Understand Data Tiers in DataNow

Description: DataNow organizes your sales data into three tiers — Current, Historic, and Extended — each designed for a different reporting purpose. Understanding which tier to use will ensure you are working with the right data, in the right report, at the right time.

Note: Some DataNow reports operate outside this tiered structure and allow you to query any date range without restriction. Those reports are not subject to the Current or Historic data windows described in this guide. Reports that follow the tiered structure will display a note at the top of the report indicating which tier they belong to. If a report does not display that note, it is not subject to the data availability tiers described here.

The Three Data Tiers at a Glance

Current Data

What It Covers

Current data includes:

• All transactions from the current calendar month
• The final 7 days of the previous month

This window gives you access to the data you need for active operations and current-period reporting without the performance overhead of querying your full historical dataset.

How Frequently It Updates

Current data refreshes regularly throughout the day. There may be a short delay between a transaction occurring and it appearing in reports, particularly during periods of high activity.

What this means in practice: During an active event, figures in Current reports will update regularly but will not reflect every transaction in real time. Allow a few minutes for new activity to appear.

Which Reports Use Current Data

Note: The Today tab in Sales Hub shows live data for the current day only. Use this during an active event for real-time monitoring.

When to Use Current Data

• You are monitoring sales during an active event
• You need to reconcile figures from today, this week, or this month
• You are reviewing employee, item, or discount performance for the current period
• You need data to update frequently as transactions are processed

Historic Data

What It Covers

Historic data includes completed transactions from the last 12 completed calendar months. Because Historic data is built from pre-aggregated, cached datasets, it is optimized for querying large volumes of data across extended time periods.

Important: Historic data covers only completed months. The current month and any partial month data will not appear in Historic reports. For current month activity, always use the This Month tab.

How Frequently It Updates

Historic data represents finalized, completed months. It does not update intra-day. Once a month closes, its data is incorporated into the Historic tier and remains static.

Which Reports Use Historic Data

When to Use Historic Data

• You need data from a prior completed month
• You are performing period-end or year-end financial reporting
• You are comparing performance across multiple months or seasons
• You are preparing a post-season or multi-event summary

Extended Data — Months 13 to 24

DataNow retains up to 24 months of data in total. Data from months 13 to 24 is not available in dashboard reports but can be accessed through the Exports section as a downloadable CSV file.

Important: The Exports section is a permanent part of DataNow and will not be deprecated. It is the supported method for accessing data beyond the 12-month dashboard window.

To access data from months 13 to 24:

1. Navigate to the Exports section in DataNow from the main navigation.
2. Select the relevant export tab — for example, F&B Exports for item and order-level data.
3. Set the date filter to the specific date range you need. Set filters before downloading.
4. Select the three-dot icon (⋮) and choose Download.
5. Choose CSV and download.

Choosing the Right Tier

Working Across Tiers

Some reporting needs will span tiers — for example, comparing current month performance against prior months. In these cases you will need to pull from both a Current and a Historic report and review them side by side.

The Day over Day report is the only report that surfaces both current and historic data within a single dashboard, presenting current month and prior month figures in parallel views. This makes it particularly useful for identifying day-level trends across time periods without switching between reports.

Note: Because Current and Historic data live in separate datasets, there is no single report that combines both tiers into one unified view outside of Day over Day.

A Note on the Calendar Date Filter

The Calendar Date filter behaves differently depending on which tier you are in:

Warning: If you set a date range in a Current report that falls outside the available window — for example, selecting a date from three months ago — the report will return no results. For data outside the Current window, use the Last 12 Months tab in the same report, or switch to Historic: F&B Sales for deeper analysis.

Performance Guidance for Large Datasets

Historic reports are optimized for querying large volumes of data, but queries spanning many months can still be slow to load in the browser. For datasets larger than 3 months, download results as a CSV rather than waiting for the dashboard to fully render.

To download:

1. Set your filters first — there is no need to refresh the dashboard before downloading.
2. Open Dashboard Actions using the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the report.
3. Select Download.
4. Choose CSV.
5. Select Download.

This approach is faster, more reliable for large datasets, and produces a file that can be opened directly in Excel or your preferred analysis tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

I am looking for data from earlier this month but it is not showing in the Last 12 Months tab. Why?

The Last 12 Months tab covers only completed calendar months. The current month is not yet available in the Historic tier. Use the This Month tab and set your Calendar Date filter to the appropriate date range within the current month.

I need data from 14 months ago. Is that available?

Yes — DataNow retains up to 24 months of data in total. Data from months 13 to 24 is not available in dashboard reports but can be downloaded from the Exports section as a CSV. See the Extended Data section above for steps.

My Current report is not showing data from earlier last month. Why?

Current data covers the current month plus the final 7 days of the prior month. If the date you are looking for falls outside that window — for example, earlier in the prior month — it will not appear in Current reports. Use the Last 12 Months tab in the same report instead.

Why does my data look different between a Current report and a Historic report for the same period?

If you are viewing the overlap period — the final 7 days of the prior month — small differences may appear due to the timing of when data was aggregated into the Historic tier versus the live Current dataset. For any completed prior month, the Historic report is the authoritative source.

How do I know if my Current data is up to date?

Current data refreshes regularly throughout the day. If you have just processed a transaction and it has not yet appeared, wait a few minutes and reload the report. If data appears to be significantly delayed, contact venuesupport@shift4.com.

Can I see data for all venues at once?

DataNow is scoped to a single venue at a time. If your organization operates multiple venues, you can toggle between them from within the platform but cannot combine data from multiple venues into a single report view.