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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Service | Customer Service, Contact Center, Fie... / Time Zones and Resourc...
Service | Customer Service, Contact Center, Fie...
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Time Zones and Resource Requirements

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Posted on by David Shaw_UK 33
Hi all,
 
Regarding URS, it seems the Time From Promised and Time To Promised fields don't respect the Time Zone on the Calendar/ Work Hour Calendar of the Resource Requirement but rather the time zone of the User and/or device inserting the value. This is does not seem to be consistent nor intuitive when explicitly selecting the time zone of the resource requirement and then having to calculate the time difference of you (the user) and the RR's time zone when inserting the start time. Surely a better design would be to treat the Time To/From Promised as RR Time Zone related and not inserting user related as it makes it very difficult for central planners operating across many time zones requiring them to always calculate time differences or to keep switching their personal time zone to match the RR time zones they are booking.
 
Furthermore I have noticed that when inserting a value a Time Window Start and saving, the Time Zone value of the inserting user is automatically populated in the Time one for time window field rather than the Resource Requirement's calendar time zone, adjusting this has no effect, just adding more confusion to the design.
 
Any suggestions?
 
 
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Field Service
  • Tom_Gioielli Profile Picture
    Tom_Gioielli 1,680 on at
    Time Zones and Resource Requirements
     
    Excellent callout, and I'm excited to try that out. Time zones in Field Service always get me twisted around, and being able to do Time Zone agnostic bookings would be great. Thanks for linking!
  • David Shaw_UK Profile Picture
    David Shaw_UK 33 on at
    Time Zones and Resource Requirements
    @Tom massive coincidence but this update to version releases was the date before this post, check feature releases and bug fixes... Guess we should test these out and see if it solves the problem Universal Resource Scheduling version history - Dynamics 365 Field Service | Microsoft Learn
  • Suggested answer
    Tom_Gioielli Profile Picture
    Tom_Gioielli 1,680 on at
    Time Zones and Resource Requirements
    Time zones in Field Service are basically the bane of my existence. I don't know if I have a specific resolution to your problem, but I've found just defining how time zones are looked at in Field Service is beneficial.
     
    1) Time Window Start / Time Window End / Time From Promised / time to Promised are all typically tracked and stored specific to the Service Location time zone
    2) The Schedule Board has a configurable time zone, so the zone can be defined and any resource requirements should show and calculated based on the Schedule Board time zone
    3) Resources have a defined time zone, and their availability is converted to the Schedule Board Time Zone when scheduling
     
     
    Field Service was really designed around the concept of local resources for local jobs. If you are scheduling technicians for a bunch of jobs in the Central Time Zone, it's assumed that the technicians themselves are going to be in the Central Time Zone. I have worked with some companies who instead would send technicians on long trips to complete jobs. In their case, it made more sense for everyone to be set to a single time zone to reduce confusion and to avoid needing to do any conversions.
  • Suggested answer
    Holly Huffman Profile Picture
    Holly Huffman 6,212 on at
    Time Zones and Resource Requirements
    Good morning, afternoon, or evening—depending on where you are in the world!
    Hope you're doing well.
     
    This issue is frustrating… Here’s a clear explanation of what’s happening and what options are available:
     
    Confirmed Behavior
    This is a known limitation in Dynamics 365 Field Service and URS. The Time From/To Promised fields are stored in UTC and rendered based on the user’s local time zone, not the Resource Requirement’s calendar time zone. This means:
    • When a user enters a time, it’s interpreted in their local time zone.
    • The system does not automatically convert or align this with the RR’s calendar time zone.
    • The Time Window Time Zone field is also auto-populated with the user’s time zone, not the RR’s
    This behavior has been confirmed by other users in the Dynamics community and is not currently configurable
     
    Why It’s a Problem
    For central dispatchers or planners working across multiple regions, this design forces them to:
    • Manually calculate time differences between their own time zone and the RR’s.
    • Risk incorrect scheduling due to misaligned time zone assumptions.
    • Constantly switch their personal time zone settings to match the RR’s—an inefficient and error-prone workaround.
    What You Can Do
    1. Raise a Feature Request
      This is a strong candidate for a Microsoft Ideas submission. The current design does not support global scheduling scenarios well and could benefit from a more intuitive, RR-centric time zone model.
    2. Custom Plugin or Power Automate Workaround
      If critical, you could implement a plugin or flow that:
      • Converts the user-entered time to the RR’s calendar time zone.
      • Updates the Time From/To Promised fields accordingly.
      • Ensures the Time Window Time Zone field reflects the RR’s calendar.
    3. Training and UI Prompts
      In the short term, consider adding tooltips or training prompts to remind users to adjust for time zone differences when entering promised times
    Note: I collaborated with AI to help craft this response and ensure it’s as accurate and helpful as possible.
    Hope this helps some! 

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