Time Zones and Locale
Understanding How Time Zones & Locale are Handled
The contiguous U.S. has four standard Time Zones: Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time, and Pacific Time. In addition, Alaska and Hawaii each have their own respective time zones, but Hawaii does not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST).
The time zones in the contiguous U.S. are often referred to by their generic name, without making a difference between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time designations. For example, Eastern Time (ET) refers to Eastern Standard Time (EST) or Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), depending on which is currently in use. Thus, MinistryPlatform dynamically observes the Time Zone field by the current time. In practice, this means that the local time in these time zones changes automatically, and Users don't need to change their Time Zone Settings when Daylight Savings commences or concludes.
Select the Best Time Zone
Use the chart below to identify and select the best Time Zones that affect your Users:
| Offset | Abbreviation | Time Zone Name | Example City |
|---|---|---|---|
| UTC - 10:00 | HST | Hawaii | Honolulu |
| UTC - 08:00 | AKDT | Alaskan Daylight Time | Anchorage |
| UTC - 07:00 | PDT | Pacific Daylight Time | Los Angeles |
| UTC - 07:00 | MST | Arizona | Phoenix |
| UTC - 06:00 | MDT | Mountain Daylight Time | Salt Lake City |
| UTC - 05:00 | CDT | Central Daylight Time | Chicago |
| UTC - 04:00 | EDT | Eastern Daylight Time | New York |
| UTC | UTC | Coordinated Universal Time | N/A |
The Time Zone field, or "standard time", of the User affects the date and time displayed in MinistryPlatform. Users can change this setting in the User Account Dialog located in the top right of the Platform or in the User Account Record. If left blank, the system uses the Domain Time Zone.
The Locale, or "culture", of the User affects the formatting of the date, time, and currency displayed. If left blank, the system uses the Domain Locale. Users may update this setting themselves in the User Account Dialog located in the top right of the Platform.
The way we format our date, time, and currency changes depending on the country we live in. For instance:
- English (United States) Locale references Date in a MM-DD-YYYY format, such as 11-25-2019.
- English (United Kingdom) Locale references Date in a DD-MM-YYYY format, such as 25-11-2019.
In addition, here are some Time Zones generally NOT observed by MinistryPlatform customers:
- UTC-04:00 US Eastern Daylight Time - As of 2006, Indiana observes Daylight Savings Time so this additional Time Zone is unused.
- UTC-07:00 Pacific Daylight Time (Mexico) - DST is observed in Mexico from April to October (different than in the U.S. where DST observed in U.S. from March to November).
For a full list of available Time Zones, see the source list from Microsoft.
Troubleshooting
Error: The supplied DateTime represents an invalid time. For example, when you adjust the clock forward, any time skipped in the period is invalid. The parameter name is dateTime.
- Resolution: This indicates the selected time doesn't exist due to Daylight Savings Time (DST) commencing in the Spring. If you receive this error, select a different time.