Possible App-Trac Enhancements

From Humanitarian FOSS Summer Institute 2009

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Given the time we had this summer, there are things we thought of doing (as seen in the Original Requirements) but did not have time to do. In the future, the following ideas could be implemented to make App-Trac better:

Data Synchronization

Ideally, App-Trac would access data from the literacy software databases and synchronize them with the data gathered within App-Trac. This could provided better reports and reduce the amount of time spent by administrators coordinating required information for the state of Connecticut. App-Trac could also make reports itself, using some sort of spreadsheet program, and generate graphs.

Public Forums

Many situations occur where a volunteer on one shift needs to relay information to a volunteer on another shift. These two volunteers will likely not see each other between these times, so a forum for volunteer use could be implemented. This forum will be divided into two subsections, and it will function similarly to a bulletin board: the most recent posts will appear on top for other volunteers to read. The two sections that will compose the forum are for general needs and for student progress. If any notes need to be taken on a student (such as the student is struggling and needs to be moved or a student is progressing satisfactorily) they will be posted on the subsection dedicated to this topic. The other subsection will deal with any other kind of notes volunteers may need to write to one another. Volunteers will be able to add new messages to be placed on the forum; however, they will not be able to delete said messages. This permission will be reserved for the administrator.

Customizable User Permissions

An admin would have the option of creating a new type of user with very specific permissions. That is, he or she can create a user with permissions in between those of a Volunteer and a Staff member. Any new template can be saved for later use.

Search Bars

Because of the vast amount of users active at LVGH, having some sort of search bar at the top of every user and student list that will gradually restrict the number of users displayed would be very useful. For example, typing in "Geor" would eliminate any users who did not have "Geor" in their name; in this example, likely listing any and all "George" users.

Platform Independence

Because of the way the application loading works, we were not able to make App-Trac platform-independent. As of now it only works on the Windows operating system. Platform independence would be an ideal feature of App-Trac, considering it is open-source.

Application Control

Ability to add, edit (file paths), and remove applications. A tutorial is in the works to make this possible for a future programmer to use.

Idle Management

When a user logs in, sometimes that user fails to log out. This could cause problems for LVGH and other non-profit organizations with data analysis. A solution is an Idle Management system. This system would consist of a listener, so that every time a key is pressed or a mouse is clicked a timer would begin. After a given time (which could be determined on the administration end of App-Trac), App-Trac will display a warning message to the user, asking them if they are still using the application. After two minutes of no response, the system will log the current user out of App-Trac.

Specific Website Tracking

App-Trac currently tracks when a user goes to the 'Weblinks' page and accesses those weblinks, but does not track which site they went to, or any other possible websites. This would be good information for administrators to have.

Class Time/Personal Time Tracking

There will be certain situations during which some users of the computers will be part of a class and other users will be using the computers on personal time. Due to legal and financial reasons, it is necessary to not only log time on the computers, but to differentiate this time between class time and personal time. When a student logs in, their login session defaults to personal time. Since classes and student rosters will be stored on the database, whenever a student logs in, App-Trac will query against the database to check whether the student is part of a class currently taking place. If the student is part of the roster of a current class, his session will start to record class time. After the class is over, his session will switch back to personal time.

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