New Approaches to AWIPS Configuration Training in the National Weather Service Using Hazard Services

Hazard Services represents a significant consolidation of the tools used to issue NWS products using the Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS). The back-end configuration management involves an equally significant paradigm shift. The Warning Decision Training Division (WDTD) has designed a new type of training workshop for focal points learning this new workflow which offers hands-on practice configuring the new software, isolated from operational impact, but with direct relevance to their home office. Locally staged copies of each site's AWIPS files and hydro databases, leveraging WDTD's 24-workstation laboratory, creates a sandbox for focal points to account for their local needs while configuring AWIPS, and to return home with ready-to-use files representing measurable progress in their transition to Hazard Services. In addition to the benefit of face-time with instructors to speed up understanding, the lab became a collaborative space where focal points exchange best practices between offices, and help each other identify solutions to shared local or regional challenges.