User support in Controls/Data Analysis - survey responses needed!

[Mark Rivers <rivers@cars.uchicago.edu>]

Folks,

Tim Mooney sent out the following survey on behalf of a small committee that
the APS has set up to review support for beamline controls, data-analysis
and computing.  So far we have received responses from only 3 people who are
not on the committee!!  If we are to make credible recommendations to the
APS based on user input, we need you to please take a few minutes to
respond.

Thanks,
Mark Rivers


Dear folks,

The APS is reviewing the support it provides to CATs for beamline
control, data-analysis, and computing, and has asked Mark Rivers, Andy
Howard, and me to gather advice from you and to assemble your views
into a proposal to help guide future APS efforts in these areas.

Here are some questions that we thought would hit most of the topics on
which advice is needed.  If you can think of other questions we should
have asked, please pose and answer them as well.  Please reply to any
or all of us, as you like.  (But notice that one of the recipients of
this email is beamline_controls@aps.anl.gov.  If you Reply All, then
everyone on the list will receive it.  This would be a good thing to
do, I think, but it's not something you'd want to do accidentally.)

If you know of people not on the beamline_controls email list who
should get this survey, please forward it to them.

Thanks for your attention.

Tim Mooney (mooney@aps.anl.gov)
Mark Rivers (rivers@cars.uchicago.edu)
Andy Howard (ahoward@imca.aps.anl.gov)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

1. How many FTE's (per beamline per year) does your CAT now spend on
   system/network administration?


2. Do you want the APS involved in your CAT's system/network
   administration?  If so, to what extent?

   A - no involvement
   B - consult, do occasional work on request
   C - do OS upgrades, security patches
   D - provide full support, including on-call tech support
   E - other _____________________________________________________

3. How many FTE's (per beamline per year) does your CAT now spend on
   beamline-control software?

4. Do you want the APS involved in your CAT's beamline-control software?
   If so, to what extent?

   A - no involvement
   B - consult, do occasional work on request
   C - provide basic packages (e.g., EPICS, spec) in runnable form
   D - provide full support, including on-call tech support
   E - other _____________________________________________________

5. How many FTE's (per beamline per year) does your CAT now spend on
   data-analysis/visualization software?

6. Do you want the APS involved in the development of
   data-analysis/visualization software?  If so, to what extent?

   A - no involvement
   B - data-file translators, basic 1D/2D visualization
   C - libraries (e.g., file reader) to underpin user-written code
   D - full packages for specific types of experiments
   E - other _____________________________________________________
 
7. What operating systems does your CAT use, or plan to use, in
   beamline-control applications?
 
8. What operating systems does your CAT use, or plan to use, in
   data-analysis/visualization applications?
 
9. Should APS acquire site licenses for commonly used software?  If so,
   for what software?
 
10. What could the APS and/or CATS do to improve beamline-control
    software?
 
11. What could the APS and/or CATS do to improve computer/network
    management?
 
12. Other comments, suggestions with respect to computing and controls
    at the APS?