Tag: articles

Help desk guidelines on Daylight Saving Time for Microsoft Office Outlook Calendars

Post author By M3 Sweatt
Post date 07/03/2007
2 Comments on Help desk guidelines on Daylight Saving Time for Microsoft Office Outlook Calendars

The Exchange team has posted a helpdesk oriented document (below) that provides recommendations and prescriptive guidance for updating Outlook calendars to comply with the Daylight Saving Time (DST) 2007 rule changes. The goal is to provide an Outlook user with a “personal touch” experience to help them understand what is happening with their calendar. Enterprise and business customers may find this helpful when dealing with end user questions or answering their helpdesk calls on the subject.

General References

Main Microsoft DST site – www.microsoft.com/dst2007
DST Technical chats FAQ – blogs.technet.com/dst2007
Webcasts and Technical Chats – http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts
Step by Step Videos – http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/21/435543.aspx#435553

Tools Availability

Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667/en-us
Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool patch – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933146/en-us
Exchange Time Zone Data Update Tool – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930879/en-us

Guidance

We recommend using the following process for updating Outlook calendars.

I – Verify Operating System Update Has Been Installed

Start by verifying that the Outlook user’s operating system has been updated with the DST 2007 update. An easy way to verify that the update has been installed is to examine the list of available time zones in the Date and Time Control Panel applet. To do this, have the Outlook user:

Click on Start, and then select Run.

In the Run area, type timedate.cpl. The Date and Time Properties dialog will appear.

Select the Time Zone tab.

Click the Time Zone drop–down box.

Look for these two time zones:
(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey -New
(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey –Old
as shown in Figure 1 below:

Figure 1 – Windows XP Time Zones After DST 2007 Update is Applied

If both of these time zones are not present, Windows XP is not updated with the DST 2007 update, and must be before proceeding. See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931836 for details on the update and to download the update.

If both of these time zones are present in the list, then Windows XP is correctly updated with the DST 2007 update, and you can proceed.

II – Review Outlook Calendar

Once you have confirmed that Windows XP is updated, you can help the Outlook user review their 2007 calendar for any issues present during the date range of March 11 – April 1, 2007 and October 28 – November 4, 2007. You should not move any items unless it is determined that moving them is needed to correct them. If the Outlook user indicates that everything is correct, then there is no need to proceed with rebasing or moving items.

If the Outlook user is a Delegate, ask them to request that their manager review any personal appointments to ensure that there are no problems with those items.

If the Outlook user indicates that meeting times are not correct, then proceed with rebasing by running the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool (TZMove.exe).

III – Run the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool

The process for running the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool begins with creating a new online profile. Using a new, online profile is optional, but recommended as a best practice. The Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool can also be run using the Outlook user’s existing profile.

Creating a New Online Profile
Use the following steps to create a new profile on the Outlook user’s workstation. These instructions can be read to the Outlook user over the phone, or performed by the Help Desk technician that is remotely connected to the Outlook user’s computer using Remote Assistance or similar remote control software.

Double-click the Mail icon in the Control Panel.

Click Show Profiles.

Click Add.

Add a new profile, and in the Profile Name field, type the name of the user you are assisting.

Click OK.

Make sure the option “Add a new email account” is selected and click Next.

Select “Microsoft Exchange Server” and click Next.

For the Exchange Server Name enter the name of the Outlook user’s Exchange server.

Enter the user’s display name and click Check Name.

You may need to select the users name from a drop–down box.

The name should appear with an underline under it.

Uncheck the checkbox for “Use Cached Exchange Mode”

Click Next and the click Finish.

Verify that the option in the Mail applet is set to “Prompt for a profile to be used” and click OK.

Once the profile has been created, or after deciding to use the Outlook user’s existing profile, proceed with running the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool.

Run the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool using the New Profile or the User’s Profile

Use the following steps to run the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool using either the newly created profile, or the Outlook user’s existing profile.

1. Launch the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool by double-clicking the Mail icon on the Outlook user’s desktop.

2. Select the Mailbox for this user as the “Data File“.

3. Make sure that the Outlook user’s correct time zone is selected in the Original Time Zone field.

4. Make sure that the Update to reflect changes to the Windows time zones option is selected, as shown in Figure 2 below:

Figure 2 – Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool

5. The tool will report the number of items to possibly rebase, as shown in Figure 3 below:

Figure 3 – Number of Items that Need Rebasing

6. Click the Details button to get a list of items to be updated, as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4 – Details on Items to Be Updated

7. Ask the Outlook user if any appointments on this list appear to be incorrect (e.g., appear one hour ahead). Any appointments that appear to be one hour ahead will need to be moved.

8. Uncheck any appointments that are indicated as correct (e.g., not 1 hour ahead).

9. Click OK.

After the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool has updated the checked items, meeting updates will be sent automatically and the Outlook user can expect to receive meeting acceptances. Let the Outlook user know that anyone who receives meeting updates from them should accept them.

Then, review the calendar with the Outlook user and ask them to verify their appointments from March 11 – April 1, 2007. If any appointments appear at the wrong time, instruct the Outlook user to move the appointments by clicking and dragging them to the correct time.

If all of the appointments are not correct proceed with checking for incorrect or missing appointments. If all of the appointments are correct proceed to the discussion of other clients that might access the calendar items.

Confirm the accuracy of items

Only proceed with these steps if the Outlook user has indicated that they are having problems or that items do not appear to be correct. Assist the Outlook user by reviewing appointments between March 11 and April 1 to make sure they are all correct.

Help the Outlook user correct items by instructing them on what actions to take. Ask them to click and drag any appointments that they have organized to the correct time. They should also send out meeting updates if prompted during the move operation. If they want you to move then items, you can, but the ideally it should be the Outlook user that makes the updates.

Check for missing items

If the Outlook user reports missing appointment items during the period from March 11 to April 1, those items might be recoverable using Outlook’s Recover Deleted Item feature. You can use the following steps to try to recover these deleted items:

1. Open Outlook.

2. Select the user’s profile.

3. When the mailbox is opened, select the Deleted Items folder, and look for any deleted items that need to be recovered.

4. Then, select the Inbox.

5. On the menu bar, click Tools, and then choose Recover Deleted Items. The Recover Deleted Items window will be displayed, as shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5 – Recover Deleted Items Window

6. Check the Recover Deleted Items window for any items that need to be recovered.

7. Repeat steps 3-5 for the Deleted Items folder and the Calendar folder until all items are recovered.

If missing items are not recoverable then let the Outlook user know that they should contact each meeting organizer and request that they re-send the meeting invitation.

IV – Discuss Other Clients that Access the Outlook User’s Calendar

Once the calendar is updated to the user’s satisfaction, next ask if any other clients or users are accessing their calendar.

Ask if the Outlook user has a delegate, or if anyone else has permissions to modify their calendar.

Ask if the Outlook user has multiple machines or a mobile device that they use to access their calendar. It is critical that all clients and mobile devices used to access the calendar be updated with the appropriate DST 2007 update(s).

If the Outlook user mentions that appointments from other users appear incorrect, ask for the names of the meeting organizers and the Help Desk will proactively follow-up with an offer of a calendar review for that Outlook user.

Instruct the Outlook user that they can continue to accept meetings from everyone. If the Outlook user sees future meeting updates, they must accept or decline the updates, and not just delete them.

Appendix A

Scenario 1	Calendar items are created under DST 2006 rules and then viewed under DST 2006 rules
Environment:	The operating system is not updated to accommodate the new DST rules. This issue may occur if users are not receiving updates from Microsoft Updates and have not taken action to address DST.
Status:	Appointments are created that occur during the extended DST periods in March and October 2007 on computers that are not updated to reflect DST 2007. Additionally, meetings and appointments are viewed in Outlook on computers that have been updated to reflect DST 2007.
Results:	The calendar items are displayed at the correct time. However, the system time on the computer is off by one hour during the extended DST period.
Action:	Update Windows to reflect DST 2007. After the Windows update is installed, users must run the Time Zone Data Update Tool.

For more information about this update, visit the following Microsoft Update Web site:

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us (http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us)

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

931836 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836/) February 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems

Scenario 2	Calendar items are created under DST 2006 rules and then viewed under DST 2007 rules
Environment:	The operating system is updated for DST 2007. However, the Time Zone Data Update Tool was not yet run to address appointments that were created under DST 2006 rules. In this scenario, new calendar items may continue to be created by using mobile devices or other computers that have not been updated for DST 2007. However, the calendar items are viewed on a computer that has been updated.
Status:	Calendar items that fall within the extended DST period were previously created on devices under DST 2006 rules. However, these items are then viewed on devices that have been updated to reflect DST 2007 rules.
Results:	Calendar items that you organize are off by one hour during extended DST periods. Meetings for which you are an attendee may not be set at the correct local time in Outlook.
Action:	Run the Time Zone Data Update Tool to update appointments and meetings that are organized by the user to reflect the new DST rule. Meeting updates are automatically sent to the other attendees. Avoid creating new calendar items during the extended DST period from other computers or from devices such as mobile devices until the computers or devices have been updated to reflect new DST rules. There may be meetings for which you are an attendee that occur during the extended DST period and that have not been updated by the meeting organizer. In this case, contact the organizer directly to confirm the time.

Scenario 3	Calendar items are created or updated under DST 2007 rules and then viewed under DST 2006 rules
Environment:	Other users have updated the computer that they use to reflect DST 2007 rules, and have sent you meeting invitations that occur during the extended DST period. However, you have not updated the computer that you use to accommodate the new DST rules. Alternatively, you have updated the computer to reflect the DST 2007 rules and have run the Time Zone Data Update Tool. However, you are now viewing your meetings and appointments from another computer or from a mobile device that has not been updated to reflect the DST 2007 rules.
Status:	Appointments and meetings are created on a computer that is updated to use DST 2007 rules. However, appointments and meetings are viewed on a computer that is not updated to use DST 2007 rules.
Results:	Appointments and meetings that you organized are off by one hour during extended DST periods. Meetings for which you are an attendee may not be set at the correct local time in Outlook.
Action:	Apply the Windows DST update to computers and mobile devices.

Scenario 4	Calendar items are created or updated under DST 2007 rules and then are viewed under DST 2007 rules
Environment:	Windows is updated on the computer to reflect DST 2007 rules, and the Time Zone Data Update Tool has been run to update the previously created calendar items.
	Other computers and mobile devices that are used to view and create calendar items are updated to reflect DST 2007 rules. Meetings for which the user is an attendee have been updated by meeting organizers who have updated their systems to reflect DST 2007 rules.
Status:	Calendar items were created by the user under DST 2006 rules and were updated by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool. Alternatively, appointments were created after Windows was updated to reflect the new DST rules and are viewed on computers that are updated for DST 2007 rules.
Results:	Calendar items display correct times during all time periods.
Action:	No action is required.

This help desk guidance is also posted at http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/06/436731.aspx

Tags: Microsoft, Windows XP, Windows, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, CNET. 662,597; 890,244; 1,119,443

Tags Announcements, articles, customer support, DST, Microsoft, Office

Uncategorized

CNET on IT Pros and consumer guidance for handling daylight saving time changes

Post author By M3 Sweatt
Post date 05/03/2007

It’s so hard to get all of the details in a small sound bite. 😉

I had the pleasure last week to speak with CNET’s Erica Ogg (disclaimer: I read her blog on CNET’s Crave) as she was writing a story on the impacts of Daylight Saving Time. The article, “IT pros battle clock and code in time change,” covers the challenges that IT professionals and systems administrators (as well as regular consumers with PCs and devices in the home and businesses) may have around the whole DST change this year.

Yes, we do have detailed guidance for IT professionals which has quite a bit of detail. We have worked on making it accessible and provide the depth of information that professionals demand. Erica wrote that I said “What’s not clear to some people is that we provide a lot of documentation of these tools. It’s not a single page.”

That’s right. For IT pros and sysadmins, we provide information in several areas, and we’ve added to it since we first published our DST web pages in mid 2006…

General sequence of update actions and special considerations on our main DST 2007 web page, which address most common scenarios for IT professionals

Microsoft IT’s deployment guidance with links to provide information that Microsoft has learned in deploying daylight saving time changes in our own enterprise.

A series of webcasts and technical chats on DST 2007, with information on how to use the tools, and

Video demos for running Exchange and Outlook DST 2007 tools, three demos that our customers can use to familiarize themselves with the process of running the DST tools. We think that the following three scenarios cover what people need to run most often.

For consumers, we provide a step-by-step wizard at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst for determining the appropriate actions and updates for your computer. We also have a new wizard available on Office Online article, “Prepare Outlook calendar items for daylight saving time changes in 2007” (go there by clicking on the pictiure at right).

Depending upon the type of customer you are (consumer, working in a company with an IT-managed network, a developer or other), the path you follow to update your computer may be different. That’s the step-by-step wizard I mention above.

For IT pro guidance, note that the guidance we provide to IT pros based on what products and systems they have on their network, particularly for creating and accessing calendar items. In these cases, we have different guidance if you’re primarily an Outlook-based organization, if you create a lot of recurring meetings with OWA, or you’re a heavy user of Blackberry BES or Goodlink messaging servers.

For IT Pros, we provide is a summary of five different scenarios captured based on the various configurations we’ve found in place in customer systems:

Below is a summary of five different scenarios captured in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article 933146 that you may encounter as you update your Exchange organization with the Daylight Saving Time (DST) 2007 updates, and how you can address these scenarios using the patch for the Microsoft Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool. The patch includes additional command-line parameters that have been added to the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool specifically to address these five scenarios:

1) Ensuring that single instance items created after the date on which the operating system time zone updates were applied are not rebased.

2) Rebasing calendar items and suppressing calendar updates.

3) Rebasing resource mailboxes.

4) Rebasing calendars items stored in public folders.

5) Reporting the changes made by the Outlook Time Zone Data Update tool.

For more details please see these Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles:

· KB article 931667 “How to address the daylight saving time changes in 2007 by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook”

· KB article 933146 “Description of the hotfix package for the Time Zone Data Update tool for Microsoft Office Outlook”

This guidance has been incremental rather than different – it provides recommendation which depends upon the kind of network you have in place, the types of mailboxes you’re rebasing and the type of meetings you create.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows XP, Windows, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, CNET. 620,234; 848,104; 1,109,017

Tags articles, DST, People

Uncategorized

MSN Tech & Gadgets on daylight saving time changes

Post author By M3 Sweatt
Post date 27/02/2007

MSN Tech & Gadgets has an article this week, “Time to Reset,” on preparing for daylight saving time. (See http://tech.msn.com/howto/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3318115.)

“For example, London will be four hours ahead of New York, not the usual five, for two weeks beginning March 11. But when London springs ahead on March 25, the normal time gap will return.

“Closer to home: Even if your desktop calendar works properly, is your dentist aware of the change? Call ahead and ask.

“If the security system at work is programmed to automatically unlock the doors at 9 a.m., will they be locked when you arrive? Bring a book, just in case.”

Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, Vista, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST. 669,817; 920,213; 953,015

Tags articles, DST

Uncategorized

Your questions: “Just what is rebasing in daylight saving time?”

Post author By M3 Sweatt
Post date 26/02/2007

In order to be prepared for the DST 2007 changes, we recommend that customers install the Windows OS update for DST (KB 931836, also available via Microsoft Update if you don’t want to wait for it to install via Automatic Updates). When you install this update, appointments on your Office Outlook calendar that occur during three weeks in March and one week at the end of October and beginning of November to be off by one hour.

To address this issue, you then use the download and run the Outlook Time Zone Update Tool to update your Microsoft Outlook calendar items that fall in the extended DST period in 2007. The Outlook tool updates the Outlook appointments that were scheduled prior to applying the DST 2007 Windows OS update. The Outlook tool is referred to as rebasing tools and allows users (or IT administrators via the Exchange wrapper) to adjust – or ‘rebase’ – these appointments.

See my previous blog entry on preparing your calendar items for DST in 2007. (And the Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool is available for download here on the Microsoft Download Center.)

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the newest version of Outlook, can automatically update a person’s calendar to conform to the new daylight saving time rules. However, the Time Zone Data Update Tool contains additional improvements that are not available in Office Outlook 2007.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows, Vista, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST. 669,817; 917,247; 963,612

Tags articles, DST, Windows Server, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Uncategorized

Your questions: “How does Windows handle historical events with daylight saving time updates?”

Post author By M3 Sweatt
Post date 20/02/2007
1 Comment on Your questions: “How does Windows handle historical events with daylight saving time updates?”

I received a question from a customer who had applied the Windows OS update for daylight saving time in 2007 (kb 931836). They said that they noticed that after the update was applied, events in past years also adjucted to the new DST rules as well. “How does Windows handle historical events in software applications with daylight saving time updates?”

We will release a brief document that explains how documents and computers use and display time, and how Windows is impacted. Until then, here’s a brief explanation.

Overall, Windows software applications that handle time stamps typically store those time stamps in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). The advantage of UTC is that it is universal and invariant; it is not subject to local time zones or daylight saving time (DST) changes. However, UTC is not a format that is meaningful to most users: imagine if you (like the BBC World Service does for radio programmes) referred to all events on your calendar in GMT… that might be a bit difficult to manage when talking to other people not used to GMT.

There’s a similar issue with computer software: most events with time are recorded by software and the computer in UTC, so computers convert UTC time to local time to make it easy for local users to understand. The conversion in Windows is based on two factors: first, the time zone as designated by the user; and second, whether or not DST has been selected in the Date and Time control panel.

So, the change in DST should not in general affect the historical time stamps as recorded in UTC in documents, but it may impact how time stamps are interpreted (and therefore displayed) by the Windows operating system (folders, document properties like creation or edited times) and certain applications for a few weeks in 2007 as well as in previous years. We refer to these additional four weeks of DST (March 11, 2007 to April 1, 2007 and October 28, 2007 to November 4, 2007) as the ‘extended DST period’ – that’s the few weeks in between the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in April. We refer to the equivalent dates in previous years as ‘previous extended DST periods.’

Revised US DST 2007

Many Microsoft and third party software applications already take this into consideration. For instance, time stamps in “track changes” and inserted comments in applications such as Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint will record the time based on the time displayed by your Windows operating system clock. (There may some ‘home-grown’ line of business applications that don’t do this use the local system time rather than UTC.)

After you have applied the latest Windows XP time zone update, these time stamps will display the correct time for items modified during the extended DST period. Additionally, no changes are made retroactively, so time stamps in previous extended DST periods will also display correctly.

In Outlook, past calendar items that occurred during these previous extended DST periods may be off by an hour, as Outlook derives time based on the time zone and DST selected.

Here’s an example of the impact on displayed time stamps and what you’ll experience when you view document properties in Windows XP. Once you have applied the Windows time zone update for 2007, files created during the extended DST will display the correct ‘date modified’ time in file properties. However, date modified time stamps that fall into previous extended DST periods (e.g., March 12, 2006 to April 2, 2006) will also be shifted by one hour. In this example, the document was created on March 20, 2006 and saved it at 7:28 PM. After you apply the Windows update, the file created last year will be erroneously updated and will show a time stamp in its ‘date modified’ properties of 8:28 PM (see below).

For more info on the impact of DST, also see my reference to the article in IT Pro Magazine on daylight saving time, and Raymond Chen’s articles on “The Date/Time control panel is not a calendar” and DST for versions of Windows prior to the release of before Vista in “Why Daylight Savings Time is nonintuitive.”

Bookmark this on Delicious