Welcome to ACCESS! We have two ways for you to learn more about how to make the most of your ACCESS allocation. Our video will walk you through the user interface for the Allocations website — the My Projects page, in particular, is where you manage your projects, add users, and monitor usage.
This How-To sections explain how to accomplish the most common tasks to keep your projects on track and moving forward. Each section will walk you through the process of efficiently using and managing your ACCESS project(s). Note: You’ll need to have the role of PI, co-PI, or Allocation Manager to carry out most of the tasks related to managing projects.
Take the Website Tour
Common Tasks for Allocated Projects
To get started with ACCESS, you need to request a “project.” The project request step confirms you’re eligible to use ACCESS and lets NSF and the Resource Providers the kind of work you intend to perform. Most Explore and Discover requests are approved within 2 business days, so keep an eye on your email. Accelerate requests are reviewed by volunteer reviewers from the community and take around three weeks to be approved.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
If this is your first project, you’ll be presented with options to learn about the project types, or the steps required to request a project. Check out the Get Your First Project documentation for an overview of the required steps.
When you’re ready, click “Request New Project.”
Select the project type that best suits your needs. Complete the form.
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Note: If you haven’t recently updated your profile information, you may be prompted to do so prior to filling out the request form.
See Prepare Requests for more detailed information on requesting a new project.
When you are awarded an Explore, Discover, or Accelerate project, you will receive a set amount of ACCESS Credits. An analogy for this process is akin to managing a bank account, or buying and selling stocks. To begin computing, you’ll need to exchange some or all of your ACCESS Credits for units on the available resources.
Most of the time, you will want to exchange ACCESS Credits for units on a specific resource. However, if one of your resource choices turns out not to be a good fit, you can exchange units on one resource for units on another resource, as well. The allocations website will handle the conversion between ACCESS Credits and resource unit amounts.
Exchange Credits for Resources
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Credits + Resources” tab.
You can request multiple resources within one exchange.
Click “Add a resource to your exchange.”
The list of available resources will then populate.
Select a resource.
A required resource (oftentimes a storage resource) will automatically populate along with your selection.
Enter the amount of units you’d like to request.
Enter a brief justification of why you’re requesting the resource(s).
Click “Submit for Approval.”
A pop-up will then appear to “Complete Your Exchange.”
Confirm the amounts being requested are correct, then click “Submit.”
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Exchange Between Resources
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Credits + Resources” tab.
You can request multiple resources within one exchange.
For the resource you’d like to transfer from, reduce the number in the “Balance” column to your desired remaining balance.
For the resource you’d like to transfer to, increase the number in the “Balance” column accordingly, or click on “Add a resource to your exchange” to request a new resource.
Enter a brief justification of why you’re requesting the resource(s).
Click “Submit for Approval.”
A pop-up will then appear to “Complete Your Exchange.”
Confirm the amounts being requested are correct, then click “Submit.”
9. You will receive an email notification of your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Note: When you reduce the balance of one resource, it will automatically update how many ACCESS Credit Equivalents you have to move to another resource. If you do not have enough Credit Equivalents, the form will automatically max out the number of units you can Exchange for.
When you first receive your Explore, Discover, or Accelerate project, you will receive half of the amount of credits for each of those project types. Once your project is underway, you’ve settled on the necessary resources, and have begun using your allocations, you can request the other half of your project’s credits.
Some caveats. First, if you have a lot of credits remaining, you may be prompted to consider requesting an Exchange instead. On the other hand, once you begin computing, if you realize you’re going to need more Credits than your project allows, you may want to consider upgrading your project instead (see the How-To on Upgrades). Finally, in addition to ACCESS Credits, you may have other resources available to add to your supplement. Typically, these are non-computational resources.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Credits + Resources” tab.
Click “Request More Credits.”
A “Manage Your Project” box will then appear.
Click “Request a Supplement.”
Provide the reason you need additional credits.
Select “ACCESS Credits” as the available resource.
Upload your progress report.
Submit the form.
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
If your project is associated with a supporting grant, you can ask for your project’s end date to be extended out to the end of the award — including if you have received a no-cost extension to the award. And if your project has no supporting grants, you can request to extend the end date for another year, as long as you are continuing to pursue the same line of work.
Note: Extensions can only be requested when 90 days or less remain on an active project.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
If your project can be extended at the present time, you should see a button for “Extend End Date.”
On the “Manage Your Project” pop-up, click “Request an Extension.”
Enter a reason for the extension.
Provide a requested end-date.
Upload any optional documents.
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
A button for “Extend End Date” will be displayed, if your project can be renewed at the present time.
On the “Manage Your Project” pop-up, click “Request a Renewal.”
At the prompt, select which Project Type you’d like to renew the request as.
Complete the request form.
You will receive an email notification confirming a successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Note: Renewals can only be requested when 30 days or less remain on an active project.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
If your project has expired, you should see a button for “Submit Final Report.”
Upload your Final Report.
Submit the form. You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request.
You should also add any publications or published works associated with the project to your user profile at this time. (You can also add publications later.)
Running out of ACCESS Credits? If you’re successfully making progress and need to take your current project to the next level, you can. Visit the My Projects page (log into http://allocations.access-ci.org ), and under certain conditions, “an "Upgrade" option should appear on the list of available actions. Specifically, you can upgrade if (a) you’ve already received at least the full amount of credits for their current allocation type, (b) you’re "low" on credits, and (c) a normal renewal is not yet available (30 days before the allocation end date).
If you’re not seeing the Upgrade option, submit a ticket with your proposal number and the project type you’re interested in upgrading to and an Allocations staff member will assist you.
For researchers with the largest-scale computational and data requirements, the process for managing a Maximize ACCESS project is slightly different than that of an Explore, Discover, or Accelerate project.
Because Maximize projects are awarded in resource units (not ACCESS Credits), the steps for managing those projects are a little different from those for the other project types.
To request a Maximize project, refer to the Prepare Requests page for instructions and time frames.
You can request more resource units if you are making progress on your project more quickly than anticipated, or consuming your allocations more quickly than planned. Approval for supplements depends on the Resource Provider and the status of the resource.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Resources” tab.
Click “Request More Units.”
A “Manage Your Project” box will then appear.
Click “Request a Supplement.”
Select the specific resources and the amount of units you’d like to add to your project.
Complete the form by entering a justification for your request.
Attach the required documents.
Click “Submit.”
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Note: If you have unused resources, you may be automatically prompted to submit an Exchange instead, to transfer units from one resource to another.
If you need to add a different resource to your project, you can transfer some or all of your allocation on another resource to that new resource.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Resources” tab.
You can request multiple resources within one exchange.
For the resource you’d like to transfer from, reduce the number in the “Balance” column.
For the resource you’d like to transfer to, increase the number in the “Balance” column, or click on “Add a resource to your exchange” to request a new resource.
Enter a brief justification of why you’re requesting the resource(s).
Click “Submit for Approval.”
A pop-up will then appear to “Complete Your Exchange.”
Confirm the amounts being requested are correct, then click “Submit.”
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Note: When you reduce the balance of one resource, it will automatically update how many ACCESS Credit Equivalents you have to move to another resource. If you do not have enough Credit Equivalents, the form will automatically max out the number of units you can Exchange for.
Maximize projects are awarded for 12 months. If your team is using the allocations more slowly than expected, you can ask for an extension to your current allocations' end date. For most Maximize projects, a six-month extension makes the most sense, so your project remains aligned with the semi-annual Maximize project submission and review cycle.
Note: Extensions can only be requested when 90 days or less remain on an active project.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
If your project can be extended at the present time, you should see a button for “Extend End Date.”
On the “Manage Your Project” pop-up, click “Request an Extension.”
Enter a reason for the extension.
Provide a requested end-date.
Upload any optional documents.
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
As your team consumes your Maximize allocations and approaches the end date, you will need to renew your project to request future allocations. Maximize ACCESS projects can only be renewed as a Maximize project type during an open request window. Please see the Prepare Requests page for the time frames and more information.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
A button for “Extend End Date” will be displayed, if your project can be renewed at the present time.
On the “Manage Your Project” pop-up, click “Request a Renewal.”
At the prompt, select which Project Type you’d like to renew the request as.
Complete the request form.
You will receive an email notification confirming a successful request. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a separate notification.
Most projects represent the work of a team, and each collaborator must have their own ACCESS ID and their own accounts on each of the project’s resources. Once your collaborators have registered for an ACCESS ID, they should share their ACCESS ID with the project PI or Allocation Manager, who should then do the following steps.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Users + Roles” tab.
A box titled “add another user” can be found at the bottom of the table.
Enter the ACCESS ID of the person you would like to add.
Once the users are added, selected resources they can access by checking the box under the specific resource(s).
If a person has a checkmark, they will have access; if it is blank, they will not.
You can modify a person’s role to Allocation Manager by clicking the drop-down tab next to their name.
Allocation Managers can add/remove users and submit requests on the project.
Note on International Collaborators: To comply with NSF research security policy, adding an international user involves an extra approval step. When you submit an allocation request, the form will ask whether your project needs international collaborators.
After the allocation request has been submitted, a screen entitled “Justification for International Users” will be displayed. A justification of 1-2 sentences must be entered for each international user added to the allocation, explaining the necessity of including them in the project. Please note that screening and approval processes may cause delays in adding international users.
“International User” for this purpose is defined as an individual affiliated with an organization not in the United States. It is not based on the citizenship or country of residence of an individual.
If you are utilizing ACCESS for coursework, helping a colleague out with their computational workflows, or joining a faculty member’s team, it’s likely that you don’t need to request your own project, but rather need to join an existing project.
Whatever your case may be, register for an ACCESS ID and provide your ACCESS Username to the PI, co-PI, or Allocation Manager of the project you need to join. These persons will be able to add you to the resources required for your respective needs.
You can monitor and view your project’s resource usage from the My Projects page as well.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
Click on the “Credits + Resources” tab.
Under the “Usage” column in the table there’s a small icon for resource “Usage Details”
Click the icon to view resource usage, by user, across several time periods.
Reporting your publications and other published works to ACCESS helps us communicate the value of the ACCESS program and the associated resources to NSF and helps ensure that such programs will continue into the future. You can add ACCESS-supported publications to your ACCESS profile at any time. For researchers submitting Maximize project requests, you will add your ACCESS-supported publications as part of submitting those requests.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
Click “My ACCESS” in the top-right corner.
Click “My Publications.”
If you have previously uploaded publications, they will be displayed with an option to edit.
Click “Add a Publication.”
Complete the form by entering information about the publication.
Select at least one associated project.
Upload your publication.
When finished, click “Save Publication.”
When one of your allocated projects expires and concludes, you must submit a Final Report. These reports, along with the project’s associated publications, help us communicate and understand the value of the ACCESS program. Most final reports should summarize the scientific outcomes of the project; for a project used to support a class or coursework, the final report should summarize the educational outcomes and the number of students that benefitted from using ACCESS resources.
Even if your project did not achieve its planned objectives, a final report is valuable in helping us understand the ACCESS community. Let us know if you encountered problems with using the resources, or if external (non-ACCESS) factors led to problems in completing the planned work.
First, login to allocations.access-ci.org
You’ll see your project information, or a list of your projects if you have multiple.
If your project has expired, you should see a button for “Submit Final Report.”
Upload your Final Report.
Submit the form.
You will receive an email notification confirming your successful request.
In addition to adding your ACCESS-supported publications to your profile, you should also acknowledge support from ACCESS and the relevant resource providers in your publications.
See the guidance for citing the use of ACCESS resources in your publications at: https://access-ci.org/about/acknowledging-access/