Enable UTC Session Dates

A UTC switch has been implemented to control the output of either the local date time or the Calculated local date time for session and stamp date times.

Note:
Once the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) switch is turned on for a project, it is recommend that it is not turned off.

When the UTC Switch is turned on in an existing project it is recommended practice not to save a new session in the project for at least 12 hours. This ensures Calculated Local Session Date Times can be reliably compared to a local session date time in any time zone.

• A local date time is the date time when the session\stamp is created.

• A "Calculated local date time" is the sum of the UTC session date time when the session\stamp was created and current time zone bias when the session\stamp date time is queried. The current time zone bias is obtained from the time zone set on the Windows clock. As the Calculated Local Date Time depends on the current time zone the Calculated Local Date Time can change if the current time zone (for example, Location) is changed. The Calculated local date time allow sessions saved in different time-zones to be ordered by session date time from earliest to latest (or vice versa) (as this based on UTC date times).

A Calculated Local Session Date Time is returned for a session date time query if the UTC switch is on and the session\stamp has a UTC date.

If the switch is on and the session doesn't have a UTC date the local date time is returned. If the switch is off the local date time is returned.

The UTC switch is implemented as a logical attribute (UTCSWT) on the /*S or for Global projects the /*GS element in Admin. The UTCSWT is a project wide switch and can only be set (controlled) at the Hub for a Global Database. If the project is a Global project the value of the UTCSWT attribute on the /*GS element takes precedence over the value (of the UTCSWT attribute) on the /*S.