Introduction

The Summit Instrument Activity Schedule (SIAS) is the schedule that is used by summit crews to determine which instrument tasks needs doing, primarily for setting up the instruments for that night.

The other use for SIAS is to communicate the release of the instrument and the telescope. Prior to release, no one should remotely command the instrument as day crews may still be working in and around the instrument and moving mechanisms may be a safety issue. Observers should not even start the instrument software until after instrument release. SAs should also be cautious when interacting with the instrument prior to release. In some cases starting the software involves homing mechanisms, so don't assume that nothing is being moved unless you are very familiar with the instrument's startup script.

SAs can edit SIAS tasks and SIAS is also where you set up your communication preferences for receiving notifications (i.e. texts) when the instrument and telescope are released.

Another important function of SIAS and its associated database is to inform the Observing Support team of which configurable elements should be loaded in DEIMOS and LRIS for an observing run. The following figure shows how a SIAS page entry for an LRIS configuration looks like:

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The columns on the figure above represent, from left to right:

• Column 1 (Who): The team in charge of the task. Support means the Observing Support team.

• Column 2 (System): The system affected by the task, e.g. LRIS, DEIMOS, Vehicles, Facility Cryo and others.

• Column 3 (Description): A description of the task with optional link to detailed documentation on how to execute the task.

• Column 4 (Last changed): This column contains the Update button when any updates need to be introduced regarding the task progress. Tasks can be modified or cancelled as needed using the Update button.

• Columns 5 and 6 (Job Done): The initials of the person who worked on the task and the time when the update was introduced.

• Column 7 (Comments): Any pertinent comments regarding the task execution.

The components highlighted in yellow needed to be loaded. The instrument engineer or technician that loads the elements records the even upon completion by hitting the Update button and adding any pertinent comments on the Comments column.

Adding, updating and cancelling a task on SIAS

This sections describes the steps to add, modify and cancel a task on SIAS.

Adding a task

1.- Select one of the tasks from the pulldown menu located below the calendar widget on the main SIAS page (see red arrow on the figure below).

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2.- Once you have selected the task, click the yellow Add button (see figure below). This tutorial is focused on adding a generic task. Adding a LRIS or DEIMOS configuration is a bit more involved, and the procedure will be covered at a later time.

3.- The add task button on the main SIAS page takes you to the Task Update page (see next figure).

4.- Select Who the task is for from the pulldown menu. In this example, we are going to add a task for KCWI/K2 early release. Therefore the task is for the Support staff (see figure below)

5.- Fill in the System name, task Description, desired Execution Time, and any Comments that you may have associated to the task (see example below).

Note that the fields Initials and Time Completed are reserved for the person who will complete the task, so there is no need to define them when you are creating the task.

You can define the task recurrence by hitting the Edit Recurrence button. This example shows a single-occurrence task, so there is no need to open the recurrence menu.

Once you are happy with the task definition, press Create to publish the task on the main SIAS page, and press Back to Sias to return to the main SIAS page.

6.- The following figure shows the main SIAS page with the new task (highlighted with a red rectangle) on the top row of the list of tasks. The task appears on top, because I forgot to set the Execution Time by mistake. Hence the task is scheduled to be executed at 00:00 HST.

Modifying or cancelling a task

7.- You can press the yellow Update button on the task row to either modify or cancel the task. In this example, we will cancel the task that we had just created. The task cancelation is triggered by checking the Cancel this task box (see red rectangle in figure below). You may want to add a comment explaining why you are cancelling the task.

Once you are happy with the task updates, press the yellow Update button, and Back to Sias to see the task updates on the main SIAS page.

8.- The following figure shows the cancelled task as it appears on the main SIAS page. Note that the task description has been crossed out, and the string “cancelled“ was automatically added to it.