Delivering the Service

1. Contact phase: Users are recommended to visit the W-GRASS web site and fill in the Application Description form.Users should give specific details of their applications, such as hardware & software requirements (operating system, programming language, network & storage requirements, etc.), Grid and security requirements, expectations regarding the Grid, etc.
2. Analysis phase: First, the W-GRASS team will make a preliminary analysis of the application using the Application Description form in order to define the technical tasks to be solved and estimate efforts and time required for implementing these tasks. Secondly, the team will arrange either a face-to-face meeting or audio/video conference with the user to discuss how to gridify the application based on the preliminary analysis. Next, the team and the user will define guidelines for Grid-enabling the application specifying the tasks to be done, their outputs and milestones in a “How-to” document.
3. Design phase: The W-GRASS team will allocate a team member (the mentor) to “gridify” the application. The mentor will co-operate with the user in the design and the prototype phase on a regular basis. The mentor together with the user will further analyse the application and extend the “How-To” document. This document will describe how to migrate the application to the Grid, explain the technical solution, its implementation and testing, and the expected benefits and outputs. Both the W-GRASS team and the user will then approve this document.
4. Prototyping phase: The W-GRASS mentor in co-operation with the user will adapt the application for the Grid, creating a prototype (or proof of concept), deploy it on the Grid and test the application in accordance with the “How-To” document. At the end of this phase the W-GRASS team will demonstrate the application executing on the Grid to the user. With the user’s feedback, the W-GRASS mentor will finalise the prototype.
5. Production phase: The W-GRASS mentor will deploy the application on a production Grid and train the user on how to run the application. The user will completes some trial runs and give feedback to the W-GRASS mentor, who can make further changes if required.
6. Dissemination phase: The W-GRASS team and the user will compile a document, describing the application, explaining how it was migrated to the Grid, and a commentary on the execution results, and the overall outcome. This document will be uploaded to both the W-GRASS and the user web site.