NOTICE to GroupWise Customers: Daylight Saving Times - DST are Changing in 2007 for most of the U.S. and Canadian Time Zones.

Starting in 2007, Daylight Saving Time - DST will be extended by 4 weeks in most U.S. and Canadian time zones. Daylight Saving Time - DST will begin the second Sunday in March (3 weeks earlier) and will end the first Sunday in November (1 week later). This change complies with a provision of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and affects all U.S. time zones that observe Daylight Saving Time - DST. Many Canadian provinces that share or border these time zones have also announced plans to adopt this change.

Daylight Saving Time - DST transition rules are part of time zone definitions maintained by server and workstation operating systems. In addition, a set of GroupWise time zone definitions is maintained by ConsoleOne. These definitions need to be updated with the new transition rules. Calendaring applications, including GroupWise, rely on these definitions to correctly calculate and store appointment times.

It is important for all GroupWise customers, not just those in the US and Canada, to update their time zone definitions. This is especially true if personnel travel to those zones or business is conducted with the region.

Table of Contents

A. Server Operating Systems
B. GroupWise Agents
1. GroupWise time zone definitions maintained by Console One
C. GroupWise Clients
D. Workstation Operating Systems
E. User Impact Issues
1. Consequences of using old DST information
2. What is the best way to handle this?
3. Adjusting Scheduled Events
4. Resetting the Work Schedule Start and End times
F. DST Savings Time Adjustor Tool
G. Messaging the Change to your Workforce

A. Server Operating Systems

The following links provide details for updating servers with the new 2007 DST information:

Novell SUSE Linux

Novell NetWare

Microsoft Windows

GroupWise 7 has an updated WebAccess and GWIA agent, and GroupWise 6.5 ONLY requires Webaccess to be updated. The other GroupWise agents (POA, MTA) DO NOT need to be updated unless they are on the same server as the updated GWIA and/or Webaccess because they share some of the same files (See the update documentation for more details). The updates are available at the following locations:

GroupWise Messengerdoes notneed to be updated as it relies on the OS time zone definitions. Make sure that these are updated as referenced above.

1. GroupWise time zone definitions maintained by ConsoleOne

The GroupWise time zone definitions need to be modified with the new transition rules. Follow the Steps listed below for making these changes:

1. Launch ConsoleOne

2. Connect to the Primary Domain

3. Click Tools | GroupWise System Operations | Time Zones and modify the following Time Zones

Alaska
Pacific
Mountain
Central
Eastern
Atlantic
Newfoundland

Foreachtime zone, change the start day and last day to:

Start Day:SecondSundayofMarch

Last Day:FirstSundayofNovember

It is not necessary to update GroupWise clients. GroupWise clients depend on the workstation's operating system for time zone information. Updating the operating system's time zone information helps ensure that GroupWise appointments are scheduled correctly.

End userswillneed to update previously scheduled events and reset their Work Schedule Start and End times. See section E below for details.

D. Workstation Operating Systems

Windows Workstations:

Microsoft has announced a comprehensive time zone update scheduled for November of 2006. This will likely be an automatic update. The timing of this update is likely to occur after the new DST end date (the 1^stSunday in November which is November 5, 2006).

Linux (SLED) Workstations:

Linux workstations that are set for automatic update have likely already been updated with correct time zone information. Information on updating Linux workstations can be found inTID 3853518

E. End User Impact Issues

1. Consequences of using old DST information

Before a workstation's time zones are updated, an appointment scheduled for the time periodbetweenthe old and new DST transition dates could be off by one hour. For example, an appointment scheduled to occur between March 11 and April 1, 2007 (the new and old DST start dates), will be scheduled at the wrong time because wrong DST information will be used. This will only be apparentafterupdating to the new DST transition rules.

This behavior also applies to appointments scheduled to occur between October 28 and November 4 of 2007 (the old and new DST end dates), or during any similar period in future years. After a workstation's time zone definitions are updated, appointments can be correctly scheduled for these time periods.

2. What is the best way to handle this?

1. Update workstation time zone definitions as soon as possible.

The best course of action is toupdate workstation time zone definitions in a timely manner. This is most effectively completed by applying the appropriate updates provided by the workstation operating system vendors. The sooner this is done, the less likely users will create appointments in the affected time periods that will be incorrect.

2. Use the GroupWise DST Adjustor 2007 tool to correct the majority of affected appointments. Details of the tool and where to get it are listed in Section F below. Administrators will need to run the tool on all post offices in order to adjust the majority of affected appointment items. It is important to understand that end user interaction will be required to completely adjust all affected scheduled events.

3. Advise users to inspect appointments in the affected time periods and, if necessary, adjust them.

Users may have already created appointments in these time periods, or may do so before the workstation's time zones are updated. After a workstation is updated, users should be advised to inspect appointments in those time periods and adjust them if necessary. Section 3 below provides steps to adjust different scheduled events.

4. Advise users to reset their Work Schedule Start and End time values if the DST Adjustor Tool is not used. The GroupWise DST Adjustor 2007 tool will correct the use's Work Schedule Start and End time values if it is used. Section 4 below provides the manual steps to complete this item if the tool is not used.

3. Adjusting scheduled Events

Adjusting Posted Appointments:

1. Drag and drop the appointment to the new time
   or
   
2. Open the appointment, modify the time, then post
   

Adjusting Sent Appointments:

1. Drag and drop the appointment to the new time. When prompted to edit, choose no. The old appointment is retracted and the new one sent.
   or
2. Select the appointment. Choose the Resend menu option. Modify the time (and other changes if desired) then click Send. Choose Yes to retract.

Adjusting Posted All-Day Events:

1. Drag/Drop the all-day event onto the same day.
   or
2. Open the item, click the all-day event check box, then click Post

Adjusting Sent All-Day Events:

1. Select the all-day event. Choose the Resend menu option. Click the all-day event check box, then click Send. Choose Yes to retract.

Adjusting Received Appointments or All-Day Events:

1. Contact the organizer and ask him or her to adjust and resend the item.

4. Resetting the Work Schedule Start and End times

The current work schedule time Start and End times are displayed next to the "Work Schedule” group box title on the Tools – Options – Date and Time dialog. Even if the Work Schedule Start and End times are displayed correctly, performing the following steps ensures that the correct Start and End times are adjusted for the corrected DST transition rules. These steps should only be applied after the workstation(s) have been updated.

1. In the GroupWise client Choose Tools | Options | Date and Time...

2. Change the Work Schedule - Start time and End time values to something different
   

3. Click OK

4. Choose Date and Time... again
   

5. Set the Start time and End time values back to the original or desired values
   

6. Click OK

7. Click Close

F. DST Adjustor Tool

Novell has released the GroupWise DST Adjustor 2007 tool to help administrators handle the DST change. The tool can be run in a variety of ways and is fully explained in the documentation accompanying the tool. Administrators will need to run the tool on all post offices in order to automatically adjust the majority of affected appointment items. It is VERY important that customers understand that while the tool will fix most appointments, some end user intervention will still be required. For full details please review the tool and included documentation available at :https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=1MpWSBPJCgs~

G. Messaging the Change to Your Workforce
Novell has provided additional information to help administrators message the DST change to their workforce. The end user actions are also sumarized in KB 3768695 along with a sample email communication.
TID 3768695 - DST Changes and GroupWise End User Action required

For a similar sample email communication, podcast and a document to help your users create a search folder to find scheduled events and appointments to check and adjust as needed, please refer to
https://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/18566.html

+ Novell GroupWise 8: Upgrading your Existing Novell GroupWise Environment