# P21 Community Define spec generation assigns AE.AESTDTC as text instead of partialDateTime

**URL:** <https://forum.certara.com/t/p21-community-define-spec-generation-assigns-ae-aestdtc-as-text-instead-of-partialdatetime/4401>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [June 1, 2026, 9:54am UTC](https://forum.certara.com/t/p21-community-define-spec-generation-assigns-ae-aestdtc-as-text-instead-of-partialdatetime/4401 "2026-06-01T09:54:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jose\_Gonzalez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Jose\_Gonzalez](https://forum.certara.com/u/Jose_Gonzalez)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:54am UTC](https://forum.certara.com/t/p21-community-define-spec-generation-assigns-ae-aestdtc-as-text-instead-of-partialdatetime/4401/1 "2026-06-01T09:54:35Z")

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Hello all,

When generating SDTM Define-XML specs from XPT files in P21 Community, we noticed that **AE.AESTDTC** was generated as `partialDateTime` in a previous study, but as `text` in a current study, which triggers a P21 finding.

Could you confirm how P21 determines the datatype for `--DTC` variables during spec generation? Should **AE.AESTDTC** and **AE.AEENDTC** be manually updated to `partialDateTime` when they contain ISO 8601 date/time values and may allow partial dates?

Thanks.

Jose.