Sandbox:Operations Manager

COMMAND STAFF

Operations Manager

Access: Operations Lobby, Hangar, Secure Storage, Machinist, Engineering Hallway, Security Hallway, Teleporter, Bridge Qualifications: At least 30 years of age, 5 years logistics or equivalent experience, current Pilot's License, completion of the SCC's "Introduction to Refueling" program, and meets the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Occupation Qualifications. Employers: The Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Supervisors: Captain Duties: Coordinate operations, manage the hangars, supervise Hangar Technicians and Shaft Miners, fill bounties Guides: Hangar Technician, Shaft Miner, Machinist, Guide to Robotics, Guide to Gunnery, Guide to Piloting, Guide to Communication Devices, Guide to Faxes

As an Operations Manager, your primary job is to coordinate and manage your department, which consists of the supply area, the flight deck, and the machinist workshop. It is your responsibility to ensure that orders are processed properly, supplies are distributed, mining secures materials and salvage, and the machine shop services synthetics quickly and properly. Anything that may relate to the logistics of the vessel is generally under the domain of the Operations Manager.

Cargo Operation

If you're new to Operations entirely, you should start out by reading about the Hangar Technician.

The main responsibilities of Operations is to ensure that:

1. Departments are supplied with what they need.
2. The ship guns are loaded and ready to fire when needed by the bridge.
3. Shuttles are serviced and loaded when needed for a mission.
4. Synthetics are maintained and repaired.
5. New materials are being brought in from salvage or mining operations.

Assuming there is a full team of hangar technicians, shaft miners, and machinists, none of these duties fall directly on the Operations Manager's shoulders. Instead, delegation should be used to ensure each goal of the Operations department is met by the team. The goal of the Operations Manager is to assist the team, be it with Command access, communication with other departments, or being an extra set of hands where needed. As the name suggests, the Operations Manager is a manager, and there to ensure everything is operating smoothly and coordinated.

The logistics and cargo side has some key areas to focus on. At shift-start, it is important to ensure that there is a technician assigned to sort the warehouse, and send out packages of useful equipment to other departments. Another technician should be sending out bounty sheets printed from the Cargo Control program, as well as collecting these bounties so that the department can generate revenue. Other less important tasks, such as manning the desk, checking the shuttle hangars, and setting up the Commissary should also be assigned when possible.

The Vault

As Operations Manager, you have providence over the secure storage vault sitting in operations, which holds many rare and valuable items. If you want to access it (be they for reasons noble or not), you're going to need to turn off the turrets inside the vault first, otherwise you'll probably meet a swift and unpleasant end. This can be performed by alt-clicking the panel to unlock it, then opening the interface and disabling the turrets.

Accessing the vault requires lifting the airlock bolts, which will send a message in the command radio channel. It is a good courtesy to inform the command team when the vault is being accessed to avoid concerns and confusion. Within the vault, various items are present ranging from a safe, to phoron, to a pile of credits, and even hardsuits. While the Operations Manager has access to the vault, this access does not extend to any of the protective windoors inside the vault. Meaning, the interior can be accessed but none of the contents. To access the contents, the glass must be shattered or, ideally, a Captain is present. Items being added to the vault are generally safe to leave of the floor, however.

Loading the Guns

Secure ammunition storage. To access it, the shutters need to be raised, and the bolts on the doors need to be dropped.

You and the rest of Operations have access to Secure Ammunition Storage, which sits right next to your office. In case one of the guns need to be loaded, you'll need to use the power loader inside the Grauwolf's room (itself adjacent to secure ammunition storage) to lift the ammo and chamber it. Keep in mind that the bolts and shutters being lifted will cause an automated alert in the Command channel, so you should probably let everyone else on command know what you're doing.

To load the gunnery:

1. Hop inside a power loader. There should be a new button on the left side of your screen, POWER. Press it, and hit HATCH to close your roll cage.
2. Highlight the clamp by clicking on the square surrounding the icon, not the icon of the clamp itself.
3. Click on the ammunition you want to load. A few seconds later, you'll have loaded the ammunition!
4. Move over to the ship gun, and click on its ammunition loader. Do this until your clamp is empty of ammunition.

Hangar Operations

The hangars of the vessel are general under the control of the Command department as a whole, however in most cases the Operations Manager has primary responsibility over the operation and organization of the hangars. The primary needs of the hangars are shuttle servicing, cargo loading/unloading, and shuttle marshaling. These are performed by hangar technicians, as the job name implies, however the coordination of when these operations are needed and the precise details, such as how much fuel and what cargo to load, require communication with pilots such as Bridge Crew and the science team.

Shuttle servicing involves the fueling of the shuttle, the replenishing of air reserves for both the main compartments and the airlocks, as well as pre-flight safety checks. For the Canary, servicing may also include the loading of its gun, the Francisca, with ammo for hazard clearing or for offensive operations. Hangar Technicians should be informed of how much fuel to load, what ammunition is required, and when to perform pre-flight safety checks. Additionally, while not required, the Shuttle Servicing Report should be utilized by hangar technicians to report what resources have been used on which shuttle. These reports require a stamp from the Operations Manager.

Cargo loading/unloading is a rather simple process. In most cases, expeditions require additional equipment such as soft suits, tents, GPSs, radio, and so on. These should be loaded when needed. Other shuttles, notably the Quark, may need heavier equipment for science operations. In other cases, equipment from departments or items ordered from the cargo lift may need to be freighted to the shuttle by the cargo tug. These needs of each department, and what cargo must be loaded, is necessary info that should be gathered and communicated by the Operations Manager. Unloading shuttles is a less important aspect of hangar operations, however it ensures that shuttles are cleaned and organized after use, and prepared for additional flights later. Many expeditions return new equipment that must be sorted, stored, and distributed as well.

Shuttle marshaling is not required for any shuttle to fly, however it can be useful for staging hangar technicians and confirming a shuttle has complete pre-flight safety checks. Marshaling is performed by hangar technicians, who are provided marshal wands in their lockers. When a shuttle requests permission to take off, the hangar technician waves their wands with a yellow light to indicate final checks, walks the outside of the shuttle to ensure no personnel are surrounding the shuttle and all airlocks are sealed, then waves green lights to indicate the shuttle is ready to take-off. Landing is a similar process, with a shuttle requesting to land. The technician ensures the deck is clear of personnel or hazards, waits for the shuttle to land, then waves red lights to indicate it has completed movement and must stop.

Flight activities of each shuttle are under the control of their respective head of staff. However, the Operations Manager and Executive Officer both have authority to instate a flight ban and ground all shuttles. Additionally, a hangar lockdown may be used. The lockdown does not lock the security checkpoint, allowing the use of the lockdown for when incoming materials or personnel must be searched by security. This checkpoint can, itself, be lockdown to prevent anyone from entering the hangars.

Mining Operations

Mining's chief goal is to supply fresh materials for other departments to use. Often, the most important materials are precious metals like gold, silver, uranium, and so on. These materials are useful for the creation of advanced tools and equipment by the Machinists and Science department. The mining of ores and creation of these materials is the goal of the shaft miners, whereas the distribution of the supplies can be performed by either hangar technicians or shaft miners.

Shaft miners work independently. They are provided the Spark, a mining skiff that can travel to nearby planets or asteroids to mine materials. The involvement of the Operations Manager is, therefore, rather removed. What is important, however, is that the destination and status of the Spark remain known in-case the ship has to move or an incident happens during mining. The long-range holopad in the Manager's office and department lobby are capable of reaching the Spark. If the vessel is within range, the normal department radio can also be used.