SQL Server - Convert date field to UTC

Question

I have recently updated my system to record date/times as UTC as previously they were storing as local time.

I now need to convert all the local stored date/times to

Answer 1

Here is a tested procedure that upgraded my database from local to utc time. The only input required to upgrade a database is to enter the number of minutes local time is offset from utc time into @Offset and if the timezone is subject to daylight savings adjustments by setting @ApplyDaylightSavings.

For example, US Central Time would enter @Offset=-360 and @ApplyDaylightSavings=1 for 6 hours and yes apply daylight savings adjustment.

Supporting Database Function

---

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[GetUtcDateTime](@LocalDateTime DATETIME, @Offset smallint, @ApplyDaylightSavings bit) 
RETURNS DATETIME AS BEGIN 

    --====================================================
    --Calculate the Offset Datetime
    --====================================================
    DECLARE @UtcDateTime AS DATETIME
    SET @UtcDateTime = DATEADD(MINUTE, @Offset * -1, @LocalDateTime)

    IF @ApplyDaylightSavings = 0 RETURN @UtcDateTime;

    --====================================================
    --Calculate the DST Offset for the UDT Datetime
    --====================================================
    DECLARE @Year as SMALLINT
    DECLARE @DSTStartDate AS DATETIME
    DECLARE @DSTEndDate AS DATETIME

    --Get Year
    SET @Year = YEAR(@LocalDateTime)

    --Get First Possible DST StartDay
    IF (@Year > 2006) SET @DSTStartDate = CAST(@Year AS CHAR(4)) + '-03-08 02:00:00'
    ELSE              SET @DSTStartDate = CAST(@Year AS CHAR(4)) + '-04-01 02:00:00'
    --Get DST StartDate 
    WHILE (DATENAME(dw, @DSTStartDate) <> 'sunday') SET @DSTStartDate = DATEADD(day, 1,@DSTStartDate)


    --Get First Possible DST EndDate
    IF (@Year > 2006) SET @DSTEndDate = CAST(@Year AS CHAR(4)) + '-11-01 02:00:00'
    ELSE              SET @DSTEndDate = CAST(@Year AS CHAR(4)) + '-10-25 02:00:00'

    --Get DST EndDate 
    WHILE (DATENAME(dw, @DSTEndDate) <> 'sunday') SET @DSTEndDate = DATEADD(day,1,@DSTEndDate)

    --Finally add the DST Offset if needed 
    RETURN CASE WHEN @LocalDateTime BETWEEN @DSTStartDate AND @DSTEndDate THEN 
        DATEADD(MINUTE, -60, @UtcDateTime) 
    ELSE 
        @UtcDateTime
    END

END
GO

Upgrade Script

---

1. Make a backup before running this script!
2. Set @Offset & @ApplyDaylightSavings
3. Only run once!

---

begin try
    begin transaction;

    declare @sql nvarchar(max), @Offset smallint, @ApplyDaylightSavings bit;

    set @Offset = -360;             --US Central Time, -300 for US Eastern Time, -480 for US West Coast
    set @ApplyDaylightSavings = 1;  --1 for most US time zones except Arizona which doesn't observer daylight savings, 0 for most time zones outside the US

    declare rs cursor for
    select 'update [' + a.TABLE_SCHEMA + '].[' + a.TABLE_NAME + '] set [' + a.COLUMN_NAME + '] = dbo.GetUtcDateTime([' + a.COLUMN_NAME + '], ' + cast(@Offset as nvarchar) + ', ' + cast(@ApplyDaylightSavings as nvarchar) + ') ;'
    from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS a
        inner join INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES b on a.TABLE_SCHEMA = b.TABLE_SCHEMA and a.TABLE_NAME = b.TABLE_NAME
    where a.DATA_TYPE = 'datetime' and b.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' ;

    open rs;
    fetch next from rs into @sql;
    while @@FETCH_STATUS = 0 begin
        exec sp_executesql @sql;
        print @sql;
        fetch next from rs into @sql;
    end
    close rs;
    deallocate rs;

    commit transaction;
end try
begin catch
    close rs;
    deallocate rs;

    declare @ErrorMessage nvarchar(max), @ErrorSeverity int, @ErrorState int;
    select @ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE() + ' Line ' + cast(ERROR_LINE() as nvarchar(5)), @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY(), @ErrorState = ERROR_STATE();
    rollback transaction;
    raiserror (@ErrorMessage, @ErrorSeverity, @ErrorState);
end catch