Last Actual Date

Last Actual Date is a setting in Causal which determines what is displayed as an “actual” - in charts/tables, and in the spreadsheet timestep headers and variable sparklines. 
Setting the last actual date
Causal automatically sets the Last Actual Date when you connect a data item to a variable in a model (if the most recent data is in the past), and automatically updates (or prompts you to update) the Last Actual Date when that data source is refreshed. 
If you need to manually set or update the Last Actual Date, you can do so in the Time Settings modal in the top-left of the spreadsheet workspace.
FAQ
Does Last Actual Date affect calculations? And how do I restrict the data?
The Last Actual Date time setting does not affect any calculations, unless you have formulas that use the lastActualDate helper variable (see here for more).
Note: this is different to the Import Data Until setting, which controls which timesteps data is imported for, and therefore does affect calculations/values, as data always overrides any formulas/values. See What is data for more. 
How does Last Actual Date work with versions?
When you save a version of your model, it will save with the existing last actual date at the time of saving. If you wish to update this later on, head to the History button, and click edit next to the version you want to change.
How does Last Actual Date work with linked models?
We recommend using the same Last Actual Date across all linked models, but you can set it manually per model if you wish.
Last modified 1mo ago