Convert period dates to datetime

‘entrypoint’ is invoked through REDIS and receives the dates as strings

backdrop/transformers/dispatch.py

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from statsd import StatsClient
 
 from backdrop.core.timeseries import parse_period
+from backdrop.core.timeutils import parse_time_as_utc
 from backdrop.core.log_handler import get_log_file_handler
 from backdrop.core.errors import incr_on_error
 from backdrop.transformers.tasks.util import encode_id
@@ -33,6 +34,9 @@ def entrypoint(dataset_id, earliest, latest):
     to run, and dispatch tasks to the appropriate workers.
     """
 
+    earliest = parse_time_as_utc(earliest)
+    latest = parse_time_as_utc(latest)
+
     admin_api = AdminAPI(
         config.STAGECRAFT_URL,
         config.STAGECRAFT_OAUTH_TOKEN,