franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

3.4.3 Headings can be measured relative to the center of the galaxy. This is analogous to a directional system used onEarth that is based on angular differences to a reference point located at the northern rotational axis. In both cases, aheading of 000 from any point in the galaxy (or the planet's surface) represents a vector directly toward the referencepoint: the center of the galaxy or the planet's North Pole. Both these ships have azimuth heading of 030.SiDirectionof flight(heading 000) (heading 030)Directionof flight(heading 030)3.5 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (OPS)Many shipboard operations involve scheduling resourcesor hardware (such as power or the use of sensors) that affecta number of departments. In many such cases, it is commonfor various operations to present conflicting requirements. Itis the responsibility of the Operations Management Officer(normally referred to as the Operations Manager or Ops) tocoordinate such activities so that mission goals are not jeopardized.Having a crew member in this decision-making loopis of crucial importance because of the wide range of unpredictablesituations with which a starship must deal.The Ops panel presents the Operations Manager with acontinually updated list of current major shipboard activities.This list permits Ops to set priorities and allocate resourcesamong current operations. This is especially critical in caseswhere two or more requests require the use of the sameequipment, entail mutually exclusive mission profiles, or involvesome unusual safety or tactical considerations.An example might be a situation where the Stellar Physicsdepartment is conducting an experiment using the lateralsensor array to study a nearby binary star. Simultaneously,part of the same array is being time-shared with a long-rangecometary population survey. A request from the bridge for apriority scan of a planetary system might jeopardize bothstudies unless Ops authorizes a minor change in ship'sattitude, permitting the Stellar Physics observations to use theupper sensor array. Alternatively, Ops may weigh the optionof placing one of the ongoing studies on a lower priority toprovide the bridge with immediate use of the lateral array.PRIORITY ARID RESOURCE ALLOCATIONMost routine scheduling and resource allocation is doneautomatically by the Ops program. This frees the OperationsManager from routine activity, leaving him/her able to concentrateon decisions beyond the scope of the artificial intelligencesoftware. The level of these decision filter programscan be set by the Operations Manager, and also varies withthe current Alert status of the ship.In cases where priorities are ambiguous or where specificOps approval is required, the panel will display a menu of themost probable options for action. In virtually all cases, theOperations Manager also has the ability to input choicesbeyond those presented by the action menus. This is importantbecause it is impossible for mission planners to anticipateevery possible situation. Action menus may be displayed forany current activity (even those which would normally behandled automatically) upon keyboard request from Ops.During crisis situations and Reduced Power Mode operations,Ops is responsible for supervision of power allocation incoordination with the Engineering department (See: 15.9).Load shedding of nonessential power usage in such situ-