Time Component Analysis

Plauti Context Analysis Types

Last published at: June 11th, 2026

Examine the time portion of date-time fields to detect what percentage of values are set to midnight (00:00:00).

 

The Time Component analysis scans date-time fields, and classifies each value as either midnight (00:00:00) or non-midnight. A high midnight percentage might indicate the time component is not being used meaningfully, and the field may effectively contain only date information. The analysis runs in the context of the current user's timezone.

Use this analysis to determine whether the time portion of a date-time field carries meaningful information, or whether the field is effectively being used as a date-only field.

Configuration

Set thresholds for what constitutes a good, warning level, or critical ‘midnight’ percentage. For most fields that you apply a Time Component analysis to you'll want to have as few fields with a time set to 00:00 as possible. This would mean for example a good ‘midnight’ rate is 10% or less, warning level would be between 10-15%, and anything more than 15% would be critical. 
Records with empty values are not taken into account.

Detailed Job Results

The bar chart shows for each field the percentages of ‘midnight' (12AM / 00:00) vs. ‘non-midnight’ time values used.

The results table shows per field the number of records with a value, the number of records with a ‘midnight’ (12AM / 00:00) time value, and the records with a ‘midnight’ time value as a percentage of all records with a value. The ‘midnight’ time component percentage is color-coded by the threshold settings (green for Good, amber for Warning, red for Critical).

Key Insights

  • Effective field type: A high ‘midnight’ percentage suggests a date-time field is functioning as a date-only field in practice, even though the field type allows time values.
  • Source of time values: Midnight-heavy fields often indicate data entered by integrations or imports that default to 00:00:00, while varied times typically indicate user input or systems that capture real timestamps.
  • Process design signal: If a field is almost always at midnight, time-of-day logic tied to that field is likely unreliable and may produce misleading results.
  • AI and reporting readiness: Fields with predominantly non-midnight times are safer to use for time-based analysis, SLA calculations, and AI features that depend on time-of-day.
Scenario Actions
High Midnight percentage (time portion not meaningfully used)
  • Treat the field as date-only in downstream logic
  • Document that the time component is largely ignored for this field
  • Align integrations and imports to populate only the date, or standardize on midnight as a known convention
  • Consider whether the field could be replaced by a Date field in new designs
High non-Midnight percentage (time potion actively used)
  • Confirm that time is intentionally used, and not simply uses a different default (e.g. 12PM, or a time that would be 12AM in a different time zone)
  • Use confidently in time-sensitive reporting and SLA logic
Both Midnight and non-Midnight values
  • Investigate which processes or integrations set Midnight vs. actual times
  • Align on a single approach: either treat the field as date-only, or enforce meaningful time capture across all entry points
  • Update integrations, flows, and documentation to reflect the chosen standard
Preparing for AI or reporting
  • Prefer fields with high non-Midnight usage as inputs for time-of-day analyses
  • Exclude or treat with caution any fields with predominantly Midnight values to avoid misleading conclusions