CSCS resources currently distribute compute time to academia through the following allocation schemes.
Production Projects
Production projects are aimed at the production work for a specific scientific investigation. Production projects can be submitted at any time. However there will be only two allocation periods on April 1st and on October 1st and therefore deadlines always apply. Projects are granted access based on scientific merit and technical feasibility. Allocations are valid for one year.
Development Projects
Development projects are meant for work on codes and algorithms. These projects can be submitted at any time. However for large development proposals there will be only the regular two allocation periods on April 1st and on October 1st. Small development projects are granted based on technical and feasibility assessment. Whereas large development projects are granted based on scientific merit and technical feasibility therefore deadlines always apply.
Preparatory Projects
Preparatory projects are intended for users who are new to CSCS to allow them to port and test their codes before applying for a Production Project. Existing users who wish to port and test a new code or application or need to generate the required benchmarks, performance analysis and resource justification to be included in the production proposals may also apply for a Preparatory Project.
These projects are granted a limited and finite amount of compute resources.
Renewal Reports
Multi-year projects are expected to submit a renewal report to assure then continuation of the project.
Deadlines for Submission
Deadlines for submission of production, large development and small project proposals.
PRACE Tier-0 Projects
PRACE Tier-0 projects are aimed at production work, which needs allocations of 1 Mio node hours or more on Piz Daint using the GPU acceleration or large allocations on the CPU-only European systems available in the PRACE Tier-0 calls. Details are available on the PRACE webpage.