Services also include project management for application development projects and preparation of technical specifications related to acquisition of hardware and software for information systems. Application Development Development and ongoing support of information systems is provided through a staff of 25 systems analysts and technical project managers with extensive experience in developing and maintaining all sizes of information systems. Laboratory and staff are supplemented with contractors as needed to meet peak requirements, with Argonne staff playing key roles on the development team so MIS is able to provide in-house support for the new system once it is in use. Database Services Specialized database services are provided for those Argonne programs that require only database design and database administration services. Database design, tuning, performance monitoring, backup, recovery, release upgrades, data conversions, and troubleshooting are available for small to very large databases.
Assistance is also available in preparing database-related elements of proposals.
As a supplement to standard reports available through the Laboratory's business systems, ECT staff can provide custom reports for anyone who has been granted access to a particular system. In addition to reports, electronic files can also be created and downloaded for use with Excel, MS Access, or other tools on the customer's desktop. Operations Operations services are available for production systems and applications. These services are based on best practices that ECT has developed while operating data centers for the Argonne business systems.