MC673921 – Interim guidance for Greenland DST changes 2023 (archived)

Product:

SharePoint, Windows, Windows Server

Platform:

Windows Desktop, World tenant

Status:

Change type:

Admin impact

Links:

Details:

According to the new law by the government of Greenland, this year, the country will not switch to Daylight Saving Time. Instead, Greenland's standard time will permanently shift to UTC-2, which is the same time that has been observed since March 25, 2023. In 2024, Greenland will resume annual Daylight Saving Time between March and October by temporarily shifting from UTC-2 to UTC-1. In support of this decision, Microsoft will release Windows updates in late September, 2023 to the latest versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10. All other supported versions of Windows will receive the update as part of the October 2023 monthly quality release.

When will this happen:
Since March 25, 2023, Greenland has observed the UTC-2 time, which is the country's new standard time.
Late September 2023: Windows non-security preview release will include the update to address this time change for Windows 11 and Windows 10, versions 22H2 and 21H2.
October 10, 2023: Windows monthly quality release will include the update to address this time change for all supported versions of Windows.
March-October 2024: Greenland will temporarily shift to UTC-1 to observe the new annual Daylight Saving Time. Devices updated with the September/October 2023 updates will reflect these changes automatically.

Change Category:
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Scope:
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Release Phase:

Created:
2023-09-07

updated:
2024-08-10

Task Type

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Docu to Check

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MS How does it affect me

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MS Preperations

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MS Urgency

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Direct effects for Operations**

- Direct Impact on IT Operations
- Time Synchronization Issues
- Potential discrepancies in scheduled tasks, automated processes, and logging due to the change in time zone.
- Roles impacted: IT Operations Team, System Administrators
- Dependencies on other IT services that rely on accurate time settings (e.g., database transactions, logging services).
- Roles impacted: Database Administrators, Application Support Teams
- Update Deployment Challenges
- Need for timely deployment of Windows updates to ensure all devices are compliant with the new time settings.
- Roles impacted: IT Support Staff, Help Desk Technicians
- Risk of user disruption if updates are not applied before the deadline, leading to potential service outages or degraded performance.
- Roles impacted: End Users, IT Managers

- Direct Impact on IT Services
- Service Availability
- Applications that depend on accurate time settings may experience downtime or incorrect functionality if updates are not applied.
- Roles impacted: Application Owners, Service Managers
- Interdependencies with external services (e.g., cloud services, third-party applications) that may not recognize the new time zone.
- Roles impacted: Cloud Administrators, Integration Specialists
- User Experience
- Users may face confusion or errors in scheduling, meetings, and time-sensitive tasks if their devices are not updated.
- Roles impacted: All End Users, Project Managers
- Increased support tickets and user inquiries related to time discrepancies and scheduling issues.
- Roles impacted: Help Desk Staff, IT Support Managers

References:
- [Daylight Saving Time & Time Zone](https://support.microsoft.com/help/22803/daylight-saving-time)
- [How Windows manages time zone changes](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/how-windows-manages-time-zone-changes/ba-p/3852632)