Overview
This guide explains how to set up an internal birthday alert that notifies your team members when a client's birthday falls on the current day. The correct approach is to use a Time Interval (Daily) workflow in the Accounts module — not Smart Notifications.
When configured correctly, the workflow runs every day, evaluates all account records, and triggers an action (such as sending an email, creating a task, or sending an internal notification) whenever a client's birthday matches today's date — based on day and month only, regardless of the year of birth.
Why Not Smart Notifications?
Smart Notifications are not suitable for birthday alerts. They only appear as a temporary banner at the top of the screen when a user is actively logged into the CRM. They do not run on a schedule or scan records automatically each day.
For a reliable, recurring birthday alert that works whether or not your team is logged in, you must use a workflow.
⚠️ Important: Do not use Smart Notifications for date-based, recurring alerts. Use a Time Interval workflow instead.
Before You Begin
You must have access to Settings → CRM Settings → Automations → Workflows.
Client records in the Accounts module must have the Date of Birth field populated.
Decide what action you want the workflow to take when a birthday is detected (send an email, create a task, or send an internal notification to specific users).
Steps
Navigate to Workflows.
Go to Settings → CRM Settings → Automations → Workflows.
Create a new workflow.
Click + Add Workflow and give it a descriptive name, such as Birthday Alert – Daily.Set the Target Module to Accounts.
This ensures the workflow evaluates client records in the Accounts module.Set the Trigger to Time Interval (Daily).
Choose a Time Interval trigger and configure it to run daily. Select an appropriate run time (for example, 8:00 AM).
Add the birthday condition.
Click Add Condition and configure it as follows:Field: Date of Birth
Operator: is today
💡 Tip: The is today condition matches on day and month only — it does not compare the year. A client born in 1990 will still match correctly when their birthday falls on today's date.
Add a workflow action.
Click Add Action and choose one of the following based on your preference:Send an email — notify specific team members with a message including the client's name using a token (for example: Birthday Alert: $accountname$ has a birthday today.)
Create a task — assign a follow-up task to the relevant user
Send an internal notification — alert specific users within the CRM
💡 Tip: Use field tokens such as $accountname$ in your message to automatically insert the client's name when the workflow runs.
Save and activate the workflow.
Click Save and set the workflow status to Active.
Verification / Expected Result
Once active, the workflow will run every day and trigger the configured action for any account whose Date of Birth matches today's day and month. No manual intervention is required.
✅ To test before going live:
Temporarily change the workflow trigger from Time Interval (Daily) to When a record is updated.
Open a test account and change the Date of Birth to today's date (any year).
Save the record — the workflow should fire immediately, confirming the setup is correct.
Once verified, switch the trigger back to Time Interval (Daily) and save.
Troubleshooting / Common Errors
Workflow not firing: Confirm the workflow is set to Active and that the trigger is correctly configured as a Time Interval (Daily). Verify that the Date of Birth field is populated on the test account.
Thinking the year mismatch will prevent the match: It will not. The Date of Birth = is today condition matches on day and month only. A client born in any year will trigger correctly when their birthday arrives.
Using Smart Notifications instead: Smart Notifications only display as a temporary banner when a user is actively logged in — they do not run on a schedule. Use a Time Interval workflow as described above for reliable birthday alerts.
TODAY() function showing as unsupported: The
TODAY()expression function is not supported in workflow field update actions in this context. This approach is not needed for birthday alerts — use the Date of Birth = is today condition on a Time Interval workflow instead.