Letter    7-91

Date of Issue: July 23, l991                        Effective Date: July 23, l991

In Reply Refer To:   W/OM23                  File With: A 10

Subject: Automated Program Accomplishment Reporting (APAR)

Reference-(s): WSOM Chapter A-10, Station Management, Issuance 70-27, dated July 7, 1970

Purpose. The purpose of this OML is to provide an example of the current APAR preformat and to provide instructions on the completion of the preformat on the Automation of Field Operations and Services (AFOS) system. Since the Alaska and Pacific Regions do not have AFOS, those Regions shall provide the information contained in the APAR preformat via an alternate electronic media or on NOAA Form 12-8a. Alaska and Pacific Region procedures shall be specified in ROMLs filed with WSOM Chapter A-10.

Background. Program Accomplishment Reporting (PAR) has been required of National Weather Service field offices for about 20 years. NOAA Form 12-8a was the vehicle used for data collection until the APAR program was initiated. The APAR program consists-of automatic data collection via AFOS and electronic reporting of non-AFOS services and products via a preformatted AFOS display product (the APAR preformat). The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) receives these data and generates a tally of products and services. This tally is then entered into a data base at National Weather Service Headquarters and made available for program managers and others making organizational and policy decisions.

Implementation. The monthly tally of products sent on AFOS is being done at the NCDC. The APAR preformat contains entries that require field sites to manually count certain products and services on a monthly basis for monthly inclusion in the APAR.

The APAR preformat being used at the time of this issuance is shown in the attachment. NCDC will prepare and make available monthly summaries of APAR data by individual site and by region.

The APAR preformat shall be completed by Weather Service Forecast Offices and Weather Service Offices (WSO). Exceptions for WSOs may be granted based on regional instructions. The preformat shall be transmitted on AFOS as soon as possible after 0000 UTC on the first day of the month but no later than the 10th day of each month. Every effort shall be made to transmit the completed APAR report on AFOS during nonpeak traffic times, which are approximately from 0700 UTC to 1200 UTC and 2100 UTC to 0300 UTC daily. Instructions for the completion of the preformat are shown in the attached.

Elbert W. Friday, Jr.
Assistant Administrator
  for Weather Services

Attachment

CCCMCPPAR

TTAA00 KCCC DDHHMM

A[000]         B[0]    C[00]     D[0]    E[MMYY]    F[00000] G[00000] H[00000]
I[00000]     J[00000]    K[00000]     L[00000]    M[ ]    N[ ] 0[00000]

R01[00000] R02[00000] R03[00000] R04[00000] R05[00000] R06[00000] R07[00000] R08[00000] R09[00000] R10[00000] R11[00000] R12[00000] R13[00000] R14[00000] R15[00000] R16[00000] R17[00000] R18[00000] R19[00000] R20[00000] R21[00000] R22[00000] R23[00000] R24[00000] R25[00000] R26[00000] R27[00000] R28[00000] R29[00000] R30[00000] R31[00000] R32[00000] R33[00000] R34[00000] R35[00000]

[ ] -- POSITION CURSOR HERE, HIT ENTER -- AUTOMATED PAR VERSION 2

BLOCKS A THROUGH O ARE FOR NATIONAL PAR INPUT. BLOCKS R01 THROUGH R35 ARE FOR REGIONAL PAR INPUT.

a. Block A, station ID: enter your three-character site ID.

b. Block B, region: enter E, S, C, or W for Eastern, Southern, Central, or Western Region.

c. Block C, state: enter your two-letter state ID (U.S. Postal Service abbreviation)

d. Block D, station type: enter

1 for a WSFO

2 for a WSO

3 for all other sites using this preformat

e. Block E, month and year for which data are being reported: enter as one four-number item; e.g., 0691

f. Blocks F through O: Only ONE entry per applicable block, right justified, as follows.

BLOCK	ITEM
F	Domestic telephone pilot briefings
G	Domestic personal pilot briefings
H	Domestic pilot briefings -- other
I	International pilot briefings
J	General weather briefings
K	River stage forecasts
L	River and rainfall reports
M	Not used
N	Not used
O	Flight documentation

If a block is not used, leave it blank. If a block has a zero entry, enter 0. Any other entry (such as ---, N/A, ***) makes the APAR incapable of being processed by NCDC. An entry that is not right justified causes contamination of the data being tallied.

Block F: Enter from the pilot briefing log the total number of domestic pilot telephone briefings furnished during the month.

Block G: Enter from the pilot briefing log the total number of face-to-face briefings provided during the month.

Block H: Enter the total number of briefings consisting of advice and consultation to Federal Aviation Administration facilities and to other agencies (Federal, state, or local) pertaining to aviation weather.

Blocks F, G, and H contain entries for the number of Domestic Pilot Weather Briefings. Those briefings for flights to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean area locations, Alaska, and Hawaii are also considered Domestic Pilot Weather Briefings and shall be entered in the appropriate blocks.

Block I: Enter the total number of briefings provided to crews making international flights. Combine face-to-face and telephone briefings. International Pilot Weather Briefings are defined as those briefings for flights to Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, and South Pacific area locations.

Block J: Enter the total number of general weather telephone and face-to-face briefings made on the 5th, 15th, and 25th days of the month. Include ring through calls requiring a manual briefing. Do NOT include automated calls.

Block K: Enter the total number of river stage forecasts disseminated to users during the month.

Block L: Enter the total number of river and rainfall reports received and relayed directly by an office to RFCs during the month. A report is defined as the observation from an individual site which contains one or more pieces of data. Do not include reports gathered by automated collection systems.

Block M: Not used, leave blank.

Block N: Not used, leave blank.

Block O: Enter the total number of sets of flight documentation folders furnished to crews making international flights during the month. The total number includes flight documentation folders prepared by contract sites.

g. Blocks R01 through R35: fill in according to regional directive. If a block is not used, leave it blank. If a block has a zero entry, enter 0. Only ONE entry per box, right justified, and only in the form of numbers or blanks. Right justified numerical entries with blanks instead of leading zeroes, are acceptable; an entry of 345 is the same as 00345. Any other entry (such as ---, N/A, ***) makes the APAR incapable of being processed by NCDC. An entry that is not right justified causes contamination of the data being tallied.