
                        VisIt Office Hours Policy
                       ---------------------------

1)  Office hour slots are assigned in half day slots, consisting of a
    morning slot and an afternoon slot.

2)  The morning slot is from 8:00 AM to Noon, and the afternoon slot is
    from Noon - 5:00 PM.

3)  The morning slot is responsible for any calls or e-mails after 5:00 PM
    from the previous workday.  This means that the Monday morning slot is
    responsible for all the calls and e-mails from 5:00 PM the previous
    Friday.  If there are holidays, then the morning slot following the
    holiday is responsible for all the calls and e-mails from 5:00 PM the
    previous workday.

4)  The afternoon slot is responsible for any calls or e-mails that occur
    over lunch.

5)  If the help line rings in your office and you are not helping someone
    or otherwise occupied, please answer the phone.  This may result in
    multiple people answering the phone, but it is preferable to no one
    answering the phone.

6)  When you come on duty you should check the visit phone hotline for
    any messages.  To do this call 4-MAIL, specify the 4-2801 extension
    and use "Kill Ed" as the password.

7)  When answering an e-mail, copy visit-help so that everyone can see that
    you responded. If you want to take the conversation off-line, please
    send e-mail to visit-help letting everyone know.

8)  If it is a high priority customer (tiers 1 and 2 in section 9 below),
    please respond within 1 hour if possible, otherwise within 4 hours.
    If it is going to take a lot of effort to respond, (e.g. the answer
    involves research on your part or will be very involved) you may
    respond that you will get back to them.  If it will take any significant
    effort (over a 1/2 hour) for a low priority customer, check with the
    VisIt Project Leader.  If it involves code development a ticket should
    be entered in ClearQuest and if it seems high priority from an important
    customer, check with the VisIt Project Leader to see if it should be
    assigned right away (e.g. VisIt no longer working on a platform or a
    new platform is not supported).

9)  Tiers of customers:

    1st: ASC or DNT related, includes off-site Ale3d users.
    2nd: Anyone from LLNL, CEA, AWE, DOE, DOD, or an ASC alliance center.
    3rd: Any group we have a reader for.
    4th: The rest of the world.

10) The current default schedule is:

                Monday     Tuesday    Wednesday  Thursday   Friday
               ----------------------------------------------------
    Morning     Brad       Mark       Brad       Kathleen   Eric

    Afternoon   Hank       Kathleen   Mark       Kathleen   Eric/Kathleen

11) Notify the VisIt Project Leader in the week ahead of time if you will
    not be able to be on duty during your slot.  You may arrange your own
    office hour swap (preferred) or you can have the VisIt Project Leader
    arrange an office hour swap.

12) The VisIt Project Leader will e-mail the office hour schedule on Friday
    for the following week. 
