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.
Your officiating organization's administrators can control the timezone specified for their organization on the System Settings page of the software.
Unfortunately, we do not control the conversion process for timezones directly on our end. If the events synchronizing to your calendar are mismatched to your actual timezone, you will need to manage the timezone settings in your external calendar program in order to ensure correct conversions occur based on your organization's settings.
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 have difficulty interpreting timezone information from standardized formats. If you're experiencing timezone issues with your external calendar program, you can try appending one of the following URL parameters to the end of your iCal synchronization URL from HorizonWebRef.com to improve interpretation. Only one parameter should be used at a time. Make sure to start the parameter with an ampersand character (&) and append it to the URL without any spaces.
&tzMode
Adding this parameter to the synchronization URL will allow you to switch the mode used for time zones. Available options are convert, org, or float.
convert (default): Game times will be converted from the organization's time and displayed in the feed as UTC time. Your local calendar software will convert the game time back to your local timezone.
float: Game times will be displayed as floating local wall clock time, and no timezone parameters will be included.
org: Game times will be displayed as local organization time with the organization's selected timezone included and enforced. You local calendar program may still convert this to your local time zone, depending on your local calendar program's settings.
Example:https://www.horizonwebref.com/syncICS?o=FEED_ID&enc=YOUR_KEY&tzMode=float
&tz
Adding this parameter to the synchronization URL will allow you to override the organization's time zone and replace it with your own specified time zone in IANA format. This parameter only works when tzMode is set to convert or org, and it is ignored when tzMode is set to float.
Example:https://www.horizonwebref.com/syncICS?o=FEED_ID&enc=YOUR_KEY&tzMode=org&tz=America/Chicago
LEGACY PARAMETERS
The parameters below are older legacy parameters that have been deprecated, but are still operational for backwards compatibility. They should not be used for new implementations:
&zoneID=1
This is an older legacy parameter. It is not recommended for further use. 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 decode timezones properly.
&noZone=1
This is an older legacy parameter. It is not recommended for further use. 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 time zones.
&offset=1
This is an older legacy parameter. It is not recommended for further use. 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.