Narrative:

The wiang a/B/C military airspace went active on the radar scopes in the northeast area 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. I had the squib radar controller ask me if the airspace was active because his gi (general information) said that it wasn't to go active until XX00Z. I quickly checked the sams website and it said that it began at XX00Z.I then attempted to contact the military position in the traffic management unit (tmu) to find out what was going on. They did not answer the phone due to being overwhelmed with multiple positions combined in tmu due to lack of staffing in the tmu. As I was about to walk up to tmu to ask them about the status of the airspace; the airspace turned off the radar scopes. Then tmu called me (the northeast area flm) and the north area front line manager (flm) on the vscs. They explained that the wiangs were turned on by accident; that the wiangs were not going to go active until XX00Z; and that the vok airspace was active early at XX00 minus 15 minutes Z (which was already coordinated with the north area and does not impact the northeast area).a few minutes later; tmu called and said that the wiangs airspace actually did go active at XX00 minus 15 minutes Z and to protect for it.I believe that the coordination between chicago ARTCC's tmu and minneapolis ARTCC's tmu is breaking down. I also believe that the lack of staffing and fatigue in chicago ARTCC's tmu is playing a major role in this and yesterday's situation. I do not know what training was transpiring in tmu over the past two days.this is the second day in a row where the wiang airspace was not executed/coordinated correctly. Get more staffing in chicago ARTCC's tmu (tmcs and stmcs)! Hire more flm staffing in chicago ARTCC!have chicago ARTCC's tmu; minneapolis ARTCC's tmu; and the military re-evaluate the process for activating the wiangs airspace. However it might not be a problem with the procedure; but proper staffing and training.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Chicago Center (ZAU) Front line Manager (FLM) reports of confusion concerning a reference to a Special Use Airspace (SUA) and whether it is hot or not and tries to figure it out. Aircraft are in the area and then they are notified that it is hot and has been for about 15 minutes.

Narrative: The WIANG A/B/C military airspace went active on the radar scopes in the Northeast Area 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. I had the Squib radar controller ask me if the airspace was active because his GI (general information) said that it wasn't to go active until XX00Z. I quickly checked the SAMS website and it said that it began at XX00Z.I then attempted to contact the military position in the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) to find out what was going on. They did not answer the phone due to being overwhelmed with multiple positions combined in TMU due to lack of staffing in the TMU. As I was about to walk up to TMU to ask them about the status of the airspace; the airspace turned off the radar scopes. Then TMU called me (the Northeast Area FLM) and the North Area Front Line Manager (FLM) on the VSCS. They explained that the WIANGs were turned on by accident; that the WIANGs were not going to go active until XX00Z; and that the VOK airspace was active early at XX00 minus 15 minutes Z (which was already coordinated with the North Area and does not impact the Northeast Area).A few minutes later; TMU called and said that the WIANGs airspace actually did go active at XX00 minus 15 minutes Z and to protect for it.I believe that the coordination between Chicago ARTCC's TMU and Minneapolis ARTCC's TMU is breaking down. I also believe that the lack of staffing and fatigue in Chicago ARTCC's TMU is playing a major role in this and yesterday's situation. I do not know what training was transpiring in TMU over the past two days.This is the second day in a row where the WIANG airspace was not executed/coordinated correctly. Get more staffing in Chicago ARTCC's TMU (TMCs and STMCs)! Hire more FLM staffing in Chicago ARTCC!Have Chicago ARTCC's TMU; Minneapolis ARTCC's TMU; and the military re-evaluate the process for activating the WIANGs airspace. However it might not be a problem with the procedure; but proper staffing and training.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.