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

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 lengthened the time period for daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. Daylight saving time now begins three weeks earlier (on March 9 in 2008) and ends one week later (on November 2 in 2008). Several other countries have also made changes to DST start and end dates. For Groove users in different time zones, this change 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 timestamp, 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 backups occur one hour later than scheduled during the additional days of daylight saving time.

Note For more information about the daylight saving time changes, 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 types of workspaces:

• Workspaces that contain only one member
• Workspaces that do not contain the Calendar tool, the Meetings tool, or the Discussion 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
  
  These time zones (Atlantic, Newfoundland, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaskan) have adopted the lengthened daylight saving time periods that are mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
• Workspaces in which all members are in unchanged time zones.

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 extended daylight saving periods. In the United States in 2008, those dates are as follows:
  • March 9 to March 29
  • October 26 to November 2
• 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, this problem affects a workspace that contains a member in U.S. Central Time and another member in W. Europe Time (for example, a member in Amsterdam).

When all these conditions are true, there will be a one-hour 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 extended DST periods:
  • Discussion entries
  • 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 one-hour difference in the timestamps that members in the different time zones see displayed for the items listed.

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 in his Meetings tool as 3:00 P.M. However, the meeting time is incorrectly displayed as 4:00 P.M. for Anders.

Conversely, if Anders creates a meeting for March 12, 2007, at 4:00 P.M., Bob sees the meeting time as 9:00 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 a variety of factors, such as the version of Windows or the version of Groove that is being used.

This article describes remedial steps for the following scenarios:

• 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.
• 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.

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. Have all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 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 users install the time zone update for Windows operating systems.

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

1. Have all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 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 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. Have all workspace members who are running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 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 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

Best practice
When you create a meeting, add the time zone details to the meeting subject and to the meeting details, as in the following example:



Best practice
If you want to make sure that affected members understand specific event times or meeting times, send a message or e-mail that contains the time details.

Calendar tool recommendations

Best practice
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 displays 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 will transition to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DST dates in the United States will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November).Several other countries have also made changes to DST start 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 Web site: