In v0.3, TTA tools is developing the Allocate and Approve packages, which supports the Allocation Disposition and Allocation Approval phases of the Proposal Process. Both the PPR and OSR proposal processes are in scope for this version.
Project Goals
Package | Purpose | Project Goals for PPR Proposal Process | Project Goals for OSR Proposal Process |
---|---|---|---|
Allocate | Recommend Preliminary Scheduling Priorities | Define Available Time Model Build Available Time Model Assign Preliminary Scheduling Priorities to Observation Dispositions Generate Facility Reports Generate Proposal Summaries | |
Allocate | Recommend Scheduling Priorities | Recommend Scheduling Priorities per Observation Dispositions (TAC) | Recommend Scheduling Priorities per Observation Dispositions |
Approve | Approve Scheduling Priorities Generate Reports | Approve Scheduling Priorities per Observation Dispositions Generate Directors' Report | Approve Scheduling Priorities per Observation Dispositions |
Storyboard for PPR Proposal Process
Define ATM in context of execution period | Apply pre-committed time per facility | Apply maintenance time per facility | Apply carry-over per facility | Inspect ATM | Manual modification of ATM | Source Conflict identification in ODs | Inspection of ODs | Modification of ODs | Assign Preliminary SP | Generate reports: Facility Report, Proposal Summary | Inspect Facility Report, Proposal Summary | Inspect ADs | Approve ADs | Generate Directors' Reports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | A2 | A3 | A4 | A5 | A6 |
To determine what time is available for the new proposals, I first have to build an Available Time Model (ATM). The ATM needs to know about pre-committed time from previous approved proposals (e.g., multi-semester, monitoring), sponsored time, maintenance periods, tests, and then also carry-over from the previous semester. I want to be able to import files to specify this information, inspect the imported information, and modify it on the fly as I need. The ATM also depends on the weather and the hardware sometimes (e.g., VLA configuration).
To inspect the ATM, it is most useful to use a pressure plot, which is essentially a histogram of number of the hours requested by the OSDs per time. This tells me how many hours in a certain time bin is being requested or is available. The amount available is many inputs, including weather, frequency, and pre-committed time. The amount requested depends on the OSDs of the new proposals. I need to balance the new request against what is available. To do so, I need to really understand the details of both the available time and the requested time. It would also be nice to have a calendar-like view of the ATM, as some of the pre committed time is fixed date.
Small adjustments in the ATM or and OSD can have big consequences for the available time. As a scheduler, I explore how these changes can make an efficient schedule. As there are a lot of working parts though (many proposals, many inputs to the ATM), I like to return to previous states to assess the impact of a small adjustment. I would like to be able to save a version the schedule so I can return to it later if needed. I would like a detailed version history so I can inspect many different versions if I need to.
Now that I have the ATM, I can start to assess how the new requests will fit into it. I will need to modify the requests but I want to preserve the original request too. I likely will need to do detailed modifications, like to the sources, resources, or requested time, but sometimes I only want to do broad changes, such as total time. Sometimes these changes will have profound impacts on the intent of the request so I want to make sure I can let the PI and the TAC know about these proposed changes. My main intent is to determine preliminary scheduling priorities and to make sure the information needed for the TAC is accurate.