Change Requests

For now this page contains only an unorganized list of potential work to be done.

Flat out bugs

• warning to save on "My schedule Interests" doesn't pop up as intended

New password generation

• automatically generate reasonably secure passwords for new users
• abilty to email out these generated passwords
• ability to distinguish Zambia-generated from user-generated passwords
• user-generated passwords are not stored unencrypted anywhere
• user can reset their own password
• staff member can reset user's password without learning new password
• staff member can still do previous functionality of replacing user's password -- OK if that is treated as user-generated
• after logging in, user with zambia-generated password cannot proceed without providing user-generated password
• allow users extreme flexibility in their own password selection
  • Zambia doesn't warrant high security
  • if possible, any UTF character
  • up to 256 characters in length
  • pretty short minimum (maybe 4)
  • no requirement for particular characters or classes of characters, i.e. letters and numbers
  • possibly make the requirements configurable

Report configuration management

Definitions of reports currently live in the db which is convenient for implementing the report engine, but makes it extremely difficult to track changes to reports, especially on different branches.

• finish implementing mechanism to save report definitions from db to xml file for checkin
• finish implementing mechanism in import report definitions to db from xml file
• ensure process is repeatable
• ensure process is straightforward to pull changes from one branch to another
• ensure process is straightforward to push changes from one branch to another
• possibly build tools to facilitate
  • creating reports
  • modifying reports
  • separating sets of reports for different branches

Improving Grid Scheduler

• Fix layout bugs
• Change single page app layout to flex
• Method to tweak times
• More parametric control
• Keep row and column headers of grid in view
• Scroll with drag-and-drop
• Edit participants

Increase automation

• Do immediate conflict checking when adding participant to already scheduled session
• Setting status to "cancelled" should automagically remove session from schedule and unassign participants
  • There should be ramifications of other status changes, too
  • Status changes with ramifications should have warnings of those ramifications
  • Don't forget to log the ramifications
• Track Partipants arrival to con and report on ramifications of missing participants
  • Track cancellations of participants in lead up to con and provide useful information to staff to reassign panels.
• Add capability to email each participant his or her schedule in the bulk emailer.
• Build data structure, data entry page, and modify reports to support blocking a participant/staff member against a session without assigning them to it.

More functionality based on a participant

• Staff multi-tab page to view and edit all participant data
• Staff view or edit availability
• Staff view or edit professional qualifications
• Staff view whole schedule and edit (just drop panels)

Improve ease of use or workflow

• Way for track manager to work in a track. After done with scheduling/assigning a session, go to next session in track.
  Grid scheduler works this way PBO 9/21/12
• Implement mechanism to easily move a session to a different room, time, or both.
  Done with grid scheduler. PBO 9/21/12
• Implement workflow of assign, then schedule
• In specific phase, warn of all conflicts from assigning or scheduling activity.
  (A big chunk of this has been done for Arisia 2010.) Participant exceeding number of session limits remains to be implemented.
• View all info for a participant in a single place.
  (Integrate and modify work done for Anticipation on this feature.)
• More active slice and dice
  Some views of data with filter and sort options
  Edit Session to have r/o view of schedule and participant info
  Need layout ideas
  What about 3 tabs on a page: session details, its room schedule, its participant info
• Manage participants to allow selection of session by session id
• on "Maintain Room Schedule" better label "open times"
• Smarter defaults on "Create Session" -- see DDA
• Make it easier to select participants on the "Invite" and "Assign to" session pages. Suggestion is to order by first or last name so the user can just type "G" and see the Gs -- From Jeff Keller
• Make it easier to both Edit and Assign participants to a session; either cross-link the "EditSession" and "StaffAssignParticipants" pages or make one page with two forms. -- From Jeff Keller

Add Administrative Features

Admin Console

• Edit/Import/... Function Rooms
• In place text editor
• Toggle phases (Signup, pick panels, view schedule, ...)
• Toggle other SQL variables
• Edit all preferences
• Edit user roles when not externally sourced
• Configure all permissions, phases, etc.
• Edit incoming reg types

Reporting Stuff

Hotel Reports

• Since "Room Turn" is now a Session Track and Type in Zambia, could we get a report that lists the Room Turns?
• Version of http://zambia.2010.arisiahosting.org/thsessionroomsetsreport.php that notices when Roomsetname changes? (similar to the previous report, but just lists changes)
• Modify http://zambia.2010.arisiahosting.org/thsessionfeaturereport.php and http://zambia.2010.arisiahosting.org/thsessionservicesreport.php so multiple Featurename and Servicename are listed on one line (instead of one line for each feature or service)

Unclassified

• Append Time Stamp to file names of downloaded CSV reports.
• Remove options for participants to be contacted by mail or phone
  Done. There is an option for this. PBO before 9/21/12
• Add method for participant to opt in to sharing their email address with other participants
  Other alternative method for collaboration between participants prior to con could be deployed
  "My Schedule" page should reflect the change
  Done. PBO 11/14/10
• Build configuration pages
• Build reporting mechanism to handle rooms which may have multiple, simultaneous sessions
  Grid scheduler can handle up to two. PBO 9/23/12
• Build data structure and reporting mechanism to handle rooms with airwalls or moveable partitions
• Update data structures, session data entry pages, and reports to add the concept of producer.
• Refactor all reports to run on request
  Done by new reporting engine PBO Sept. '14 Need to move more reports to this engine
• Pare down list of reports and remove unused ones
• Staff edit bios within Zambia. Show last edit date and time in Zambia.
  Done without audit tracking PBO 9/1/11
• Build Arisia version of manage biographies (related to above)
• Reporting of changes for at con newsletter
• Build readonly staff privileges capability
• Permit participants to specify particular participants not to be scheduled with and report conflicts
• Enhance edit logging
  • Participants onto and off of sessions
    ''implemented by PBO, but not checked in''
  • Session schedule, remove, and move (time or place) once implemented
    ''implementation under way by PBO''
• Does Arisia want the "suggested time" field on Session as implemented by Anticipation?
• Available space and time report
• Confirm Congo interface picks up reg type changes
• Rebuild Congo interface to have less trouble with escaping certain characters
  Is there anything else wrong with the Congo interface?
• Differential report for hotel and tech
  Do we need to enhance session logging to make that work
• Specify GOH(s) in more systematic and easily configured way
  Now is a flag in Congo (prior to 2014)
• More formal way to incorporate data from previous years
  • Session data -- don't just grab it all
  • Participant data
    There are now tables and scripts to handle this fairly cleanly (prior to 2014)
• Automated password reminder or reset mechanism for participants
  Email them? Require answer to secret question?
• Related is a "Reset Password" button; it should email the new password.
• Edit Session: Add fields for setup and teardown times. If non-zero, Zambia will automatically create do-not-publish sessions that will follow the main session if its time or room is changed. (A default tear-down time of 15 minutes should be used to enforce Arisia's gap between sessions.)
• Track who edited participants notes and when
  • Display history
• Ititial password should be set randomly and emailed to user.
  • Perhaps not emailed until first login attempt. Mechanism like "Create User Account", but only for those previously authorized.
  • If not authorized, could still make a user with no privileges and generate request for privileges.
• Report engine to have mechanism to use form for sort, filter, etc.
• Output some reports directly to PDF for printing
  • Mostly would be materials for participant packet
• Configurable KonOpas interface
• Better support for cons that don't have unique track per session.
  • PubCharacteristics is available for this
  • Throughout Zambia, replace Track with PubChar when this happens?
• Allow some markup in participant biographies.
  • Configurable?
  • Make clear what is allowed?
  • Warn when impermissible markup is entered?
  • Report for impermissible markup?
    own choices.
• Running length count of length limited fields
  • Session title
  • Session description
  • Participant bio
  • Tie in to move to configuration in db
• Make it clearer in Staff UI which sessions are eligible for participants to sign up
  • Allow override of "invited only" status triggered by track or type.

More functionality around "interested" and "invited"

• On assign participants page, make clearer who signed up and who was invited/signed up by staff.
  • Track whether participant was "invited" and who invited her.
  • Allow staff to uninvite -- track this
  • In Participant View, make it clear to participant he was invited.
  • Allow participant to decline invitation, but make this action distinct from editing her * Assign participants page to be able to remove participant's interested status -- possibly only for interested status created by staff

User Management in Zambia

• Optionally create users
• Optionally set permission roles
• Optionally edit contact info
• Bulk creation of users with file upload
• Feed back to Congo
• Coordinate with user-initiated account creation or password generation
• (see items regarding password generation and user-initiated account creation)

Look and feel enhancements

• CSS: increase site uniformity
  Done with move to Bootstrap DDA 9/21/12
• Page layout--more efficient use of screen real estate for "create session" page; move "logout" link to header bar
  Done with move to Bootstrap DDA 9/21/12
• Ben wants lighter colors for the menus since we're using the dark Bootstrap background.

Improve maintainability and extendability

• Clean up mechanism for configuring con dates and tie into reports
  Done with new report engine PBO 9/21/12
• Rebuild mechanism to organize reports
  • lock all the csv files, so pointing your browser at them doesn't just get them.
  • Migrate all the reports from reportqueries, directly into PHP, and add a "comment" for the indicies-builder to be able to generate.
    Done with new report engine PBO 9/21/12
• Allow some staff control over categorization of reports.
• Perform more CSS cleanup
• CSS: reduce number of ids, styles, and classes
  Done with migration to Bootstrap DDA 9/21/12
• Refactor to support multiple directories of php pages; possible sections:
  • common
  • participant
  • staff
  • reporting
• Move all configuration options to db.

Major Extensions

• Devise a means to cleanly handle [Multi-year database].
• Implement complementary membership tracking

Non coding brainstorm list

• Update installation documentation including swift (mailer) installation
• Update user documentation
• Deploy sandbox
• Write configuration documentation including phases and permissions
• More automated installation and initial configuration