december, 2009 kent milfeld, tg allocations coordinator
TRANSCRIPT
December, 2009Kent Milfeld, TG Allocations Coordinator
Allocation Stats RAAR Report
MRAC/LRAC Cycles Oversubscription
POPS (Allocation Submission) Support Processing Interfaces
Dec. 2009 TRAC Meeting
49% Allocation/Requested60% Allocation/Available49% Allocation/Requested60% Allocation/Available
Startups:
Request and Allocation Trends
Richard Moore
RAAR Report– (Recommended and Available Allocations Reconciliation)
Recommended Procedures for Handling Oversubscription
General Background Recommendations
Solving the legacy MRAC/LRAC Cycle Problems Review Process / Reconciliation Defined Process to Adjust Recommended Allocations for
Oversubscription
REQUESTS = “Proposals” submitted by PIs RECOMMENDED = Awards recommended by TRAC
committee members based on merit review AVAILABLE = Amount of time made available by
the RPs for that allocation period ALLOCATED = Awards actually made, based on
both TRAC recommendations and availability (‘reconciliation’ or ‘normalization’ process) Includes overall availability as well as specific machines
Allocation award totals have traditionally been 60-70% of the Request totals.
Sept. TRAC Meeting: Requests = 810M, Available = 300M. Ouch!
Large differences in Recommended and Available Allocations require a mechanism to reduce Recommended Allocations to accommodate the available SUs (remove potential oversubscription).
Legacy Large and “Medium” request cycles persist (MRAC/LRAC quarterly and ½-yr cycles )
There is no simple way to normalize reductions across quarters (available and recommended allocations have to be reconciled at each meeting).
Request totals are difficultto predict. (From Oct. 2008 to July 2009 oscillations seemed to
dampen.)
Eliminate MRAC/LRAC waves 90% of the Requests are “MRAC” size 10% of the Requests are “LRAC” size Recommend: Pro-actively re-distribute
LRAC-type requests By extension (1 quarter) or by early renewal
(1 quarter) TG staff contact specific users and ask them
to switch cycles
Keep Merit Review Process separate from Oversubscription adjustments Let reviewers do what reviewers do best–> Provide
Recommend Allocations based on merit: Appropriateness of Methods Efficient use of systems Appropriateness of Computational Research Plan Usage of previous allocations, publications
Allocations Officers take care of applying adjustments for oversubscription– a TeraGrid Problem
Reviewers are not apprised of Oversubscription during Review period. (Provides more consistent reviews of merit.)
Reviewers can use Funding to determine PI ability to manage and apply appropriate support to accomplish work in the Computational Research Plan. Reviewer should be blind to funding agency. (Encourages PIs to report ALL funding.)
For non-funded requests, science is reviewed by TRAC (no change from previous process)
Benefits Recommended Allocations – i.e. merit-reviewed demand - can be
reported to NSF and the community. Reconciling availability limitations is removed from merit review
process – no double jeopardy.
Adjustments will be applied across all requests, by a uniform process. Availability on individual machines/classes is the complicating
factor NSF has decided to no longer single out PIs with NIH
funding for special restrictions on usage However, funding source (NSF v non-NSF) will be considered
Factors for adjusting recommended allocations to availability Funding source (preference given to NSF-funded research) Across-the-board reductions Size of award (preference given to small awards)
The details of how these factors will be applied are still being developed – and will be confirmed with NSF
Plenary Session for “top 10” requests. Parallel Sessions for Others
Two Sessions, A Chair for each session Minimal Overlap (no need to attend both
sessions) PHY/AST/ATM/CFD/ASC CHE/MCB/DMS/DMR
Awards entered into common spreadsheet Google Doc Private document, accessible only by invitation.
Considerable Time Savings
Parallel Sessions Sept. 2009 TRAC Meeting
PHY/AST/ATM/CFD/ASC FOS Session 35 Requests; 105M SUs Requested
CHE/MCB/DMS/DMR FOS Session 39 Requests; 105M SUs requested
Dec. 2009 TRAC Meeting PHY/AST/ATM/CFD/ASC FOS Session
33 Requests; 102M SUs Requested CHE/MCB/DMS/DMR FOS Session
38 Requests; 103M SUs requested
Parallel Sessions Sept. 2009 TRAC Meeting
PHY/AST/ATM/CFD/ASC FOS Session 35 Requests; 105M SUs Requested
CHE/MCB/DMS/DMR FOS Session 39 Requests; 105M SUs requested
Dec. 2009 TRAC Meeting PHY/AST/ATM/CFD/ASC FOS Session
33 Requests; 102M SUs Requested CHE/MCB/DMS/DMR FOS Session
38 Requests; 103M SUs requested
PHY… PHY… CHE… CHE…
Count SUs (M) Count SUs (M)
Sept. 09 35 105 39 105
Dec. 09 33 102 38 102
* RequiredForms
POPS development team is always improving, and maintaining interface.
Recent improvements Auto-fill
Supporting Grants and Co-PI Information is now automatically “refilled” on renewal requests (supplements and justifications, too).
Confirmation of auto-fill now requiredUpdate PI InformationAdd/remove CoPIsAdd/remove new/expire grantsModify Supporting percentage
Document Upload improvements (in progress) Single upload interface for all required docs (Simple) Selection of Document type
Main Document, Progress Report, CV, co-PI CV, TG-related Publications, References,
Uses Submit button below entry form (no more confusion with “Save to Date”)
Upload date now appears in document list(no more confusion about revisions)
System Selection (in redesign phase) Present entry form is cumbersome
(must scroll through pages of entry form or use index at top)
Re-evaluate necessity of collected data Redesign input fields
(& include comma notation in numbers)
Recommended Allocations can be reported to NSF Documents merit-reviewed demand
Oversubscription Adjustment (Reconciliation) criteria is removed from review process – no double jeopardy.
Funding support can be easily applied at Reconciliation stage.
Funding All non-NSF funded requests have equal
consideration(NIH limits no longer apply– a “fair field” for all.)
When Adjustments are applied for oversubscription, NSF has priority or preference: Adjustments for non-NSF funded projects (or
proportion of non-NSF funding) will have a larger reduction factor.
Formula:
R * (Fnsf + Fnon-nsf *R+ ) * Recommended Allocation
R = “global” Reduction factor
Fnsf = Fraction funded by NSF grants
Fnonnsf = Fraction funded by non-NSF grantsR+ = Additional Reduction for non-NSF