Setting timezone on Incident updates in notifications

[Dubz]

Hi All,

Is there a simple way of showing the timestamp for journal entries on notifications in the senders timezone? Our notifications send out the last 3 journal updates but they send out showing the time they were added in GMT/BST. We operate in Africa so local teams and customers are anything from 1 to 3 hours ahead of GMT/BST.

Timezone is set against the user record so users in Kenya see Kenyan time in date/time fields but we need a way for the updates to be displayed in Kenyan time (or whatever timezone the sender is in) when they send a notification

I have tried setting the glide.email.append.timezone   property to false but this just changes the time stamp on the email.

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi David,

Short answer - no. The email may be going to several recipients and they could be all over the globe. Consider an email that is sent to me and you. I'm on US/Arizona time. I don't change my clocks for spring/fall. I suspect you do. Now what's the timezone going to display on that single message where you get the message, and I'm Cc'd?

See how messy this gets?

[Dubz]

Hi Chuck,

The aim is to have the journal entries displaying the timestamps in the time local to where the service is provided, generally this would be the same as the time zone associated with the user updating the ticket but perhaps it would be best to tie it to the time zone of the country in which the service is provided as that will remain static.

If an incident raised on a service in Kenya is updated, the notification sent to me in London and you in Arizona should show Kenyan time stamps as the service is located in Kenya.

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi David,

I like the idea. I just don't have any idea how to tell the system where the service is being provided and which records it would apply to. And since this is specific to notifications, what do you want to display when the person logs in and looks at the time through the browser? Is that "service location" time or system time or the user's timezone in their profile?

It might be easier just to place a note somewhere in the notification (All times listed are in XXX timezone) and leave it at that. The logic for timezones is a complex one on any platform.

[Dave Smith1]

Is that "service location" time or system time or the user's timezone in their profile?

For customer-centric usability, it should be the user/customer's timezone (whether that be in their profile or System Settings) so that it's local to them.

Issues arise when their location change but timezone isn't updated (and the list of timezones is a bit strange for the profiles but is amendable) so users may receive incorrect information.   It's a bit frustrating being given a time that requires calculation to determine the "real value".