the user support department fernando comer ón dmd/usd

ESO Wide Review 2005 - 1

The User Support DepartmentFernando Comerón

DMD/USD


The User Support Department: what we do…

USD mission is to support Service Mode users of the ESO End-to-End System through Phase 2 preparation.

• Assistance in the preparation of observing proposals and Phase 2 packages

• Providing documentation and making tools available to users

• Participation in the definition of tool requirements

• Review and validation of Phase 2 material to optimize the use of telescope time

• Preparation of medium-term schedule and reports to the mountain

• Interfacing between observatory and users on run execution problems

• On-site assistance to Service Mode operations

• Observing run tracking

• Observing run progress information to users

• Helpdesk system to users for any questions related to service mode


…and who we are

Department head:Fernando Comerón

User Support Astronomers:Sabine Mengel Palle Møller

Ferdinando Patat Monika Petr-Gotzens

Francesca Primas Marina Rejkuba

Martino Romaniello Lowell Tacconi-Garman

Mario van den Ancker Markus Wittkowski

Magda Arnaboldi (as of 1st Sept.)

Support astronomer for the 2.2m:Alexei Kniazev

Operations Support ScientistsStephane Marteau Petra Nass


USD in numbers, 2005

SM continues to be the most popular mode at the VLT:

time requested SM/VM = 1.9 in P75 (in number of runs, SM/VM = 3.0)

• 10 support astronomers (11 as of 1st March, 12 as of 1st September)

• 12 instruments supported in SM (13 as of P76)

• 360 runs supported in P75 (1st April-30 September) (+ ~40 DDTs/MPI reserved)

• 3078 OBs submitted in P75 (+ MOS, DDT, MPI still to come)

• 206 different PIs in P75, including 72 new PIs

• 275 USD Problem Reporting System (“[email protected]”) handled per month (average; peaks at Phase 2, 264 tickets received in the two weeks before deadline).

• 4 partly overlapping maternity/paternity leaves between November and now (extra workload on backup support astronomers well handled thanks to excellent team spirit!)


(From last year’s EWR:)

P2PP is now

• More user-friendly

• More powerful in capabilities

• More helpful in preventing mistakes

by providing high level verification

• Almost no instrument-specific

• Easier to maintain

• P2PP is from P75 on the only tool that users need to submit the Phase 2 package

• Phase 2 submission procedures are now the same for La Silla and Paranal

P2PP: latest improvements (thanks, DFS!!)


Complementing

• the new capabilities in the Observation Handling System tools,

• improvements in the Medium-Term Schedule report,

• internal documentation effort

has led to increased operational robustness

Improving the reliability in operations


USD support to

• MIDI operations from P73

• SINFONI operations from P75

• VISIR operations from P75

Bringing these instruments to regular operations has greatly benefited from lessons learned!

Other 2004/2005 highlights


• Operations of AMBER

• VLTI operations with ATs

• Preparing for surveys (VST, VISTA): setting up operations scenario and tool requirements

Outlook 2005/2006

the user support department fernando comer ón dmd/usd

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