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| Wednesday, December 10, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Upcoming - Robicheau coming to DC tonight to discuss release of CruSupport 3.16 and testing of CruOps. CruSupport 3.16 - ATX-400 has 15 test responses from keysites, although some are duplicate and some are incomplete. Much of the new version represents functionality changes for AF, such as a new F&E screen. One known issue that has been reported before is the drag-and-drop crew change that causes an employee to become invalid. (This error is related to the conversion to Oracle since Oracle handles boolean variables differently.) ATX-400 plans to release 3.16 with this bug. Robicheau says the leave balances may not be updating correctly. He says no large facility responded on testing this issue. Hayden, Wismer and Brown were all asked if they wanted to see 3.16 deployed without resolving this and they unanimously said no. Essenmacher said he thinks it's working correctly. Wismer suggested that the display of this information simply be hidden since it's not absolutely neccessary to provide it. Essenmacher did not want to get involved with another compile and release. He added that leave balances for part-timers are hidden in this fashion because the code does not update their leave balances correctly. CruOps 3.09 - ATX-400 is working to address issues raised in alpha testing by Wismer. Wismer's report describes 30 or so issues he has uncovered simply by playing with the software on a single PC. Mike Masson and others will be traveling to ZKC on Monday to meet with Wismer and Tim Francis to investigate and see if there are local issues connected with these problems. Essenmacher performed a test with Ops to better understand CPU loading issues identified by Wismer. He put 12 employees on duty, made occasional entries and drag-and-drops, and watched CPU usage. It remained about 60-70% most of the time. During drag-and-drop, usage dropped to almost nothing because, he discovered, all of the "timers" that look for changes (people hitting TOP limits, approaching go-home times, autoSISO, etc.) were disabled. None of these events will occur while someone is performing a drag-and-drop. Holtzman asked why such a low-level test would have any significance. He added that air traffic controllers must perfect their "game" to meet the most demanding situations, not just run-of-the-mill usage. He questioned why there would be a lower standard for this project. Essenmacher felt this was apples and oranges. Controllers, it would seem, are held to a higher standard than ex-controllers, although the ex-controllers save pay. A new alpha version, CruOps 3.11, is being tested within ATX. 7 to 11 bugs have been fixed. A change notification is coming to NATCA. Robicheau says there are pay issues connected with OJTI and CIC time tracking. Wismer says if you sign in at 1600 and out at 1630, CruOps signs you off at 1629 and you lose a minute of premium pay for each stint. Meanwhile, position logs sign you off at 1630. Essenmacher indicated the problem was being looked at and discussed the complicated history of time tracking on the minute. Robicheau insisted the issue was a show-stopper. Version 3.11 has not been made available to the NATCA leads for testing. Holtzman felt this was absolutely ludicrous, since Wismer's work has been so productive and ATX-400 clearly has an inadequate alpha testing team. Essenmacher made a non-sequitor argument that he would have to negotiate such a release with Robicheau, and Robicheau was on vacation. Robicheau countered that no negotiation is required to let NATCA Reps test software, only to release to the test sites. Holtzman added that it was Essenmacher's unwillingness to communicate with NATCA that was the core issue, since he sat in for Robicheau during his absence. Essenmacher IOUs - Essenmacher gave Holtzman IOU's on providing a ZZZ test database at ZDC and working out a method to display the various time codes on the T&A screen in CruSupport. At present, when a BUE logs on to CruSupport to view their T&A, their is no indication of what the various codes mean and it is difficult to understand your own T&A. Next telcon - Due to Christmas, next telcon will be next Wednesday. Details to follow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, November 26, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Staff BUEs - Agency has been training Staff members on CRU-X. This is a possible ULP in that the MOU does not cover Staff and the Agency has already notified NATCA it wants to present an Article 7 briefing. Facilities have been instructed to stop training staff BUEs and the issue is being reaised to ATX-400 and -500 levels. When staff BUEs work traffic, there may be an issue as well. Essenmacher feels they should use CruSupport for their LDR, not CruOps. He wondered if we should enable CruOps to include staff without entering a shift for them. NOP - National Offload Program has been installing the HE980 patch in centers. Essenmacher had only sketchy information about the status of each center. ZFW, ZID, ZLC, ZMP, ZSE, ZLA, ZOB, ZBW and ZAU definitely have the patch, and ZAU has enabled the patch. There are a number of unresolved issues with NOP. One is that some facilities dump SISO data at the end of the day and verify OJT time with it, and it's unclear how this process will be affected. Also, Wismer asked what happens when click-and-dragging is going on along with Offload, for instance someone clicks-and-drags an OJT into the On Position List and then signs on position minutes later. Essenmacher said each would create a new session in the database, and that they could coexist. CRU-X 3.16 - Feedback needed by 12/4, with potential wide release on 12/6. Jones says there is a bug involved with changing someone's crew. It causes the employee to change to inactive status. Schedule Program - The import routine currently in CruOps has been debugged and works with Excel, the RDO program, and others capable of outputting the correct format. Test sites are expected to use the schedule importer or do it manually. The "DLL" solution, which will enable local programmers to move their shift data directly and/or automatically into CruOps, is to be deployed around the end of February, when CruOps itself is to be deployed. The hardware purchase requirement is out for the devices to be used to make this arrangement secure. LaRue asked when we could get documentation on the DLL? Without documents, the program is useless since local programmers cannot work with it. Essenmacher took an IOU on this. LaRue says there will be a significant time investment once the documentation is obtained to configure the local software. CruOps 3.09 - The Agency has guidance to run any local MOUs past national review personnel who apparently will not be involved in your negotiations. Jones says no one will run CruOps live until negotiations are complete. Necochea wants to distinguish negotiations at test sites associated with testing from negotiations for the final implementation at those same sites. Until the software is in its implementation configuration, the local MOU may or may not be appropriate. The Agency seemed to agree with this and was most concerned about getting the testing done. LaRue clarified that the first live testing pay period will be done on the artificial ZZZ database. Only after one pay period of testing will any data enter the real database. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, November 12, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CruOps - Agency says it'll be ready for live testing at keysites on Monday. Trying to get it out ASAP so that facilities can begin to set up the positions and start figuring out their schedule import process. No non-test site facilities will be able to use this version as MSDT has initiated a "min-max" feature that allows the DBAs to alter a setting in the database and thereby control the Ops version permitted to have access. They will do this for the 18 sites as well as a number of duplicated shadow databases (ZKC, VNY). At those facilities they've developed a feature to avoid the "select a database" window for operational use. Essenmacher says the schedule importer is now working with RDO-generated files. Robicheau wants to see the list of changes since the previous CruOps release, in accordance with Section 24 of the MOU. Essenmacher expressed surprise at this request and indicated it would involve quite a bit of work and could be impossible. Robicheau expressed disappointment in that the Agency did not seem to be abiding by the MOU. Essenmacher explicitly noted he expected problems at the test sites. This is the purpose of testing and Jerry says it always happens in beta software. Never mind the words of Kirk Perilloux, IT Manager in the Louisiana Office of Public Health: "Dell was able to say, 'Here's the database, middleware, and server, and it's all tested in your environment. It's done; it works.'" (Oracle magazine, Nov/Dec 2003, p. S3) Keysite readiness - Essenmacher indicated the Agency had surveyed the keysites and found that most were doing well in preparing for CruOps.As example:
Documentation - Wismer brought up the issue of help files. The documentation specialist on the project left a month and a half ago. As a result, the web page is out of date as are the help files. Essenmacher said it was extremely difficult to bring someone new in quickly due to security regulations. The new documentation specialist started last week. Ops will ship with outdated documentation, according to Essenmacher. Reporting process - Much of the telcon was consumed with discussing the process for reporting problems, whether that process conformed to the MOU and whether additional resources would be needed locally for that purpose. No definitive answers were reached. National Offload Program - Holtzman asked that Matt Dunne be present on the next telcon, since there are issues and time frames connected with NOP that affect CRU-X. Essenmacher was quick to downplay the importance of NOP, saying he thought BWI might want to turn NOP off and drag-and-drop instead. He said he'd contact Dunne in order to make arrangements for ZAB programmers to start testing with Position SISO (as opposed to Shift SISO) data. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, November 7, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Friday telcons - Lost our Wednesday telcons on HQ network. Planned to switch to Fridays, but Gina able to get an AGL line so we'll be back to Wednesdays after this one. CruSupport release - Version 3.11 to be compiled by Wednesday. Includes two "bug fixes" involving leave balances and retirees who change their mind. A change notification will be sent out next week, but there are no intentions of running this through the test sites first. Robicheau challenged that. Keysite readiness - The key/beta/test (choose one) sites are to be evaluated and monitored for their readiness to accept CruOps. Regional mgmt reps will maintain the survey for all facilities. It will not be a real time internet survey, but the results will be published periodically. CruOps - The crew spent two weeks in Boston and one in Baltimore. They talked about going to Washington Center but were advised that asbestos issues would have made it a hassle. Still, Holtzman wondered why they continued to choose "easy" facilities (I90, A90, BWI, etc.). Their extended alpha testing identified 35 items in Boston and 7 in Baltimore as PTRs (program trouble reports?). This list will be distributed shortly. Essenmacher says CruOps will (again) be ready for deployment by Friday the 14th. He wants to know how many facilities we need to agree on national deployment. Robicheau expressed praise for this recent debugging effort. He also was glad that we are now discussing targets for national deployment, and went so far as to make a tentative proposal of 14. Essenmacher said that sounds reasonable but stopped short of making a verbal commitment. He did say it would be more than 4 or 6. He did not say what comprised a passing grade from each facility. Robicheau stressed that we need a number. CruOps beta testing - LaRue said even given a best effort (which they were undertaking), they could only expect to get a full pay period test in by PP 26 at Anchorage Center. He said it will be after the New Year before they can get any meaningful results published. He added that the timeline assumed there would be no significant issues, and that if there were it would be impossible to make deadlines. Gambone said they'd be shooting for PP 01 at Boston Center, and would be meeting with NATCA on Monday. Schedule Program - Holtzman asked about progress on enabling the import from RDO. Essenmacher said Dennis McDonald (ZOB) was still working on it. Holtzman added that there seemed to be widespread understanding that the issues with the import routine were far from worked out. The lone facility that has had some success with it is ZAN, and even there LaRue says he cannot import several of the shift types. He is asking for further documentation and definition. Holtzman also said he understood some facility managers at test sites were waiting for a schedule program solution as well. Essenmacher replied that the site readiness survey should include questions about schedule program status. Of course, NATCA has been pushing for a schedule program information gathering effort for a long time. There wasn't much to grasp onto as far as where this issue is going. Offload - Essenmacher said there are no promises and that NOP "can't get in the way". He added that 210 facilities really don't need NOP to use CruOps. Holtzman responded that those 210 facilities represented a minority of the ATC employees. What good would that data be? The largest portion of the workforce exists in the centers and large tracons. There was some discussion of a phased implementation but NATCA does not favor that nor is it in accordance with the MOU. Field processes - LaRue wants to see an automated, easy-to-use process for users to capture screens and report errors up the chain. Essenmacher wants to put remote administration (PC Connect?) on all user workstations so that tech folks can actually see in real time what is going on at the user workstation. It was unclear how realistic those plans were. Robicheau said the Agency must abide by Section 20 of the MOU, which specifices how the information must flow. Holtzman suggested an automated, Internet-based solution. Essenmacher liked the idea. He said the PTR process is streamlined. Ground rules - Robicheau stated FYI that NATCA has filed a national grievance over the Agency refusal to negotiate ground rules in two regions. Essenmacher said the Agency's position was a knee-jerk reaction to what it considered boilerplate proposals by NATCA. He hopes to resolve this offline next week with Robicheau. Next telcon - Essenmacher said the next telcon would be on Wednesday, November 12th. Details to be forthcoming. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, October 22, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Essenmacher reviewed the recent management-only telcons:
No secret that management has been conducting regional mgmt telcons. The purpose is to step up communications with the field. Where are we?
CruOps 3.0.1 - The new version of the T&A tracking portion of the software. MSDT hearing all about STARS, URET training in December and so are urging those facilities to get started with CRU-X training now. Sought to release CruOps last week Monday, but NATCA's cease and desist caused Agency to suspend that. After consideration, Agency decided to hold off and instead shakedown CruOps at Boston facilities. NATCA concurred strongly with this decision. Essenmacher and Masson are spending 2 weeks in Boston running Ops in "shadow" mode, simulating real-time use in a real facility. The testing is very productive in just two days. Trying to get ready for keysite testing by November 1. Feel comfortable deploying by Feb 27 in facilities in the sub-40-employee category. The discussion later turned to the utility of this field testing by development team members. It was agreed that this benefitted both the facility and ATX-400, by providing the developers with much-needed operational perspective. Additional "field trips" were discussed in a positive context for the project. Also mentioned was testing being done with importing schedules. A90 (Boston Tracon) uses RDO, a program made by Mike Klupenger at ZOB. Klupenger has constructed an exporter for his program that yields the appropriate import file for CruOps. The utility and usability of this process is being evaluated. Other facilities in the region such as Bradley and Manchester may be testing the importer with other programs. These tests should provide some much-needed data about how this process will work, an issue in local negotiations. A final aspect of this ad-libbed field testing is that A90 is about to connect CruOps to Offload. The ARTS system will be feeding CruOps SISO data and therefore driving status changes on the duty board. Since this has yet to be accomplished in an operational environment, this will be a big milestone. Mickey Oram - Announced he'd be stepping down from his assignment as the Southern Region CRU-X Rep. Thanks for the work, Mickey. Anyone interested in the job should contact Mickey or Mike Robicheau. Their contact info is at http://cru-x.natca.org. CBI training - Guidance being put out by ATX-400 is that they expect CruOps software to expand beyond keysites by January. They want the facilities to plan training at an appropriate time to be in sync with implementation. Betas for the team - ATX-400 issuing link to download 3.0.1. (We tried this after the telcon and it installed and ran in at least one location. It appeared to be afflicted with some of the same function issues as have been documented, but Essenmacher later indicated that the test database may not be up-to-date with the latest version.) Additional .exe's will be available on an almost daily basis as the shakedown in Boston continues. Hardware - Guidance is to get equipment installed as soon as possible, but of course I&I must be accomplished. Jones wants to clarify what NATCA's response will be to Agency's Article 7. Robey responds that if Agency approaches NATCA local with Article 7, the locals are being instructed to entertain negotiations. But Jones talked to Bob Marks (WP RVP) and was led to believe otherwise. Robicheau reiterated the NATCA stance, that Article 7 letters will be entertained at the local level and ground rules bargaining should commence. Essenmacher remarked that he did not think ground rules were necessary, and Robicheau referred him to FLRA for some additional training. Jones was happy with the response from Robicheau. ZAB Schedule Program - The schedule program of choice, Bob Miner's Scheduler, will be reviewed and demoed next week in meetings at Albuquerque Center. Look for notes on this at the end of next week. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, September 10, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DELPHI Release of CruSupport - The Agency is making a nationwide switch from DAEFIS to DELPHI. CruSupport has to export data in the new format. The switch takes place 9/21. The DELPHI release of CruSupport enables the processing of either DAEFIS or DELPHI labor and T&A codes. Since no processing will take place until 9/24, on that date the FAA Oracle DBAs will "throw the switch" in every facility's database to DELPHI. The Agency has tested this and also has redundancy in the event DELPHI does not work, which is what happened last year. The software will store the data in DAEFIS format locally. Necochea brought up the issue of how much integrity this data will have and how it will be used. Five facilities have reported feedback on the DELPHI out of 18 test facilities. CBIs - The CruOps CBIs are completed, with review taking place on Friday. They will be distributed via DVDs. There can be a four week dellay in delivery from when they are burned. The CBIs for CruOps will show up in the test facilities by the end of next week as they are receiving special priority. Hardware - All SISO appliances were to have been shipped last week. Some computers have shown up damaged or with viruses, but the number of these has been small. AMTI (a contractor) has been contacting facilities and verifying delivery and the condition of the units. 437 computers were purchased to replace existing machines. 670 machines were purchased as SISO appliances. CruOps - Burned another new version of CruOps yesterday. Legacy CruOps - Robicheau's issues:
Schedule Program - Three choices. 1) Enter shifts manually into CruOps. 2) Import schedule data from your program. 3) Provide an ATX400-supported schedule program. The parties tentatively agreed that ZAB's Bob Miner had an excellent program for inclusion. Robey asked when CruOps might be tested. Mid-November was identified as likely for large facilities. Offload - Delays are due to issues at local facilities. No idea when Offload will be available. Management meeting - ATMs are coming to Washington next week to brief them on CRU-X expectations. SCAT - Essenmacher verified that CRU-X does not have or use SCAT. SCAT is owned by IPPS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, July 30, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SharePoint - SharePoint is an online system for tracking progress and feedback. It is the primary method for reporting feedback. Team members have been unable to access the site. Apparently if you are inside the firewall, you must be using the HQ proxy or access will be restricted. Masson will provide Robicheau with feedback form to be input into SharePoint for the CruSupport Summer Release. CruSupport Summer Release - Masson will send e-mail out soon with URL to download. CruOps Play Database - Expect to have up and running next week. Need to create two databases in order to do this. Focals and Rep training - Ken Dean has built lesson plans for this training. There are two days - first is CruSupport, second is CruOps. Most of this is lecture and classroom. CruOps lesson is five 1-hour segments:
Admin docs - CruOps Pre-Deployment and Configuration Guide to be released next week. This will identify steps facilities need to take to prepare for the implementation of CruOps, including local I&I and technical information. Latest Timeline - The following is a rough outline of the desired series of events:
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| Wednesday, July 16, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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New team member - WP focal Jones is on assignment in Iraq for 60 days. Mike Tellier, also out of Van Nuys, replaces him. Summer release status - Alpha testing required a second alpha but they are now prepared to compile and release the beta today. AF may start using the beta as soon as next week, but AT is on hold pending briefings, negotiation, and the return of ATX-2 and ATX-400 from leave. Necochea was concerned the software was not functioning properly because he had a T&A amendment done that was not reflected in CruSupport. Essenmacher said that if the change was done directly through IPPS, that entry would never appear in CruSupport. However, the leave totals should still be correct once an IPPS transmission takes place. CruSupport downloads leave balances whenever it contacts IPPS. IPPS batch processing - IPPS only accepts 56 lines of data for each pay period. But each entry for OJT or CIC is a line and so this limit can be routinely exceeded. Timekeepers typically sum the entries into one at the end of the PP or day. They will still have to do this in CruSupport. There is no waiver that would allow the program to code this process into the software. ATX-400 needs to get a rule change to allow that, but this will involve IPPS, the IG, and others. At Robicheau's request, Essenmacher said he'd issue a communication to timekeepers about this issue. Robicheau feels very few are aware of this and wants to manage expectations. IPPS for PP 14 was "successful". Two consecutive PPs are required for certification from ABA-1, as well as one actual run at a single facility. ATX-400 to get a waiver to do this at ZAB. Rep training - ATX-1 Hatfield is in Iraq. Backup is ATX-2 Pam Foss, who is on leave this week. This week's acting ATX-1 is ATX-500, who has approved all July training of NATCA Reps. August training is to be approved next week by Foss. Several regions have set up for August, including EA, AK, and SW. Robicheau was given a different proposal from the one he agreed to for the training. NATCA has patiently waited for this training and agreed to a number of changes to reduce costs. Robicheau was told that excess funds could be used to train focals at the test facilities, but at last check this was no longer the case. Robicheau is to discuss this with Tobin. Essenmacher stated that any region that does not use July funds will still have them in August. Holtzman observed that significant time and resources were being spent because of repeated changes to these training plans, and that the wrangling over this issue was providing no value to the project. CruOps deployment guide - The final on this is on track for release on Monday, electronically only for cost savings. Essenmacher to check on whether ATX-400 can put a CRU-X database on an Internet server and provide Reps with something to train on where they do all of their business, the internet. The Agency is very slow to realize that NATCA Reps could not possibly operate like they do without the INTERnet, and that INTRAnet often is inaccessible to them despite the MOU, either because they aren't afforded access or because they do so much work at home. LDR codes - Wismer stated ZKC managers were entering LDR using only AT100 and 200 codes which do not apply to them. Said ZKC management has no idea of how to code their LDR properly. This lead to a long-winded discussion concerning the validity of the LDR data being collected. Essenmacher wanted to step away from this discussion and only deal with technical issues, but Robicheau persisted in making it clear that NATCA considers this a responsibility of the Agency per the MOU. N90 computers - Plan called for just 3 computers for use in operational quarters at N90. There are 5 areas plus TMU, and Robicheau advised Essenamcher that 6 were promised. Essenmacher said he'd taken care of the other 3 and had sent Eve Viera-Ford and George Keith an e-mail about it but forgot to cc Mike. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, July 2, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CruOps Time Line - Click here to see it. Code on the Oracle CruOps closes tomorrow. The program is to be distributed on July 7. A dummy database will be set up this week for focals to get hands-on experience. The final Pre-Deployment Guide is to be available by July 17. This version is said to include all features required by the MOU and Addendum except for the Schedule Program. The date for local I&I completion at the test facilities is September 22, but the intent is that this negotiation be tentative and subject to review after significant use. Any agreements should include allowances for this. ATX-400 does not expect every facility up by January 30, just a substantial number. BU training - The Time Line calls for publication of the CBI for CruOps by August 18 and then training of BUEs immediately after. Wismer asked if there'd be any hands-on training using the actual software. Essenmacher said no, but that the CBIs were interactive and replicate hands-on. Jones added that there would be conssiderable time to "play" before the system reached operational status locally. Regional Training - Last week both NATCA and FAA agreed to pass on the idea of a training class at CMD. Instead, the intent is to provide training for Reps and focals at one of the two test sites in each region. This should be cheaper as well as more effective since it takes place in the business environment. Essenmacher indicated that the Rep from both test sites should attend along with the regional management and NATCA leads. This is to take place very soon. SharePoint - This is the Microsoft product that allows on-line submission of survey and feedback forms. Access will be issued to both a management and NATCA Rep at every facility. Results will be compiled and reported automatically and instantaneously, and the issues of who gets what report and whether it got sent or not should disappear. NATCA suggested a web-based solution to these problems on the February 26, 2003 telcon. Schedule Program - ATX-400 remains committed to introducing a staffing module "coincident" with the deployment of CruOps. This module is to satisfy the needs of all customers, and so a panel consisting of members of NATCA, NAATS, PASS, and Supcom is to be assembled to oversee development. The module will use Bob Miner's (ZAB NATCA) program as its base, with features added on to accommodate all 500 plus facilities it is intended for. Holtzman expressed doubt that this task could be accomplished in the time allotted. He also said that the purpose of this should not be simply to eliminate the need to enter shifts daily, but also to provide enough features and advantages to get the "buy-in" from the users. ATX-400 Restructuring - ATX-400 (Information Planning and Analysis) is divided into three parts:
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| Wednesday, June 18, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Addendum - The Addendum to the MOU was signed last week. It involves issues raised by the IG concerning the status of someone who does not show up for their shift. The IG was concerned that auto-sign in would result in people getting paid without working. The Addendum calls for alerts that force the supervisor to investigate whenever a person assigned to the shift does not appear on either a position or in the other duties category. Essenmacher said that completion of the Addendum allows them to move forward on the project and made a series of announcements as follows. Focal training - NATCA focals are to get classroom instructions the week of September 1. Wismer asked if he would be expected to negotiate anything prior to that date and was told yes. He replied that this was a very compromising situation to be placed in and protested. Jones supported his view. Surveys - The surveys for the beta sites are ready to go out in electronic format. MSDT is working on development of an online survey system using Microsoft's Share Point software. This concept was introduced by NATCA on the February 26 telcon. It enables instant collection of survey data as well as automated analysis. NATCA fully supports this method. Summer release - This latest release does not include CruOps, but is driven by a requirement of the LDR office for employees to be able to see their own LDR data in real time. They will brief NATCA on Monday and hope to complete alpha testing by June 27. Robicheau protested FAA's continued practice of making surprise announcements. He questioned why the Agency had so much trouble keeping NATCA informed of upcoming policy decisions, insisted on last-minute announcements and was so unable to adhere to the time frames noted in the CBA. The Agency had no substantive answer to this and it was later hashed out off-line. CruBrief - The Agency announced they will not develop the CruBrief software further and implied they will look elsewhere to automate the tracking of training data. Radar replay - Without CruBrief there is no radar replay, something that was a selling point for the system. Essenmacher talked to Matt Dunne about putting together a stand-alone version. Dunne said Replay uses flat files instead of Access and so that this was a possibility. Dunne is working on preparing a package for deployment. Robicheau asked where things were with Offload, since Offload data is required for Replay as well as the automated Duty Board. Essenmacher said he'd work on getting Offload running at the beta sites. SISO Appliances - This is the term for the PC's that will be invading control rooms everywhere - the CRU-X machines to be used in the area for sign-in and other functions. More than 600 machines were ordered, and the shipping address database is being perfected. Holtzman wondered why a current list of facility addresses was a project since facilities don't usually move. It was unclear why the FAA has no central group that maintains such a list. The boxes will have birght neon stickers that clearly mark them for CRU-X so that facilities will not use them for other purposes. Deployment Guide - This will be published electronically only. Schedule Program - MSDT is committed to including a schedule program into CRU-X, however the means of that commitment are not clear nor is the time frame. They want it, but they don't want it simply slapped together. At the same time, they want to deploy CruOps ASAP. Necochea wanted more information about facilities that currently use the schedule importer routine to input shift info into CruOps. Essenmacher gave him an IOU. Meanwhile, Jones described how it works fine at Van Nuys, with himself putting the shift information in once a pay period. He also remarked how his facility was still a test facility and was experiencing unusual behaviors of the software. Holtzman indicated that it was one thing to get a system working at a smaller facility with a highly motivated and experienced staff coupled with friendly users. It's another matter entirely to deploy in large centers with an abundance of apathetic and stakeless managers and employees. IPPS Testing - The Agency has not yet worked out all of the kinks involved in batch processing of T&A and LDR data. The LDR data is the culprit, as there apparently are data mismatches that gum up the works. MSDT has dedicated one programmer full time to working with an IPPS developer to get it worked out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CruOps SISO appliance purchase/deployment - CruOps is the piece of CRU-X that involves electronic sign-in. FAA has issued direction that all facilities be running CruOps by the end of October. This item is a spreadsheet of the number of new PCs to be sent to each facility for SISO in preparation for CruOps. They will be Celeron 2.2 GHz, 128 MB, 40 GB HD. These machines will belong on the facility's accountable property. (ATX-400 retains control of the servers.) Shipment expected within the next week. CruOps Deployment Guide - this will be for the facility SME team. First draft is expected on Friday. CruOps Legacy version - about 30 facilities are running the original CruOps. The new version of CruOps is on Oracle. The "Legacy" version of the new CruOps uses the same screens as the old CruOps but it's on Oracle. It is meant for use by the 30 facilities, because it does not conform to the MOU. There was a considerable miscommunication concerning this software, as NATCA had been told it was not finished but meanwhile Van Nuys was already testing a completed version. Even Essenmacher confessed to lack of knowledge about these activities. Apparently the local principals have taken it upon themselves to make national policy decisions. Administrative computer replacement program (non AAF-60 minimum specification) - The national survey of computer equipment revealed about 320 administrative computers below ATX standards. ATX-400 will issue new machines to be used in lieu of every one of these. Along with the PCs issued under the first telcon item, ATX-400 will insure that every machine used by CRU-X will conform to AAF-60 standards. This will be a major milestone for the project. Article 17/48 recording compliance - Since CRU-X did not meet the September 30, 2002 deadline for LDR (FAA promised Congress it would begin reporting all labor costs by that time), FAA promised NATCA it would collect the Article 17 and 48 time data daily by manual methods at each facility. Reports indicate there is very little compliance with this agreement. Virtually none of this time is being reported through CRU-X. The time is supposed to be recorded on the back of the "Dash 4" (aka the "Dash 5"). It is to be recorded in hours worked, just like a timesheet, as opposed to with start and stop times. Apparently, timekeepers and others are burdened by this reporting and essentially aren't doing it. Grell asked about past data and the need to get that information into the system. Tobin indicated he would not prioritize that unless NATCA protested. He said the Article 17 time generally was being captured through other means, but that the 48 time was a problem, especially at the facility level. CruSupport minimum data field requirements (section 4, Cru-X MOU) - Section 4 of the MOU identifies new items that CRU-X must track. These are retirement eligibility date, retirement mandatory date, and CPC date. NATCA seeks this information for many purposes. The fields exist in the software, but the field personnel are not populating the fields with data. Paula Martinez will draft a memo to division managers to encourage staff to start using these fields. CruOps alpha testing vs. keysite testing - ATX-400 wants to shake down their Oracle CruOps software ASAP. They are suggesting we change some of the keysites in order to facilitate this. Holtzman responded that the project has been "rushed" since inception and that policy has led to numerous problems later. He suggested the project stick with the "difficult" facilities deliberately in oder to shake down the software properly. Update on batch processing - This method for transfer of T&A to IPPS is intended to replace the "terminal emulation" method that lacks reliability. Batch processing was tested again this PP and an error was identified involving an incorrect number of characters in one field. Testing will continue in the current PP at Lakefront, Columbus, and Conroe FSS. LR issues - Holtzman asked how the new LR directives put out by Blakey would affect local negotiations of CRU-X. Tobin indicated the directives do not go into effect until June 1, and that the details of this new policy have not been issued. He speculated that we might not have to push every local MOU up to the national level for approval since they are all considered part of the national MOU that has already been negotiated. CruBrief status - There is no Oracle version of CruBrief. When a facility transitions to Oracle for CruSupport, CruBrief becomes unavailable unless the facility separately maintains an Access version (virtually impossible). Also, CruBrief needs to take on the functions of TRAX. Development of an Oracle version of CruBrief with TRAX functions will not happen for a long time. Essenmacher would not specualte on any time frame for this, but it sounded like something in the 6 months to a 2 years category. Robey asked if radar replay could be oerated as a stand-alone program since NATCA bargained for this feature. Essenmacher thought it could but was vague and said he'd get back to us. CruQuality - There is no Oracle version of CruQuality either. Again, an Acess version would have to be maintained to use CruQuality. Theresa Paine, an ATX-400 employee, has been developing an "incident reporting tool" that ATX-400 hopes will one day be able to assume the functions of CruQuality. As it stands, the "planned" transition to Oracle managed to exclude two of the four essential modules of the CRU-X suite. Offload - Some centers are now running Offload. Offload is like a wiretap on NAS; it collects all of the data running through NAS but does not interfere with NAS in any way and works through a "read-only" connection. Offload is essential to an automated duty board. Without it, someone would have to continuously update the duty board by dragging and dropping people as they plugged in at different positions. This arrangement is impractical in centers and larger tracons. Essenmacher promised a better update on the status of Offload deployment. Schedule importer - Also impractical in the larger facilities is the inability to use a schedule program to input shift information. Essenmacher stated he believed the Oracle CruOps did have a schedule importer function through which properly formatted shift information could be passed in. But the practical aspects of this arrangment are not known. LaRue offered to do some testing at ZAN using his schedule program. Essenmacher promised to delve further into this issue. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, April 23, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This telcon was to discuss the agency's progress on efforts to transmit T&A and LDR data to IPPS via batch processing. Background - CRU-X has always used "terminal emulation" to send T&A data to the payroll people (IPPS). IPPS issues paychecks and tracks leave based on this data. If you've ever had dealings with T&A you have probably seen the clerk tabbing through an old-looking, DOS screen while entering data from the sign-in logs. Terminal emulation is a method in which the computer does this for the clerk. If it has the data, the computer can do all the tabbing and keystrokes that the clerk would do and automate the process. Terminal emulation tends to be unreliable because it works at the user interface level. Better is a system that moves data at the file level and bypasses the user interface. The agency has developed a file transfer process called "batch processing" or "FTP transfer". With batch processing, the computers talk more directly to each other. This is a more secure, reliable and technically advanced way of doing business. It is also a method that ABA-1 is expected to certify. The agency is in the process of testing their system and this telcon was a report on their progress. Agency report - Essenmacher began by reviewing past practices. The current DOS-based screens have been accessed in the past via the WAN or in some cases dial-up to enter T&A data to IPPS. Since IPPS has some customers who use FTP transfer, the agency contacted IPPS about the requirements. The agency has been constructing the programming to accomplish the transfer within IPPS specifications. At present, the code exists within CRU-X software to perform FTP transfer but it is not enabled. ATX can enable the code at any facility. When this takes place, the local CRU-X application will contact a server at FAA HQ (the "SYS" server) that is solely able to talk to IPPS. Once all authorizations are complete, the facility will upload data through the SYS server to IPPS via FTP. USERID and password controls are applied both at the facility database level and at the SYS server level. The files are encoded using 128-bit encryption prior to transfer. The SYS server compiles all information received every 10 minutes and then transmits those files to IPPS. As soon as the upload is complete, the SYS server downloads the same data from IPPS and then does a line-by-line comparison to make sure the data was received properly. If there are any errors, the process is stopped. IPPS itself will generate error messages and download them to the SYS server in two files for changes it makes to the data. IPPS makes sure the data conforms to regulations and requirements. For instance, if someone has no sick leave but called in sick, IPPS will convert the leave to annual. Another example would be leave used outside of the shift. In both cases, the event would be recorded and notice issued via the error files. These are received by the facility one or two hours after the FTP transfer under normal conditions. Currently, the agency has completed batch processing from several facilities in test mode. Tests will be conducted on the pay period that ended last Saturday in which data uploaded via terminal emulation will be compared to data uploaded via FTP. Assuming all goes well, IPPS will certify the method for FAA use in the next few weeks. At that point full implementation will be addressed. Discussion - NATCA probed at great length several issues involving the actual operation of the system by the Administrative Officer. After considerable discussion it became clear that he batch processing can be a lengthy process at larger facilities and certin issues might arise as a result. Various scenarios were considered as well as various options for securing the system. The conversation got into similar issues in the operational environment involving the "lock down" of supervisory workstations when unattended. NATCA made clear that identifying any vulnerabilities of the system were a primary concern. NATCA also inquired as to the status of IPPS. The agency said that it was their understanding that IPPS would be replaced by "CHRIS" some time in the near future but that no problems interfacing with it were expected. NATCA has been receiving data from the agency as required by the MOU (LDR data, hardware status) but wanted to know why the format of this data made analysis either difficult or impossible. The agency said the Oracle database was designed to produce that type of output. NATCA asked the agency to provide direct access to appropriate LDR data since Oracle is fully capable of very specific and controllable levels of data access. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Essenmacher: Winter Release Beta 2 - 4 of 18 forms returned by test facilities.
Oracle conversion - ZAN and ZKC are running Oracle on the backend. ZBW has issues that are unknown. Per Essenmacher, the plan is to resolve ZBW before moving forward at all. When ZBW is running, ATX will make an e-mail proposal to NATCA. This is expected to happen within the next two weeks. The general plan will be to field the Oracle version at about 30 additional facilities. AF SMOs are currently using Oracle. This allows TCP/IP access which means the database can be accessed from across the WAN or intranet. With the Access version, the database could only be accessed inside the LAN. As a result, 20 AF databases have been condensed into 7. Davis asked why AF is running a product we are only just testing. A number of issues are involved, including their willingness to suffer with a beta version and the fact that they are not represented by NATCA. Jones admonished those present with a speech about how any product will have bugs, even the almighty Microsoft. He observed that many times one has to reboot Windows. He implied that AF could live with it and we should too. Holtzman then asked why FAA decided to make Microsoft desktop products the foundation for this project. No answer was given. Essenmacher addressed the issue of "getting the word out" when there is a new release, patch, or update. He said the website would only post those exe files that are approved for general release by all parties. Selective releases such as those to beta sites would be passworded. IPPS Batch Processing Testing - Phase one completed. Thousands of demo T&As have been transmitted by batch processing. ATX is ready to perform validation with real data. The test facilities for this have yet to be determined. LDR program office is handling the process. Test facilities will first perform a terminal emulation, and then will perform the batch processing via FTP. This should take about 10 minutes. IPPS will return a report of errors after the processing. Essenmacher will distribute an instruction set and other documentation to all parties soon. They expect testing to start in PP 9 beginning March 23. Batch processing cannot be used for amendments but only for the current T&A. Terminal emulation will still be used to make T&A amendments. Northwest Mountain - Technical focal Gorski is gone. Contractors were hired in support. Brown wants training. Western Pacific - Necochea wants to verify the computer survey data at ZOA. Getting run around from management. All agreed on the telcon this should not be an issue. Essenmacher delighted to have more accurate data. Jones says exisiting installations of CRU-X may have sub standard PCs. Says some piece of paper (the MOU) should not require him to have these removed from CRU-X service. Holtzman says MOU is the closest thing this project has to a business plan. Says there's never been documentation describing requirements and processes and that NATCA will have a serious problem with anyone who categorizes the MOU as a "piece of paper". Central - Mgmt told to log LDR time as 8 hours of "management support". Wismer asked what is the point of gathering LDR data if this is going to happen? Wismer says ZKC LAN and equipment upgrades needed for CruOps won't be completed until October. Essenmacher wants to start CruOps in May. Wismer says a facility such as ZKC cannot reasonably do all the testing, training, and reporting required in the time allotted. Says the ATX schedule is way too aggressive, needs to slow down or face turning all participants off. Staff and personnel using the program need the "buy-in" for the system to gain acceptance and work. N90 - N90 was supposed to have a pow-wow last Thursday to bring NATCA into the project and kick-start the testing. The FAA has been unable to coordinate this process there for a number of reasons including personalities and priorities. The issue came up on the telcon and Reed explained exactly what happened as there was an unfortunate snow storm that day. This issue has been lingering for months and Holtzman explained that it's a simple matter of N90 management finding a single day to get Mr. Reed off the boards for some training. The likelihood of this happening seems remote. Tobin indicated he would address the issue. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, February 26, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Essenmacher: Winter Release Beta 1 - 11 of 18 forms returned by test facilities. Beta 2 - ready for keysite testing
Grell: Want to change test site from DSM to OMA since that is his home base. Kirchner: Need to get RVP/DivManager to make an official notification. They are the decision makers. Wismer: How can we head off problems without training of Reps? Kirchner: We're working on it. The new Beta 2 has very specific instructions that must be followed specifically depsite everyone's inclination to ignore the documentation. Davis: Why are we making changes that include feature requests? Kirchner: Agreed. Only one feature was added and it was the result of considerable feedback. Necochea: Got form back from ZOA. They say the release is inadequate and there are known bugs. Wants to be certain MSDT has incorporated those comments that were submitted only days ago. Essenmacher: All feedback weas reviewed. Did not act on feature requests. Robicheau: The future testing plan will require all 18 facilities to provide feedback. Kirchner: We must get all beta sites running with the program. Jones: Not getting this feedback from ZOA. Necochea: Not getting feedback forms from Van Nuys. Holtzman: The process cannot be vertical only, the info must flow across sides. (Previously voiced concept of an internet-based feedback system that offered appropriate access to all parties.) Kirchner: We need to get the procedures down. Mike Masson, Oracle Transition Manager
Hayden: Will look into it. Wants to see CRU-X security plan so can field questions from facilities that never had a LAN before. Kirchner: Wilco. Davis: Asked about LDR entries. A whole discussion ensued about LDR data vs T&A data. T&A measures your hours worked, leave used, CIC time, OJTI time, and other payroll items. LDR data is what you worked on while at work, exclusive of ATC duties. It became apparent when Alan Gorski (NM Focal) got on that their region never got the message about being able to transmit T&A data via CruSupport upon completion of the process worked out by Robicheau and Kirchner. This telcon cleared the air for many of their facilities to begin using CruSupport for T&A transfer. Holtzman: Why are facilities still using terminal emulation for T&A transfer? Kirchner: IPPS still testing batch processing of T&A. PP 8 and 9 are set up for parallel processing of terminal emulation data and batch processing to validate batch processing. Necochea: How will you contact the SMEs about Monday's telcon? Essenmacher: Good question... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, February 12, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Essenmacher: 1st official pay period on winter release. Feedback trickling in with a dozen e-mails and 2 official feedback forms. Results would be compiled and reviewed with Robicheau tomorrow. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barbarello: There is an inherent flaw in communication (Cool Hand Luke?). Let's stop with any new releases, talk with all 18 facilities and get them up to speed. Robicheau: Who is the driving force on this deal? Who will drive facilities to perform the testing, collaboration, and process called for by the MOU? Tobin: The regional air traffic division manager is the "hammer." Division managers must make facilities do their job. Barbarello: Any and all issues that come up must be worked at the local level with NATCA. The present situation is not acceptable. Essenmacher: We've been using the same process for two years. Barbarello: That should've changed last October. Robicheau: A new process was developed but is not being followed, even with allowances for implementing a new process. Barbarello: Somebody has got to direct each of the 18 ATMs to test the software and report. Wismer: NATCA people need training. Most of us really have very little knowledge of the software and are unable to help the program. Kirchner: The Continuing Resolution was a surprise. We did not know we would not have any money for this. Barbarello: The "CR" only says you can't spend more than last year. It doesn't say you can't reallocate it. Clearly, FAA's priorities are not aligned with training NATCA SME's and thus with involving NATCA in CRU-X. Kirchner: We don't want to plan something and then scrap it again...we'll look at this. It's very important, very important. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, January 29, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Essenmacher:
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LDR data - Data for controllers is supposed to come from the T&A information. It should be autopopulated by the software so that if someone works a regular shift, it records 8 hours of the ATC activity code. If they take leave or make any other entry, it will translate that information into the correct activity or project codes along with the time information. Apparently this process is tedious because the software currently requires this be done individually for each employee rather than en masse. There were issues with this that Bob Jones discussed. Beta feedback form - Bob Jones raised the issue of the utility of the form created by Dave Wismer, our new Central Region CRU-X Rep, to record acceptance of each release by individual test sites. Bob felt the form was limited because it only considers those issues the release is intended to address. He felt that testing in a few facilities would be conclusive for all and that there needed to be ways to record issues that surface in the release that are not directly involved with the new features or fixes. The consensus was that TrackIt (an online tracking system) would suffice. Bob also said he felt the process of involving NATCA in signoffs for the CruSupport releases was overkill since most of the issues involved management functions that would not affect the BU. However, he thought that getting this process down would be very helpful when we move on to CruOps, a module that the BU will interface directly with. Conversion of CruOps to Oracle - Essenmacher stated they planned a 90 day transition. He said Mike Masson (SW Focal) would be coming to Washington on detail to run the transition program. All of AF will be converted first, followed by air traffic centers. Beta versions will be tested at keysite centers. All of this is expected sometime in the spring/summer time frame. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, January 15, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kirchner:
N90 - Eastern Region test facility is simply not capable of managing the testing. Only one person is trained and he has numerous other responsibilities. The IRM does have much of .32 installed, but there is no one to work the other issues. Kirchner suggested a new facility be named. Bill Holtzman indicated that the only other options for a large facility, ZNY and ZDC, were both likely to have similar issues. Latest Release - To clarify, Robey says LDR Lite 1.2.13 and CruSupport 1.2.32 are both ok'd for national release. Regional Offices - Keysite testing of Oracle versions of CRU-X will continue with the regional offices. There is currently only one Oracle version fielded. Equipment Requests - Tom Hedeen inquired as to how facilities are to go about getting the necessary equipment. Kirhcner answered at length...starting with submitting From 4405 through regional channels. Said CRU-X is not OpsNet in that you don't simply have one machine that runs CRU-X, you usually need a network of machines that are also used for other purposes. You do need one server, but most facilities have been provided with that. Kirchner said each facility must review the need, is it purely CRU-X or is it involved with general equipment life cycles in the facility? He and Rick Ford (AAF-60) are to make determinations as to who gets what based on these documents. Rep/Focal Training - Kirchner said the February slot at CMD for training the focals and Reps was lost. Looking at early March and needs feedback on best week. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, January 7, 2003 No telcon this week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, December 31, 2002 No telcon this week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, December 24, 2002 No telcon this week | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, December 17, 2002 Jerry Essenmacher, MSDT Host Present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Essenmacher:
Passwords - Earlier versions did not require 8 character password with digits. The newer version was released with that requirement but it was not coordinated with NATCA. There was negative field feedback on this. Oracle CruSupport - Testing going on at ZOB. Biggest issue is moving data across the LAN. They have two Oracle/VB people working the transition. The same product is in use at RO's and HQ, but the difference is ZOB has a much larger database and the data has to be converted from Access data files. The Oracle setup features transactional rollback. The servers at larger facilities are RAID. Cleveland Center - Database corruptions daily. What is a corruption? Tables get out of alignment causing data errors. All users must sign off the system while an administrator is called to repair the database. Corruption problems are worsening as the amount of data grows. ATX-400 Plans - Essenmacher said CruQuality willl be web-based by March. He could not offer any preview of their plans for the next six months. He said that CruSupport will be on Oracle by Feb/Mar. SME training - N90 focal Tony Russo is also a full time sup, needs additional staff trained on CRU-X. Essenmacher has talked to Kirchner about SME training but there are no plans outside of CBIs. Offload computers - COS has two gateway computers but cannot use them for data Offload since they are not NT. AF can't interface anything but NT machines with ARTS IIE. Essenmacher says call Matt Dunne. WP Region - CruSupport .27 in use all over region. .32 in use at beta sites. .32 - New version of CruSupport not ready for general release yet, no timetable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, December 10, 2002 Jerry Essenmacher, MSDT Host Present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Essenmacher reviewed the notes from last week, which were “unverified”. He felt that significant policy statements were addressed in these notes and that a “manager” needed to sign off on these before they were released.
He noted the following: Regional offices are starting to have problems with passwords expiring. They get 3 logins after expiration and apparently that’s not enough for some people. CruSupport CBIs should be made available to all BUMs. This includes all 4 modules: T&A, sups, controllers, Admin) Beta sites – ATX-400 fully supports releases to beta sites first (so they agree to do what the MOU requires). However, they feel their products are “release-grade” and are ready to go right out of the box. They consider their “rats” and “source safe” testing to qualify as fully beta testing without the involvement of a user base. They also have not changed their position regarding general release. They would exclude NATCA from this decision. Telcon highlights: NATCA Reps – need full access to FAA web site including bug reports, feature requests, tracking, etc. Essenmacher says it’s there already at http://cru-x.faa.gov/tiweb50/scripts/trackit.asp This is electronic “help desk” software that ATX-400 bought from a company called Blue Ocean for an undisclosed amount. Essenmacher said Reps already had passwords but Holtzman was unable to gain access to the site. Essenmacher promised to work on it. Robicheau also requested that FAA supply ATS LDR CD package for training on LDR. SME training - The issue of training SMEs (subject matter experts) at the local level again came up. Essenmacher asked Robicheau to give him a list of the SMEs at each beta site, apparently so he could begin coordination with them. Gorski out – NM Tech focal Alan Gorski has been ill for months. NATCA Rep Hedeen has been unable to even contact Gorski by phone. NATCA gently stressed the need for a substitute. PAD Update – the project activity description codes were just revised to include categories that were left off. NATCA is taking issue with the latest codes as they do not adhere to Appendix A from the MOU. Specifically, FSS is lumped in with air traffic control and FAA has inserted codes for Union activities. These are both in direct violation of the negotiations. New Rep – Ken Necochea from SCT reported in for his first day of work for WP Region. Cleveland Center – ZOB CRU-X has been way too slow. Essenmacher says they’ve been running CRU-X for three years and the “Timesheet” table has gotten too big. The nature of this problem needs further review, as ZOB is reporting crashed several times weekly. In any case, Essenmacher (but not necessarily FAA since Essenmacher is not a “manager”) feels as NATCA does that large facilities should go up with the Oracle version only. Oracle databases are built for these applications. Strange comment – Essenmacher went on to say that ATX-400 is torn as to who should get Oracle first. He stated that remote and tiny facilities such as Pago-Pago needed Oracle as well. Remote facilities have major maintenance issues. Despite the fact that MSDT selected Access for easy maintenance, Essenmacher stated clearly that he did not believe an Access database in Pago-Pago could be adequately supported. This unexpected comment appears to indicate that the existing Access databases must be requiring substantial and frequent failure recovery operations. Now why would that be? NATCA reaction – Holtzman put some perspective on this dilemna. The driving forces behind CRU-X are LDR (labor cost-accounting a.k.a. time cards) and electronic processing of administrative functions. Gathering of LDR data from Pago-Pago or 15 other similar facilities is not likely to be statistically significant. Jan 1? – On last week’s EA telcon an issue was made of a deadline of Jan 1 for IPPS transmission through CRU-X. This rumor was dispelled completely. T&A Test Progression – Jim Hayden brought up an issue from the previous telcon. ATX-400 had promised this guide. Essenmacher said he would get it for next week. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, December 3, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The national FAA/NATCA telcon on CRU-X actually took place today. The following is a synopsis of what took nearly 2 hours to complete. Hosting the program was Jerry Essenmacher, newly minted ATX-400 staff person who apparently came from our ranks at ZNY and then ZOB. Jerry appears to be the right hand man of Bill Kirchner, head geek for CRU-X. Mr. Kirchner did not participate in this forum. Others on the telcon included NATCA and FAA leads from most regions. Overall, the FAA had no surprises. They took their typically bossy stance and indicated that they would be mostly paying lip service to our concerns and the MOU. Highlights of the telcon: SME training: Most of you likely have very little experience with CRU-X software. We raised the issue of how the FAA intends to get our local people up to speed. There is no way we can participate in the beta tests and deployment without adequate training of our SMEs. The FAA responded that they had already trained personnel at every facility in their year-long tour that ended a year ago. We pointed out that few of those trained were NATCA. The FAA indicated there are 4 CBIs on CruSupport and more on the way for other modules. We also expressed dissatisfaction with the complete lack of NATCA involvement at the local level in our region and indicated that the beta tests would likely not go well if this continued. Rep training: The NATCA Regional Reps are to get week long training. FAA is waiting until the software is more fully developed so that the training will be more meaningful. Beta sites: A confrontation took place on the role of beta sites. The FAA is of the mind that they have satisfied the MOU (Section 18) as long as they release new software to beta sites first and then deploy nationally a week later. They maintained that the decision to go forward nationally is solely theirs because "they've been doing this for many years and know what they're doing". We held our tongues as far as their experience, but spoke up regarding interpretation of the MOU. Jeff Walukonis spoke for our negotiating team, saying the intent of the negotiation was to iron out problems at beta sites before general release and that this process was collaborative as described in the Q&A. No FAA negotiator was present and Jeff advised Essenmacher to check with one. T&A transmission by CRU-X: Jim Hayden (Eastern Region FAA Focal) brought up this issue. Some facilities have been transmitting T&As for over a year, while others began recently. According to our National Rep, if the facility was doing this prior to Sept 18 (MOU signed) then continue doing so. We are in disagreement about facilities that began between Sept 18 and Nov 20. The problem is that the start up process is not defined and several facilities have had pay problems as a result. The issue is to be resolved in meetings on Thursday. LDR entry: The driving force behind CRU-X is LDR, or Labor Distribution Reporting. This is something Congress ordered the FAA to begin by Sept 30, 2002. It is the gathering of information regarding the cost of labor - this amounts to essentially the collecting of time cards that break down our day into cost codes. If you work traffic all day, that is one code. Currently, CruSupport is not certified for transmission of LDR data (existing use excluded) as required by MOU Section 1. However, FAA may use it to send T&A data. Facilities are not pleased to be entering T&A data into IPPS and the same data into CruSupport or some other LDR entry vehicle. A procedure for handling this will be forthcoming shortly. (Note: This section of the notes was revised. Certification had incorrectly referred to T&A instead of LDR.) Hardware: The Agency has not satisfied Section 15 of the MOU. They offered an old assessment of the hardware requirements but the MOU requires more than that. The agency has contracted the Breakwater Corp. to perform survey work in support of ABA-1 certification of the CRU-X IPPS interface. Staff Specialists: Staff specialists are not covered under the MOU. The agency has not provided NATCA with an Article 7 for them. The agency decided to leave them off the MOU to expedite completion. As a result, no staff specialists should be using CRU-X unless they were using it prior to March 8, 2002. This includes ATB-200, AOS-300, and field staff. Privacy Act info: This issue was not discussed on the telcon. NATCA's position is that the FAA is in violation of CBA Article 22 Section 5 insofar as supervisors are able to access an employee's OPF/EPF without this event being logged. The software must be rewritten to satisfy the Article prior to any further deployment. CruOps: Essenmacher stated that CruOps would not be deployed in Access. An Oracle version would be ready in the Feb/Mar time frame. This is good news. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||