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Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy at ISAC

WHAT IS IN THIS PAGE:  Information for GRSI Visitors

This page contains several sets of important instructions for all those who wish to participate in experimental activities of the Gamma-Ray Spectrosocpy at ISAC group, namely GRIFFIN or TIGRESS experiments, either remotely or on site.  The sections are:

  • Access to TRIUMF IT
  • Access to the TRIUMF Site
  • Foreign Visitors
  • "120 Day Rule"
  • Hints for Returning Visitors
  • Common problems and mistakes

Please read and follow these instructions carefully, and make sure all steps are completed AT LEAST FIVE DAYS BEFORE  you visit or take a remote shift.  Access to TRIUMF IT is manadtory and necessary to complete the steps associated to gain access to the TRIUMF site.

Existing collaborators are encouraged to verify all steps before they arrive too, just to make sure nothing has expired.

Access to TRIUMF IT

All collaborators need to register as TRIUMF users, even if they are only taking part remotely.  Most GRSI IT resources are behind the TRIUMF firewall.  This includes but is not limited to MIDAS frontends and servers, the sorting & analysis cluster, and the wiki pages.  These must be accessed from offsite through the TRIUMF VPN.  To do this, you need a TRIDENT ID.  To get a TRIDENT ID, you must be a registered user.

Please complete all of the following six steps  in order at least five business days before your visit or your remote shift.

  1. Request visit authorization.  Send your TRIUMF contact your full government name from an e-mail account that you can use for further interactions with the TRIUMF visitor system.  Students and post-docs may wish to use a more permanent e-mail account than an insitutional one that they may lose as their careers develop.  NOTE:  If you know for sure you have a valid TRIDENT ID, e.g. because you already received an e-mail from Provisioning_Notification@triumf.ca, you can skip this step.
  2. Wait for your TRIDENT ID, username@triumf.ca.  Within a few days (hopefully one to two), you will be assigned a TRIDENT ID.  You will receive an e-mail from an account like "Provisioning_Notification@triumf.ca" informing you of this.  Your TRIDENT ID will have the form username@triumf.ca.  Your username will typically be your first initial followed by your full last name.  Joan Marie Larkin's TRIDENT Username woudl be jlarkin, and her TRIDENT ID would be jlarkin@triumf.ca .  Arif Mirabdolbaghi's TRIDENT ID would be amirabdolbaghi@triumf.ca and his username would be amirabdolbaghi.  
  3. Verify your TRIDENT ID and password:   When you receive (or if you previously received) an e-mail from Provisioning_Notification@triumf.ca:  Go to www.triumf.ca, and click the Login button.  Attempt to log in with your TRIDENT ID (username@triumf.ca) and password as provided in the e-mail from Provisioning_Notification@triumf.ca.  If this doesn't work, go below to "Common Problems and Mistakes".
  4. Set up multi-factor authentication: Open a private or incognito browser window, and set up mutli-factor authentication (MFA) for your TRIDENT ID (username@triumf.ca).  Instructions to do this are at https://www.triumf.ca/information-systems-and-technology/multi-factor-authentication-mfa-registration-microsoft-portal.  This doesn't log you into anything (yet), but it does set up MFA so can log into things later.  It is strongly recommended that you use a private or incognito browser to do this.  Under any circumstance, make absolutely sure if a login name or user name appears in the top left corner of the MFA setup pages, that it is your TRIDENT ID, and not some other Microsoft user ID e.g. a personal one or one from your home institution.  You are encouraged to use the Microsoft Autheticator on your device for this, as it (only) requires WiFi, it does not require a cell service.  This may be especially useful for visitors without roaming (or data) on their cell phones.
  5. RSVP and enter your birthdate. You will receive at least one "RSVP" e-mail from mis@triumf.ca.  This may have arrived before you received your TRIDENT ID.  Follow any instrucitons and links in that e-mail.   This will allow you confirm your personal  information.  Amongst other things it will also allow you to enter your date of birth.  Do this.  If you did not receive something like this, go to the Visitor App, log in with your TRIDENT Username (no @triumf.ca), and enter your birthday there.
  6. Set up and check the VPN.  Once you have verified that your TRIDENT ID is working, go to https://ccn.triumf.ca/off-site/vpn and follow the appropriate instructions for your device.   In addition to any checks reommended in the websites or instructions above, go to https://grsi.wiki.triumf.ca/index.php/Access .  This page is behind the firewall, so if you can see it, you will be able to access all other GRSI resources.  This page includes further information on other resources and how to access them.

NOTE:  Again, please note that your full TRIDENT ID includes both your TRIDENT Username and @triumf.ca .  

ALSO NOTE:  TRIUMF resources may require either the TRIDENT ID or just the TRIDENT username.  GRSI resources may require even different usernames and passwords, see https://grsi.wiki.triumf.ca/index.php/Access for further details.

Access to the TRIUMF Site

Please carefully read the contents of https://www.triumf.ca/home/for-scientific-visitors, in particular Procedures for User Registration, and Before your Visit.

At least five days before you arrive, you must do all THREE of the following steps.

  1. Register as a user and get a TRIDENT ID.  See the section above, "Important information for all collaborators". MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SET UP MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION.  Also, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE RSVP'd and entered your date of birth.  
  2. Complete mandatory training on Workday.  Log in to workday.triumf.ca with your TRIDENT ID (username@triumf.ca).  Click on View All Apps.  Click on Learning, Discover, and Browse Learning.  Use the Search field to find, enroll in, and take each of the courses listed below.  After you have finished, them, find My Learning (you may have to start with View All Apps and Learning again), click on View Learning Transcript, and Print, save as PDF, or screen-shot your completed training records, and send them to your contact person.  If you will be installing or removing calibration sources, working with chemicals, or dispensing liquid nitrogen yourself, please ask your contact for futher training requirements. 
      • TRIUMF Safety Orientation
      • Basic Radiation Protection Training
      • Bullying and Harassment 
  3. Specify the dates you will be on site.  Fill in your visit dates in the Visitor App at https://mis.triumf.ca/admin/visit/.  Log in using just your TRIDENT username (no @triumf.ca).  Your access card, whether it is a visitor temporary one or a permanent one with your photo on it, will be active only for the dates on record in the Visitor App.   Your radiation badge will be on the rack for those dates.
      • Off-hours arrivals:  If you are arriving on a weekend or holiday or after hours, and you need to enter the site before the next business day; set your start-of-visit date to the business day before you intend to arrive, and advise your contact to ask about card pickup instructions.

It is imperative that you get all of these completed and all forms submitted at least five working days before you are scheduled to arrive.

You must specify your on-site dates and request invitation letters for each period you will be on site.  You are strongly encouraged to verify your training each time as well, as some of the training expires and needs to be repeated periodically.

Foreign visitors

*NEW*  If you are a frequent visitor who expects to come more than once a year, please scroll down the the "120 Day Rule" section for some crucial information.

This section applies to visitors who are neither Canadian citizens nor lawful permanent residents of Canada who will be arriving from outside of Canada.  It does not apply to Canadian citizens, lawful permanent residents, or foreign nationals already in Canada.  Visa wait times can be onerous, so START THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

If you are entering Canada from abroad and are neither a Canadian citizen or a lawful permanent resident of Canada, you will eed an invitation letter from TRIUMF confirming your business in Canada.  This includes US citizens and lawful permanent residents.  This invitation letter can be presented to an immigration officer at the port of entry on request to explain the purpose of your visit.  Furthermore, depending on your citizenship, you may need a Visitor Visa or an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), or if you are a US citizen you may be exempt from needing either.  If you need a visa, you weill neen an invitation letter first.  Invitation letters can be quick but visas can take a lot of time. Start on this as soon as you think about travelling. 

You must perform the three steps below:

  1. Request an invitation letter.  TRIUMF HR reviews foreign visitors for work permit implications and prepares invitation letters for presentation at the port of entry.  Your host is the sole point of contact for this process. To get the process started, send an e-mail with the information noted below this list to your host (typically Adam or Greg), asking for an Invitation Letter and indicating the following information:
      • Name
        • Specifically. your government name as it appears on your passport.
      • Position and/or Title
        • e.g. research scientist, graduate student, professor etc.
      • E-mail address
      • Home institution
      • How you are being financially supported during your trip.  
        • If you are getting any support from anyone in Canada including TRIUMF, please identify it.  
        • If you are NOT getting any support from Canada, state that explicitly.
      • Purpose of trip or visit
      • Dates of visit
  2. Determine what entry documents you need. 
  3. Obtain the necessary entry documents as determined in Step 2.

This advice builds on information given in this official TRIUMF web page.  While every effort is made to keep these web sites synchronized, you are encouraged to check there as well.

"120 Day Rule"

The following is my best attempt to summarize Canadian government policy and TRIUMF's interpretation of how it applies to visitors.  I'm not a lawyer,  immigration consultant, or human resources business partner.

If you are coming to perform work as a researcher in Canada, under certain restrictive conditions you may be exempt from requiring work permit (link below).  TRIUMF refers to this as the "120 Day Rule".  The conditions, as best as I can tell, are:

a) You are intending to take part in TRIUMF research for 15 consecutive days or less, and haven't been granted a "120 Day Rule" exemption in the last 6 months;

b) You are inending to take part in TRIUMF research for up to 30 consecutive days or less, and haven't been granted  "120 Day Rule" exemption in the last 12 months;

c) You are intending to take part in TRIUMF research over a calendar period spanning 120 days,  and you haven't been granted a "120 Day Rule" exemption in the last 12 months.

The difference betwen b) and c) is that under c) you are eligible to leave and re-enter the country over the 120 day period, while b) pertains to a single entry.

If you don't satisfy any of these three eligibility criteria, you'll need a work permit.

TRIUMF expects all visitors and their hosts to obey the terms of this policy and enforces them.

As such it is crucial to get the invitation letter initiated as soon as possible.  Once HR has it, they will decide if you need a work permit.  So please get your invitation letter information to your host as soon as possible, so there is enough time to get a work permit if TRIUMF HR requires it.  If you plan on making visits that may disqualify you from one or more of these exemptions (e.g. you are expecting to come for more than one experiment per year), HR may be able to advise on the appropriate options for work permits, or which exemption to take.

Link to the "120 Day Rule" policy:  https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/short-term-work.html

Hints for Returning Visitors

Most visitors who have been on site since November 2021 have likely gone through most of all the steps above.

If your most recent visit was prior to November 2021, there is a significant chance that you will have to repeat some if not all of the steps above.  Most likely you will need at minimum to set up Multi-Factor Authetication and complete any missing training through Workday.

Common problems and mistakes

If you are struggling following these instructions, Camille Belanger-Champagne has prepared a nice flow chart to help her visitors with this.  It includes nice examples and screen shots.  With the exception of the Personnel Safety Alarms training module, the rest of these instructions are appropraite for GRSI experiment and sabbatical visitors.

Can't log in to the visitor app or TRIDENT:  Check your password at https://ccn.triumf.ca/trident/reset.  Verify with your contact that you still have a vailid visitor authorization.

Can't make the VPN work:  If you've already verified your TRIDENT ID, try going through https://vpn.triumf.ca .

Can't log in to Workday:  If you've already verified your TRIDENT ID and you're connected by the VPN, and you get an error message like "For security reasons, we require additional information to verify your account" or "The selected authentication method is not available":  set up  mutli-factor authentication (MFA). Go to  https://www.triumf.ca/information-systems-and-technology/multi-factor-authentication-mfa-registration-microsoft-portal.

Common mistakes: 

  • The most common sources of problems with accessing TRIUMF resources with the TRIDENT Username or TRIDENT ID come from  account conflicts.  In particular, if you or your instution use Microsoft services of any type and you use a non-TRIUMF username or ID for those, make absolutely sure you have not remained logged in to one of those services.  Any MFA you set up for other Microsoft services will not migrate over to your TRIDENT ID.  This has been a recurring problem for visitors from University of Guelph, for example.  Better yet, start up an incognito or private browser window and do your TRIUMF business there.  This should ignore any accounts where you "Stay[ed] logged in?".
  • Many people confuse visitor authorization and visits.  Visitor Authorization entitles you to access TRIUMF electronic resources, gets you a TRIDENT ID, and allows you to book visits.  This authorization is limited in term and is set at the discretion of your contact.  Individual visits specify what days you will actually be on site.  When you enter visit dates, reception and RPG will prepare an access card and dosimeter active only for those dates.
  • Some visitors forget to RSVP and do not enter their birthdates.  A visitor's birthdate is mandatory for dosimetry recordkeeping.  If you do not enter your birthdate, you will not get a dosimeter.

Who owns this page?  Who do I complain to about it?

This page is maintained by me, Greg Hackman, hackman@triumf.ca .  While I do my best to keep it accurate and up-to-date, some things fall through the cracks.  If you find an error or omission in the content of this page, please advise me ASAP and I'll (try to) fix it.  Suggestions on how to make it more useful and usable will also be considered.  I'm afraid that if you have any concerns about visitor processes, HR, or Canadian government policy ... I'll listen, but they're beyond my ability to control.

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