IS480 Team wiki: 2011T1 Ascension
Contents
Team Ascension
Supervisor
Team Members
Name | Role |
---|---|
• NG Choon Teck • AU Cheong Hing • CHEN Junfan • CHEE Jing Hui • PEH Wei Kiat |
Project Manager Business Analyst System Analyst Lead Developer Design Analyst |
Team Roles
Stakeholders
Team Goals
Project Scope
Problem Domain
Click to view Project NoDE's July Implementation Photos and Video.
Motivation
Project Description
Functions Overview
The entire built-in solution will consist of 2 blocks – collectively named eSpire.
Each of the 2 blocks has their own specific objectives relating to the overall mission and vision of YDC.
System 1 – Management Portal
The management portal has consists the following functionality:
(a) Maze Configuration
Users are able to create or duplicate existing maze implementations. Implementations has maximum of up to 10 stations. Users are expected to name their stations; duration taken for each of the station created and selects the modules for the station.
There are 6 modules in total. They are described as follows:
1. Node Dollars
Calculating and tracking the amount of money spent and earned in the station
2. Comments
Allows facilitators to key in any observations that they make on the participants
3. Multiple Choice Question (MCQ)
Allows user to set a series of multiple choice questions where facilitators will track the student’s response
4. Supermarket
Allows user to select the category and type of goods sold with a customizable scenario, participants will have to buy products based on their understanding of what is most important for the scenario given.
5. Scenario-based
Allows user to customize up to 4 scenarios that is able to track their justifications and consequences
6. Prioritization
Allows user to select up to 4 scenarios where users prioritize the options in the scenario and provide necessary justifications
(b) Progress Report Configurations
Reports configurations takes the implementation structure that users have selected and starts off by allowing user to key in the various scores based on scenario structure. The users can then decide to aggregate it into a weightage of the various categories in the station and finally assigning the final weightage and output to the final score.
(c) Student Management
Users can upload participants in bulk (using csv file) or individual, view or edit their profiles and generate QR codes for the participants.
(d) Traffic Management
View real-time the human traffic movement in the maze. When participants exceed their time in the station, traffic management will reflect and notification can be send to the facilitator to end the station.
(e) Reports
Users can generate individual progress tracking report which is engineered through the report configuration or generate management report – consisting of Development and Operations report.
Development report is an aggregation of all students in an implementation and a summary of the results of the implementation. Operation report takes an aggregation from the traffic management report of the duration and the percentages of team leaving on and off time.
Expected users: 20 to 50 facilitators (members of Youth Development Committee)
System 2 – Operations Tracking Application (OTA)
The application is designed to address operational requirements by automating processes like traffic management, tracking the progress of the students in the maze to form part of the key performance Indicators (KPI) of the enterprise. The application also allows tracking of identity and progress of the participants throughout the maze and outputs a personalized report for the individual.
We chose this project as we want to play a part and contribute to the success of YDC’s physical maze project. This project has a strong social cost involved, as the main aim of YDC is to educate the youth of choices and decision-making. As such, our motivation in this project lies in helping YDC with the maze, so that the participants can gain more from YDC’s program. Furthermore, we want to use technology to provide a unique selling point for customers of the maze.
Expected users: 20 facilitators (per maze) and 200 students (per maze)
Advanced Function
Project Timeline
X Factor
Deliverables
Process Flow
Click to access the System Process Flow Diagram v1.0 and System Process Flow Diagram v2.0
Project Progress Summary
Project Highlights
Mid Term Wiki
Click to access our Midterm Wiki. |
Final Wiki
Click to access our Final Wiki. |
Our Journey
Milestone A
We have been through 4 iterations in total for this Milestone, spanning from 27 April to 22 July.
The highlight of the Milestone was about requirements gathering which proves to be a difficult and tedious process. We managed to clear up the basic idea of entire requirements given by our clients. The Yio Chu Kang Secondary School trial was most helpful in allowing us to understand the entire maze flow and the deficiencies which our client highlights to us.
1) Web Portal
(a) Administrative functions that connects the web portal (b) Report Configurations for Node dollars, comment and MCQ modules
(a) Login (b) Node Dollar, Comment and MCQ module (c) Scanning and registration |
Milestone B
Iteration 5 happens within Milestone B, spanning from 22 July to 12 August. In this iteration, there are 2 main highlights in this iteration.
1) We were behind time. Our schedule metric shows a decline in our progress with a metric of 1.6. 2) We were advised that our project was too complicated and stretched. Hence, taking into account the following factors, we decided to drop some functions that are not directly related to the operations of the maze.
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed. |
Milestone C
2 iterations took place in this Milestone, spanning from 12 Aug to 27 Sep.
Although our schedule metric reflects that we are on time, both iterations having a 1.0 score, which is on time, We had to implement and add additional hours for our development so as to ensure that we are able to keep to our timeline for UAT C. We added more meetings in the week for members to sync up with each other and perform end to end testing which were necessary to ensure that our system can flow all the way from pre-maze to post maze.
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed. |
Milestone D
1 iteration took place in milestone D, spanning from 21st September to 15th October. Why do we have a milestone directly after only 1 iteration? This is because iteration 8 which happens in recess week means that we would have the most time to work on our project. The speed of our development and the amount completed by end of this iteration would have high impact and effect on our planning of functionalities and the amount of stuff we can do, leading towards final presentation.
As the hosting manager of Sanctuary house does not allow installation of tomcat apache, we have to use alternative methods. We got a server from Sanctuary House and deployed our reporting server on it, integrate it with our current deployment at the hosting manager. We spent much time on it, to and fro Sanctuary House and was glad that by end of iteration, we already resolved this issue.
1. Changes from UAT C a) Progress report UI b) Operations Tracking App Contingency Plan (master resend and connection switch off)
3. Development Report
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed. |
Milestone E
3 iterations take place in this milestone E, spanning from 16th Oct to 21st Nov
In iteration 9, our core to do list is to settle the operations report (which is a core functionality) and to get Instant messenger on Operations Tracking App working. As this is a crucial period of development (before the SMU period closes in on project submission and presentation), we gave our best shot by pushing our development efforts to the maximum. We completed Operations report, Instant messenger on Operations Tracking App and as well our traffic management algorithm were ready, completing more than we have targeted. We have also created the pre-maze view screen to inform the next batch when they are able to go into the station.
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed.
In iteration 10, our core do to list is to ensure that our Operations Tracking App User interface is totally revamped. After which vigorous testing on performance and functionality before we head for our UAT with our clients and facilitators. After revamping the UI, we started the UAT which further uncovered some bugs. During the testing, little suggestions and improvements were given as our clients were all very satisfied with the end to end maze optimization. The entire process now seems sleeker and time taken was reduced much to our clients satisfaction. In this iteration, we also managed to implement speech to text function, as we have some spare time on our timeline.
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed.
The main task for this iteration is to prepare for finals and update our wiki. However, we have some bugs that was brought over from the last UAT. The 1 critical bugs that were brought over was the sending messages to multiple Operations Tracking devices from the portal’s IM. That was resolved in this iteration.
*Highlighted in red are functions that are fully completed. |
Our Achievements
1. Enhanced Operations Tracking Application Performance Reduce scanning timing by 75%. From 1 min to 15 seconds (for a group of 4). Kept in-processing and out-processing timing within 3 and 5 seconds respectively. Total administration time required reduced from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.
Interactive user interface with easy navigation. Switch being commonly used modules which expedites tracking procedures. Ease of switching and checking of instant messenger. Overall background nature team with engraved buttons.
Communication between Traffic Manager and Facilitator – never as easy before. Communication through messages initiated by Traffic Manager or System. Simple to type, easy to respond. Fully designed and customized by us.
Report can be generated as soon as a student step out of the maze. Sleek integration of report configuration and BIRT tools. Complicated algorithm to generate results for student report.
Simple and easy to understand algorithm. Visibility of students within stations. Decision support tools to highlight crisis maze management to Traffic Manager. |
Project Management
Schedule Overview
Click to access our Schedule
Project Schedule (Plan vs Actual)
Iterations | Planned | Actual | Schedule Metric | Comments | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1. Requirements gathering
2. Mock up on web-front |
12th May | 12th May | 1.0 | On Time |
2 | 1. Requirements gathering
2. Mock up on Operations Tracking App and Management Portal |
28th May | 28th May | 1.0 | On Time |
3 | 1. Revision of mock up
2. Finalized and developed web front 3. Proposal Submission |
21st June | 21st June | 1.0 | On Time |
4 | 1. Refinements of tracking module requirements
2. Developed node dollars, comment and MCQ 3. Report algorithm refinements 4. UAT A |
22nd July | 22nd July | 1.0 | On Time |
5 | 1. Developed Supermarket
2. Developed Traffic Management 3. Progress Report – Half completed 4. UAT B – Acceptance Presentation |
12th Aug | 12th Aug | 1.6 | The other half of progress report could be developed in time due to the learning curve in BIRT. We rescope after acceptance as the project idea was not focussed. |
6 | 1. Developed scenario and prioritization module
2. Developed progress report configurations 3. Improvements on Traffic Management |
2nd Sep | 2nd Sep | 1.0 | On Time |
7 | 1. Developed maze configurations
2. Completed Progress Report 3. Completed UAT C – Mid term presentation 4. Implemented Swype function |
29th Sep | 29th Sep | 1.0 | On Time. Replaced speech to text with swype function. |
8 | 1. Changes from UAT Feedback
- Traffic Management refreshing page issue - Report UI - Operations Tracking App contingency plans 2. Instant Messenger on Management Portal 3. Development Report |
15th Oct | 15th Oct | 1.0 | On Time. |
9 | 1. Operations Tracking App UI
2. Operations Report 3. Instant Messenger on Operations Tracking App 4. Traffic Management Algorithm 5. Customization of Instant Messenger with traffic management |
25th Oct | 25th Oct | 1.0 | On Time. Shift the designing of poster from iteration 11 to this iteration. |
10 | 1. Testing
2. Day in a life workshop 3. Speech to text function 4. Operations Tracking App Interface Enhancement |
11th Nov | 11th Nov | 1.0 | On time. All UAT except Noel has been completed. UAT with Noel scheduled on 14th Nov. |
11 | 1. Preparation for Presentation
|
21st Nov | 21st Nov | 1.0 | On time. Presentation slides done. presentation date scheduled on 24th Nov, 4pm. |
Project Metrics
Schedule Metrics
The goal of the schedule metric is to help us identify any gaps in our planning and execution of the entire project and assist us in checking and making decisions on project scope and schedule
Bug Metrics
The goal of the bug metric is to check the quality of our codes and make sure that whenever we show client our developments, they are up to standard.
Click to access our Bug Log
Project Risks
Risk Metrics
Business Risk
Technical Risk
External Risk
Continuity & Communication Plan
Change Management
Any IT project will inevitably have changes in the course of its development.
The goal of our Change log is such that we document those change and assess the feasibility working on changes.
Click to access our Change Log
Technical Complexity
Technology Used
Operations Tracking Application
(a) New to Android development environment (b) Required to cater to client’s needs of being flexible and scalable (c) Requirement for non-developer to be able to use the application easily so as to facilitate the maze (d) Pushing of automated messages from the backend portal to Operations Tracking Application. This includes the difficulty in trying to understand the push architecture of the technology, manipulating the data received and troubleshooting integration issues. (e) Difficulty in retrieving the alarm set in database, configuring the alarm countdown timer and elapsed time in different pages and getting them to sync with each other. (f) Flexible adjustment of scores and weightages if student did not attempt the module. |
Traffic Management Module
(a) Required to cater to client’s needs of being flexible and scalable
(b) Able to pin point the selected student’s location within the maze (c) Algorithm behind the overall maze lapse timing to push suggestions to Traffic Manager (d) Auto-refresh of Traffic Management using AJAX (e) The need to integrate Instant Messenger with Traffic Management and Operations Tracking Application |
Individual Report
(a) Required to cater to client’s needs of being flexible and scalable (b) Able to draw inferences based on the student’s responses within the maze |
Management Report
(a) Ability to capture statistics and figures from the maze so as to improve the operations of the maze in future (b) Ability to export reports to pdf format for viewing and printing, as well as excel format, for our client to do additional analysis on the data if required |
Challenges Faced
We have faced strong challenges as we embark on this project.
Challenges can be summarized in the following.
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Quality of Product
Project Deliverables
Stage | Specification | Modules |
---|---|---|
Project Management | Minutes | Ascension_Meeting_Minutes |
Schedule | Schedule | |
Metrics (Incl. Bug and Change log) | Metrics | |
Presentation Slides | Acceptance Presentation Part I | |
LOMS | Team LOMS | |
Requirements | Functional Requirements | Storyboard v1.0 |
Analysis | Use Case | Use Case v1.0 |
Process Flow Diagram | Process Flow Diagram v1.0 | |
Solution Architecture Diagram | Architecture Diagram v1.0 | |
Design | ER Diagram | Implementation Schema |
Class Diagram | Class Diagram | |
Testing | Test Plan | Milestone A |
Handover | Manuals | User Manual |
Code | Client's Server | |
Deployment Diagram | Deployment Diagram |
Quality
Architecture Design
Overall
1. Pre/Post Maze
Before the actual implementation of the maze, the internal users are able to access the web application to do configurations to the maze and report, by giving scores to questions used in the maze. The web application is connected to the web hosting server via PHP scripts. AJAX and JavaScript are also used to refresh pages with updated data from the DB, as well as perform validation checks respectively.
After a maze implementation, internal users are able to generate individual reports for individual student’s progress within the maze, development reports for teachers or internal users for summary of the students’ progress in the maze, as well as operation reports for the internal users to analyse maze operations. Reports are done using BIRT and Java to connect to the Apache Tomcat Server located in the Sanctuary House Internal Server, as well as BIRT and Java to connect to the core DB located at the web hosting domain.
2. In Maze
During the maze implementation, the internal users are able to utilize the web application to monitor the traffic flow within the maze. This is connected to the web host server via PHP, AJAX and Javascript. The internal users are also able to send messages to facilitators within the maze by connecting to an internal server located in Sanctuary House, which is coded using PHP, AJAX and Javascript.
During the maze implementation, the internal users are able to utilize the web application to monitor the traffic flow within the maze. This is connected to the web host server via PHP, AJAX and Javascript. The internal users are also able to send messages to facilitators within the maze by connecting to an internal server located in Sanctuary House, which is coded using PHP, AJAX and Javascript.
Instant Messenger
Deployment
Our entire project has been deployed to Sanctuary house server.
You may access it via Sanctuary House Server URL
Furthermore, we have also done a mirror deployment to the school server.
You may access it via School Server URL
User Acceptance Testing
UAT A
UAT A was conducted on 8th July 2011 with Han Ying and her team.
1. Web Portal – testing of links and the integration with management portal. 2. Management Portal – testing of the control functions in the web portal, traffic management module, partial report module, integration with Operations Tracking Application. 3. Operation Tracking Application – testing of user access, station and module configurations, scanning and manual registration.
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UAT B
We conducted UAT B with our client and her team and at the end of the day, 1 bug was identified.
1. Web Portal 2. Management Portal - Traffic management module, report configurations, Administrative functions 3. Operations Tracking Application - connection to Sanctuary house server, node dollars, comment, MCQ and supermarket module, grouping function.
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UAT C
We conducted 3 sessions of UAT with our client, past facilitators of the maze implementation.
1. Maze Configurations 2. Report Configurations 3. Student Management functions 4. Operations Tracking App (with all 6 tracking modules, facilitator notes, manual registration, grouping function) 5. Traffic Management function 6. Report Generation 7. Performance Testing
Click to access the complete UAT C Test Results. Click to access the UAT C Interview Sheet
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UAT D
We have conducted 4 sessions of UAT D with our clients, past facilitators and potential facilitators of the project.
Total Number of testers: 20 Total Number of potential facilitators: 10 Total Number of facilitators: 5 Total Number of executives: 5
Interview style UAT is employed to get more precise user feedback and understand business gaps.
1. Potential Facilitators: 1 hour. Scope on Operations Tracking App and Traffic Management 2. Facilitators: 2.5 hours. Scope on Operations Tracking App and Traffic Management 3. Executive: 2.5 hours. Scope on Management Portal (Configuration, TM, Report)
Facilitators: Went through the maze in July as facilitators. Executives: YDC main committee. Responsible for planning and execution of the maze.
Click to access the complete UAT D Test Results. Click to access the Executive Test Script and Facilitator Test Script. |
Reflections
Learning Outcome
Click to see the Learning Outcomes |
Team Reflection
1 Common goal 2 System Communication and heavy workload has almost turned our life upside down. We have our disagreements, we had really tough times. However, holding hand in hand, we displayed individual strengths, pulled and motivate each other.
and.. the work carries on... |
Individual Reflection
Click to view our individual Midterm Reflection and Final Reflection |
Supervisor Reflection
Team Ascension took on project laden with challenges – starting with how to explain it – and successfully delivered a system that is both technically sophisticated and richly functional. The Management Portal and Maze Operations Tracking Application will enable the client to improve the operational efficiency of its educational maze activities while collecting data that will help the organization quantify its social impact. The team consistently impressed me with their enthusiasm, curiosity, commitment, determination, and professionalism. Congratulations on a job well done! |
Client Reflection
Mid Term Reflection Team Ascension is a great team to work with. The team has exercised a high level of business professionalism and innovativeness. Often, the team will share with us new initiatives/inputs; that we can employ, so as to improve the overall effectiveness of the whole IT application to our business (YDC). We great appreciate these pro-activeness and initiatives as it surprises us most of the time. We are totally unaware of these possible IT solutions to the challenges we faced.
Didn't have the chance to say it yesterday, (it' so not "me" to say these out in words actually), but I just thought that I should have let the team know about this.. Sincerely a big thank you for a great job on this initaitive. Many thoughts and details have been put in, it's quite obvious - especially when there are initiatives that it's really "we don't know what we don't know" cataology kind of suggestions. (Example, the suggestion when >=50% of the maze is in the red alert, suggestions are prompt, little details like the keyboards of the android apps, drill down graphs etc) I guess it's the last milestone and last few weeks of this FYP project. Thanks guys, and sincerely; it's finishing so, hang it there. (:
Click to view Client's Testimonial. |
References
1. Colour references for our wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors 2. Table setup references - wikitable 3. Table formatting - Mediawiki |