Business Hours

Business Hours

The BusinessHours operation selects an exit according to the rules applied at the current Time of Day, Day of Week and Day of Year. It is one of the most complex operation structures in the Flow Editor.

The BusinessHours operation must have at least one exit. The BusinessHours operation is only useful when it has more than one exit, although this is not enforced by the operation definition.

Config Parameters

The BusinessHours operation config attributes are as follows.

Config Rules

The attributes for each BusinessHours operation rules Object takes one of the following forms.

Matching Date and Time

When determining if a rule matches, first check the “Day” part of the rule, as follows:

• days = any: Always matches.

• days = mmdd, start_mmdd = [MMDD], end_mmdd = [MMDD]: Matches if the month/day is within the indicated range (inclusive).

• days = dow, start_day = [0-6], end_day = [0-6]: Matches if the current day of week number is within the indicated range (inclusive) where Sunday = 0, Saturday = 6.

• days = holiday_entry, holiday_entries = [Array of Entry Names]: Matches if the current day matches any of the days associated with any of the named holiday entries.

• days = any_holiday: Matches if the current day matches any of the days associated with any of the holiday entries in the configured holiday_set.

If day does not match, then proceed to the next rule (or use default_exit_idx if no more rules remain).

If day matches, proceed to matching the current time according to the rule’s exit_idx, start_hhmm, end_hhmm, in_hours_exit_idx, and out_of_hours_exit_idx based on the following permitted time rule parameter combinations:

• exit_idx only: No checking on current time of day is required, the rule always matches any time of day.

• start_hhmm, end_hhmm, and in_hours_exit_idx only: If the current time of day matches the indicated 24-hour clock HHMM range, then follow the in-hours exit index, otherwise this rule does not apply.

• start_hhmm, end_hhmm, in_hours_exit_idx, and out_of_hours_exit_idx all present: If the current time of day matches the indicated 24-hour clock HHMM range, then follow the in-hours exit index, otherwise follow the out-of-hours exit.

If no rule matches, then the exit indicated by default_exit_idx will be taken.

Example Operation

Here is an example BusinessHours operation in JSON representation.

    {
        "id": 5,
        "type": "BusinessHours",
        "config": {
            "holiday_set": "National Holidays",
            "rules": [
                { "days": "holiday_entry", "holiday_entries": [ "Easter Weekend" ], "exit_idx": 1 },
                { "days": "mmdd", "start_mmdd": "0401", "end_mmdd": "0401",
                  "start_hhmm": "1200", "end_hhmm": "1500",
                  "in_hours_exit_idx": 0, "out_of_hours_exit_idx": 1
                },
                { "days": "any_holiday", "exit_idx": 1 },
                { "days": "dow", "start_day": 1, "end_day": 5,
                  "start_hhmm": "0900", "end_hhmm": "1730",
                  "in_hours_exit_idx": 0, "out_of_hours_exit_idx": 1
                },
                { "days": "any", "start_hhmm": "0600", "end_hhmm": "2400", "in_hours_exit_idx": 2 }
            ],
            "default_exit_idx": 1
        },
        "exits": [ 4, 17, 33 ]
    }

The rules will be evaluated for the current date and time for the default timezone in the following sequence. All Holidays are as defined in a holiday set named “National Holidays”.

1. Between Good Friday and Easter Monday, follow exit index 1 to the operation with ID 17.

2. On April 1st, between noon and 3 PM follow exit index 0 to the operation with ID 4, else follow exit index 1 to the operation with ID 17.

3. On any holiday, follow exit index 1 to the operation with ID 17.

4. Between Monday and Friday, between 9 AM and 5:30 PM follow exit index 0 to the operation with ID 4, else follow exit index 1 to the operation with ID 17.

5. Any other day between 6 AM and midnight, follow exit index 2 to the operation with ID 33.

6. Otherwise follow the default exit index 1 to the operation with ID 17.

Exits

By convention the first exit represents the processing for “Closed” hours, and the second exit for “Open” hours, with any additional exits representing secondary/alternate Open Hours. However, this is purely a convention, and the definition of the BusinessHours operation does not rely on any particular intepretation of exits.