Time differences in Groove Virtual Office 3.x and Groove 2007 tools that are caused by changes to daylight saving time periods

This article describes how to correct time differences in Microsoft Office Groove tools that are caused by changes to daylight saving time (DST) periods. This issue most significantly affects the versions of the Calendar tool and the Meeting tool that were released with Groove Virtual Office 3.x and with Microsoft Office Groove 2007. This issue also affects any Groove tool of these versions that automatically generates and displays a time stamp for new entries or edited entries. These entries include instant messages, chat entries, Discussion tool entries, or Forms tool records.

These tools may also be present in SharePoint Workspace 2010 if one or more of the following conditions are true:

• You created a Groove workspace of version 2007 in SharePoint Workspace 2010.
• You upgraded from Office Groove 2007 and have workspaces from that version or from earlier versions.
• You have accepted invitations that were sent from Groove 2007.

Note These issues do not occur in 2010 Groove workspaces in SharePoint Workspace 2010. 2010 Groove workspaces include dynamic time zone support.

Occasionally, countries or regions change how they observe daylight saving time. For example, in 2007, the United States began switching to daylight saving time three weeks earlier and returning to standard time one week later. The tools in Groove 2007 and earlier versions of Groove expect daylight saving time rules that were being used at the end of 2006. For Groove users who communicate across different time zones, changes to these rules may create time differences in any workspace tool that has data entries that display times.

This condition applies to entries that have dates and times that are entered by the user, such as Calendar events or meetings in the Meetings tool. This condition also applies to entries that automatically generate a time stamp, such as instant messages or chat entries.

Except for Groove Enterprise Backup Service 3.1 and earlier versions of Groove Enterprise Backup Service, Groove Server products are unaffected by daylight saving time changes. The only issue in Groove Enterprise Backup Service 3.1 is that scheduling backups occur according to daylight saving time rules that were being used in 2006.

Note For more information about the daylight saving time changes of 2007, see the "More information about daylight savings changes" section.

Conditions under which you can safely ignore this issue

You can safely ignore this issue for any of the following kinds of workspaces:

• Workspaces that contain only one member
• Workspaces that do not contain the Calendar tool, the Meetings tool, the Discussion tool or the Forms tool and in which the chat feature is not used
• Workspaces in which all members are in the same time zone
• Workspaces in which all members are in U.S. time zones that changed in the same manner
• Workspaces in which all members are in unchanged time zones
• Workspaces that use the 2010 Groove workspace template

Conditions under which this issue may affect you

This issue may affect your experience when you use Groove if the following conditions are true:

• You are using a workspace that contains a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool.
• These tools contain entries that occur during daylight saving periods that were not daylight savings periods in 2006.
• At least one member's computer is in a changed time zone, and another member's computer is in an unchanged or differently changed time zone. For example, from the 2007 changes, this problem affects a workspace that contains a member in U.S. Central Time and another member in Western European Time (for example, a member in Amsterdam).

When all these conditions are true, there will be a difference in the time that members in the different time zones see displayed for an event or for a meeting.

Additionally, this issue may affect your experience when you use Groove if the following conditions are true:

• You create one of the following items during the new daylight saving time periods:
  • Discussion entries
  • A Forms tool record that includes a time stamp
  • Chat entries
  • Instant messages
• At least one member's computer is in a changed time zone, and another member's computer is in an unchanged or differently changed time zone.

When these conditions are true, there will be a difference in the timestamps that members in the different time zones see displayed for the items.

Example

Bob is in Chicago, and Anders is in Amsterdam. They are using a Groove Meetings tool. Bob creates a meeting for March 12, 2007, at 9:00 A.M. Bob expects Anders to see a six-hour time difference and see the meeting time in his Meetings tool as 3:00 P.M. However, the meeting time is displayed incorrectly as 4:00 P.M. for Anders.

Conversely, if Anders creates a meeting for March 12, 2007, at 3:00 P.M., Bob sees the meeting time as 8:00 A.M., an hour early.

Recommendations

If you verify that this issue affects tools in one or more of your Groove workspaces, read the following sections. The steps that you must take to correct this issue depend on many factors, such as the version of Microsoft Windows and the version of Groove that is being used.

There have been many daylight saving time changes since 2006. This article describes remedial steps in different scenarios that are affected by the 2007 daylight saving time changes in the United States. Remedial steps are described for the following scenarios:

• All members are running Groove 2007. They are also using a Calendar tool or a Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove 2007 with the default workspace version.
• All members are running Groove 2007 on Windows Vista-based computers. However, the members use a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove Virtual Office 3.x.
• All workspace members are running Groove 2007. However, the members are using a mix of Windows operating systems. They use a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove Virtual Office 3.x.
• All workspace members are running Groove Virtual Office 3.x.

For more information about how to resolve issues that are related to daylight saving time changes, find your workspace configuration in the following scenarios.

For information about Microsoft updates to correct daylight saving time problems, see "More information about daylight saving changes" near the end of this article.

All members are running Groove 2007. They are also using a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove 2007.

A workspace member who is running Windows XP installs the time zone update for Windows XP. After that update, calendar appointments and meeting times that are scheduled to occur during the extended DST periods may not be correct for all workspace members across time zones.

To restore consistent appointment times and meeting times, follow these steps:

1. Direct all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to install the 2007 time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems.
2. As soon as the 2007 time zone update has been installed, manually edit all Calendar tool appointments and Meetings tool entries in the extended DST periods to make sure that they are accurate.

All members are running Groove 2007 on Windows Vista-based computers. However, the members use a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove Virtual Office 3.x.

Calendar appointments and meeting times that are scheduled to occur during the extended DST periods may not be correct for all workspace members across time zones.

To resolve this issue, manually edit all calendar appointments and meeting times in the extended DST periods to make sure that they are accurate.

All workspace members are running Groove 2007. However, the members are using a mix of Windows operating systems. They use a Calendar tool or the Meetings tool in a Groove workspace that was created in Groove Virtual Office 3.x.

Calendar appointments and meeting times that are scheduled to occur during the extended DST periods may not be correct for all workspace members across time zones. This may be true even after the users install the time zone update for Windows operating systems.

To resolve this issue, a workspace manager must follow these steps:

1. Direct all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to install the time zone update for Windows operating systems.
2. Export Calendar data from the Calendar tool in the Groove Virtual Office 3.x workspace.
   
   Note Meetings tool data cannot be exported.
3. Create a new Groove 2007 workspace that contains a Calendar tool and the Meetings tool, if it is necessary.
4. Import the Calendar data into the new Groove 2007 Calendar tool.
5. Manually edit appointments that are incorrect in the extended DST periods. Re-create meetings as needed in the new Meetings tool.
6. Invite the other workspace members to join the new workspace.

All workspace members are running Groove Virtual Office 3.x.

Calendar appointments and meeting times that are scheduled to occur during the extended DST periods may not be correct for all workspace members across time zones.

To resolve this issue, all workspace members must upgrade to Groove 2007.

Note If your organization is currently unable to upgrade to Groove 2007, see the "Recommendations for Groove Virtual Office 3.x users who cannot upgrade" section.

Additionally, a workspace manager must follow these steps:

1. Direct all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to install the time zone update for Windows operating systems.
2. Export calendar data from the Calendar tool in the Groove Virtual Office 3.x workspace.
   
   Note Meetings tool data cannot be exported.
3. Create a new Groove 2007 workspace that contains a Calendar tool and the Meetings tool, if it is necessary.
4. Import the Calendar data into the new Groove 2007 Calendar tool.
5. Manually edit appointments that are incorrect in the extended DST periods. Re-create meetings as needed in the new Meetings tool.
6. Invite the other workspace members to join the new workspace.

Recommendations for Groove Virtual 3.x users who cannot upgrade

If your organization is currently unable to upgrade to Groove 2007, read the following recommendations to resolve the daylight saving time issue.

Entry times always display correctly for the member who adds the entry. Therefore, members who add entries during the additional four-week period should consider the time zone locations of other workspace members and then take additional steps to make sure that these members know the exact times, especially if the displayed times are very important.

Meetings tool recommendations

• When you create a meeting, add the time zone details to the meeting subject and to the meeting details, as in the following example:
  
  
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• If you want to make sure that affected members understand specific event times or meeting times, send a message that contains the time details.

Calendar tool recommendations

Generally, add a warning event to all Calendar tools to remind members to be aware of possible time differences in events that occur during the extended daylight saving time period. You can include instructions that explain how to create other warning events directly in the event. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Add Event.
2. In the Subject field, type Attention: Event times may be displayed incorrectly for this period.
3. In the Start field, click the Calendar icon, and then click March 11, 2007.
4. In the End field, click the Calendar icon, and then click March 31, 2007.
5. Click All day event.

In the Details field, describe how to create this warning event in other Calendar tools, as in the following example:



Click OK. The warning event is displayed in the Calendar tool's month view as follows:



Members can open this event to read the details. They can also point to the event to display a details window that shows most of the details, as in the following example:



Note Repeat this procedure to create a warning event for the week of October 28, 2007, through November 4, 2007.

Additionally, consider whether it is important for members to know the exact start time and end time for an event. If you decide that these details are not important, you can designate the event as an all-day event without displaying the start time and the end time for the event. For example, see the following calendar event:



The calendar event will be displayed in the week view of the Calendar tool without listing the start time and the end time, as in the following example:

More information about daylight saving changes

Starting in the spring of 2007, DST start dates and end dates for the United States changed to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DST dates in the United States start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November) than before the change took effect. Several other countries have also made changes to DST start dates and end dates.

To help customers address these changes, Microsoft provides an update for Windows operating systems in Mainstream Support. In addition, Microsoft is developing updates and tools for other Microsoft products that are affected by changes in DST transition dates.

For more information about how to update Windows operating systems for DST changes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For information about other Microsoft product updates and recommendations to address the DST change, visit the following Microsoft website: