SciOp

EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY

La Silla Observatory

SCIENCE OPERATION DEPARTMENT


SciOp




Re-Engineering Project:

SciOp Plan



Prepared Olivier Hainaut 2002-06-09



Table of Content

  • 1.- INTRODUCTION
  • 2.- CLIENTS, SERVICES & PROCESSES
    • 2.1- SERVICES PROVIDED
    • 2.2- CLIENTS
    • 2.3- PROCESSES
  • 3- TECHNICAL STRUCTURE
    • 3.1- INTRODUCTION
    • 3.2- INSTRUMENT CORE
      • 3.2.1- INSTRUMENT SCIENTIST
      • 3.2.2- INSTRUMENT TIO
      • 3.3.3- TELESCOPE SCIENTIST/TIO
    • 3.3- INSTRUMENT FORCE
  • 4- MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
    • 4.1- INTRODUCTION and PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION
    • 4.2- ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIGRAM
      • 4.2.1 Introduction
      • 4.2.2 Head of SciOp
        • 4.2.2.1 Deputies
        • 4.2.2.2 Safety officer
      • 4.2.3 Operation Engineers
      • 4.2.4- Astronomy Section
      • 4.2.5- Operation Section
      • 4.2.6- MET Operation
  • 5- BUDGET STRUCTURE
    • 5.1- CURRENT SITUATION
    • 5.2- BUDGET STRUCTURE
  • 6- SCIOP STAFFING PLAN
    • 6.1- INTRODUCTION
    • 6.2- OPERATION ENGINEERS
    • 6.3- ELECTRONICS
    • 6.4- ASTRONOMERS STAFFING PLAN
    • 6.5- TELESCOPE & INSTRUMENT OPERATORS
      • 6.5.1- Steady State
      • 6.5.2- Transition period
    • 6.6- RE-ENGINEERING POSITIONS
      • 6.6.1- Introduction
      • 6.6.2- Documentation and web specialist
      • 6.6.3- Data Handling Operator
  • 7- OPERATION PLAN
    • 7.1- NIGHT OPERATION
    • 7.2- DAY OPERATION
      • 7.2.1- TELESCOPE COORDINATOR
      • 7.2.2- SUPPORT ASTRONOMERS
      • 7.2.3- SHIFT LEADER
      • 7.2.4- BACKGROUND TIO
      • 7.2.5- OPERATION ENGINEERS
    • 7.3.  DAILY OPERATION SCHEDULE
    • 7.4- SUMMARY TABLE
    • 7.5- EMAIL
      • 7.5.1- EMAIL LISTS AND ALIASES
      • 7.5.2- EMAIL ACCOUNTS
      • 7.5.3- EMAIL POLICY

1.- INTRODUCTION

During the first half of 2002, a re-engineering effort took place at La Silla, aiming at the creation of the La Silla Science Operation Department, which groups the three formerly existing Telescope Teams, i.e. NTT,  360/CAT  and Medium-size Telescopes.

During meetings attended by many members of the telescope teams, most aspects of the science operation were discussed. These discussions led to the production of various re-engineering documents that were circulated among the staff for review, resulting in new versions that were finally released. The collection of these documents constitute the SciOp Plan. As the structure of these documents reflect closely the re-engineering meeting structure, this document is provided as a "wrapper" in order to provide an overview of the SciOp Plan. It is constituted by "cut-and-pasted" sections of the various re-engineering documents. Obviously, in case of discrepancy, the original documents are over-riding this one. Also, this document reflects the re-engineering effort as of Jul.1, 2002. It is expected that the individual documents will eventually be updated.

2.- CLIENTS, SERVICES & PROCESSES

Section 2. from SciOp Structure and General Operation Plan, LSO-PLA-ESO-9000-1

2.1- SERVICES PROVIDED

SciOp provides astronomical data to its clients, as well as the information needed by the clients

p>SciOp does not provide the scientific idea for which the data are needed, and does not interpret astrophysically the data, although the astronomers belonging to SciOp do it for their own projects, and are therefore experts whose experience is of great value when assisting the clients.

The data produced by SciOp (including those produced by Visiting Astronomers) must be of the best achievable technical quality (e.g. instrument always in focus), and must be calibrated -or, more specifically calibratable, i.e. they must be accompanied by a set of auxiliary data that allows the astronomer to fully remove the instrumental signature of the instrument (flat field, standard stars, etc.). These auxiliary data are defined in the calibration plan of each instrument.

In more details, the scope of SciOp is:

  • Preventive maintenance of instruments, telescope and auxiliary equipment
  • Calibration Plan
  • Telescope and Instruments Statistical Process Control (Performance)
  • Help desk for VAs (for pre- and post- observing run questions).
  • Assistance to P1PP/P2PP and during observations.
  • Environment Monitoring (Weather safety)
  • Reporting
  • Telescopes & Instruments Configuration control (Optic, Mechanic, Software, Electronic, infrastructure...)
  • Provide full year coverage for all the above.

    • 2.2- CLIENTS

    The "clients" of SciOp are the members of the international astronomical community at large, and in priority the astronomers of the ESO member states.

    More specifically, these includes:

    2.3- PROCESSES

    From an "ISO-9001" point of view, the processes that belong to SciOp are the following:

    3- TECHNICAL STRUCTURE

    From Section 3, SciOp Structure and General Operation Plan, LSO-PLA-ESO-9000-1

    3.1- INTRODUCTION

    The SciOp Department will be constituted of Astronomers, Telescope and Instrument Operators (TIOs) and Operation Engineers. The main differences with the current Team structure are the following:

    The main difference between La Silla SciOp and Paranal SciOp is that, in La Silla, SciOp "owns" the telescopes and instruments, on which the support teams and departments will perform work for us. In Paranal, the Engineering Dptm owns the telescope and instruments, and lend them to SciOp for the night. The main advantage of the La Silla scheme is that SciOp owns the complete processes (c.f. previous section). The expertize to perform first level of troubleshooting and basic preventive maintenance should be maintained within SciOp. In that framework, each task will either be performed internally (according to internal SciOp procedure), or externally (e.g. 3.6m top ring change will be handled by LED). In case it is performed by an external provider, SciOp will accept (or not) the job done. The main disadvantage of this scheme is that most of the maintenance work will be "outsourced" to LED; to work properly, it will require a very good coordination. This makes the role of the Telescope Coordinator crutial.

    3.2- INSTRUMENT CORE

    3.2.1- INSTRUMENT SCIENTIST

    Each instrument (e.g. EMMI, WFI...) will have an INSTRUMENT SCIENTIST (astronomer) and an INSTRUMENT TIO. Together, the Instrument Scientist and Instrument TIO form the INSTRUMENT CORE that concentrates all the operation-related expertise on the instrument: if there is some info or knowledge related to the operation of an instrument, the Core should have it. Obviously, some of the specialized experience will stay with the corresponding expert (e.g. optical layout, cryogenics, electronics...).

    The role of the instrument scientist will be very similar to that of the current instrument scientist, i.e. more specifically

    It is  important to note that the SciOp Operation Engineers will be deeply involved in most of these points. Also note that it is not expected that the instrument scientist will perform all the support on his instrument.

    3.2.2- INSTRUMENT TIO

    The instrument scientist will be assisted by a TIO, who will be have expert knowledge of that instrument, both for day and night operation. The role of the Instrument TIO can be summarized as following:

    It is important to note that the Instrument TIO does not have to work only on that instrument. The "Instrument TIO" job is more a background task that he can perform during his "background turno" (former Mid-Day/Mid-Night, cf below), during the night (long exposures), during the day (phone calls), etc... While it is desirable that he keeps accumulating experience on the instrument (e.g. operating it at night, performing set-up at day, etc), it is also important that he spends some "background" time on the instrument, e.g. when performing some tests while it is in the lab. In summary, the actions related to the "Instrument TIO" job have a time-scale of weeks/months (following up problems, testing new modes) and not day-by-day.

    Also, only one TIO is "Instrument TIO" for a given instrument, not 2, in order not to dilute responsibility. Of course, the Instrument TIO can appoint one or various delegates, for instance in his contra-turno, or to tackle with a specific issue, but he will remain the one "officially" in charge.

    To reach the level of full "Instrument TIO", it is likely that some additional training will be required by the operation engineer, electronics, optics, and/or whoever needed.

    From the administrative point of view, the "Instrument TIO" title will appear in the Goals and Objective. The evaluation criteria will be (these are examples, not an exhaustive list): efficiency in following up problem reports (not in solving them, which is the task of the person/deptm to whom the problem is assigned), efficiency in performing the calibration plan, in coaching other TIOs, etc. For the first year, there will of course be some real-time adjustments to the G&O: the idea is definitely not to sack anybody on this new responsibility, but to get the best out of the system, and to get the system as good as possible.

    3.3.3- TELESCOPE SCIENTIST/TIO

    In a similar way, each telescope (NTT, 3.6, 2.2) will have a Telescope Scientist and Telescope TIO, forming a Telescope Core. The Telescope Core has the same role for the telescope and related systems as the Instrument Core for the instruments. For instance, pointing model, mirror model, active optics, followup of action points and problems related to domes, hydraulics, etc... are under the Telescope Scientist/TIO Core' responsibility.

    3.3- INSTRUMENT FORCE

    The various Instrument Nuclei are combined into "INSTRUMENT FORCES"; the various Instrument Forces that come into mind are:

    These forces should exchange expertise at all levels: observation procedures, data reduction, hints and tips, etc. Also, the Instrument Scientist of one of the instrument will almost automatically be able to give basic support on the others of the same instrument force. This should foster communication between the current teams. One Core can belong to several Forces. Other forces could be considered, eg 2p2 (=2p2 + WFI + FEROS), NTT (= NTT+EMMI+SUSI+SOFI), 3p6 (=3p6+ EFOSC+ TIMMI + CES/HARPS).

    In addition to the Instrument Scientists of the instruments constituting it, the Force will also include additional scientists, i.e. "new" astronomers who are not yet Instrument Scientists, and "senior" scientists (this includes Fellows who completed their first year) who fully master all the instruments from one Force and are expanding to other Forces. In that framework, the support of a given instrument will be provided by the astronomers of its Force, not only by the Instrument Scientists. The average nr of nights during which each instrument is scheduled must be taken into account when constituting the forces and, to a certain extend, when hiring replacement for leaving scientists.

    At this point, the 5 above-mentioned forces should meet briefly, but fairly formally (e.g. every 2 months), with the following agenda:

    Each of these meeting should be summarize briefly in a "monthly instrument force report", which will 1/ diffuse the info to SciOp as a whole, 2/ document and archive the problems, achievement, hints and tips..., 3/ provide input for the bimonthly SciOp report that the head of SciOp has to produce for the upper management (i.e. help me!).

    In the future, the rhythm and scope of these meetings will be adjusted depending of the usefulness of the first ones.

    It must be noted that the Instrument Core and Instrument Force structure is a technical structure, which obviously overlaps with the administrative structure (described in [2]) since the same people are involved. It is not a problem, since these structures have well defined scopes that are not overlaping. This is technically a "matrix" organization.

    SciOp Technical Structure
    		 LS-Imaging IFo
    		 SuSI2 Core
    WFI Core
    LS-Spectro IFo
    		 EMMI Core
    EFOSC-2 Core
    LS-HighRes IFo
    		 CES Core
    HARPS Core
    FEROS Core
    LS-InfraRed IFo
    		 TIMMI-2 Core
    ADONIS Core
    SofI Core
    LS-Telescopes TFo
    		 NTT Core
    3.6m Core
    2.2m Core
    DIMM Core


    4- MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

    From SciOp Management and Administrative Structures, LSO-PLA-ESO-90000-5/1.0

    4.1- INTRODUCTION and PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION

    The current teams have a flat structure under the Team Leader. It is not possible to keep a completely flat structure for the SciOp department. Indeed, as it will be composed of 44 people in Jul.2002 (24 people in "steady state" operation beyond 2004), it constitutes too large a group to be managed by one person. The SciOp Department has to be divided in sub-departments, or Sections of about 10 people each. These Sections are lead by a "Section Leader".

    In the discussion that lead to this document, two main structures were considered.

    The outcome of the discussion was that Model 1 will be implemented.

    4.2- ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIGRAM

    Science Operation

    Head of SciOp









    Astronomers' Section
    TIOs' Section

    Operation Engineers
    MET
    (till 2002-09-30)

    		Astronomer Section Leader
    Turno A

    Turno B


    		OpEng
    (also deputy to HoSciOp)
    		 OpEng
    (also deputy to HoSciOp)
    		 MET Section Leader

    		Astronomers
    		 TIO-A Section Leader
    		 TIO-B Section Leader
    		Documentation/Web Specialist
    		 Data Handling Operator
    		 1.52 ESO + 1.54 Dk Operation

    		TIOs



    		WFI Operation






















    4.2.1 Introduction

    This section describes the administrative structure of SciOp, taking into account the discussions outlined in the previous paragraph, and the actual staff as described in the SciOp Staffing Plan [3].

    4.2.2 Head of SciOp

    The job description of the Head of SciOp (HoSciOp) is given in "Team Leader and Head of Deptm: Job Descriptions" [2].

    4.2.2.1 Deputies

    HoSciOp will be assisted by two Deputies. These deputies will be the two Operation Engineers. As they work in contra-turno, HoSciOp and his deputies will ensure a complete time coverage.

    The responsibilities delegated to the Deputies include:

    4.2.2.2 Safety officer

    SciOp will have a safety officer, who reports directly to the HoSciOp, and whose duties include the monitoring of safety, prevention of hazards and dangerous situation, and improvement of safety throughout all SciOp activities. He shall also be the main interface with the La Silla Safety officer, but does not report to him.

    4.2.3 Operation Engineers

    They report directly to HoSciOp. Their administrative duties are

    4.2.4- Astronomy Section

    The Astronomy Section is composed by all the La Silla astronomers affiliated to the SciOp department (i.e. all LSO astronomers, except La Silla Director, Head of SciOp and SEST/APEX astronomers), including Staff, OpAs, Fellows.

    This Section is leaded by the Astronomy Section Leader, who is appointed by Head of SciOp of a period of 1yr, renewable. The duties of the Astronomy Section Leader include:

    It must be noted that these are only administrative duties: this document deals with administrative structure. Technical and scientific issues are dealt with in the framework of the Instrument Forces [1]. The Astronomy Section Leader can be head of one of the Instrument Forces, but this is not linked to his appointment as Decurion.

    4.2.5- Operation Section

    The Operation Section is composed by all the La Silla TIOs affiliated to SciOp (i.e. all TIOs of La Silla except those affiliated to SEST/APEX and non-SciOp Telescope, if any).

    This section is split in two sub-sections according to the turnos, in order to form two more or less equally sized groups. Each of the groups is lead by a senior TIO, appointed by HoSciOp for a period of 1yr, renewable. The duties of both TIO Section Leaders include:

    4.2.6- MET Operation

    From Jul.1, 2002 (start of SciOp) until Sep.30, 2002 (end of 2x1.5m telescope operations), the current MET will remain a separate entity within SciOp. The current staff, structure and operation of MET will be preserved (except the Electronics, who will be on the LED staff as of Jul.1) as one of the SciOp Sections. During this transition period, the MET Leader will report directly to HoSciOp.

    However, in oder to start the implementation of SciOp within MET,

    5- BUDGET STRUCTURE

    From SciOp Management and Administrative Structures, LSO-PLA-ESO-90000-5/1.0

    5.1- CURRENT SITUATION

    In 2002, the Telescope Teams used the following budget Work Packaged:

    5.2- BUDGET STRUCTURE

    The proposed Work Packages are the following. That structure was decided in order to follow closely the technical struture of SciOp.

    6- SCIOP STAFFING PLAN

    From SciOp Staffing Plan, LSO-PLA-ESO-9000-6/1.0

    6.1- INTRODUCTION

    The ESO Long Range Plan is the main constraint on the SciOp Staffing Plan. It dictates the following:
    The LRP FTEs from the ESO budget are listed in Table 1, exactly as in the 2002 budget (i.e. some names are already obsolete).

    The second constraint on the SciOp Staffing Plan is the optimization of available human resources, putting the emphasis on using the currently available resources to prepare the steady-state period.

    Finally, Paranal will recruit 2 TIOs and 1 Astro for VST operation. SciOp will aim at training the TIOs to a level superior to the VLT requirements, i.e. impeccable night operation (VLT requirement), impeccable day operation, and excellent "background" skill, in such a way that SciOp TIOs would be by far superior to any external candidate.

    Table 1: LRP according to the Budget

    WP               PerID   Personnel Name  GRP-DIV Post ID Post    2002    2003    2004    2005    2006

    Astronomers   (50/50%)                                                                         
    WP633 3p6op      MKU     Kuerster, M.    CFT-LSO CSO402  Astro   0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP633 3p6op      STM     Sterzik, M.     CFT-LSO CSO401  Astro   0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP634 METop      MER     Mendez, R.      MET-LSO CSO502  Astro   0       0       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      MER     Mendez, R.      MET-LSO CSO502  Astro   0.5     0.5     0       0       0
    WP642 NTTMaint   OHA     Hainaut, O.     LNT-LSO CSO301  Astro   0.1     0.1     0.1     0.1     0.1
    WP643 NTTop      LVA     Vanzi, L.       LNT-LSO CSO302  Astro   0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP643 NTTop      OHA     Hainaut, O.     LNT-LSO CSO301  Astro   0.4     0.4     0.4     0.4     0.4
    WP644 METMaint   MER     Mendez, R.      MET-LSO CSO502  Astro   0       0       0       0       0
    WP694 NTTupgr    oha     Hainaut, O.     LNT-LSO CSO301  Astro   0       0       0       0       0
    Total FTE Astro:                                                 2.5     2.5     2       2       2
    Total People Astro:     (Conversion: 0.5FTE/Person)              5       5       4       4       4

    Fellows   (50/50%)                                                                    
    WP633 3p6op      BRK     Brooks, K.      SCV-ODG FDG106  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP633 3p6op      RAT     Athreya, R.     SCV-ODG FDG101  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP634 METop      ISA     Saviane, I.     SCV-ODG FDG117  Fellow  0.5     0       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      HJO     Jones, H.       SCV-ODG FDG105  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      LGE     Germany, L.     SCV-ODG FDG110  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0       0       0
    WP643 NTTop      MBI     Billeres, M.    SCV-ODG FDG103  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    WP643 NTTop      MBI     NN to be hired  SCV-ODG FDG10x  Fellow  0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5     0.5
    Total FTE Fellows:                                               3.5     3       2       2       2
    Total People Fellows:   (Conversion: 0.5FTE/Person)              7       6       4       4       4

    OpAs  (80%/20%)                                                                         
    WP633 3p6op      NAG     LoCurto G.      CFT-LSO PSO003  Astro   0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8
    WP634 METop      JPR     Pritchard, J.   MET-LSO PSO006  OpA     0.8     0       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      JSE     Selman, F.      MET-LSO PSO004  OpA     0.8     0.8     0       0       0
    WP643 NTTop      PLE     Leisy, P.       CFT-LSO PSO005  OpA     0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8
    Total FTE OpAs:                                                  3.2     2.4     1.6     1.6     1.6
    Total People OpAs:      (Conversion: 0.8FTE/Person)             4       3       2       2       2
                                                                                   
    TIOs (100%)                                                                          
    WP633 3p6op      EAR     Araya, E.       CFT-LSO LSO404  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP633 3p6op      EWE     Wenderoth, E.   CFT-LSO LSO414  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP633 3p6op      GOA     Gonzalez, A.    CFT-LSO LSO405  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP633 3p6op      GRO     Roman, G.       CFT-LSO LSO413  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP633 3p6op      MAE     Matamoros, E.   CFT-LSO LSO407  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP633 3p6op      N.N.    Replacement     CFT-LSO LSO412  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP634 METop      ATO     Torrejon, A.    MET-LSO LSO508  TIO     1       0       0       0       0
    WP634 METop      RVE     Vega, R.        MET-LSO LSO513  TIO     1       0       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      FLA     Labraña, F.     MET-LSO LSO509  TIO     1       1       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      RCA     Castillo, R.    MET-LSO LSO507  TIO     1       1       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      COJ     Cortes, J.      LNT-LSO LSO511  TIO     1       1       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      FSA     Sanchez, F.     MET-LSO LSO510  TIO     1       1       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      MMR     Martinez, M.    LNT-LSO LSO512  TIO     1       1       0       0       0
    WP637 WFIop      JAR     Araya, J.       MET-LSO LSO506  TechEng 1       1       0       0       0
    WP643 NTTop      ASA     Sanchez, A.     LNT-LSO LSO314  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP643 NTTop      DCA     Castex, D       LNT-LSO LSO310  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP643 NTTop      JMI     Miranda, J.     LNT-LSO LSO308  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP643 NTTop      KAU     Aubel, K.       LNT-LSO LSO309  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP643 NTTop      MAP     Pizarro, M.     LNT-LSO LSO313  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    WP643 NTTop      MOC     Castillo, M.    LNT-LSO LSO312  TIO     1       1       1       1       1
    Total TIOs:                                                     20      18      12      12      12

    Operation Engineers (100%)
    WP633 3p6op      EBA     Barrios, E.     CFT-LSO LSO406  OpEng   1       1       1       1       1
    WP642 NTTMaint   PLS     Le Saux, P.     LNT-LSO CSO303  OpEng   0.2     0.2     0.2     0.2     0.2
    WP643 NTTop      PLS     Le Saux, P.     LNT-LSO CSO303  OpEng.  0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8     0.8
    Total OpEngineers:                                               2       2       2       2       2

    6.2- OPERATION ENGINEERS

    Two Operation Engineers are needed; their duties are described in the SciOp General Operation Plan [2].

    6.3- ELECTRONICS

    The 6 Electronics will not work on the SciOps staff, but will be integrated into other teams and departments. This section is therefore only for information, and is not formally part of the SciOp staffing plan. The current agreement with LED is that it will include a "Telescope Support" sub-department, lead by R.Parra, and including J.Vilaza on a long term (> 1yr) bases, and other Electronics technician to be trained and certified by the current Teams' Electronics. This training and certification process is critical in the concept of the ISO-9001 documentation and training, in order to ensure that their in-depth knowledge is not dispersed.  In that framework, J.Santana will remain full time in LED/Telescope Support till October, and J.Fluxa ~50% in LED/Telesc.Support until October (the other ~50% in APEX). R.Olivares will move to APEX project, but he shall complete his job on the FEROS project. H.Kastowsky will retire in 2002.

    6.4- ASTRONOMERS STAFFING PLAN

    The steady-state staffing level required to operate the 3 telescopes is 4 staff astronomers, 3 OpAs and 3 Fellows, implying the transfer of one of the Fellow FTEs to an OpA FTE  (i.e., instead of 4 Fellows and 2 OpAs as planned in the original La Silla 2000+ long range plan).

    This ensures that SciOp will operate with an average of 2.7 astronomers per night, including training, which is considered to be the minimum to provide support to the 3 remaining telescopes, provided that the schedule recommendations outlined in the Astronomy Operation Plan [3] can be implemented (in summary, an increase of the mean length of the "Visiting Astronomer" observing runs to >3n, a more strict control of the programs that are accepted in Service Mode for the NTT and 3.6m, and, as often as possible mount instruments of the same instrument force simultaneously on the different telescopes). If these recommendations cannot be implemented, the staffing level will have to increase, or the services provided decreased.

    For the transition period, the strategy is not to cut any contract and to reach the number of FTEs available by renewing only selected contracts. As of today, all the SciOp-to-be astronomers have fixed term contracts.

    The table below summarizes the current contract situation, as well as the staffing plan.
    The section "Actual Nr" counts the positions of each type, and "FTEs from LRP" is the LRP budget.

    Table 2: Astronomer staffing plan, transition period and beyond

    ASTRO LRP

     This plan is balanced (i.e. using the allocated number of FTEs) when considering complete years. For instance, in 2003, there is an excess of OpAs during the first half of the year, which is compensated by a deficit of Fellows during the 2d half.

    6.5- TELESCOPE & INSTRUMENT OPERATORS

    6.5.1- Steady State

    The Long Range Plan considers 12 TIOs for steady state SciOps. Considering that full coverage of a position corresponds to 2.4 FTE, this ensures 5 fully covered positions. Following the Operation Plan [2], these will be distributed among day, night and background operation. The actual distribution will depend on the daily operation needs, with 2 day TIOs, 2 night TIOs and 1 background TIO being the typical distribution.

    This implies that

    6.5.2- Transition period

    For the transition period:
    Therefore, a total of 17 positions until Sep.30, 2002, and 15 till Dec.31, 2003 (end of WFI operation). These positions are strictly for telescope/instrument operation, so their number relies on

    6.6- RE-ENGINEERING POSITIONS

    6.6.1- Introduction

    In order to optimize human resources use during the transition period, the vacant TIO positions will not be filled with TIOs, as hiring and training a TIO for a period of 1.5yr would be a waste of resources. These positions will be used in the framework of restructuring as a Documentation and Web specialist, and a Data Handling Operator, in order to enable the optimal use of the TIOs as described in 3.5.2.

    6.6.2- Documentation and web specialist

    SciOp's documentation is largely complete, the majority of which in electronic form. However, each Telescope Team has developed its own standards for archiving, leaving no unique repository. All these standards have two points in common: they all require considerable manual handling of files from one machine to another and none have acceptable version control system. These points are addressed by the  SciOp Documentation and Communication Plan [4], which describes a uniform standard to handle documentation based on the VLT Software Documentation System and the currently available Remedy Documentation Database. Creating that documentation repository will be a time consuming task, but, when completed, it will stand alone without further support.

    Similarly, each Telescope Team's Web site contains an enormous amount of well organized information. However, the unification of the teams in SciOps will require a large amount of systematization and rationalization of the current pages to bring them into a common framework.

    A Documentation and Web specialist will be hired for the restructuring of the SciOp documentation and web system. At the end of the transition period, this work will be fully completed, leaving SciOp with a uniform documentation and web system that will be maintainable during the Steady State period.

    6.6.3- Data Handling Operator

    The Telescope Teams currently prepare all the "Data Packages" for the visiting astronomers, and all programs in Service Mode  (except WFI SM programs, which are dealt with by the Archive/Garching). For Visitor Mode programs, data packaging is done entirely by the TIOs, while for service mode, the data selection is performed by the staff astronomers, with the actual packaging (CD production) is performed by the TIOs.  

    Data packaging is a time consuming and critical task. At Paranal, the Data Flow Back-End (Archive) software has  tools to prepare these data packages, with CDs and DVDs routinely distributed to the visitor. We propose to implement these tools at La Silla. ensuring an improved quality and reliability of data packages compared to the current situation.

    We shall therefore hire a Data Handling Operator to prepare these Data Packages for visiting astronomers, thereby removing a large workload from the TIOs. In order to provide continuous data packaging services, the SciOp Data Handling Operator will work closely with the La Silla Archive specialists (Anton Schmerll and Saul Vidal), participating in the archiving of the data, while the Archive specialists will also participate in data package production. It is noted that the production of data packages for the NTT and 3.6m Service Observation will still be performed by SciOp, as an astronomer is needed to assemble and check the completeness of these packages.

    Considering the rate of development of Archive tools over recent years, we expect that, by the end of the transition period, these will have progressed sufficiently so that data archiving and data package production for visitors can be dealt with by the Archive Specialists alone.

    7- OPERATION PLAN

    From SciOp Structure and Operation Plan, LSO-PLA-ESO-9000-1/1.1

    7.1- NIGHT OPERATION

    No major change with respect to the current system: After Dec.2003 (when SciOp will have lost the current 2p2/WFI staff), this scheme will have to be condensed, sharing TIOs and/or Support Astronomers among telescopes, e.g. no night TIO for the 2p2 when in FEROS mode, or no astronomer in WFI/Service Mode. Priorities will have to be defined in case a person has to attend 2 telescopes at the same time, eg. Visitor Mode has priority over service, and/or larger diameter over smaller one.

    7.2- DAY OPERATION

    7.2.1- TELESCOPE COORDINATOR

    As maintenance will be mostly performed by "outsiders" (i.e. from Engineering Dpt and SWC), coordination will be of critical importance.

    For each telescope, the Day TIO will be in charge of that coordination (and be TELESCOPE COORDINATOR). His role is equivalent to that of the Paranal's UT Manager. On a day-to-day basis, he will

    One of the Telescope Coordinators (typically a "senior" one) will be SCIOP COORDINATOR, i.e. in addition to coordinate his telescope, he will also coordinate the actions that affect SciOp as a whole. He will be in charge of representing SciOp at the Action Point Meeting on Thu, and -if needed- invite additional SciOp members to be present at that meeting. He is also the person who mans the lasilla@eso.org account (cf [1])

    7.2.2- SUPPORT ASTRONOMERS

    Durning the day (starting at a decent time considering the time he went to bed the night before), the Support Astronomer will

    7.2.3- SHIFT LEADER

    One of the support astronomer (most senior) is the Astronomer Shift Leader (which corresponds very closely to the former La Silla Coordinator). He is in charge of taking astronomy-related decision, as to schedule ToO requests (checking that they are approved/pre-approved), approve ToO Requests in case of emergency (eg WE if Director not available), etc. He is also in charge of formally "closing" ToO tickets in the Remedy system (cf [1]). The Shift Leader can also enforce the authority of the TIOs for weather and safety related matters (e.g. in case of recalcitrant Visitor).

    It is suggested that the task of closing the Library curtains during the WE be passed to SWC, as they will become the most numerous users of the Admin building.

    7.2.4- BACKGROUND TIO

    The third TIO will either

    It should be noted that if the 3rd TIO is needed for on-line work, this has priority on any background task. For instance, if he is needed for urgent trouble shooting, problem solving, or to ensure the day/night transition, he should stop his background activities.

    7.2.5- OPERATION ENGINEERS

    They participate to maintenance plan, and on-line operation. Most of their time should be devoted to configuration control and operation developments, as described above

    7.3.  DAILY OPERATION SCHEDULE

    7.4- SUMMARY TABLE

    The table below summarizes the operation and background tasks of the various members of SciOp

    Functions
    Operation Engineers
    Day TIO
    Night TIO
    Background TIO
    Astronomers
    (Faculty     OpAs Fellow)
    Head of Department
    TASKS

    Deputy to Head of SciOp 

    Operation Management

    Configuration Control

    Operational Tools Development (OPS)

    OTM/MTM templates maintenance

    Projects and Commissioning

    Maintenance Plan Control

    Technical Document WebMaster

    Training

    Day Coverage

    Night Technical Support

    Day-to-Day Telescope Coordination and Configuration Control

    Weekly Report

    Instruments Setups

    Detector refilling

    Archiving

    Instruments Calibrations

    Performance Monitoring

    Troubleshooting

    Daily Startup

    Overlap Night Operation

    Telescopes and Instruments Night operation and Safety

    Night Report Submitting

    Carryout Service Observing

    Make Users Happy

    Be the SciOp Face projection

     

    Assist Instruments Scientist

    Perform Instrument Calibrations regarding the data Quality Control and Calibration Plan needs

    Installation and Setup Procedure definitions and Check List maintenance

    Instrument technical web page maintenance

    Commissioning of new features

    Instrument Metric and Configuration Control

    Science Support Deputy

    Supporting visiting/service astronomers

    Service Observations (SM, ToO, DDT, etc.)

    Tel&Inst performance monitoring

    Instrument Scientist

    Create and maintain User's Manuals

    Develop Pipelines and Data quality controls

    Train Instrument TIO

     

    Management and administrative tasks, described in LSO-SPE-ESO-00100-0004

    7.5-EMAIL

    7.5.1- EMAIL LISTS & ALIASES

    The following email lists are available as majordomo mailing lists (TOBE IMPLEMENTED)
    The leader of each group is in charge of the maintenance of these majordomo lists (i.e. adding new users, removing obsolete ones). Email to these lists will be distributed to 

    7.5.2- EMAIL ACCOUNTS

    The only allowed email browser is Netscape, as implemented on kila.
    This must trigger a reply with CC to lasilla@eso.org by someone in the Department. When a reply is received, both the original and the reply are deleted (ie that email is processed).

    So, at any given time, the lasilla email should countain only
    In the future, lasilla@eso.org could possibly evolve into a more automatic helpdesk (remedy?).

    A more detailed procedure is now (2002-07-11) available on the SciOp intranet.

    Special case: DDT proposals. Currently, all DDT proposal (Urgent ToOs and not urgent DDT, for La Silla and Paranal) arrive at on lasilla@eso.org. At the time of SciOp implementation, these will be filtered and stored in a DDT subfolder for reference. Changes are being requested on the DDT procedure, so that the emails sent include the urgent/not urgent nature of the proposal, and the telescope(s) requested, so that proper filtering can be implemented.