topic Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps in Qlik Replicate

Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

FabioTavares — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:58:23 GMT

Hello,

I have a task copying data. I have a couple of rules where I add columns. 2 of those columns are:

- COMMIT_TIMESTAMP - it comes from header $AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP.

- REPLICATE_TIMESTAMP - it comes from expression datetime('now')

Its my understanding that both, in terms of time zone, would reflect the Qlik Replicate server time zone but curious enough I always see the REPLICATE_TIMESTAMP "happening" before the COMMIT_TIMESTAMP.

How is this possible? Am I missing something with the time zones?

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

john_wang — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:37:23 GMT

Hello @FabioTavares ,

There are two possible reasons:

datetime('now') returns the UTC time.
If you need the local time, you can use:
datetime('now','localtime').
Please verify the system time and time zone settings on both the source database server and the Replicate server, and ensure they are properly synchronized.

Hope this helps.

John.

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

FabioTavares — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:39:52 GMT

Hello @john_wang,

Thank you for the quick assist. I think I got confused... indeed datetime('now') is utc.
I will check the Qlik server time zone but out of curiosity, is there a way to bring the value of header 'AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP' in UTC without knowing the server time zone?

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

john_wang — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 03:07:10 GMT

Hello @FabioTavares ,

AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP is stored in the database local time.
If you convert REPLICATE_TIMESTAMP to local time as well, the comparison becomes much easier.

thanks,

John.

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

DesmondWOO — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 03:09:04 GMT

Hi @FabioTavares ,

You don’t need to know the server’s time zone; simply specifying the UTC parameter is sufficient, as shown below

datetime($AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP, 'UTC')

Regards,
Desmond

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

FabioTavares — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:00:39 GMT

Hello @DesmondWOO,

I just did the transformations and forced a reload (with truncate), but I still see the replicate before the commit. What am I missing?

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

FabioTavares — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 10:02:22 GMT

Hello @DesmondWOO, @john_wang,

Apologies for insisting, but can you check my previous post? Seems the 'UTC' mark is not working and not sure I'm doing something wrong.

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

john_wang — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:51:41 GMT

Hello @FabioTavares ,

Could you please share the source and target database types, as well as the time zones of the following three machines:

Source database server
Qlik Replicate server
Target database server

In the meantime, you can add the following three expressions to the table and compare their values to better understand how the timestamps are being interpreted:

datetime($AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP)

→ Source database server local time

datetime($AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP, 'localtime')

→ Source database server local time adjusted by your local time zone

datetime($AR_H_COMMIT_TIMESTAMP, 'UTC')

→ Source database server local time converted to UTC

For reference, you can also check:

datetime('now', 'UTC')

→ Current UTC time

Comparing these values should help clarify the time zone logic in effect.

Hope this helps.

John.

Re: Qlik Replicate - Commit vs now (replicate) timestamps

FabioTavares — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:50:46 GMT

Hi @john_wang,

	Source Database	Qlik Server	Target Database
Machine\Version	SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RTM-CU32-GDR) (KB5063757) - 15.0.4440.1 (X64) Jul 14 2025 12:59:40 Copyright (C) 2019 Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition: Core-based Licensing (64-bit) on Windows Server 2019 Standard 10.0 <X64> (Build 17763: ) (Hypervisor)	Unknown	Azure Fabric SQL Microsoft SQL Azure (RTM) - 12.0.2000.8 Jan 2 2026 13:26:31 Copyright (C) 2025 Microsoft Corporation
Timezone	(UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna	Can I check via Qlik? I do not have access to the machine itself.	(UTC) Coordinated Universal Time

I just did a copy of a table and here is the result

Config

Result on target

I also have this log
00006992: 2026-01-29T12:30:12 [TASK_MANAGER ]I: Start loading table 'dbo'.'wf_tran_header' (Id = 1) by subtask 1. Start load timestamp 000649852DF876C0 (replicationtask_util.c:760)