NULL DATES IN FACTS

HI ,

we have few Date columns as Fact .Null's are replaced by default dates '1899-12-31'.
Our users are using tableau for self service reports now and they are finding it pretty hard to replace '1899-12-31' with null's in reports.
To avoid this can i have the date's as null in the Fact tables?
Is this the correct way of doing it?

please advise.

Thanks

It depends. What is the date used for?

For example, if the date is used as part of a pair of effective and expiration dates, it is common practice to set a default value as null values do not evaluate properly when performing a BETWEEN.

If it is the timestamp of the event the row represents, having NULL may be correct as it truly reflects what is known about the date.

There is no standard here. It is dependent on the situation.

Thanks for your inputs