Date: May 16, 2000
Time: 3-5
Place: Cafcon
Name: APT Development Project Meeting
Attendees: Tony Krueger, Dick Shaw, Donald Mclean, Rob Douglas, 
           Jesse Doggett, Hemant Shukla, Perry Greenfield, Frank Tanner,
           Karla Peterson, Tom Donaldson

Agenda;

 - June VTT status (vtt team)
   - software status (rob)
   - install anywhere status (frank)
   - testing/documentation status (karla)
   - support plan help-desk (karla)
 
 - August VTT release (tony)

 - Goddard Peer Review & Managment Review (Tony)
   
 - User Support for APT by Tool (Tony)
   - See document below for details
 
 - Bright Object Checking in VTT (tony)

 - Starview/VTT Status (tony)

 - ETC status
   - Requirements Clarification status (Dick)
   - Constraint Manager design (Donald/Rob)
   - Synphot deamon design (Hemant)

 - Anything else

tony

User Group Support for the APT
   S. Lubow
   5/9/00

There are two types of tasks that the user group
will be supporting. In the first category
are the global issues. These include issues such as
the order of release of tools, as well as the interoperability and
uniformity of the tools. In the second category are issues
associated with specific tools whose development has
already begun or will begin in the next few months.
We have begun developing a plan to handle the user group
support of these tasks. We believe that it is possible
to carry out both types of tasks in parallel. Some of the global issues,
such as interoperability, ought to be resolved before the tool
development procedes very far. On the other hand, high level tool 
requirements and prototyping can begin before many of these issues
are settled. The user group supports the goal of providing
tools in a fast prototyping, iterative manner. A close cooperation
between the user group and the developers is necessary
for rapid prototyping to suceed. This memo outlines
a plan to investigate the global issues and to support
the near term development efforts. 

Tony Krueger has listed the major tasks (global issues or tools)
that require user group input, along with a schedule. This list
is found at the end of this memo. The user group members
are available on a limited part-time basis. To make reasonable
progress, we plan to assign a small number of individuals to each task.
For each task, there will be a primary person and one or more 
secondary people. The primary person is responsible for the user
group's involvement with the task. The secondary people
are to assist the primary person and possibly represent the
primary person when required.


Development Projects

For development efforts, we envision that they will work
directly with the development team. 
The primary person's responsibilties are as follows.
- They will act as a liason between the user group and the developers.
  Their involvement will vary somewhat depending on the
  maturity level of the project. 
- They will report on the status of the task at the APT user group meetings.
- For new development efforts, they will provide the needed science 
  input to make decisions about the capabilties of the software. This will
  likely involve the development of a list of high-level capabilities
  and science use cases.
- The development model involves the use of iterative prototyping. 
  To that end, the primary person will test the usability and capabilities of 
  the prototype and suggest changes. 
- They will be available to suggest instrument scientists
  and data assistants to carry out more detailed testing.
  The detailed testing involves verifying the scientific accuracy of the
  software.
- They are responsible for reviewing documentation
  of the software. They may provide general
  documentation that gives users a scientific overview
  of the tool. They are not required to produce
  detailed documentation of each capability.
- They will provide scientific input needed to prioritize OPRs.
  Detailed technical OPRs should be handled by the developers.

Global Issues

The user group will also investigate some global
issues, as described in the last two tasks at the end of this memo. 
One issue is the schedule for the release
of specific tools. Another, but related issue involves
global aspects of the tools, such as the APT user interface.
We plan to follow a similar model for working on
the issues, with primary and second members. The group will work
with designated developers to provide a long-term plan.
We accept that the starting point for these issues is the
document "APT: HST Proposal Preparation Environment for the Second Decade"
prepared by the Tools of the Future group
(see http://www.stsci.edu/spb/tof/tof.html).

The global issues will be the main focus of the APT user
group meetings in the next few months.

Areas of concern

We accept that detailed tuning of a user interface and 
adjusting some of the capabilities of a tool will involve obtaining
feedback from end users after the tool is released.
On the other hand, a tool needs to be both robust
(does not easily crash) and accurate. Feedback on
the scientific accuracy should come from within STScI
and not from users. There is a concern about the availability 
of resources for this type of testing.
We are uncertain about what resources exist
within the HST division to provide detailed testing.
There are also concerns about the resources for documenting
the details of each tool. Karla is available to help
with these issues and we are getting help from
Jim Younger on documentation of the VTT.
We believe that more resources will be needed.
It would be desirable to have Jim Younger or someone
like him to provide APT support beyond the VTT.

Another area of concern is the level of effort
that will be required by the user group members
in the next several months. Much of the conceptual
effort on the global APT issues, as well as on some
new tools, will be taking place between now and 
the fall. The group members had expected a lower
level of effort, about 4 hours per week, would be required.
This estimate is unrealistic, at least for the near term.
It is likely that one and possibily two days per week may
be required.

----------------------------------------------------------

Support Activities and Assigned User Group Members

ETC SUPPORT  - Primary Chris O'Dea, Secondary Max Mutchler
===========
Primary contact from development side is Dick Shaw

The ETC developers will need from the requirements group a fairly 
complete specification of the requirements that apply to the ETCs 
within the APT.  We will also need them to develop a set of use 
cases that represent a wide range of instrument use for a broad 
range of science programs. 

The ETC task expects to be able to generate a first cut at the 
requirements by mid-May, which will be based upon the existing CGI 
ETCs and the APT/ETCs.  This draft can serve as a starting point 
for the discussions that lead to the final SRS.  We know that the 
ACS group is relatively happy with the interface and functionality 
of the APT/ETC, so the first draft of the SRS should be realtively 
solid.  Still, it will be essential I think for the requirements 
group to solicit input from at least one instrument team other 
than ACS to ensure that the final product is designed with a broad 
enough perspective in mind, and that we have solicited all the 
necessary functional and non-functional requrements.  

The ETC task will need support for generating and reviewing 
documentation for the ETCs, including tutorials if they are deemed 
necessary.  The ETC task will also need support for validation of 
the product that will be released for Cy 10, Ph 2.  This will mostly 
take the form of some use-case testing (though a lot of that will be 
done by the instrument team) and of evaluating the GUI from a 
usability standpoint. 

Here is a straw-man schedule for the requirements generation for the ETCs: 

12 May		First draft of requirements specification (SRS) as 
		generated by the ETC team is made available to the 
		requirements team (RT) for review.  
		
12 May-26 May	RT reviews the requirements and evaluates the interface 
		& functionality of APT ETCs. 

 5 Jun		RT provides a revised draft of the SRS, and a prioritized 
		list of changes to the functionality and GUI of the APT 
		ETCs.  

16 Jun		RT finalizes the SRS and the scientific Use Cases. 
		Changes to the APT/ETC functionality are written up and 
		prioritized in an appendix to the SRS. 

30 Jun		RT supports evaluation of the revised ACS ETC w.r.t. 
		thoughput and reliability of the connection to synphot. 

4 Sep-6 Oct	RT supports generation of documentation for ETCs. 

29 Sep		RT supports validation (including Use Case testing) for 
		the re-implemented ACS ETC. 

VTT Support - Primary Ray Lucas, Secondary Megan Donahue and Karla Peterson
===========
Primary contact from development side is Tony Krueger

5/4-6/1         Help with 6/1/2000 release
                Review on-line documentation 
                Acceptance testing support 
                Help with 1 page overview of tools uses for web page
                (Karla will organize and coordinate this effort)

By 6/1          Prioritize next set of VTT work for an external release
                of the VTT in 8/1/2000 timeframe timeframe.  This assumes that
                this release is approved.

By 7/1          Prioritize next set of VTT work for the Phase 2 
                cycle 10 release.  December 2000 timeframe. 
                This is not only the existing OPRs, but also
                we probably should look beyond cycle 10 for major
                features needed and think about their priority and
                when they would be nice to have.  This ties into
                the overall APT picture of when to release major features
                Things Like
                - Adding Guide stars
                - Bright Objects
                - Parallel observation support
                - Moving Targets
                - Generic target support
                - Mosaicing/dithering, etc
                - Expanding it to display spectra, Grisms, coronography

7/15-8/1        Help with 8/1/2000 release
                Review on-line documentation 
                Acceptance testing support 
                Help with 1 page overview of tools uses for web page
                (Karla will organize and coordinate this effort)

10/20-12/15     Help with Phase 2 cycle 10 release
                Review on-line documentation 
                Acceptance testing support 
                Help with 1 page overview of tools uses for web page
                (Karla will organize and coordinate this effort)

4/1-12/15       Generic support to the developers on GUI 
                look and feel issues, science issues, etc.

BRIGHT OBJECT CHECKING + possibly GUIDE STARS Primary Ron Downes,
                                              Secondary Ray Lucas
======================
Primary contacts from development side is Tony Krueger, Mike Asbury

5/15            Mike expects to have some development time becoming
                available to begin add bright
                object checking support to the APT/VTT.  He will need
                science direction, requirements, and GUI presentation 
                evaluation/help.  I guess the first issue the user
                group will have to tackle is, "do we provide PI's with
                bright object capabilities".

Beyond 7/1      This will depend on the stakeholders decision to
                provide this support in APT.  We will define more
                details, if the task is going to proceed.


STARVIEW2/VTT INTEGRATION Primary Megan Donahue, Secondary Steve Lubow
=========================
Primary contacts from development side is 
Tony Krueger(APT), Fred Romelfanger(APT), Scott Binegar(STARVIEW2)

5/1-12/15       Work will become available in the May 1st timeframe
                to begin work on this task.  He will need 
                science direction, requirements, and GUI presentation
                evaluation/help

10/9-10/20      Internal release of prototype.  Evaluation of prototype

10/20           Decision to release prototype for external use.  Need
                help in deciding this from the science/user perspective.

10/20-12/15     If release approved, Help with Phase 2 cycle 10 release
                Review on-line documentation 
                Acceptance testing support 
                Help with 1 page overview of tools uses for web page
                (Karla will organize and coordinate this effort)


QUICK-TRANS SUPPORT Primary Chris O'Dea, Secondary Ron Downes
===================
Primary contact from development side is Tony Krueger

By 6/1          Quick trans Phase A is ending in the mid-may timeframe
                They will recommend approaches to the phase B prototyping
                effort.  The APT project will need to make a decision on
                how to proceed in Phase B.  Development will need user/science 
input into
                this decision.

Beyond 6/1      Depending on how Phase B will go, development will need
                science direction and requirements.

ORBIT PLANNER SUPPORT Primary Chris O'Dea, Secondary Ron Downes
=====================
Primary contact from development side is Tom Donaldson

By 10/1           Orbit planner work will begin on 10/1.  Development will need
                  science vision, requirements and GUI presentation 
evaluation/help.

10/1-12/15        General support for GUI and science as development proceeds.


VISIT PLANNER SUPPORT Primary ??, Secondary ??
=====================
Primary contact from development side is Jesse Doggett

By 1/2000         Visit Orbit planner work will begin on 1/2/2000.  Development will need
                  science vision, requirements and GUI presentation evaluation/help.

Beyond 1/2000     General support for GUI and science as development proceeds.


APT PROJECT SCOPE AND LINK WITH RPS2 Primary Steve Lubow,
                                     Secondary Chris O'Dea and Karla Peterson
==================================
Primary contact from development side is Tony Krueger

By 7/1

Currently we have 6 major external releases scheduled for APT.
See APT schedule for all the details

Cycle 10 Phase 1 - Jun 2000 and maybe August of 2000
Cycle 10 Phase 2 - Dec 2000
Cycle 11 Phase 1 - Jun 2001
Cycle 11 Phase 2 - Dec 2001
Cycle 12 Phase 1 - Jun 2002
Cycle 12 Phase 2 - Dec 2002

It is expected that APT will support some set of users in
Dec 2001, but that RPS2 will still be required.  How do we
want to have these two tools work together. The development
team will also need science vision to help decide the following

- What major capabilities go into each release?
  - Currently we have
    VTT
    ETC
    STARVIEW2/VTT
    ORBIT PLANNER
    VISIT PLANNER
    TOP LEVEL GUI
  - What about
    PHASE SUBMISSION FORMS
    FINDER CHART GENERATION
    CANNED OBSERVING STRATEGIES
    ACCESSING EXECUTION DATA AT STSCI
    Etc.
- What class of users are we going to support with each release
  as we get to a full RPS2 replacement?
- How Do APT/RPS2 co-exist until we get to retiring RPS2.

APT TOP LEVEL GUI and ARCHITECTURE Primary Steve Lubow
                                   Secondary Max Mutchler, Megan Donahue,
                                         Ray Lucas, Chris O'Dea, Ron Downes
==================================
Primary contact from development side is Rob


By 7/1            This is directly related to the scope and what capabilities
                  are released when.  Rob will be starting work on architecture 
                  issues in the early June timeframe. He will be making some 
architecture
                  design decisions that would benefit greatly if a project
                  scope was defined.  Rob and I sat down and began to put 
together
                  a set of requirements/questions.  He should have these on the
                  web by mid-may.

Beyond 7/1        Rob could start working on updating the Top Level GUI first
                  before starting on the Architecture changes.  He will need
                  science help and GUI evaluation support for re-designing the
                  Top Level GUI.  



Minutes;

We discussed the current state of the VTT development, testing, 
and documentation for the June 1 release of the VTT.  No outstanding
problems identified.  Frank was going to look into the tool called
Install Anywhere for use in installing the APT software

The team discussed the possibility of a August VTT release to provide
the PIs with a more functional tool.  Everyone felt that an August
VTT release was good and feasible.

Tony mentioned that he would be presenting a technical review of 
APT to Goddard on May 22, 2000.

Tony discussed the how the APT requirements team has been restructured.
Each development tool, now has a primary requirements team member assigned
to support the team.

Tony discussed that the Bright Object Checking team has begun
defining requirements.

Tony mentioned that the Starview 2 and VTT team is getting started now
that Fred is available to work on the project.

Donald and Rob discussed their progress on the Constraint Manager.  
Donald presented a description of the prototype java constraint manager
he and Hemant worked on.  Rob presented an overview of the current RPS2
constraint manager in RPS2.  Rob and Donald will work together to 
design a Java constraint manager for APT that satisfies the ETC and Phase
support needs.

Hemant presented some of his findings on the synphot performance issues. Nothing
conclusively was found.

Actions;

Rob and Donald to work together on the constraint manager design.
