The customary Hall B shifts procedural issues are now implemented in this user interface
software, but a few frequently asked questions are answered below. For the service work howto,
click here.
Every page of this online interface contains detailed instructions and explanations, please read those attentively before asking for help. Documentation in PDF format is available here.
There is no 'Institutional Login' anymore, but only 'User Login'. However, after login, there is a differentiation depending on the user's responsibilities:
- General users will be able to sign up for shifts assigned to their institution, trade or swap their shifts or change their own passwords.
- The representative(s) of each CLAS institution have more permissions than the regular members, as they can change passwords and assign, trade or swap shifts for anyone in their group. They can also edit the member lists.
- The current PDL can in addition modify the PDL table and should update it to assign the next PDL before his/her term ends.
What's my password ?
Each user has his/her own password for logging in to this interface, which bears no relationship to the Jlab CUE password. If you don't know yours, forgot it or never knew you have one, please read the next FAQ item. Passwords set via this interface are encrypted.
What to do if I don't know my password ?
If you try to log in with an incorrect password, you will be given the option to receive an email reminder. Try that first. If the received password does not work, then get in touch with your institute representative, who can reset it for you. If you are the institute representative and forgot your password, please contact shiftbot to reset it for you.
What to do if my name is not listed ?
Get in touch with your institute representative, who should log in and add you to his/her members list.
How do I find who my institutional contact is ?
Click the link 'List of Institutional Contacts' in the left menu, or click here.
How do I change my password ?
Log in, then choose 'Change passwords' from the menu and follow the steps. The new password will be stored encrypted in the database.
Should I subscribe to any mailing list ?
There are now four mailing lists (clas_members, clas_full_and_term, clas_reps and clas_shift_takers) that are automatically refreshed nightly based on the information in the shifts and membership databases. Reminders and notifications will be sent to those. In addition, it is a good idea to be subscribed to the Hall B (hallb@jlab.org) mailing list in order to receive up to date information about experiment status, shift schedule changes etc.
How can I change my email in the CLAS mailing lists ?
For clas_members and clas_full_and_term, edit your JLab 'phonebook' entry and modify the email1 field. To change your subscribed email address in clas_reps and clas_shift_takers, ask your IR (institute representative) to update your entry in the shifts personnel tables.
Who creates the member lists ?
The institutional representative(s) must edit and keep up to date the list of members for their institution in the shift database. These lists should roughly correspond to the official CLAS membership of that institution, but extra names can be included to the shift lists for the purpose of taking shifts. Please note that adding people to the shift personnel list does not make them members of CLAS, and deleting people from the list does not alter their publication authorship rights. For specific CLAS membership issues, one must contact the CLAS membership committee.
What to do if I change my affiliation ?
If you transfer to another CLAS member institute, say from A to B, then you should do the following:
How are shift allocations calculated ?
Shift allocations are done proportional to the number of active CLAS members (i.e. affiliated as Term and Full members to the institute at that particular date). However, one is then free to distribute these shifts among all the members registered for shifts, i.e. one can have students or prospective CLAS members on the shift lists, without being given a higher shifts load because of this. Let's say an institute has a total of 5 CLAS active (Term or Full) members, and 7 names listed for shifts duty. The allocation will be based on a manpower of 5, but any of the 7 can sign up. The ratio of expert/novice shifts allocated will correspond to the ratio in the shift members list.
Am I a shift expert ?
The shift database flags members who are certified as shift experts. If you have taken eight shifts in the past six months and the safety walk through, you are an expert. The expert list is augmented by individuals flagged by the PDL as experts based on his or her judgment of their experience. If you feel that you are an expert but are in the database as a novice, contact your institute representative, who can update your qualification level in the shifts database.
What are the requirements for 'worker' (or novice) shift takers ?
In addition to the standard Hall B Requirements for Shift Personnel, new workers are strongly encouranged, if possible, to sit in with and observe other shifts before their first scheduled shift.
What is a shift swap ? What is a shift trade ?
A swap is an exchange initiated and finalized unilaterally by a person. A trade is an exchange initiated by one person and finalized with the agreement of a second party. Swaps are done during designated periods, and are meant to ease the travel load on the Foreign and Domestic institutions. Trades can be done at any time, and are based solely on mutual agreement between the persons or institutions involved. Note: If the shifts in discussion were assigned to you by your institutional representative, you may want to consult with him/her before swapping or trading them.
How do I add a new shift taker ?
If you are an institute representative, you ca add a new name on the shift taker's list of your institution. You have to log in and choose Manage members from the menu.
How do I delete a shift taker from my institution's list ?
If you are an institute representative, you can delete names from your shift taker's list, once the corresponding person no longer shows as an active member of your institution in the CLAS Membership database. To change the CLAS Membership database information, please contact the CLAS membership Committee chair (Bryan McKinnon). Then you have to log in via the shifts interface and choose Manage members from the options menu, etc.
How do I sign up for shifts ?
You don't have to select a date range. Just log in, then choose 'Sign up for shifts' from the menu. You will be presented with a list of future shifts assigned to your institute. Follow the steps.
Can I be excluded from shifts during the next cycle ?
Yes, ask you institutional representative to edit the members list and mark your expertise level as 'No shifts'. You will still be able to log in to the interface, but you will not be counted on for shifts. Please use this feature responsibly.
How do I perform a shift swap ?
You don't have to select a date range. Just log in, then choose 'Swap shifts' from the menu and follow the steps. You can then choose one of these courses of action:
It is recommended, especially for foreign institutions, to couple downtime shifts with normal shifts and travel to Jlab for the whole period, just in case there is a last minute change in the schedule and all the shifts have to be manned.
To see the current shift swaps schedule, hover with your mouse over the FAQ link in the green menu bar at the top of this page.
How do I trade a shift ?
Log in, then choose 'Trade shifts' from the menu and follow the steps. An email will be automatically sent to the other party, who will have to either accept or reject the trade. You will be notified by email when the transaction is finalized. You can send multiple trade offers for a given set of your shifts, and the trade will belong to the first person who accepts it.
If you get an email announcing you of a trade offer, follow the instructions contained therein to finalize or refuse the trade - or else you will receive daily reminders until the trade expires (after 15 days). Do not worry, in case you reject a trade, a polite email will be sent to the initiator. An email will also be automatically sent out to both parties when the transaction is finalized.
Can I cancel a trade I proposed ?
Yes. Log in, then choose 'Trade shifts' from the menu and at the top of the page there will be a list of pending trades you have proposed. You can choose to keep or delete any of them. Select the ones you wish to delete and click 'Refresh'. Then continue with a new trade or simply log out. Note that by default trades expire automatically after 15 days.
Someone agreed to do my shifts, how do I reassign them ?
Let's say you are from institute A (and B is not the sister institue of A). If someone from institute B agrees to do your shifts - perhaps because you asked for a favour - they can be assigned without intervention from the Schedule Admin, but based solely on a tacit agreement between the involved parties (A and B). To do it, the institutional administrator of A has to log in and follow these steps precisely:
How to make use of my sister institute ?
Let's say A and B are sister institues. Then the institute representative from A has the option to assign shifts to people from B, and viceversa. Say you are from A and you appoint someone from B on a shift assignment you can not fullfil. The person assigned (and/or the institute representative of B) is notified by email, and a shifts debt is recorded in the database. The debt can be settled later on by B by assigning members of A on their shifts.
Two institutes A and B can become sister institutes by mutual agreement, and the institute representatives of both A and B should email the Schedule Admin (shiftbot@jab.org) to confirm the pairing.
How is the experimental schedule made ?
The accelerator schedule is taken from here, and copied into the shift database. Sometimes changes are made to it after our shift schedule has been generated and swaps and trades have started. In such cases, some of the shifts will not have to be taken, while some others, initially during downtime, will need to be manned.
Should we sign up for shifts during maintenance days ?
The accelerator schedule is created months in advance and the actual activity on maintenance days varies greatly. Sometimes we do take data and other times we are in fact down. You should assign names to ALL shifts during the MAINTENANCE/RESTORE periods. It will not be known until the week before the maintenance period what the actual schedule will be during these days. Contact the PDL/RC to see what is expected of shift takers during the maintenance days.
Should we sign up for shifts during Down/Install days ?
There will not be any shifts during the Down/Install days and you do not need to sign up for shifts. The main exception being the first or last week of scheduled Down/Install periods. If you have a shift at the beginning or end of a long DOWN period, you should be prepared to take those shifts in case: a) the schedule changes or b) there are shakedown shifts needed to bring the experiment back up after a long down period. Please contact the PDL/RC for details.
The recommended practice, especially for foreign institutions, would be to group downtime shifts with normal shifts and travel to Jlab for the whole period, just in case there is a last minute change in the schedule.
How do I set up the link to my experiment's web page ?
To have your experiment's web page automatically linked herein, the name of the experiment as it appears in the database and is shown on the "Accelerator Schedule/Hall B Program" column here, should be identical to the its clasweb directory under /group/clas/www/clasweb/html/shift/.
How do I assign the next PDL ?
Only the current PDL can edit the future PDLs list. To do that, the current PDL has to log in before the end of her/his term, and click on the 'Assign PDLs' button, then follow the instructions.
Are CLAS12 tasks automatically added to the SoS ?
No, such feature is not yet implemented. At the end of the year, make sure that the tasks that you were responsible for are copied to your institute's SoS and reviewed by your IR before the SoS is submitted to the CLAS Service Work Committee.
Read this in your own language:
Every page of this online interface contains detailed instructions and explanations, please read those attentively before asking for help. Documentation in PDF format is available here.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Other topics:
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Answers
How do I login ?There is no 'Institutional Login' anymore, but only 'User Login'. However, after login, there is a differentiation depending on the user's responsibilities:
- General users will be able to sign up for shifts assigned to their institution, trade or swap their shifts or change their own passwords.
- The representative(s) of each CLAS institution have more permissions than the regular members, as they can change passwords and assign, trade or swap shifts for anyone in their group. They can also edit the member lists.
- The current PDL can in addition modify the PDL table and should update it to assign the next PDL before his/her term ends.
What's my password ?
Each user has his/her own password for logging in to this interface, which bears no relationship to the Jlab CUE password. If you don't know yours, forgot it or never knew you have one, please read the next FAQ item. Passwords set via this interface are encrypted.
What to do if I don't know my password ?
If you try to log in with an incorrect password, you will be given the option to receive an email reminder. Try that first. If the received password does not work, then get in touch with your institute representative, who can reset it for you. If you are the institute representative and forgot your password, please contact shiftbot to reset it for you.
What to do if my name is not listed ?
Get in touch with your institute representative, who should log in and add you to his/her members list.
How do I find who my institutional contact is ?
Click the link 'List of Institutional Contacts' in the left menu, or click here.
How do I change my password ?
Log in, then choose 'Change passwords' from the menu and follow the steps. The new password will be stored encrypted in the database.
Should I subscribe to any mailing list ?
There are now four mailing lists (clas_members, clas_full_and_term, clas_reps and clas_shift_takers) that are automatically refreshed nightly based on the information in the shifts and membership databases. Reminders and notifications will be sent to those. In addition, it is a good idea to be subscribed to the Hall B (hallb@jlab.org) mailing list in order to receive up to date information about experiment status, shift schedule changes etc.
How can I change my email in the CLAS mailing lists ?
For clas_members and clas_full_and_term, edit your JLab 'phonebook' entry and modify the email1 field. To change your subscribed email address in clas_reps and clas_shift_takers, ask your IR (institute representative) to update your entry in the shifts personnel tables.
Who creates the member lists ?
The institutional representative(s) must edit and keep up to date the list of members for their institution in the shift database. These lists should roughly correspond to the official CLAS membership of that institution, but extra names can be included to the shift lists for the purpose of taking shifts. Please note that adding people to the shift personnel list does not make them members of CLAS, and deleting people from the list does not alter their publication authorship rights. For specific CLAS membership issues, one must contact the CLAS membership committee.
What to do if I change my affiliation ?
If you transfer to another CLAS member institute, say from A to B, then you should do the following:
- Notify the CLAS Membership Committee of the transfer from A to B
- Ask A to remove you from their shift takers list
- Ask B to add you to their shift takers list
How are shift allocations calculated ?
Shift allocations are done proportional to the number of active CLAS members (i.e. affiliated as Term and Full members to the institute at that particular date). However, one is then free to distribute these shifts among all the members registered for shifts, i.e. one can have students or prospective CLAS members on the shift lists, without being given a higher shifts load because of this. Let's say an institute has a total of 5 CLAS active (Term or Full) members, and 7 names listed for shifts duty. The allocation will be based on a manpower of 5, but any of the 7 can sign up. The ratio of expert/novice shifts allocated will correspond to the ratio in the shift members list.
Am I a shift expert ?
The shift database flags members who are certified as shift experts. If you have taken eight shifts in the past six months and the safety walk through, you are an expert. The expert list is augmented by individuals flagged by the PDL as experts based on his or her judgment of their experience. If you feel that you are an expert but are in the database as a novice, contact your institute representative, who can update your qualification level in the shifts database.
What are the requirements for 'worker' (or novice) shift takers ?
In addition to the standard Hall B Requirements for Shift Personnel, new workers are strongly encouranged, if possible, to sit in with and observe other shifts before their first scheduled shift.
What is a shift swap ? What is a shift trade ?
A swap is an exchange initiated and finalized unilaterally by a person. A trade is an exchange initiated by one person and finalized with the agreement of a second party. Swaps are done during designated periods, and are meant to ease the travel load on the Foreign and Domestic institutions. Trades can be done at any time, and are based solely on mutual agreement between the persons or institutions involved. Note: If the shifts in discussion were assigned to you by your institutional representative, you may want to consult with him/her before swapping or trading them.
How do I add a new shift taker ?
If you are an institute representative, you ca add a new name on the shift taker's list of your institution. You have to log in and choose Manage members from the menu.
How do I delete a shift taker from my institution's list ?
If you are an institute representative, you can delete names from your shift taker's list, once the corresponding person no longer shows as an active member of your institution in the CLAS Membership database. To change the CLAS Membership database information, please contact the CLAS membership Committee chair (Bryan McKinnon). Then you have to log in via the shifts interface and choose Manage members from the options menu, etc.
How do I sign up for shifts ?
You don't have to select a date range. Just log in, then choose 'Sign up for shifts' from the menu. You will be presented with a list of future shifts assigned to your institute. Follow the steps.
Can I be excluded from shifts during the next cycle ?
Yes, ask you institutional representative to edit the members list and mark your expertise level as 'No shifts'. You will still be able to log in to the interface, but you will not be counted on for shifts. Please use this feature responsibly.
How do I perform a shift swap ?
You don't have to select a date range. Just log in, then choose 'Swap shifts' from the menu and follow the steps. You can then choose one of these courses of action:
- Institutional contacts swap shifts first, then assign names or ask members to sign up, or
- Institutional contacts assign names and leave it to the members to swap their own shifts, or
- Members sign up and then swap their own shifts
It is recommended, especially for foreign institutions, to couple downtime shifts with normal shifts and travel to Jlab for the whole period, just in case there is a last minute change in the schedule and all the shifts have to be manned.
To see the current shift swaps schedule, hover with your mouse over the FAQ link in the green menu bar at the top of this page.
How do I trade a shift ?
Log in, then choose 'Trade shifts' from the menu and follow the steps. An email will be automatically sent to the other party, who will have to either accept or reject the trade. You will be notified by email when the transaction is finalized. You can send multiple trade offers for a given set of your shifts, and the trade will belong to the first person who accepts it.
If you get an email announcing you of a trade offer, follow the instructions contained therein to finalize or refuse the trade - or else you will receive daily reminders until the trade expires (after 15 days). Do not worry, in case you reject a trade, a polite email will be sent to the initiator. An email will also be automatically sent out to both parties when the transaction is finalized.
Can I cancel a trade I proposed ?
Yes. Log in, then choose 'Trade shifts' from the menu and at the top of the page there will be a list of pending trades you have proposed. You can choose to keep or delete any of them. Select the ones you wish to delete and click 'Refresh'. Then continue with a new trade or simply log out. Note that by default trades expire automatically after 15 days.
Someone agreed to do my shifts, how do I reassign them ?
Let's say you are from institute A (and B is not the sister institue of A). If someone from institute B agrees to do your shifts - perhaps because you asked for a favour - they can be assigned without intervention from the Schedule Admin, but based solely on a tacit agreement between the involved parties (A and B). To do it, the institutional administrator of A has to log in and follow these steps precisely:
- Add the name of the person from B to A's shift takers list as
"First Last (for A)", for example: "John Smith (for
RPI)"
Eventually insert a short explanation in the 'remarks' field. - Assign the new name to the desired A shifts
- Remove the new name from A's shift takers list
How to make use of my sister institute ?
Let's say A and B are sister institues. Then the institute representative from A has the option to assign shifts to people from B, and viceversa. Say you are from A and you appoint someone from B on a shift assignment you can not fullfil. The person assigned (and/or the institute representative of B) is notified by email, and a shifts debt is recorded in the database. The debt can be settled later on by B by assigning members of A on their shifts.
Two institutes A and B can become sister institutes by mutual agreement, and the institute representatives of both A and B should email the Schedule Admin (shiftbot@jab.org) to confirm the pairing.
How is the experimental schedule made ?
The accelerator schedule is taken from here, and copied into the shift database. Sometimes changes are made to it after our shift schedule has been generated and swaps and trades have started. In such cases, some of the shifts will not have to be taken, while some others, initially during downtime, will need to be manned.
Should we sign up for shifts during maintenance days ?
The accelerator schedule is created months in advance and the actual activity on maintenance days varies greatly. Sometimes we do take data and other times we are in fact down. You should assign names to ALL shifts during the MAINTENANCE/RESTORE periods. It will not be known until the week before the maintenance period what the actual schedule will be during these days. Contact the PDL/RC to see what is expected of shift takers during the maintenance days.
Should we sign up for shifts during Down/Install days ?
There will not be any shifts during the Down/Install days and you do not need to sign up for shifts. The main exception being the first or last week of scheduled Down/Install periods. If you have a shift at the beginning or end of a long DOWN period, you should be prepared to take those shifts in case: a) the schedule changes or b) there are shakedown shifts needed to bring the experiment back up after a long down period. Please contact the PDL/RC for details.
The recommended practice, especially for foreign institutions, would be to group downtime shifts with normal shifts and travel to Jlab for the whole period, just in case there is a last minute change in the schedule.
How do I set up the link to my experiment's web page ?
To have your experiment's web page automatically linked herein, the name of the experiment as it appears in the database and is shown on the "Accelerator Schedule/Hall B Program" column here, should be identical to the its clasweb directory under /group/clas/www/clasweb/html/shift/.
How do I assign the next PDL ?
Only the current PDL can edit the future PDLs list. To do that, the current PDL has to log in before the end of her/his term, and click on the 'Assign PDLs' button, then follow the instructions.
Are CLAS12 tasks automatically added to the SoS ?
No, such feature is not yet implemented. At the end of the year, make sure that the tasks that you were responsible for are copied to your institute's SoS and reviewed by your IR before the SoS is submitted to the CLAS Service Work Committee.
Read this in your own language: