How to request or retain an O2 account

To obtain an O2 account:

  1. You must have a sponsoring PI (or manager).

  2. You must have an HMS Account (also called HMS ID, and previously known as an eCommons ID, which is the login credential used on O2).

Notes about chargebacks:

“On-Quad” Labs:

If your lab is based at Harvard University, and your sponsoring PI has a primary or secondary faculty appointment in an HMS Blavatnik Institute Basic or Social Science (“Quad”) department, and you already have an HMS Account, you can request an O2 account directly by filling out the O2 account request form.

What if you don’t have an HMS Account?

  1. You will first need to be registered as a Harvard Sponsored Role, which is essentially Harvard University’s guest user registration, as described in Harvard Sponsored Role (HSR).

  2. When that request is approved, the person is automatically provisioned an HMS account.

Please note this important distinction and ask HMS-RC if you’re not sure of your PI’s status:

  • An on-Quad PI who is based at HMS can directly sponsor someone for an HSR and/or HMS guest account, as described above.

  • An on-Quad PI who is based at an affiliate institution (e.g. hospital) usually can not sponsor HSRs or Guests. For those labs, any HSR or Guest registrations must be submitted through the HMS Research Computing Core, as described below in the “off-Quad” section. This is only needed for registering the HMS Account and will not incur charges.