The Terms of Reference of the TB given in the proposal are:
- Implement the strategy of the Project Management Board on the construction of the Particle Physics Grid.
- Report to the Project Management Board, through its chair, on progress within each working group and tier centre.
- Ensure that problems and ideas with implications beyond individual working groups are discussed and solved in the most efficient manner.
- Provide a forum in which all constituent parts of the project can exchange information on technical issues of mutual interest.
- Ensure that resources deployed at the various Tier centres are efficiently and effectively used to deliver the Particle Physics Grid with the minimum of unnecessary duplication.
- Ensure that technical developments elsewhere, particularly at CERN, are efficiently integrated into the project.
The role of the Chair of the Technical Board is to manage the functioning of the Technical Board (TB). The TB is responsible for determination and execution of the technical project plan necessary to meet the overall project deliverables as determined by the Project Management Board.
The detailed responsibilities of the TB are:
- To identify the technical requirements deriving from the project deliverables as set by the PMB.
- To identify at high level the technical components necessary to meet the project requirements, and recommend to the PMB the necessary level of resource for provision of such components.
- To produce an integrated project plan showing components, their timescales and dependencies, and appropriate milestones.
- To agree and pass detailed responsibility for provision of components to appropriate work-groups or equivalent. This shall be done against agreed deliverables and milestones.
- To monitor the progress toward deliverables against the project schedule.
- To monitor the use of allocated GridPP resources against deliverables.
- To identify any problems with the schedule or use of resources. Where it is within the remit of the TB then take action to rectify. Where it is not within the remit of the TB to inform the PMB appropriately.
- To provide regular reports to the PMB and EB of the technical progress of the project.
- To ensure appropriate (technical) liaison with other projects and bodies to ensure that commonality is exploited wherever possible, and that no un-necessary duplication of work occurs.
- In particular to ensure that GridPP is fully integrated with DataGRID where appropriate (i.e. at least for the LHC stakeholders and where possible make use of this for other GridPP stakeholders).
- To constitute appropriate short-term instruments to address any issues which arise from time to time. (e.g. task forces).
- To recommend to the PMB an appropriate level of resource for longer term strategy (i.e. technical work not explicitly needed for project goals, but needed for experience for the longer term and/or relationship building).
- To take due account of international standards as set by the GGF, IETF and other bodies.
- Provide 2 cross members to the EB. These will normally be the Chair and Deputy Chair.
Regarding DataGrid:
The UK DataGrid project leader will sit on the TB, and will have specific responsibility to oversee that DataGrid commitments are met by the allocated resources. To aid this the TB responsibilities include:
- To include and monitor commitments to DataGrid work-packages as an integral part of the project plan;
- To monitor the use of allocated resources against DataGRID commitments.