Time's a-wastin': Users rush to fix systems for daylight-saving time

Time's a-wastin': Users rush to fix systems for daylight-saving time
Many companies still working to make IT fixes before March 11 time change

Todd R. Weiss

March 02, 2007 (Computerworld) -- With only nine days to go before this year's earlier-than-usual starting date for daylight-saving time (DST) in the U.S., a last-minute scramble is on inside many corporate IT departments to finish the process of evaluating and updating systems in order to stave off possible problems when the clocks are turned one hour ahead.

Although the changes to DST became federal law in August 2005, it has only been in the last few months -- or weeks, even -- that many companies have moved in earnest to prepare their systems for the new starting and ending dates. As a result, the situation remains unsettled, according to interviews with IT managers, consultants and analysts.

Ray Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., said IT clients are jamming the consulting firm's phone lines asking for advice about what they should do. "A lot of customers are still not ready because a lot of the vendors released their patches late," Wang said. He added that the early time change is turning out to be "a bigger deal than vendors and customers had expected."

DST, which previously began during the first weekend in April, will take effect at 2 a.m. on March 11 this year. That means IT systems have to be updated or modified to reflect the proper time for applications that rely on time stamps, as well as for tasks such as scheduling. But a problem now often cropping up, Wang said, is that patches from one vendor are causing code mismatches with other applications that then also have to be resolved.

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