How eCapture Handles Dates and Time Zones

The date handling function preserves the date with respect to daylight saving time. eCapture discovers the actual time, whether standard or daylight saving time, when the file was originally created. This date and time are stored as if the file is being viewed on the day, time, and machine of creation. This works correctly regardless of the setting on the machine’s local Windows clock, provided the option to enable this process is selected in eCapture.

It is important to note that there is a difference between Windows and IPRO. Windows always shows all dates with the same exact daylight setting based on when you are viewing the files. Windows is completely based on the exact moment you are viewing the files, not when they were created. IPRO preserves the daylight saving time as if you were viewing the files in Windows on the same day they were created.

Windows displays time relative to your current time, whereas IPRO preserves the original date/time as if you were viewing the files on the date they were created or saved. The IPRO method is more accurate with regard to the actual incident.

  • Dates which are collected during Discovery are converted to UTC.

  • All other dates in processing and data extract should reflect the time zone that you select.

    • The conversion to UTC makes de-duplication as accurate as possible because it removes any difference in time due to local computer settings.
    • The conversion to UTC also makes filtering accurate to the time zone selected on the interface.
  • E-mail dates in the Items Table are stored in a field named eMailDate.

    • eMailDate is to be stored in UTC format.

    • Hashing of e-mail uses the eMailDate instead of creation date. Filtering of e-mail and attachments uses eMailDate instead of creation date. Filtering of loose files uses last modified date.

  • eMailDate consists of the following fields:

    • Outlook: Sent Date

    • Lotus Notes: Posted Date

    • Outlook Express: MBOX, and all RFC822 messages: Date (which is really sent date)

    • GroupWise: Delivered Date

  • Creation and last modified date are stored in the same fields, but in a UTC format. Date filtering uses the time zone setting from the job to convert the date for filter comparison. In this scenario, the UTC date/time is converted to whichever time zone you selected, and then this date is surveyed for inclusion or exclusion in the document population.

 

Related Topics

Introduction to eCapture QC