User Survey Results
NERSC conducted a user survey this year to provide feedback about every aspect of our operation, help us judge the quality of our services, point out areas that need improvement, and show how we compare to similar facilities. We intend to repeat the survey yearly to monitor our progress.
Our clients rated NERSC in the areas of computational and file storage resources, account and allocations support, consulting services, documentation, and training. Software support was not included explicitly in the survey, but users commented on this area as well.
There were 138 respondents. About 56 percent said they used the C90; another 54 percent used the T3E and 46 percent the J90s. There was less representation for the archival systems: 32 percent said they used CFS and 26 percent HPSS.
The three areas rated most important were network access, the center overall, and consulting services. The three areas that received the highest ratings were consulting services, network access, and account support services.
Overall, our clients say we provide a high level of service. On a scale of 7 (very satisfied) to 1 (very unsatisfied), our scores ranged from 5.8 for consulting services, C90 uptime, and CFS reliability to 4.4 for C90 and T3E turnaround time.
Many users pointed out that NERSC is an excellent high-end production center, with a good user focus. Comments included:
"Gives us access to high-end, high-capacity and capability machines without too many limitations on the way codes can be run. There is a good mix of machines, serial and parallel, and a good mix of running modes, interactive and batch."
"Supplies reliable cycles to a broad user base. Excellent user support, probably the best in the world for high-end computing."
"As a service center, NERSC does a great job keeping the T3Es up and providing easily accessible information relating to hardware and software. Moreover, the intellectual quality of NERSC support and research staff is excellent and they are easy to communicate with."
"Over the years, NERSC has been the most reliable source of production computing for scientific research and development, by concentrating on scientific computing ahead of computer science."
When asked what they wanted more of, most users said "more cycles." Specific software requests were also popular, as were longer T3E queues and additional batch queues in general.
Our high level of service is made possible by many NERSC and ESnet staff members working behind the scenes, including (back row) Brent Draney, Cheri Lawrence, Clint Wadsworth, Mark Heer, James Lee, (front row) Jackie Scoggins, and Suzanne Smith. Brent, Mark, Jackie, and Suzanne installed and configured NERSC's new email hub systems in a five-day process that was transparent to NERSC clients. Cheri prepared financial data for several successful audits and reviews. Clint coordinated network connections for the Berkeley Lab/NERSC booth at the SC98 conference. And James improved staff productivity by introducing the Psion palmtop computer and providing training.
Areas that need improvement include:
- Turnaround time: We are addressing the need for more cycles with the NERSC-3 procurement process under way.
- Queue structures: A new T3E queue structure with more 4-hour queues and a new 12-hour queue was implemented in December. The J90 queues were unified under NQE in October. Further improvements will be considered in early 1999.
- Web site: A reorganized NERSC web site with improved contents will be implemented in early 1999.
- More direct communications with users: As a result of this survey, we have been using email more often to communicate system changes to users.
- Training process: We are now conducting teleconference classes in order to reach all users more effectively.
Complete survey results are available at http://www.nersc.gov/news/survey/98/.