Fast Track Application Guidelines

Eligible PIs will receive an invitation to Fast Track mid September.

PIs with an existing RRG award who meet the Fast Track eligibility are allowed to submit a lightweight progress report to renew their request for computational resources. 

Important: 

• Applying through the Fast Track process DOES NOT guarantee that you will receive the same allocation as last year. 
• The score received in your original RRG application will be reused and your resource request will be scaled using the same function used for all other applications according to demand and supply. This means that the resulting allocation may be scaled by a different factor than last year, which could lead to either an increase or a decrease in allocated resources for your project compared to last year.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to use the Fast Track process, the previous RRG application must have received a science score greater than 2.0 points (out of 5). This process can be used for no more than two consecutive years for a given application. 

If you believe you meet the eligibility criteria, yet did not receive an invitation to Fast Track, please email allocations@tech.alliancecan.ca.

Benefits of the Fast Track Process

• Lightweight application.
• No additional peer-review.
• Can apply through the Fast Track process for up to 2 consecutive years.
• Canadian Common CV (CCV) is not required.

Acceptable Changes

Certain modifications to current allocations are allowed. This includes: 

• A 10% increase of PROJECT, NEARLINE and/or dCache storage resources is allowed, up to a maximum of 50 TB of additional storage based on the eligible amount communicated in the invitation email. Note that the additional storage resources requested may be fully, partially or not allocated based on resource constraints and storage utilization information.
• A 10% increase in cloud compute and storage resources;
• Change of resource location (i.e., request to migrate current allocation from one system to another). Please visit the Available Resources page to see the list of systems available. 

Important: You are allowed to request up to the amount of CPU and/or GPU mentioned in the invitation email. Increase of CPU or GPU requests is not allowed. If you need more compute resources, you must submit a new application.

Application and Review Process

• Eligible PIs will receive an email invitation in September to Fast Track.
• The Fast Track application will show by default on CCDB. To start working on your Fast Track application, click on Edit and then Submit when you are ready.
• To decline the invitation to Fast Track and submit a full RRG application instead, click on Change to RRG. Any information that you have entered in your Fast Track application will be saved, and if you change your mind later on, you can click on Change to Fast Track to continue working on your Fast Track application.
• If desired, click on Delegate to grant access to another user with an active account with the Alliance, to the application you wish to submit (e.g., RRG, Fast Track, etc.). Note that the delegated user can submit an application on behalf of the PI, but the latter remains responsible for the application submitted and the utilization of the computational resources allocated.

The Fast Track online application form includes three sections:

• Details (required): Include any issues with your current allocation, any request for a change of system, storage increase, decrease of other resources needed, and any other relevant information about your resource request. The amount of storage requested must include any existing storage allocation or data that you may currently have in any of our clusters PLUS any new, additional storage needed. For example, if you are currently using 50 TB of storage in any of our clusters and need an additional 50 TB, then the request should be for 100 TB.
• Progress report(required): Provide details about what has been accomplished with the resources used (e.g., publications).
• Justification of low usage: Required for PIs whose projected usage islower than 50% of the amount allocated. Provide details for why the usage is lower, any problems encountered and how the next year’s allocation will be utilized. Failing to provide a reasonable justification for low usage may negatively impact the resulting allocation. 

Fast Track applications receive a technical review but do not receive another scientific review.

If you have questions about the Fast Track process, please email allocations@tech.alliancecan.ca.