diff --git a/app/models/dialog_field_date_control.rb b/app/models/dialog_field_date_control.rb
index c5b97306ac0..a21a0e10f15 100644
--- a/app/models/dialog_field_date_control.rb
+++ b/app/models/dialog_field_date_control.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def normalize_automate_values(automate_hash)
 
     return default_time if automate_hash["value"].blank?
     begin
-      return DateTime.parse(automate_hash["value"]).iso8601
+      return DateTime.parse(automate_hash["value"].to_s).iso8601
     rescue
       return default_time
     end
diff --git a/spec/models/dialog_field_date_control_spec.rb b/spec/models/dialog_field_date_control_spec.rb
index 6f4555a2512..ffc67974b00 100644
--- a/spec/models/dialog_field_date_control_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/dialog_field_date_control_spec.rb
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
     end
 
     context "when the automate hash has a value" do
-      context "when the value is a date format" do
+      context "when the value is a string" do
         let(:value) { "01/02/2015" }
 
         it_behaves_like "DialogFieldDateControl#normalize_automate_values"
@@ -95,6 +95,16 @@
         end
       end
 
+      context "when the value is a date object" do
+        let(:value) { Time.utc(2015, 1, 2) }
+
+        it_behaves_like "DialogFieldDateControl#normalize_automate_values"
+
+        it "returns the value in iso format" do
+          expect(dialog_field.normalize_automate_values(automate_hash)).to eq("2015-01-02T00:00:00+00:00")
+        end
+      end
+
       context "when the value is not a proper date format" do
         let(:value) { "not a date" }