Records Set Again; New Process Enhances Reporting of User Facility Statistics

 
Published: 31 August 2007

The 2006 year-end ARM statistics included a spatial distribution of global (shown here; click map for larger image) and U.S. users, and whether they were funded by the ARM Program.

A second straight record high number of users (1092) and a new record for visitor days (2083) were reported by ARM for the third quarter of fiscal year 2007. The statistics also indicated a notable increase in non-ARM funded users at the ARM Mobile Facility deployment site in Germany, as well as large increases in total visitor days there and at ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. These numbers are in indication of the ARM’s success in attracting new and non-ARM funded researchers. To aid in reporting on this important component of the user facility, a high level of coordination between ARM staff at the External Data Center (XDC) and the Data Archive in recent months has resulted in the ability to identify the distribution of users and their funding affiliations.

In recent months, ARM staff at the XDC and the Archive worked closely together in establishing a process to determine the number of users by ARM site and by category-site visitor or data user. The list of site visitors was determined using the ARM Site Access Request System, which provides both advance notice of on-site visits to site managers in order to coordinate needed support, as well as a mechanism for requesting and managing access to site network and computer resources. The Archive user statistics then required a match-up in the ARM People Database before determining whether a user was funded through the ARM Program or an external source. The ARM People Database provides information about users’ affiliations. Their membership in one of the variety of groupings maintained in the People Database indicated whether the user was funded by the ARM Program.

Established as a user facility in 2003, the ARM provides research capability for the global scientific community. The recent reporting process has thus far been applied to both the 2006 and 2007 quarterly statistics. Quarterly facility statistics for the ARM are regularly posted on the on the ARM website under Facility Statistics.