The Project Control Meeting
Agenda for Monday November 1, 1999 will be:
(Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)
There have been a few comings and goings here. Mark Lubinski has
returned to work this week on a part-time basis and is looking forward
to working full-time in the near future. Larry Gerraults has said good
bye. After his recent surgeries, he has decided to retire to Idaho
Falls. Gerardo Moreno has started to help out our seismic installation
effort.
A weather advisory is in order. Yesterday (10/27)
we had our first snow
accumulations of the season in the mountain passes.
I advise you not to
count on driving through the Cascade Mountain
passes until the end of
February. Although Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes
remain open ALMOST all
winter, you can be greatly delayed by storms
from now until then. If you
feel you must drive from the west side of the
mountains, the Columbia
River Gorge remains open all year, although occasionally
icy conditions
can make traffic slow. If you rent a car ask
for an ice scraper as even
the warm days now can start with frosty mornings
that can be tough on
credit cards.
Bake Oven:
----------
(K. Ryan)
LHO Vacuum Bake Oven A load #62, consisting of 10" optic SPETM06-A,
was
released earlier this week.
Load #63, consisting of three BSC bellows and four seismic table balance
weights, is vacuum baking and should be released tomorrow, 10-29-99.
PSL:
-----------
(R. Savage)
- M. Guenther and I have completed a draft naming convention for the
PSL
optical components on the PSL/IOO table. Mark will send it to
Peter
King, et al. this week for comments.
- M. Guenther expects to have the proposal for documentation of the
PSL
subsystem ready for review by the end of next week.
- P. King and service people from Lightwave will come next week to make
changes to the 10-W lasers to enable stabilizing the output power via
the amplifier pump laser diode current.
- The PSL will be shut down this Friday evening in expectation of the
power outage scheduled for Saturday morning. R. McCarthy will
restart the
laser after the outage on Saturday.
- The interface board for the PSL fast channels had been modified to
include the anti-aliasing filters. We realized that the fast
channel
4-pin Lemo cables that go between the PSL rack and rack 2X5 have
been
made incorrectly (grounds connected at both ends). J. Myers is
looking
into modifying the cables. We will hook them up as soon as they
are
ready.
Optics:
---------
(D. Cook)
This week was a busy time once more with the installation of the
ETMy-2k telescope and ETMy-2k optic. This is the first optic to be
installed into one of the Mid Stations. It took a couple of days to
stage for the activities, approve and train people on an new SOP, but
once under way all went well with the exception of the monitor pier
for
the telescope will need to move to enable it to see the output
beam
from the telescope. This leaves one more core optic to be installed
for
the 2k interferometer. That optic is the ETMx-2k which we will finish
processing next week. It will be installed the second week of NOV.
We had an opportunity to look at data recorded by the CDS system that
was taken from the FM-2k optical lever during the California earthquake
that occurred on the 16th. As the optic was not being dampened by the
controller and it was suspended (off the stops) and under vacuum it
allowed us to compute the "Q" of the optic while it was mounted to
a
working seismic stack. This was done by fitting exponential curves
to
the "Pitch" and "Yaw" graphs formed with the Xmanager with a resulting
accuracy of about 20%.
Jonathan Kern spent the week here to work with us on the ETMy-2k
installation. This will hopefully give him a heads up on the
installation tooling and our techniques etc.
Core Optics Support:
--------------------
(B. Weaver)
The week began in a bit of an off note, having learned the news that
last week's "successful" alignment of the three remaining optics and
the
APS telescope was, in fact, unsuccessful. We proceeded with the
plans
for this week but moving to the Y-Mid station and installing the COS
ETMy Telescope and the ETMy Mirror. The telescope was installed
and
coarsely aligned, and the mirror was installed and fully aligned by
Wed.
night. We just crawled out of the chamber after finely aligning
the
telescope and using the steering mirror to point the beam out of the
Northeast viewport, where it was handed off to Matt Smith for alignment
of the Transmission Monitor.
So, this week seemed successful. John will install the COS conical
baffle in the Y-Mid 80K pump tomorrow. Doug and I will resume
processing of the ETMx mirror next week, as this week we've been a
bit
busy (it came outof the vacuum bake oven on Monday, so we're up to
the
rebalancing step). Also, I just received the ETMx telescope tentatively
planned for installation the week of Nov. 15th. It will go into
the
vacuum bake oven on Monday.
Seismic Systems:
----------------------
(C. Gray & H. Radkins)
BSC Work--
Staging for Stack installation at x-mid next week.
As a background activity some of the external Actuation Stack hardware
is being installed on BSCs 1-3
HAM Work--
The Support Tubes and Tables were installed on HAM 3. The Bellows
have
also been installed on HAMs 2&3 and are awaiting a "positive" leak
check.
Gerardo Moreno, from Manpower, is the newest member of the LIGO team--he
just joined us today (10/28).
Computing:
----------
(C. Patton)
Continued Security system setup and maintenance. Started moving
computers around to upgrade some computers and move the older computers
out to the Mid and End stations.
Did the usual backups, helped with several printer and PC problems and
kept the GC accounting paper work up to date.
Electrical & Electronics Systems:
---------------------------------
(R. McCarthy)
Worked with Jay and Rolf this week on ASC installation and testing.
Some good progress was made in testing the software and cross connects
for the system. Hopefully next week we will be able to finish
up the
field cabling for the ISC tables in preparation for the one arm test.
The ETMY suspension controller was also tested and finally hooked up
to
the ETMY.
Field cabling for the ETMX is being installed and we should test the
system today or tomorrow.
Optics: The Straddle fixture is finished. In Hanford
this week working
with Doug Cook on the installation of ETMy. I overlapped visits with
Mike
Smith and Ken Mailand and got to see their installation of the ETM
telescope, and begin planning COS installation requirements at LLO.
Got to
see exactly how Hugh Radkins setup ISC alignment fixtures and checked
up on
PEM status at LO for Russ Wooley. (Jonathan Kern)
PSL Continuing tests of the PSL. The reference cavity stays locked
continuosly, but then servo for the frequency stabilization goes into
oscillation after some time. Pre-Mode Cleaner stays locked, but
drifts out
of alignement over a period of a few days. This will be
checked.
The intensity noise was measured after the PMC. The laser intensity
is
shot noise limited at about 2.8 MHz. At about 850 kHz, there
is a broad
peak with an amplitude 13 times above shot noise.
The laser beam jitter was measured using a quadcell. The beam
jitter was
about 4e-11m/sqrt(Hz) at 1 kHz and 9e-12 m/sqrt(Hz) at 10kHz.
This was
measured at a distance of approx. 4.6 metres from the PSL laser
box output.
More tests on the long term performance of the PSL and the servo loops
will
be performed.
Tests on the polarization rotation of a 126 model Lightwave NPRO will
be
performed soon. (Joe Kovalik)
CDS The software for dust monitors is ready. Still waiting for
the part of optical isolators in order to do a software testing.
Some special cable connection will be made for this test. (Juilien
Svoboda)
Bake Out We lost vacuum signal at LVEA-X recently. It turns
out that
the port we used on the FORE ATM switch is malfunctioned.
After switching the cable to a different port, the vacuum signal
is back to normal. (Allen Sibley)
PEM > Successfully completed 34 day test of PEM weather
data
>collection. Debug routine revealed only 7 bit with errors out of about
>10^9 bits.
In order for us and Hanford to have same hardware
>configuration, I asked D. Barker to give us code that did not have
>Davis weather station activity on port 2 (such activity makes use
of port 2
>with industrial weather station impossible). Dave Barker has
since sent
>us a version of epics without the davis weather station on port 2;
this
>allows me to move our industrial weather station to port 2.
I did the
>appropriate code modifications, recompiled and tested the weather
>computer for a few minutes on port two and it successfully passed
the
tests.
>In the new version of Epics, the dust monitor drivers and tasks did
not
>appear to have been started, Dave Barker is looking into this.
>
>GRASP
>Modified grasp to allow input of short(as opposed to full length
>tables used so far) table into optimalF (to correct data for transfer
>functions of instruments and seismic isolation). Currently debugging
>problem with spline interpolation routine which allows experimental
>transfer functions of arbitrary number of freq. point to be inputed.
>
>End to End Model
>Currently have end-to-end model using correct mirror parameters
>for long arm test in lock. Hand Calculation of operation still
>disagrees in some regimes with End-to End modeling...working on
>reconciling this difference. Found way around problem with
>swapping input and end test mass feedback.. Since what I have in
>lock now is only a bare bones system I am currently adding more
>complexity and attempting to understand how that effects loop
>stability; specifically dc gain levels for the different elements
need to
>be understood.
We are near completion of the preparations for lx-1 beam tube bake.
Data
acquisition system is up and running, power supplies have been tested
(
there is, what we consider, a minor problem with PS1 that we are in
the
process of correcting) and all heater blankets are installed and tested
as
are the turbo and cryo pumps. The corner station pneumatic valve will
be
soft closed today, which will complete mechanical preparations for
bake to
begin on Mon. 11/1 Work continues to correct a problem with the RGA
data
computer, but we don't see this as a show stopper. (Anthony Rizzi)
Facilities The new LIGO sign at the junction of Hwy 63 and our access
road
has been installed. (Gerry Stapfer)
Interferometer sense/control (Zucker)
--------------------------------------
ISC initial alignment (MZ for K. Mason)
----------------------------------------
An error was discovered in the setup parameters for the FMx and FMy
alignment undertaken last week. At this writing it appears likely
we
will have to open the system back up and repeat the procedure early
next week.
Currently updating and preparing documentation for DCC.
IO Commissioning (Nergis, Haisheng)
--------------------------------------
Continued with alignment of the IO beam to the recycling mirror
(and thereby the interferometer optic axis). The set up for this
(target and cameras) is complete and we will continue the
alignment as soon as the recycling mirror alignment is complete.
The same setup of targets and cameras can be used to evaluate
the mode matching of the modecleaner beam to the interferometer
beam via the mode matching telescope. We are in the process of
getting a better "eyeball" measurement, with a temporary setback
due to problems with locking the pre-modecleaner.**
** After experiencing locking problems, we replaced a broken
PA-85 that drives the PZT length actuator on the PMC, only to
blow the second one too as soon as we connected it to the PZT.
We suspect that the PZT is misbehaving and maybe arcing. The
PA-85 has been replaced again (thanks to Jay), but we are still
diagnosing what's killing them.
ISC installation (Smith)
--------------------------------
This week in Hanford we (Ed Kruzel and I) re-installed the optical
lever to
the ITM X. This is now being re-disassembled today for the re-alignment
effort. We also replaced the laser diode for the optical lever to the
recycling mirror. We assembled the optical lever table in the
x-mid
station and set it aside for final installation in early November.
I am
currently setting up the ETM transmission monitor in the Y-mid station
and
will also install the Y2K-ETM optical lever table, transmitter and
receiver.
ISC commissioning (Fritschel)
---------------------------
o I've been testing one of the new LSC photodetectors (destined for
use on
the 2km cavity) with an amplitude-modulated laser. This turns out to
be a
better way to tune the notch at twice the modulation frequency than
using
the electrical test input. Dale and I are trying to figure out some
non-linear behavior that occurs at high dc photocurrent.
ISC/GDS/PEM (Daw)
------------------------------
This week I finished my present round of work with Sam
Finn towards the first release of our noise simulator for
ligo 1 output noise. My contribution was to build filter
banks to replicate the noise spectrum in mirror displacements
due to seismic noise in the ground propagating through the
Hytec vibration isolation stacks and the suspensions.
-------------------------------------------
Lasers and Optics -- J. Camp
(1.2.1.1.2, 1.2.1.1.3, 1.2.1.1.4,1.2.1.1.5)
--------------------------------------------
Prestabilized Laser -- Peter King
--------------------------------------------
- SN #107a, the Lightwave 10-W laser located at Caltech, mysteriously
shutdown on three occassions over the past week. In one case
the power
supply indicated that there was a heat sink problem with the laser.
A
check of the cooling lines did not reveal the cause of this fault.
The two
other cases, the laser power supply indicated that there was a shutter
fault. Inspection of the shutter showed that the shutter had
closed
without being explicitly activated. The reasons for this are
not clear. A
new shutter is being sent up from Lightwave Electronics to see if it
really
is the cause of the indicated faults. Should that also fail,
the power
supply will be returned to Lightwave Electronics for a warranty repair.
- SN #107a will be retrofitted with the current shunt actuator next
week.
This will be the second 10-W laser to be retrofitted.
Input/Output Optics -- Dave Reitze, UF
-----------------------------------------
LHO 2k (Haisheng Rong)
- MMT alignment for long arm cavity test underway.
- MC characterization continues in high power operation.
LLO 4k (Sany Yoshida, David Tanner)
No report received.
Core Optics Procurement and Metrology -- GariLynn Billingsley
-------------------------------------------------------------
SPETM05 has been measured and handed over to Helena for cleaning and
shipping. We are now working on measurements of SPETM07.
We were
hoping to ship both optics for arrival Nov. 1 in Livingston, so that
they could be processed together. We have lost 2 and a half days
this
week to temperature fluctuations in the room, and will not be able
to
ship SPETM07 until late next week.
Core Optics Coatings -- Helena Armandula
--------------------------------------------------
SPETM05 is being pre-cleaned at Caltech to be shipped to LLO on Friday.
Scatter scans continue on other COC's.
Core Optics Support -- Michael Smith
------------------------------------
Completed alignment of the APS telescope, FMx, FMy and RM for the 2
km
interferometer using COS alignment procedure. Unfortunately it
was later
discovered that inital setup of the COS projector had an 18 mm error.
This means that the alignment will have to be redone next week.
The ETM telescope was faligned and focused on the bench. It was
installed
and aligned in BSC6 (y-mid station) with the ETMy.
--------------------------
Isolation Group -- M. Fine
--------------------------
Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. LIGO Properties at Hytec:
Hytec has returned all the LIGO-owned equipments except those still
being
used for spring testing, which will be shipped to CIT when the work
is
completed.
2. Electronics Rack Documentation:
The electronics rack documentation is going through the final revision.
The complete drawing package is expected for release by the end
of this week.
Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Report from Janeen:
-Supporting 40m staff in gluing a replacement
magnet/dumbbell assembly onto the BS optic.
-Working on 40m suspension upgrade costing.
-Working on documentation.
---------------------------------------------------------
Detector Systems Engineering -- D. Shoemaker/D Coyne
(WBS 1.2.1.1.9)
---------------------------------------------------------
Physics Environmental Monitor(Matt Smith, David Shoemaker)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
no significant activity
Global Diagnostics System (Daniel Sigg, John Zweizig)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I returned to building a version of the software suitable for
distribution. This involved merging changes made at LHO
and at Caltech into cvs and making sure they compile. The
distribution make-file was then updated to reflect the many
modifications that have been made since the last release.
I also added a new spectrum container class (FSpectrum)
which is useful especially when averaging spectra from many
time increments and improved the doc++ documentation
for several more classes.
Christine's graphical user interface for the arbitrary waveform
generator is up and running. A startup menu was developed
for the diagnostics tools. This (will) allows all diagnostics tools
to be launched from a central point.
Worked on performance issues in the stimulus-response
test part. The system quickly overloaded when a large
number of small measurement intervals were taken. Chased
several bugs which showed up when we tried using the
test tools for the suspension diagonalization work.
-----------------------------------------
Control and Data System -- R. Bork
(WBS 1.2.2)
-------------------------------------------
WA 2K One Arm Test CDS (Dale):
===============================
The LSC Photodiode Interface board is in PCB fab. It is due by middle
of
next week. We have been trying to track down a problem with the photodiode
at high light power. We thought it might be the tuning coil core
saturating but tests show that not to be the case. Still pursuing it.
Timing System (Dale):
===========================
I am tracking down some missing parts that we ordered that are holding
up the next three boards. Also ordering parts for other boards as well
as
more Clock Fanout boards.
Suspension (Jay)
=================================
- The prototype coherent detection satellite amplifier has been received
and is being stuffed. Bench tests should be started next week.
- The 2K ETMY suspension controls are fully operational and being used
to support installation of the optic.
ASC (Jay)
==================================
- The wiring and software for the 2K ASC controls is complete and
tested. Rack 2X2 is fully operational and ready for the one arm test
pending installation of the field cables.
One Arm Test (Jay)
===================
- The wiring and software for the 2K one arm length controls (rack
2X1) are tested and ready for start of the test pending installation
of
field cables.
ASC (Rolf)
==========
- Modified the ISC supervisory code to work the WFS input/output
hardware filters; tested satisfactory in the 2k system.
- Finished connecting the ASC front end and the ITMY suspension
controller; Now able to run GDS excitation signals (using the GDS
arbitrary waveform generator) thru the DAQS reflected memory, thru
the
ASC front end and to the ASC suspension controller inputs to support
suspension diagonalization tests from the control room.
- Started work on the ISC controller which goes in the mid/end stations;
partially working, but need to modify vxWorks to correct some address
problems with the PMC reflected memory board.
We are working on the Operations Budgets for FY 2000 and waiting for some contributions for the FY 2000 Operations Annual Work Plan.
Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)
The following change requests have
been submitted:
| CR-990018 | WBS 1.1.5 | Beam Tube Bake--Revised Estimate at Completion | W. Althouse |
| CR-990024 | WBS 1.1.1 | Vacuum Equipment--Closeout Louisiana In-House | J. Worden |
Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection
Everyone is reminded to provide a redlined copy of their current LIGO business card to Ed Jasnow so that we may plug it into the print shop for new ones.
Assisted the Project Controls (P.Lindquist) with packaging and shipping of three(3) Mounted LIGO Posters to the LIGO Livingston Observatory, attention: Mark Coles. Account Number P21386.
Assisted the Project Controls (P.Lindquist) with packaging and shipping of Unmounted LIGO Posters to the University of Wisconsin, attention: Patrick Brady. Account Number P21386.
Assisted the Detector Group (P. Kabot) with packaging and shipping of a Telescope to the LIGO Hanford Observatory, attention: B.Weaver/M.Smith. Account Number P96937.
Assisted the Detector Group (M. Smith) with packaging and shipping of Alignment Telescope, Plot EMT Target, two (2) Tripods, Camera CCD, two (2) Monitors, two (2) Light Stick, Laser and Tools, attention: B. Weaver. Account Number P96937.
Assisted then Detector Group (P. Kabot) with packaging and shipping of several drawings to Spacecraft Specialist Inc. (Alicia Chen) of Anaheim, CA. Account Number P47783.
Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.
From: Sarita Moore<moore_s@ligo.caltech.edu>
Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.
From: Kris Duncan <kris@ligo.caltech.edu>
Working with Barbara Kratochwill in regards to putting the monthly LIGO financial reports on the internal web site. Barbara has created a home page that breaks out the reports by month. I will create .pdf versions of my reports giving only summary detail and no budget columns. Lower detail information will be made available to all Task Managers if requested. I am hoping to have the reports through September 1999 on this site by the end of this week. (Task Managers will receive the URL in a E-mail memo as soon as this is completed.)
I received the MIT twonk report and made the necessary conversions to the LIGO Accounts Translation numbers (is this correct Oracle terminology?) and the MIT invoice has just been received and given a DCC number. The invoice should be approved for payment today and paid this week.
In collecting the data for the financial reports I noticed that the problems LIGO incurred during the IFIS to Oracle conversion (encumbrances against Task 1.1 instead of Task 1.10 ...) have in several cases become expenditures. I E-mailed David Werntz to inquire the status on the "cleanup project" and, as a result, a meeting has been set up for Tuesday (11/2/99) with the user liaison for acquisition people and LIGO.
TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT (Althouse)
o Fixed few bugs in recycling summation code. Overall clean-up.
More testing going on.
[Matt Evans]
o Continuing development and testing of new implementation
of field-class and modal-model.
[Bruce Sears]
o Alfi 4 Software Development:
- Completed the "Boxes Loaded" tree display.
- Working on the "In Edit" tree display.
- Researching wxWindows event structure to implement access
to
Box editting via the component tree display.
[Masha Barnes]
* (MB) Working on 'Table' element support for lwAPI:
- finished table element conversion
from ILWD to LIGO_LW format.
ILWD table element
with 'lstring's and arrays as an elements
successfully gets
converted into LIGO_LW Table element.
- almost done with writing LIGO_LW
Table element to a stream.
[Kent Blackburn]
* (JKB) Spent the week in Livingston installing the initial phase I
LDAS hardware. One of the
PCs from HPC had a bad memory set
which took two days to isolate...with
help from HPC it now
works. Also had some problems
with the CDS framebuilder 450.
Upgrading the OS patches
fixed routing and possibly other
troubles. The cfengine software
needed more adjustments than
expected to handle its new
environment on the LDAS-LA domain.
Use of Linux 6.1 on the
PCs has gone smoothly.
* (JKB) Created a poster for Mark Coles overviewing LDAS for the LIGO
inauguration.
* (JKB) Continued to guide software development team through
implementatation problems and issues.
[ Phil Ehrens ]
* (PSE) Tested ldas-0.0.4, made bug fixes in Tcl code, made
bug reports in other cases
(installation errors and
c++ code).
* (PSE) Benchmarked performance of current (iterative calls
to Tcl layer for each channel)
reduced (raw) frame
creation mode in anticipation
of newer code model.
* (PSE) Installed Tcl 8.3a1, an incremental patched version
of Tcl 8.2.1 which has a
number of memory leaks and
thread safety bugs fixed.
* (PSE) Extended generality of the Tcl calls in the frame API
to access frame history,
detector, and serial data.
(this is nominally working
in 0.0.4).
* (PSE) Supported Nathan Yospe in his debugging of the frameAPI.so
* (PSE) Talked to Albert about possible licensing of the LZW
compression code.
[Grace Hu]
* (GH) finishing writing a C++ class and testing programs for dynamically
binding processors.
* (GH) thinking and writing a C++ class which will use the genericAPI.so
library to support sending and
receiving ldas data from other APIs.
* (GH) reviewing ILWD and general lib code and api code.
[Edward Maros]
(EFM) *** Nothing to Report ***
[Peter Shawhan]
* (PSS) Completed a revised design of the LDAS database table
definitions. Finished
a draft of a document describing
the proposed changes, available
in
/home/pshawhan/metadb/doc/proposal_v1.ps,
and circulated
it to a few people for comments.
[Nathan Yospe]
* (NY) Improved error handling in getElement/putElement, tested for
the
various purposes intended.
All functionality is as it should be
for all data types except for
CHAR. All bad input throws the
desired exception, all good input
functions as expected... but
in the case of the CHAR type,
the last element of any array of
any size is mangled to a value
dependent, in repeated tests, on
the size of the array under linux,
or to 0 on solaris. Under
linux, the value is consistent
for a given array dimension over
repeated tests.
* (NY) Completed fast form of adc raw data insertation, have not yet
tested.
From Edward Maros -----
(EFM) Laid cables for Livingston site
(EFM) Tracked down hardware failure of linuxbox1
(EFM) Installed RedHat 6.1 on Intel boxes
(EFM) Worked on refining CFEngine scripts
From Stuart Anderson:
Worked with Suresh Singh to install and configure the LDAS
ATM network at LLO. Upgraded the CDS framebuilder at LLO to support
a new
OC-12 connection to LDAS (new FORE ATM driver, updated Solaris kernel,
added Disksuite software RAID to reconfigure frame disk cache).
40m-tama run:
-------------
I have developed some code to generate full
statistics, including upto the fourth
moment, for all the channels. At the moment I am
storing the results in a simple
database that I wrote, which gives us some basic
tools to do simple queries.
This will eventually go in Roy's official database
which should excercise some
of the LDAS machinery.
I have now transferred most of the lock sections
on a local disk. This still
doesn't cover all the lock sections, since we
don't have enough disk space at
the moment. But it should be enough for some
serious prototyping work.
I am also looking at burst events in the data. I
have been looking at the
characteristics of these events and trying to
understand them in relation to when
the instrument went in lock.
Stationary phase formalism:
---------------------------
I have started to compare the results of the
template waveforms which I generated
using the stationary phase formalism with the
lookup technique with what is in
Grasp. I am trying to understand some of the
Grasp tools which can be used to
validate my code.
Hanford:
Continued Security system setup and maintenance. Started moving
computers around to upgrade some computers and move the older computers
out to the Mid and End stations.
Did the usual backups, helped with several printer and PC problems and
kept the GC accounting paper work up to date.
Livingston:
Tom E. and Larry W. are working on new equipment orders.
CIT:
Samantha and Matt have finished patching the PC's for Y2K. All of the
units
patched should have a blue sticker on them.
The machines will be checked again when they start installing the anti-virus
software. Samantha has also been updating the computer location maps.
Barbara has been working on the Cost Book application. Finished
the back-end
processing forms for web entry. The forms can be submitted directly
or a
confirmation form is available. Now I'm testing the database
entries to be
sure they are correct. Added switchboard menus and a graphic
to the Access
database.
Created a program for the Nov 12 inauguration ceremonies.
Made a number of quick web site changes.
Suresh helped Larry fix/rebuild a number of machines that were hacked
into over
the weekend.
Larry installed a couple of printers and tested them out, both appear
to be
putting out good quality prints. Updated the dns tables for ldas.
Still working on getting a number of quotes for new orders of computer
related
hardware.
Started the installation of new SUN workstations and PC's.
Still (a never ending battle) working out the details for the maintenance
contract with SUN.
Looking into new projector equipment for the conference rooms.
Loaded s/w on various computers. Updated a couple of programs on the
server
system.
Spent a little time with the 40M group checking out a computer that
has been
having some problems. The memory problems appear to have been fixed
by reseating
the boards but the communications problems are continuing.
Presently, we have a number of machines to finish installing and some
upgrades
of OS that should be done by this weekend.
Rita Torres
For I. Petrac retyped statement of work for University of Florida, change order No. 7, because Irena's FrameMaker is affected by a virus which prevents saving, must close then open the s/w often (S. Singh is aware of the problem). Did change order No. 1 to KTI, Inc., obtained an Oracle requisition number for both KTI and UFL. Formatted sow for contract with Crystal Systems, obtained an Oracle requisition number, awaiting an official PO number. Did letter to J. Brau to transmit Attachment Z to MOU with University of Oregon, FedExed for signature. Did contract with Syracuse University, obtained and Oracle requisition number, waiting for an official PO number.
For E. Jasnow did change order No. 2 (Rev B) to MMR Constructors, FedExed the modification. Did site trip updates for Detector Group. Updated laser training and exam records. Reconciled P-Card orders, over a couple of days chased a discrepancy. Oversaw printing of 30-page transparency presentation for NSF meeting.
Dorothy Lloyd
Tracked payments made for both contract and purchase orders after the June switch-over using Oracle. This option in Oracle has just been made available for me to use. It gives me the capability to view the Payables screens to track payments on a daily basis.
Continue to enter and approve requisitions and run periodic searches to find PO number assignments. Tracked and followed up on invoice problems and processed the normal heavy load of invoices for payment using both the old system and on-line approvals. Received on-line for numerous orders.
Jim continues to do data entry and reconcile the status reports. At this point we are working from both ends of 1999, and have reconciled January through April and are current from August. At this rate, all of 1999 could be reconciled to date by the end of the year.
Continued to monitor contract funding levels and notify task managers of the need to supplement.
Irene Baldon
Worked on preparing the paper work for 34 new trips taken recently or upcoming (34 Purchase Requisitions and 20 Advance Requests). There are approximately an additional 23 new trips in various stages pending completion of travel arrangements before the paper work can be completed. Worked on a number of problem issues which required a good portion of my time.
Completed 13 Expense Reports, some of which were extensive, involving 2 or more pages each. Some of these reports were still not taped or completed by the Traveler, and required additional time for completion. Worked on a number of problem issues which required a good portion of my time. There are 52 Expense Reports still to be done, including 5 that require extensive work to complete. I'm holding 5 completed Expense Reports which require a check from the Traveler before sending to Travel Audit to clear.
I continue to push for both Advance and Expense Checks already submitted. "The System" continues to be extremely slow in processing these. I recently was informed that we will again be given T numbers which enable us to track a particular trip, thus making it easier and less time consuming when trying to track trips. As of this writing I am still waiting. The new ORACLE travel forms take 3 to 4 times the amount of time to complete over the original forms used. The new forms do not allow me to save a Database for each traveler, thus causing me to take extra time to pull each traveler's file for home address, social security number, etc., each time I need to type up an Advance or Payment Request.
Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.
Continued making travel preparations for the upcoming LIGO Celebration to be held at our LIGO/Livingston, LA, site on Nov. 11th and 12th. Vee and I have arranged for Conference Rates with two airlines (Delta and United for domestic flights and Delta for intercontinental flights). We have arranged for a block of 155 rooms at a number of hotels in Baton Rouge, LA (75 at The Radisson on Constitution Ave.; 40 at The Amerisuites on Bluebonnet Blvd.; 25 at The Homewood suites on Corporate Blvd.; and 15 at The Hampton Inn on Constitution Ave.). At this time these rooms have not been significantly reserved. All is in place now and travelers are able to call or e-mail Vee to book their trip using the special rates we have obtained. I will pass on more information as I get it. In the meantime, Barbara Kratochwill has put the current information on the WEB page. Please book your trip as soon as possible. Flights, hotels and car rentals go fast, especially when I understand that approximately 400 invitations have gone out world-wide.
Travel for the PAC7 Meeting to be held at LIGO/MIT from Nov. 18th through Nov. 19th has been completed. If there is anyone still not booked please do so now. A block of rooms have been reserved at the University Park Hotel (just behind the LIGO/MIT Lab) at a rate of $109.00 per night for the nights of Nov. 17th and Nov. 18th. These rooms are going fast so if you plan to attend the PAC7 please get your trip started with Vee as soon as possible.
Prepared the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of October 25, 1999.
Performed miscellaneous duties as requested by various members of the LIGO Project here at Caltech, as well as from members of the staffs of each of the two (2) sites. I continue to do MIT's travel to the sites for installation activities and assist them wherever possible.
Elizabeth K. Wood
Worked on LIGOfest.
Did some sleuthing work to find out why an employee's check wasn't being autodeposited. Things should be okay now.
Helped produce the NSF book for the NSF review in WDC.
Continued dealing with the saga of visas, including contacting the immigration officer at the University of Utah for some answers.
Did some checking into the paper supply for LIGO's copiers and printers. Linda and Cleveland will supply paper to Wilson House, the 40M, and the third floor of West Bridge. Those folks don't need to order it themselves anymore.
Talked to Caltech insurance to find out if they could extend the "respond by" date for making insurance changes. Yes, they can. It's now November 12, not November 1 as indicated on the forms. This only affects the folks at Livingston and Hanford because they just got the paperwork this week.
Worked with Rita and Irene to split up some of the travel backlog.
For additional information about this report, contact sanders@ligo.caltech.edu