User Guide & Documentation

AIAA Membership AnalysisVersion 1.0.0.1.9 [Beta]

3/16/2015

Introduction

• This application is designed to make viewing and using the DataMaker data easier and faster

• Produce charts, map where the membership lives and update e-mail distribution lists with a few clicks

Table of Contents

• User Interface– Tab – Data Import– Tab – Imported Data Displa

y– Tab – Demographics Analys

is– Tab – Geographic Analysis– Tab – More Analysis Tools

• Appendix– Internal Database Details– Supplemental ZIP Code Dat

abase Creation Process– Known Bugs– Nomenclature– Contact Information

USER INTERFACETab Breakdown

Tab – Data Import

Purpose

• Allows the user to import the desired membership data.

• Either newly downloaded data or previously archived data.

• Multiple data files can be imported in order to perform comparisons between content.

Types of Data Files

• A DataMaker file (.xls) that is downloaded directly from the AIAA section website.

• An archived version of a previously imported DataMaker file. This is a text file (.txt) that is encrypted and can only be read by this application.

• A XML file that is used to keep track of monthly membership totals for Professionals, Educator Associates and Students. This data is referenced as Membership Over Time in the application or MOT for short.

Tab – Imported Data Display

Purpose

• Allows the user to view the previously imported data in an interface similar to Microsoft Excel.

• Use the Database dropdown to select the data to view.

Options

• Remove Selected– Using the checkboxes, removes any members from the database– For example: the national staff and/or Deputy Directors who are

not specifically in a section• Save Data for Archive

– The modified database can be saved as an encrypted text file– Allows for quickly reloading member data without having to

remove anyone again– Encryption allows only this application to read the data. (focus

here to make it harder, probably not true security)

Options (Con’t)

• View MOT Data– Opens a form to display the membership grade

breakdown for the currently displayed database– Allows for saving the tally to a new or current MOT file– The MOT file allows for trends in membership to be

viewed• Tracks Professionals; Educator Associates; Students

Tab – Demographics Analysis

Purpose

• Quickly create charts of various demographics– Membership Grades– Longevity of Membership– Membership Age– 1st/2nd/3rd Interest

• Save chart as an image for use in a report• Export the raw data for the chart for use in a report

Options

• Chart Options– Demographic Selection

• Switch through the available charts

– Other Options• Label Style; Legend Style; Color Palette; Drawing Style• Modify select options of how data on the chart is displayed

– Collect Pie Chart Slices• Specify a percentage that will all show as one slice

Options (Con’t)

• Display Layout– Change how the program window is arranged

• Save (Image or Data)– Save the chart as an image or CSV file

• Copy (Image or Data)– Copy the chart as an image or text to the system

clipboard

Tab – Geographic Analysis

Purpose

• Allows for visualization of the ZIP Codes that contain members. Could be useful when planning events.

• Produces a KML file that can be opened in Google Earth• Place markers shown on the map are color coded

depending on the density of the membership population within that ZIP Code– Darker color = more members relative to other areas– Clicking on a specific place marker will show the ZIP Code

and member count

Options

• Display Options– Used to differentiate between multiple loaded files

• i.e. Professionals, Educators and Students will be separate files but can be loaded into Google Earth at the same time

– Select an Icon; Select a Color; Enter a name• ZIP Code Database Options

– (Optional) Fixes gaps in the internal database used for looking up ZIP Code lat/long values

– Appendix explains this issue

Options (Con’t)

• Create KML File– Clicking ‘Start Analysis’ will gather all data and determine if any

membership ZIP Codes are missing from the internal list– User can ignore missing and create the KML file or save the

missing codes to manually find them• Appendix explains this process in detail• Rerun the Analysis using the supplementary database option

• Save KML File– Creates the actual file that can then be opened in Google Earth

• Or other applications that support the KML language (theory)

Example in Google Earth

Tab – More Analysis Tools

Purpose

• Quickly produce lists of members based on specific criteria

• Easily export the list data to be used in another application (CSV file or Copy to system clipboard)

Options

• Modify Columns– Opens a dialog to select which data columns are shown– Can be used at any time to update the display

• Create New Database– Creates a ‘blank’ database that can then be populated

• Add Entries to Database– Adds either all currently displayed or checked members to

the selected database– Useful for creating a sub-group of members and then running

a Demographic or Geographic analysis on them

Options (Con’t)

• Remove Selected– Removes any selected members from the current display. Does

not affect the main database.• Clear Display

– Clears list of all members• Save as CSV File

– Saves the currently displayed data to a CSV file• Copy (Text or Spreadsheet)

– Saves the currently selected data to the system clipboard– Text uses commas for separation while Spreadsheet uses tabs

Tool – E-mail List

• Creates a condensed membership list that includes selected columns most useful for updating contact info (i.e. ConstantContact, etc.)– Name (Prefix, First, Middle, Last, Suffix)– E-mail address– Grade– Do not e-mail is checked?– Can override and use selected columns instead

Tool – Expiring List

• Creates a list of members whose membership is expiring soon

• Checks the expiry date listed in the data• Easy to produce an e-mail list and send them a

notice ahead of time

Tool – Comparison Lists

• Compare two databases to determine how the membership is changing.– New Members– Dropped Members– Student to Professional Conversion

• Requires two databases to be imported

Tool – Comparison ListsNew Members

• Quickly shows any members who are new to the section

• Can be used to send a welcome message to new members

• Checks the newer database of names against the older database of names and displays any new entries

Tool – Comparison ListDropped Members

• Quickly shows any members who have left the section

• Can be used to send a message to them finding out why they left, etc.

• Checks the older database of names against the newer database and displays any entries no longer in the new

Tool – Comparison ListsStudent to Professional Conversion

• Quickly show if any students have become professional members

• May look like students are leaving the section when in fact they have transitioned

• Checks the older database for all students then compares those names against the professionals in the newer database

Tool – Honors & Awards

• Easily start the process of determining who is up for membership advancement or should be honored for length of membership– Membership Advancements– Long Time Members– Member Anniversaries

Tool – Honors & AwardsMembership Advancements

• Produces a list to be used as a guideline for determining members who are candidates for membership advancement

• Uses the advancement criteria to sort through the member data to produce a list– More details shown in the ‘Criteria Notes’ window

• View full membership advancement details online: https://www.aiaa.org/Honors/

Tool – Honors & AwardsLong Time Members

• Produces a list of members who have been a member for the specified number of years or greater

Tool – Honors & AwardsMember Anniversaries

• Produces a list of members who have an anniversary this year

Tool – Find

• Quickly search the database for specified criteria• Select a column of data to search through

– Then enter a specific term or select an entry that appears in that column

– Finally, the Find All button will populate the display with all member entries that match the search criteria

APPENDIX

Internal Database Details

• The internal database is based off of the ZIP Code Tabulation Areas option from the 2014 U.S. Gazetteer Files provided on the U.S. Census website (link below).

• The originally downloaded file was a tab delimited text file with seven columns. This was opened in a spreadsheet application (MS Excel or alternative) and converted to a comma separated values format.– During the import the options used were delimited text; tab and space delimiters

and ‘Treat consecutive delimiters as one.’– Columns B-E were also removed during this process since only the ZIP Code

(GEOID), latitude (INTPTLAT) and longitude (INTPTLONG) values are needed.• Census Website: http://

www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/gazetteer2014.html

Supplemental ZIP Code Database Creation Process

• The following process can be used to produce a ‘Missing ZIP Codes Only’ database or a ‘Complete ZIP Code Database.’

• During development it was discovered that the database did not always contain all of the ZIP Codes that members were registered at. When this is encountered the program lists the missing ZIP Codes with the option to save the list to a text file. The latitude/longitude can then be looked up manually and added to a new file or to a copy of the internal database.

Step 1

• Create the database file to store the missing ZIP Code data.– Option 1: Create a blank text file to paste new data into– Option 2: Extract the internal database and update

manually by adding missing data to end of file• In the application, see ‘Options > Extract Internal Database’

Step 2

• Open the text file. The columns from left to right: ZIP Code, latitude, longitude

Step 3

• Research the missing ZIP Code data. This is easily completed by using Google Earth.– Search for a missing ZIP

Code– Right-click the result and

select ‘Copy as KML’

Step 3 (con’t)

• Paste the resulting text into a blank temporary text file. The text should look something like below.

• Note: Notepad++ was used to produce the example.– Setting the language to

XML allows for syntax highlighting and locating parts easier.

Step 3 (con’t)

• Retrieve the longitude and latitude data from the text [highlighted in yellow].– Caution: it is listed as

‘longitude’, ‘latitude’ from Google Earth but the database must be in order as ‘latitude’, ‘longitude’.

Step 3 (con’t)

• Enter the information into the extracted internal database text file. Numerical order of ZIP Codes is not important so all new data could be added to the end.– Line of text for example: 85001,33.45,-112.07

• Repeat for each missing ZIP Code.• Save the file and store for future use.

Step 4

• Select the ‘Use supplementary ZIP Code database’ and then the type of database just created.

• If everything worked properly there should no longer be a list of missing ZIP Codes after the analysis is completed.

Process Note

• In theory, the above process can be used to produce a file that would allow identification of locations outside the United States.

• As long as the “ZIP Code” matches the DataMaker data, the related latitude and longitude can be used.

• This is currently untested (as of 3/2015)

Known Bugs

• There are a few known bugs in this current release. Please send input if more are found.

• Demographics Analysis – Chart size becomes small due to outside labels, but does not resize when labels are changed again.– Workaround: change size of application window, then

click Label Style options again

Nomenclature

• CSV – comma-separated values file• KML – Keyhole Markup Language file

Contact Information

• Please report any errors/bugs• Feedback about the application is appreciated

– Does it do what you need it to? What could be done better? Something missing that would be really great?

• Rick Kale• rkalejr.aiaaphx@hotmail.com• Phoenix Section (as of 3/15/2015)

Program Technical Details

• Program developed using:– Microsoft Visual Studio 2010– Visual C#

• Program requirements:– Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0