Select data with a rolling date criteria - sql

Question

The below query returns a distinct count of 'members' for a given month and brand (see image below).
select to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM') as month, brand,
count(distinct UNIQUE_MEM_ID) as distinct_count
from source.table
group by to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM'), brand;
The data is collected with a 15 day lag after the month closes (meaning September 2016 MONTHLY data won't be 100% until October 15). I am only concerned with monthly data.
The query I would like to build: Until the 15th of this month (October), last month's data (September) should reflect August's data. The current partial month (October) should default to the prior month and thus also to the above logic.
After the 15th of this month, last month's data (September) is now 100% and thus September should reflect September (and October will reflect September until November 15th, and so on).
The current partial month will always = the prior month. The complexity of the query is how to calc prior month.
This query will be ran on a rolling basis so needs to be dynamic.
To be clear, I am trying to build a query where distinct_count for the prior month (until end of current month + 15 days) should reflect (current month - 2) value (for each respective brand). After 15 days of the close of the month, prior month = (current month - 1).
Partial current month defaults to prior month's data. The 15 day value should be variable/modifiable.

Answer 1

First, simplify the query to:
select to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM') as month, brand,
count(distinct members) as distinct_count
from source.table
group by members, to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM'), brand;
Then, you are going to have a problem. The problem is that one row (say from Aug 20th) needs to go into two groups. A simple group by won't handle this. So, let's use union all. I think the result is something like this:
select date_trunc('month', transaction_date) as month, brand,
count(distinct members) as distinct_count
from source.table
where (date_trunc('month', transaction_date) < date_trunc('month' current_date) - interval '1 month') or
(day(current_date) > 15 and date_trunc('month', transaction_date) = date_trunc('month' current_date) - interval '1 month')
group by date_trunc('month', transaction_date), brand
union all
select date_trunc('month' current_date) - interval '1 month' as month, brand,
count(distinct members) as distinct_count
from source.table
where (day(current_date) < 15 and date_trunc('month', transaction_date) = date_trunc('month' current_date) - interval '1 month')
group by brand;

Answer 2

Since you already have a working query, I concentrate on the subselect. The condition you can use here is CASE, especially "Searched CASE"
case
when extract(day from current_date) < 15 then
extract(month from current_date - interval '2 months')
else
extract(month from current_date - interval '1 month')
end case
This may be used as part of a where clause, for example.

Answer 3

Here is some sudo code to get the begin date and the end date for your interval.
Begin date:
date DATE_TRUNC('month', CURRENT_DATE - integer 15) - interval '1 month'
This will return the current month only after the 15th day, from there you can subtract a full month to get your starting point.
End Date:
To calculate this, grab the begin date, plus a month, minus a day.

Answer 4

If the source table is partitioned by transaction_date, this syntax (not masking transaction_date with expression) enables partitions eliminatation.
select to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM') as month
,count (distinct members) as distinct_count
,brand as brand
FROM source.table
where transaction_date between date_trunc('month', current_date) - case when extract (day from current_date) >= 15 then 1 else 2 end * interval '1' month
and date_trunc('month', current_date) - case when extract (day from current_date) >= 15 then 0 else 1 end * interval '1' month - interval '1' day
group by to_char(transaction_date, 'YYYY-MM')
,brand
;