Managing Calendar Time Zone Settings
Overview
The Horizon calendar synchronization system utilizes Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when creating calendar events to synchronize your officiating game schedule to your personal calendar. This is also known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Zulu Time (Z). The conversion to your local timezone is performed based on the timezone settings selected by your local officiating organization and also the settings in your external calendar program.
Unfortunately, we do not control timezone conversions directly on our end. As such, you will need to manage the timezone settings in your external calendar program in order to ensure correct conversions.
Managing Timezone Settings
Your external calendar program likely contains its own specific guidance on how to manage time zones. Refer to your external calendar program's documentation for detailed instructions.
As an example, this support article from Google calendar will outline how to control different time zones within Google Calendar.
You may also need to synchronize events to a separate calendar if your officiating organization is in a different time zone than your regular personal calendar.
Additional Calendar URL Parameters
Some calendar programs may struggle to interpret timezone information from standardized formats. If you're having trouble with timezone interpretations on your preferred external calendar program, there are two additional URL parameters you can append to the end of the HorizonWebRef.com software's iCal synchronize URL to try to force improved interpretation out of your external calendar. These parameters should only be used if you're encountering issues. Be sure to append the parameter, starting with the ampersand character (&), to the end of the URL without any spaces.
&zoneID=1
Adding this URL parameter to the end of the iCal synchronization URL provided by the Horizon software system will forcefully add additional timezone information specified by your officiating organization to the data returned by the synchronization URL. This can help calendars that need additional explicit timezone information to properly decode timezones.
&noZone=1
Adding this URL parameter to the end of the iCal synchronization URL provided by the Horizon software system will forcefully remove all timezone information specified by your officiating organization from the data returned by the synchronization URL. This can help calendars that might not know how to interpret timezones.
&zone=1
Adding this URL parameter to the end of the iCal synchronization URL provided by the Horizon software system will forcefully add timezone offset information specified by your officiating organization to the data returned by the synchronization URL. This parameter is rarely needed as offset information is considered non-standard in iCal formats, but some calendar programs may be able to interpret offset information.
Conclusion
By following the guidance outlined in your external calendar program's documentation or adding additional URL parameters, you can ensure that timezone conversions are accurate when you synchronize events from the Horizon software system.