Changes to the start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time (DST) will affect the operation of many technology systems and devices at Duke University and Duke University Health System. Starting this year, Daylight Saving Time will start three weeks earlier, on March 11, and end one week later, on November 4. The changes are the result of the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Duke's Office of Information Technology (OIT) and Duke Health Technology Systems (DHTS) strongly advise all members of the Duke community to take the following steps to ensure their systems continue to work properly:
- Click here for a list of programs, devices, and systems that require updates. Instructions and links for further information are provided.
- Check with your department's technology administrator if you have questions or concerns.
According to John Straffin, an analyst for OIT Customer Support, the Daylight Saving Time changes should not cause major problems for most users at Duke. "Most of the problems encountered will be one of two types: either the clock on the device on which you are working is not going to change at the right time, or programs that write down future data will be writing down data for the new daylight saving time period incorrectly."
Neither problem, said Straffin, is likely to critically affect systems at the university or health system.
After the March 11 time change, patches will still be available for downloading. Straffin said that users who had not downloaded patches by that time should still do so. "Even if it doesn't fix a problem for you right now, you should still download it for future time changes in November and following years."