday, since that is the Friday closest to the holiday.

Metadata

This section contains Metadata information about this record.

UUID

Universally Unique Identifier of this record.

Updated By

Name of the user that last updated this record.

Updated

Date and time that this record was last updated.

Created By

Name of the user that created this record.

Created

Date and time that this record was created.

Buttons

This section identifies the buttons displayed above and below the Custom Day Details that let you perform various actions.

Save

Saves a new task record in the Controller database.

Save & New

Saves a new record in the Controller database and redisplays empty Details so that you can create another new record.

Save & View

Saves a new record in the Controller database and continues to display that record.

New

Displays empty (except for default values) Details for creating a new record.

Update

Saves updates to the record.

List Qualifying Dates

If Period is not enabled and Type is not Single Date; Displays a list of the next 30 dates on which this day occurs (see Generating a List of Qualifying Dates, below).

List Qualifying Periods

If Period is enabled; Displays a list of the next 30 periods in which this day occurs (see Generating a List of Qualifying Periods, below).

Delete

Deletes the current record.

Refresh

Refreshes any dynamic data displayed in the Details.

Close

For pop-up view only; closes the pop-up view of this task.

Tabs

This section identifies the tabs across the top of the Custom Day Details that provide access to additional information about the task instance.

Calendars

Displays all calendars that use this custom day.

Versions


Stores copies of all previous versions of the current record. See Record Versioning.

Creating Local Custom Days

Step 1

Open a Calendar for which you want to create a Local Custom Day.

Step 2

Click the Local Custom Days tab to display a list of existing Local Custom Days for that Calendar.
 

Step 3

Click the  button to display Local Custom Day Details for a new Local Custom Day.
 

Step 4

Enter / select Details for a new Custom Day, using the field descriptions below as a guide.

  • Required fields display an asterisk ( * ) after the field name.
  • Default values for fields, if available, display automatically.

To display more of the Details fields on the screen, you can either:

  • Use the scroll bar.
  • Temporarily hide the list above the Details.
  • Click the  button above the list to display a pop-up version of the Details.

Step 5

Click the  button. The Custom Day is added to the database, and all buttons and tabs in the Details are enabled.

Local Custom Day Details

The following Local Custom Day Details is for an existing Local Custom Day.

Depending on the values that you enter / select for these fields, more (or less) fields may display. See the field descriptions, below, for a description of all fields that may display in the Custom Day Details.

For information on how to access additional details - such as Metadata and complete database Details - for Local Custom Days (or any type of record), see Records.

Local Custom Day Details Field Descriptions

The following table describes the fields, buttons, and tabs that display in the Local Custom Day Details.

Field Name

Description

Details

This section contains detailed information about the Custom Day.

Name

Name of this Custom Day.

Calendar

Read only; Calendar for which this Local Custom Day was created.
 

Note

This field displays only if the Local Custom Day Details is opened:

  • From a reference item.
  • From a report on the Local Custom Day table (ops_local_custom_day).
  • In a tab from the Local Custom Days list.

Description

Description of this record. Maximum length is 255 characters.

Category


Category of this Custom Day.

Options:

Day

This Custom Day defines any day.

Business Day

This Custom Day defines a business day.

Holiday

This Custom Day defines a holiday. Dates flagged as holidays become involved when the user enables Special Restriction on a trigger and selects a situation of On Holiday.

Period

This Custom Day defines a custom period of days (for example: quarters, fiscal year, or 4-5-4 calendar).

You can select a Period Custom Day in:

You can select Day, Business Day, and Holiday Custom Days in:

Type

Type of Custom Day.

Options:

  • Single Date - Any one-time date.
  • Relative Repeating Date - An annual (repeating) date that changes from year to year. For example, the U.S. Thanksgiving falls on the 4th Thursday of November, and is therefore on a different date every year.
  • Absolute Repeating Date - An annual (repeating) date that does not change from year to year. For example, the Canadian holiday Canada Day falls on July 1st of every year.
  • List of Dates - The dates are listed below.

Date (yyyy-mm-dd)

If Type = Single Date; specific date for this Custom Day (selected from the drop-down lists or the Calendar tool).

Dates

If Type = List of Dates; multiple specific dates for this Custom Day.
 

 
The icons at the top of the list let you perform the following tasks:
 

Add Dates

Displays a Date Picker dialog that lets you:

  • Add one or more Dates to the list.
  • Clear all Dates from the list.
  • Display a list of selected Dates.

Add item

Lets you add a single Date to the list.

Remove selected item

Lets you remove one or more selected Dates from the list.

Remove Past Dates

Lets you remove all Dates prior to the current Date from the list.

When

If Type = Relative Repeating Date; Occurrence of this day in the month. Options: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Last, Last Day, Last Business Day, Every. Example: The 4th Thursday of November.

Nth Amount

If Category = Day, Business Day, or Holiday and When = Nth; Value of N.

Nth Type

If When = Nth; Type of Nth Day.
 
Options:

  • Day
  • Business Day

Default is Day.

Day Of Week

If Type = Relative Repeating Date; Day of the week. Example: The 4th Thursday of November.

Month

If Type = Relative Repeating Date or Absolute Repeating Date; Month of the year, or All. Example: The fourth Thursday of November.

Day

If Type = Absolute Repeating Date; Day of the month (1 through 31). Example: December 25.

Adjustment

If Type = Relative Repeating Date; Allows you to adjust the Relative Repeating Date by a less or plus number of Days or Business Days.
 
Options:

  • - - None - -
  • Less
  • Plus

Default is - - None - -.
 

Note

The Adjustment field is not available if the Category is Period.

Adjustment Amount

If Adjustment = Less or Plus; Allows you to specify the number of Days or Business Days to adjust the Relative Repeating Date. Maximum is 366. Default is 1.

Adjustment Type

If Adjustment = Less or Plus; Allows you to specify the type of day by which to adjust the Relative Repeating Date.
 
Options:

  • Day
  • Business Day

Default is Day.
 

Note

Business Day is not allowed if Category is Holiday or Business Day.

Observed Rules

If Category = Holiday and Type = Relative Repeating Date or Absolute Repeating Date; Allows you to specify the actual day of the week on which the holiday occurs and a day of the week on which you want the holiday observed.
 

 
You can specify any number of actual days of the week for a holiday, and any corresponding observed days. The specified observed day for a holiday is the day of the week closest to the holiday, whether it is a preceding day or a following day.
 
For example, if you specify the day of the week for a holiday as Sunday, and the observed day as Monday, the observed day will be the Monday following the Sunday holiday, since that is the Monday closest to the holiday. Similarly, if you specify the day of the week for a holiday as Saturday, and the observed day as Friday, the observed day will be the Friday preceding the Saturday holiday, since that is the Friday closest to the holiday.

Metadata

This section contains Metadata information about this record.

UUID

Universally Unique Identifier of this record.

Updated By

Name of the user that last updated this record.

Updated

Date and time that this record was last updated.

Created By

Name of the user that created this record.

Created

Date and time that this record was created.

Buttons

This section identifies the buttons displayed above and below the Custom Day Details that let you perform various actions.

Save

Saves a new task record in the Controller database.

Save & New

Saves a new record in the Controller database and redisplays empty Details so that you can create another new record.

Save & View

Saves a new record in the Controller database and continues to display that record.

New

Displays empty (except for default values) Details for creating a new record.

Update

Saves updates to the record.

List Qualifying Dates

If Period is not enabled and Type is not Single Date; Displays a list of the next 30 dates on which this day occurs (see Generating a List of Qualifying Dates, below).

List Qualifying Periods

If Period is enabled; Displays a list of the next 30 periods in which this day occurs (see Generating a List of Qualifying Periods, below).

Delete

Deletes the current record.

Refresh

Refreshes any dynamic data displayed in the Details.

Close

For pop-up view only; closes the pop-up view of this task.

Tabs

This section identifies the tabs across the top of the Custom Day Details that provide access to additional information about the task instance.

Calendars

Displays all calendars that use this custom day.

Versions


Stores copies of all previous versions of the current record. See Record Versioning.

Generating a List of Qualifying Dates

The Controller allows you to generate a list of future dates that that a Custom Day (global or Local) will qualify for.
 

Note

Since Business Days are defined by a Calendar and its Custom Days (if the Exclude Holidays For Business Days Universal Controller system property is set to true), specifying a Business Day Adjustment Type requires that the Custom Day belong to at least one Calendar in order to generate a list of qualifying dates.

The following error message will display if you try to generate a list of qualifying dates before adding the Custom Day to a Calendar:

Custom Day has Business Day adjustment type and must be associated with at least one Calendar before List Qualifying Dates can be executed.

Step 1

Click the List Qualifying Dates button in the Custom Day Details.

Step 2

If the Custom Day does not specify a Business Day Adjustment Type, a list of Qualifying Dates for the Custom Day displays.
 

Step 3

If the Custom Day specifies a Business Day Adjustment Type, the List Qualifying Dates Input dialog displays when you click the List Qualifying Dates button.
 

 
Select a Calendar and click Submit to see list of Qualifying Dates for the selected Calendar, which is identified at the top of the list.
 

Note

This step does not apply to Local Custom Days, since each Local Custom Day belongs to a single calendar.

Generating a List of Qualifying Periods

Step 1

Click the List Qualifying Period button in the Custom Day Details.

Step 2

A list of Qualifying Periods for the Custom Day displays.
 

Assigning a Custom Day to a Calendar

There are two ways to assign a Custom Day to a Calendar from Custom Day Details:

  1. Assign a Custom Day to an Existing Calendar
  2. Create a Calendar and Assign the Custom Day to It

Assign a Custom Day to an Existing Calendar

Step 1

Display the Custom Day Details of the Custom Day that you want to assign to a Calendar.

Step 2

Click the Calendars tab. A list of any Calendars to which the Custom Day is assigned displays.
 

Step 3

Click the Edit button. The Edit Members pop-up dialog displays:
 

 

  • The Collection window lists Calendars to which the Custom Day is not assigned.
  • The Calendars List lists Calendars to which the Custom Day is assigned.

Step 4

To filter the Calendars listed in the Collection window, enter characters in the text field above the Name column. Only Calendars containing that sequence of characters will display in the list.

Step 5

To assign the Custom Day to a Calendar, move the Calendar from the Collection window to the Calendars List window:

  1. To move a single Calendar, double-click it or click it once and then click the > arrow.
  2. To move multiple Calendars, Ctrl-click them and then click the > arrow.
  3. To move all Calendars, click the >> arrow.

To unassign the Custom Day to a Calendar, move the Calendar from the Calendars List windows to the Collection window:

  1. To move a single Calendar, double-click it or click it once and then click the < arrow.
  2. To move multiple Calendars, Ctrl-click them and then click the < arrow.
  3. To move all Calendars, click the << arrow.

Step 6

Click Save.

Create a Calendar and Assign the Custom Day to It

Step 1

Display the Custom Day Details of the Custom Day that you want to assign to a new Calendar.

Step 2

Click the Calendars tab. The Calendars list displays a list of any Calendars to which the Custom Day already is assigned.
 

Step 3

Click the  button. A Calendar Details pop-up for a new Calendar displays.
 

Step 4

Enter / select Details for a new Calendar (see Calendar Details Field Descriptions).

Step 5

Click the  button to create the Calendar, assign the Custom Day to it, and add it to the list of all Calendars.