# Entering Dates and Times into CPRS

CPRS generally allows users to enter time in several different formats. Users can often enter month-day-year dates (such as 05/01/65) or users can sometimes spell out the month (November 22, 2001) or as a date referenced from today (t-30 for a month in the past, today minus 30).

Users often can enter a time as well as a date. For tasks such as medication ordering and administration, entering a time can be critical. Times are entered as a 24-hour time, not with a 12-hour clock and an a.m. and p.m. For example, the time 8 a.m. is entered as 08:00:00, whereas 8 p.m. is entered as 20:00:00.

Note: The time 00:00 presents a challenge because it can be ambiguous as to when it is. To address this issue, CPRS changes the time of 00:00 to 00:01. This makes the time belong to a specific day, increasing clarity. Similarly, if a user selects Midnight, CPRS makes the time 23:59.

In some cases, users can also enter a date with no known time (T@U). CPRS used to assign a time of 00:00 to this entry, but now, it will not put a time in for this case.