The objective of this document is to map out how to set up GCP projects when using Research or Education Credits provided by Google. Research Computing (RC) Team responsibilities include

1. Verify funding and credits.
2. Identify and assign billing ID.
3. Create GCP project.
4. Assign roles and permission.

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Steps to use GCP education credits

• UMD User Submits a Service Now GCP Service Request Form (Faculty, Staff, GA or TA)
• Within the state for,  complete the following sections:
  
  • Include purpose (course or research) in the Description box.
  • How do you expect to pay? Select GCP Credits.
• Research Computing will receive the request and contact customers for consultation on GCP projects configuration requirements within 2 business days.
• The following information will be verified:
  
  1. Verification of whether it is class or research project.
  2. Verification of what type of GCP credits customer has and value of credits.
  3. Detailed description on how the project will be used.
  4. Depending on the type of credits awarded by Google, Research Computing determines whether customers will need to create their project. (Project creation is normally handled by Research Computing.
  5. Number of users for the project(s)
     
     • If this is a class how many students (For Student credits Only).
       
       • Will students be working in teams or individual (recommended teams for better management of project.
       • How long will the project(s) be needed (all class projects will be deleted after the stated term if not notified.
  6. Permission Management plan using Google Groups to assign end-user roles/access. The following information will be verified.
     
     • Owner and Manager roles for groups, project, folders.
       
       • Who would be assigned ownership of google groups, GCP project and/or folder administrator. Examples: Faculty member, Graduate Assistant or Teaching Assistant.
• Customer receives, reviews and approves (or suggests changes to) the design. and agreement made between Research Computing and customerRC builds out the planned project, groups, and roles.

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Sample writeup documenting design and creation

Teaching and learning project name: Using education credits for GCP

• IRB Number:
• PI: John Doe, Computer Science
• Additional Faculty: Mary Doe

Request from faculty

• Submitted via ServiceNow: RITM001234
• Supporting School of Computer Science: CMSC 999Q COURSE USING GCP CREDITS.

Anticipated data elements

A.TBD

Data collection method

A.TBD

Data storage method

A.TBD

Data analysis method

A. Data will be analyzed using colab and Big Query.

Data backup method

N/A

Data archive method

N/A

DIT services included in this project

• Research Technology Consultation.
• Google Cloud Platform Big Query.
• Google CoLab.

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Recommended implementation

Research Computing Solution for next steps for teaching and learning example

1. DIT RC creates course subfolder in UMD folder structure: i.e., UMD.edu\CMNS\Teaching
2. Each student has access to Google rewarded educational credits.
3. Each student activates education coupon to obtain billing account information.
4. Log all billing accounts activated by student credits for tracking purposes.
5. DIT creates a number of subfolders for class(course# using Google student credits within GCP under the College or Unit Name\Teaching hierarchy. i.e., cmns\teaching\ CMNS_CMSC999Q_SPR22 Only those assigned to this sub folder will have access. Recommended max# of subfolders is 20.
6. DIT creates # google groups to support the teams identified by faculty to give them access. Google Group owner is assigned to Faculty members where they can now manage who has access to their GCP environment. Recommended max number of groups is 20.
7. The Faculty member and TA is a member of each google group for student support.
8. Group Assignments correspond to teams determined by Faculty member.
9. Faculty Member or TA must add assign students to a group which is associated to 1 subfolder under the umd , i.e., cmns\teaching\ CMNS_CMSC999Q_SPR22 within GCP
10. Recommended that Members of teams should be assigned to only 1 group at a time.
11. Each student assigned must have a umd or terpmail.umd account to be added.
12. Each member of the group will be able to create projects with their credits or the team can share a single project within the assigned subfolder.
13. The project owner role is assigned to the student who created the project, Only that student will have permissions to manipulate within the project and utilizes all GCP services of their choice.
14. At the end of semester, all projects should be deleted by students or faculty.

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IT compliance notes: Controlling and monitoring your sharing access is key to the proper use of campus data storage. Review Access Control Guidelines. Please read and understand the IT Policies, Standards & Guidelines.