Quintana Roo DST Changes 2015

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Disclaimer:  The information in this document is written in response to an announcement by the government of Mexico about changes in the daylight saving time in Quintana Roo for the year of 2015. The steps provided in this bulletin were created to mitigate the impacts that the daylight saving time changes will cause for customers in Mexico. These are the impacts primarily anticipated at the time this document was written, and the effects that customers may face are not restricted to them. The suggested actions on this document might receive additional testing. The information described in this document may change without notice. In addition, customers should be aware that further guidance may be provided at any time by Microsoft. Special notes: At this time there is NO official decree for this change, so we are publishing this in advance. Please refer to the following announcement https://www5.diputados.gob.mx/index.php/esl/Comunicacion/Boletines/2014/Diciembre/04/4764-Diputados-avalan-crear-la-Zona-Horaria-Sureste-para-Quintana-Roo

Quintana Roo 2015                         

On December 4th 2014, the estate of Quintana Roo was approved to be under a new time zone in order to promote tourism and be more competitive with other nearby destinations in the Caribbean. This announcement does not include any details about when and how this change will be implemented. However, news web portals are referring that this change will be implemented on February 1st 2015 at 2:00 am by moving the clocks one hour forward.

Currently Quintana Roo is using GMT-6, with this change we will be using GMT-5. This fast-tracked change came with little advance notice and it is not yet official with a decree. Many of our customers are in a so-called "freeze period" where they do not make any changes or deploy any updates to their networks or systems.

Since the new time zone announced is different from what was defined in the previous years, Windows-based computers will not correctly interpret the time that is related to the transition to daylight savings time.

In addition to Microsoft products, other software, OS releases and hardware (phones, routers, switches and managed devices) may require updates and/or changes. 

Possible changes: In order to reduce the impact of this change, you may select to manually move their own users and systems to an appropriate time zone (such as the (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco) on February 1st 2015. 

Less than a week is a tough time to get everyone alerted to a change of this magnitude. In order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST rules and time zones, ample advance notice and concentrated efforts on promoting any change should be provided to the people and businesses impacted.

We will continue to publish advice and recommendations on the LATAM Team Blog at https://blogs.technet.com/latam.

General recommendations

  • Change computer time zone to (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco on February 1st 2015.
  • Please note that if you adjust the machine’s clock manually, you may have adverse effects on your environment. This procedure is not supported by Microsoft.
  • Contact Microsoft Support prior to any modification if you are unsure about the steps to follow in order to be prepared for the Daylight Saving Time change in Quintana Roo.

 

How to update Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems

For further information on how to update your Windows Operating system, please refer to the following article

914387 - How to configure daylight saving time for Microsoft Windows operating systems

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914387

 

How to correct Outlook calendars          

Customer needs to follow the steps described on KB931667 to update Outlook calendar. Also, you can refer to the following article https://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst “Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center”.

 

Recommendations to minimize the impacts on Outlook/Exchange:

  • Simulate the changes on a lab environment, so you know what will happen and what to expect.
  • Work in conjunction with the operating system team to update the DST dates as soon as possible to minimize the chance of users creating new appointments during the delta period before the operating system DST dates get updated.

  • Before doing any change on the DST information, request the users to print their schedule so they have a reference to follow in order to manually update the appointments later if needed.

  • Take a full online backup of your Exchange Servers in case you decide to use the Exchange Calendar Update Tool.

  • For the meetings with multiple attendees only the meeting requestor should update the time and send the update to the others.

  • Include the time of the meeting in the e-mail request so that invitees can double check the correct meeting time (such as, "Project brainstorming - 11:00 A.M. Asuncion Time").

  • Exercise caution with the appointments and meetings in the extended DST period. When in doubt, verify the correct time with the organizer.

     

References:

941018 How to address daylight saving time by using the Exchange Calendar Update Tool

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;941018

934001 A troubleshooting guide to the Exchange Calendar Update Tool (Msextmz.exe)

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;934001

931667 How to address time zone changes by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;931667

943390 Some Outlook calendar items are rebased incorrectly when you use the Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool to adjust for daylight saving time changes in certain time zones

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;943390

Note: This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500) for other considerations.