Comparison periods
SSA has two separate compare-to controls: the Dashboard hero's own picker, and a second shared Period and Compare control that drives the "What changed" and "Churn & retention" bands.
The hero's "Compare to" picker
The hero comparison is always month-granular: the current calendar month against a baseline month. It changes only the delta captions and sparklines under each hero card (MRR, Subscriptions, Avg lifetime value, Customers, At-risk MRR and the per-provider retention rows); the live figures themselves never refetch.
| Field | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Last month | The default. Compares the current calendar month to the immediately preceding one. On screen: "Last month" | |
| Same month last year | Compares the current calendar month to the same month one year earlier. On screen: "Same month last year" | |
| Pick a month | Opens a month input labeled "Compare to month"; choosing a month commits immediately (no Apply button) and relabels the picker button to that month. On screen: "Pick a month / Compare to month" |
Delta captions are suffixed "vs last month", "vs same month last year", or "vs " for a picked month. An unrecognized basis falls back to last month. This choice is never saved as a preference.
The shared Period and Compare control
Above the "What changed" and "Churn & retention" bands sits a second control row: Period (a normal backward date-range picker) beside Compare to, with the note "Drives the two sections below." Changing either re-fetches both bands.
| Field | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Previous period | The equal-length window immediately before the current one. On screen: "Previous period" | |
| Same period last year | The current window shifted back exactly 12 months. On screen: "Same period last year" | |
| Custom dates | Opens a "Compare to dates" month input. Despite the "dates" wording it is a single month input; SSA expands the chosen month to its full calendar month as the comparison window. On screen: "Custom dates / Compare to dates" |
How each comparison window is resolved
"Previous period" shifts both bounds back one calendar month (day clamped) for the This month and All time presets specifically; for every other preset it is the equal-length window immediately before the current one. "Same period last year" always shifts both bounds back exactly 12 months. If the current range ends in the future, it is truncated to today first, so a part-finished period is compared with an equally partial one rather than a longer one.
When the baseline period has no data
When there is no value for the baseline month or period, for example a "Same month last year" comparison reaching back before the site had any data, SSA renders an empty placeholder rather than a fake 0% or an error, and CSS hides that placeholder. Nothing false is shown; a later change to the Compare to control can still fill it in once a baseline exists.
When a baseline value does exist, the delta caption shows an up or down arrow, a sign, the absolute change (currency-formatted for money figures), the relative change in parentheses to one decimal (omitted when the baseline is zero), then the basis label. A zero change still renders, as "ยท (0.0%) " in a neutral style. Color follows the metric's favorable direction: for example, an increase is favorable for MRR, but a decrease is favorable for At-risk MRR.