District 1 Southern Region

Auxiliary Air Station Caldwell

AUXINFO Cubes

Members, I have prepared for you some links into AUXINFO so that you can track your hours as they get entered into AUXDATA. I hope that you will find them helpful.

Most of these links, are attached to me, Larry West, your FSO-IS. This gets them all down to an individual level, which is less confusing than having them at the FLotilla level. Of course, you don't want to be looking at my hours (or maybe you do!), so you need to know how to get your hours. So, before I show the links, I'm going to show you how to personalize the links to you.

So, the first thing I will teach you to do, even before you start clicking on the links, is to redirect the query to your information.

What is AUXINFO?

AUXINFO is an Auxiliarist's “window” into the Coast Guard's Auxiliary tracking system, AUXDATA. AUXDATA is where the IS officers record each members hours, activities, tasks, certifications and awards. This is where all the information you provide on your 7029, 7030, 7028, 7046 and other forms ends up. AUXDATA, though, is not a very friendly place for the uninitiated. So, the Coast Guard needed a way for members to check on their hours and progress. Thus was born AUXINFO.

AUXINFO, in technical jargon, is a Data Warehouse application. From AUXINFO, you can look at data in many different ways, and the data cannot get corrupted, nor can you affect anyone else using hte system. What this means to you, the member, is that you can track the information contained on those forms.

What you see on the right is a close-up (click the image for a full view) of the part of the screen that shows the name of the person or unit that this report is for. To change that, you left click (that's the normal click) on the name. After a couple seconds, a list will display, as shown there. You then scroll down the list until your name is highlightes, like Howard's is here, click the mouse button again, and the report will re-populate with your personal information. Easy, right?

Ok, so you're ready to click on some links, and track your hours and qualifications. I need to tel you about a couple things before I set you loose, though. First, AUXINFO is not “live”, like AUXDATA is. The information here is refreshed weekly, sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning. However, the fresh data is not posted until Monday morning. So, there can be as much as a weeks lag between the IS officer entering the information and the AUXINFO cubes reflecting the change. This does not count the lag between when you submit it and the IS officer does the entry. Don't worry though, anyone who needs live access into AUXDATA for certifications, etc. has it.

Ok, so let's get on with the links. I will list them with a brief expanation. A few of them will come up with little data, mainly because I am not active in that program. But if you are active in it, all you have to do is change your name at the top, and you'll see all you need to. Let's get clicking!

• All Hours. This one is pretty simple. It will show you all of your hours. The time is broken down into various types of missions. Click on one of the missions listed. You will see that it then breaks down into the individual mission types. THat's called “Drilling Down”, and is a skill you will use a lot with AUXINFO.
• Competencies. Competencies are, to you and me, Qualifications. If you want to see if you made Boat Crew, here is the place to see it.
• Tasks. Tasks are the things you do to attain a certification, or to maintian a certification. Things like your AUXOP courses, ICS courses, and the like are in here.
• Awards. Ok, here they are, the Auxiliarist's paychecks. Whether you are planning that new ribbon rack, or just wondering if you qalified for that Annual award, here's the place to look. Make sure you bone up on the AUXMAN chapter on Awards, and wear them right!

Ok, I need to take a break here. About now, you're probably saying, “Hey Larry, this is all fine and good, but I don't want to have to look at your info every time I want to llok at mine! What can I do about that? Can I just save a favorite?” Well, if you did save a favorite, you've probably found out about now that they don't work. I'll show you how to create a favorite (or bookmark, if you're on Mac OS or Linux).

To save a favorite or bookmark, first go to the page you want, and change the name so it is showing your information. Next, look along the bottom of the AUXINFO window, and look for the little document icon (See the thumbnal at right. Click on the image for a larger version). Click your mouse on the file icon. You will see a short list of options. The one we want is the bottom one, “Prepare Bookmark”. Click on that. Now, the screen will reload, with exactly the same information. With one big difference. Now, you can save the address as a Favorite or Bookmark! Just beware that you cannot save is as a shorcut in Windows to your desktop. Many of the URLS generated by AUXINFO are far too large for a desktop shortcut.

Got it? Ok, now back to the links!

• AUXINFO Cubes: Air Hours by Facility & Date. Ok, now for some more involved queries. This one will look at your information, and it will put dates down the left side, and then the facility tail numbers across the top. With this, you can easily check to see if the hours from a particular flight have been entered. Simple, right?
• AUXINFO Cubes: Boat Hours by Facility and Date. Ok, same thing here, but for surface vessels (Boats to you Aviators).
• AUXINFO Cubes: Air Hours by Facility and Date, broken down by position. This link adds your position in the crew to the list. There are three levels: LEAD is your Pilot In Command or Coxswain or lead Instructor; NON-LEAD is qualifid crew members not in a LEAD position (this has nothing to do with your qualification), and TRAINING, if you are in a Trainee status. Largely, this is for members advancing from training to certified, and for those tracking certain awards. In most cases, time as a trainee does not count towards performance awards, and for some, time as non-lead is counted differently than lead.
• AUXINFO Cubes: Boat Hours by Facility and Date, broken down by position. Again, same thing here, but for surface vessels (Boats to you Aviators).
• MT & PE Hours By Position. Here's a complex one. If you are an instructor, it is helpful to be able to track your hours spent on Public Education and Member Training. Also, the PE Annual Performance Award requires that you complet 30 hours as Lead instrictor, or 60 as assistant (non-lead), or a combination. With this, you can look up your hours, and keep track.
• Program Visitor - Years/Hours/Missions/Visits. For our Program Visitors, here is a view of your PV data.
• Vessel Examinations - Years/Hours/Missions/Checks. And here is a similar report for Vessel Examiners.
• ATONs - Years/Hours/Missions/Verified. And for ATON verifiers!

These last few look at the whole Flotilla. Click on your name to limit the display to yourself. If you are not listed, then there is no record of your completing any of the courses shown.

• ICS Completions. Here is an important one. Track that your ICS courses have been properly entered into AUXDATA. This is important, as you'll need them as you advance through the Auxiliary.
• TCT & NAVRULES Tasks. Are you Boat Crew> Coxswain? Here's a report to track your TCT task completions, and your NAVRULES tests.
• AUXINFO Cubes: Specialty, CGLAMS & AUXAPC. Last, but certainly not least, here is a report showing the Specialty course completions (you complete these on the way to attaining AUXOP), Auxiliary Administrative Procedures Course (needed to be elected to office) and the Coast Guard Leadership and Management School.

Had enough? There are many, many things you can find out in AUXINFO. hese are just the tip of the iceberg. These are what I came up with, mostly looking to track my own hours. If any of you have a request for a query for something special and you can't get to it yourself. drop me an e-mail, and I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, Happy tracking!

WWW www.uscgaux.org

Site designed by: Larry West, FSO-CS

Privacy Statement Auxiliary Flotilla 10-20 is the sole owner of any data collected from visitors to this site. Data collected will not be sold, rented, or otherwise transferred to parties outside the Auxiliary, and any possible transfer to other Auxiliary entities will be noted at the point of collection. As of January, 2008, no data is being collected. Should this policy change for any reason, the change will be noted in this space.