The Verse - Volume 31
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Tech Tips - Daylight Saving Time debacle?

Did you know that daylight saving time is four weeks longer this year? Did you know that this change might not happen automatically on your computer or your network server? Would it be a problem for you if your calendar were off by an hour? How about if the appointment you’re walking into actually started an hour ago? It’s not exactly Y2K, but it sure could be a pain in the keister! Microsoft started informing their customers and partners about these issues last week and the following article is Microsoft’s take on the situation.

In August of 2005, the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November) than what had traditionally occurred.

Companies or organizations with operations, customers, or vendors based in the U.S. or Canada may be affected.

Companies or organizations that interact or integrate with systems that are based in the U.S. or Canada or rely on date/time calculations may be affected.

Users in U.S. areas that do not observe DST (see below) but who travel to or interact with people in locations that do follow DST will be affected and should install the Windows operating system update.

Areas affected by this change in daylight saving time

All of the United States except: Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

The change in DST will have an effect on many automated and technology reliant products. Individual consumers, small to medium size businesses and large enterprises may be affected by the new change in time. Computer-system related issues include, for example:

• Calendar / scheduling applications

• Date / time calculations (current and historical)

• Transaction logging (UTC vs. Local Time)

• Tariff billing applications

In many cases, making the necessary changes to accommodate the new DST legislation will be a relatively minor task. Users may need to manually adjust the time on their devices when the change occurs.

In other cases, more substantial efforts may be required. In some cases, systems and applications may need to be updated directly, while in others, the application may simply inherit or "read" the date and time information from the underlying system that it resides on so the changes need only be made to that underlying system. Given the broad range of technology in use today-and the integration of systems between customers, vendors, and partners-business and IT managers should determine what actions should be taken to mitigate the affects of DST 2007 on their organizations.

Microsoft products affected by 2007 DST changes

Several Microsoft products are affected by DST. Updates and tools to address the DST change are being developed and tested for these products. Some of them are currently available, with the remainder scheduled to be released through early March 2007.

For many of the Microsoft products affected by the 2007 daylight saving time change, the most recent versions will not require an update; however, earlier versions will.

Microsoft products affected by the DST legislation

• Windows Client

• Windows Server

• Windows Mobile

• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services

• Microsoft Exchange Server

• Microsoft Office Outlook

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM

• Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services

• Microsoft Entourage

Depending on the particular product or scenario, these updates will be released through Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS), hotfixes incorporated in Knowledge Base articles, Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and the Microsoft Download Center.

What users can do to ease the transition

All users of Microsoft products affected by the time change should give extra attention to meetings and appointments scheduled between March 11, 2007 to April 1, 2007 and October 28, 2007 to November 4, 2007, referred to here as the "extended DST period." Users should view any appointments that fall into these date ranges as suspect until they communicate with all meeting invitees to make sure that the item shows up correctly on everyone's calendar both internally and externally. To minimize confusion during the affected date ranges:

• Include the time of the meeting in the e-mail request so that invitees can double check the correct meeting time (such as, "Project brainstorming - 11:00 A.M. Central Time").

• Exercise caution with the appointments and meetings in the extended DST period. When in doubt, verify the correct time with the organizer.

• Consider printing out your weekly calendars during the extended DST period prior to applying the Windows patch containing the updated time zone definitions and running the Outlook Time Zone Update tool so that you can keep track of which meetings were scheduled before and after you run the tool.