Refresh cadence by product type
Different products refresh on different schedules, depending on how often the underlying source data is updated by the issuing authority.
| Product type | Delivery cadence | Source update frequency | Typical data age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary permits (building, development, sub-trade) | Weekly (Monday) | Continuous (Socrata live API) | 3–5 days |
| Calgary business licences | Weekly (Monday) | Weekly (Socrata batch) | 7 days |
| Edmonton, Winnipeg permits | Weekly | Daily to weekly (city open data) | 5–7 days |
| Other Canadian city permits | Weekly | Varies by city: daily–monthly | 7–21 days |
| Federal contract awards | Weekly | Continuous (CanadaBuys API) | 3–7 days |
| AHS / provincial registries | Monthly | Monthly bulk dump | 14–30 days |
| One-time directories (Realtor, AGLC, etc.) | One-time + quarterly re-pull | Quarterly bulk refresh | Up to 90 days |
| StatsCan / CMHC aggregates | Monthly | Monthly statistical release | 30–60 days |
Finding the data-as-of date in your file
Two places to check:
- README tab — the last row of the README tab says "Data as of: YYYY-MM-DD" and shows the exact pull date for the most recent records in the file.
- Data As Of column — the rightmost data column in the main sheet. Each row shows its individual source-pull date, so you can see exactly when each record was last refreshed from the source.
The file name date vs the data date are different things. The file name date (e.g. ActiveFitout_Calgary_2026-06-02.xlsx) is the delivery date — the day we generated and sent the file. The "data as of" date inside the file is the date of the actual source data pull, which may be a few days earlier.
How data window growth works
When you first subscribe to a weekly permit or licence product, your initial delivery contains all qualifying records from the most recent 30 days. This is your starting data window.
Each subsequent weekly delivery adds only net-new records since your last delivery — typically 7 days of new data. Your cumulative view grows like this:
- Week 1: 30-day window (first delivery)
- Month 3: ~90 days of cumulative context
- Month 6: ~180 days of accumulated records
- Month 12: ~365 days — a full rolling year of permit history
This matters most for products that depend on historical depth — for example, the Aged-Permit HVAC Slice identifies permits that have been open for 90+ days without a final inspection. A new subscriber only gets 30 days of history and won't see any "aged" permits until they've been subscribed for 3 months. A 6-month subscriber has a much richer aged-permit list to work from.
Why we don't front-load historical data
We intentionally start every subscription with a 30-day window rather than dumping 2 years of history at signup. Reasons:
- Older permits (12+ months) are largely stale — the project is either complete, cancelled, or already contracted.
- Compounding delivery creates ongoing value and a reason to stay subscribed long-term.
- If you genuinely need a historical bulk pull for an analytical project, email us — we can quote a one-time historical package separately.
Seasonal variation
Permit volumes in Canadian cities are seasonal. Expect higher row counts in your weekly deliveries from April–October (construction season peak) and lower counts from November–March. This is a function of actual construction activity, not data quality — you'll see the same seasonal pattern in the source open-data portals.
Products based on business licences and federal data have less seasonal variation because business formation and procurement activity are less weather-dependent.