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The User Support Department Fernando Comer ón 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
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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 Scientists • Stephane 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 (“usd-help@eso.org”) 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!)
P2PP: latest improvements (thanks, DFS!!) • (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
Improving the reliability in operations • 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
Other 2004/2005 highlights • 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!
Outlook 2005/2006 • Operations of AMBER • VLTI operations with ATs • Preparing for surveys (VST, VISTA): setting up operations scenario and tool requirements