The following edits, questions, and checks should be considered for
all date fields. Be aware that many programming languages combine date and time into one
data type.
Edit / Question |
Example |
Required entry |
. |
Century display |
1850, 1999, 2001 |
Implied century |
Display last two digits of year (96,02). All dates are
assumed to be between 1950 and 2049. |
Date display format |
- mm-dd-yy (12/01/96)
- mm-dd-ccyy (12/01/1996)
- dd-mm-yy (01/12/96)
- dd-mm-ccyy (01/12/1996)
- dd-mmm-yy (01-Jan-96)
- dd-mmm-ccyy (01-Jan-1996)
- dd-mm (day and month only)
- Complete date (December 1, 1996)
- Date, abbreviated month (Dec 1, 1996)
- Day included in date (Monday, November 7, 1996)
- yymmdd (960105)
- ccyymmdd (20011231)
- No year, text month and day (May 30th)
- Financial calculator (12.0196)
- System format (provided through system)
|
Date separator |
- Slash (/), dash (-), Period (.), space
- Enter separator fields
- Move over separators
- Automatic skip over separators
|
Leading zeros in day field |
01, 02, 09 (12/05/96 vs 12/5/96) |
Leading zeros in month field |
01, 02, 09 (05/17/97 vs 5/17/97) |
Abbreviate month name |
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov,
Dec |
Can day numbers exceed actual? |
May 32, Feb 30 (Accounting systems may use for
adjusting transactions.) |
Embedded spaces |
- No leading spaces
- No trailing spaces
- One space permitted after month and comma
|
Font attributes |
- Color
- Italics
- Bold
- Size
- Blink
- Intensity
|
Leap year computations |
Any year number evenly divisible by 4, but not by 100,
unless it is also divisible by 400.
- 1996 leap year
- 2000 leap year
- 2004 leap year
- 2100 not a leap year
|
Relational edits |
Compare hire date to birth date. |
Use financial calendars |
- 30/360
- 30 days per month, 360 days per year
- Actual/360
- actual days per month, 360 days per year
|
Entry mechanism |
- Display calendar
- (+/-) to change day number
- Function key / PF key
|
Default date |
- System date
- Last date entered
- Other date (order date, closing date, etc.)
|
Latest / earliest permissible date |
- Actual date
- Computed date
|
Authorization / Security required |
|
Formats |
- Entry
- Storage (date, or relative day number)
- Print
- Display
|
Null date |
- 00/00/00 zeros
- bb/bb/bb spaces
|
Is the programming responsible for managing dates? |
. |
Are autofill features utilized? |
. |
Will the date field be used again elsewhere? |
. |
Is this a standard date entry routine that is already
tested? |
. |
Are there other mechanisms to date stamp fields or
records? |
. |
Is the position of the date important? |
|
Are other events triggered by this date? |
. |
Permissible dates |
- Holiday
- local, regional, national, international
- Weekend
- Specific day(s) of week
|
Is the Julian date required? |
. |
Sorting requirements |
- Normal
- Relative day number
- Unusual
- 9's compliment, yymmdd, ccyymmdd
|
Time zone issues |
. |
Is system voice enabled for date entry? |
. |
Is the date encrypted? |
Encryption technique |
Testing |
Must entry dates correspond to dates in the test bed? |
Risk factors |
What is the risk inherent in not entering the date
correctly. |
Edit date |
- On entry
- When screen is complete
- When record is complete
- After other event
|
Are incomplete dates permissible? |
- 12/00/1996
- 12/??/1996
- 12/01/????
- 12/01/??
|
Font |
- Acceptable fonts
- Largest font size that will display properly
- Default font
|
Correction |
Can erroneous dates be automatically corrected? |
Error messages |
- Content
- Placement
- When displayed
- Can processing continue with bad date?
|