ORACLE APPS: How to implementing user preferred time zone

How to implementing user preferred time zone?

1. Technical Implementation

This section provides the technical considerations for implementing user preferred time zone.

1.1 Technology stack requirements

For time zone support to be activated, the system administrator must ensure that each of the following is true:

• Oracle E-Business Suite version 11i10 or higher

• Oracle RDBMS 9i or higher

• The database must be configured to use the time zone file 'timezlrg.dat' rather than the 'timezone.dat' file

• The database must be started in the standard corporate time zone

• Profile 'Server Timezone' (SERVER_TIMEZONE_ID) must be set at the Site level, and must be set to the same standard corporate time zone as the database

• Profile 'Client Timezone' (CLIENT_TIMEZONE_ID) must be set at the user level

• Profile 'Enable Timezone Conversions' (ENABLE_TIMEZONE_CONVERSIONS) must be set to 'Yes' ('Y') at the Site level.

• Profile 'Concurrent: Multiple Time Zones' (CONC_MULTI_TZ) should be set to 'No' (N) at the Site level

• Environment variable FORMS60_APPSLIBS must be set in the Forms tier (this has always been a requirement for 11i)

• Forms must be launched through the Personal Home Page or Navigate portlet

These requirements are discussed in more detail below.

1.1.1 Database: Oracle 9i and Time Zone File 'timezlrg.dat'

The 9i database is required because it has built-in time zone support, including time zone definitions and rules for daylight savings time. The E-Business Suite makes use of this capability for certain server-side conversions. Note that new datatypes, such as TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE, are not currently used but may be in the future.

The database must be started using file 'timezlrg.dat', which contains the time zone definitions that are used within the E-Business Suite.

To set this in a UNIX environment, issue the command

setenv ORA_TZFILE $ORACLE_HOME/oracore/zoneinfo/timezlrg.dat

before starting the database.

The database must also be started in the standard corporate time zone.

To set this in a Unix environment, issue the command

setenv TZ <Timezone Code> (For example ‘America/Los_Angeles’)

You can verify your setup by running the following in Sqlplus:

select to_char(SYSDATE, ‘DD-MON-RRRR HH24:MI:SS’)

from dual

to ensure the date with time returned are correct for the corporate time zone.

1.1.2 Applications Profiles

The profile option Server Timezone (SERVER_TIMEZONE_ID) should be set at the site level to the standard corporate time zone (the time zone in which the server has been set to run). This profile option should not be changed once set, as existing data will not be updated.

Users may specify their preferred time zone by setting the profile called Client Timezone (CLIENT_TIMEZONE_ID) at the user level. This profile appears on the self-service Preferences screen, as well as in the Forms-based Profiles screen. This time zone preference may be changed as often as needed. As with most profiles, you will need to login to the system again for the change to take effect.

The profile option Enable Timezone Conversions (ENABLE_TIMEZONE_CONVERSIONS) is seeded with a default value of No at the site level. This will cause the applications to continue showing all dates in the corporate time zone. Setting this value to Yes will enable the automatic conversion of all date with time fields to the user preferred time zone. Exercise caution when changing this value; unless users are notified, users may assume that they are still operating in the corporate time rather than local time or visa versa, and could enter or interpret data erroneously.

Please note the behavior of existing profile Concurrent: Multiple Time Zones (CONC_MULTI_TZ). This was an older feature to handle batch processing. Setting this profile to Yes alters the default value that appears for the Scheduled Start Date in the Submit Requests screen to SYSDATE-1.

With the new user preferred time zone feature enabled, this profile is no longer needed and should typically have a value of No (N).

1.1.3 Environment variable FORMS60_APPSLIBS

This environment variable controls multiple aspects of Oracle Forms in the E-Business Suite environment and must be left unchanged from the installed setting.

1.1.4 Launching of Forms

The time zone feature is only available in the Oracle Forms based user interfaces within the E-Business Suite when the user logs in through the Personal Home Page or the Navigate portlet. Direct launching of Forms, for example by typing a URL into the browser address line, is supported only for bootstrap purposes, and will not enable the time zone feature or other features such as language settings and date formats.

Ref : CU2_TimeZone_Guide.pdf