SPMS Setup and Key TasksContact: Todd Satogata This is a compressed introduction to SPMS setup and key tasks. Longer introductory presentations and resources are linked to in the references at the end of this page that cover the material in much more detail. Complex software like SPMS is best learned by
I will show examples using the IPAC'22 SPMS instance. Useful references aside from this (updated for 2022) TM presentation are:
For large conferences, the SPMS Administrator is usually the Scientific Secretariat. For smaller conferences, the SPMS Administrator may instead be the conference editor or, in rare cases, the Scientific Program Chair or their designee. SPMS Key Concept: ProfileA Profile is a login to the SPMS representing a single person.
All profiles are synchronized back to a master instance of SPMS called the Central Repository at CERN. This is unlike Indico, and is indeed a strength of JACoW SPMS; users have consistent profiles (with affiliations, passwords, email addresses etc) among all SPMS instances. SPMS Key Concept: ClassificationsAbstracts (coming next) have Main Classifications and Sub Classifications established by the conference leadership (usually a Scientific Program Committee). At least Main Classifications must be created before abstracts can be submitted. e.g. the IPAC'22 Classifications/Sub-Classifications are documented on the IPAC'22 website. These are all setup in the Scientific Program Administration / Classifications area of SPMS. Reports of abstracts by Classification etc are in General / Reports / Contribution Counts. SPMS Key Concept: AbstractAn abstract is the abstract for a single scientific work associated with the conference.
The Search link at the top of the SPMS Administrator page is really Search Abstracts. During conference scientific program organization, abstracts are assembled into the oral, poster, and other parts of the scientific program. Eventually each abstract will be assigned at least one Paper ID or Program Code that is also unique, human-readable/parseable, and used for upload and processing of the materials associated with that contribution to the conference and proceedings. Most reports (in SPMS menu General/Reports) are database reports about abstracts or associated authors. Abstracts can be withdrawn by authors or Administrators (via Search) or restored by Administrators (via Scientific Program Administration/Restore Withdrawn Abstract). SPMS Key Concept: SessionA session is a container that groups together abstracts in the program
BreatherThose four concepts are basically enough to assemble a scientific program:
This scientific program has enough information for a program booklet already. But the SPMS Administrator should not have to do everything! SPMS Key Concepts: Role and PrivilegeSPMS has information to manage all aspects of abstracts:
The Administrator can grant roles and privileges to SPMS to allow certain behaviors
For many conferences with experienced SPMS administrators, this mechanism to associate Profiles with Roles is also a very useful way to e.g. create mailing lists, maintain lists of committee members, etc. SPMS DemosDemonstrations from IPAC'22 SPMS instance of the following useful SPMS functions (links are to wiki documentation):
SPMS Code on SourceforgeIf you are a coder you can take a deep breath and get into the code of SPMS: This is not for the faint of heart, but has helped me understand (and even fix) SPMS behaviors in the past. NOTE that SPMS code is basically unmaintained as of 2021. Todd Satogata ehas Matt Arena's phone number and can reach out to him for help in case of severe SPMS misbehavior. References
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(Jefferson Lab)