Allocations Report

ALLOCATIONS REPORTDecember, 2009

Kent Milfeld, TG Allocations Coordinator

Outline Allocation Stats RAAR Report

MRAC/LRAC Cycles Oversubscription

Allocation Submission Support (time permitting) Processing Interfaces

Allocation – Stats Dec. 2009 TRAC Meeting

Total Large PHY/AST…

CHE/MCB…

Adaptive

Supps/Just

Count 102 7 33 38 18 2/4

RequestedSUs (M)

378 131 102 103 5 38

Recommended SUs (M)

183 44 78 51 4 7

48% Allocation/Requested60% Allocation/Available

Allocation – Stats Sept. 2009 TRAC Meeting

Total Large PHY/AST…

CHE/MCB…

Adaptive

Supps/Just

Count 102 20 35 39 32 1

RequestedSUs (M)

810 583 105 105 13 3.7

Allocated SUs (M)

329 200 61 51 11 3.7

41% Allocation/Requested112% Allocation/Available

Allocation – Stats Startups:

Month

Requests

Jan 68

Feb 57

Mar 52

Apr 61

May 64

Jun 77

Jul 71

Aug 72

Sept 90

Oct 88

Nov 69

Total 769

Allocation Stats Request and Allocation Trends

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100

200

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Total Req

Allocation Quarter

SU

s (

Million

s)

Jan 08

Apr 08

Jul 08

Oct 08

Jan 09

Apr 09

Jul 09

Oct 09

Jan 10

TG Requested and Allocated Awards 2008-2009

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OVERSUBSCRIPTIONREPORT

OutlineRAAR 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

Allocation Process Definitions 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 TRAC recommendations and availability

(reconciliation = Resolves recommended available difference– includes resolution on individual systems. )

General 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).

General 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.)

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200

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400

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700

800

900

Total ReqLinear (Total Req)Total AllocLinear (Total Alloc)Avail

Allocation Quarter

SU

s (

Mil

lio

ns)

TG Requested and Allocated Awards 2008-2009

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Procedures for Oversubscription 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

Procedures for Oversubscription 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

TRAC Review Procedure Changes

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)

TRAC Review Procedure 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.

Adjusting Recommended Allocations NSF will no longer apply restrictions on requests

with NIH funding. Funding Categories are: NSF and non-NSF

{NSF} and {NIH, DOE, DoD, Labs, Commercial}

Adjustments will be applied across all requests, by a “uniform” process to eliminate oversubscription.

NSF Funded Requests have “priority” when Recommended Allocations have to be adjusted for oversubscription.

Smaller requests are to be reduced less than large requests.

Adjusting Recommended Allocations Factors for adjusting recommended

allocations to availability Across-the-board reductions (X factor, set by

oversubscription) Funding source (priority given to NSF-funded

research, Y factor) Size of award (priority given to small awards, Z

Scaling Factor)

FormulaR = RN RO+

Fractional Parts of Recommended Allocation: 1*R = (FN + FO)*R = RN + RO

Where FN + FO are the fractions of NSF and non-NSF Funding, and R=Recommended Allocation.

(1 - X) * Rx = RN RO+(1 - X) * Recommended Alloc. Adjustment by (1-X)(no priority)

Adjustment for non-NSF (Other) by Y.

Rxy = RN RO+(1 - X) * (1- Y*X) *

Adjust for size, linear scale.

Allocated, A = Rxyz = Size Scale * Rxy

1 - Rxy – Rxy-min

Rxy-max

Z * * Rxy A=Rxyz =

POPS

Allocations Processing 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

Allocations Processing 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

Allocations Interfaces

* RequiredForms

POPS development team is always improving, and maintaining interface.

Allocations Interfaces 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

Allocations Interfaces

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)

Allocations Interfaces

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)

Questions

Answers: