CHPS Migration Activities

NEWS AND ACTIVITIES (in reverse chronological order)

July 2009

The main event for this quarter was a series of "Buddy" visits. These visits involved a CAT-led team of people visiting every CAT-II RFC to kick-off their CHPS implementation process. The entire CHPS familiarization process for the CAT-IIs began in January 2009 in the form of webinars and conference calls, which provided some elementary CHPS information and some CHPS project status briefings.

Under the CHPS "Buddy" system each CAT-II RFC has been paired with one of the CAT RFCs for coaching purposes. During May and June a team comprised of one representative from OHD, one Deltares employee, and one or more forecasters from the appropriate CAT RFC visited each CAT-II RFC. As of the end of June 2009 only two visits (APRFC and NCRFC) remain. The visits identify some pre-CHPS activities that the CAT-II offices can start before they receive formal Configuration & Migration training next February.

Meanwhile the 4 CAT RFCs continued to make good progress with their NWSRFS segment migrations. Support from Deltares and OHD has been very good as the CATs uncover problems within the migration scripts and OHD models. The CATs report that they expect to be ready for parallel operations on schedule in October 2009.

Deltares completed another round of site support visits for each of the CAT RFCs; additional training and familiarization was provided. This will also bolster CAT RFC staff’s knowledge of CHPS in preparation for their support role when CAT-II RFCs begin migration activities.

During the Software Acceptance Testing (SAT) at OHD on June 15-17, five CAT RFC representatives conducted the first formal tests of the new Interactive Forecast Displays (IFD). Due to the importance of the forecaster interface, we requested extra representation from the CAT RFCs: NWRFC, NERFC, ABRFC, and NWSEO all participated this time. Additionally, the representatives were able to conduct some further joint design improvements with Deltares, expected in the next version of the IFD demonstration software.

April 2009

Deltares delivered migration training for the CAT RFCs during the week of February 9 at the NWS Training Center (NWSTC) in Kansas City, MO. This was followed by a week of Deltares on-site support at each CAT RFC to ensure that everything was in place for migration to begin. The CAT RFCs have now begun converting their NWSRFS segments and forecast groups to CHPS and are making good progress. OCWWS HSD has set up a new NOAA email address and a new info list for the CAT RFCs to facilitate problem resolution during migration.

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