Thursday, September 03, 2020

Research Computing and Data Capabilities Model


The capabilities model allow an institution to evaluate how well it supports various data and research requirements.

https://carcc.org/2020/07/09/announcing-the-rcd-cm-2020-community-data-participation-window/

What I found most interesting is what it refers to as the "five facings"

Researcher Facing Roles

Includes research computing and data staffing, outreach, and advanced support, as well as support in the management of the research lifecycle.

Examples: Research IT User Support, Research Facilitators, CI engineers, etc.

Data Facing Roles

Includes data creation; data discovery and collection; data analysis and visualization; research data curation, storage, backup, and transfer; and research data policy compliance.

ExamplesResearch Data Management specialists, Data Librarians, Data Scientists, etc.

 

Software Facing Roles

Includes software package management, research software development, research software optimization or troubleshooting, workflow engineering, containers and cloud computing, securing access to software, and software associated with physical specimens.

ExamplesResearch Software Engineers, Research Computing support, etc.

 

Systems Facing Roles

Includes infrastructure systems, systems operations, and systems security and compliance.

ExamplesHPC systems engineers, Storage Engineers, Network specialists, etc.

 

Strategy and Policy Facing Roles

Includes institutional alignment, culture for research support,  funding, and partnerships and engagement with external communities. 

ExamplesResearch IT leadership 

Which, at the risk of sounding like a Myers-Briggs evaluation, seems to sum up nicely the important categories of staff in research computing.