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How to Use this Manual

Firstly, it is important to explain what this manual is not.

Instead, this manual attempts to give an overview of what is possible with the OT, without going in to the kinds of detail covered in the resources mentioned above. Therefore, Phase-1 proposals are described in terms of their main components, their purpose and what kind of information should be entered. Where detail is given, it generally covers aspects of the OT that are not obvious. A list of acronyms (Appendix B) may prove useful.

Users who are completely unfamiliar with the OT are recommended to read the following chapters: Chapter 2 provides information about how to install, configure and run the Observing Tool, Chapter 3 describes the main components of an observing proposal and program, and Chapter 4 provides a general overview of the OT.

In order to create a Phase-1 proposal, all the essential information is covered in Chapter 5 - this describes the process in some detail and should be read by all users. Complementary to this is Chapter 7 which describes various OT tools and Chapters 8 and 9 that give detailed information on how to use the visual spatial and spectral editors.

Phase-2 programs are covered in Chapter 6, although the chapters that cover the tools and visual editors remain relevant. In Cycle 4, it is planned for the first time that PIs will create the Scheduling Blocks (SBs) themselves (the OT will do this at the push of a button) and submit them to the archive. In many cases, the automatic generation produces a valid SB, but in others additional work must be performed by observatory staff before the SB can be executed. The SBs themselves cannot be edited by PIs and thus much of Chapter 6 is only relevant for expert users and observatory staff. The same applies to the Appendices that also cover special topics.


next up previous contents
Next: User Support Up: Introduction Previous: Introduction   Contents
The ALMA OT Team, 2016 Aug 23