In this article, we explain how dates and times are stored by Tribal Habits and how dates and times are displayed in your portal.
How are dates and times stored by Tribal Habits?
We store all dates and times in our database in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time). This is the most common way to store dates and times for use in a multi-region online portal.
How are time zones set for reporting in Tribal Habits?
When we show an Admin a date in any table or graph, we take the date in UTC time from our database and adjust it to show the equivalent time in a certain time zone. There are two time zones which may be used in each portal.
Organisation time zone. This time zone is set by the organisation (on the Admin/Subscription tab). This represents the default (main) time zone of the organisation.
Administrator time zone. Each Admin can also have their own personal time zone (set on their Profile tab in Admin in the Permissions panel). This represents the local time zone of this Admin.
Organisations can 'apply' their organisation time zone to all Admins (and additionally to all users) using the 'Apply to admins' link on the Admin/Subscription page. This updates all Admins to the organisation time zone (which is useful if that time zone has been changed). All newly created Admins will also receive the organisation time zone by default.
What is the purpose of a personal time zone for each Admin?
While Admins receive the organisation time zone by default, each Admin can change their personal time zone to something else. This may be useful when your Admin is located in, and managing users in, another time zone.
Admins can see their personal time zone either in their profile in the admin area or in the menu on the top right of the admin area, which shows their time zone for reference (and also has options to logout or switch to learner view).
So which time zone is used to display reporting in Tribal Habits?
Generally speaking (and unless otherwise indicated on the page), Admins see graphs, tables and reports in their personal time zone.
This allows each Admin to reconcile reporting to their own time zone (but it can mean that two Admins, with different personal time zones, see different dates and times).
When is the organisation time zone used?
The organisation time zone is only used in a few locations.
Setting a due date for a topic or pathway. As we need to use one due date for a topic or pathway, we use the organisation time zone for this.
Setting a certified date for a topic or pathway. As we need to use one due date for a topic or pathway, we use the organisation time zone for this.
Are any other time zones used?
Yes in one special situation - for tracking the monthly active users for subscription purposes. As a global platform, we have organisations located in multiple time zones. Our billing occurs on the 1st day of each calendar month. To harmonise all billing, all subscriptions based on monthly active users are calculated from UTC time - midnight on the 1st day of the calendar month UTC time to 11:59:59 pm on the last day of the calendar month UTC time.
NOTE: There are graphs and reports of Active People visible to admins in reporting. These graphs and reports are based on personal time zones and do not included users you have deleted from your portal. The graph of Monthly Active Users, which is only visible on the Admin/Account/Subscription page, is based on UTC time and includes deleted users. So there can be slight differences in these graphs. However, all billing is based off the Monthly Active Users graph only.
Do all users have a personal time zone?
Technically, all users can have their time zone set. However, the time zone is only utilised for reporting in admin - it has no impact on learners.
When admins use the 'Apply to admins' link to set the organisation time zone to admins, it actually sets the organisation time zone to all users.
Is there a way to set time zone in bulk?
The only way to set the time zone in bulk is via the 'Apply to admins' link for the organisation time zone. We may add the option to set a time zone via our Import CSV function in the future, but as the time zone only impacts admin reporting (which is only a few users), this feature is not currently required.