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February 2007
Daylight Savings Time: Changes and Impact
Energy Policy Act of 2005
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has changed when Daylight Savings Time (DST) starts and ends. Clocks will now be set ahead one hour on the second Sunday in March rather than the first Sunday in April. Clocks will now be set back one hour on the first Sunday in November, rather than the last Sunday of October. How does the change in DST affect you?Most computers and electronic devices are pre-set to recognize the pre-2007 DST dates and so, if not adjusted, will change the time on the wrong dates. In your offices, this could mean that meeting times on calendars and schedules will be off by an hour, timestamps on messages will be off by an hour, log files are off by an hour, and in very rare cases cause certain applications not to work properly. Other businesses that rely heavily on time based transactions (e.g. bank transactions, airline schedules) could be negatively impacted if systems are not properly updated.
What is EveryNetwork doing?Over the next several weeks, EveryNetwork will be setting up schedules with each of our clients to install the patches and updates required on servers, workstations, handhelds (and associated server software), and Exchange. We'll also be putting action plans in place for other equipment that does not directly impact your end-users (routers, switches, firewalls) or may not have patches/updates available from vendors (such as older phone systems). Finally, EveryNetwork will also, upon request, contact your telephone system provider to determine the appropriate action for your system. What should you do to help minimize any negative impact to schedules/calendars from the DST change? Everyone “…should give extra attention to appointments scheduled during the extended DST period (March 11, 2007 to April 1, 2007 and Oct 28, 2007 to November 4, 2007). Users should view any appointments that fall into these date ranges as suspect until they communicate with all meeting invitees to make sure 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 (subject line) so that invitees can double check the correct meeting time (such as, "Project Brainstorming - 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time"). Accept prompts to update time zone information when requested.
Additional Information: Energy Policy Act of 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005 About Daylight Savings Time (this year and history): http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html PC World article discussing the IT issues: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128719/article.html
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