Just wanted to give an update, the AR System User Preferences form did indeed accept UTC and it is applying it correctly. There's a lot of testing to be done but we now have a solution.
Thanks again, Doug! On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:47 PM, Patrick Zandi <remedy...@gmail.com> wrote: > ** > I thought utc was Keflavik ? > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jan 24, 2013, at 16:17, Paul Blasquez <pblasq...@gmail.com> wrote: > > ** > Thanks for replying, Doug! > > Yes, this is essentially what we have done, but we are currently > researching whether UTC is a valid value for the field, as it does not > appear in the dropdown list. I just tested and it doesn't object to the > value of UTC, so I will look into whether it behaves as expected. > > Thanks again! > > -Paul > > > On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Mueller, Doug <doug_muel...@bmc.com>wrote: > >> ** >> >> Paul,**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Every user has a User Preference record.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> One of the settings on that User Preference record is the timezone.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> By default, permissions are set up so that users can change their user >> preference.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Now, the user preference form is a FORM. That means it has permissions.* >> *** >> >> ** ** >> >> You can simply change the permissions (create an overlay of the field). >> You can remove all write permission**** >> >> to that field from everyone. You could remove read permission too, but >> you might as well leave that so**** >> >> users are aware. Then, set a default value of UTC for the time zone.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> If there are existing User Preference records, an Administrator can do a >> modify all for all cases where it is not**** >> >> UTC to set it to UTC for existing users.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> For every new user, create a user preference record as part of creating >> the user.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> ** ** >> >> Now, every user has UTC set as their timezone and they cannot change it.* >> *** >> >> ** ** >> >> ** ** >> >> ** ** >> >> By the way, this same technique can be used for any user preference >> field. You can take over the preference**** >> >> and prevent the user from specifying it by simply modifying permissions >> on the fields on the user**** >> >> preference form.**** >> >> ** ** >> >> ** ** >> >> I hope this helps,**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Doug Mueller**** >> >> ** ** >> >> *From:* Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto: >> arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] *On Behalf Of *Paul Blasquez >> *Sent:* Thursday, January 24, 2013 1:09 PM >> *To:* arslist@ARSLIST.ORG >> *Subject:* Re: UTC Time**** >> >> ** ** >> >> ** **** >> >> Hi everyone, thanks for replying.**** >> >> My issue isn't with the server side of things, I'm fully comfortable >> setting up UTC there. I think Joe saw the point best - we want to control >> the user timezone and set it to be UTC as well.**** >> >> As to why, the reason is that we have multiple locations in multiple >> timezones and we do not want to put the math on the user to figure what the >> "real" time is for that location. We display all times in "Site Local Time" >> and do the timezone offset in the background based on the timezone of the >> location the user is focused on. "Site Local Time" is actually just server >> time, and we have all user preferences locked to PST and the server is PST >> as well. There are issues that come up every year having to do with DST, >> primarily the fact that 2am does not exist for one day each spring. In >> this case, our European users cannot select a perfectly legitimate hour for >> their site because it happens to not exist for the application's timezone. >> There are other issues that we have dealt with as well, like time jumping >> forward and backward across date ranges that cross a PST DST boundary.*** >> * >> >> So our options here are to figure out the correct way to lock users into >> UTC, or as a backup plan we may decide to use Phoenix time for everything >> as it does not have DST. We would prefer to use the global standard.**** >> >> I hope that makes things more clear. To re-iterate, the actual question >> here is, is it possible for the user preference to be set to UTC in any way >> shape or form?**** >> >> Thanks,**** >> >> -Paul**** >> >> ** ** >> >> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 6:25 AM, patrick zandi <remedy...@gmail.com> >> wrote:**** >> >> ** have lots of utc servers.. never had issues.. (except to remember that >> escalations run on SERVER time not local time)... >> >> >> >> Patrick Zandi _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 >> years_ **** >> >> ** ** >> >> _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ **** >> _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ >> > > _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ > > _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ > _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
