Roadmap

HIFIS Overall

HIFIS Conference

The first conference on HIFIS took place at DESY Hamburg.

Software Services

Initial launch of software.hifis.net

The platform software.hifis.net (meanwhile moved to hifis.net) is launched as the future home for software development services within Helmholtz and HIFIS. The static site is built with Jekyll. Its sources are available on GitLab. Feel free to build upon it.

Software Services

Initial training of Carpentries Instructors

In preparation of providing Helmholtz-wide training events 12 Carpentries instructors are trained as part of the membership of the HZDR and GFZ in the Carpentries.

Software Services

Start of Helmholtz-wide training events

The first Helmholtz-wide training events are conducted. Read the announcement post for information on how the initial course portfolio will look like.

HIFIS Overall

Reporting for the first year of HIFIS

The first steps, progress and ongoing works of HIFIS Cloud, Backbone, and Software Clusters have been reported in the first annual report of HIFIS. This report has been improved and approved by the ICT Federation Board and further served as a basis for feedback by the Scientific Advisory Board in April.

HIFIS Overall

First meeting of HIFIS Scientific Advisory Board

The HIFIS Scientific Advisory Board gathered in a video conference to discuss the progress of HIFIS and provide advice. Comments and suggestions were compiled in a comprehensive report.

Cloud Services

First iteration of service selection completed

From June 2019 to May 2020, a service survey throughout all 19 Helmholtz centres has been conducted. The target of this survey was to determine which services are desired to be offered as services in HIFIS. A second target was to identify which centres are willing to act as service providers for the services to be offered in the Helmholtz Cloud.

Software Services

Launch of the HIFIS Software Helpdesk

In preparation of the launch of the Consulting Services the HIFIS Software helpdesk has been launched basing on Zammad. Therefore, a reusable Ansible role has been implemented.

Backbone Services

Start of Helmholtz AAI

The blueprint for the new official Helmholtz-wide Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (Helmholtz AAI), derived from former HDF AAI, is online and available for services and identity providers. It is drafted by FZJ and KIT, and is compatible to the AARC blueprint.

Backbone Services

Service Agreement on Helmholtz Backbone

HIFIS fostered a service agreement with the German National Research and Education Network (DFN) on operating a a Helmholtz-wide Virtual Private Network (Helmholtz Backbone), covering the majority of Helmholtz centres. By September, the contract is expected to be signed from the participating partners.

HIFIS Overall

Start of HIFIS Helpdesk

A common contact point for all queries and support requests shall be introduced. This will be realized using a ticketing system, allowing to distribute tasks related to the different HIFIS clusters, especially Cloud Services and Software Services.

Software Services

Launch of the HIFIS Software Consulting Services

HIFIS Software offers free-of-charge consulting as a service to research groups within the Helmholtz umbrella. We can help you deal with specific licensing issues, migrating code between different environments and languages, setting up new projects, and other problems that you need to solve.

Request consulting.

Cloud Services

Announcement of initial Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio

After multiple iterations, the first set of selected federated services, forming the initial Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio, will be announced and started to be integrated. This set will be continuously enhanced and the performance of the integrated services will be monitored.

HIFIS Overall

HIFIS Meeting

A meeting of all HIFIS members is planned to foster collaboration between the HIFIS clusters. Non-HIFIS Helmholtz-centres as well as all incubator platforms shall be incorporated.

Software Services

Reusable Ansible recipes for a scalable GitLab instance

The future software management platform will be based on reusable Ansible recipes. This allows other research centers to reuse the implemented solution. The open-source recipes are publicly available on gitlab.com/hifis/ansible.

Cloud Services

Kickoff for the Integration of the initial Services

Having finished the list of the initial service portfolio, the integration of the services will start. At first, the exact details of each service and its tasks for service integration will be examined. This goes hand in hand with the first integration steps. It will also result in a specific roadmap to be established by the end of the year.

Software Services

Integrate the Software Management Platform into the Helmholtz Cloud

The software management platform is planned to be integrated into the Helmholtz Cloud as soon as the technical platform is available. Continuous Integration will be part of the software management platform from the very beginning.

Recipes for a Scalable CI solution

One important element of the software management platform is a solution for continuous integration (CI). Reusable Ansible recipes for a GitLab CI infrastructure will be provided. The Ansible role is developed here.

Backbone Services

Set-up of Helmholtz Backbone Connections

First Virtual Private Network (Helmholtz Backbone) connections have been set up and are in productive use.

Cloud Services

Top 10 of future Helmholtz Cloud Services

We are happy to announce that the group of the 10 most mature services has reached a maturity level of more than 80% - more than sufficient for them to be integrated into the Cloud Portal in the coming weeks. This top group includes services like GitLab (HZDR, FZJ), Nextcloud (HZB, KIT), Mattermost (HZDR), Rocket.Chat (FZJ) but also OpenStack (FZJ, KIT), JupyterHub (FZJ), Zammad (HZDR) and B2Share (FZJ).

Find more information of Initial Service Portfolio here.

Software Services

Publish Helmholtz Hacky Hour plans for the first half of 2021

The community work package publishes further details for the Helmholtz Hacky Hour for the first half of 2021 on the events page.

Software Services

Helmholtz-wide GitLab on new Ansible-managed Infrastructure

The GitLab service will be deployed to a new Ansible-managed infrastructure providing an enhanced maintainability and scalability. Access to this Helmholtz-wide GitLab will be granted to all people affiliated with the Helmholtz Association and partners to foster cross-center collaboration. If users encounter any issues, they can report them via the HIFIS helpdesk.

Software Services

Publish training program for the first half of 2021

The education and training work package publishes the offered training events for the first half of 2021 on </events.html>.

HIFIS Overall

Finish reporting for the first two years of HIFIS

After the ramp-up phase during the first year, the initial Cloud, Backbone and Software Services are expected to be in production by early 2021. We will report on the integration progress and impact of these services, especially with respect to user acceptance and added value for the scientific community.

Cloud Services

Beta Version of Helmholtz Cloud Portal online

The Helmholtz Cloud Portal allows harmonized access to all Helmholtz Cloud services. It contains all necessary information to access the available services. The alpha version of the portal is planned to be available by end 2020 and the publicly accessible beta version is planned for February 2021.

Cloud Services

Start evaluation of further Services

While the integration of the initial service portfolio will continue, the evaluation of further services will start. This process will presumably involve the review of postponed services from the initial service selection as well as service selection criteria, focusing on service usage and optimal user experience.

HIFIS Overall

Roll out HIFIS Survey 2021

Starting data collection from Helmholtz employees about their used IT-related workflows and software tools. The data will be analysed to further improve our services. Results will be published later in the year.

Software Services

Evaluation of Helmholtz-wide Research Software Directory (RSD) Prototype

HIFIS Community evaluates the reusability of the Netherlands RSD as RSD for all Helmholtz centers.

Software Services

Publish training program for the second half of 2021

The education and training work package publishes the offered training events for the second half of 2021 on </events.html>.

Backbone Services

AAI: Deprovisioning information from Helmholtz Identity Providers

Deprovisioning of users will be supported by the Helmholtz AAI. This includes a framework to query deprovisioning information from IdPs to allow automatic deprovisioning in Helmholtz AAI. In case of failure, user shall be contacted to confirm their account manually.

Cloud Services

Usage and Success Monitoring of Helmholtz Cloud Services

The success of the services is essentially reflected in their use and application. From the middle of the year, key figures on the use of the individual services are therefore determined and collected.

Cloud Services

Deprovisioning of users for at least one service and at least one using centre

The automatic deprovisioning of users is documented and technically implemented for at least one service and at least one service using centre.

Backbone Services

HIFIS data transfer generally usable for interested centres

The HIFIS data transfer service will be improved such that any combination of interested centres can participate by only needing to install a lightweight client that can manage third party copy.

Backbone Services

AAI: Communication with services

Developed concept and alpha implementation for automated communication with services, for example using Local Agent or via Cloud Portal. This requires cooperation with the Service Integration working group of the Cloud Cluster.

Cloud Services

Postponed services from initial service selection transferred into new onboarding process

Services, that were postponed during the initial service selection, as well as newly applied services were transferred into the onboarding process for new Helmholtz Cloud services.

Software Services

CI as a Service (Pilot)

We consider Continuous Integration (CI) an important aspect in a modern software engineering workflow. Easy-to-use CI resources should be available for all Helmholtz scientists. Beside the Helmholtz-wide GitLab many Helmholtz centers run their own GitLab instances on dedicated infrastructure in their center. In order to bundle resources and enable research software projects to easily use CI for their projects, CI will be offered as a service. In this milestone, we will set up CI as a Service and test it first with few pilot centers, in order to make it available to all Helmholtz communities.

Please note: The milestone was originally set for the end of the second quarter. Due to the underlying compute resources not being available in time, this milestone needed to be rescheduled to the third quarter of 2021.

Cloud Services

First Services fully in operation modus

The integration of several services of the initial service portfolio is completed and they can be used according to their description and service level. Therefore, these services immediately become fully integrated services when the legal framework is signed.

HIFIS Overall

Primary Analysis Results of HIFIS Survey 2021

Data collection and primary analysis of the HIFIS survey 2021 has been finished. First results will be presented in respective meetings (e.g., HIFIS conference, Incubator workshop).

Cloud Services

Release of Helmholtz Cloud Portal

The production version of the Helmholtz Cloud Portal will be made available. The new search function and filter options help to find a suitable service. The availability of the service is tested automatically and is visible in the service card. The service description contains all main information such as support, service level and limitations. User comments are welcome in the new free text field and will help to continuously improve the usability of the portal.

Cloud Services

Process Framework for Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio

The Process Framework for Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio is published in version 1.0. It focuses on the explanation of the processes regarding the Service Portfolio Management for Helmholtz Cloud, giving an overview of which processes exist, how they interconnect, which roles are involved in each process and what is included in each process step.

Backbone Services

AAI: Deprovisioning information to services

Obtained deprovisioning information shall be provided to services. This requires cooperation with the Service Integration working group of the Cloud Cluster.

Cloud Services

Legal Framework

The legal framework describes the necessary coordination and responsibilities so that the Helmholtz Cloud can perform its task for and within the Helmholtz community. It covers the relevant aspects, such as data sovereignty, intended use, GDPR or IT security.

Cloud Services

Pilot-Status for at least one meta service

At least one of the prominent services (such as Nextcloud, Open Stack or Jupyter) or a combination of those is extended to a meta service: the meta service, which is provided by several Helmholtz Centers, is working as a federation or cooperation instead of separated local solutions.

Software Services

Conceptualize Binder / ShinyR Integration into GitLab

Allowing scientists or reviewers to easily interact with computational environments can be considered a key aspect for reproducible and easy-to-use research software. Integrating tools like Binder or ShinyR into the Helmholtz-wide GitLab will allow scientists to easily make their research software product available to others without the need for installing and configuring tools locally. In this milestone, a concept will be elaborated on how this integration may be realized.

HIFIS Overall

Publish HIFIS Survey 2021 Report

Publish results of HIFIS survey 2021.

Cloud Services

Initial Review of Cloud Service Portfolio

The current set of cloud services will be reviewed. The results will enter the annual HIFIS report and further service portfolio maintenance.

Cloud Services

User-specific Service View in Cloud Portal

In Cloud Portal, logged-in users shall be able to have a specific view on the services they are allowed to use, as well as service usage conditions. Also, a user can see and manage their relevant service notifications.
(This work package was postponed from September 2021 to January 2022, as no user-specific information will be available by then.)

Roadmap

2019

October 2019

HIFIS Conference

December 2019

Initial launch of software.hifis.net

2020

January 2020

Initial training of Carpentries Instructors

March 2020

Start of Helmholtz-wide training events

Reporting for the first year of HIFIS

April 2020

First meeting of HIFIS Scientific Advisory Board

May 2020

First iteration of service selection completed

June 2020

Launch of the HIFIS Software Helpdesk

August 2020

Start of Helmholtz AAI

September 2020

Service Agreement on Helmholtz Backbone

Start of HIFIS Helpdesk

Launch of the HIFIS Software Consulting Services

October 2020

Announcement of initial Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio

HIFIS Meeting

Reusable Ansible recipes for a scalable GitLab instance

Kickoff for the Integration of the initial Services

November 2020

Integrate the Software Management Platform into the Helmholtz Cloud

Recipes for a Scalable CI solution

2021

January 2021

Set-up of Helmholtz Backbone Connections

Top 10 of future Helmholtz Cloud Services

Publish Helmholtz Hacky Hour plans for the first half of 2021

February 2021

Helmholtz-wide GitLab on new Ansible-managed Infrastructure

Publish training program for the first half of 2021

March 2021

Finish reporting for the first two years of HIFIS

Beta Version of Helmholtz Cloud Portal online

April 2021

Start evaluation of further Services

Roll out HIFIS Survey 2021

May 2021

Evaluation of Helmholtz-wide Research Software Directory (RSD) Prototype

June 2021

Publish training program for the second half of 2021

July 2021

AAI: Deprovisioning information from Helmholtz Identity Providers

Usage and Success Monitoring of Helmholtz Cloud Services

Deprovisioning of users for at least one service and at least one using centre

September 2021

HIFIS data transfer generally usable for interested centres

AAI: Communication with services

Postponed services from initial service selection transferred into new onboarding process

CI as a Service (Pilot)

October 2021

First Services fully in operation modus

Primary Analysis Results of HIFIS Survey 2021

November 2021

Release of Helmholtz Cloud Portal

Process Framework for Helmholtz Cloud Service Portfolio

December 2021

AAI: Deprovisioning information to services

Legal Framework

Pilot-Status for at least one meta service

Conceptualize Binder / ShinyR Integration into GitLab

Publish HIFIS Survey 2021 Report

2022

January 2022

Initial Review of Cloud Service Portfolio

User-specific Service View in Cloud Portal