OVERVIEW
On Sunday, November 1, British Columbia will move to permanent year-round time. Unlike previous years, clocks will not “fall back” by an hour. Our new time zone will be called Pacific Canada Time (PCT). A new time zone is a technology change that many vendors and systems have not experienced, and it may affect some processes and systems across the university.
IT Services is working to help minimize disruption where possible. To prepare for this change, SFU is working with vendors, external service providers and system owners across the university to understand potential impacts and apply required updates.
INFO SESSION RECORDINGS
A one-hour informal drop-in session was held to provide a brief update on the current status of the transition, provide additional information and support and answer questions. Visit Welcome to Pacific Time: What to do on November 2 to access the recordings.
KEY POINTS
To all students, staff and faculty:
To ensure a smooth transition to our new time zone, we strongly recommend taking the following steps:
1. Avoid manually updating time or dates.
Manually adjusting your devices' time, calendars, meetings, appointments, dates, etc., could cause them to display incorrectly after time zone updates are installed. These software updates will apply the new B.C. time zone when once installed and can over correct your time-based items.
2. Update your computer, devices and browsers.
All students, staff and faculty are advised to update their computer, devices and browser to the latest version to ensure the new time zones are installed.
For SFU-Managed Windows Devices
HOW DO I UPDATE?
Find
Software Center from your Start Menu
to see if you have any updates. Install those updates and restart your computer. If you are connecting remotely or off-campus, you need to stay connected to
SFU VPN for a few hours during working hours to receive updates to your device.
DO I HAVE THE UPDATE ALREADY?
Note: If your device displays Yukon Time instead of Pacific Time, there may have been an issue applying the university's time zone updates. Contact
IT ServiceHub and select "Time Zone issue."
For SFU-managed Mac devices
HOW DO I UPDATE?
A notification should
automatically appear to apply a new time zone definition.
Restart your devices to install it.
From
System Settings >
General >
Date & Time, ensure that
Set time zone automatically using your current location is
enabled. Then,
restart your Mac. Any time zone updates will silently take place.
Note: If your time zone is showing Pacific Daylight Time despite your device's clock being accurate, this is currently a labelling issue with macOS devices. Apple is currently working to resolve this issue. The time on your device should still be correct, however, applications that rely on local device time (like Microsoft Teams and Outlook for Mac) may display incorrect times.
fOR PERSONAL-OWNED DEVICES
For Windows:
- Enter "Windows Update" on your Search Bar to see if you have any pending Windows updates, including 2026-10 Windows Update (KB5127648). Select Restart now to install those updates.
For Macs:
- A notification should automatically appear to apply a new time zone definition. Restart your devices to install it.
If you have not gotten this notification, your time settings may not be set to automatic. From System Settings > General > Date & Time, ensure that Set time zone automatically using your current location is enabled. Then, restart your Mac. Any time zone updates will silently take place.
Note: If your time zone is showing Pacific Daylight Time despite your device's clock being accurate, this is currently a labelling issue with macOS devices. Apple is currently working to resolve this issue. The time on your device should still be correct, however, applications that rely on local device time (like Microsoft Teams and Outlook for Mac) may display incorrect times.
For mobile:
- All modern mobile devices should receive a prompt to install new time zone updates. Restart your device to install those updates.
- Tablets should maintain Wi-Fi connections. Devices should receive prompt to install new time zone updates. Restart your device to install those updates.
For browsers:
- Update your Google Chrome (Version 155 or higher)
- Update your Mozilla Firefox (Version 158 or higher)
3. Take additional measures to safeguard from unintended time discrepancies.
If you are facilitating a meeting that requires a high level of certainty (such as an exam), consider adding the intended B.C. meeting time in its subject line or description field. This can safeguard against unintended meeting time discrepancies.
4. Switch to the new time zone.
Starting November 1, all your devices should be using the new time zone, (UTC-7:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia). For step-by-step instructions for finding and setting your time zone, see How to change your Time Zone settings - For Windows and Mac. If you frequently use Outlook calendar, you will also need to update your Outlook's time zone too.
WHY THIS MATTERS
While many systems are expected to update automatically, some applications and devices may require additional updates or adjustments as vendors implement this new time zone into their systems.
The following is a list of applications that are affected by time zone adjustment:
| Application |
Affected |
Recommendation |
| Outlook |
Yes |
Please see Preparing for Pacific Time - Outlook Known Issues for details.
Note: On or after November 1, calendar meetings & events will need to swap to the new time zone to ensure timing accuracy for attendees. Please visit How to correct your Outlook calendar meetings & events to Pacific Time for step-by-step instructions on using a Microsoft Tool to correct your meetings.
Note: Before adjusting any meeting times, ensure that your Outlook time zone is correctly set to (UTC-7:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) under Settings > Calendar > View. Otherwise, you could possibly be over-correcting your meetings.
Note: Mac users shouldn't rely on Outlook for Mac (desktop app) for their calendar due to an macOS issue with time zone labels. At this time, please use Outlook on the Web (outlook.office.com) for calendar activities.
Note: As of November 2, Microsoft is currently experiencing some throttling issues due to the high number of calendar changes. When adjusting your recurring meetings (or meeting series), it may disappear upon applying changes and re-appear after a few minutes.
|
| Microsoft Teams (Desktop) |
Partially |
No action needed for Windows users. Relies on time/clock from your device or your Microsoft 365 account.
Note: Mac users shouldn't rely on Teams for their calendar due to an macOS issue with time zone labels. At this time, please use Outlook on the Web (outlook.office.com) for calendar activities.
|
| Canvas |
Yes |
Please see Preparing for Pacific Time – Canvas Known Issues for details. |
| Mediasite (Lecture Recordings) |
No |
No action needed. |
| Zoom |
Yes |
All existing Zoom meetings scheduled on or after November 1 will need their time zone adjusted. For step-by-step instructions, see Updating Zoom Meeting Time Zone. |
| Salesforce |
Yes |
Time zone automatically updated. Schedulers are advised to reschedule and appointments for or beyond November 1 to the correct time. |
| Clockwork |
No |
No action needed. Relies on time/clock from your device or browser. |
| IntraHealth |
No |
No action needed. Relies on time/clock from your device or browser. |
| Momentus |
No |
No action needed. |
| MySchedule (VSB) |
No |
No action needed. Relies on time/clock from your device or browser. |
| Modern Campus |
No |
No action needed. Relies on time/clock from your device or browser. |
| eTRACS |
No |
No action needed. |
| StarRez |
No |
No action needed. |
| EventBrite |
No |
No action needed. |
| LiveWhale |
No |
No action needed. |
| SFU Snap |
No |
No action needed. |
After November 1
Despite extensive preparation, some systems may display incorrect times or require vendor updates after November 1. If you notice issues with calendars, applications, reports or other university systems, please submit a ticket to IT ServiceHub as soon as possible.
RESOURCES
WHERE TO LEARN MORE
For more information about B.C.'s decision to adopt the new time zone, visit the B.C. government webpage on B.C.'s new time zone (Pacific time).