Team Hazmat

1
STEP Council of the Genesee Region
EMS Directory Creator

• Team Hazmat
• Christopher Boncha
• Richard Brown
• David Murphy
• Gregrian Vassell

2
Overview

• Vision
• Process
• Phase 1 December 1, 2003 March 31, 2004
• Requirements
• Design
• Testing
• Crossroads
• Phase 2 April 1, 2004 May 17, 2004
• Requirements
• Design
• Testing
• Original Directory Creation Workflow
• Current Directory Creation Workflow
• Demonstration
• Future Directory Creation Workflow
• Today and Tomorrow

3
Vision

• Write software that automates the creation of
  STEPs annual EMS Directory
• Sell the software to adjacent regions to help
  them create their own EMS Directories
• Unite each regions database into a national
  database
• Incorporate the EMS database into state and
  federal agencies

4
Original Process

• Lightweight to take advantage of small team
• Document only what is necessary for stakeholders
• Break work into three distinct phases
• Information Gathering Storage
• Document Generation
• Regional Expansion
• Execute each phase by following the waterfall
  model

5
Process Issues

• Team motivation ebbed and flowed
• No objective measure of performance
• No method of tracking defects in artifacts
• Not enough meeting time in scheduled class periods

6
New Process

• Phase based approach continued
• Extra meeting scheduled for Fridays
• Defect tracker developed
• Action items spreadsheet created

7
Defect Tracker
8
Action Items Spreadsheet
9
Phase 1

• Information Gathering Storage
• Requirements
• Add/Remove an Organization
• Manage Contact Lists
• Manage Cover Letters
• Mail Update Requests
• Manually Update an Organization
• Organizational Update
• View Update Summary

10
Design Considerations

• Plan for multiple regions
• Keep database storage to a minimum
• Use skills and knowledge of the team
• Realize Quality Attributes
• Modifiability
• Maintainability
• Usability

11
Phase 1Architecture

• N-Tier Web Application
• Presentation layer resides in HTML
• Presentation logic stored in CodeBehind
• Database access is performed by the web service
• Stored Procedures are used to access the
  normalized table structure

12
Web Service Design

• Four Object Types
• Data Access
• i.e. - OrganizationDAO
• Representation
• i.e. - Ambulance
• Utility
• i.e. - DatabaseConstants
• Web Service Interface
• i.e. - EMS

13
Database Design

• Table structure provides for different directory
  sections
• Sections are composed of subsections
• Subsections are composed of items
• An item is a organization
• Specific organization types (ie Ambulance) are
  stored in separate tables referenced by the item
  ID

14
Database Schema
15
Phase 1 Testing

• Internal Testing
• Defect Tracker Used to Record Issues
• 71 Defects Found
• 12 High Impact Defects
• External Testing
• Recruit STEP Editors and EMS Directory
  Organizations to use web site
• Create Defect Template for reporting problems

16
Crossroads

• Phase 1 Completed with 45 days left
• Sponsor presented with 2 options
• Refine Document
• Implement Phase 2
• Risks, Benefits, and Tasks assessed
• Implement Phase 2 option selected

17
Phase 2

• Document Generation Print
• Requirements
• Data File Creation from Web Site
• Page Layout Template Download from Web Site
• Data File Import into Page Layout Template
• Directory Editing
• Directory Publishing

18
Design Considerations

• No user programming
• Editable directory required
• Printable directory required

19
Research

• Where No One Has Gone Before
• Data Document Generation is a new software market
• No product exists to load a database into a page
  layout file
• XML is easily generated from SQL Server
• Domain expert demonstrated Adobe InDesign CS XML
  import functionality

20
An Answer

• XML was a dead end
• EmSoftwares InData plug-in for InDesign 2.0
  recommended to team
• InData accepts delimited text files
• Templates are created in InDesign using ltltfieldgtgt
  specifiers and logic
• InData loads text into the template to create a
  standard InDesign document

21
Generating Data Files

• User clicks button on web site
• Web site sends generate request to web service
• Web service calls stored procedure
• Stored procedure executes shell command
• Shell command executes pre-built Data
  Transformation Service (DTS) package

22
Generating InDesign Templates

• Templates are created in InDesign by hand
• One template is made for each organization type
• Each template was patterned after its
  corresponding section in the current directory
• Creating a template requires basic data
  organization and programming concepts

23
Phase 2 Testing

• Web site testing simplified compared to Phase 1
• Organization Removal
• DTS File Generation
• Template testing is unique
• Dynamic printing challenges
• Real-estate constraints
• All but one field is optional data

24
Original Workflow

• Assemble Excel file of current organizations
• Mail cover letter and response sheet to
  organizations
• Wait several months to receive updated response
  sheets
• Edit existing Pagemaker files to correct
  information
• Send edited files to printer
• Different Sections, Different Procedures

25
Current Workflow

• Each year, add new organizations through web site
• Create contact lists and cover letters
• Email update requests to all current
  organizations
• Organizations update their information through
  the web site
• Download templates data files to local computer
• Merge templates data using InData
• Compile templates into one and add graphics,
  tables, and charts
• Send completed InDesign file to the printer

26
Demonstration
27
Future Workflow

• Same as current until Editing stage
• Download single template and data files
• Execute single script in InDesign to fill the
  entire document
• Send completed InDesign file to the printer

28
Tomorrow

• The SE Department has agreed to host the site for
  the near term
• Prof. Reichlmayr will be given a crash course in
  project maintenance
• Future updates will be made by independent study
  or senior projects
• Several Hazmat team members have volunteered to
  assist in the interim

29
Thank you!

• Many Thanks to
• The STEP Council of the Genesee Region
• Dr. David Kluge
• Rick Voight
• Professor Tom Reichlmayr
• Dr. Tom Hilburn
• Michele De La Sota
• Chloe Alexson
• Raymond Murray
• RIT SE Department