Standard Timestamp Format

Timestamps used in database import scripts and files are always rendered in ISO 8601 format. This creates timestamps in the form, 2010-10-21T17:01:22Z for a date with time and 2010-10-21 for just a date.

There are several benefits to this format:

• MS Excel won't mangle it;
• It sorts correctly;
• The fields are unambiguous;
• It is easy to parse with Python or R.

All timestamps are converted into UTC from the original local time.