Time Zones in Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Feb 6, 2025

5 min

Problem:

The server time zones in Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC), Salesforce CRM, and even different stacks within SFMC vary, leading to potential confusion and misalignment in scheduling and data interpretation. Specifically:

Salesforce Marketing Cloud servers store timestamps in UTC and do not switch to Daylight Savings Time (DST).

Different stacks may operate in different time zones. For example, some regional stacks might use Mountain Standard Time (UTC -7) or other variations, but most SFMC stacks follow UTC.

Challenges:

Working with time zones in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, especially in SQL, can be complex due to multiple time zones used in different contexts.

SFMC system time is stored in UTC but may be displayed as CST (UTC-6) in the UI, leading to potential issues with time zone conversions, especially during Daylight Savings Time adjustments.

The UI displays dates and times adjusted to the logged-in user’s local time zone, which can be different from what is stored in the backend.

Observations:

The Marketing Cloud servers store data in UTC but display CST (UTC-6) in the UI.

Dates and times displayed in the Marketing Cloud interface are adjusted according to the logged-in user’s local time zone.

This adjustment also applies to any scheduling configured in Automations or Journeys.

Resolution:

To handle time zone differences accurately and consistently, use the AT TIME ZONE function to convert times to the specified local time zone. This function ensures that conversions are accurate regardless of the time of year or the presence of Daylight Savings Time in the local time zone.

Steps:

Identify Current Stack Time Zone: Contact Salesforce support to determine the time zone your current stack is operating in.

Time Zone Conversion: Use the AT TIME ZONE syntax to convert times accurately. Here’s an example syntax:

This query converts the current UTC time to your specified local time zone.

Example 1: If your stack operates on CST (UTC -6) and you need to convert to IST (Indian Standard Time, UTC +5:30), the query would be:

Example 2: This query demonstrates various conversions from Central Standard Time (UTC-6) to other time zones, such as Eastern Standard Time (EST) and US Eastern Standard Time (US-EST).

SELECT O.Id,

O.<Date/Time Field Name> AS NOV_Date_Time,

O.NOV_Date_Time__c AT TIME ZONE ‘Central Standard Time’

AT TIME ZONE ‘Eastern Standard Time’ as CST_EST1 ,

O.NOV_Date_Time__c AT TIME ZONE ‘Central Standard Time’

AT TIME ZONE ‘US Eastern Standard Time’ as CST_US-EST ,

O.NOV_Date_Time__c AT TIME ZONE ‘Canada Central Standard Time’

AT TIME ZONE ‘Central Standard Time’ as CA-CST_CST,

O.NOV_Date_Time__c AT TIME ZONE ‘Canada Central Standard Time’

AT TIME ZONE ‘Eastern Standard Time’ as CA-CST_EST

FROM <Data Extension Name> O

Understanding Time Zone Offset Values in SQL Results

When you run a query with a time zone conversion, the result includes an offset value. Here’s how to read and interpret this offset:

Format: [+|-] hh:mm

+ (plus) or – (minus): Indicates whether the time is ahead or behind UTC.

hh (hours): The number of hours the time zone is offset from UTC.

mm (minutes): The additional minutes the time zone is offset from UTC.

05: The time is 5 hours ahead of UTC.

30: The time is 30 minutes ahead of UTC.

Additional Considerations:

Known Bug: DE Created/Modified Date:

There is a known issue where Data Extension Created Date and the Modified Dates are not in the local user’s time zone. For example, Contact Builder may display different Created/Modified System Dates compared to Email Studio.

Report Output Defaults to CST:

Reports in Email Studio and Analytics Builder often require specifying a Time Zone and Culture Code within the Report Parameters. However, the report will ignore the selected Time Zone and output dates and times in CST (UTC-06).

Here is a good unofficial overview of where which time zone applies:

List Of Supported Time zones in Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Salesforce Marketing Cloud supports multiple time zones, but some variations do not adjust for Daylight Savings Time. Below is a summary of commonly used time zones and their DST status:

A complete list of time zones can be found in Salesforce’s official documentation.

References:

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=000384850&language=en_US&type=1

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.admin_supported_timezone.htm&type=5

https://mateuszdabrowski.pl/docs/sql/sfmc-sql-date-functions/

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=000384850&type=1

https://charliefay.medium.com/dates-and-times-in-salesforce-marketing-cloud-c17c74a57768

Contact Us