Effective Period

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An Effective Period identifies the time interval during which a specified thing applies or has effect.

An Effective Period may apply to an Agreement, Agreement Term, information item, status, relationship, Authority, Role Assignment, classification, rule, or other modeled thing.

An Effective Period may identify:

• A start instant
• An end instant
• Whether the start boundary is included
• Whether the end boundary is included
• The applicable time zone
• The basis used to determine the period
• Evidence supporting the period
• Provenance describing how the period was established

An Effective Period may have a defined start without a defined end when the subject remains effective until a later event establishes the end.

An Effective Period may have a defined end without a known start when historical information is incomplete.

The applicable Information Structure Definition determines whether the start boundary or end boundary is mandatory.

An Effective Period is distinct from an Effective Date and an Execution Date.

An Effective Date identifies the date on which the subject begins to apply or have effect. When an Effective Period has a defined start boundary, the Effective Date ordinarily identifies that boundary.

An Execution Date identifies the date on which an Agreement or other instrument was executed. Execution does not necessarily cause the Agreement or all of its terms to become effective immediately.

An Effective Period is also distinct from the time at which information is recorded, received, processed, or stored. The Effective Period identifies when the subject applies. A processing timestamp identifies when a system performed an activity involving the information.

time interval during which a specified thing applies or has effect

Adapted from:

• OMG Commons Dates and Times Ontology

  • Relevant concepts include Time Period, Date Period, Start Time, End Time, and Duration
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• OMG Commons Contextual Identifiers Ontology

  • Relevant concepts include identifiers and designators applicable during specified periods
  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08
• OMG Commons Ontology Library, Version 1.3

  • Retrieved: 2026-10-08

The expression Effective Period is defined by this corpus using the temporal patterns provided by OMG Commons.

• An Effective Period identifies when something applies or has effect
• An Effective Date ordinarily identifies the start boundary of an Effective Period
• An Effective Period may begin on an Effective Date and end on an Expiration Date, Termination Date, or another applicable boundary
• An Execution Date and an Effective Date may be the same date but represent different facts
• An Agreement may have an Execution Date different from its Effective Date
• Different Agreement Terms may have different Effective Dates and Effective Periods
• An Effective Period does not identify when information was recorded unless the two periods are explicitly the same
• An Effective Period may be bounded or open-ended
• Boundary inclusion must be defined when it affects interpretation
• The applicable time zone must be identified when local time is used
• Multiple versions of information may have different Effective Periods
• Effective Periods must not overlap when the applicable model permits exactly one effective value at a time
• The platform-independent definition does not require a particular date-time representation or serialization format

An Agreement is executed on 15 December 2026 and becomes effective on 1 January 2027.

The Execution Date is 15 December 2026.

The Effective Date is 1 January 2027 and establishes the start boundary of the Agreement's Effective Period.

The Agreement remains effective until it expires, is terminated, is superseded, or another applicable event establishes the end of its Effective Period.

The timestamp recording when the Agreement entered an information system remains separate from the Execution Date, Effective Date, and Effective Period.