Globey s World. Status Report

Transcription

1 Globey s World Status Report Project Number Ongo-08b November 18, 2003 Client: Ames Community Schools Faculty Advisors: Dr. John Lamont Professor Ralph Patterson CprE/EE 492 Team Members: Sam Miller Rebecca Black CprE/EE 491 Team Members: Nichlas Kim Martin Moen

2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS...1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...2 PROBLEM STATEMENT...2 OPERATING ENVIRONMENT...3 INTENDED USERS AND USES...3 ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS...4 END-PRODUCT DESCRIPTION...4 PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND STATUS...6 PREVIOUS ACCOMPLISHMENTS...6 FUTURE REQUIRED ACTIVITIES...15 CURRENT PROJECT AND END-PRODUCT STATUS...17 RECOMMENDATION FOR CONTINUED EFFORT...17 DOCUMENTATION OF CURRENT EFFORTS AND RESULTS...18 PROJECT DEFINITION ACTIVITIES NOT APPLICABLE...18 DESIGN ACTIVITIES...18 TESTING AND MODIFICATION ACTIVITIES...18 RESOURCES AND SCHEDULES...19 RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS...19 SCHEDULES...21 CLOSURE MATERIALS...24 LESSON LEARNED...24 RISKS AND RISK MANAGEMENT...24 REFERENCES...27 List of Figures FIGURE 1: CLIENT-SERVER RELATIONSHIP... 3 FIGURE 2: GLOBEY S WORLD PROTOTYPE... 6 FIGURE 3: GLOBEY S WORLD WEB APPLICATION, IN MYSQL AND PHP... 7 FIGURE 4: GLOBEY S NEW LOOK... 8 FIGURE 5: PROTOTYPE OF NEW COUNTRY COMPARISON PAGE... 9 FIGURE 6: SCREENSHOT OF NEW IMPROVED MAP FOR WORLD PAGE FIGURE 7: NEW IMPROVED NORTH AMERICA COUNTRY SELECTION PAGE FIGURE 8: HELP PAGE SCREENSHOT FROM A MACINTOSH BROWSER FIGURE 9: HELP PAGE SCREENSHOT FROM A WINDOWS BROWSER FIGURE 10: SCREENSHOT OF CURRENT GLOBEY S WORLD LAYOUT FIGURE 11: SCREENSHOT OF CURRENT UNCLE SAM S AMERICA LAYOUT FIGURE 12: NEW COUNTRY COMPARISON PAGE FIGURE 13: OLD COUNTRY COMPARISON PAGE FIGURE 14: GANTT CHART FOR SPRING 2004 SEMESTER FIGURE 15: ORIGINAL DELIVERABLES GANTT CHART FOR FALL FIGURE 16: ORIGINAL PROJECT TASKS GANTT CHART FOR FALL FIGURE 17: REVISED PROJECT TASKS GANTT CHART FOR FALL FIGURE 18: REVISED DELIVERABLES GANTT CHART FOR FALL i

3 List of Tables TABLE 1: ORIGINAL ESTIMATED EFFORT BUDGET FOR FALL 2003 SEMESTER. (HOURS) TABLE 2: TO-DATE EFFORT BUDGET FOR FALL 2003 SEMESTER TABLE 3: REVISED ESTIMATED EFFORT BUDGET FOR FALL 2003 SEMESTER TABLE 4: ESTIMATED FINANCIAL BUDGET FOR FALL 2003 SEMESTER TABLE 5: TO-DATE FINANCIAL BUDGET FOR FALL 2003 SEMESTER ii

4 List of Definitions Term ACS Apache CGI scripts CIA CLUE cron CSG DBI Graphical User Interface (GUI) HTML Hyper-Text Markup Language LAMP Linux MTSS MySQL perl PHP Structured Query Language (SQL) Definition Ames Community Schools Software product that serves web pages to clients requesting them. Apache can be used in conjunction with PHP in order to produce dynamic web pages that are built and delivered to the requesting client on the fly. Perl scripts that do server-side processing of html pages, which are to be served to a web browser. These can be run on a Windows-based server, or any Unix variant. Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. Government College Level Unified Environment. cron is the name of program that enables unix users to execute commands or scripts (groups of commands) automatically at a specified time and date Computer Support group in Coover Hall Database Interface for perl, used to connect perl scripts to MySQL (or many other types) databases What the user looks at and interacts with while using the software. Language used to describe the formatting and presentation of a web page. Linux Apache MySQL PHP Open-source operating system that is optimized for use as a web application server. Acronym for Mathematical Teaching Software System, one of the subprojects of the Ongo-08 project. Open-source implementation of an SQL server Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, commonly used for pattern matching and text processing. Pseudo-acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor. A computer language that enables Apache web server to dynamically generate HTML documents. Language used to retrieve information from SQL-compliant databases. iii

5 Introductory Materials This section will discuss the executive summary, which summarizes the project, the results to date, and work to be completed. The problem statement operating environment, intended users and uses, assumptions and limitations, and the end product description will also be discussed. Executive Summary Need for Globey s World The Globey s World project addresses the need to teach geography and mathematics to students ranging in age from elementary to high school. The project provides a solution that is easier to use and more effective than physical reference material. In order to accomplish this, Globey s World is designed to be an interactive and entertaining software package. The goal is that by directly involving the student, a greater understanding of the subject matter will be attained. What is Globey s World? Globey s World is an interactive web-based software package designed to supplement the student s understanding of geography and math. The system uses PHP scripts to create an environment in which students can interact with the program by clicking on buttons and menu items to activate informational pages and comparisons. Additionally, students will be able to access problem sets and answer geographical and mathematical questions related to the material presented. Administrators and teachers may manage these problem sets. Past Achievements Prior to the fall 2002 semester, Globey s World was a project designed to implement a PHP based interactive geography tool. At that time, the project was completed and passed on to members of the Ongo-08 MTSS team as a sub-project. In the fall of 2002, the look of the system was changed including a new logo and improved interface. At this point, the product originally intended by the Globey s World team has been effectively realized. The spring 2003 team focused their efforts on correcting country database entries, implementing and improving the country comparison page, and providing an in depth online help system. Current Achievements This semester, the Globey s World team focused on improving the usability of the product. These changes include regional and world maps that are easier to read, a help system that now displays correctly on a variety of web browsers, an improved country comparison page interface, and a slight re-design of the product to better match the 1

6 design of Uncle Sammy s America since the projects are similar in concept. Other major accomplishments of this semester s team include the creation of in-depth testing matrix, and implementing a database auto-update feature as well as a backup feature for both the database and the PHP code. Future Goals The work that is being left for futures semesters is to implement the mathematical functionality similar to the work that has been done with MTSS. Future teams will also have the task of implementing the quizzing and grading functionality from the Software Application Support Framework group, Ongo-08d. Acknowledgements The Globey s World team would like to extend thanks to Dr. John Lamont and Professor Ralph Patterson, the faculty advisors, for the guidance they have provided and will continue to offer throughout this project. Also, thanks to the EE/CprE 492 team members for their invaluable help and advice. Lastly, thank you to the teachers of the Ames Community School District, who will be providing guidance toward the final product. Problem Statement General Problem Statement Globey s World offers students a chance to learn more about world geography through a software system involving a map students can click on to learn more about the country of their choice. This system includes a rich database full of statistics and information about each individual country. Globey s World can give students an opportunity to learn more about the world while simultaneously developing their mathematical skills through carefully planned exercises involving comparisons of nations statistical data. The primary challenge is to work with the framework team in fully integrating Globey s World with their design. The secondary challenge is to provide a working version of Globey s World, complete with polished help system and quizzing functionality, to the client by the end of fall Other challenges to address are to update the statistics database of the world s countries and add extra features to the country comparison page, such as larger bar graphs and pie charts. General Solution Approach The team plans to become well versed in PHP programming to work with the framework provided by Ongo-08d in implementing their product. Time will also be set aside to polish the help system and include some quiz functions to make a more complete application. This will help give the client a greater idea of what the final product of Globey s World will be like once fully integrated with the framework and other two applications from Ongo-08. The team has also agreed that the countries will be divided up so each member has to proofread only a part of the entire world. Extensive in house 2

7 testing will also continue this fall in order to produce a working version of the project for the client. Technical Problem Globey s World will utilize dynamic web pages written using PHP, SQL, and HTML. A server will store all the geographic data, math problems and student results. Each student will sit at their own computer, referred to as a client, where they will solve the problems. The server will talk to the clients via the Internet. This relationship is shown in Figure 1. Based on the information provided by the client, the server will generate a specialized web page for that particular client. This way, each student can work at his/her own pace. Figure 1: Client-Server Relationship Operating Environment Globey s World will exist and run on LAMP architecture. The web application code will be written in PHP, which runs as a module to the popular and powerful Apache web server. The software will use MySQL as its database backend and run in the Linux operating system. This will provide a powerful open-standards environment for the web application to exist. Intended Users and Uses Intended Users The intended users for Globey s World are students in grades 3-6. Parents, teachers, and school administrators will also benefit from the use of Globey s World. Parents will benefit because their children will have a tool to reinforce the geography skills they are learning during class time. Teachers will benefit by having an educational tool in the classroom to assist with lesson plans. School administrators will benefit from Globey s World because it will raise the students standardized test scores. 3

8 Intended Uses The purpose of Globey s World is to enable students to learn world geography in a computer-based environment. Through this software students will have the ability to learn the diverse nature of countries including data such as population, land area, national flags, national anthems, natural resources, religions, manufactured products, and form of government for nations throughout the world. Assumptions and Limitations Technical assumptions include the following: Clients are operating Internet Explorer (Version 5.0 or later) or Netscape (Version 5.0 or later). All client computers are connected to the Internet. Have a developed PHP framework to support a set of Internet educational activities. Internet connection and Internet bandwidth are sufficient. Computer/processor speed of the client machines. Non-technical Assumptions include the following: There will be adequate supervision with computer experience to assist the students when they are operating the system. The students have been exposed to the world geography topics prior to their initial use of the software. This software shall be a supplement to classroom instruction. Challenges and limitations to development include the following: Team members must learn and become comfortable with PHP and MySQL. Primary students may not have much prior experience using computers. The client software must be easy to understand. Younger students may not know how to type. Globey s World should provide means for feedback appropriate for their age level. Computers are not really interactive. They only respond to predefined commands. The commands available to students must make the computer appear alive. For example, when asked for a hint, the computer will supply one it has not previously supplied. When asked to picture the problem, the computer will display a figure relevant to the problem and may allow the students to rotate the figure as they see fit. End-Product Description At project completion, the end product will be a web application that will be a supplement that teachers can use when teaching about world geography. The application will have an extensive help system and full quizzing functionality. Globey s World will also integrate with the Mathematical Teaching System Software and Uncle Sam s America by utilizing the framework currently being built by Ongo-08d. Students will be 4

9 able to log in and use any of the three applications. They will be able to first learn about geography, and then solve problems based on selected topics. Teachers, administrators, and parents will be able to access student statistics in order to gauge student performance. Teachers will also be able to add to the applications in the form of creating additional problems for students to solve. 5

10 Project Accomplishments and Status This section outlines the previous work, present accomplishments, and any remaining work for future teams. Previous accomplishments Spring 2001 Creation of Globey s World prototype: A Visual Basic standalone application consisting of a world page, country page, and comparison page. Figure 2 shows this original prototype. Figure 2: Globey s World Prototype Successes: Creating the standalone application was a detailed blueprint for how the final application should operate. Application parameters and objectives were defined, as well as the overall direction that Globey s World would take. Failures: Although it was a suitable prototype, the application took too long to start and was too memory intensive. Interactivity of Globey character not fully realized. 6

11 Fall 2001/Spring 2002 After realizing the limitations of Visual Basic and the portability of the application, it was decided to implement Globey s World with web based LAMP technologies mentioned earlier. Figure 3 shows a screenshot of the original web-based design of Globey s World. Figure 3. Globey s World web application, in MySQL and PHP Successes: Ported standalone app to web technologies, including the creating of a MySQL database of country data accessed over the web via web pages written primarily in PHP. Failures: Database riddled with typographical errata; minimal interaction with school administrators and teachers; aside from comparison page, a general lack of mathematicalrelated content. Overall presentation could use more polish. Did not leave database and machine passwords readily available for future team members. Fall 2002 With basic framework in place, the fall 2002 team worked on adding polish to the overall feel of Globey s World. See figure 4 for a screenshot of the improvements. The team updated the graphics to make Globey more presentable, and identified 50 possible mathematical integration ideas to add to Globey s World. They also identified changes to the database that need to be made in the future. Finally, the team leaders of all the Ongo- 08 sub-teams created a cookbook for future teams to use as a reference. 7

12 Figure 4. Globey s new look Successes: The updated graphics look more professional; database errors were fixed, and math concepts were brainstormed. Cookbook idea helped future team members sidestep password and system difficulties that were encountered. Failures: Took too long to locate all the necessary passwords. As a result the team fell behind schedule somewhat. Spring 2003 The primary accomplishments of this team were spell checking the country database, creating an outline for the help section, and fixing the country comparison page. A large portion of the team s effort was spent updating the country database entries to ensure uniformity was used throughout each field. This was accomplished by creating a set of formatting rules for each team member to follow when they were editing their assigned countries. A prototype screenshot (figure 5) of the country comparison page was created because the previous incarnation was not fully functional. This old version of the comparison page could compare any statistic from two countries, but the revised version could compare up to ten countries. 8

13 Figure 5. Prototype of new country comparison page With the help of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering computer support group, various security upgrades were installed on the project developmental server. Unfortunately this caused various database connectivity issues between the Globey s World PHP code and the newly installed software that left the team unable to work on the country database for three weeks. Successes: The country database now has uniformity between all entries. The country comparison page works again. The project web server is now more secure. Failures: Downtime during the server upgrade caused the team to fall behind schedule. Present Accomplishments Fall 2003 This section will describe the current semester s accomplishments World page and regional page redesign This semester, the Globey s World team focused on improving the usability of the product. As evident by the previous screenshots, the regional and world maps used by Globey s World are not an accurate depiction of how many students in grades 3-6 learn about geography. This semester s team changed these maps to be easier to read and understand. Figure 6 and 7 show a sample map of the world and a map of North America. 9

14 Figure 6. Screenshot of new improved map for world page 10

15 Figure 7. New improved North America country selection page Online help system implementation The online help system for Globey s World was originally developed by the Fall 2003 team. While it was functional, it did not work on any browser other than Internet Explorer. It s sometimes a safe assumption to make that most users will have this browser, many schools use out of date computers that are unable to run the latest version of Internet Explorer. This semester s team improved upon the design of the help system to make it display and function correctly on cross-platform and browsers such as Netscape, Safari, Firebird, Camino, and Opera. Figure 8 shows a screenshot of the improved help system from a Macintosh web browser (Safari) and figure 9 shows a screenshot of the help system from a Windows web browser (Internet Explorer). The layout of the help page is nearly the same in both cases. 11

16 Figure 8. Help page screenshot from a Macintosh web browser Figure 9. Help page screenshot from a Windows web browser Coordinating product design with Uncle Sam s America The functionality of Globey s World and Uncle Sam s American are quite similar. Both projects are design to help students learn about Geography, and both projects offer the same research tools such as a country or state selection screen, and a comparison screen. It seemed logical to this semester s team to move these two projects designs closer together. Figure 10 is a screenshot of the current design of the Globey s World country page, and Figure 11 is a screenshot of the current design of a Uncle Sam s America state page. The layout of the country page data was also changed to more closely resemble the state page. The data for each country was grouped into four categories: facts & figures, economy, geography, and political. The country flag and map were also moved towards the top of the page instead of the bottom. 12

17 Figure 10. Screenshot of current Globey s World layout Figure 11. Screenshot of current Uncle Sam s America layout 13

18 New country comparison page features This semester s team also made substantial changes to the functionality and design of the country comparison page. The previous method users selected countries was nonintuitive in the sense it required holding down either the control or command key on the keyboard, then selecting multiple entries in the selection box. This semester s team deemed that idea too complicated for students in grades 3-6. Therefore, a revised version with buttons to transfer countries between possible and chosen selection boxes was implemented. Figure 12 shows the new layout of the comparison page and figure 13 shows the old layout. Figure 12. New country comparison page Figure 13. Old country comparison page Testing Matrix Other major accomplishments of this semester s team include the creation of in-depth testing matrix. The testing matrix was used for in-house testing by the Globey s World team members. Four distinct categories were present in the matrix: world page, country page, comparison page, and help page. Each separate section has its own criteria to ensure correctness. If an error in any component of any section is found, the date and time the error occurred is recorded in the matrix, and any additional notes needed to fix the problem are recorded by the tester. The Globey s World team anticipates this matrix will be used by future team member s to avoid unnecessary testing practices. Database auto-update feature Learning from the amount of effort last semester s team spent on updating the database entries, this semester s team decided to create a database auto-update feature. The data for Globey s World comes from the CIA Factbook (see References section for URL). Since this data is already in electronic format, the process of moving this data to the Globey s World database is merely a matter of conversion. A perl script was written to 14

19 query the Globey s World database for a list of each country name. This list is then checked against the list provided by the CIA factbook. If the CIA factbook has an entry for that country, the data existing in the Globey s World database is checked against the data in the CIA factbook. If a discrepancy exists, the old value is replaced by the data from the CIA factbook. This system only works for data that can be explicitly compared, such as numbers. Textual data is currently not updated in this version of the auto-update script. Due to lack of testing, the current version of the auto-update script does not actually modify the database. It sends an to a user modifiable address with all the entries to be updated. Database auto-backup feature Alongside the auto-update script, an auto-backup script was created to backup the team s PHP code, html code, and database entries. Currently, the script creates a gzipped tarball of the aforementioned code and securely copies it to one of the team member s CLUE account. Future Required Activities The remaining work to be completed is included in the following section. A Gantt chart for completion of all these tasks is shown in figure 14. Implement framework provided by Ongo-08d subteam (Spring 2004) Ideally the team will start implementing this framework before the end of the Fall 2003 semester. The current version of the framework only provides account creation and authentication functionality. Therefore, fully implementing this framework before the end of the semester is unlikely, the team hopes this will be completed by March of Integrate additional math concepts (late Fall 2003) The Globey s World team hopes to add mathematical quizzing functionality to the product late this semester to show the client what the end product will look like when the framework is 100% complete. Many of the questions have already been written, but they lack any dynamic capability currently. The remaining effort is to connect the quiz questions to the Globey s World country database and upload the code to the development server. Further test the product (Spring 2004) This semester s testing efforts focused on the world and regional map pages, country selection page, country comparison page, and help page. The scope of the testing done this semester was only to ensure all links loaded the expected country. Further testing needs to be done on each of the previous aspects including use case testing, boundary value testing, and load level testing. Further develop auto update feature for the country database (Spring and Fall 2004) The current auto-update feature is not bug free. If the formatting of the CIA factbook ever changes, this will cause the auto-update feature to insert faulty values into the 15

20 country database. An approval system should be added in the sense that when the autoupdate script finds an entry that does not match up with what the CIA factbook has, it adds the new value to an approval queue. An administrator of Globey s World would then receive an asking him or her to approve all updates to the database. Obtain dedicated backup space for the PHP code and MySQL databases (Spring 2004) The current version of the database auto-backup feature uses a team member s CLUE account space for backup purposes. Ideally a university managed file system could be used in the future to make the process easier and less dependent on a team member s userid. Work with CSG to enhance presentation server (Spring and Fall 2004) The current instance of the team s web server used for presentation purposes is not bug free. Professor Patterson managed to crash the entire server merely by using the country comparison page at one point during the semester. Further testing and research needs to be allocated to this task so the server will have near 100% uptime in the event a presentation of the product is needed. Remote reset functionality should also be added to the presentation server in the event it has crashed and needs to be rebooted. This might be as simple as making a phone call to the CSG office, or it may involve a more complicated and expensive commercial product. Figure 14. Gantt chart for spring 2004 semester 16

21 Current Project and End-Product Status The current project status is divided into six sections because each of these sections has been a primary focus of the team s effort this semester. World page and regional page redesign New maps were obtained from the CIA Factbook and implemented. The maps are easier to read and understand when compared to the old maps. Online help page implementation The help page is now fully functional across a variety of computer platforms and web browsers. Coordinating product design with Uncle Sam s America The web page layout of Globey s World now more closely resembles that of Uncle Sam s America. This will aid future users because the transition from Globey s World to Uncle Sam s America (or vice-versa) will be easier to understand. New country comparison page features The method used to select countries has been completely changed and is now easier to use. Formatting changes were also made to add commas to the y-axis units, and add the units graphed in the graph title. Testing Matrix The testing matrix was created to test the four separate sections of Globey s World. The team hopes this matrix is completely filled out by the end of the Fall 2003 semester. Database auto-update feature The current implementation of the database auto-update feature runs as a monthly CRON job on our developmental server. It is a perl script that interfaces with the MySQL database via the DBI perl module. Before implementing the auto-update feature, the code will have to be debugged to ensure the correct data is fetched from the CIA factbook. Database auto-backup feature The current version of the database auto-backup feature runs every Sunday morning at 2am. It creates a compressed tarball of the entire /var/www/html/ongo8/ directory and a separate tarball of the Globey s World, MTSS, Uncle Sam s America, and Framework MySQL databases. If both of these files are under a specified size limit, they are copied to a team member s CLUE account. Recommendation for Continued Effort The Globey s World development team strongly recommends maintaining original direction of the project. A beta version of the product is almost ready for delivery to the client, most likely early in the Spring 2004 Semester. 17

22 Documentation of Current Efforts and Results This section will summarize this semester s project definition activities, research activities, design activities, implementation activities, and testing and modification activities. For those activities in which the original information did not change, not applicable is shown. Project Definition Activities Not applicable Research Activities The Ongo-08d team introduced a new framework. Team members of Globey s World read the framework documents, determining that the directions and descriptions of the new framework sounded easy to follow and understand. Next semester s team of Globey s World will change the code to allow it to fit in the new framework. Design Activities Design changes in the world page, regional page, country page, and comparison page were all implemented this semester. The world and regional page now has easier to understand maps courtesy of the CIA factbook. The country page layout now more closely resembles the state pages of Uncle Sam s America. The country comparison page now has a new and improved country selection interface. Implementation Activities A presentation server was obtained with the help of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. The URL for this server is: In the future it will be used for all class presentations and client presentations. Testing and Modification Activities A testing matrix was created to ensure the correctness of the four areas of Globey s World: the world page, country page, comparison page, and help page. 18

23 Resources and Schedules Personnel and financial resources, as well as this semester s original and revised schedule will be presented in the following section. Resource Requirements This section will summarize this semester s personnel effort requirements and financial requirements. The original estimate from the project plan will be compared with the revised estimation. An estimation of future personnel effort for the remainder of the semester is also included. Personnel Effort Requirements The estimated effort budget from the fall 2003 project plan is shown in table 1. The development team originally budgeted many hours for group meetings and coding. As the project is software and accessible via the Internet, with each group member given work that could be performed individually at his or her convenience, it was determined to be a more effective use of time by communicating via and at the regularly scheduled weekly advisor meetings. A fair amount of hours was budgeted for coding, all of which wasn t needed because the work was completed more efficiently than originally anticipated. The current effort to date as of November 17, 2003 is shown in table 2 on page 20. Team member Sam Miller is the overall team leader for Ongo-08, so he has spent more time in meetings with the other three sub-teams than the rest of the development team. Team member Rebecca Black spent more time than originally estimated researching the question format for geographic quiz questions. Team member Martin Moen meticulously worked on the project poster, which is why he has 8 more hours to date for deliverables than originally estimated. All of these changes have been reflected in the modified effort budget, shown in table 3 on page 20. Table 1. Original estimated effort budget for fall 2003 semester (Hours) Member Class Meetings Presentation Research Deliverables Coding Overall Rebecca Black Sam Miller Nichlas Kim Martin Moen Totals

24 Below is the to-date effort budget. Table 2. To-date effort budget for fall 2003 semester Member Class Meetings Presentation Research Deliverables Coding Overall Rebecca Black Sam Miller Nichlas Kim Martin Moen Totals The primary focus of the development team during the remaining part of the fall 2003 semester will be completing the testing matrix (research), attending advisor and group meetings (meetings), and briefly polishing the industrial review panel presentation (deliverables). Table 3. Revised estimated effort budget for fall 2003 semester Member Class Meetings Presentation Research Deliverables Coding Overall Rebecca Black Sam Miller Nichlas Kim Martin Moen Totals Financial Requirements Globey s World utilizes freely available open-source software on provided hardware. Therefore the costs of this project consist solely of the project poster and the cost associated with the deliverables for the semester. The project poster costs slightly more than usual because the team decided it would be more presentable if it was laminated. Table 4. Estimated financial budget for fall 2003 semester. Item Estimated Cost w/o Labor Estimated Cost w/ Labor Project Poster $50.00 $50.00 Printing & Copying $10.00 $10.00 Binding $5.00 $5.00 Subtotal $65.00 $65.00 Labor at $12.00/hr Rebecca Black $ Sam Miller $ Kim, Nichlas $ Martin Moen $ Subtotal $65.00 $ Total $65.00 $

25 Table 5. To-date financial budget for fall 2003 semester Item Cost w/o Labor Cost w/ Labor Project Poster $50.00 $50.00 Printing & Copying $5.00 $5.00 Binding $3.00 $3.00 Subtotal $57.00 $57.00 Labor at $12.00/hr Rebecca 56 hours $ Sam 75 hours $ Kim, 56 hours $ Martin 67 hours $ Subtotal $57.00 $ Total $57.00 $ Schedules Two figures outlining the development team s schedule will be shown in the following section. The first is an original estimate of the project schedule; the second figure is revised to show the actual schedule as it took place this semester. Original Schedule The Gantt charts (figures 15 and 16) below summarize the deliverable schedule and project schedule for this semester identified in the project plan. ID Task Name 1 Project Plan 2 Develop Project Poster 3 Define Poster Content 4 Layout Poster Content 5 Create Poster 6 Revise and Finalize Poster 7 Status Report 8 Define Report Contents 9 Draft Status Report 10 Update and Revise status Report 11 Develop Final Presentation 12 Develop Presentation Requirements 13 Draft Powerpoint 14 Prepare for EE/CprE 491 Presentation 15 Revise Presentation for IRP 16 Prepare for IRP Presentation September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December Figure 15. Original deliverables Gantt chart for fall

26 ID Task Name 1 Problem Definition 2 End Product Design/Implementation 3 PHP/MySQL Education 4 Current Build Demo for ACS 5 Quiz Functionality Added 6 Comparison Page Update 7 Framework Implemented 8 Country Database Updates 9 Automatic Database Update Established 10 End Product Testing/Documentation 11 Determine Testing Procedures 12 Update Help Pages 13 Product Testing 14 Develop Product Documentation eptember 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 J Figure 16. Original project tasks Gantt chart for fall 2003 Revised Schedule Since the original project tasks Gantt chart was made, the development team has identified additional tasks and objectives for the current semester. These are summarized in the Gantt chart shown in figure 17. Any changes in the project deliverable schedule are summarized in figure 18. Changes in the deliverables or project tasks schedules in the Gantt charts are shown in a red bar instead of the blue bar used for the original schedule. If no red bar accompanies the original schedule, it means that schedule did not change. For example, in figure 17, the project definition schedule is only represented by a blue bar since the development team did not have to prolong or shorten that timeframe. The black line on top of each red bar shows the percentage complete of each task. Figure 17. Revised project tasks Gantt chart for fall

27 Figure 18. Revised deliverables revised chart for fall

28 Closure Materials Lesson Learned Documentation is always important on a collaborative project such as this one. Additionally, since this is an ongoing project, the future teams should have reference material to review and learn from previous experiences. Another related topic would be to make the passwords readily available to future groups so that they can make the most out of their semester. The primary technical knowledge acquired by the group through working on this project deals mainly with effectively creating and modifying the database through PHP and SQL code. A firm grasp of development practices, as well as PHP has also helped the team make improvements and add functionality to the project. Some non-technical knowledge that learned was the importance of efficient communication. has been an invaluable resource to communicate with other group members. One downside to is the occasional lengthy response delay. Another benefit of quick and efficient communication is that since each member performs individual work on the project independently, the need for each member to know exactly what the others are doing is important so redundant work is avoided. Risks and Risk Management Risk: Due to unforeseen circumstances, a group member leaves the team. Mitigation: In the event that a team member is lost, the remaining members will shoulder the increased workload. If the person leaving were a critical member, the team would make an effort, if possible, to work with him/her to ensure that his/her knowledge and responsibilities are adequately disseminated among the remaining group members. Risk: The development server dies, is stolen, or the software is maliciously tampered with or otherwise modified. Mitigation: Since the subprojects are entirely software, it is imperative that the source files are kept secure. In addition to limiting access to the machine to only the senior design group members that need it, and via user permissions on the Linux box, the Globey s World team has implemented a weekly automated backup system. Risk: An update to the software makes it cease to function correctly. Mitigation: Backups will be made of the incomplete but functional software so that a running version of the software is always available. The source code and databases will be assigned version numbers with notes on their capabilities in a file accessible to all group members. 24

29 Risk: The clients at the Ames Community Schools request certain elements of the software implemented differently or want additional functionality not originally specified. Mitigation: There will be great effort to keep members of the ACS informed with the progress and capabilities of the Globey s World software. ACS is currently satisfied with the direction and feature set of the proposed and partially implemented software. Additional requests will be considered and fulfilled if the project leaders deem enough time exists to add the requested parts while still maintaining enough time for quality control, testing, and debugging. 25

30 Project Team Information Listed below is the information about the client, faculty advisors, and project team members for Globey s World during the Fall 2003 semester. Client Ames Community Schools Administrative Offices 1921 Ames High Drive Ames, IA Phone: Faculty Advisors Dr. John Lamont 324 Town Engineering Ames, IA Phone: Fax: jwlamont@iastate.edu CprE 492 Team Members Rebecca Black Computer Engineering 6113 Frederiksen Ct Ames, IA Phone: rblack@iastate.edu CprE 491 Team Members Martin Moen Computer Engineering 5910 W. Lincoln Way #213 Ames, IA Phone: mmoen@iastate.edu Professor Ralph Patterson, III 326 Town Engineering Ames, IA Phone: Fax: repiii@iastate.edu Sam Miller Computer Engineering 1517 Little Bluestem Ct #12 Ames, IA samm@iastate.edu Kim, Nichlas Soon-Seng Computer Engineering 312 Hillcrest, #12 Ames, IA Phone: nichlas@iastate.edu Summary Test results and discussions with ACS teachers have shown that additional resources are needed to boost the district s mediocre performance in the problem solving sections of standardized tests. This project will provide the supplementary instruction that ACS students need to meet and exceed the lofty goals of the school and the community. After testing and implementation is complete, this software will be accessible by all computers with an Internet connection. The statistical analysis modules will provide invaluable 26

31 insight to the teachers and administrators by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each student. Additionally, ACS teachers have pinpointed a need for geographic help for students in grades three through six. Once completed, Globey s World will allow students to travel around the world, learning facts about countries along the way. References The following is a list of references used by the Globey s World team: Iowa State University Department of Curriculum and Instruction. ACS teachers and administration Des Moines Public Schools Policies Dike-New Hartford Community School District Policies PHP website MySQL website MySQL for Beginners Senior Design Homepage The World Factbook