diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/subtasks.py b/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/subtasks.py
index acdf6a50ae6b92b19c43d764e32bf95258b98338..48cda40794318098ae8a2866f4acbadc52465227 100644
--- a/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/subtasks.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/subtasks.py
@@ -1720,6 +1720,7 @@ def _generate_subtask_specs_from_pulsar_pipeline_task_specs(pipeline_task_specs,
 
     # PRESTO
     presto_specs = pipeline_task_specs["presto"]
+    subtask_specs["presto"] = {}
     subtask_specs["presto"]["2bf2fits_extra_opts"] = "-nsamples={samples_per_block}".format(**presto_specs["input"])
     subtask_specs["presto"]["decode_nblocks"]      = presto_specs["input"]["nr_blocks"]
     subtask_specs["presto"]["decode_sigma"]        = presto_specs["input"]["decode_sigma"]
@@ -1734,6 +1735,7 @@ def _generate_subtask_specs_from_pulsar_pipeline_task_specs(pipeline_task_specs,
 
     # DSPSR
     dspsr_specs = pipeline_task_specs["dspsr"]
+    subtask_specs["dspsr"] = {}
     subtask_specs["dspsr"]["skip_dspsr"]           = not dspsr_specs["enabled"]
     subtask_specs["dspsr"]["digifil_extra_opts"]   = "-D {dm} -t {integration_time} -f {frequency_channels}{dedisperse}".format(
                                                          **dspsr_specs["digifil"],
@@ -1745,10 +1747,11 @@ def _generate_subtask_specs_from_pulsar_pipeline_task_specs(pipeline_task_specs,
 
     # output
     output_specs = pipeline_task_specs["output"]
+    subtask_specs["output"] = {}
     subtask_specs["output"]["raw_to_8bit"]                   = output_specs["quantisation"]["enabled"]
     subtask_specs["output"]["8bit_conversion_sigma"]         = output_specs["quantisation"]["scale"]
     subtask_specs["output"]["skip_dynamic_spectrum"]         = not output_specs["dynamic_spectrum"]["enabled"]
-    subtask_specs["output"]["dynamic_spectrum_time_average"] = not output_specs["dynamic_spectrum"]["time_average"]
+    subtask_specs["output"]["dynamic_spectrum_time_average"] = output_specs["dynamic_spectrum"]["time_average"]
 
     return subtask_specs