Project Definition Document. CiviMobile: Developing a front-end mobile application for CiviCRM

Transcription

1 Project Definition Document BSc Computer Science CiviMobile: Developing a front-end mobile application for CiviCRM This project will be developed under the Affero General Public License v3. There are no licensing documents specific to this project but the public licence is available on the GNU website i Project Proposer: Donald Lobo lobo@civicrm.org Project Supervisor: Neil Maiden n.a.m.maiden@city.ac.uk +44 (0) Project Owner: Peter McAndrew petermcandrew@gmail.com

2 Table of Contents Introduction*...*3! Problem*to*be*solved*...*3! Project*beneficiaries*...*3! Project*objectives*...*4! Work*plan*...*4! Project*risks*...*7! An*important*piece*of*work*...*8! Appendix*1:*Research*ethics*checklist*form*...*9! Appendix*2:*Client*information*sheet*...*12! Bibliography*...*13!! 2!

3 Introduction This document is intended to provide a detailed specification of the project and will be broken up into six sections, which will follow after offering some initial background to CiviCRM. CiviCRM is an open source constituent relationship management solution designed for the needs of non-profits. It is used by organisations throughout the world with an estimated 5000 installs. CiviCRM is not a stand-alone system, rather it is installed as a module on to existing Drupal or Joomla installations. Drupal and Joomla are in the top three most popular content management systems (CMS) on the web. Between them they account for 4.5% of websites worldwide and 16% of all CMS websites ii. Problem to be solved At the base of any CiviCRM installation is the contact component, which is the most fundamental part to the system. CiviCRM is extended according to an organisation s needs. There are currently six additional components which can be configured. These are CiviCase, CiviContribute, CiviEvent, CiviMember, CiviMail and CiviReport. CiviCRM is a web-based application. However, there is currently no support for mobile devices. This project intends to address the need by creating a mobile web application. The mobile application will be particularly useful when people are on the move. Being mobile it will only provide support for certain parts of the system. It will negate the need to print walk lists, which are currently used for collecting information during surveys and will also allow people to be more productive as they will be able to interact with their database on the move. Project beneficiaries There are three main beneficiaries from this project. The first beneficiaries are the collection of Civi-users, who will be able to access their CiviCRM database on the go or at times when they have no access to a computer. This application will help them become more efficient, for example by saving time with surveys as mentioned above. The second beneficiary will be the CiviCRM open source project. Adding mobile access will improve the image of CiviCRM making it more competitive in the CRM market. In turn this will benefit CiviCRM developers and service providers, as they should be able to attract more potential customers. The final beneficiary is myself, the project author, I will benefit from the skills gained from developing the mobile application through new languages and technologies, and also through managing the project.!! 3!

4 Project objectives The project s primary objective is to create a mobile application, which will allow Civiusers to access their database in a useful way while on the move. This primary objective can be broken down into the following sub-objectives of which there will be two iterations: Design: This objective is concerned with meeting the needs of the CiviCRM community, which will be done through Blog posts, forums and IRC, or Internet Relay Chat. However, CiviCRM project leader, Donald Lobo will represent the needs of the community as the main stakeholder. Implement: This objective will involve myself developing the different features of the mobile web application. Evaluate: The last objective will be to evaluate the development work carried out by myself. There are several different parts to this evaluation such as developer feedback on the code, end user feedback on functionality, and finally evaluation through City University s mobile device testing framework. There will be two iterations of these objectives: the first will provide some basic functionality giving both users and myself an opportunity to become familiar with the technology and usefulness of the application. The idea behind this is to help shape the second iteration making it as beneficial as possible for all the parties involved. The second iteration will implement some more advanced functionality. The app will provide the ability to generate a walk list on the phone and record answers to survey questions into the database. Work plan My work plan is based around the three stages and two iterations detailed in the project objectives, as this seems like a sensible approach to this type of work. As I am working on this project along side my Professional Pathway work and studies, I intend to coincide the Design and Implementation stages with my less busy periods of studies and the Evaluation stages with busy times, for example, exam periods. Below is a table detailing the different stages of the project followed by a Gantt Chart illustrating these stages over time. Both contain the estimated start and finish dates for each task. I have divided my time for this project between the two iterations, or phases. The first phase concerns the initial development, which will provide a basic database contact search and also provide some useful event tools for CiviCRM users. The second phase relates to the implementation of the survey tool, I plan to obtain as much constructive feedback as possible from the first stage and feed this into the second so that the final version of the app benefits as many users as possible.!!! 4!

5 Stage title Planned start date Duration Planed finish date Find platform 22/10/ hrs 31/10/2011 Phase 1 Design/ Learning Phase 1 Implementation Phase 1 Evaluation Phase 2 Design/ Learning Phase 2 Implementation Phase 2 Evaluation 31/10/ hrs 16/11/ /11/ hrs 19/12/ /12/ hrs 05/01/ /01/ hrs 07/02/ /02/ hrs 14/04/ /04/ hrs 17/05/2012 Detailed description of stage This section is all about finding the right environment to develop the application and optimising compatibility across mobile devices Defining which features to include in the initial web application. Learning any necessary technologies to begin implementation of Phase 1 Coding the mobile application based upon features included in initial design as well as considering any necessary changes to the spec, due to possible technology limitations or requests for change. Releasing the code to the community for testing then collecting feedback. Primarily designing, but also learning any new technologies for phase 2 of implementation. Remembering to feed in evaluation information from Phase 1 The second stage of coding: w more complex features are added, including mapping and location services Final evaluation from CiviCRM community as well testing at City University mobile application testing suite, allowing time for any code reviews which may lead to changes. Final stable application rolled out and available as part of a standard CiviCRM installation.! 5!

6 ! Gantt chart showing work plan for project! 6!

7 Project risks As with any other project there are always associated risks, which may affect the schedule or quality of the end result. The table below identifies some of the main risks, their probability and their possible impact, as well as contingency plans for those that are likely to occur. Project risk Risk type Probability Effect Overall risk Chosen platform Technology Low(1) Catastrophic(4) 4 is unable to meet project objectives Time required to Estimation Moderate(2) Serious(3) 6 develop project is underestimated Too much time Estimation Moderate(2) Serious(3) 6 spent learning new technologies Key project People Low(1) Serious(3) 3 personnel become ill at critical times during project Change in the project specification at a late stage Requirements Low(1) Tolerable(2) 2 The two highest risk items have an overall risk of 6. The first is that the estimated time to complete the project is too low, I plan to minimise the impacts of this risk by regularly evaluating my progress on the project and make sure that I keep to the project plan, if the project is far behind schedule I will meet with the project stakeholder to discuss possible collaboration from other community developers, where they could complete certain parts of the project. The second high risk is that too much time is spent getting up to speed with the technology, as this is completely within my control I plan to spend as much time as possible at the beginning getting up to speed, if I see that I am deviating from the schedule too much I shall seek help from my colleagues at work and also make full use of the CiviCRM forums.!! 7!

8 An important piece of work An important resource to the project that I will be using is a publication by Giulio Bai jquery Mobile First Look iii jquery Mobile is an emerging technology based on the existing jquery framework. This book will be particularly useful and relevant to the project as it covers the basics about jquery mobile such as setup and configuration but also goes on to cover more advanced topics such as event handling and navigation, both of which will be crucial to my project especially for the second phase. As I already have some experience developing for CiviCRM the book will provide this missing link and help me to bridge the gap in my knowledge of development with mobile platforms.!! 8!

9 Appendix 1: Research ethics checklist form If the answer to the following questions is NO then the project needs to be modified Delete as appropriate Does the planned project pose only minimal and predictable risks to the researcher (student)? Does the planned project pose only minimal and predictable risks to other people affected by or participating in the project? Is the project supervised by a member of academic or research staff of the School? If the answer to any of the following questions is YES, you MUST apply to the School Research Ethics Panel for approval (You should seek advice about this from your project supervisor at an early stage) Could the research uncover illegal activities? Could the research cause stress or anxiety in the participants? Will you be asking questions of a sensitive nature? Does the research rely on covert observation of the participants? If the answer to any of the following questions is YES, you MUST apply to the School Research Ethics Panel for approval and your application will be likely to be referred to the University Research Ethics Committee for consideration (You should seek advice about this from your project supervisor at an early stage) Are the research participants under 18? Could the participants be classified as vulnerable adults?! 9! Yes Yes Yes Delete as appropriate Delete as appropriate

10 Do the participants have learning difficulties? Does the research involve animals? Does the project involve pregnant women or women in labour? The following questions must be answered YES, i.e. you MUST COMMIT to satisfy these conditions and have an appropriate plan to ensure they are satisfied Will you ensure that the participants taking part in the research are fully informed about: a. (a) The procedures affecting them or affecting any information collected about them, including informed about how the data will be used, to whom it will be disclosed, and how long the data will be kept? a. (b) The purpose of the research Consent forms from the participants of your research will be necessary if the research aims to gather personal, medical or other sensitive data about them. Will consent be obtained from the participants? Delete as appropriate Yes Yes If YES, provide the consent request form that you will use and indicate who will obtain the consent, how are you intending to arrange for a copy of the signed consent form for the participants, when will they receive it and how long the participants will have between receiving information about the study and giving consent, and when the filled consent request forms will be available for inspection (NOTE: subsequent failure to provide the filled consent request forms will automatically result in withdrawal of any earlier ethical approval of your project):! 10!

11 When the individuals have agreed to participate in the research, will it be made clear to them that they may withdraw at any time without any penalty? Have you made arrangements to ensure that material and/or private information obtained from or about the participating individuals remain confidential? If YES, provide details of how the confidentiality of private information collected from participants will be preserved: Will the research be conducted in the participant s home? Will the data collected be sent or used overseas? If the research is taking place in the participant s home, or other non-university location, has the safety of the researcher(s) been considered? If YES, provide details of how the safety of the researcher(s) will be preserved:!! 11!

12 Appendix 2: Client information sheet Project Proposer: Donald Lobo Project topic: The project topic is the development of a mobile web application which will provide a mobile interface to CiviCRM. Donald Lobo will provide advice and act as the project stakeholder, there are various CiviMobile protoypes that have been developed under the Affero General Public License v3 which are available publically, but there is no specific software reuse required for this project. Donal Lobo has confirmed to be in writing that he is happy to provide a letter at the end of the project to confirm what input he provided and indicate his assessment of the project output.!! 12!

13 Bibliography!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i!gnu!general!public!license.!available:! ii!usage!of!content!management!systems!for!websites.!available:! accessed!26th!oct!2011.! iii!giulio!bai!(2011).!jquery!mobile!first!look.!packt!publishing.!! 13!