The workflow community group will be providing a roadmap to foster best ideas and approaches for the establishment of sustainable and effective workflow working groups and help shape the future EarthCube plans. The roadmap development will be a collaborative open process and will be lead by the steering committee and will include/consider the input of all participants who wish to contribute.
NSF insists the roadmap strictly follow these guidelines.
Generic guidance for the development of a roadmap can be found at
http://technologyroadmap.net/technology-roadmap-template/ and specific guidance for the EarthCube community groups are as follows:
Purpose: Introduction, including community(ies) to be served, technical area(s) of the roadmap, and brief discussion what improvements in the present state-of-the-art in geoscience data discovery, management, access, or utilization it will enable. Also include examples of how the outcomes from your effort will enable the community to be more productive and capable.
Communication: Description of a communications plan with end users, developers, and sponsors, as well as links to and feedback from other EarthCube community groups and EarthCube concept projects to promote systems integration and accelerate development. Include a discussion of needed interactions with allied fields, agencies, and other related activities (present and desired).
Challenges: Description of major drivers, trends, and shifts impacting or that could impact the focus of a working group, including but not limited to changing technology, adoption culture, and community engagement.
Requirements: Process(es) to be used to get the necessary technical, conceptual, and/or community (i.e., end-user) requirements at the outset and during the life of the activity, including approaches to achieving community/end-user consensus.
Status: Description of the state of the art within the topical area of your roadmap. This should include approaches and technologies from geoscience, cyberinfrastructure, and other fields, the public or commercial sector, etc. that have the potential to benefit the EarthCube enterprise.
Solutions: Process for the identification and comparison (pros and cons) of approaches and technology solutions that will contribute to the EarthCube goal of satisfying current and future research needs of the geoscience end-user.
Process: Process(es) to develop community standards, protocols, test data, use cases, etc. that are necessary to mature the functionality of the topical area and promote interoperability and integration between elements of EarthCube.
Timeline: Timeline for the project and all related sub-projects, including prioritization of activities and measurable milestones/major achievements and total resources (human and financial) required to achieve roadmap goals over a period of the next 3 to 5 years.
Management: Management/governance/coordination plan and decision-making processes necessary to successfully establish standing committee(s) and subcommittees (if warranted), including a plan to identify and respond to shifts in technologies and changing needs at the end-point of use. Include discussion of approaches to educating end-users and achieving community consensus on advancing the capability/technological solution.
Risks: Identification of risks and additional challenges to the successful establishment of any working group, and any unique risks associated with a working group associated with your topical area. With respect to identified risks, an approach to risk mitigation should be addressed.