Technology Services Department

Mr. Richard Bergacs, Director of Technology Services
rbergacs@nhvweb.net


System Administrator Message - New Daylight Saving Time
The new DST (Daylight Savings Time) will be impacting the NHVRHSD computer network, and most all networks in the United States. Each network has its own servers, services and programs they run and depend on. It is up to each individual information technology department to come up with their own plan on how to deal with the new DST, and they will depend on information and help from the software providers they work with. Each IT department will also depend on help and cooperation from YOU.  

The new DST is a change that will require everyone become involved. Please read the article below published by Microsoft, one of our major software and server operating system providers. Make special note of the "What users can do to ease the transition" section near the bottom of the page. Follow the advice. If you do not, you will be at a disadvantage when the new DST takes place.

I am sure there will be more information coming along in the next few weeks leading up to the DST transitional period. Please keep an eye out for messages pertaining to 'DST'. Notify your IT department if you have concerns about the software you run daily. Your software could need a patch, and update, or a configuration change. Changes could depend on the IT department, you, or most likely, a combined effort from both parties. Please have patience, software companies are doing their best to come up with patches and configuration changes. The results, however, may be unpredictable.

The Microsoft calendar, scheduling, and OWA mail are already known to have unpredictable results with a current ‘fix’. The article below makes it very clear that you will need to take steps yourselves to check and confirm appointments made and accepted using Microsoft Outlook and OWA Calendars and Public Folders during the extended DST period.

Please print this if you are able. It is very important that we do not forget what we will be dealing with on a computer, program, and network level for the next few weeks and also in November.

The NHVRHSD IT department will do our best to make the transition as easy as possible. We thank you for your anticipated patience and cooperation in this matter.

S.Hacker
Network Administrator
NHVRHSD

READ BELOW PLEASE:

Introduction

The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the U.S. Congress July, 2005, extended Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the U.S. by approximately four weeks. As a result, beginning in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007, and end one week later on November 4, 2007, resulting in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than previously observed. These four weeks are referred to in this article as the "extended DST period". Visit MSN Encarta for more general information on DST.

Change in daylight saving time:
Previously DST started on: With the new law, DST will start on: Previous DST ended on: With the new law, DST will end on:
First Sunday of April Second Sunday of March Last Sunday of October First Sunday of November
Would have been: April 1, 2007 Will now be: March 11, 2007 Would have been: October 28, 2007 Will now be: November 4, 2007

Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, it is possible that the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four week period. This depends on where you live and which time zone you have selected. To see the time zone settings on your computer, follow these directions.

When your time zone settings are incorrect your clock may be off by one hour, and certain applications running on your Windows based computer may not display the correct time. To address this, Microsoft is providing many free updates and tools that will update your system automatically.

While the change in daylight saving time applies to U.S. and Canada, the change may impact customers based outside North America. Companies or organizations with operations, customers or vendors based in North America may be affected. In addition customers who interact or integrate with systems that are based in North America or rely on date/time calculations may be impacted. Customers who live outside North America and yet are impacted should follow the guidance provided on this site to prepare for the adjusted daylight saving time.

Please note that Mexico will not be following the new DST 2007 rules with the U.S. and Canada. Accordingly such systems configured to use U.S. time zones (for example, Pacific Time) will need to change their system configurations to use the new Mexico time zones.

This article summarizes the updates and tools that Microsoft is developing for its customers to address the DST change.

Microsoft is dedicated to working with customers to make this transition as seamless as possible for companies and organizations affected by these new time changes. Microsoft is further committed to working with others in the industry to address the broader challenges presented by this U.S. statute. Please check this page at least weekly to ensure you have the latest information available.

While the change in daylight saving time applies to U.S. and Canada, the change may affect users based outside of these countries.

  • Mexico will not be following the new DST 2007 rules with the U.S. and Canada. Accordingly, systems configured to use U.S. time zones (for example, Pacific Time) will need to change their system configurations to use the new Mexico time zones.
  • 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
Canada:

 

Canada and the United States share DST
Mexico

 

Mexico will not be following the new DST 2007 rules

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. For more information, see the Supporting the DST changes on Windows operating systems and Preparing other Microsoft software products for the 2007 DST changes sections below.

Microsoft products affected by the DST legislation
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
  • Microsoft Exchange Server
  • Microsoft Office Outlook
  • Microsoft Office Live Meeting
  • 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." (In this article, the terms "meetings" and "appointments" will be used interchangeably.) 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.


North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District
1445 Route 31 | Annandale, NJ 08801
Phone: (908) 735-2846 | (908) 735-6914 (Fax)