Technical area
Time & revisions
Separate event dates, publication times, retrieval times and revision visibility.
Time & revisionsTime & revisionsTime & revisionsTime & revisions
Separate observation, availability and retrieval clocks
Record what a value describes, what evidence supports its availability, and when the integration actually obtained it.
A date-only availability field cannot answer an intraday question
Use explicit inclusion policies for daily vintage and filing dates without manufacturing release times or claiming unsupported point-in-time precision.
Store revisions as evidence instead of overwriting history
Distinguish changed values, repeated retrievals and conflicting source identities while preserving the version that a research decision used.
Build an as-of join that explains what it can prove
Join observations to decision cutoffs using availability evidence, revision rules and coverage checks rather than observation dates alone.