Effective Dates

PeopleSoft HCM uses effective dates to store historical, current, and future information. Effective dates enable you to:

• Maintain a chronological history of your data. By storing effective-dated information in tables, the system enables you to review past transactions and plan for future events. For example, you can roll back your system to a particular time to perform historical analyses for your company. Or, you can set up tables and data ahead of time without using tickler or pending files.

• Maintain the accuracy of your data. By comparing the effective dates in prompt tables to the effective dates on application pages, the system displays only those values that are valid for the current time period. For example, you create a new department code with an effective date of May 1, 2008. Then, on the Job Data pages, you enter a new data row for an employee with an effective date before May 1, 2008. When you select the prompt for the department field, you won't see the new department code because it is not in effect.

For more information, see the product documentation for PeopleTools: Application Designer Developer's Guide.