Helpdesk tickets are answered by staff at one of the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs). There are three ARCs, one associated with each of the ALMA Executives - East Asia (EA), North America (NA), and Europe (EU).
The ALMA Helpdesk system is a single system but with three different "workgroups", one for each ARC. Tickets are directed first to a single ARC, and every attempt is made to answer the ticket within that ARC. If the ticket requires special knowledge or expertise not currently available within the original ARC, it may be transferred to one of the other ARCs with an identified expert in the relevant subject area. All ARCs share a common "Knowledgebase", whereby articles may be published and made available to all users.
Tickets from PIs affiliated with one of the three Executives will be submitted to the helpdesk of that executive's ARC. Tickets from PIs outside the Executives may choose which helpdesk receives their tickets. This is done as part of registration within the Science Portal via the "Choose ARC" drop-down box[1], and can be changed subsequently by editing the user's profile within the portal. Taiwanese investigators may choose to have their tickets submitted to either the EA or NA ARC, also through the Science Portal registration and personal profile.
[1] The "Choose ARC" drop-down option only becomes visible for eligible investigators once they select the country of their institutional affiliation. Please see the Knowledgebase article "What is the "Choose ARC" entry on the registration page?" for more information.
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