ARC projects
An ARC project is an entity which groups together a number of user accounts for accounting and resource allocation purposes. A project is created on request by a member of University staff who then becomes the nominated project leader. The project leader takes the responsibility for:
- Approving the opening of individual user accounts as part of the led project.
- Controlling the way the credits associated with that project are consumed by its users.
Creating a new project
Apply to register an ARC project using the project registration page.
Aside from personal details, the registration page requires a funding option. Most projects on ARC are funded indirectly, through departmental subscriptions, which does not incur any direct costs to users within those projects. This type of access is associated with the standard level of service. Projects that envisage long-term and sustained use of resources can benefit from the priority level of service through the purchase of credits from research grant funds. The different levels of service are explained in the Access policy page.
ARC projects can be research groups, individuals or whatever best suits your local environment. For example, a research group may have two areas of research with different funding streams, case in which it might make sense to create two separate projects and have different user accounts for each project.
We aim to process an application for new ARC projects within three working days, most are processed within this time but at busy periods it may take longer. The project leader will be emailed when the project is registered and users can be added.
Once a project created, users can apply for individual users accounts as part of that project by completing the User Registration Form. All applications for user accounts as part of a particular project are to be approved by the project leader, who gets notified by email when a new account application is submitted.
Usage credits
A new project is allocated free credits equivalent to 25,000 core-hours of computing. This is enough to test the software and the procedures for processing on the ARC clusters. Beyond that, the project leader should request extra credits, either for the free standard service or purchased from grant funding. See Requesting usage credits for more information.
