Getting Started with
the HPC ERP System

Contents

Follow these sections in order the first time you use the portal — after that, jump straight to what you need.

• 1Getting Started & Signing InAll Users
• 2Creating Your Account — FacultyFaculty
• 3Creating Your Account — StudentStudents
• 4Verifying Your EmailAll Users
• 5Your DashboardAll Users
• 6Applying for Cluster AccessAll Users
• 7Managing Your Profile & PasswordAll Users
• 8Reviewing Student Cluster RequestsFaculty
• 9Viewing Your Cluster UsageBeta
• 10Getting HelpAll Users

The HPC ERP System is the single portal for registering an account, requesting PARAM Shakti cluster access, and managing your HPC profile. It is available at hpc.iitkgp.ac.in/app. If you already have an account, sign in with your registered email and password below.

The sign-in screen — new users click "Faculty" or "Student" under "New user?" to start registration. The icon in the top-right corner of the card switches between the default and dark "terminal" themes.

• Use the email address you plan to register with — institute email (@*.iitkgp.ac.in) or a Gmail address are both accepted.
• Forgot your password? Use the "Forgot password?" link — a one-time code is emailed to you to reset it.
• New to the portal? Continue to Section 2 (Faculty) or Section 3 (Student) below.

Fill in the registration form completely and accurately — your Department, Employee ID, and contact details are verified during account approval. Registration itself completes as soon as you verify the OTP emailed to you (Section 4) — no separate PI or admin sign-off is needed to create the account.

Faculty Registration — Personal Details (left) and Department & Research (right).

• Employee ID must be either 5 digits (e.g. 12345) or "T" followed by 3–4 digits (e.g. T123, T1234) — the field checks the format as you type.
• Domain is a required dropdown of common HPC research areas (AI/ML, CFD, Computational Chemistry, Bioinformatics, and more) — pick the closest match, or select "Other" to type your own.
• "Have you used any HPC server/facility before?" is required — select Yes or No.
• Software Requirements is optional — list any specific applications or libraries your work depends on.
• Your password must satisfy all 7 rules shown below the field (length, case, digit, special character, no sequences/repeats) before you can submit.

Student accounts require a sponsoring PI (Principal Investigator) / Guide / Advisor / Supervisor — they're recorded against your account and are who you'll request cluster access through (Section 6), though registration itself doesn't wait on their approval.

Student Registration — note the PI selector, Domain dropdown, and Roll Number format checker.

• Roll Number accepts several real IIT KGP formats (e.g. 21CS10A15, 20CS10001, J20190328, PDF2025005) — the field checks the format as you type.
• PI / Guide / Advisor / Supervisor — select your registered faculty guide from the list; this is who reviews your cluster access requests.
• Domain is a required dropdown of common HPC research areas — pick the closest match, or select "Other" to type your own.
• Duration for HPC Access is a whole number of years from 1 to 5.
• Password rules and the optional Software Requirements list work exactly as in Faculty registration (Section 2).

After submitting registration, a 6-digit one-time code (OTP) is emailed to the address you registered with. Enter it to complete your account creation.

The OTP is valid for 15 minutes; you can request a new one after a 60-second cooldown.

Once your account is created, the Dashboard is your home screen — it summarizes your account status, validity period, and cluster applications at a glance. The bell icon in the top-right corner shows announcements broadcast to you by the admin team.

Faculty additionally see a "My Students" count and the full Student Cluster Requests / My Students sidebar sections (Section 8).

Students see their own account status and cluster application progress, including when it's forwarded to their PI.

• Account Status reflects your account state — active as soon as you're registered (Section 4).
• Valid Until shows your account's expiry date.
• Active Cluster Access counts clusters you currently have approved access to.

Having an account does not automatically grant cluster access — apply separately from "Apply for Cluster" in the sidebar.

Apply for Cluster Access — pick a cluster, a requested end date, and at least one Software Requirement.

Approval chain:

Once you have approved access, "My Applications" shows every request you've made and the actions available for each — which ones appear depends on that row's current status:

My Applications — an approved, active row shows every available action; a deactivated one only offers Request Reactivation.

• Edit Software — update the software list attached to an approved application.
• Request Extension — ask to push out the access end date.
• Reset Password — request a new cluster (SSH) login password.
• Reset Authenticator — request your cluster login authenticator (2FA) be reset if you've lost access to it.
• Deactivate / Request Reactivation — give up cluster access yourself, or ask to have it restored later.

Extension, password reset, authenticator reset, and reactivation requests all open a short confirmation dialog and go through the same review process as a new application:

Example request dialog (Reset Authenticator shown) — Request Extension, Reset Password, and Request Reactivation follow the same pattern.

"My Profile" shows your full account record, including your Domain/Sub-domain and (for students) a way to change your PI, plus a password change form.

My Profile — account details, Change PI/Supervisor (students only), and Change Password.

As a PI, you review cluster access requests from students who list you as their guide — new applications and extension requests are reviewed separately. Student account registration itself needs no PI action (Section 4).

Forward a student's new cluster access request to the admin team for final approval, or reject it with a reason.

The same review, for a student asking to extend their existing cluster access.

A full roster of every student registered under you, grouped by cluster, with their current status and the option to deactivate their access.

"Cluster Usage" in the sidebar shows how much of your allocated compute you've actually used, based on reports an engineer or admin uploads periodically — it's a new, still-evolving feature, marked Beta in the sidebar.

Your usage gauge, job/unit-hour/active-day totals, and a day-by-day breakdown for the selected cluster and report period.

• Use the cluster dropdown at the top to switch between clusters you have access to.
• Faculty see a matrix of usage across all their students instead of a single gauge.
• If nothing shows here yet, it means no usage report has been uploaded for that cluster — check back later.

If you run into an issue this guide doesn't cover, reach out through any of the channels below.

For general facility announcements and updates, check the Notice board on the public site, linked from the announcement bar on every page.