The Date Based Event event will add the contact to the Journey funnel when the date value in a date-based custom field in the targeted database matches the Journey event ruleset. 

To use this Entrant Event, you would create a date-based custom field in your targeted database. You would then populate that field for all contacts in that database that you want to enter the Journey funnel. For example, if the goal were to initiate a Journey for database "X" for all contacts as of June 1, 2024, then I would create a date-based custom field (eg: "Launch date") and give it a value of 6-1-2024 (The exact format of the date is assigned by you when creating the custom field) for all contacts. 

-

See Fig 1 below.

Fig 1

To create the specific ruleset and add it to the Journey, click the Date Based Event entrant node once you have added it to the Journey work area. Doing so will bring up this popup ("Properties") on the right-hand side of the screen (See Fig 2 below):

Fig 2

You will note several input fields below the "Date Based Event" label:

• "Period Count" - allows you to select enter an integer as a value. Is an optional input.
• "Period Unit" -  allows you to select from "day", "week" or "month" as the unit of time. If you provide a "Period Count" value, you must select a "Period Unit". 
• "Operation" - Allows you to select from one of three options:
  • "On"
  • "Before"
  • "After"
• If you select "On", you do not need a "Period Count" or "Period Unit", since the Journey will trigger on the date you provided in the targeted date-based custom field. 
• If you select "Before" or "After", you will need to set a "Period Count" and "Period Unit". For example, selecting "After", and "3" for the "Period Count" and "day" for the "Period Unit", you can instruct the Journey to trigger 3 days after the date value provided in the date-based custom field.
• "Custom Field" - clicking into the input box will show your available custom fields. You would select the appropriate date-based custom field you have created and added to the target database. 
• "Date matches" - You are provided with two options: 
  • "Date matches month and day" - this would be used to repeat triggering the Journey on an annual basis.
  • "Date matches year, month and day" - this would trigger the Journey once based on the provided date.

Once the correct Date Based Event properties are provided, click the "Save Properties" button at the bottom of the popup. The popup will close. To close the Properties popup without performing a selection , click the small "X" in the top right corner.

If you wish to remove an Entrant Event, you may click the "Delete block" button at the bottom. However, please note you must have at least one Entrant Event in a Journey for it to be valid. If you try and delete the only available Entrant Event, the system will show an error. If you wish to replace the Event, select a new one from the list in the left side menu and drag it into the Entrant Event node area in the work area first, then you can delete the other Event.