Ken,
How to split time I won't recommend about. We've tried various arrangements
to share liquids and solids with nothing working as well as I was hoping for.
Hopefully others will provide good suggestions we also could follow.
If they have a spectrometer booked here so others can't use it, they're
charged. Doesn't matter whether they are using it to get data or not.
And agree with all comments about automation. I've been a big fan for a
long time. Not for everything, but best for a lot of stuff. Only problem
I have is so many users decide they can't do anything else...
Charlie
On Oct 6, 2023, at 12:55 PM, Kenneth Sharp-Knott <kknott_at_vt.edu> wrote:
Hello everyone,
We are fortunate (in my opinion) to have automation available on 5 of our
seven instruments and run all in a walkup queued use mode most of the time.
This allows for the most efficient utilization of instrument time and is
the easiest to manage as well as handle billing. Users pay only for experiment
acquisition time as all processing is done remotely. Requests to reserve this
instrument for kinetics or VT work are made through the staff and the
instrument is simply dropped out of automation for that period of time.
However there is a growing competing need for 'reserved use' time on one
particular instrument featuring a LN2 cooled broadband probe. I'm trying to
decide on the best way to manage this instrument and still maintain efficient
use of it.
I have thought about making it available for reservation (at least 24 hours
in advance) 2 days out of the week.
I'm curious about how other facilities handle this situation. In our case,
this particular instrument is in high demand by all of our user bases, so the
most efficient use in a walkup queue mode works well - for most.
Another question relates to billing. If someone reserves the instrument and
doesn't show - do you charge them for the time? If they book it for 8 hours
to run a 3 minute proton every 1/2 hour, do you charge them for 8 hours
or 48 minutes?
I personally loathe to go back to a reservation system as it required far more
oversight and work. I vastly prefer the efficiency of a queued walkup system,
but not everyone's needs suit this model.
Looking forward to your thoughts and experiences.
--
Ken Sharp-Knott
Manager of Analytical Services and the NMR Facility
Department of Chemistry
Virginia Tech
(540)267-6502 (Cell)
(540)231-0885 (Office)
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Received on Fri Oct 06 2023 - 11:24:08 MST