This document contains a chronological log of the development timelines and tasks of the CTS system, compiled from email messages used to communicate CTS status information.
On Mon, 16 Dec 1996
Here are the tentative milestones for the "Committee Tracking System, CTS"
> Fri. Fri. Tue. Wed. Fri.
> 12/20 1/03 1/07 1/15 1/31
> (1) ------------- (2) - - - (3) -------(4) --------------(5)
1/6/97
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 97 18:34:32 EST
It sounds to me like the demo that we had scheduled for 1/15 can be postponed
for a week till 1/22. If Jamison gets the users feedback by tomorrow noon
(1/9), we still have a chance to get the demo done for the 22nd. It depends
on what comments we get and how fast we (Jamison and I) can code.
At 06:16 PM 1/8/97 EST
Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri.
12/20 1/17 1/24 1/31 2/14 2/28
(1) ------------- (2) ------ (3) ------ (4) ------------- (5) ------------ (6)
1/10/97
Screen/Form Name Type Access Path
================== =========== ===============================================
Committee_Detail 3-panes CTS's Opening screen
Person_Detail 2-pane [...] button on the Membership_List on the Committee Detail screen
Meeting_Detail 3-pane [Meetings] button on the Committee Detail screen
Task_Detail 3-pane [Tasks] button on the Committee Detail screen
Report_List 1-pane [Reports] button on the Committee Detail screen
================== =========== ===============================================
1/14/97
Here's the status/accomplishments of CTS for today:
* I now access/rights to have the fs_users2@vines@provo//document\cts. I have put the latest version of the CTS system on it as of 16:30pm, 1/13/97
* Purchasing informed us that for purchases under $1000 they do not require to use any particular vendor. Gerry said that he'll try tomorrow morning to place an order with CompUSA since your already have an account there. He will ask you for the name and version of the package. The print out I gave you has it. Again, we must make sure that it is the right version - nothing else will work.
* Here are the query names and assigned person we agreed upon today:
Query Name Assignee
========================================== ========
Committee_Detail JD
Committee_Membership_List JD
Person_Committee_Membership JD
Meeting_Detail JD
Meeting_Attendance_Detail JD
Task_Detail JD
Task_Member_Assignment RV
Committee_Member_Report RV
Committee_Member_Report_Detail RV
Committee_Member_Report_Label RV
Meeting_Committee_List RV
Task_Committee_List RV
========================================== ========
* Here are the report names - will assign them on Wed. when we meet...let me know what time you want to meet.
1) Draft Committee List. It uses the following queries:
Committee_Member_Report Committee_Member_Report_Detail
2) Formal Committee List. It uses the following queries:
Committee_Member_Report Committee_Member_Report_Detail
3) Committee mailing labels. I uses the following query:
Committee_Member_Report_Label
* We agreed on the four committee types as follows: - Standing with equal terms - SET - Standing with rolling terms - SRT - Standing with no terms- SNT - Temporary - T
* Footnotes on the "Draft Committee List" report will be produced by the "Committee_Member_Report_Detail" query by looking at a new column in the Person table - Person.Check_Sched_Notes". The person's Last name will be yellow-highlighted on all the screen forms using the following queries:
Meeting_Attendance_Detail Committee_Membership_List
The screen containing these queries will have a button next to the person's record that displays the contents of the Person.Check_Sched_Notes information. An example of the use of this feature is the case when a member belongs to one ore more committees by virtue of a "acting" position, e.g. acting Chairperson, and some information is known about when the acting position will end.
* Phone and fax numbers will default to (617) 373-XXXX so that the user need only to enter the extension number.
* We will not use the HRM's phone extension field since it is part of the phone number.
>For 1/15/97 - Create sample CTS 3-pane form and assign developer for other forms
>For 1/15 - Start/Continue coding CTS system
>For 1/17/97 - Complete System Functional Description with info. from tasks above
> For 1/24/97 - Complete System Design document with info. from tasks above
> * Upcoming milestones:
> For 1/31/97 - Complete CTS Prototype
> For 2/14/97 - Complete CTS System and Deploy into production
> For 2/28/97 - Publish final CTS Release 1.0 documentation
1/17/97
Here is a summary of the development progress for CTS:
* (JD) You will review/resolve the list of open questions/comments related to the CTS data model with Ron by the end of 1/16/97. If this step is delayed, then the development we're starting (CTS Detail Design and Coding) may be impacted since some the open items can greatly change the implementation details our current efforts. I've put the list in the last section of the document at the following URL:
http://acs.neu.edu/~ramon/CommTrackSys/CTS001_review.html DONE 1/16/97 - see responses at the end of this message.
I'll incorporate your comments/responses into the "CTS Functional Description" document by 1/23/97 and post it on the web.
* I will change simple column names in the CTS Data model to have the corresponding table name prefixed (e.g., name in the Task table will become Task_Name) with an underscore. The reason being that Access does not display the table name for each column in the development environment, making it difficult and error prone for such cases. This change will require manual review/update of all queries so far created since Access does not update the column names automatically! Done on 1/17/97.
* We will look into implementation alternative for the 3-pane forms for Tue. 1/21/97. We will meet on 1/21/97 at 1:00 pm.
* We will set codes for membership types on 1/21/97 (e.g., MEM - Member, IP - Interested person, SPON - Committee Sponsor, etc.)
* You mentioned that the order for the Access 2.0 Distribution/Developers Kit was place on Tue. 1/24/97.
* I will put in some more sample test data into the Task, Task_Assignment, Meeting and Meeting_Detail tables.
* I've implemented an automated daily backup of the CTS files from the development directory (on your file server) to my local hard disk. This will provide us with a full backup as of 21:00hrs of the previous day.
We spent 2-3 hrs on Wed. 1/15/96 trying to repair the sole corrupted copy of the files for this system. To recap, the Access database has become corrupted during our work and can not be repaired from my workstation. We can repair it if copied to my local hard disk. It may also work if done from your workstation.
* I've updated the CTS web documents with the latest version of the Data Model:
http://acs.neu.edu/~ramon/CommTrackSys/datamode.htm The detailed table/column definitions are in postscript format. I don't any software to produce a readable version in ASCII!
> For 1/24/97 - Complete System Design document with info. from tasks above
> * Upcoming milestones:
> For 1/31/97 - Complete CTS Prototype
> For 2/14/97 - Complete CTS System and Deploy into production
> For 2/28/97 - Publish final CTS Release 1.0 documentation
2/4/97
Here's the current status of the CTS project.
We have had to delay the schedule by two weeks because of work priority shifts and some technical weaknesses in Access.
I'll summarize our accomplishments so far and the new schedule next.
Accomplishments:
===============
What's ahead - by 2/12/96:
=========================
New Schedule (2 weeks delay from the last timeline): ==================================================
Fri. Fri. Fri. Fir. Fri. Fri.
12/20 1/17 1/24 2/14 2/28 3/7
(1) ------------- (2) ------ (3) ------ (4) ------------- (5) ------------ (6)
Tasks: STATUS
------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------
(1) Complete General Requirements and Data Model DRAFT COMPLETED & PUBLISHED
(2) Complete Functional Description DRAFT IN PROGRESS
(3) Complete System Design DRAFT IN PROGRESS
(4) Complete Prototype IN CODING/TESTING
(5) Complete & Deploy System
(6) Publish final documentation IN PROGRESS
------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------
The CTS prototype demonstration yesterday (2/19/97) at the provost's meeting was a success! Here is a list of the attendees:
Jamison Dufield did an excellent job demonstrating the prototype system and Bill and I fielded questions regarding CTS implementation, security, number of users, features in the next release, etc.
Everyone was very satisfied with the results of this project and expressed their interest in pursuing other projects with ACS. In particular, the next project needs to tackle management of "grant proposal information". It was agreed that this project will be developed using "the" enterprise RDBMS selected for NEU's Student Information System (SIS). CTS will also be ported to this RDBMS before it is deployed outside the Provost's office.
There were three key ingredients contributing to the success of this "proof of concept" project. First of all, the full support from Michael Baer and Ronal Hedlund was key to securing Jamison's time, and input from the staff during the requirements gathering phase. The second ingredient for success was having a person at the provost's office, Jamison, working closely with us developing the system and with the provosts and the staff. And the last, but not least, ingredient was an early identification and agreement about what was expected from this project.
Here is a list of the next steps, I'll be issuing a tentative schedule (on the web page and email) shortly.
CTS Web Page: http://acs.neu.edu/~ramon/CommTrackSys/datamode.htm
======================================================================================== 1) Jamison will schedule a CTS presentation/training session with the staff at the Provost's office.
2) We will enhance CTS such that the "Person" table is pre-loaded with data (phone-book information) from the HRM mainframe system. This information will be updated on a periodic basis. We will copy the information from the HRM downloaded database managed by Gerald Shusterman.
3) CTS will be on a trial for 10 days, once the coding in (2) is completed.
4) We will adjust CTS with input from (3).
5) We will Release CTS to production at the Provost's office. This release will be able to support only 2-3 concurrent users due to limitations of the Access database software.
6) We will develop a project plan for the grant proposal tracking system.
========================================================================================
2/24/97
Hi Jamison,
Here is a description of how I see we can quickly implement the automatic population and update of CTS' Person table using Gerry's download of HRM data. As you asked, here's your chance to get into the guts of Access coding!
1) Create a new Access database (call it "CTSUpdte" short for "CTS Update") with two tables ATTACHED to it:
* The production CTS Person table * Gerry's person table (this could be the original or just an extract of "phone book type" data from the HRM data he receives).
2) Link the two tables using a one-to-one relation on the HRM_SSN and NU_ID columns
3) Create an update query(s) that adds/copies new data in Gerry's table to the CTS' Person table. You could also just use the underlying SQL code generated for this query in a simple proc (see next step). You may need one query for adding new records and one for updating existing ones.
4) Set the query to execute automatically when the "CTS Update" database is opened. You can do this by using a the AutoExec macro to open the query or call a proc that just runs the SQL statement for the query.
Notice that for unattended execution you will have use a proc to turn-off the Access warnings. I used this approach in the code that adds new "meeting_attendance_detail" when adding new meetings for a committee.
5) Optionally, create a stand alone executable of "CTSUpdte" using the ADT.
6) Set Vines access rights to this database to (only) a designated "CTS Administrator" at the provost office (that is you).
7) To update CTS' Person table, have everyone log out of CTS and execute the query on the new database. This can actually be done while CTS is in use, but it will probably slow down everyone! This task could be set up to execute automatically at night on particular dates/times or run manually.
2/24/97
Hi Jamison,
I'd like to issue a new schedule for the CTS project and I need to get you input for the following tasks:
1) When do you think you'll have the "CTS Update" part done. Please let me know if you received my suggested design to accomplish this step (Task #4.1 below).
2) Tentative date for the demo/training to the staff (Task #4.2 below).
Our last schedule called for deployment of CTS by this Friday 2/28/97, but since we've decided to expand the scope of the prototype to include automatic population of the Person table, we must revise this schedule with your input.
The schedule time line is now as follows:
Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri. Fri.
12/20 1/17 1/24 2/14 TBA TBA TBA TBA
(1) ---- (2) --- (3) --- (4) ---(4.1)---(4.2)------- (5) ----- (6)
Tasks: STATUS
------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------
(1) Complete General Requirements and Data Model DRAFT COMPLETED & PUBLISHED
(2) Complete Functional Description DRAFT IN PROGRESS
(3) Complete System Design DRAFT IN PROGRESS
(4) Complete Prototype COMPLETED - demo done on 2/19/97
(4.1) Add Person info. auto loading to prototype IN DESIGN - TBA
(4.2) Demo/Training provost staff TBA
(5) Complete & Deploy System TBA
(6) Publish final documentation IN PROGRESS
------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------
Ramón