Enhancing data consistency in ATLAS and CERN HR databases through automated synchronization

Consisting of the biggest particle physics laboratory in the world, it is with no surprise that CERN has a vast network of thousands of collaborators spreaded globally. Among CERN’s experiments, ATLAS stands out with over 6000 active members and 300 associate institutes. This extensive community must go through the standard registering and maintenance procedures within CERN’s human resource’s database, called Foundation. Simultaneously, the ATLAS Glance project, among other specific functions, also aims to fulfill the same objectives within the context of ATLAS. The available tools during the early stages of Glance’s development led to a solution that, at the time, met the basic needs: data duplication. However, as the databases grew over time, man- ual updates by ATLAS secretariat became necessary to maintain consistency over members and institutes data, such as names, employment information and authorship status. Today, equipped with new tools, the Glance system under- goes a transformative process to redefine its relationship with Foundation. The goal is to eliminate duplication of data by establishing a single source of truth and removing unnecessary duplication while automating a series of internal pro- cesses to ensure synchronization between the two databases at all times, thus removing the need for manual intervention from the ATLAS secretariat. This requires some restructuring to Glance’s database, updates to the code and over- all implementation of new tools that facilitate seamless communication with Foundation.