Paranal Observatory has a department called Science Operations (SciOps), which is in charge of operating the instruments within the global scheme established for the Very Large Telescope. This scheme was improved on what was called SciOps 2.0. The main operational goals of this new scheme were to strengthen the coordination of science operations activities within, and between, the department groups, by increasing the time allocated to “high-level” activities. It also improves the efficiency of the core science operations support to service mode (SM) and visitor mode (VM) observations, and the quality of the astronomical data delivered to the community of Paranal users.

In this context of efficiency and quality improvement of operations within the SciOps department, we had identified a strong need to optimize the management of daily operation tasks, via the development of a daily activity monitoring integrated tool, so this paper details the findings of the Daily Activity Monitoring Integrated Tool (DAMIT), the proof of Concept phase and the first delivered phase. The technical proof of concept was the first phase in development of a daily operation-monitoring tool for the science operations department. The primary objective of this phase was to evaluate the viability and impact of such a tool to improve the quality and efficiency of SciOps at Paranal.

This tool is running after overcoming the first phase of development, after followed an on-site technical analysis of the SciOps daily operation (day and night), the current procedures to certify the completeness and quality of the daily operations, and requirements for this new daily operation monitoring tool.

Date Published: 15 July 2016
PDF: 19 pages
Proc. SPIE 9910, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VI, 99101T (15 July 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2231861

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9910:
Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VI
Alison B. Peck; Robert L. Seaman; Chris R. Benn, Editor(s)