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The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is the lead Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory for electron-based high energy physics. It is dedicated to research in elementary particle physics, accelerator physics and in allied fields that can make use of its synchrotron radiation facilities—including biology, chemistry, geology, materials science and environmental engineering. Operated on behalf of the DOE by Stanford University, SLAC is a national user facility serving universities, industry and other research institutions throughout the world. Its mission can be summarized as follows:
Perform world-class research in high energy physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology, and in the use of synchrotron radiation
Provide accelerators, detectors, instrumentation and support for national and international research programs in elementary particle physics and allied fields that use synchrotron radiation
Advance the art of accelerators and related devices through development of sources of high energy particles and synchrotron radiation, plus new techniques for their scientific utilization
Advance the critical technologies necessary to maintain its leadership and excellence in particle physics, accelerator physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology, and synchrotron radiation
Transfer practical knowledge and innovative technology to the private sector
Contribute to the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers, and to the scientific awareness of the public
Achieve and maintain excellence in matters of environmental concern and provide for the safety and health of its staff and the general public.
The Business Application Support (BAS) functional area at SLAC provides administrative computing services to the Business Services Division and Human Resources Department. We are responsible for software development and maintenance of the PeopleSoftâ applications and consultation to customers with their computer-related tasks.
Our areas of support include Human Resources, Payroll, Affirmative Action, Travel, Property Control, Stores Inventory, Purchasing, Financial Reporting, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Budgets, and Labor Distribution. During this review period, BAS consisted of 9 Software Developers, 2 PeopleSoft® System Administrators and a Manager.
The Business Information System (BIS) and "The Gateway to SLAC Resources", our web-based information delivery systems, are managed in close coordination with the BAS Group, our Accounting staff and many others who contribute to its success. The BIS function consists of 1 web developer and a Manager.
Clarice Rinard, Manager, Business Application Support of SLAC Computing Services (SCS)
Ziba Mahdavi, Manager, Business Information System (BSD)
Douglas P. Kreitz, Assistant Director for Business Services (BSD)
Accomplishments/Project Goal Status for FY 2003:
BIS/"Gateway"/Financial Data Warehouse –
Business Application Support (BAS) –
Status: Creating a second EPN farm was discontinued because the design of the new BIS EPN is in progress. We have a partial implementation of a test lab environment currently being used to migrate to a new MetaFrame server farm and to test patches to Windows OS, MetaFrame/Citrix, and some third party software. Rating: "Excellent".
Status: We have made excellent progress in this area. The high level design is complete, a resource person has been hired and the detail design is progressing well. We experienced some delay due to restricted budgets during FY 2003, but many of these obstacles were overcome thanks to extra efforts on the part of many involved. Rating: "Excellent".
Status: Steady progress was made in this area during FY 2003. We have succeeded with establishing a site-wide shared nomenclature, data cleanup is progressing well, and we expect the system to be operational on or before the 3rd Quarter of FY 2004. We are pleased that this is the first lab wide use of the PeopleSoft application being shared by everyone. Using this framework, the Training Database will serve as a model for moving forward on several other fronts. Rating: "Excellent".
Status: This project was successfully completed in FY 2003. Rating: "Outstanding".
Status: This project was successfully competed in FY 2003. Rating: "Outstanding".
Status: This project was successfully completed in FY 2003. Rating: "Outstanding".
Status: The requestor for this particular function asked that it be given a lower priority so that other, more critical projects could be completed. Rating: N/A.
Status: We are making good progress on this. It is 90% complete. The problems with being able to exchange security certificates caused a major delay in our timetable. We have overcome many of these technical challenges, and we expect full implementation early in FY 2004. Rating: "Excellent".
Ongoing Monitoring of Business Information System (BIS) Usage
Data are automatically collected to determine trends in BIS usage. Through this automated data gathering, we are able to better understand the growth in use and contact our users for information on how we can better serve their needs. We continue to see an upward trend in use of the BIS website. This upward trend in usage is a direct reflection of how much users are coming to depend on this feature to obtain critical business information and conduct day-to-day operations such as on-line transactions in travel, property management, and purchasing.
With these data, we have a more complete picture of how well the BIS is serving the SLAC community.
The "Gateway to SLAC Resources"
The "Gateway to SLAC Resources" was introduced to the SLAC community in February 2002. During a 6-month period in that introductory year (FY 2002), we had 8,612 visits to the site (average of 1,435 visits/month). We are pleased to announce that the usage of this resource increased significantly during FY 2003. The 6-month total increased 72% to 14,827 visits to the site (average of 2,468 visits/month).
It is useful to note that SLAC launched a new web page in September 2003 called "SLAC Today". This new resource will use several of the features pioneered and proven on the "Gateway To SLAC Resources". We are working closely with the staff responsible for "SLAC Today" to ensure the combination is not only complimentary, but that we do not duplicate effort. We feel it is important to make available easily understandable and readily-available resources to the SLAC community through these two sites.
Overall user traffic at the BIS web site is averaging 155,635 requests per month which translates to a daily average of 5,188 requests for information. This is a 5.3% increase in customer usage since the FY 2002 reporting period. Feedback from users indicates that the system is being used regularly and is commonly accepted as a rapid means of obtaining the information they need.
Use of the "Gateway to SLAC Resources" continues to grow as members of the SLAC community discover what an excellent place this is for information on a variety of topics.
Delivery of accurate, on-line cost information as early in the month as possible --
Throughout FY2003, accurate financial data was available to users by the 5th working day (often sooner) of each month. We continue to do daily validation of the financial data throughout the month and this ensures that we meet this goal. This is a proven system – it is timely, reliable, and accurate.
Other Notable Accomplishments during FY 2003
The BIS group provided leadership, resources, and guidance to several areas this past fiscal year. Below is only a partial listing of the "Outstanding" accomplishments in this area:
Property:
Purchasing:
Other:
Overall Performance
Customer satisfaction:
We are pleased to report that overall customer satisfaction continues to be high based on feedback we receive from our customers and from continuing reduction of "trouble calls" received. Customer comments are very important to us, and we act upon them quickly. Rating: "Outstanding".
Cost/Efficiency:
The BAS/BIS project continues to be conducted with SLAC staff, selecting people with skills and knowledge appropriate for their role and distributing the workload to allow people to concentrate on their areas of specialty. In some cases, we bring in outside consulting, but this is the exception. The advantage of having well-trained in-house staff means we continue to be less dependent on outside consultants as we improve our services. Rating: "Excellent".
Problem Analysis
Root-Cause Analysis
Our expertise in using the PeopleSoft® system and in understanding the complexities of delivering data to our customers has increased to the point of excellence that stands as a model for other laboratories. We have anecdotal information of other organizations who have not achieved the level of success we have with our systems. Our staff’s dedication has enhanced our productivity and ability to continue to deliver an excellent, and easy-to-access Business Information System to the SLAC community.
Barrier(s) to Improvement
Our efforts could move forward more quickly with additional technical staff. However, we have attenuated our goal setting and timelines to accommodate this lack of full staffing. We are optimistic we have set stretch goals that can be met by our extraordinary staff.
Recognized areas of improvement
The BAS staff, in excellent coordination with the financial staff of BSD, continues to successfully deliver accurate and timely information to our users. This success continues to be achieved through much hard work of many in BSD.
As indicated in this self-assessment, we have added enhancements to the BIS website in response to user feedback. The BIS website, combined with the "Gateway to SLAC Resources", continues to be a model for using web technology to get the information into the hands of the research and business administration community quickly and accurately. To our knowledge, no other DOE laboratory has such a complete system in full operation.