Investigating Email delays requires a clear understanding of how an email travels from the sender to the Sprinklr Care Console and which timestamps record each stage of this journey. Email Timeline Timestamps help you identify exactly where a delay occurred, whether outside the platform or within the Organization’s environment.

This guide explains the key timestamps, how to access them, and how to use them together with the email journey to perform accurate delay analysis.

Why Email Timeline Timestamps Are Important

Email delivery is a multi-step process. An email passes through multiple systems, including the sender’s email client, external mail servers, the Organization’s mailbox, and Sprinklr’s processing layers. Delays can occur at any point.

Email timeline timestamps help you:

• Track the complete lifecycle of an email

• Determine whether delays occurred before or after the email reached Sprinklr

• Distinguish external email delivery issues from internal processing delays

• Provide clear evidence during internal reviews or customer escalations

Important: Accessing Email Timeline Timestamps

All email timeline timestamps, such as SNCTM, CTM, EDTR, and EDTS, are obtained from the email headers. To view these timestamps, you must download the EML file of the email.

The EML file contains detailed header information added by each system the email passes through. This header data is the most reliable source for understanding when the email was sent, received, processed, and displayed.

Best practice: Always use the EML file when performing a formal email delay investigation.

Email Journey Overview

Before an email appears in the Sprinklr Care Console, it goes through several defined stages. Each stage contributes to one or more timestamps used during delay analysis.

Email Flow

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• Sender: The sender is the customer or external system that creates and sends the email. At this stage, the email is composed and submitted to the sender’s mail server.

  • Related timestamps:

    • SNCTM

    • CTM
      

• Internet: The email travels across external mail servers and networks. Routing delays, spam filtering, or network congestion can occur during this phase.

• Related timestamps:

• SNCTM

• CTM

• Organization Mailbox: The email reaches the Organization’s mailbox, such as an Exchange or Gmail inbox configured for Sprinklr ingestion.

• Related timestamps:

• EDTR

• Exchange Processing: The mail server processes the email. This may include applying mailbox rules, security scans, or categorization before the email becomes available for external systems like Sprinklr.

• Related timestamps:

• EDTR

• Sprinklr Fetch: Sprinklr fetches the email from the Organization’s mailbox based on configured polling and integration settings.

• Related timestamps:

• EDTS

• UM Creation (Unified Message Creation): The email is converted into a Unified Message (UM) and appears as a case or conversation in the Care Console.

• Related timestamps:

• EDTS
  

Email Timeline Timestamps Explained

• SNCTM (Sender Notification Created Time)

SNCTM represents the time when the email was created or sent by the sender’s email system.

Why it matters:

SNCTM helps establish the starting point of the email journey. If delays appear before the email reaches Sprinklr, SNCTM is used as the reference time.

• CTM (Customer Time)

CTM is the timestamp recorded in the email header based on the sender’s local system or email client configuration.

Why it matters:

CTM provides context about the sender’s environment. Differences between CTM and SNCTM may indicate time zone differences or incorrect sender system settings.

• EDTR (Email Delivered to Receiver)

EDTR indicates when the email was successfully delivered to Sprinklr’s email infrastructure or the Organization’s mailbox.

Why it matters:

EDTR is critical for determining responsibility. If there is a large gap between SNCTM/CTM and EDTR, the delay occurred outside Sprinklr, typically within external mail servers or the sender’s network.

• EDTS (Email Delivered to Sprinklr)

EDTS represents the time when the email was processed and made available in the Organization’s Sprinklr environment, including visibility in the Care Console.

Why it matters:

If there is a delay between EDTR and EDTS, it indicates internal processing delays within Sprinklr, such as fetching, parsing, or system load.

Using Timestamps to Investigate Email Delays

To perform an effective delay investigation, review the timestamps in sequence using the EML file.

1. Compare SNCTM and CTM
   Confirm when the sender initiated the email and account for time zone differences.

2. Compare SNCTM/CTM with EDTR
   Identify delays that occurred before the email reached the Organization’s mailbox or Sprinklr infrastructure.

3. Compare EDTR with EDTS
   Detect delays within Sprinklr processing or email fetching.

4. Review UM Creation timing
   Ensure the email was converted into a case promptly after ingestion.

This step-by-step analysis helps pinpoint the exact stage where the delay occurred.

Timeline Summary Example

Email timeline timestamps, when combined with a clear understanding of the email journey, provide a reliable and structured approach to email delay investigation. Always download and review the EML file to access accurate header data. 

By analyzing SNCTM, CTM, EDTR, and EDTS in sequence, you can confidently determine whether delays originated from the sender, external mail systems, the Organization’s mailbox, or within Sprinklr itself. This approach enables faster root-cause identification, clearer communication with stakeholders, and more effective resolution of email delivery issues.