Publication outside of ECMWF Office Hours is undertaken at the user's risk, and the 24/7 support provided by the ECMWF Operators will only be able to revert requirements if there are issues on the user side. 

All changes to data MUST pass the validation process before publishing.  The 'bug' icon will be green if the data requests passes the validation system.


Users will be able to publish their data requests without of approval from Data Support Team

Q: Which categories of users be able to get their data requests in PREd without Data Support approval?

Only Maximum Charge Silver and Gold users in the new service charge model (July 2024) will be able publish changes without DSC approval.

Note: this feature is not available for the following users:

  • Silver and Gold users that are not Maximum Charge users, in the new service charge model (July 2024)
  • Silver and Gold Maximum Charge users still in the old service charge model (pre-July 2024)
  • Basic and Bronze users 

Q: When can the users publish their data requests in PREd without Data Support approval?

  • Maximum Charge Silver users:
    • can publish their data request without Data Support approval from Monday 00:00 UTC to Thursday 23:59 UTC.
    • if requesting data outside this time range, the publication will be automatically approved on the following Monday, provided that it is not a Bank Holiday or during freeze periods. 
  • Maximum Charge Gold users:
    • they can publish their data request without Data Support approval 24/7 (with the exception of Bank Holidays or freeze periods where users shall be notified). 

Q: Are the changes of the publication immediately effective once the data request is published?

No, changes will need some time to be effective.

It is possible to check the pick-up times table to see what will be the next run to be disseminated according to the new data request.

For example, if the publication requests contains oper data and it is published at 9:00 UTC, the next run to be disseminated with the new data will be the 06z (if requested) or the 12z (if 06 is not installed).

Q: What happens in case of issues for data published outside office time?

  • Publication requests outside office time should be sent only by users who can handle possible failures on their side.
  • In case of issues due to a publication request outside office time, operators are not expected to fix the broken requirements or provide guidance how to do that. 
  • Available options to fix a broken requirement published outside office time are:
    • revert to the latest working version
    • empty the data feed
  • We strongly encourage users who want to publish data outside office time to implement the new data in a feed separated from the other operational feeds.

Q: What happens if the user wants to publish more data than allowed by the contractual Volume band?

If the amount of data to be published exceeds the limit allowed by the volume band of the licence, it will not be possible to publish the data request, because adding more data than allowed by the volume band requires an amendment to the licence.

The user will be notified when trying to publish too much data, and he/she will be able to choose to confirm the publication of the data. 

  • If the user accepts: a ticket will be open for Data Support, and we will take care of amending your licence accordingly and send it for signature. Once the licence is signed, the new data will be installed.
  • If the user does not accept: the action will be canceled.

Other feeds remain available for edit and publication provided that they remain below the volume limit.

Q: What if my feed won't validate? 

The validation is an essential task to protect the ECMWF product generation system. If the feed does not validate (the bug does not turn green), your publication will not be completed. 

Assistance with validation errors will only be undertaken during ECMWF office hours by the Data Support Team. 

Users will be able to change the status of their feeds and to create feeds on their own

Q: For which categories of users will those two features be available?

Changing the status of their feeds and creating feeds on their own will be available for the following users:

  • Silver and Gold users, Standard Commercial and Maximum Charge, in the new service charge model (July 2024)

Note: this feature is not available for the following users (they will still need to request the changes from Data Support team):

  • Silver and Gold Maximum Charge users still in the old service charge model (pre-July 2024)
  • Basic and Bronze users in the old service charge model (pre-July 2024) and new service charge model (July 2024)

Q: How many statuses can a feed have?

Feeds in a destination can have three different status:

  • Normal: the files will be automatically pushed to the destination accordinng to the dissemination schedule.
  • Delay: files will be produced and made available in the destination, but the user will need to manually download the files.
  • Pre-schedule delivery: the files will be sent as soon as the files are created and deposited into the ECPDS interface. Only files eligible for Pre-schedule delivery will be included (i.e. not AIFS or Extended-range data).

Q: What does it means to change the feed of a status?

The user will be able to select the status of the feed from a drop-down list and to update the status of the feed.

Q: Is there a maximum number of feeds for a destination?

Yes, and it depends on the service package. 

In this table the maximum number of feeds that can be created in a destination.

Note: also feeds set as TEST counts through the maximum number of feeds.

Q: Are the changes to the status feed immediately effective?

No, changes will need some time to be effective.

It is possible to check the pick-up times table to see what will be the next run to be disseminated according to updated status.

For example, if the feed contains oper data and the status is changed at 9:00 UTC, the change will be effective after the next 06z run.


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