Activity Time Zones

The Activity Time Zones feature is available when the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to Y.

When the SFA central system serves multiple sales managers working in different time zones, sales managers typically want to record and view activities in their local time zone. When the Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is active, OPERA supports this requirement by storing all activities system-wide in a common time zone, then displaying them/printing them in the time zone that is effective based on the following hierarchy:

The user's time zone (as set by the value in the user's Edit User screen Time Zone Region field);
Or, if no user time zone is specified, the user's login property time zone (as set by the Time Zone Region value on the Property Configuration screen);
Or, if no property time zone is specified, the OPERA database server system time zone. (The database server time zone is by default the local time zone where the database server resides; however, another time zone can be specified by the General > Database Time Zone Region application setting.)
Note: Once the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to Y, it cannot be set back to N. In addition, when the Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to Y, it is no longer possible to change the General > Database Time Zone Region application setting.

If the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to N, activity dates and times are stored and displayed/printed in the database time zone, without conversion.

Example

Assume the database time zone = US/Eastern and the Time Zone Region field on the sales manager's Edit User screen is set to US/Pacific. If the sales manager creates an activity for a client meeting at 12:00 PM on 05/05/11, OPERA will recognize that the employee is assigned to the Pacific time zone and will store the activity time in the database as 03:00 PM US/Eastern.

Employees in the US/Pacific time zone will see the activity scheduled for 12:00 PM (GMT -8).

Employees in the US/Central time zone will see the activity scheduled fr 02:00 PM (GMT - 6).

Employees in the US/Eastern time zone will see the activity scheduled for 03:00 PM (GMT -5)

The Activity Time Zones functionality affects display of date and time information on the following OPERA screens:

Activity Search screen: From Date and To Date search fields, Date and Time fields in the grid.
Activities screen: Complete Date and Time fields.
- For Appointments: Start Date and Time, End Date and Time fields.
- For Meetings: Start Date and Time, End Date and Time fields.
- For Correspondence: Date field.
- For Call: Date field.
- For To Do: From Date and To Date fields.
Scheduler screen: Start Date search field, Date and Time fields in the grid.
Detailed Calendar (F4) screen: Start Date search field, Date and Time fields in the grid.
Sales Manager Dashboard: Activities section Time field.

OXI Handling of Time Zones in Activity Messages

In SFA environments where OXI handles Activity message exchange, the Activity record sent by OXI includes the database time zone (timeZoneOffset element) for the database where the Activity originated if the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is active for the originating property's schema. When the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is active for the receiving property's schema, the time in the OXI Activity message is converted to the local database time zone on insert by using the timeZoneOffset value. If either or both the receiving schema and/or the originating schema is not using time zone processing, the Activity time provided in the OXI message will be inserted without conversion.

Impacts on Other Areas

When the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to Y, the effects on other OPERA areas include:

OPERA Reports

The Activity Time Zones functionality affects display of date and time information on the following OPERA reports:

Detailed Profiles (rep_detlprofile
Activity Listing (rep_activity)
Activity Summary Matrix (rep_srep_act_summary). Date filter only.
Call Log with Activities (rep_callrepact)
Sales manager Activity Summary (rep_act_summary). Date filter only.
Group Rooms Control Sheet (sample_grmres_sales_std)
Sales Manager Production Goals (rep_smgr_prodgoals). Date filter only.

Activity Notification (Alerts)

Activity alerts are triggered in the activity owner's time when Activity Time Zones functionality is active.

Example - Alerts

Assume the database time zone = US/Eastern and the Time Zone Region field on the sales manager's Edit User screen is set to US/Pacific. If the sales manager creates an activity for a client meeting at 12:00 PM on 05/05/11 (03:00 PM US/Eastern database time), an alert set for 30 minutes prior to the meeting will be displayed to the sales manager at 11:30 AM (02:30 PM US/Eastern database time).

Automatic Traces

Trace time components are assumed to be in the time zone of the owner.

Example - Traces

Assume the database time zone = US/Eastern and the Time Zone Region field on sales manager A's Edit User screen is set to US/Eastern. The Time Zone Region field on sales manager B's Edit User screen is set to US/Pacific. A block-level trace is set to create an activity for the overall block owner to make a confirmation call to the client at 10:00 AM 3 days before the block arrival date. For blocks whose overall owner is a sales manager in the US/Eastern time zone (as is sales manager A), the activity will be stored in the database for 10:00 AM US/Eastern time. For blocks whose overall owner is a sales manager in the US/Pacific time zone (as is sales manager B), the activity will be stored in the database for 01:00 PM US/Eastern so that it shows as 10:00 AM for the US/Pacific sales manager owner.

Data Extraction

Dates entered as parameters in a data extraction query are assumed to be in the time zone of the user making the query and converts to the database time zone when the query executes.

OPERA Simple Reports

Dates entered as query criteria when running simple reports are assumed to be in the time zone of the user making the query and converts to the database time zone when the query executes.

S&C Analytics

Dates and times are converted from stored database times to user times for reports. Report filters for date and time for activities are assumed to be in user time, and converts to the database time when the query executes.

Exports

Exports based on the data source EXP_SCACTIVITY_VIEW will convert the dates and times in the following fields from database time zone to user time zone for display in the report.

START_DATE
END_DATE
COMPLETED_DATE
CREATED_DATE
UPDATE_DATE
INSERT_DATE

Outlook Interface

Activities coming from Outlook to OPERA are treated as if they are in "user time" and will be converted to the database time zone for storage upon insert or update (it is assumed that the time zone of the user's Outlook client is the same as the user's OPERA user time zone). No time zone conversion is performed between the Outlook time zone and the OPERA user's time zone, if they are different.