How to Schedule the Behavior of Sales Order Rules [Guide]

When processing orders during specific periods, you may need to schedule specific behaviors for Sales Order Rules. This ensures that new orders are routed through workflows designed to meet specific criteria within a defined date window. To achieve this, you can use the Created Date Condition, as explained in this guide. 

This article is divided into the following sections:

1. What is covered
2. Requirements
3. Schedule Rule Behavior
   1. Before a Specific Date
   2. Between Specific Dates
   3. On a Specific Date Only
   4. After a Specific Date
      
4. Final Considerations

I. WHAT IS COVERED

All Sales Order Rules can be scheduled to apply during a specific date range. To achieve this, the rule must include the Created Date Condition, which evaluates each Sales Order as it passes through the workflow.

This logic supports use cases where specific actions need to be taken on Sales Orders before, during, or after defined dates. For example:

• Add a gift to new Sales Orders created before December 31st.

• Add an ice pack to Sales Orders including chocolates between December 1st and February 28th.

• Send an email notification for all orders received from Shopify after July 1st.

NOTE: This logic can also be used to schedule the activation or deactivation of a Sales Order Rule, as detailed in the next sections.

II. REQUIREMENTS

To get started, create or edit the required Sales Order Rule, adding any necessary steps prior to the date condition (which will be covered in the next section). For guidance on how to create or update a rule, refer to:

• How to Create Sales/Purchase Order Rules [Step-by-step guide]
• How to Edit Sales/Purchase Order Rules [Step-by-step guide]

III. SCHEDULE RULE BEHAVIOR

To schedule the rule behavior, add a Condition step using Created Date and configure the operator according to your intended logic:

NOTE: This condition evaluates the entire set day — from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM — regardless of the time the order was created. If not provided by the Sales Channel or API, it defaults to the order's creation date in techOMS.

i. Before a Specific Date

Use the Less Than or Equal operator and set a specific date.

This filters orders created on or before the specified date. 

NOTE: If you don't add actions in the False branch, orders created after the set date will be ignored by the rule, which effectively simulates its scheduled deactivation.

ii. Between Specific Dates

Set two Conditions grouped with AND:

• One for the start date, using Greater Than or Equal

• One for the end date, using Less Than or Equal

This filters orders created between the two specified dates, including both.

NOTE: If no actions are added to the False branch, orders outside the set range will be ignored by the rule — emulating its scheduled deactivation.

 
iii. On a Specific Date Only

Use the Equal operator and set a specific date. This filters orders created exactly on that day. 

NOTE: If you don't add actions in the False branch, orders created before or after that date will be ignored by the rule — effectively simulating a one-day rule activation.

iv. After a Specific Date

Use the Greater Than or Equal operator and set a specific date. This filters orders created on or after that date.

NOTE: If you don't add actions in the False branch, orders created before the set date will be ignored by the rule, which simulates a scheduled activation of the rule.

IV. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

This article explains how to use specific condition settings to emulate different scheduling scenarios. To build additional workflows or logic variations, refer to: Rules Conditions and Actions Guide [Information].

The examples shown demonstrate how to schedule the activation and deactivation of a Sales Order Rule using the Created Date Condition. To enable or disable a rule manually, refer to How to Enable/Disable a Sales/Purchase Order Rule [Step-by-step guide].

To make the rule immediately effective, check Enable and press Save.