Draft version 0.2
Disclaimer: this procedure is based on the current EOSC-hub onboarding activities and is meant to provide information about the current EOSC-hub work. The procedure will be modified/merged to serve the needs of the EOSC portal.
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.
Within EOSC-hub there are two service catalogues:
1) the internal catalogue containing supporting services developed as part of the project and necessary for the operation of the EOSC-hub (e.g. helpdesk and AAI). These services may not be ordered.
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. This catalogue consists of all other services apart from the supporting services developed by EOSC-hub project in addition to externally onboarded services.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Information required by SPM about the service is added to the catalogue
If appropriate, an 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
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.
An appropriate contact for providing support is added to the EOSC-hub catalogue. In the case of services who have requested the Helpdesk service bundle, a new support unit is created in XGUS and associated with the appropriate contact for providing support.
The prospective Service Provider completes the Service Description Template providing information relevant to the Marketplace. Other existing services on the marketplace are introduced that may be relevant and of interest for potential future integration.
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.
For the highest level of partnership, the nominated contact from the Service Provider is additionally invited to attend Service Management Board meetings.