Timezone Handling

Database Connectors

Flow Connect represents every date/time internally as calendar date + clock time + UTC offset (i.e., an offset-aware timestamp). Many external databases however use offset-naïve types (datetime objects that lack any timezone information)

• Oracle: DATE, TIMESTAMP

• SQL Server: datetime, datetime2

• IFS10: DATE, TIMESTAMP

Because these formats lack time zone context, Flow Connect must:

• Assume a time zone when reading values from external sources.

• Optionally convert values into a target time zone when writing back to those systems.

Connector Configuration

To improve consistency in date/time handling, Flow Connect introduces new configuration options in database connectors.

Time Zone

• Purpose: Defines the target time zone for the connected database.

• Configuration: Select the appropriate time zone from the dropdown list.

  • Default: Connector Agent’s time zone

  • Custom: Choose the external database’s time zone if known

• Behavior When Reading Values

  For offset‑naïve types (e.g., Oracle DATE, SQL Server datetime, IFS10 DATE), Flow Connect interprets values in the configured time zone. Daylight Saving Time adjustments are applied automatically.

• Behavior When Writing Values

  Controlled by the Date/Time Input Parameter Behavior setting:

  • Pass through: default option where the values are sent exactly as provided, with no conversion.

  • Convert to configured time zone: All date/time input parameters are converted to the selected time zone before execution. Useful when your database stores date/time without offsets but you want them normalized to a specific zone (e.g., Etc/UTC).

Behavior Matrix

Use this matrix to predict read/write behavior based on the database column type and the chosen connector configuration.

IFS 10

Offset-aware data types:

IFS 10 lacks support for offset-aware timestamp data types, due to limitations in the .NET Access Provider.

Offset-naïve data types:

• DATE

• TIMESTAMP

Operation	Connector Configuration	Behaviour
Read		Interpreted in connector agents time zone (Daylight saving time aware) to produce an offset-aware value in Flow Connect.
Read		Interpreted in connector configured time zone (Daylight saving time aware) to produce an offset-aware value in Flow Connect.
Write		Values are sent as given (including offset). No conversion
Write		Flow Connect converts inputs to connector configured time zone (including offset). It can be the connector agent's time zone or any other time zone value set in the connector.

Oracle

SQL Server