Partially losing information in Workflow Tasks

Question

I have a survey for event registration linked to a Google Sheets spreadsheet. The workflow enables Qualtrics to add a new row to the sheet whenever a new registration is received. The sheet captures Date&Time in column A, Chinese Name in column B, English Name in column C, etc. For the past 3 months, this workflow has been functioning well, receiving over 2500 enrollments and allowing me to quickly analyze applicants based on real-time data. However, we recently noticed that 22 consecutive rows of Date&Time information are missing from late May to early June, while other information such as names and contact details were recorded normally. (Screenshot below) I reviewed the Run history, and all tasks executed successfully, with the Date&Time value recorded in the input code. Strangely, the Date&Time data started reappearing in new enrollment record on June 14, and the workflow is now functioning correctly again. During the "error period" no one with access to the survey or the sheet noticed the issue. The Edit History in Google Sheets shows that the cells with missing values were never populated. Technically no data loss occurred because I can always retrieve values manually from the survey. However, I am curious about the cause of this situation and want to know how to prevent it from happening again. I checked my other surveys and sheets with similar Workflow settings, and none of them experienced this problem during above period. I suspected if the piped text I use ${date://CurrentDate/d%2Fm%2FY} ${date://CurrentTime/MS} being “system data” failed to deliver perhaps due to some updates or maintenances in Qualtrics, but at the same time I was using piped text of Response ID using ${rm://Field/ResponseID} and it was added successfully. Any guesses? I am happy to share more detail for discussion. Many thanks in advance!

rochak_khandelwal · Accepted Answer

I’ve seen similar behavior recently and suspect it might have been a transient issue on Qualtrics’ side—especially with how ${date://CurrentDate/MS} is resolved during workflow execution. It’s strange that other piped values (like Response ID) worked fine while the date failed.One workaround that has worked for me:At the start of the survey (in the Survey Flow), add a new Embedded Data field—say, CustomTimestamp. Then, use JavaScript in the first question to populate it manually, like this:Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.addOnload(function() { Qualtrics.SurveyEngine.setEmbeddedData("CustomTimestamp", new Date().toISOString());});This ensures the timestamp is stored as part of the response itself, independent of system piped text. You can then use ${e://Field/CustomTimestamp} in your workflow, which should be more stable.Hope this helps!-- Rochak

LizzL · Answer

Thank you Rochak, I tried your solution and it works well -populatingthe same value as the current workflow settings, haven’t hada chance to check its stability, though. For the time being, I will keep on using the current one,in case any disappearance happens again, your method will be my go-to choice.

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