Time Zones; add support for handling Time Zones where a date and time are entered

Time Zone support has been added to finPOWER Connect.

Without knowing the Time Zone of a date and time, it could mean different things depending on where you are in the world. For example, if a Date/ Time in finPOWER Connect is 28/4/2016 10:00, this would mean something different for somebody in Sydney as opposed to Perth. You also can't easily do things like "this needs actioning at 2pm Perth time".

Within finPOWER Connect there are now three types of dates:

1. Date only. E.g. the date an Account was opened. There is no Time involved.
2. A UTC Date/Time. E.g. Created date and time.
3. A Date/ Time and Time Zone. E.g. the Log Action Date/Time.

Note, UTC Date/Times (Coordinated Universal Time) are a way of standardising and regulating clocks and time. It is a successor to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). They can be converted to any Time Zone, and do not suffer from Daylight Saving issues.

The focus of this change is Date/ Time and Time Zones. Each Date/ Time is stored as a UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Date and includes a Time Zone.

The Database or Global Time Zone is defined under Tools, Global Settings, General group, Time Zone page. It is a mandatory field, regardless of whether or not you are using Time Zones.

During the database upgrade you will be asked to enter this.

!!WARNING: It is very important you enter the correct Database Time Zone as this will update information in the database.!!

Global Settings also allow you to define whether or not you use Time Zones, and if so the list of Time Zones used. If using Time Zones, User Preferences allow each User to override the default Time Zone.

Now, when entering Date and Times, e.g. the Log Date, you can enter the Date, Time and Time Zone.

Note, if not using Time Zones there should be no noticeable changes to the finPOWER Connect User Interface.