General Information

COMPLETION AND SUBMISSION OF THE ELECTRONIC A FORM

The A Form enables the main proposer of an experiment to provide the administrative and scientific ESRF Staff with the information necessary to prepare efficiently the visit of the experimental team, as well as the experimental session.

PRINCIPLES

• Only the MAIN PROPOSER can COMPLETE, MODIFY and SUBMIT the A Form ("Edit A Form") by using his/her login (last name) and personal SMIS password; he/she can access the A Form via the ESRF User Portal (SMIS).
  
  

  NB: the SMIS password is personal and confidential. The ESRF staff is NOT authorized to give the password of a scientist to anybody other than the scientist it is attributed to.

  
  

• The Users registered via an A Form can CONSULT THE A FORM ("View A Form") via the ESRF User Portal (SMIS) by using their personal SMIS password.
  

Via the A Form, the main proposer registers and communicates to the ESRF staff information on:

• the USERS participating in the experimental session - ("Users" tab)
  

• the SAMPLE(S) that will be studied - ("Sample" tab) - This tab concerns only the macromolecular crystallography experiments (MX-IX-FX-TC)
  
• the SAMPLE(S) ENVIRONMENT - ("Sample Environment" tab)
  

We recommend that the main proposer consults the "SESSION" tab  prior to the completion of the A  Form. This page contains information on: 

1. the MAIN PROPOSER of the proposal (name, e-mail, telephone, fax)
2. the EXPERIMENTAL SESSION (beamline - starting date & time - finishing date & time - number of maximum reimbursed days per session - number of authorized reimbursed users per session - Local Contact's name)
3. The INITIAL PASSWORD randomly generated for the SCHEDULED PROPOSAL, to be used by the users to ACCESS THE NICE COMPUTING ACCOUNT for DATA COLLECTION & TRANSFER.
   

COMPLETION OF THE A FORM 

The A FORM must be filled in carefully to avoid any delays in arrangements and bookings to be made (authorization of site entrance, badges, Guesthouse/hotel, canteen card). You will appreciate that these formalities cannot be done at the last minute and you are therefore kindly requested to respect the deadline for the submission of the A Form:

• Make sure you inform the User Office well in advance, at least 8 days before the experiment is due to start, of the full names and affiliation of each person coming for the experiment, and of their requests for arrangements,
  

• Note that the Safety Approval Form (SAF), which is the document used by the SAFETY GROUP to prepare an experimental session on a beamline and to give access to the beamline to the experimental team, is automatically generated by the system on the basis of the information provided via the A Form; an experimental team will NOT be authorized to access the beamline if no SAF (i.e. no A Form) has been correctly issued for his experimental session.
  

• ALL the Users, even those who work at the ESRF, EMBL or ILL, and any non-reimbursed Users participating in the experiment must be registered; 
  

  
  NB: please obtain the agreement of the local contact before you add an ESRF scientist to the list of users.
  

• If travel arrangements are required, the Users are expected to add a comment in the "Comment" box of the A Form or to contact the Travel Office directly by e-mail (Travel Office) mentioning the preferred dates and times of incoming and outgoing journeys. Please indicate your full date of birth if your are under 25 in order to obtain better prices;
  
• In case of last minute changes to persons coming, and to arrival and departure dates, the main proposer must modify the Form A on the Web and resubmit it
  
  

REGISTRATION OF USERS

• The main proposer can register as a user a scientist who is not necessarily registered as co-proposer of the proposal
• The number of users per experimental session is not limited
• The number of users receiving a financial support from the ESRF, per session, is limited:
  
  * Up to 3 persons per standard experiment,
  * Up to 4 persons for the following categories of proposals: BAG proposals, Long Term Project proposals and Red Experiments,

 For further information on the users to be registered as "reimbursed" via an A Form, please consult this page and our web page "Financial Assistance".

PREREQUISITES FOR THE REGISTRATION OF THE USERS WHO SHOULD COME TO THE ESRF

1.  PERSONAL DETAILS

New procedures established in agreement with the French authorities necessitate the registration of personal details of all users who should access the ESRF/ILL/EMBL common site. The information required for registration is:

• first name
  
• last name
  
• nationality
  
• date of birth
• place of birth.
  

The ESRF has to provide the French authorities with this information at least five working days before a user experiment takes place.

 2.  SAFETY TRAINING COURSE

• Each user must have followed and validated his/her ONLINE SAFETY TRAINING COURSE BEFORE THE SUBMISSION OF THE A FORM
  
  

• For an MX USER indicated as a "REMOTE USER" on the A Form, the system will check that the special "remote user" Safety Training Course has been followed and validated by the user. This does NOT replace the standard Safety Training Course which should be performed if the user intends to visit the ESRF at any point for an experiment.
  
  

  A user who does NOT have a VALID Safety Training Course at the time of submission of the A Form CANNOT be registered at the ESRF
  
  

• ONCE PERFORMED THE SAFETY TRAINING IS VALID FOR A PERIOD OF 0NE YEAR.

3. INDIVIDUAL and ELECTRONIC "USER & SAFETY DECLARATION FORM"

The "User & Safety Declaration Form" is an electronic form linked to the submission of the electronic A Form: when an A Form is "temporarily saved" in the User application, an individual and personal "User & Safety Declaration Form" is automatically issued by the application for each user registered on the saved A Form.

• each scientist registered, via an A Form, to participate in an experimental session must validate his/her INDIVIDUAL electronic "USER and SAFETY DECLARATION FORM" relevant to this specific experimental session
  

  A user who has NOT validated his/her personal "User and Safety Declaration Form" at the time of submission of the A Form CANNOT be registered at the ESRF for the experimental session
  
  

• By VALIDATING the electronic "Declaration page", the user acknowledges that he/she accepts the terms and conditions specified in  his/her personal "USER and SAFETY DECLARATION FORM".

• The personal details required for site entrance authorization (see 1. Personal Details) appear at the bottom of this "Declaration page". Where the information is complete the fields are filled in automatically. If the information is incomplete the missing information must be provided before the declaration form may be validated.
  

STEPS FOR COMPLETING & SUBMITTING THE A FORM

According to the requirements (see above), the procedure of submission is as follows:

1. The main proposer ENTERS THE NAMES OF THE USERS who should participate in the experiment
   
   
2. The main proposer "TEMPORARILY SAVES THE A FORM" in the User Application.
   

   
   The A Form is registered / stored in the Users Application but is NOT SUBMITTED to the ESRF AT THIS POINT. This function enables the main proposer, during the process of completion of the A Form to "temporarily" save it:
   
   * before all users have done their Safety Training Course and validated their personal "User & Safety Declaration Form"
   * when some missing information (Personal Address, arrival/departure dates, travel plan) does not enable the main proposer to provide the ESRF with a finalized A Form.
   
   

   NB: At this stage, the submission of the A Form is not possible since no User & Safety Declaration Form has yet been validated.
   
   

3. Each user listed on the A Form receives an automatic notification by e-mail asking him/her to VALIDATE an electronic “USER & SAFETY DECLARATION FORM”
   
   

4. Via the SMIS Web Client application, each listed user VALIDATES his/her individual “User & Safety Declaration Form” corresponding to the relevant experimental session, and lets the main proposer know when it is done.
   
   

5. the main proposer may SUBMIT THE A FORM once at least one user has both:

   • A validated “User & Safety Declaration Form”
   • A validated Safety Training Course
     

WARNING : Only the names and associated requests (travel, site entrance, accommodation, canteen card) of those users with a validated “User & Safety Declaration Form”  and a valid Safety Training Course will be communicated to the ESRF.

The main proposer should therefore ensure that the final submission of the A Form is made once  ALL listed users have completed both the declaration form and the Safety Training Course.

THE A FORM MUST BE SUBMITTED AT LEAST EIGHT (8) DAYS BEFORE THE EXPERIMENT IS DUE TO START

IN CASE OF LATE SUBMISSION THAT DOES NOT RESPECT THIS DEADLINE OF 8 DAYS, WE CANNOT ENSURE THAT THE USERS WILL BE AUTHORIZED TO ENTER THE SITE AND PARTICIPATE IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SESSION.