The locale and timezone of the OpenSpecimen server impact how OpenSpecimen works. Especially in case of date formats and display.

Date format

OpenSpecimen displays the date format based on the server's locale setting. E.g., If the server is installed in the US time zone, the date format would be MM/DD/YYYY, whereas if the server is installed in China timezone, the date format would be YYYY/MM/DD. This is typically present in the machine, and you do not have to do any extra steps.

It is also possible to change the timezone for the server through the OpenSpecimen's Settings tab. For that, go to Home-> Settings-> Search for ‘Locale’ -> Enter a new value for the ‘Locale’ and update. For abbreviations for other locales, refer to - https://www.science.co.il/language/Locale-codes.php

Timezone

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Handling

This is important in multi-site studies where users are across multiple timezones.

The date and time for data entry are displayed based on the timezone of the user. E.g., a multi-site study is going in Delhi, India, and Chicago, USA. When the user from Delhi does data entry at 4.40 pm on 16 Nov 2018, the user from the Chicago site will see it as 5.10 am, 16 Nov 2018. 

The data in the database is stored in UTC formatthe VM's timezone.

How to change OpenSpecimen's default timezone?

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     3. Select the timezone in the 'Time Zone' field and update the user details.

Note: The user edit access is limited to some users. It is dependant on the role of the user. For more details about the access, refer to the Roles and Privileges page.