Different computer operating systems use different mechanisms to keep the computer system time as local time. Some systems may just require you to manually adjust the computer's clock by an hour. However, most modern computer systems are set up to automatically change the local time when daylight saving starts and finishes. The steps you need to take to change the time on your computer will depend on your computer and operating system.

To cater for the daylight saving trial in Western Australia major software and operating system vendors developed a software code change or “patch” that is specific for their operating system or application. These patches must be applied to computers to cater for the new Western Standard Time zone changes that occur throughout the trial period. Vendors have been upgrading their software and releasing patches since the daylight saving trial started in December 2006. It is important to check with your vendor and access the latest patch so that your computer correctly adjusts for the time changes that will occur throughout the remainder of the trial period.

Other than operating systems, electronic and computerised systems that rely to a greater or lesser extent on time zones include:

• email systems;
• calendaring and diary systems;
• database systems; and
• mobile devices that will need to be synchronised.

Impact on Calendaring, Diary and Scheduling Applications

It is important to be aware that electronic diaries and calendars may experience problems when Western Australia switches from summer time back to standard time and vice versa.

This will potentially affect diary, scheduling and calendar events that have already been scheduled. Depending on the operating system and software in use, appointments may display as either an hour earlier or an hour later, and will need to be changed either manually or by following the instructions of software vendors. You are advised to check your vendor’s website or contact them direct for specific recommendations and information on managing the impact of this issue.

To be on the safe side, prior to manually changing the time on the computer or having the change made automatically through a patch, you may wish to add the actual start and finish times in to the appointment description in your electronic diary.

Business Applications

Many organisations and businesses run specialised applications that rely on date/time stamps. If you run a business, you will need to consider the impacts of operating system and software changes including:

• managing the possible impact on your clients or suppliers;
• ensuring that automatic backup processes are not running during the time change at the start or end of a daylight saving trial period and
• allowing outage time to reboot systems that may need to be restarted at change over time.

Vendor Updates

The patches or instructions required to update computer operating systems are being made available by major computer vendors as listed below. Please note however that these links were provided by, and are the responsibility of, the relevant vendor. The information provided below is for general assistance only.

Apple Computer Australia Pty Ltd
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305056/

Cisco Systems
Where organisations extract logging and statistical data from Cisco devices a change to the device’s internal clock may have been made to ensure time accuracy of reports. This can be changed back simply by logging onto the device and changing the time at the start and end of each daylight saving trial period.

IBM Australia Limited
http://www.ibm.com/support/alerts/software/us/
This site lists all IBM products both hardware and software that will be affected by the daylight saving trial. Clients can also call 131 426 for more information.

Microsoft Pty Ltd
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/technet/timezone/default.aspx

Novell
http://www.novell.com/info/daylight_saving.html

Oracle
Refer to your Oracle support contact.

SAP Australia Pty Ltd
SAP clients should access the SAP global support website through known procedures for downloads and information.

Sun Microsystems
http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hubs/dst/
For additional assistance refer to your Sun support contact.

VMware
http://kb.vmware.com/kb
Refer to your VMware support contact. See the following:
http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=3996003&sliceId=SAL_Public
http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/esx-3996003-patch.html
http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=9716732&sliceId=SAL_Public
http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/esx-9716732-patch.html
http://www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/esx-254-200702-patch.html
http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=3831504&sliceId=SAL_Public