HubSpot Ideas

Adam-SixandFlow

Create a 'Today's Date' field in Hubspot

Currently, you have no date property that tells you today's date. This is genuinely a critical function if you are going to compete with other CRMs. How can a sales team set and keep SLAs if they can only look at the time spent in stage retroactively? Please fix it or bring in a "Today's Date" field so people can work around it using a calculated property and some basic automation i.e.

 

  • Enters deal stage > set date picker to "date of entry"
  • Calc field = time between "Date of entry" & "Today's Date"
  • Report = all deals with "Calc field" >7
  • Automation = id "calc field">7 notify salesperson and manager.

 

This is a huge hole in the system and is going to cost your partner's deals. A simple addition like this would unlock a lot of potential within the system.

93 Replies
Shepp
Member
At this point, it honestly seems like they don't have the capability to
make it happen. It's just above what they are technically capable of in
terms of coding. I can't accept any other response with this kind of wait
time.

IF ONLY I was allowed timelines like this in my work... For crying out loud.
Adam-SixandFlow
Member | Elite Partner

Hi Everyone 

 

I wrote the original post on this nearly 4 years ago and its still not a feature 😅

 

We do have a simple work around now. The bad news is it requires Operations Hub Enterprise which means for a lot of users this won't be an option. 

Create a "date" property on a core object (the company record is the best place for B2B organisations).

 

Then create a "scheduled" workflow to run at 00:01 daily. The next step in the workflow is to update your "date" property to the "time of action". This will run every day and give you a todays date field you can then use in formula fields.

 

We have used this to create custom SLAs, burndown reports and several other functions. 

The main issue is that it makes the activity field quite messy as you have a workflow that runs everyday and puts an entry on the activity feed. So it's a solution its just not the most elegant solution.

 

🤞🏾that HubSpot just build this in as a standard feature soon but hopefully this helps until they do.

ArnaudA
Participant

Still need this feature as few of my client has business case for this, without needed the whole Operation Hub Professional (Enterprise is not needed).

 

Let's hope to see this feature in a near future.

rwebb1
HubSpot Product Team

 👋Hi all, I'm Rachel from the HubSpot Product team. As part of the 'create time since/time until properties' beta, you can now build calculated properties to represent the time between 'today' and another date/datetime represented by a property. These properties can be used in filters (lists, CRM index page views), automations (as a filter), and to build reports.

 

Here is a demo and updated KB article going into more detail about the feature. You can opt into the beta here. 

Looking forward to your feedback!

kaious
Top Contributor

@rwebb1 Thanks for the update! This is a great development, have opted into the beta and will try it out. 

I notice that time since/until properties can't currently be used in other calculated properties – do you know if that will be a permanent limitation? Or may that change in the future?

rwebb1
HubSpot Product Team

Hi @kaious , you're correct that these properties can't be used in other calculated properties, and we don't currently plan on removing this limitation. If you'd be willing to share some examples of how you'd like to use a time since/time until property in a calculated property, that would be helpful! 

kaious
Top Contributor

@rwebb1 an example would be a "time open" field, where we either want to display the time from the start date to today's date if still open, or if closed, the time from the start date to the close date. Currently we do this using calculation field with an if statement referencing a today's date field which we've created and update via a workflow each day.

Mike_
Member

@rwebb1 I'd urge you move this feature request upwards. I'm scratching my head why I can't do this natively in a formula / calculated property on all objects. Resorting to workflows for this is so inefficient.

In my setup I have a scheduled workflow to run at midnight that updates a "Today's Date" property with today's date - on every available record on the standard objects for Deal, Company, Contact and a custom Subscription Object. 

Here's a simple usecase for why I need this

 

On our Subscription object, we track contracts that are prorated for several years at a time, and subscription are flagged active and expired in a "Status" property. If a subscriptions contracted end date is passed today's date (IF EndDate < TodaysDate) then "Status" should be updated from "Active" to "Expired". 

Another: IF StardDate > TodaysDate THEN Status = "Pending Activation"

This is what Salesforce does really well out out of the box with their custom fields, I have essentially the entire Date&Time formula library you see in Excel available to me when creating custom fields in their system.

rwebb1
HubSpot Product Team

@kaious  - Thanks for that example! I understand the request. That said, I'm wondering if setting up two properties to do this calculation natively would be an improvement over using the workflow, for your use case. For example: 

  1. ‘Time since open’ property = ‘time until’ property calculating time between Start Date and Today’s Date (using net new functionality that was released)
  2. ‘Time between Start + Close’ property = ‘time between’ property calculating time between Start Date and Close Date
rwebb1
HubSpot Product Team

Hi @Mike_ , I'm wondering if you can set up the logic you describe using time until/time since properties. For example, I created a workflow updating a ‘Status’ property based on the value of a ‘time until subscription end date’ property (both are custom object properties). This workflow automatically updated the Status property when ‘time until subscription end date’ is less than 0 days (as in, the end date is in the past). Here’s a quick screenshot of my workflow setup.

Screenshot 2025-01-10 at 4.31.11 PM.png

CWest3
Member

Hi Rachel, 

Thank you for the notification and for your follow-up questions.  Here's another very basic, fundamental use case:

Let's pretend you're a Sales VP at a relatively large software company and I am your trusted HubSpot Administrator.  As a Sales VP, you're frustrated with how long it takes for your salespeople to win a deal.  You are keenly aware that for every day a deal in the pipeline is not closed, the cost of the deal continues to rise, as there is no income as a result of your team's efforts.  You also know through experience that the sooner a company starts using your software, the sooner they upgrade, add more users, etc.  However in-tune you are with the math of closing a deal sooner rather than later, your boss, the SVP of WW Sales, definitely wants deals closed faster.  That is clear as day.

Being motivated for closing deals sooner, you "reach across the aisle" and collaborate with your counterpart in Marketing.  You and the VP of Marketing come up with an idea that hopefully will make potential new customers salivate at the idea of signing up.  Then one of you finally asks, "Okay, wait, how are we going to measure if this idea actually works?"  The average deal size from those prospects who responded to the idea vss those who were excluded from the idea?  Sure.  What about looking at funnel velocity?  Are those included in the idea closing the resulting deals sooner?  That would be great!  Let's track that.  

BTW, another idea, one you worked out with your SVP WW boss, was within the sales process itself.  What if during the initial meeting (or second mtg?) with a prospect, salepeople invited a resident guru colleague to provide keen insight into CRM/Sales strategy.  The hypothosis you developed with your boss is the guru will help salespeople gain credibility, demonstrate a spirit of partnership, and facilitate a shared vision.  Sounds great!  Would this speed the sales cycle?  

The more one digs into the issue of deal speed, the more one understands its importance.  More senior folks tend to understand this, because they're much more respectful of opportunity costs.  A wise salesperson once told me, "Time is money."  Now I get it.

Thus, as your trusted CRM Admin, I suggest, "If we timestamp a deal the moment a new deal is opened with the current time and date and then another timestamp when a deal is Closed-Won, we can calculate the time elasped to the speed of other deals, and use this critical KPI to help track the effectiveness of the new ideas we invest in.  It'll also help when you are talking to the big boss, the WW Sales VP, about your plans because we're being super smart about everything."  

You respond, "Yes, please do that and thank you!  Here's a gold star on your worksheet."  

As the admin, I realize my suggestion might solve for a very strategic issue.  If the idea works, it'll be rolled out worldwide, and later I can point to how even a 1% increase in the average deal velocity resulted in lots of $$$.  Facilitating the conversation led to the big-dogs aligning, which is a miracle in of itself!  Momentum!

Alright, (knuckle-crack, neck-twist) let's get to work!  What's great is, I know that based on my past as a SDFC Admin, timestamping a deal at different sales stages and making some calculations is pretty easy, especially given the significance of it!  So, first thing: find the HubSpot setting and...wait...look 5 more times for the setting...and nothing?  Finally, I do a Google search on this issue and find an epic thread and about 5 others raising the same issue.  None of the published hacks work.  And, when reading in between the lines of the comments, these are some very frustrated folks.  What the?  It's true?

Due to the importance of the KPI, I proceed with experimenting with and finally achieving what ends up being one of the most genius things I've ever done to a CRM, certainly within HubSpot.  And, BTW, how I created this workflow is a guarded secret, because I don't want HubSpot to sniff it out and shut it down, because they'd rather have me tell you, my boss, to tell the WW boss, that we need Operations Hub, and another thing that I don't really understand.  Ah, a simple timestamp does not justify such an investment.

And, end scene.

Rachel, TBH, I'm not 100% sure if the calculation limitation you cited effects this use case or not.  What do you think?  Seems like a practial use case, right?  Can my use case be easily fulfilled by the current beta?  You certainly seem sharp enough; can you do it?  If you can't, it's not solved for.  

And I can't tell you 100% if it's sovled for sure because I let my HubSpot Admin license lapse and haven't double checked recently.  And today, I recommend people not invest into HubSpot.  The #1 reason I work against your interests when asked is because of the almost strange transfixtion and incredible stubburness HubSpot has demonstrated regarding timestamping today's time and date.  

I get it if timestamping today's itme & date is not available in the free version (and thank you for the free software!), but not afterward whatsover.   It's just a line.  One in which I'm confident the hundreds of admins here and in other sunsetted threads would agree with as being crossed.  I was happy to see your post, but very suspicious it's solved for.  Maybe the use case I wrote above is solved for now, but in general, if timestamping today's date is not a regular option with the same limitations/unlimitations as other field options, I'll continue to discourage investment into HubSpot.  Just the way it is.

Thank you for pushing the ball forward, Rachel.  At least there's something now.  I hope you have a part in making us whole again someday. 

Mike_
Member

@rwebb1 Thanks for the suggested idea.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do think the "Time since / To" function is a good horizontal improvement in my admin toolbox. However I think this just replaced one workflow with another workflow - which is not achieving the vertical efficiency I desire to have when solving for my business case. 

 

I dislike having to use two tools when one tool should be enough. I would argue that I can't achieve the vertical efficiency I prefer with HubSpot until I can retire workflows alltogether and simply have this handled on the property level. If it's something that a property calculates with a concrete logic, it should be done on the property and not with a workflow.

 

This is why I argue on this HubSpot idea and a few others, that calculated properties need to offer me more funcitonality.  The quickest and easiest solution for that would be to add more date and text functions, in addition to more efficient logical functions such as CASE WHEN / IFS functions (I know I can daisy-chain multiple IF statements, but they're incredibly inefficent to troubleshoot).

 

While I'm at it - Also more readily available association functions like making the User object available to sync properties, so I can hard code the name of a deal owner (this brings improvements for database quering and eliminates the needs for the associations and a table join, for e.g. PowerBI reporting).

 

So there are clear efficiency gains by improving calculated properties. It can remove redundancies (like workflows) and improve data hygenie downstream for commercial reporting more rigidly.

TH7
Contributor
Agreed with this +

Workflows add operational complexity. To refactor a workflow, you would use
calculated properties. They are easy to create, update, and always run.