C&C Project Consulting University of Washington 80% is under the hood…Moving From Prototype Web...

C&C Project Consulting

University of Washington

80% is under the hood…Moving From Prototype Web Pages to a Working

Administrative Application Copyright University of Washington , Marcia Tufarolo and Scott Stephenson 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the Authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

May 2004 Cumrec 2004



Marcia Tufarolo - Technology ManagerScott Stephenson - System Engineer

Computing & CommunicationsProject Consulting



Presentation

Moving From PrototypeWeb Pages to a Working

Administrative Application

80% is Under the Hood

ApplicationDevelopment Project

Prototype

C&C TravelApplication Project

Prototype toApplication

Typical ProjectApproach




• State Research University

• 3 Major Campuses

• 40,000 Students

• 24,000 Faculty & Staff




• Computing & Communications

• Consulting group for UW

• Self-sustaining operation

• C&C Project Consulting hired for work



Types of Consulting

• Web-based Database Applications

• Web-site Design

• Usability/Accessibility Studies

• Computing Needs Assessment

• Unix/Win2x Server/Network Assistance



Typical Project Approach

• Contacted by UW area with a need

• User meeting

• Prepare proposal with estimates

• System specifications & prototype

• Development & implementation

• On-going support



Sample Projects

• UW Web Credit Card

• MyChem (Lab Safety System)

• UW Web Conference

• UW Web Store

• Training & Development Registration



C&C Travel Application Project

• Contacted by C&C Business and Finance

• Provide a common way for C&C staff to request, plan and complete travel

• Meet UW Travel requirements




• Application prototype ‘completed’

• Ready to develop the application




• Not our typical approach to a project

• Start much earlier in the process




• Prototype review meeting

• Significant work had been completed



Prototype




• Prototype focused on the user experience

• Four major functions



User Experience

• Traveler Profile

• Travel Authorizations

• Trip Planning

• Travel Reimbursement



Traveler Profile

• Set of data about a traveler

• Personal preferences

• Travel preferences



User Experience



• Trip Planning




Travel Authorization

• Request a business trip

• Director’s trip approval



User Experience



• Trip Planning




Trip Planning

• After approval

–Plan flights, hotel, rental car, registration…



User Experience



• Trip Planning




Reimbursement

• Receive reimbursement for travel expense

–Full reimbursement

–Misc reimbursement



User Experience



• Trip Planning




C&C Travel Application

• To support the four User functions… what administrative pieces are needed?

• Complex parts of the application were missing



Administrative Functions

• Authentication/Authorization

• Maintenance/Actions

• State and State Transitions

• Reports




• Authentication: who

• Authorization: what




• Authorization level drives:

–Application functionality access

–Menu structure







• Reports





– Maintain Trip– Maintain Travel Agents– Forward Travel Reservations– Approve Travel Auth Request– Process Travel Reimbursement– Maintain Administrators– Maintain Travel Auth Administrators







• Reports



State and State Transitions Status Code Description

• AUTH_SUBMITTED Travel authorization request submitted• AUTH_APPROVED Travel authorization request approved• AUTH_DENIED Travel authorization request denied• AUTH_ERROR Travel authorization request error• TRIP_INITIAL Travel reservation request saved• TRIP_SUBMITTED Travel reservation request submitted• TRIP_FORWARDED Travel reservation request forwarded• TRIP_ERROR Travel reservation request forward error• TRIP_CLOSED Travel reservation request closed• FULL_REIM_INITIAL Full reimbursement request saved• FULL_REIM_SUBMITTED Full reimbursement request submitted• FULL_REIM_TEV_SENT Full reimbursement request TEV sent to traveler• FULL_REIM_TEV_RETURNED Full reimbursement request TEV returned by traveler• FULL_REIM_ISSUED Full reimbursement issued• FULL_REIM_CLOSED Full reimbursement request closed• MISC _REIM_SUBMITTED Misc. reimbursement request submitted• MISC_REIM_TEV_SENT Misc. reimbursement request TEV sent to traveler• MISC_REIM_TEV_RETURNED Misc. reimbursement request TEV returned by traveler• MISC_REIM_ISSUED Misc. reimbursement issued• MISC_REIM_CLOSED Misc. reimbursement request closed.



State and State Transitions

TRIP_SUBMITTED

TRIP_FORWARDED

Admin

TRIP_CLOSED

Admin

Admin

TRIP_INITIAL

Traveler

Admin

Admin

Trip Records

Admin

MISC_REIM_SUBMITTED

MISC_REIM_TEV_SENT

MISC_REIM_TEV_RETURNED

MISC_REIM_ISSUED

Admin

Admin

Admin

Admin

MiscReimburse Records

FULL_REIM_SUBMITTED

FULL_REIM_TEV_SENT

FULL_REIM_TEV_RETURNED

Admin

Admin

FULL_REIM_ISSUED

Admin

Admin

FULL_REIM_INITIAL

Traveler Admin

FullReimburse Records

Traveler

AUTH_SUBMITTED

AUTH_APPROVED AUTH_DENIED

Traveler(Pre-approved)

or AdminAdmin

Auth Records

TRIP_ERROR

Application

AUTH_ERROR

Application(Copies to Trip

Table)

Application

Admin

MISC_REIM_CLOSED

Admin

Admin

Admin

FULL_REIM_CLOSED

Admin

Admin

Admin

Admin

Admin

Traveler

CCBF Travel ApplicationAllowable States and Transitions







• Reports




• Reports –Travel History–Travel Status–Traveler Summary Travel –Authorization History–Travel Authorization Summary




• Filtering and search screens

• Links between reports and maintenance functions

• Transaction change tracking



C&C Travel Application

• User Functions - 20%

• Administrative Functions - 80%



Prototype to Application

How did we get there…

Scott Stephenson



How Did We Get There?

• Design

• Develop/Implement

• Test and Release

• Support



Design Process

Client/UserInterviews

FunctionalSpecification

ApplicationPrototype

UsabilityTesting

Client/UserDesign

Sessions

DevelopmentTeam Design

Sessions



Don’t Forget the Client/Users!

• Engage the client to make them feel ownership in the process

• Demonstrate that real progress is being made– Generate excitement!

• Make sure what we’re doing is what the client and users want/need– Contain scope creep– Avoid wasted time and money– Catch “hidden” requirements early in the process

• Discuss outstanding issues and problems



Design Process

• Client and user interviews– Involve them early and often– Discover key business processes to be

included in the application– Discover “hidden” requirements early

• Development Team design sessions– What are the functional elements of the

system?– How do these elements work together?



Design Process cont’d

• Client/user design sessions

– Discuss outstanding issues/questions– Create/review application prototype– Refine prototype after each session

• Usability testing

– Scope of application and user base determines if it’s needed

• Write detailed functional specification



Functional Specifications

• UML use cases for each functional element

– Prototype screen shots

– Detailed documentation of integration points

– Document any issues



UML Use Case

• Actor is an entity (people or systems) that interacts with the system to achieve a desired goal.

• Summary describes the interaction between the actor and the system and the value that the use case adds to the system.

• Preconditions are external conditions outside the scope of the use case that must be satisfied before the use case can occur.

• Postconditions are actions that must be satisfied after the use case has completed successfully.

• Trigger describes conditions that are expected to be true when an actor enters a use case. The trigger may describe a business need or be time-related, or could be the completion of another use case.



UML Use Case cont’d

• Normal Flow describes the steps that the actor and the system go through to satisfy the goal of the use case. Normal flow describes the most common scenario for the use case.

• Alternate Flow describes the less common or unusual events of the use case, although it does not include errors or exceptions.

• Exception Flow shows the interactions that occur when an error or exception is encountered.

• Issues document assumptions, external conditions, unresolved issues, or possible future enhancements related to the use case.



Example Use CaseActor

World

Summary

UW NetID and password are entered in order to authenticate as a valid UW NetID holder.

Preconditions

Actor must already have a UW NetID in order to log in.

Postconditions

None.

Trigger

Actor requests a page in the application that requires UW Authentication.

Normal Flow

The System presents the UW NetID login page.

Actor enters UW NetID and password.

The System authenticates the Actor as a UW Affiliate and continues on to Authorization.



Example Use Case cont’dAlternate Flow

None.

Exception Flow 1

Actor does not have a UW NetID. A link is already provided on the UW Authentication Page which presents information on how to obtain a UW NetID.

Exception Flow 2

Actor has a UW NetID but has forgotten the password. A link is already provided on the UW Authentication Page which explains how to get a new password assigned.

Issues

On the C&C IIS servers, this page is displayed automatically if the destination URL is beneath a secured directory and the Actor has not already authenticated. Secured directories are named ‘uwnetid’.

Authentication functionality is already in place using central resources.



Functional Specifications cont’d

• Miscellaneous processes

– e.g. batch processes and external system dependencies

• Database schema discussion

– Schema diagram– Purpose statement for each table– Detailed description of all table columns



Database Schema Diagram

TravelStatus

PK status_code

group_namedisplay_valuedescriptioninitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

TravelAgent

PK travel_agent_id

agent_name_firstagent_name_lastagent_phoneagent_emailagent_faxagency_nameactiveinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

FullReimburse

PK,FK1 trip_id

special_considerationscar_rentaltaxi_shuttlepers_vehicle_to_locpers_vehicle_to_milespers_vehicle_from_locpers_vehicle_from_milesparkingairfareother_transportlodginguse_per_diemmeals_no_reimburseevent_reg_feephoneinternet_hookuplaundryother_expenses

FK2 status_codeinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

MiscReimburse

PK misc_reimburse_id

FK1 trip_iddescription

FK2 status_codeinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

CentralSecurity

PK uwnetid

FK1 security_levelname_firstname_lastinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

SecurityLevel

PK security_level

descriptionreportadministersuperuserinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

Division

PK division_code

short_namelong_nameactiveinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

AuthSecurity

PK auth_security_id

FK1 division_codeuwnetidname_firstname_lastemailactiveinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

Trip

PK trip_id

FK1 traveler_idFK2 auth_id

destinationdeparture_monthdeparture_daydeparture_yeardeparture_timereturn_monthreturn_dayreturn_yearreturn_timepurposeevent_nameevent_urluse_leaveleave_datesuse_air_travelair_originair_destinationair_departure_monthair_departure_dayair_departure_yearair_departure_timeair_return_monthair_return_dayair_return_yearair_return_timeair_number_ticketsair_number_stopsair_trip_typeuse_lodginglodging_checkin_monthlodging_checkin_daylodging_checkin_yearlodging_checkin_timelodging_checkout_monthlodging_checkout_daylodging_checkout_yearlodging_checkout_timelodging_preferred_hotellodging_is_event_hotellodging_number_guestsuse_rental_carcar_pickup_locationcar_dropoff_locationcar_pickup_monthcar_pickup_daycar_pickup_yearcar_pickup_timecar_dropoff_monthcar_dropoff_daycar_dropoff_yearcar_dropoff_timecar_sizecar_othercar_explanationspecial_considerations

FK3 status_codepo_numbertravel_coordinatornotes

FK4 travel_agent_idforward_timestamperror_messageinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

Traveler

PK traveler_id

name_firstname_lastuwnetidphoneemail

FK1 division_codemailboxuse_corporate_cardemerg_contact_nameemerg_contact_phonespecial_considerationsrestrictionsseat_aftseat_aisleseat_bulkheadseat_exit_rowseat_forwardseat_windowdiet_dairy_freediet_diabeticdiet_fruit_platediet_kosherdiet_low_fatdiet_low_sodiumdiet_vegandiet_vegetarianff_airline1ff_number1ff_airline2ff_number2ff_airline3ff_number3room_typebed_typeroom_handicaplodging_othercar_sizecar_otherinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

Auth

PK auth_id

FK1 traveler_iddestinationdeparture_monthdeparture_daydeparture_yeardeparture_timereturn_monthreturn_dayreturn_yearreturn_timepurposeevent_nameevent_urluse_leaveleave_datesuse_air_traveluse_lodginguse_rental_carcar_explanationuse_event_regspecial_considerationspre_approveddecision_uwnetiddecision_commentdecision_timestamp

FK2 status_codeerror_messageinitial_uwnetidinitial_timestampupdate_uwnetidupdate_timestamp

CCBF TravelApplication

Database Schema



Database Schema Descriptions

MiscReimburse

This table stores the traveler’s miscellaneous reimbursement request information. There can be one or more of these per trip.

Field Description Type Meaning

misc_reimburse_id integer unique id assigned by the application

trip_id integer unique id of trip in the Trip table

description varchar(2048) description of miscellaneous expense

status_code varchar(25) unique status code from the TravelStatus table

initial_uwnetid varchar(12) UWNetID of person who created the record

initial_timestamp datetime date and time the record was created

update_uwnetid varchar(12) UWNetID of person who last modified the record

update_timestamp datetime date and time the record was last modified



Functional Specifications cont’d

• List of all assumptions

– What is and what is not in the application

• List of outstanding issues

– Discussion points for client meetings– May result in additional assumptions

• List of future enhancements

– Desired functionality not in the first version.




• Design



• Support



Development Process

• Regular client meetings (as before)

• Iterative code<- ->test cycle

– Code to the specification!– Employ collaborative coding where

useful– Peer code reviews– Write and run unit tests



Development Process cont’d

• Peer code review– Does my coding approach/design make sense?– What did I miss?

• In-code documentation– Standard file headers (copyright, author, date, notes,

etc.)– Modification notes (in version control too)– Javadoc or similar

• Use Common Application Architecture



Common Application Architecture

• A structured, common set of development “best practices” and reusable classes (Java and C#) with a “standard” API.– Makes 2+/3-tier Web development realizable

despite tight schedules– Simplifies XML generation and XSLT

transformations– Minimizes dependencies on platform dependent

code– Provides sophisticated logging capabilities to help

diagnose problems



Common Application Architecture cont’d

– Eases application cross-training– Provides design and coding efficiencies– Helps provide better application support– Helps manage change– Handles multiple computing environments



Computing Environment

• Primarily a Microsoft shop

• “Yesterday”: ASP, Java, JavaScript, ADO, SQL Server

• “Today”: ASP.net, C#, ADO.net, SQL Server

• “Tomorrow”: ????



Computing Environment cont’d

DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION RELEASECANDIDATE

PRODUCTION

DesktopMachine

RCServer

Eval.Database

Dev.Server

Eval.Server

Dev.Database

Read-Only

Dev. VSS

Prod.Server 1

Eval.VSS

RC VSS

Prod.Database

Prod.Server N

Prod.Server 2

ooo

Automated Process

Read-Only

Prod.Database



Tools We Use

• C# and Java

• XML and XSLT

• ASP.net, ASP and JavaScript.

• Visual Studio.net and Visual Studio

• Visual Source Safe (version control)

• ADO.net and ADO




• Design



• Support



Test and Release Process

• Evaluation release for testing

• Track bugs in a database and prioritize

• Iterative beta testing with client

• Write and execute detailed functional test plans (integration testing)



Bug Tracking



Test Plans



Test and Release Process cont’d

• Use unit test suite as element of regression testing

• Release candidate testing

• Client/user training sessions

• Production!

• Refresh documentation




• Design



• Support



Support Process

• Additional client/user training sessions, as required (train the trainers)

• Application health monitoring

• Bug tracking and resolution

• General computing infrastructure support



Lessons Learned

• Stick with a proven process

• Don’t skip the client/user interviews

– Start with the need, not the solution

• Don’t be afraid to “over communicate”

• Always have a project wrap-up



Project Wrap-up

[email protected]://depts.washington.edu/cac/projects

C&C Project Consulting University of Washington 80% is under the hood…Moving From Prototype Web...

Documents

Transcript of C&C Project Consulting University of Washington 80% is under the hood…Moving From Prototype Web...