Overlooking the Northwest Territories

Information Management and Technology Policy Manual

Date and Time Format Standard

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1 . Statement

The Government of the Northwest Territories develops computer applications supporting internal government functions and applications that link to external information sources. These computer applications must be capable of passing data between them.  Operating systems must be configured to support time and date comparisons and transaction logging. To facilitate time and date data use, the Canadian standards identified in CAN/CSA-Z234.4-89 and CAN/CSA-Z234.5-89 are the GNWT standards.

2 . Standard

The GNWT date standard is YYYY-MM-DD format. Computer application  and operating system software data fields will store date information in a form easily translatable to this format. Print and screen outputs will display dates in this format.

The GNWT time standard is hh:mm:ss format. Computer application  and operating system software data fields will store time information in a form easily translatable to this format. Print and screen outputs will display time in this format.

3 . Implementation

All new computer applications are to be developed and implemented using the GNWT standard date and time formats.

The data and time formats in existing computer applications should be modified to the GNWT standard as practical.