Table of contents
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How does it work ?
Time zones are always confusing across multiple apps. Because of that we have created this article to clarify any uncertainty.
Currently in Worklogs there are 3 options how time zones can be handled:
Users timezone (default)
Jira timezone
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Currently Worklogs are based on the user's personal settings timezone (if it's not selected then the timezone from Jira settings will be used). This means that for example, even tough it may be already Saturday 1 a.m in Australia, if someone located in the US would log his work hours it will count towards the work time on Friday.
Why is this important? If your employees are located across multiple timezones, you need to make sure that their timezones are set properly so that the report is consistent.
Important cases
User has incorrect timezone set
As we said before, we will use the user's timezone. This means that someone can be located in the US, but use the Australian timezone. In that case his time, when he logs, will count towards the current date in Australia.
User changes his timezone multiple times.
This will result in overall inaccuracies since logged time always use the current user timezone. For example: You set your timezone as +0 then you log 8h of work at 1 a.m and 11 p.m. When you change your timezone to, for example +10 or -10, you will notice that the logged hours have shifted to a different day. To avoid this behavior it is recommended to always have the same timezone.
Example
User1 logged: 4h August 6, 2019, 12:00 AM
User1 logged: 1d August 7, 2019, 11:00 PM
User2 logged: 4h August 6, 2019, 12:00 AM
User2 logged: 1d August 7, 2019, 11:00 PM
They changed theirs time zones to the following:
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The timezone in which this time was logged does not matter - only the personal timezone settings of the user at the given moment matters. |
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User had this timezone at the beginning:
(GMT+00:00) Europe/London
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User had this timezone at the beginning:
(GMT+00:00) Europe/London
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Server had this timezone at the beginning:
(GMT+00:00) Europe/London
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User 1:
06-08 → 4h
07-08 → 1d
User 2:
06-08 → 4h
07-08 → 1d
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User changed his timezone to:
(GMT+11:00) Pacific/Auckland
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User 1:
06-08 → 4h
07-08 → 1d
User 2:
06-08 → 4h
08-08 → 1d
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Everyone see the same results in worklogs but the logged time has shifted from 07.08 to 08.08. The reason behind this is: when the Jira API send us the times it uses the current user timezone. So every time entry is changed to the current timezone, in this case +11 hours. Since we logged work at 11 p.m it changed to 10 a.m on the next day.
Another issue with this case is that on issue page under "log work list" users see logged time according to their timezone. That's why you see different time than the author.
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User changed his timezone to:
(GMT-11:00) Pacific/Midway
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User changed his timezone to:
(GMT+11:00) Pacific/Auckland
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User 1:
05-08 → 4h
07-08 → 1d
User 2:
06-08 → 4h
08-08 → 1d
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(GMT+00:00) Europe/London
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User changed his timezone to:
(GMT+11:00) Pacific/Auckland
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User 1:
06-08 → 4h
07-08 → 1d
User 2:
06-08 → 4h
08-08 → 1d
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Server/Cloud
Server & Cloud work the same way. We use user's personal settings timezone.
Where to find personal settings?
Where to find personal settings in cloud ?
Click your avatar → settings → timezone
Where to find personal settings in server ?
Click your avatar → profile → find 'preferences' section → find 'timezone' field
Conclusion
- Because of how Jira works you need to be careful about setting and changing your timezone. It is recommended to set it before you start using our plugin.
- Profile timezone doesn't interfere with anything - the timezone from personal settings is used.
- Changing your personal timezone will change how your work logs are displayed for everyone