DRAFT DOCUMENT

1. Introduction

Service onboarding within EOSC-hub is the process whereby a new service joins the EOSC-hub service catalogue and EOSC Marketplace.  This provides services with all the benefits offered by the catalogue and marketplace - promotion of the service to users outside their local community domain a single gateway for users to discover and use services, regardless of their nature and the scientific discipline of the user, and potential integration with other services in the catalogue.   

The operational requirements for joining the catalogue from the Service Management System (SMS) are defined in deliverable D4.1 Operational requirements for the services in the catalogue, structured around different operational parts of the SMS covering the service delivery.  However, the onboarding process itself is not covered in D4.1. This document aims at outlining this basic workflow, for the benefit of prospective service providers and EOSC-hub project staff.  

2. Service Catalogues and Levels of Integration

Here we provide a brief summary of concepts explained more fully in D4.1 Operational requirements for the services in the catalogue.

Within EOSC-hub there are two service catalogues:

1) the internal catalogue containing access enabling services developed as part of the project and necessary for the operation of the EOSC-hub (e.g. helpdesk and AAI).

2) the external catalogue containing the common services on which many services depend (data, compute, orchestrators) and research-enabling services offering services to the end user, typically building on the common services.

Alongside these two services catalogues, services may attain three levels of service integration. EOSC-hub has effort to assist Service Providers moving from a lower level to a higher level.  The levels are:

1) LOW level has the minimum set of SMS requirements.  Nevertheless, along with all other services in the external catalogue, services entering at this level benefit from the advantages of the EOSC-hub as listed in the Introduction above. Services which enter the catalogue at this level may either have a less mature SMS which they plan to develop, or a mature SMS but would like to join the EOSC-hub initially without committing additional resources for integration until a later stage.

2) MEDIUM level is aimed at services in the external catalogue that are being delivered as part of an existing and mature SMS complying with the majority of requirements of FitSM or other recognised Service Management Framework.  Services achieving a Medium level of integration are encouraged to participate closely with the EOSC-hub by being represented at the Service Management Board meetings.

3) HIGH level is for services in the internal catalogue delivered as part of the EOSC-hub SMS.  Services from the external catalogue may also achieve this highest level of integration. Services with a High level of integration are expected to participate closely with the EOSC-hub and expected to be represented at the Service Management Board meetings.

It is anticipated that new services wishing to join the EOSC-hub service catalogue will be joining the External Catalogue at either Low or Medium levels of integration.  The onboarding process for each case is similar and is described in the next section below.

Figure 1. The diagram above shows how the two service catalogues and three levels of integration work together.  The acronyms mentioned in the diagram are taken from FitSM.

3. Onboarding Process

3.1 Initial contact with EOSC-hub (Prospective service provider)

The prospective service provider completes the Join as a provider form on the EOSC-hub website, providing high-level information about the service and motivation for joining.  The submitted information becomes a ticket in Jira to track the request.

3.2 Initial evaluation of request

EOSC-hub staff working with Service Portfolio Management (EOSC-hub Task 2.2) evaluate the request, contacting the submitter for supplementary information to initially gauge the high-level validity of the request and to confirm that the service is appropriate for inclusion into the service catalogue.  If so, the prospective service provider fills in the Service Portfolio Entry Template (at least all mandatory fields) and Service Options are discussed.

3.3 Determination of the initial level of integration and Verification of requirements

EOSC-hub staff working with Operations Coordination (EOSC-hub Task 4.1) review the operations validation checklist to evaluate the maturity of the service (i.e. TRL level of at least 8) and the maturity of the SMS of the Service Provider.  (This may be done as an online meeting with the service provider, and the checklist may be sent in advance to aid preparation for the meeting).  The initial level of integration is agreed with the Service Provider.

3.4 EOSC-hub SMS Process Integration

At this point where all requirements are fulfilled at the agreed level of integration, the following steps are required.  In all cases, the step is tracked in Jira.

3.4.1 Adding the new service to the catalogue (EOSC-hub Task 2.2)

Information required by SPM about the service is added to the catalogue

3.4.2 Preparation for SLA creation (EOSC-hub Task 4.2)

The SLA template is populated for the new service in readiness for SLAs with end users, and the service contact is made familiar with its format

3.4.3 Security (EOSC-hub Tasks 4.4, 4.6)

The nominated contact from the Service Provider (or another nominated security contact) is added to the appropriate database (e.g. GOCDB) for security-related issues.

3.4.4 Support (EOSC-hub Task 4.5)

For services at a LOW and MEDIUM integration level, the appropriate contact for providing support is added to the EOSC-hub catalogue.

For services at a HIGH integration level, a new support unit is created in XGUS and associated with the appropriate contact for providing support.

3.4.5 Marketplace integration (EOSC-hub Task 5.2)

A Marketplace representative is designated to guide new service representative. A form is provided to fill in the information about the service relevant from the Marketplace point of view. The guide and service representative work closely and at the same time the given form improves that in the end it can be self explanatory.

Provider gets to know other  MP Services to analyse possible relations and dependencies.

Provider chooses a level of integration with the Marketplace and decides if the service wants to take part in the common service orders management process available (see Operational integration).

3.4.5 Operational integration (EOSC-hub Task 4.1)

A nominated contact from the Service Provider is invited to engage with the Service Provider Forum by joining its mailing list and attending quarterly meetings.  The Service Provider Forum is designed to facilitate communication between Service Providers and the EOSC-hub project, in addition to requirements gathering.

If the level of integration is MEDIUM, the nominated contact from the Service Provider is additionally invited to attend Service Management Board meetings.