Business rules for service times

This page is preliminary and will be supplemented during autumn 2026. The business rules apply to publishable content in the Finnish Service Catalogue (FSC).

Service times

The following service times are used:

• Telephone service, service location and E-service channels
• In the additional connection information

There are three main types of service times:

• Normal service time, which is used to describe service times specific to a day of the week (Open or Open by appointment).
• Service time extending over the 24-hour period, which describes service times that extend over 24-hour periods (Open, Open by appointment) and the Always Open service time.
• Exceptional service time and holidays, which describes the service times specific to a day of the week that differ from the regular weekly rhythm (Open, Open by appointment, Closed) and service times on public holidays.

Normal service time

• The service time heading is optional. The maximum length of the heading is 150 characters.
• Additional information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• Validity information for service times is mandatory. Select either Valid until further notice or Valid during a period.
• If the service time is valid during a given period, enter the start and end date of the valid service time. The end date cannot be before the start date.
• Service time information must be provided for at least one day of the week (Mon–Sun).
• A maximum of 4 service times can be provided for one day of the week (Mon–Sun).
• Service times on the same day of the week may not overlap.

Service time for a day of the week

• Additional information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• Service time status is mandatory. Select either Open or Open by appointment. (Closed is not possible in this situation)
• The start time is mandatory.
• The end time is mandatory.
• The end time cannot be before the start time.
• Frequency is mandatory. Select one of the following: Every week, Every even week, Every odd week.

Service time extending over the 24-hour period

• The service time heading is optional. The maximum length of the heading is 150 characters.
• Additional service time information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• Service time status is mandatory. Select either Open or Open by appointment.
• Validity information for service times is mandatory. Select one of the following: Valid until further notice, Valid during a period, Always open
• If the service time is valid during a given period, enter the start and end date of the valid service time. The end date cannot be before the start date.
• If the service time is valid until further notice or valid during a given period, enter the information for a uniform period.

Uniform period

• The day of the week and time that the period starts are mandatory.
• The day of the week and time that the period ends are mandatory.

Exceptional service time

• The service time heading is optional. The maximum length of the heading is 150 characters.
• Additional information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• The start date of the service time is mandatory.
• The end date of the service time is mandatory.
• The end date cannot be before the start date.
• Exceptional service time information must be provided for at least one day of the week (Mon–Sun).
• A maximum of 4 exceptional service times can be provided for one day of the week (Mon–Sun).
• Exceptional service times on the same day of the week may not overlap.

Exceptional service time for a day of the week

• Additional information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• Service time status is mandatory. Select one of the following: Open, Closed, Open by appointment.
• If the choice is Open or Open by appointment, the start time and end time must be added.
• If the choice is Closed, no start time and end time are added.
• The end time cannot be before the start time.
• Frequency is mandatory. Select one of the following: Every week, Every even week, Every odd week.

Public holidays

• Information on Frequency of service times is mandatory. Select either Every year or In selected years.
• If the choice is In selected years, enter 1-n years.
• Information on opening hours must be added for at least one public holiday.
• A maximum of 4 service times can be added for one public holiday.

Service time for a public holiday

• Additional information is optional. The maximum length of the additional information is 300 characters.
• Service time status is mandatory. Select one of the following: Open, Closed, Open by appointment.
• If the choice is Open or Open by appointment, the start time and end time must be added.
• If the choice is Closed, no start time and end time are added.
• The end time cannot be before the start time.

API equivalence of service times

Service times are expressed in the API as follows:

Normal service time

Valid until further notice: WeeklyUntilFurtherNoticeServiceHour
Valid during a given period: WeeklyDateRangeServiceHour

Service time extending over the 24-hour period

Always open: ContinuousAlwaysValidServiceHour
Valid until further notice: ContinuousWeekdaysUntilFurtherNoticeServiceHour
Valid during a given period: ContinuousDateRangeServiceHour

Exceptional service time and public holidays

Exceptional weekly rhythm, valid during a given period: ExceptionalDateRangeServiceHour
Public holiday: HolidayServiceHour