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www.pconcall.com
888 PCONCALL |
Position Paper Changes
to Daylight Savings Time for 2007
Background:
(some text taken from
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_topissues#a2
)
In August of
2005 the United States Congress passed
the Energy Policy Act, which changes the
dates of both the start and end of
daylight saving time (DST). When this
law goes into effect in 2007, DST will
start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on
the second Sunday in March) and will end
one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first
Sunday in November) than what had
traditionally occurred. This was done
to conserve energy.
What
is the impact? The basic impact is
that computers won’t know the right time
for a couple of weeks if not patched
with the fixes provided by Microsoft.
For personal workflow, meeting times
will be wrong on systems not patched and
the occasional person will be late or
miss some scheduled events. On the
systems, similar scheduled events will
be wrong, such as automated backups and
batch processing scripts. For most
small businesses, this might not be more
than minor inconvenience. However, for
those for whom time sensitivity is
important, the Microsoft patches should
be considered mandatory. Examples might
be patent scheduling of medical
procedures or transportation scheduling
for on-time delivery. Organizations
that rely on computer base scheduling to
run the business will want this patch
applied.
Why
would I not want to install the DST 2007
patch? With any significant change
to an existing operating system, one
should always consider the impact of
such changes to their environment.
Prior to installing the DST07 patch, we
feel it is appropriate to think through
risks that are possible, even if
unlikely.
For
instance, this patch must be applied to
both servers and workstations for
Windows and Exchange and Outlook, in a
specific order. Under
typical support programs, servers have
current patches maintained while
workstations have their patch status
simply reported. Therefore, if a
workstation requires a good number of
patches to be brought up to date, there
might be any number of unrelated patches
applied that could cause a disruption to
services. Therefore, the question is
not a matter of whether or not to
install the DST 2007 patch. The more
appropriate question is simply when and
what do I need to consider before
installing it onto the Windows operating
systems.
PC On Call’s position on
the installation of DST 2007 patch:
PC On Call
supports Microsoft’s recommendation that
all users running the Windows operating
system install the DST 2007 patch at
their earliest convenience.
Action Planning:
Because
this
patch must be applied to both servers
and workstations for Windows and
Exchange and Outlook, in a specific
order, it is PC On Call’s
recommendation that the deployment of
DST 2007 patch be performed as a
project. The justification for a
project includes, but not limited to,
1)mitigating the risk of
adverse effects by researching the
impact with core applications vendors,
2) scheduling the
disruption to users, and 3)providing
for quality checks to ensure that
updates go well. The DST 2007 patch
itself is not a significant change,
however, if there are a good number of
patches needed in order to apply this
patch, then a best practice of change
control through project management is
strongly advised. To engage PC On Call
in a DST 2007 patch upgrade project,
approve and fax the attached Project
Proposal to us. A firm project cost
will be provided at the Project Planning
sit down meeting to be scheduled after
your approval.
Although
leveraging project methodology for DST
2007 patch deployment is the most
prudent course of action, it may not be
preferred by all clients. Therefore, the
following alternative to a project is
supported.
Ad-hoc
workstation updates will be supported
under the IT Partner program as
requested by clients. It is important
to note that the request to install DST
2007 patch may initially be dispatched
as a single workstation support
incident. However, any resulting issues
with that upgrade relative to
applications, peripherals, and network
usability will result in additional
service cost depending on multiple
users, locations, assets or domains that
are impacted by the initial change.
Cost estimates
for Ad-hoc upgrading to DST 2007 patch
cannot be provided accurately. Upgrades
are usually under an hour of effort for
each system, with an average of 1 out of
7 systems having some unforeseen issue
when a large number of patches and
service packs are applied at once.
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