I routinely go through and document the historical "Sales and Trends" data for my app (quarterly over the lifetime of the app). What I don't understand is why the historical data changes. My app data from 2 years ago will often vary in the total number of downloads on a specific quarter (when I compare todays results from a query I did 6 months ago). Downloads reported within a specific quarter can change from 100-200 downloads. I put together reports for my company, and I'm having a hard time explaining to my bosses why the historical data I show them today is different from the data I showed them 6 months ago (understanding that I am showing them data historically from the same quarters). Can anyone help me understand why the historical data in "Sales and Trends" changes? Is the data I collect today more accurate than the data I collected 6 months ago? Which is correct?
Why does historical Sales and Trends data change?
I would expect daily sales figures for July that are gathered in July, to be fluid vs. July daily sales figures gathered in Dec.
I suspect they change due to a basket of reasons, most of which involve corrections that evolve post-purchase, from refunds, to on-the-fly estimates that help to meet daily reporting deadlines.
As far as 'correct', I would never quote daily sales. You might want to only use figures from financial reports, instead. If you must use daily, be sure to brand them 'estimates/subject to change'.