Beam Time Accounting (BTA)

The Beam Time Accounting app is here. There should be a link to it 'BTA' in the Firefox Booksmarks toolbar as well (usually on the left side).

• Login using your JLab username and password from the link on the upper-right

• Choose File:Current Timesheet Bookmarks:BTA Experimentor Hall C

• Click on the Shift Information tab
  • Click on the Edit button and fill in the requested information.

• Go back to the Utilization and Availability tab
  • In general, you can wait until an hour turns over, then click on the Load from EPICS button on the lower-left.
    • This will attempt to fill in the ABU, BNA based on some calculations managed behind the scenes. The Source field should read EPICS
      • ABU: Acceptable Beam in Use (good, experimentally acceptable beam)
      • BNA: Beam Not Available/Acceptable (no beam or bad/useless beam)
      • BANU: Beam Available but Not in Use (Accelerator is ready to deliver beam, but the Hall can't receive it due to a planned configuration change, or a problem in the Hall)
    • The BTA Aid GUI, which is started with the command "go_bta" allows shift workers to set a current threshold for acceptable beam determination and to set the state of the hall. (Read, Not ready or configuration change.) See Logbook entry 3783171 for more information.
    • If the information loaded from EPICS makes no sense, ask an expert to look at the Beam Time Accounting EPICS Calculations.
  • Click on the pencil icon in the Edit column on the right.
  • Verify the numbers are reasonable and edit as needed.
    • If you have BANU numbers, then you should document why the beam was not in use in the middle group of columns under Experiment Beam Time
    • ER: Experiment Ready; PCC: Planned Configuration Change (changing kinematic settings, etc); UED: Unplanned Experiment Down (tripped magnet, etc...)
    • NOTE: UED time will prompt you for more details later.
  • When the numbers in a row are all correct (totals must sum to an hour!), click on the checkmark in the Edit column and the Source field will change to DATABASE
    • Totals must sum to an hour / 60 min.
    • The Source field should read DATABASE
    • Anything red in a row indicates an error/inconsistency.

• At the end of your shift verify all rows are filled in, all fields are black, and select the Signatures tab.
  • Click on the Sign
  • Be sure to logout and hand off to the next Shift Leader

NOTE: You must verify the numbers are reasonable yourself!  Do NOT blindly accept the Load from EPICS values.

A full manual is available under the "? Help" menu on the BTA page.