EIDF Portal improvements: making it easier to plan, apply and get started

We are continuously improving the EIDF Portal to make it clearer, easier to use and more helpful for our users. Whether you are applying for a new project, planning a grant, estimating costs or exploring which services might be right for your work, we want the portal to support you at every stage.

Our team has been working hard on improvements designed to help you move through the process more quickly, so you can get access to the compute and storage services you need as efficiently as possible.

One of the most recent improvements is the addition of a feedback button across the portal pages. This means you can now get in touch with us more easily if something is unclear, if you spot an issue, or if you have suggestions for how a page could work better. Your feedback is extremely valuable and helps us prioritise future improvements.

You might have already noticed that we have also introduced service bundles to make it simpler for new users to understand what they may need. Instead of selecting each service individually from the start, you can now choose from suggested bundles such as GPU Starter, GPU Heavy User, Big Data User, CPU Virtual Desktop User, Specialist Compute: Cirrus, Specialist Compute: Cerebras, and Confidential Data Workspace. Each bundle includes preset compute and storage, but you can still edit these after selection to better match your project requirements.

The new project application page has also been updated to provide clearer guidance before you begin. It now helps applicants choose the correct route depending on whether they are from the University of Edinburgh, another academic or public organisation, a not-for-profit organisation, a commercial organisation, or are applying for data publishing.

Another important improvement is that the price estimator is now available without logging in. This makes it easier to explore likely project costs, prepare grant applications, or create an estimate before arranging a purchase order. Please note that, in most cases, applicants will need funding information ready before submitting a full project application, such as a University of Edinburgh WorkTribe reference, grant code or purchase order.

These updates are part of our ongoing work to make EIDF easier to access, understand, and use. We will continue improving the portal based on user needs, so please do use the feedback button and let us know what would help you.

If you have any ideas for how we can make the portal work better for you, please get in touch. We are also looking forward to sharing further updates currently in development, including improvements to the login page and the landing page after you log in to the system.