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Access Policy
1. Background
The planning process for HPCVL since late in 1997 has always involved some sort of charging algorithm, user fee structure or access fee. At Queen's University, for example, researchers were polled in late 1997 on their willingness to pay a fee from their research grants to help with the purchase and upkeep of a computer to replace the existing IBM SP2. Since that time, the formation of HPCVL and its efforts to access government funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the various Ontario funding bodies, and NSERC, have led to a number of discussions regarding the perception of value of these proposed facilities to the researchers at member institutions, other institutions and industry.
During these discussions, it was recognized that member institutions comprising HPCVL were putting significant resources into, not only the application process, but also into the actual operating budget as cash and in-kind. It was also recognized that HPCVL would have to make 20% of its CFI funded facilities available to researchers outside of HPCVL. Given that researchers at other Universities were mentioned in our applications as potential users of the proposed facilities, it is assumed that sharing HPCVL resources fairly should play a role in formulating this policy. In addition, CFI regulations governing HPC awards state that external users cannot be charged more than internal users (as part of the 20% availability commitment).
HPCVL has stated in its grant applications that a small access fee would be collected and help cover a portion of our operating expenses. For budgeting purposes, this fee would form a portion of the each member institution's contributions (for internal users).
2. Access Categories
2.1 General Principles
HPCVL access is open to all researchers at member institutions and to selected researchers from across Canada. In all its funding applications, HPCVL has stated that the facilities would be used by researchers from member institutions and selected researchers from other institutions from across Canada.
Five categories of access were created to respond to the various needs of academic and industrial users. The General Institutional Access category that would fit researchers in general was in order. Recognizing that some researchers may require larger resource access than others, HPCVL established an Enhanced Access category. For example, researchers requiring 60 CPUs to be dedicated to their work for a short period of time or at a higher priority as the work may be under some time constraint would pay a higher access fee. Recognizing that some institutional researchers also perform contract research that may require high priority access to large resources not covered by the previous categories, a Contractual Research Institutional Access category was established. A Private Sector Access category will allow HPCVL to attract companies interested in utilizing HPCVL facilities. Finally, to promote access, HPCVL recognizes that a short trial period may be granted to potential new users under the Provisional Access category.
2.2.1General Institutional Access:
The General Institutional Access category is primarily aimed at an institutional access supporting a relatively small team of graduate students, post-docs, and research associates using the HPCVL facilities.
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The PI of a research group is the only person to pay an access fee. Users of that researcher group (graduate students, post-docs, research associates, and staff) are covered by that one fee.
2.2.2Services
General Access includes the following services:
2.2.3 Access Fee
2.3.1 Enhanced Institutional Access
The Enhanced Institutional Access category is primarily aimed at PIs with large teams and/or large resource requirements.
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The PI of a research group is the only person to pay an access fee. Users of that researcher group (graduate students, post-docs, research associates, and staff) are covered by that one fee.
2.3.2 Services
Enhanced Access includes the following services:
2.3.3 Access Fee
2.4.1 Contractual Research Institutional Access
The Contractual Research Institutional Access category is aimed at institutional researchers performing contract research. This category will be negotiated on a case by case basis for more flexibility (cf. Category III of the Access Fee Schedule).
2.5.1 Private Sector Access
This Access category is aimed at companies interested in purchasing access to the HPCVL facilities. Due to the nature of private sector needs, this category has to be negotiated on a case by case basis (cf. Category IV of the Access Fee Schedule).
2.6.1 Provisional Access
This Access category is aimed at potential new users desiring a short trial period before they join HPCVL. Provisional access is left to the discretion of the Executive Director, upon the availability of resources.
3. Responsibilities of Users
Each user will agree to follow and abide by the HPCVL Usage and Security policies and practices, as well as, any other policies established by the HPCVL Board of Trustees. It is emphasized that:
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In accordance with the rules stated in the Usage Policy document, it is understood that prior to a large resource allocation, the user will have made all the necessary efforts to optimize and parallelize their codes.
The need to meet funding agency reporting requirements that can withstand an actual audit means that:
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Each institutional user will have to report the time spent on a particular project involving HPCVL. At the end of each reporting period, each user (PI) must ensure that an accounting report is submitted for each user of their team. Details on how the reports are to be submitted will evolve with the progressive assembly of the HPCVL infrastructure and administration.
4. Access Administration
Access fees are administered in the following ways:
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