CSE Research Accounts Policy

GSRC recommends that the following policy for research computing accounts be available to the department to support those faculty who want to control their research projects in this manner. Moreover, GSRC recommends this policy as the preferred method for operation in order to increase faculty access to project materials and clarify the role of lab managers.

Implementation

The following policy should be put into effect by January, 1995 and be reflected in CSE Department documents and computer account applications.

1. Each MSU research project is assigned its own account with the PI or PIs as owner. (Each PI may own several accounts.)

    

2. Each MSU research project is assigned a group containing all researchers authorized by the PI(s) and CSE Dept.

    

3. RAs working in the group will have their own private accounts. Each RA may be in several groups.

    

4. RA accounts will have limited disk allocation in order to a) stimulate appropriate sharing of work within the appropriate research project account and b) allow better management of total storage in the lab. RA private files are for transactions and draft work on the project.

    

5. PIs should set up the directory structure and permission structure of the directories of their research projects to promote appropriate sharing and safety of their research materials. RAs will have full access to certain directories and files and may even "own" and control files in so far as UNIX permissions are concerned. Mature work by the RA should be filed in the group research directories.

    

6. While it is clear that the PI(s) are stewards of such materials, management of portions of such data may be delegated by the PIs to RAs working on the project, or perhaps to a lab manager. Lab Managers may intervene at the request of the PI(s) to fix an access problem or to change ownership of files: the PI is always able to have full access to the full directory tree, although good development practices may make such accesses rare.