Note: The Free Credits program has been suspended as of July 2, 2020. Please follow this service notification article to get the latest updates.

The BioData Catalyst platform powered by Terra runs on the Google Cloud Platform, and all expenses are billed via Google Billing Accounts. To learn more about setting up your account and billing for Terra, see articles in Terra’s support documentation, in the section Account Setup & Administration.

This article links to information in that section to get your account set up so you can start using Terra with the Google Cloud Platform. 

How to access free credits

To give you a chance to get familiar with the platform, Terra offers a free credit trial for all new users, administered by third party reseller Onix. Free credits expire sixty days after you start the trial.

Instructions for activating and terms of the free credits Billing Project can be found in this article. 

Note that if you use free credits to jump-start a project that you want to access later, you will need to upgrade to a billing account before your credits run out. If you don't upgrade the account before the free credits run out, you can reactivate your account by logging into Google Cloud Console (https://console.cloud.google.com), going to Billing, and selecting upgrade. 

How to set up your own Terra Billing Project

BioData Catalyst users will use a Google Billing Account through NIH’s Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) initiative, managed by the third party reseller, Carahsoft.

Once you have access to the STRIDES Google Billing Account, you can create a Terra Billing Project and tie it to your Google Billing Account by following the instructions in this article.

How permission to billable resources is managed

To learn more about the possible types of access to Terra-based resources, see this article. Here you can learn about different levels of permission, defined by roles that users are assigned for a given resource. A resource - such as a workspace or a billing project - can have multiple levels of permission, such as READER or WRITER. More granular roles are available to grant permission to run certain tools and use billable resources without granting permission to share or modify the contents of the resource. 

Controlling Cloud Costs

A separate category of documents provides helpful tips and guidelines for tracking and minimizing your expenditures when working in the cloud. For instructions and examples, check out the Controlling Cloud Costs section (please note that workflow cost reporting in Terra is currently only for Broad-owned billing accounts).