Set Up Business Hours for a Profile
Business hours are the hours when your Community team is available and able to respond to your fans’ messages (for example, Monday to Friday from 8.00 till 17.00 Prague time). The Community agents are expected to interact with the customers within business hours, and their replies are not expected outside of the business hours.
Business hours are tied to a specific timezone and can respect holidays or time periods when the Community team is off work. This sets clear customer expectations and ensures consistent service throughout your profiles and timezones, especially if your teams spread across multiple regions.
Business hours and response time analysis
Business hours can affect how the response time metrics used by some Dashboard widgets for Community (or example, Direct messages response time, Agents' performance, or Response time) are calculated.
Business hours are assigned per profile. By default, a profile has no predefined business hours, and team availability for the profile is considered to be 24/7. Setting business hours helps you get more accurate response time data for the profile.
If your team is not available 24/7 and the profile does not have business hours assigned, the values for response time metrics might be much higher than expected because customers could be sending messages at night or during holidays or weekends.
If the profile has business hours assigned and a message to this profile arrives to Community outside of the business hours, the response time metrics will not be increased.
For more information about analyzing the response time, see Analyze Performance of Your Community Operations.
If your Community team is on duty 24/7 or you are not interested in considering business hours in calculating the response time, you do not need to set business hours.
Setting up business hours
Create business hours from scratch
To be able to create business hours from scratch, you must be an Account Admin or have a custom account role with the “Add & Edit Business hours” permission under the Community & Publisher section (see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Business hours.
Click +Create business hours.
The dialog for creating new business hours pops up.
Enter the name of the business hours.
(Optional) Enter the description of the business hours.
In the Timezone dropdown, select the timezone for the business hours.
Click Create.
The dialog closes. New business hours are created and appear in the list of the business hours.
The business hours panel slides out. The days of the week from Monday through Sunday appear. The days from Monday to Friday are enabled with the business hours set to from 9.00 till 17.00.
Update the schedule as needed. The changes are applied and automatically saved as you make them.
If your company is closed on some days of the week, disable these days.
For each working day, set the start time and the end time of the business hours.
To set up more than one time slot within the same day, click the plus icon to add a time slot. The time slots within one day must not overlap.
If your company is open 24 hours a day on some days of the week, select the Online 24h checkbox for these days.
This sets the schedule for these days to “from 0:00 till 24:00”.If the business hours are the same for every working day of the week, set up the hours only for Monday and click the copy icon to populate the same hours to all the other working days of the week.
To add a holiday, click the Holidays tab, and click +Add holiday.
The dialog for creating a new holiday pops up.
Enter the name of the holiday, and select the holiday date.
If the holiday occurs annually, toggle the switch next to the Repeated yearly option to ON.
Do one of the following:
If you need to create only this one holiday, click Save.
The dialog closes. The holiday is saved.If you need to create several holidays in a row, click Add & next.
The holiday is saved. The dialog remains open, and the fields are cleared so you can fill them in for the next holiday to create.
Once done, close the business hours panel.
To assign the business hours to profiles, see "Assign business hours to a profile" and "Assign business hours to multiple profiles at once" further in this article.
Create business hours by duplicating existing business hours
To be able to create business hours by duplicating existing business hours, you must be an Account Admin or have a custom account role with the “Add & Edit Business hours” permission under the Community & Publisher section (see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Business hours.
Hover over the business hours that you want to duplicate, and click the copy icon.
New duplicate business hours are created and appear in the list of the business hours.
The new business hours get the same name as the original business hours plus the- copysuffix. For example, if you duplicated the business hours “America/Barbados”, the new profile role will be titled “America/Barbados - copy”.Click the newly created business hours.
The business hours panel slides out.Click the pencil icon next to the placeholder business hours name.
The dialog for editing the new business hours pops up.
Rename the business hours.
(Optional) Update the description of the business hours and its timezone.
Click Save.
The dialog closes. The business hours are updated.Update the schedule as needed. The changes are applied and automatically saved as you make them.
If your company is closed on some days of the week, disable these days.
For each working day, set the start time and the end time of the business hours.
To set up more than one time slot within the same day, click the plus icon to add a time slot. The time slots within one day must not overlap.
If your company is open 24 hours a day on some days of the week, select the Online 24h checkbox for these days.
This sets the schedule for these days to “from 0:00 till 24:00”.If the business hours are the same for every working day of the week, set up the hours only for Monday and click the copy icon to populate the same hours to all the other working days of the week.
Click the Holidays tab, and review the holidays.
If you want to delete a holiday:
Hover over the holiday you want to delete, and click the trash can icon that appears.
Confirm the deletion.
The holiday is deleted.
If you want to add a holiday:
Click +Add holiday.
The dialog for creating a new holiday pops up.
Enter the name of the holiday, and select the holiday date.
If the holiday occurs annually, toggle the switch next to the Repeated yearly option to ON.
Do one of the following:
If you need to create only this one holiday, click Save.
The dialog closes. The holiday is saved.If you need to create several holidays in a row, click Add & next.
The holiday is saved. The dialog remains open, and the fields are cleared so you can fill them in for the next holiday to create.
Once done, close the business hours panel.
To assign the business hours to profiles, see "Assign business hours to a profile" and "Assign business hours to multiple profiles at once" further in this article.
Update the name and description of business hours
This section describes how to update the name of business hours and optionally change their description. If you need to update the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours, see “Update the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours” further in this article.
Renaming business hours and updating their description do not affect the business hours schedule, the profiles that these business hours are assigned to, or any response time metrics that you may be tracking for the profiles.
To be able to update business hours, you must be an Account Admin or have a custom account role with the “Add & Edit Business hours” permission under the Community & Publisher section (see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Business hours.
Click the business hours that you want to update.
The business hours panel slides out.Click the pencil icon next to the business hours name.
The dialog for editing the business hours pops up.
Rename the business hours.
(Optional) Update the description of the business hours.
Click Save.
The dialog closes. The changes that you made are saved.Close the business hours panel.
Update the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours
Updating the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours will be applied to all the profiles that the business hours are assigned to and will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for these profiles (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Updating the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours are not applied to the response time data retrospectively. When you update the schedule, timezone, or holidays in business hours, the past response time data will not be recalculated.
To be able to update business hours, you must be an Account Admin or have a custom account role with the “Add & Edit Business hours” permission under the Community & Publisher section (see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Business hours.
Click the business hours that you want to update.
The business hours panel slides out.To update the timezone, select the new timezone in the Timezone dropdown.
The change is applied and saved automatically.Update the schedule as needed. The changes are applied and automatically saved as you make them.
If your company is closed on some days of the week, disable these days.
For each working day, set the start time and the end time of the business hours.
To set up more than one time slot within the same day, click the plus icon to add a time slot. The time slots within one day must not overlap.
If your company is open 24 hours a day on some days of the week, select the Online 24h checkbox for these days.
This sets the schedule for these days to “from 0:00 till 24:00”.If the business hours are the same for every working day of the week, set up the hours only for Monday and click the copy icon to populate the same hours to all the other working days of the week.
To update the holidays, click the Holidays tab.
If you want to delete a holiday:
Hover over the holiday you want to delete, and click the trash can icon that appears.
Confirm the deletion.
The holiday is deleted.
If you want to add a holiday:
Click +Add holiday.
The dialog for creating a new holiday pops up.
Enter the name of the holiday, and select the holiday date.
If the holiday occurs annually, toggle the switch next to the Repeated yearly option to ON.
Do one of the following:
If you need to create only this one holiday, click Save.
The dialog closes. The holiday is saved.If you need to create several holidays in a row, click Add & next.
The holiday is saved. The dialog remains open, and the fields are cleared so you can fill them in for the next holiday to create.
Once done, close the business hours panel.
Delete business hours
When you delete business hours, they will be unassigned from all the profiles that the business hours are assigned to, and it will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for these profiles (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Deleting business hours are not applied to the response time data retrospectively. When you delete business hours, the past response time data will not be recalculated.
To be able to delete business hours, you must be an Account Admin or have a custom account role with the “Add & Edit Business hours” permission under the Community & Publisher section (see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Business hours.
Hover over the business hours that you want to delete, and click the trash can icon that appears.
Confirm the deletion.
The business hours are deleted.
Assigning business hours to profiles
Assign business hours to a profile
You can assign business hours only to a profile that is activated for Community (see Activate Profiles for Community and Set Up Profile Roles).
Assigning business hours to a profile will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for this profile (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Assigning the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profile retrospectively. When you assign business hours, the past response time data for the profile will not be recalculated.
Timezone of the profile vs. timezone of the business hours assigned
Make sure to assign business hours with the same timezone that the profile has. If the business hours use a different timezone than the profile, the response time metrics will use the timezone of the assigned business hours. The timezone of the profile will be ignored.
To be able to assign business hours to a profile, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click the profile that you want to assign business hours to.
The profile opens.Click the Business hours tab, then click Assign business hours.
The dropdown opens listing all existing business hours.
Select the business hours that you want to assign to the profile.
The business hours are assigned to the profile.
Assign business hours to multiple profiles at once
You can assign business hours only to the profiles that are activated for Community (see Activate Profiles for Community and Set Up Profile Roles).
Assigning business hours to profiles will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for these profiles (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Assigning the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profiles retrospectively. When you assign business hours, the past response time data for the profiles will not be recalculated.
Timezone of the profiles vs. timezone of the business hours assigned
Make sure to assign business hours with the same timezone that the profiles have. If the business hours use a different timezone than the profiles, the response time metrics will use the timezone of the assigned business hours. The timezone of the profiles will be ignored.
To be able to assign business hours to profiles, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click Filter on the top right.
The filter panel opens.
Under Community connection status, select Enabled.
Click Filter profiles.
The profiles that are activated for Community are listed.In the list of profiles, select those that you want to assign business hours to.
Click Business hours on the bar with action buttons that appears at the bottom of the page, then select the business hours that you want to assign to the profiles.
The business hours are assigned to the selected profiles. The confirmation dialog pops up.
Change the business hours in a profile
Changing the business hours in a profile will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for this profile (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Changing the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profile retrospectively. When you change the business hours, the past response time data for the profile will not be recalculated.
Timezone of the profile vs. timezone of the business hours assigned
Make sure that the new business hours have the same timezone that the profile has. If the business hours use a different timezone than the profile, the response time metrics will use the timezone of the assigned business hours. The timezone of the profile will be ignored.
To be able to change business hours in a profile, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click the profile that you want to change the business hours in.
The profile opens.Click the Business hours tab, then click Change business hours.
The dropdown opens listing all existing business hours.
Select the new business hours that you want to assign to the profile.
The new business hours are assigned to the profile.
Change the business hours in multiple profiles at once
Changing the business hours in profiles will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for these profiles (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Changing the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profiles retrospectively. When you change the business hours, the past response time data for the profiles will not be recalculated.
Timezone of the profiles vs. timezone of the business hours assigned
Make sure that the new business hours have the same timezone that the profiles have. If the business hours use a different timezone than the profiles, the response time metrics will use the timezone of the assigned business hours. The timezone of the profiles will be ignored.
To be able to change business hours in profiles, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click Filter on the top right.
The filter panel opens.
Under Community connection status, select Enabled.
Click Filter profiles.
The profiles that are activated for Community are listed.In the list of profiles, select those that you want to assign business hours to.
Click Business hours on the bar with action buttons that appears at the bottom of the page, then select the business hours that you want to assign to the profiles.
The business hours are assigned to the selected profiles. The confirmation dialog pops up.
Unassign business hours from a profile
When you unassign the business hours from a profile, team availability for the profile is switched back to 24/7, and it will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for this profile (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Unassigning the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profile retrospectively. When you unassign the business hours, the past response time data for the profile will not be recalculated.
To be able to unassign business hours from a profile, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click the profile that you want to unassign the business hours from.
The profile opens.Click the Business hours tab, then click the remove icon to unassign the business hours from the profile.
The business hours are unassigned from the profile. The profile has no business hours assigned.
Unassign business hours from multiple profiles at once
When you unassign the business hours from profiles, team availability for the profiles is switched back to 24/7, and it will affect the response time metrics that you may be tracking for these profiles (see "Business hours and response time analysis" earlier in this article).
No data recalculation retrospectively
Unassigning the business hours is not applied to the response time data for the profiles retrospectively. When you unassign the business hours, the past response time data for the profiles will not be recalculated.
To be able to unassign business hours from profiles, you must have an account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission (that is, Account Admin or a custom account role with the “Manage Assignments for Groups, Users, Profiles” permission under the Global section; see Account Roles).
Steps:
Go to Settings -> Channels, and then:
For profiles connected to accounts on social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on), click Social profiles.
For profiles connected to accounts on review platforms (such as Google Business), click Google businesses.
Click Filter on the top right.
The filter panel opens.
Under Community connection status, select Enabled.
Click Filter profiles.
The profiles that are activated for Community are listed.In the list of profiles, select those that you want to unassign business hours from.
Click Business hours on the bar with action buttons that appears at the bottom of the page, then click Unassign business hours.
Confirm the unassigning.
The business hours are unassigned from the selected profiles. The confirmation dialog pops up.