In addition to the bodies defined in the MoU the Task Forces
have recently been formed to coordinate activities concerned with the usage by
the experiments of software and services provided in the context of LCG,
particularly experience in the planned Service Challenges. Each Task Force
is run by the experiment concerned and has different functions according to the
needs of the experiment[1],
but they have the general function of providing, through regular weekly or
bi-weekly meetings, a single and visible communication point between each
experiment and LCG deployment/service management in the following areas:
·
current usage of the LCG services -- monitoring of progress,
escalating problems, establishing performance and functionality metrics,
agreeing priorities and recording agreements;
·
evaluation and testing of new middleware and services
relevant for LCG -- setting clear targets and timescales, monitoring the
progress of the testing activity and of the response from the development and
support teams, and documenting the conclusion;
·
medium term planning of the evolution of the usage by the
experiment of the LCG services -- documenting the experiment planned
requirements and the way in which they will be fulfilled by the service,
providing a joint plan that can be monitored by the Task Force;
·
longer term planning -- agreeing on the relationships between the
LCG Phase2 milestones and the internal milestones of the experiments.
The membership is decided by each experiment but includes
appropriate experts and representatives from middleware, deployment and service
management. The Task Forces report on progress to the MB through the
project quarterly reports. Specific issues may be brought to the attention of
the MB via the experiment MB members.
In the case of CMS lower level operational issues are covered by
the Task Forces only for the EGEE grid. For such issues concerning US CMS sites
operated as part of the OSG grid a similar level of reporting will be made to
the MB via the MB representative of the US CMS Project Tier-1 centre at FNAL.
The Task Force has an additional function as the
communication point between each experiment and the EGEE project. EGEE, INFN
and CERN/LCG provide human resources at CERN to assist the experiments to use
the EGEE grid (the EIS and ARDA/NA4 staff - currently 12 FTEs rising to 20 FTEs
in EGEE Phase 2). The way in which these staff are used, and how their
work relates to defined goals of EGEE and LCG, and to associated timetables for
testing, evaluating and deploying new developments will be agreed and monitored
by the Task Forces..
The leaders of the Task Forces are ex officio members of
the EGEE Technical Coordination Group.
[1] In the case of ATLAS the functions described here are the responsibility
of two related committees, a Task Force
and an Operations Coordination Group, which act together to provide a coordinated
interface to LCG. In the case of CMS the corresponding committees are the CMS/LCG Task Force and the CMS Computing Integration Program.