diff --git a/cob_datapipeline/prod_az_reindex_dag.py b/cob_datapipeline/prod_az_reindex_dag.py
index 9bd2ef70..c94feb76 100644
--- a/cob_datapipeline/prod_az_reindex_dag.py
+++ b/cob_datapipeline/prod_az_reindex_dag.py
@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@
 AZ_CLIENT_SECRET = Variable.get("AZ_CLIENT_SECRET")
 AZ_BRANCH = Variable.get("AZ_PROD_BRANCH")
 
-EXECUTION_DATE = '-{{ execution_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S") }}'
-
 # CREATE DAG
 DEFAULT_ARGS = {
     'owner': 'airflow',
@@ -64,6 +62,13 @@
 Tasks with custom logic are relegated to individual Python files.
 """
 
+SET_COLLECTION_NAME = PythonOperator(
+    task_id='set_collection_name',
+    python_callable=datetime.now().strftime,
+    op_args=["%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S"],
+    dag=DAG
+)
+
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE = task_solrgetnumdocs(
     DAG,
     ALIAS,
@@ -74,7 +79,7 @@
 CREATE_COLLECTION = tasks.create_sc_collection(
     DAG,
     SOLR_CONN.conn_id,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET + "-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     REPLICATION_FACTOR,
     CONFIGSET
 )
@@ -84,7 +89,7 @@
     bash_command=AIRFLOW_HOME + "/dags/cob_datapipeline/scripts/ingest_databases.sh ",
     env={**os.environ, **{
         "HOME": AIRFLOW_USER_HOME,
-        "SOLR_AZ_URL": tasks.get_solr_url(SOLR_CONN, CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE),
+        "SOLR_AZ_URL": tasks.get_solr_url(SOLR_CONN, CONFIGSET + "-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}"),
         "AZ_CLIENT_ID": AZ_CLIENT_ID,
         "AZ_CLIENT_SECRET": AZ_CLIENT_SECRET,
         "AZ_BRANCH": AZ_BRANCH,
@@ -96,14 +101,14 @@
 
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST = task_solrgetnumdocs(
     DAG,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     'get_num_solr_docs_post',
     conn_id=SOLR_CONN.conn_id)
 
 SOLR_ALIAS_SWAP = tasks.swap_sc_alias(
     DAG,
     SOLR_CONN.conn_id,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     ALIAS
 )
 
@@ -124,7 +129,7 @@
 PUSH_COLLECTION = PushVariable(
     task_id="push_collection",
     name="AZ_PROD_COLLECTIONS",
-    value=CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    value=CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     dag=DAG)
 
 DELETE_COLLECTIONS = DeleteCollectionListVariable(
@@ -132,7 +137,7 @@
     solr_conn_id='SOLRCLOUD',
     list_variable="AZ_PROD_COLLECTIONS",
     skip_from_last=2,
-    skip_included=[CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE],
+    skip_included=[CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}"],
     dag=DAG)
 
 POST_SLACK = PythonOperator(
@@ -143,7 +148,8 @@
 )
 
 # SET UP TASK DEPENDENCIES
-CREATE_COLLECTION.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE)
+SET_COLLECTION_NAME.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE)
+CREATE_COLLECTION.set_upstream(SET_COLLECTION_NAME)
 INDEX_DATABASES.set_upstream(CREATE_COLLECTION)
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST.set_upstream(INDEX_DATABASES)
 SOLR_ALIAS_SWAP.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST)
diff --git a/cob_datapipeline/qa_az_reindex_dag.py b/cob_datapipeline/qa_az_reindex_dag.py
index 5c4db020..8079e3c5 100644
--- a/cob_datapipeline/qa_az_reindex_dag.py
+++ b/cob_datapipeline/qa_az_reindex_dag.py
@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@
 AZ_CLIENT_SECRET = Variable.get("AZ_CLIENT_SECRET")
 AZ_BRANCH = Variable.get("AZ_QA_BRANCH")
 
-EXECUTION_DATE = '-{{ execution_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S") }}'
-
 # CREATE DAG
 DEFAULT_ARGS = {
     "owner": "cob-qa",
@@ -64,6 +62,12 @@
 Tasks with custom logic are relegated to individual Python files.
 """
 
+SET_COLLECTION_NAME = PythonOperator(
+    task_id="set_collection_name",
+    python_callable=datetime.now().strftime,
+    op_args=["%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S"],
+    dag=DAG
+)
 
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE = task_solrgetnumdocs(
     DAG,
@@ -75,7 +79,7 @@
 CREATE_COLLECTION = tasks.create_sc_collection(
     DAG,
     SOLR_CONN.conn_id,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET + "-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     REPLICATION_FACTOR,
     CONFIGSET
 )
@@ -85,7 +89,7 @@
     bash_command=AIRFLOW_HOME + "/dags/cob_datapipeline/scripts/ingest_databases.sh ",
     env={**os.environ, **{
         "HOME": AIRFLOW_USER_HOME,
-        "SOLR_AZ_URL": tasks.get_solr_url(SOLR_CONN, CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE),
+        "SOLR_AZ_URL": tasks.get_solr_url(SOLR_CONN, CONFIGSET + "-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}"),
         "AZ_CLIENT_ID": AZ_CLIENT_ID,
         "AZ_CLIENT_SECRET": AZ_CLIENT_SECRET,
         "AZ_BRANCH": AZ_BRANCH,
@@ -97,14 +101,14 @@
 
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST = task_solrgetnumdocs(
     DAG,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     "get_num_solr_docs_post",
     conn_id=SOLR_CONN.conn_id)
 
 SOLR_ALIAS_SWAP = tasks.swap_sc_alias(
     DAG,
     SOLR_CONN.conn_id,
-    CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     ALIAS
 )
 
@@ -125,7 +129,7 @@
 PUSH_COLLECTION = PushVariable(
     task_id="push_collection",
     name="AZ_QA_COLLECTIONS",
-    value=CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE,
+    value=CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}",
     dag=DAG)
 
 DELETE_COLLECTIONS = DeleteCollectionListVariable(
@@ -133,7 +137,7 @@
     solr_conn_id='SOLRCLOUD',
     list_variable="AZ_QA_COLLECTIONS",
     skip_from_last=2,
-    skip_included=[CONFIGSET + EXECUTION_DATE],
+    skip_included=[CONFIGSET +"-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}"],
     dag=DAG)
 
 POST_SLACK = PythonOperator(
@@ -144,7 +148,8 @@
 )
 
 # SET UP TASK DEPENDENCIES
-CREATE_COLLECTION.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE)
+SET_COLLECTION_NAME.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_PRE)
+CREATE_COLLECTION.set_upstream(SET_COLLECTION_NAME)
 INDEX_DATABASES.set_upstream(CREATE_COLLECTION)
 GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST.set_upstream(INDEX_DATABASES)
 SOLR_ALIAS_SWAP.set_upstream(GET_NUM_SOLR_DOCS_POST)
diff --git a/tests/prod_az_reindex_dag_test.py b/tests/prod_az_reindex_dag_test.py
index c8ea3fb2..0d6d5856 100644
--- a/tests/prod_az_reindex_dag_test.py
+++ b/tests/prod_az_reindex_dag_test.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ def test_dag_interval_is_variable(self):
     def test_dag_tasks_present(self):
         """Unit test that the DAG instance contains the expected tasks."""
         self.assertEqual(self.tasks, [
+            "set_collection_name",
             "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
             "create_collection",
             "index_az",
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@ def test_dag_tasks_present(self):
     def test_dag_task_order(self):
         """Unit test that the DAG instance contains the expected dependencies."""
         expected_task_deps = {
-            "create_collection": "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
+            "set_collection_name": "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
+            "create_collection": "set_collection_name",
             "index_az": "create_collection",
             "get_num_solr_docs_post": "index_az",
             "solr_alias_swap": "get_num_solr_docs_post",
@@ -62,4 +64,4 @@ def test_index_az_task(self):
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_BRANCH"], "AZ_BRANCH")
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_CLIENT_ID"], "AZ_CLIENT_ID")
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_CLIENT_SECRET"], "AZ_CLIENT_SECRET")
-        self.assertEqual(task.env["SOLR_AZ_URL"], "http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/tul_cob-az-0-{{ execution_date.strftime(\"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S\") }}")
+        self.assertEqual(task.env["SOLR_AZ_URL"], "http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/tul_cob-az-0-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}")
diff --git a/tests/qa_az_reindex_dag_test.py b/tests/qa_az_reindex_dag_test.py
index a30c9f29..6862abdd 100644
--- a/tests/qa_az_reindex_dag_test.py
+++ b/tests/qa_az_reindex_dag_test.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ def test_dag_interval_is_variable(self):
     def test_dag_tasks_present(self):
         """Unit test that the DAG instance contains the expected tasks."""
         self.assertEqual(self.tasks, [
+            "set_collection_name",
             "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
             "create_collection",
             "index_az",
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@ def test_dag_tasks_present(self):
     def test_dag_task_order(self):
         """Unit test that the DAG instance contains the expected dependencies."""
         expected_task_deps = {
-            "create_collection": "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
+            "set_collection_name": "get_num_solr_docs_pre",
+            "create_collection": "set_collection_name",
             "index_az": "create_collection",
             "get_num_solr_docs_post": "index_az",
             "solr_alias_swap": "get_num_solr_docs_post",
@@ -62,4 +64,4 @@ def test_index_databases_task(self):
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_BRANCH"], "AZ_BRANCH")
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_CLIENT_ID"], "AZ_CLIENT_ID")
         self.assertEqual(task.env["AZ_CLIENT_SECRET"], "AZ_CLIENT_SECRET")
-        self.assertEqual(task.env["SOLR_AZ_URL"], "http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/tul_cob-az-0-{{ execution_date.strftime(\"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S\") }}")
+        self.assertEqual(task.env["SOLR_AZ_URL"], "http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/tul_cob-az-0-{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='set_collection_name') }}")