Time Functions

Two instructions add an element relative to whatever is already at the edge of the working list, rather than referencing a specific element by name. They're most often used against the Time dimension - "whatever comes after the last period already in the set" - but work against any hierarchy where relative position is meaningful.

Instruction	What it does
Insert The Next Element From A Hierarchy	Adds the element immediately after the current last element in the working list - e.g. "the next month" relative to wherever the set currently ends.
Insert The Previous Element From A Hierarchy	The mirror instruction - adds the element immediately before the current first element.

Why relative, not fixed

A set built with a hardcoded period (2024 - Jan) has to be edited every time the reporting period rolls forward. A set that instead says "the period after whatever's already here" keeps working unchanged as time moves on - useful for rolling views like "current month plus the next two" or "trailing three months," built once and left alone.

These two instructions are listed under Element Insertion in the sidebar alongside the other ways of adding elements to a set (from context, from a variable, or by formula) - this page groups them separately because their relative, hierarchy-position-based behaviour is a distinct concept worth recognising on its own.