Timestamp Shift Generator

Shifts timestamps by a random amount of a specific unit of time within a set range.

For values that the generator cannot process, you can specify a fallback generator to use.

Supported date-only formats

For date-only values, the Timestamp Shift Generator supports the following date formats. The example values are all for February 23, 2021.

• MM/dd/yyyy - 02/23/2021

• MM/dd/yy - 02/23/21

• MM-dd-yyyy - 02-23-2021

• yyyyMMdd - 20210223

• yyyy/MM/dd - 2021/02/23

• MMddyyyy - 02232021

Supported datetime formats

For string columns that contain datetime values, the Timestamp Shift generator supports the following formats. The example values are all for midnight on February 23, 2021:

• yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss - 2021-02-23 00:00:00

• yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss - 2021-02-23T00:00:00

Characteristics

Consistency	Yes, can be made self-consistent or consistent with another column.
Linking	No, cannot be linked.
Differential privacy	No
Data-free	No
Allowed for primary keys	No
Allowed for unique columns	No
Uses format-preserving encryption (FPE)	No
Privacy ranking	3 if not consistent 4 if consistent
Generator ID (for the API)	TimestampShiftGenerator

How to configure

To configure the generator:

1. From the Date Part dropdown list, select the unit of time to use for the minimum and maximum shift.

2. In the Minimum Shift field, type the minimum amount the value can be shifted from the original value. Use negative numbers to indicate to shift the date to the past. For example, assume that the date part is Day. -3 indicates that the day cannot be shifted earlier than 3 days before the original day. 3 indicates that the date cannot be shifted earlier than 3 days after the original day.

3. In the Maximum Shift field, type the maximum amount by which the value can be shifted from the original value. For example, assume that the date part is Day. 5 indicates that the date cannot be shifted later than 5 days after the original day.

4. From the Fallback Generator dropdown list, select how to handle values that the generator cannot process. By default, this is set to Fail on error, meaning that the generation fails when a value cannot be processed. You can instead assign a fallback generator, either:

   1. Passthrough, to pass through the value without changing it.

   2. Constant, to use a replacement value that you provide.

   3. Null, to null out the value.

5. Toggle the Consistency setting to indicate whether to make the generator consistent. By default, consistency is disabled.

6. If you enable consistency, then by default the generator is self-consistent. To make the generator consistent with another column, from the Consistent to dropdown list, select the column. When a column is consistent with itself, then the same date part value is always shifted by the same amount.

   When a column is consistent with another column, then for the same value in the other column, the date part value is always shifted by the same amount. For example, for the same value of username, the birthdate column value is always shifted by the same amount.

   If multiple columns that use the Timestamp Shift Generator are consistent with the same other column, then for those columns, the date part value shifts by the same amount. For example, the startdate and enddate columns are both consistent with the username column. Both startdate and enddate use the Timestamp Shift Generator. For the same value of username, both startdate and enddate are shifted by the same amount.

7. If Structural data encryption is enabled, then to use it for this column, in the advanced options section, toggle Use data encryption process to the on position.