Experimenters must have a Technical Scope of Work (TSW), which describes the test experiment in detail. A TSW is a written plan put in place to establish a clear understanding of how an experiment will practically function and each party’s roles and responsibilities. Please note that this is not a guarantee of beam time. This is not an official contract. The TSW makes sure all parties understand what is expected.
The preparation and consideration of a TSW for each test beam effort helps the facility be flexible and meet the goal of equal access to test beams for all detector tests with relatively low bureaucratic overhead and a guarantee of safety, coordination and oversight. The TSW is signed by the experiment spokesperson and acknowledged by Fermilab division heads and associate directors. The scope of work is not considered proprietary information and is publicly released.
The spokesperson is the experiment’s official contact and is responsible for forwarding all relevant information to the rest of the group, arranging for their training and getting the necessary approvals for the experiment to run. If a test beam is part of a larger experiment, the spokesperson listed on the test beam should not be the experiment’s spokes, unless they are directly involved in the running of the test beam.
In order to fill out the TSW, you must have a Fermilab ID number and a Services account. Please obtain an ID first then start the TSW from here. All test beam experiments are considered “Beam TSW”.
Most of the document needs to be filled in by the experimenter. Please use the tips below.
Tips for filling out the TSW:
- You must enter an experiment name and your name before saving. The form will not save otherwise.
- You can fill in information and come back as often as you like. However, do not submit the TSW until you’ve corresponded with the FTBF Coordinator.
- The system is new and not perfect. If you encounter any problems with saving or adding information, please let us know ASAP and we’ll work with the form creators to fix the issues.
- Fill in all the fields as completely as possible. The more information, the more useful this document becomes.
Examples: good, large effort or all.
Please also check out Program Planning.
Tips to avoid common errors
- A TSW is a document between two parties. Words like “we” and “our” are inappropriate, typically being replaced by “the experimenters” and “the experiment’s.”
- Experiment name should be limited to 30 characters.
- Approximate, full, outside dimensions of space required for devices and equipment should be given explicitly.
- Please include requests for facility equipment such as instrumentation, motion tables, or helium tubes. Some equipment needs extra time to be calibrated or installed.
For the appendices
- A PowerPoint file of the MTest areas is available here. Please use it to create a jpg showing where you would like to put your apparatus, and then include approximate weight and dimensions. It is highly recommended you include as many pictures of your apparatus as possible, including photos, diagrams, mechanical drawings, etc. Pictures of apparatus and set-up are greatly appreciated and will improve the Operational Readiness Clearance process.
- The Physics Research Equipment Pool (PREP) provides and supports electronic instrumentation for high-energy physics research, according to their PREP procedures. For more information see Equipment Logistics Services.