GMS staff quick start

This guide describes the available tools as of 23 September 2026. It is draft launch guidance pending staff acceptance; it does not replace approved operating procedures. The hurricane collection retains its existing operational references.

Start your shift

Open the GAA staff portal supplied by your administrator and sign in with your own account. Check that you are using the intended environment before entering operational work. Staging is for testing; a successful staging exercise is not a production issue.

The public weather website and this documentation hub can be read without opening the staff tools.

Choose your task

• WxWatch: inspect available weather imagery and its timestamps.
• Forecasts and Bulletins: prepare a product, save a draft, then validate and preview before publishing.
• TAF/Metar Composer: prepare and save aviation drafts. Saving a draft does not transmit it.
• wxRegister: enter and validate an observation draft. Operational finalisation and transmission are being completed.
• CAP Composer: prepare an alert and follow the review and publication steps allowed by your role.
• Human Resources: open documents, forms or approvals; use Duty Roster and Staff for the corresponding views.

Read the tools overview for the distinction between preparation and publication.

Complete one task

For a forecast, open Forecasts, select the product, enter its issue and validity times, and choose Save draft. Use Validate and preview, review the result, then publish only when authorised. Check the public website for the intended issue. See the forecast guide.

For an observation, open wxRegister, choose new observation, enter the structured fields and use validation before saving. Current validation is advisory and does not establish full coded-report compliance.

If something goes wrong

Keep the product identifier, time and error message. Follow the existing operational procedure when a tool cannot complete your task. A timeout is not proof that a save or publication failed: check the saved record before repeating the action. See troubleshooting.

Before you leave

Confirm work is saved, hand over unresolved issues and sign out of shared workstations.

Pilot work

GAA Clean and GAA Quality are active development pilots, not accepted operational services. Continue the existing assignment and document-control procedures until your supervisor confirms pilot acceptance and supplies access and guidance.