1. Introduction

Service onboarding within EOSC-hub is the process whereby a service joins the EOSC-hub service portfolio, and subsequently the list of services in the Marketplace on the EOSC Portal website. Services may also be listed on the EOSC-hub website. 

This provides services with all the benefits offered by the Portal 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.  It also allows (qualified) services to be directly ordered through the EOSC Portal, subject to sufficient maturity, and to service ordering integration. 

2. Service Portfolios

Within EOSC-hub, we deal with two portfolios:

1) the HUB Portfolio containing enabling services necessary for the operation of the EOSC-hub (e.g. helpdesk and AAI) and for integration with external services.  These services may not be directly ordered by end-users.

2) the EOSC Service Portfolio containing services which are offered to the research community. These include thematic services supporting a specific community or research areas, as well as common services which are more generic, supporting many different communities. Common services might include more technology-driven offerings such as data management platforms, visualisation platforms, cloud or container computing services, or services providing persistent identifiers among many others

The onboarding service here is intended to include services from the wider community into the EOSC Service Portfolio, and then be published on EOSC-Portal

3. Onboarding Process for new services joining the EOSC Service Portfolio

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

The prospective Service Provider conctatcs us via email or completes the Join as a provider form on the EOSC Portal website.  The submitted information becomes an internal ticket which is used for tracking the request.

3.2 Initial evaluation of request

EOSC-hub staff working with Service Portfolio Management 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 portfolio.  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 Verification that requirements are met

EOSC-hub staff working with Operations Coordination review the operations validation checklist to evaluate the maturity of the service (including the TRL level which ideally should be level 8) as well as other essential information relating to the delivery of the service.  (This may be done by email or as an online meeting 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 portfolio 

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

3.4.2 Preparation for SLA creation

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

3.4.3 Security

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

An appropriate contact for providing support is added to the EOSC-hub portfolio.  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.

3.4.5 Marketplace integration

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.  

3.4.5 Operational integration

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