Route Object in PCS - workshop

"Route Object in PCS" Workshop number one was organized to present the solution for the implementation of the Route Object in PCS in order to gather opinions from the users. 

What was the trigger to organize this workshop?

The Route object (outcome of the TOM project now part of the JSG Handbook) should have been implemented in PCS as a CR 1443 in Q2 of this year as it was planned for the Roadmap 2022. However, when the PCS team checked the requirements in detail, one basic rule, that says „One sub-path (PR) should only have one Route ID/belong to one Route“, was contrary to the current way of using PCS from the Applicants‘ point of view, meaning the implementation would cause a change in how Applicants structure the Path Requests for some cases of the dossier. 

Therefore, the PCS team decided to put the planned implementation on hold, explain the changes before they happen and check if the proposed handling of the Route object is feasible for PCS users instead of only teaching the new behaviour as a consequence of the development.

Should you prepare for the workshop?

It will be a curated discussion, so no preparation is needed. However, we invite all participants to watch the recording of the last year‘s meeting which explains the Route object and how we got to the place where we start using it so that all participants of the workshop have more or less the same level of understanding. That may potentially eliminate the start of discussions regarding „Why Route object?“ which is not a topic of this workshop focused on „How“.

What is the expected outcome of the workshop?

PCS team is aiming to get the green light to implement the Route object in the proposed way into PCS as part of the Roadmap 2023 (affecting Ad-hoc requests TTP 2023, LPR TTP 2024 and NPR TTP 2025). Another implementation decision could be to postpone the development until the PCS Capacity Broker where the use of the Route Object is already defined (all potential risks of that decision must be taken into consideration).

A possible alternative outcome might be a definition of the dates for another workshop, but since there is only one topic to discuss (even though an important one), we hope to reach the decision already on the scheduled workshop.