If you look at the progression we took on these three “versions”, this last one references the “Serial Number” column, which references each of the three date columns (“Year”, “Month”, and “Day”), which each run a function to grab a specific piece of our original date field. Since we’ve converted the original date into a SharePoint serial number, and broken the original date down into its individual pieces, this approach makes the most sense since the work is already being performed – we’re just going to repurpose it when needed.

Once updated, the values displayed on the list should be the same since we’re using the same formula – the only difference is that we’re performing the calculations in separate columns instead of within the actual “DATE” function itself (the logic is still the same though as to what being processed because each referenced column will perform its function then pass its value back to its calling column – the “Serial Number” column).

In continuance of the series on the “Date and Time” set of functions that I wrote about back at the end of May (that darn “Work” always getting in the way), I’d like to discuss the actual “DATE” function itself in order to help address some of the more frequent questions regarding how to deal with dates in SharePoint.