The Partnerships Online Proposal System (POPS) is a Web application for requesting computing allocations on TeraGrid resources.   You begin your request on the POPS Welcome page, where you'll find a summary of steps for filling out your request.

If you need more help in making selections or filling out the form fields, refer to this User Guide, the CIP Allocations page (allocation policies, process, and eligibility information), and to the TeraGrid resouces pages: TeraGrid Resources Catalog (lists of specs for all resources plus customizable comparisons and searches) and Resource tab of TeraGrid Portal (live data on available resources).

In brief, submitting a request requires the following steps:

• A.  Log in
• B.  Specify proposal options
• C.  Enter data and upload documents
• D.  Save, Edit, and Submit

A.  Log In

Log in from the left menu of the POPS Welcome page.

• If you already have a TeraGrid User Portal, Kerberos, or POPS login:
  1. Click on the appropriate authentication method (TG Portal, NCSA Kerberos, SDSC Kerberos, or POPS) from the Login section of the left menu. The username/password dialog box will open.
  2. Enter your user name and password.
  3. Click the OK button; the Submission Home page will open in your browser window.
• If you do not already have a TG Portal, POPS or other login:
  1. Click Create POPS Login. The Create POPS Login window opens.
  2. Fill out the required fields, which are indicated by an asterisk (*).
  3. Create a strong password that is not a word contained in the dictionary, is at least 8 characters in length, and contains a mix of numerals and upper and lower case letters.
  4. Click the Create POPS Login button; your account will be created, and you will be returned to the POPS Welcome page.
  5. Log in (see next step).
• If you forget your password or wish to reset your password, click on the appropriate link from the Manage Your Login section of the left navigation menu. If you need further help, click on the Contact POPS staff link.

B.  Specify proposal options

Logging in will take you to the Proposal Submission Home page.  In this section, the system will lead you through a few sequential pages where you will define the type of submission, the size range of your request, and at which meeting your request will be reviewed. Depending on the type of proposal you are submitting, the order of these first few pages may differ.

1. Choose the type of proposal

New

Choose New, if:

• This is the first time you are requesting an allocation via POPS.  This includes DAC, MRAC, and LRAC requests as well as new multi-year requests.
• This is your first request to a particular committee (DAC, MRAC, LRAC), even if you have had allocations awarded by other committees in the past.  For instance, if you have or had a development/startup allocation and you are now requesting a medium allocation, you would use the New option.
• You already have an allocation, and you need another allocation for a new, unrelated project in a separate field of science.  For instance, a principle investigator (PI) may have multiple DAC awards if they are for separate sites or fields of science.
• If there has been an interval of greater than one year between requests.

Renewal

Select the Renewal option if you are making a request to continue research activities for the next 12 months in continuation of a previous proposal to the same level of allocation meeting. Note that, although the precise research activities may change between allocation periods, you should submit a renewal to continue access to TeraGrid as long as research is in same area of science. You can submit a multi-year renewal request.

Supplemental

Supplemental requests are for additional resources within your current award period.

Justification

Choose this option if you wish to submit a response or rebuttal to recent MRAC or LRAC reviewer comments.

Progress Report

If you have an ongoing multi-year award, you are required to submit an annual report for subsequent years. Choose the Progress Report option to submit your report. You should submit your Progress Reports each year to the same MRAC or LRAC meeting at which you submitted your original proposal.

Extension

Choose this option if you have a current award, and you want to request additional calendar time, up to six months, to use your awarded SUs.

Partial/editable submissions

If you are returning to POPS to continue working on a partial submission (i.e., you saved to date but did you did not finalize your submission in an earlier session), your partial submissions will appear at the bottom of the page.  Select the appropriate radio button to continue entering data. (Skip to data entry section of the User Guide below.)

2.  Select your past proposal

This step is for renewal, justification, supplemental, and progress report, and extension proposal types.  You will not see this page if you are submitting a new proposal.

3.  Select the Resource Level for Your Request

Service Units (SUs) are the units in which computing time is measured. One SU is one CPU-hour on a given resource. Terabytes (TBs) are the units in which storage space is measured.  Select the radio button next to the appropriate request level.

For requests that combine both compute SUs and storage TBs, select the option that applies to the largest of the three request components: compute, disk and tape. For example, if you plan to request 100,000 SUs, 30 TB of disk and 50 TB of tape storage, you should select the third option here because of your disk request.

4.  Upcoming meetings

This page displays the available meetings.  For DAC meetings, use the computing resource that you are requesting to determine which meeting to select. DAC requests are reviewed all year round.  Submit MRAC and LRAC requests during specific time periods; submissions at these levels are reviewed at quarterly and semi-annual meetings, respectively.  (See schedule on the POPS Welcome page.)   For MRAC or LRAC requests, select the next meeting.

For MRAC and LRAC requests, you cannot proceed further if submissions are not being accepted at this time.

C.  Enter Data and Upload Documents

After selecting your proposal type and resource level, the POPS system takes you to a series of pages for entering data and uploading attachments.

Required Information:

Five of these pages are required for final submission:   PI Information, Proposal Information, Supporting Grants, Resource Request, and Attachments. These are marked with a red asterisk * on the left menu.

If you place data in any field on any page—even optional pages—then all required fields on that page (marked with *) must be complete before you can make your final submission.  In other words, if you do not plan to fill out optional pages, leave all its fields blank (use the Reset button to clear fields).

A number of functions are available to you from any of the 6 required and optional pages:

• Move:   Move between pages in any order by using the left menu or the Next and Previous buttons at the top and bottom of the right frame (with the data entry fields).   Don't use the forward and back buttons of your browser.
• Save:   Save your submission in its current state (a partial submission) at any time, using the Save To Date button on the left menu. (Use this button to upload your documents from the Attachments page, too.)
• Review:   Review what you've saved so far, including uploaded documents, using the Submission Summary button on the left menu.
• Submit:   When you have completed all required entries, and you are ready to send your submission for review by the allocation committee, use the Final Submission button.

1.  Principle Investigator (PI) information (required)

Most fields on this page are self-explanatory; fill out all required fields (marked with *).  Save your unfinished submission at any time using the Save to Date button.

E-mail Address

Please double-check that your e-mail address is valid.  This is the address that will be used to inform you about your submission after you have completed it.

Country

Note that Country is automatically filled in as "United States" due to NSF eligibility requirements.  See the CIP Allocations page for more information on eligibility.

Distinguished Name (DN) (optional)

A Distinguished Name is a globally unique identifier that represents you as an individual and is based on the certificate that you may be using and on what certificates are accepted at a particular resource.  If you know your DN(s), supply them here, separated by pipes (|).  Text beyond 255 characters will be truncated.  If you don't have one, don't know what your DN is, or don't know where to get it, skip this step.

2.  Co-PI information (optional)

If your project has one or more co-PIs, complete all required fields (marked with *).  If you do not have a co-PI, leave all fields blank and continue to the next page.  Most of the fields are self-explanatory; additional information for some fields is provided below.  Save your partially completed submission at any time using the Save to Date button on the left menu.

Multiple Co-PIs

Use the Add Co-PI, Modify Co-PI, and Delete buttons at the bottom, right corner of the page to add and edit co-PI information.  As you add names, a list of Co-PIs will appear at the bottom, left corner of the page. To edit Co-PI information, click on his/her name in the list; a Modify Co-PI button will appear.   To delete a Co-PI, click on the Delete button next to his/her name on the list.  After each change, a dialog box will appear, confirming that your information was changed.

Special Reset exception:

If you click the Reset button on this page, all fields on the page will be emptied, as with other pages.  However, the information you have already entered in the fields for a Co-PI is saved, not removed.  Clicking on the Co-PI's name link at the bottom of the page will display the information in the corresponding fields above.   To remove a co-PI, use the Delete button next to the co-PI's name.

Country and State

To fill in both country and state, click on the Select Country button to open a dialog box. Choose the country, and if the co-PI is based in the United States, also choose the state. Click on the Select button to close the window and populate the Country and State fields on the Co-PI Information page.  A search tool is also available within the dialog box.

Distinguished Name (DN) (optional)

A Distinguished Name is a globally unique identifier that represents you as an individual and is based on the certificate that you are using and on what certificates are accepted at a particular resource.  If you know your DN(s), supply them here, separated by pipes (|).  Text beyond 255 characters will be truncated.  If you have one, don't know what your DN is, or where to get it, skip this step.

3.  Proposal Information (required)

This section provides the summary description of your proposal.  Fill out all required fields (marked with *).  Save your partially completed submission from the left menu at any time.  If you are submitting an MRAC or LRAC request, you will also need to attach a full proposal document to your submission (see the Attachments: Uploading Documents section).  Additional help is provided below for fields highlighted in the Proposal Information page screenshot.

Is this a Multi-Year Proposal?

Most awards are for 12 months. However, research with ongoing need for computing resources may be best served with a multi-year allocation. You can submit a multi-year request if you need computing time:

• over successive years
• for the same project
• at the same resource level (MRAC or LRAC) for each year

a.  Yes/No:   Researchers requesting multi-year awards should select the Yes radio button.   If your proposal does not meet these three requirements, select the No radio button and leave the other text fields under Multi-Year Proposal blank.

b. Number of years:   If you answered "yes", fill in the total number of years for which you are requesting computing time.

c. Sum of SUs requested:   Enter the sum of all SUs that you are questing over the period of time that you specified in the Number of Years field above.   See examples below:

	Yr 1	Yr 2	Yr 3	Total SUs
Example 1	100,000	300,000	100,000	500,000
Example 2	300,000	100,000	100,000	500,000

Primary Field of Science

Use the Select Field of Science button to open the Field of Sciences List window.  You may use the Search tool or scroll through the options.   Highlight a Field of Science and click the Select button to fill the text field on the Proposal Information page and close the Field of Science List window.

Secondary Field of Science

See the instructions for Primary Field of Science above.  In addition, you may enter multiple secondary fields of science.   However, you must re-open the Field of Science List window again for each entry.   To remove fields of science that you may have entered incorrectly, deselect (remove the highlight from ) the entry in the Secondary Field of Science field, using CTRL-click or Shift-Click depending on your browser, and save to date or continue to another page. You may also select None to deselect all entries.   Highlighted entries will be saved with your submission; de-selected entries will not be saved.

4.  Supporting Grants (required)

If your project has one or more supporting grants, complete all required fields for each grant. For MRAC and LRAC submissions, supporting grant information informs the reviewers that the science has been reviewed and that sufficient funding (for staff and student time, etc.) is available to complete the work proposed. For DAC awards, supporting grant information is not essential, but helps TeraGrid in its reports to NSF.  All current research funding affected by or benefitting from the use of the allocation requested in your proposal should be listed. If you do not have a supporting grant, you must select the "No Supporting Grants" checkbox at the top of the page.

Most of the fields are self-explanatory; additional information for some fields is provided below.  Save your partially completed submission at any time using the Save to Date button on the left menu. Multiple grants can be entered and edited using the buttons and links below the data entry forms.

Nothing to Report/No Supporting Grants

If you do not have a supporting grant, you must select the "No Supporting Grants" checkbox at the top of the page. This checkbox is selected by default. You must deselect it to save Supporting Grant info.

PI Name and Title of Supporting Grant

This is the PI and Title of the supporting grant; these are not necessarily the same as the PI for the POPS submission.

Funding Agency Information

Please select the Funding Agency for the supporting grant from the pull-down menu, and enter the Funding Agency Division in the next field. If you select "Other" from the pull-down menu, provide the agency name in the next field. Provide the program officer name and e-mail for the supporting grant.

Grant Number and Awarded Amount

Please enter the grant number in the agency-defined format. For grants spanning several years, enter the Award Amount for a 12-month period. For grants covering less than 12 months, enter the full award amount. The amount should be in US dollars, no punctuation or extra characters.

Please also enter the percentage (numbers only) of the amount entered above that will support the work described in this POPS submission. Reasonable rounding is acceptable.

Field of Science

Use the Select Field of Science button to open the Field of Sciences List window.  You may use the Search tool or scroll through the options.   Highlight a Field of Science and click the Select button to fill the text field on the Proposal Information page and close the Field of Science List window.

Multiple Supporting Grants

After filling in the information for a grant, click on the Add Grant button at the bottom, right corner of the page to add it to your submission.   As you add supporting grants, a list of grants will appear at the bottom, left corner of the page.

• To edit grant information, click on the grant title in the list; a Modify Grant button will appear.   Click on this button and modify the fields.
• To delete a grant, click on the Delete button next to the title on the list.

After each change, a dialog box will appear, confirming that your information was changed.

Special Reset exception:

If you click the Reset button on this page, all fields on the page will be emptied, as with other pages.   However, the information you have already entered in the fields for a grant is saved, not removed.   Clicking on the grant's title at the bottom of the page will display the information in the corresponding fields above.  To remove a grant, use the Delete button across from the grant title at the bottom of the page.

5.  Resource Request (required)

This page displays the computing resources that are available to be allocated at the meeting you selected earlier.  From the Available Resources list, you can move to each resource on which you wish to request time.

1. To select a resource, enter the appropriate request amount.
   • For a compute resource, fill in the number of SUs.  Use numerals, no commas.
   • For a storage resource, enter the number of terabytes (or gigabytes), as appropriate. Use numerals, no commas.
   • For the Advanced Support Program (MRAC and LRAC only), enter the number of months for which support is requested. Special proposal requirements apply.
2. Then fill out all the information for each resource for which you have entered a request.
3. Save your selections using the Save to Date button.

A warning message will pop up if you missed filling out information for a resource where you entered a request.  After you save, the resources you chose will show up in black text in the Available Resources list.

Comments (optional)

Use this field to request the best alternate resource in case your first choice is not available.

6.  Attachments: Uploading Documents (required)

DAC proposals require only a CV for the Principal Investigator.  MRAC and LRAC proposals require a full proposal document. (See the Allocations Policies for guidance on preparing your proposal document.)   The field captions on this page will change according to the type of submission you are making to designate if you need a CV or a full proposal. The screenshot below shows the field captions for a DAC request.

PI CV Document/Proposal Document/Attachment

This is the full path, filename, and extension of the document on your local computer.   Use the Browse button (the button name may vary by browser type) to find the document or type the location in by hand.

Extension

You must provide the filename extension for the document, even though it is part of the filename.   This selection must match the extension of the filename

Attachment Title

This is a user-provided title of the document, not the filename. This value helps you identify which files you have already uploaded.

Upload Your Files: Save to Date

After you have filled in the fields for the required and optional documents, click on the Save to Date button on the left menu to upload your documents.

D.  Save, Edit, and Submit

Save-to-Date:  Partial Submission

As with all data entry, the rule of thumb is to save often.  Once you have entered data on a page—whether or not you have completed required fields—you can save your data by clicking on the Save To Date button on the left menu.

Edit Your Submission

Once you have saved a partially submitted proposal, you can leave POPS at any time and return later to complete and or edit your submission. An MRAC or LRAC submission can be edited at any time (even after Final Submission) until the proposal submission deadline has passed. A DAC submission may be edited at any time until the proposal is awarded or rejected.

A submission can be edited by the following persons:

• the original submitter,
• the PI, and
• any co-PI.

The original submitter need not be the PI or a co-PI on the submission.

Final Submission

Once you have completed all required fields and uploaded required documents, you can send your final submission to the POPS database to be reviewed by the appropriate committee.  Click on the Final Submission button on the left menu.

The POPS system will scan your submission for missing information.  If any required fields are missing, a list appears at the top of the page.  If all the required information was entered, the Proposal Status field on the left menu changes from Incomplete to Submitted, and a proposal summary window opens that displays:

• A summary of the information you provided.
• The proposal number that is associated with your proposal.
• Links to download a tar or zip file of your attachments.

You will be notified about your submission by e-mail, using the address you provided on the PI Information page.

Review Your Submission

At any time in the process, you can use the Submission Summary button on the left menu to open a window with all the data you have entered up to that point.  You can download a zip or tar file of the attachments that you uploaded from within the window.

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POPS and the POPS User Guide are services of the Cyberinfrastructure Partnership