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Daylight Savings Problem 2007 March 1, 2007
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The Windows operating system is the basis of must computerized timekeeping systems, providing the environment that communicates between the time clock HRIS or time and attendance software.
Windows for nearly all U.S. applications thinks that the clocks will go forward on the first Sunday of April. But this year, due to the US Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), all those computers and computer clocks that have the old daylight-saving time rules will be one hour behind and have to be reset manually, unless they have a software patch that fixes the problem.
If the software patch is not installed, computerized clocks will report incorrect time from March 11, 2007, through April 2, 2007
Who will be affected:
International businesses that do not use DST in their time recording but that deal with companies in US and Canada.
Companies, individuals, and computer networks that work across multiple time zones and have employee and/or business functions tied back to a central clock that is operated under the Microsoft system.
What will happen
One day March 11 will be 23 hours long and every succeeding day, until April 2 will be off by one hour. Consequently, display and time tracking problems will be a significant issue.. Software applications that calculate elapsed time, such as Time and Attendance programs, and service billing applications depend on accurate recording of local time in calculating time worked.
Industries that rely on precision time, such as human resources information systems (HRIS), financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, high-tech manufacturing, and process manufacturing, are most susceptible to the software glitch.
Transactional logging applications. Such as time and attendance applications that record transactions in local time could face problems. Log ?les could be off by an hour without automatic DST adjustment.
Industries that automate time-based legal compliance may also be affected
Applications that support DST rules (such as time and attendance), custom applications with embedded DST rules, systems/applications/databases with built-in rules for DST, and calendar/mail applications that automatically change for DST rules face the most potential problems from the DST changes.
RESPONSES TO DST WILL VARY BY TYPE OF VENDOR
The effects of DST on enterprise software will vary based on how the software uses date and time data. Although not all applications require the exact time, if problems are not corrected, DST will affect software applications and operating systems in various ways, especially for those businesses that have multiple timekeeping systems and/or recording devices that need to be reset.
Our recommendations to IT, HR and operations professionals is that they should:.
Inventory packaged applications to identify any needed code ?xes. Most users can address the issue through a patch 2to their OS that addresses time zone change. They can also manually change the time on their servers or apply configurable time zone rules, but must be watchful to negate the automatic change that will then result when Microsoft attempts to move their clocks forward again on April 2.
Datamatics has been proactively informing our clients and publishing updates. We recommend that our clients take a holistic approach to the solution, upgrade to the latest version of TC-1 and contact us for the patch, should they not desire to engage in the update.
While, a manual change of time may be the quickest fix, our clients with multiple locations and server application of our software should complete the upgrade.
Some individuals and companies that use software that is old or has been created by developers of old code that may be long gone are encouraged to contact Datamatics by calling 800-673-0366
Once again, we caution businesses that are using custom apps. These systems are most likely to be affected and will have specialized needs.
These concerns DO NOT AFFECT TC-1 our time calculations and configured solutions to their custom scheduling systems, cross-platform applications, and systems with real-time components will be resolved with the patch or the upgrade.
But for those with customer applications, most will not require code changes, but there is still a risk of system breakage when Microsoft time patches are applied. Many of the required system patches are grouped into larger patch sets, so it's possible that applying them may a1ect custom apps in unexpected ways.
Once again:
Operating system application patch and upgrades are required for operating systems that were released prior to early 2006. Patches range from automatically applied updates for recent versions of Windows and OS X to installable fix-packs for Unix, Linux, z/OS, and i5/OS.
Firms should patch server operating systems as soon as possible. Contact your system operator or call Datamatics at 1-800-673-0366.
Datamatics is offering a complete upgrade, helping to assure that all TC-1 programs are compatible with this time change.
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800-673-0366
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LithoTech Inc.
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