hnd in computing year 2 major project...

HND in computing Year 2 Major Project 01/07/2010

Contents Page

Management Summary................................................... 4 Introduction to Project Purpose and Objectives ......... 4

Options for Projects......................................................................................4 Project Boundary..........................................................................................4

Phase 1 – Urgent......................................................................................5 Phase 2 – Required ..................................................................................5 Phase 3 – For Future Development..........................................................5

Background to Client...................................................... 5 Client Background ........................................................................................5

Organisational Structure for the Durrington Festival Committee...............5 Organisational Interfaces..........................................................................5 The Durrington Festival Committee Objectives.........................................5

Planning and Initiation and Project Progress .............. 6 Work Breakdown Structure ..........................................................................6 Gannt Chart..................................................................................................6

Allocating the Hours..................................................................................6 Using the Calendar Facility .......................................................................6 Using the Resource Facility ......................................................................7 Levelling Resources .................................................................................7 Task Information .......................................................................................7 The Actual Gannt Chart ............................................................................8 Summary of using Gannt Chart ................................................................8

Time Hours Log............................................................................................8 Comparison of Time Hours Chart...............................................................10 Differences Discussed................................................................................11 What I would do differently next time..........................................................11

Research and Investigation Method ........................... 12 Holding Page..............................................................................................12 Research Timescale...................................................................................12 Server Research ........................................................................................12 Domain Name Research ............................................................................13 Problems with the client’s current system ..................................................17 Client’s Requirements ................................................................................17

High Priority ............................................................................................17 Medium Priority.......................................................................................17 Low Priority .............................................................................................17

Communication with Client .........................................................................18 Design ............................................................................ 18

Website structure .......................................................................................18 Database....................................................................................................19

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Database Software used ........................................................................19 Context Diagram.....................................................................................23 Entity Relationship Diagram....................................................................23

Software used ............................................................................................23 Summary of Design Issues ........................................................................23

Development, Implementation and Testing................ 25 Test Strategy..............................................................................................32 User Reference Manual .............................................................................32 Keeping the site up-to-date ........................................................................33

Submission to Google Search Engine ....................................................34 System Evaluation ........................................................ 35

From the client’s perspective......................................................................35 From Northbrook College’s perspective .....................................................36 From my Tutor’s perspective......................................................................36 From my perspective..................................................................................36 From a user’s perspective ..........................................................................37 If I could do anything differently..................................................................37 Tasks planned that took longer than anticipated ........................................38

Project Futures.............................................................. 39 Project Futures - Conclusion...................................................................40

Summary........................................................................ 41

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Appendices

Appendix 1 (i) Original Project Proposal

(ii) System Development Life Cycle

Appendix 2 (i) Project Plan Gannt Chart - Initial

(ii) Project Plan Gannt Chart - Final

Appendix 3 (i) Client Questions

(ii) Client – organisational structure

Appendix 4 Proposed website design drawing

Appendix 5 Final website design drawing

Appendix 6 Context diagram

Appendix 7 Entity Relationship Diagram

Appendix 8 Dynamic page information flow design

Appendix 9 Relevant emails/correspondence to and from client

Appendix 10 Test Plan

Appendix 11 Weekly Progress Reports to Project Supervisor

Appendix 12 (i) Work Breakdown Structure

(ii) Time Log

(iii) Chart comparing Time Log Hours to Gannt Chart Hours

Appendix 13 Screen shots of website

Appendix 14 Online Questionnaire

Appendix 15 Presentation

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Management Summary A website was created for The Durrington Festival Committee to promote the 2007 Festival. The website was created with static pages, dynamic pages and a user interface to update Forthcoming Events. The project was completed in time, and client feedback is positive. Resources used were one full-time person for six weeks, and remote server supported by php and MySQL.

Introduction to Project Purpose and Objectives

Options for Projects I am particularly interested in designing websites supported by a database because I feel that modern technology is heading toward information being retained on remote servers so that access may be available to the information held on the server from anywhere that has a computer with internet access. For example a business may run completely on a remote server, with staff all over the world accessing the information via the internet. There is a company near where I live that have mentioned the need for a website. The company is called Lifeline Care and they operate an agency for nursing care staff and ‘home help’ type staff. However although the company do not have a website, and require a website, they do not seem to have the time available to provide the information required to build the website. They provided access to staff and I interviewed them, however, responses in regard to paying for server space went unanswered, despite a reminder email some weeks later. I took this as a warning sign that there may be communication delays that would affect the project content and timescale. Meanwhile, the Durrington Festival Committee had previously approached my tutor, John Berrington, requesting assistance with their website. I was passed a copy of an email requesting help, prepared a draft response, forwarded it to my tutor, and agreed the content to send to the Durrington Festival Committee and identified the relevant person to send it to. I felt that the Durrington Festival Committee were the best candidate for this project. This is because firstly, they appeared to be well organised, were email users, and their need for a website appeared more urgent, and greater than the website for Lifeline. Also they are a charity working to support the community and therefore I felt it was more appropriate that they benefit from the service than a company working for ‘profit’. Please see Appendix (9) showing copies of emails

Project Boundary The project boundary is a website with supporting database. This is dealt with in three phases:

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Phase 1 – Urgent • Static Website Requirement

Phase 2 – Required • Dynamic element for Forthcoming Events

Phase 3 – For Future Development • Download facility of:

o Festival Brochure o Competition Forms o Application Forms

• Online facility for

o Competition Entry o People and Participant management

See Appendix (4) Proposed website plan See Appendix (5) Actual website plan See Appendix (6) Context diagram See Appendix (7) Entity Relationship Diagram

Background to Client

Client Background Our client, The Durrington Festival Committee is made up of several people from the community being residents and/or people from the business, education or religious communities and they work on a voluntary basis with their focus being on promoting and bringing the community of Durrington together, particularly during the week-long Durrington Festival.

Organisational Structure for the Durrington Festival Committee Organisational structure – See Appendix (3(ii))

Organisational Interfaces Liaison is solely with Lisa Hector who is Chair of the Durrington Festival Committee jointly with Peter Bloxham. Lisa Hector’s role appears to be managing the Village Fayre and maintaining sponsorship and generally managing the Committee involvement and preparation of the Durrington Festival. Peter Bloxham carries out a similar role to Lisa Hector, except Peter Bloxham manages the Carnival. Both Peter Bloxham and Lisa Hector appear to take strategic and tactical decisions, whilst the remaining Committee Members seem to work on the operational day-to-day tasks that are required to produce a successful Festival each year.

The Durrington Festival Committee Objectives • to promote the community • to build on the community spirit • to support the community

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• to create achievement awards to benefit the youths of Durrington • to create an enjoyable event for all members of the community • to achieve non-discrimination of any group of people from the events

Planning and Initiation and Project Progress I wanted to be able to monitor the project and evaluate it afterwards, I therefore set up:

• Work Breakdown Structure • Gannt Chart • Time Hours Log

to manage this project:-

Work Breakdown Structure Taking the website, with the supporting database and dynamic pages as 100% of the task, and applying the stages of the System Development Life Cycle and allocating time by percentage I found to be an efficient and accurate method of allocating time to the project. It seemed to create a balanced perspective of each task against each stage in the System Development Life Cycle, whilst maintaining the perspective percentage between each ‘section’ of the System Development Life Cycle. See Appendix (12(i))

Gannt Chart

Allocating the Hours • I prepared this from a Work Breakdown Structure which tried to

anticipate as much as possible the likely hours that I would need for each task, based on current knowledge and previous experience of building websites.

• The database element with dynamic pages was an unknown quantity to me in that although I had carried out exercises in creating dynamic pages I had not put it all together myself, designed and developed my own dynamic pages. I therefore felt that the Time Hours Log detailed further along in this report was an additional tool to help me to maintain the Gannt Chart accurately and to help me with projection of hours for future projects.

Using the Calendar Facility • I found the calendar facility to be useful and set myself up to be

working 5 days a week with a short day on Friday afternoon. I felt reassured doing this because as this is a one-person project, I felt there was room in the calendar to add more hours or week-end days so that I may complete the work according to how the project appeared on the Gannt chart. For example, if I was falling behind on a particularly important task that would affect the flow of work and the completion time of the project, I felt I could change the calendar and work more hours to correct the timescale issue.

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• I think the calendar is also extremely useful when there is a team of two or more people, because some people may work part-time, some may work full-time and some may be required to work overtime. The calendar caters for all of this and would be an amazing tool to use in this instance.

Using the Resource Facility • I set myself up as a Resource, earning £10.00 per hour. I found this

quite fascinating because once all of the tasks were on the Gannt chart, looking at the costings it had automatically calculated how much the project was costing and it was £2,000. I then realised how valuable a tool Microsoft Project is for teamworking, because members of the team would be on different pay levels and allocating a person to a task may have a different cost level than allocating a different person to that same task. As it calculates automatically, I found all of this quite fascinating and would like to try and use it in a larger capacity than a one-person project.

Levelling Resources • I tried several times to do this but the levelling didn’t seem to work. It

would read the first cell from the top, and then the second cell it would put the task date at the end of the task, for example all of the tasks were labelling 16 April and then when I tried to level it, the first cell would say 16 April, the next cell down would say 25 May and then there would be an odd assortment of dates. I think what was happening was that the software was reading the first date, accepting that, then looking at the second date and finding that the resources were not there to allow it, so it was calculating as if all the other hours were already booked in and then it was putting the second cell as 25 May because that was the next available date.

• In the end I ran out of time and so I worked from the bottom of the cells and worked backwards putting in all of the information. This took some time as it is a manual way of dealing with what should be an automatic function. This needs further investigation and is a future task for me to achieve.

Task Information • I input all of the task information, taking the information from the Work

Breakdown Structure. Each task needed to be set up separately and I felt that it was difficult to select several tasks at the same time and say, set them all at 100% completed. It seemed as if a task had to be updated one at a time. I consider however this to be good practice for project management where there is more than one person involved in the project.

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The Actual Gannt Chart • The visual element is quite unique to see, and I had added the current

date line and the task end date line which I created as a thin red vertical line through the relevant dates.

• I found the Gannt chart reassuring to watch and used it as a monitoring tool. At all times during the project I was ahead of the line and really did not need to change the task information, other than to update it as 100% done.

• there is one item outstanding, which is the online competition entry, however it was considered at the outset, that due to the early close date and therefore time constraints this may become part of the Future project planning.

Summary of using Gannt Chart I found the use of this tool quite time consuming and measuring the benefit against time ‘cost’ I feel that for a one person project, the use of Microsoft Project is of more use for a difficult and complex project than for a straight-forward project. For example, Microsoft Project in this instance was used as a simple tick list. However, for a more complicated or complex project with more than one member in the team, Microsoft Project would become invaluable. Also, Microsoft Project would be invaluable if I were working on say, six projects at once because I could then see at a glance where I was with each project and what I needed to do. But for one straight-forward project for one person, it is a lot of fiddly work to set up. However, on balance I would use it again on a one-person project, mainly because the Work Breakdown Structure leads to its use and I really do like the visual content and the fact I can see ‘at a glance’ where I am with the project. For the future I would design a ‘template’ for a project, especially if I am specialising in designing websites with dynamic pages. It would then be a question of mathematics determining how much time against how many dynamic pages and website content. I could then also use the calendar to section off days to work on different projects and that would work quite well in managing full-time working hours across several similar projects being worked on at the same time. See Appendix (12(ii)) Gannt Chart at Start of Project See Appendix (12(iii)) Gannt Chart at End of Project

Time Hours Log • this is an Excel spreadsheet and really is an accurate record of the

time hours that I spent on the project. I set this up first of all before the project started, and for the first few days I had the columns with date of

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work, the description of the work and the time hours spent. I put them in as units of 15 minutes, and I tried to keep it very accurate and up-to date and found this easy. After I had completed only about 7 entries I then decided to link each entry to a stage in the SDLC so that I could monitor the hours for inclusion to the Gannt chart, to keep the Gannt chart accurate too.

So I set up a drop-down validation list in Excel, where I click on which stage of the SDLC it is, and the amount of time is automatically placed in the correct SDLC stage column, and is automatically calculated. I then fed this through to my Weekly Progress Report Form so that that Form was automatically updated also. This is the start of the Time Hours Log before I amended it. See Appendix (12(iv))

I made a few amendments to it so that it was more useful and automatically calculated the hours

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I have used the Work Breakdown Structure to feed the Gannt Chart and populate the Gannt chart, and I have compared the data in my Actual Time Hours Log against my Planned Time Hours as listed in the Gannt Chart.

TASK

Build Website with supporting Database and Dynamic Elements

WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE

Build Website with supporting Database and Dynamic Elements

EXCEL SPREADSHEET

Time hours logged day by day throughout project

100% 190.55 hours

GANNT CHART

Broken down into the Stages of the SDLC

200 hours

Planned Hours measured against Actual Hours

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Research

Analysis

Design

Build

Implement

Test

Maintain

SDLC

Sta

ge

Hours

Planned Hours

Actual Hours

Planned Hours 38 46 48 21 21 12 14

Actual Hours 31.5 15.3 17.1 44.5 64.9 14.25 3

Research Analysis Design Build Implement Test Maintain

Comparison of Time Hours Chart I monitored day-by-day throughout the project period the actual hours I spent on each task. Every day I worked on the project I would open the Time Hours spreadsheet, and then work on a task, and then update it. Sometimes I would

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update several tasks at once, but always update it on that day. I consider it to be a very accurate record of the actual hours spent on the project, together with a description of the work being carried out at that time. See Appendix (12(v))

Differences Discussed You will see from the chart that there are major differences, particularly in the Build and Implement Section. This is because:

• there were file upload difficulties – files became distorted for seemingly no reason. It was later discovered that Passive FTP needs to be selected in the Dreamweaver site set up for the remote server. Further research needs to be made into ‘Passive FTP’ to determine whether it is particularly required when using a wireless router. This research is out of the scope of this project report.

• the site required rebuilding when new information became available and there was not room for the new information on the existing site

• sponsors details came through later than the initial information and this took a long time to build, implement and upload and add to the existing website, this happened twice, once with Lloyds TSB Registrars, it took a long time to get the logo to ‘sit’ in the right place on the site; the other time was with Nsure, when the whole site was completely rebuilt to accommodate their logo in a prominent position throughout the site, as requested by client

• implementation and build time hours were more than the Planned Hours by 67.4 hours. In a 200 hour project this is an unusually large discrepancy of 33.7% of the whole project. By pure luck, the Analysis and Research element of the SDLC was greatly reduced because the quality of information received from the client was clear, accurate, informative, in useful format, and the level of information was just right, not too much, not too little. The client responded quickly to requests for information. This unexpected quality element reduced the need for me to analyse and research as much as I had anticipated. Also design issues were greatly reduced, because the temporary web site that was put up as a static website was accepted by the Durrington Festival Committee without one single change in the design, colour, content or any element of the website.

What I would do differently next time I would allow the same level of time for research and analysis as I did before, but I would increase the time of build and implement by 25%. I would not increase it to the full 33.7% discrepancy or difference, because I have taken ‘Passive FTP’ into account and it is unlikely that I will suffer the same issue again without being able to resolve it quickly this time as I have gained knowledge of this problem now.

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Research and Investigation Method

Holding Page Before we started our research and investigation, we created a holding page. We received a logo from the Durrington Festival Committee and I decided that it would test whether the server worked and I could also see how the logo appeared in the browser.

Research Timescale This itself was limited because:

• The DFC had a press release going out at the end of April and wanted to include the website address within the press release

• the DFC stated that they had paid heavily for advertising and wished to link the website to that advertising

Server Research The server space was purchased by the Durrington Festival Committee by one of their Members, as a donation to the Festival Event. This server space was provided by oneandone.co.uk. I checked the server account and administration areas, but could see nowhere, whether it supported php and MySQL or asp and Access Database. It was difficult to establish whether it was Linux based or Microsoft based. I was that oneandone.co.uk offered ‘MSHosting’ and assumed that this was probably Microsoft Hosting. However, there was no way of establishing this from the information available on the server account.

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Domain Name Research Apparently the Durrington Festival Committee had several Domain Names and were a bit confused about which ones they owned. I did some research on WHOIS and came up with lots of information on their names. Here is just a fraction of it. I contacted my client and requested information from them about their existing domain name or names, what web hosting they were using, what passwords they had, so that I could try and establish exactly what domain names they had and what webspace they had access to. I also did a WHOIS search on the names that they were trying to use. Domain ID:D498714-LRMS Domain Name:DURRINGTON.INFO Created On:14-Sep-2001 18:27:33 UTC Last Updated On:15-Sep-2006 15:19:11 UTC Expiration Date:14-Sep-2007 18:27:33 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:Schlund + Partner AG (R113-LRMS) Status:OK Registrant ID:C593920-LRMS Registrant Name:Dave Butler Registrant Organization: Registrant Street1:37 Franklin Road Registrant Street2:Durrington Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Worthing Registrant State/Province:

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Registrant Postal Code:BN13 2PG Registrant Country:GB Registrant Phone: +44.1903690730 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX: Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:[email protected] Admin ID:C593920-LRMS Admin Name:Dave Butler Admin Organization: Admin Street1:37 Franklin Road Admin Street2:Durrington Admin Street3: Admin City:Worthing Admin State/Province: Admin Postal Code:BN13 2PG Admin Country:GB Admin Phone: +44.1903690730 Admin Phone Ext.: Admin FAX: Admin FAX Ext.:

However, the Durrington Festival Committee in the end bought a brand new name called durringtonfestival.org.uk and that seemed to the DFC to be the most sensible option. I was therefore provided with new server space and a new domain name to work with. The server space allocation was 250MB which I considered was completely sufficient for the task as I have designed and built static websites of several pages, with images that use less than 10MB of server space. I did some research by searching for Durrington Festival and came up with lots of old links and addresses. I advised the Durrington Festival Committee that they would need someone to search the internet and update details with the correct website name.

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I also researched other Festival sites, and in particular Brighton Festival site. Brighton is a much bigger festival than the Durrington Festival, however, it gave me some ideas for displaying Forthcoming Events and dates and calendars. I also drew on my previous experience as a child being involved in Festival Events and community events and my own attendance at various festivals, carnivals, fayres, funfairs and music events. I was put in contact with Lisa Hector who provided me with her telephone number and we exchanged calls I prepared a questionnaire for my client and we went though the questions over the telephone. See Appendix (14) I then received a very clear email of my clients requirements and from the information gained from:

• emails • phone calls

together with my existing knowledge of websites gained from: • researching structures of websites • understanding accessibility issues • knowledge of design software • study of navigation and site plans

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• management of image display and file sizes and formats • skills in design • experience of working previously for a charitable organisation

together with: • research on the internet of the previous Durrington Festivals • research of other Festivals

I had also received a copy of the Durrington Festival logo which was bright and cheerful and felt that the site should be made to match those colours, and to be bright and cheerful to match the look of logo.

Problems with the client’s current system My client had no existing system and wanted a brand new website. It appears from copy email I received, that a Member of the Durrington Committee had been attempting to build a website but had failed to be able to upload it, and had experienced difficulties with managing the domain name.

Client’s Requirements The Durrington Festival runs from 2nd June to 9th June 2007 for this year. My client had a meeting planned with a local newspaper who were due to publish a ‘piece’ about the Durrington Festival and the Committee really wished for the website to be publicised then. My client and I discussed the various options and we agreed that we would deal with the project ‘back to front’ This means that we would put up a simple, static website so that the Durrington Festival had a website presence, and then we would work on the design issues, the database and the dynamic pages. We agreed that I would build the website and upload it as quickly as possible and my client could then comment on the design with a view to making changes to the structure, the navigation, the colours, the links, the images and the content.

High Priority A static website As discussed above, this was considered high priority so that client had a presence on the internet to attach to advertising material

Medium Priority Dynamic Pages for Forthcoming Events This was required to give client the freedom to add, change or delete Forthcoming Events

Low Priority Online Competition Entry Competitions have previously been managed without the internet, by using form collection and delivery points at various points around Durrington. Also there were too many time constraints because the close date for the

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competition is two weeks before the Festival starts and there is not enough time in a six-week, one-person project to deal with this more complex task. The reason it is not prioritised higher is because client feels they need Forthcoming Events access more than Competition Entry, also Forthcoming Events has a longer timeline than Competition Entry making it possible to meet the time constraints.

Communication with Client This was carried out by email and during telephone conversations for example, answering the questionnaire over the telephone. I was invited to two meetings, unfortunately was not free on either of the occasions. Therefore all communication has been by telephone, email or through my weekly meetings with my tutor at college. Operating on a one-to-one basis with the Durrington Festival Committee was excellent because the communication was first class, there were no misunderstandings and on both sides, our spelling was excellent, during the whole exercise the text and information was efficiently presented to me. However, with more time, or building upon the existing website, database and dynamic pages it would be useful to meet with the relevant members of the Committee to establish whether they wish to operate their complete Festival through their website, however, this is out of the scope of this six-week project and this project report. To summarise, however, I found email communication and telephone conversations in this instance to be absolutely sufficient for purpose, particularly as my client had a very clear idea of what they wanted and communicated well.

Design

Website structure I prepared a drawing of the planned website structure. See Appendix (4) Proposed website This shows the home page, together with the navigation buttons running vertically down the left-hand side of the page, together with some brief notes of what would be expected to be seen on the page, also showing links to external sites and links to email. It also shows the dynamic element of online form submission to the internet, for insertion to the database sitting on the remote server. It also shows the Durrington Festival Committee user interface, showing their connection to the internet and the database sitting on the server. The drawing also shows payment details and bank.

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Now that the website is complete, the drawing has been amended as there were some design changes during the SDLC process. First, my tutor and I agreed that online payment would be out of the scope of this project. Next I agreed with the Durrington Festival Committee that because they wanted a static site first, we would not have time to prepare the dynamic pages for the competitions, due to their close date being two weeks before the festival date and there would be not enough time to research, analyse, design, build, implement, test and maintain in the short lead in period. However, it was agreed that we would create a dynamic element for the Forthcoming Events and there would be a login and a user interface for this. This means that a Committee Member with the login name and password details could update Forthcoming Events from anywhere that there was a computer with an internet connection. Please see Appendix (5) Drawing of actual website structure at end of project period

Database The database has been designed to accommodate people, competitions, and forthcoming events using open source software.

Database Software used The software used for the database design was mySql and php.

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The plan was to build the website using Access Database and asp pages, however it was discovered that the server space did not support Access Database and asp pages, but supported mySql and php. This was discovered prior to any actual design work being carried out, so there was minimal loss of hours incurred over accessing a server to support asp pages and Access Database technology. This change caused no design changes whatsoever, as the server issue was identified very early on in the process. This actually assisted me because, separately from this project, I had an interest in using and implementing mySql and php and had purchased my own private server space to design and test which supported MySQL and php and therefore this meant that I was able to design and test on my test space before designing and building within the actual website and remote server space on the live website. I downloaded phpMyAdmin which helps to support MySQL, however discovered that my server space also had the same software sitting on the server, for my use.

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I also ran a test, using pure code, to connect to the database. This code had been provided as part of our studies into programming languages for the internet from another lesson.

The above screenshot is gained by using the correct path to the database on the server within the correct php code. I then ran a few other pieces of code, to gain understanding of how it all worked

The ‘high’ colour background helped me to determine that the server had made a new connection and refreshed the page. When I ran a new test, I changed the background colour in the code to make sure that I was reading the right result each time. This screenshot shows tables, the Event table and TestData table. I also ran some code that would show the ‘Databases’ on the server.

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In order to accommodate dynamic pages, we required to ‘upgrade’ the server package. It was found that there was a cheaper deal and the Durrington Festival Committee purchased server space for a year for £30. I transferred the DNS which is the Domain Name Server from oneandone.co.uk to the new server kerchan.com and this was a straight-forward process. I did this late at night because I expected there might be some technical hitches and that the website might not appear on the internet for the expected hour that it took to make the change. However, refreshing the page every 5 minutes showed that there was no loss (or certainly only minimal loss) of the website on the internet. Here is a screenshot showing the details of the changeover.

I then went into the server space and looked around at the files, the phpMyAdmin section and familiarised myself with the new server space. I already have some space of my own for testing purposes on this server so the management of the server space, although new to me only a month before this project, was familiar. The purchase of this server space meant that the design, although originally was going to be in asp pages and Microsoft Access database, would now be prepared in php and MySQL.

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Context Diagram This shows:

• local residents using the site as an information point • competition entrant’s requesting a form download • competition entrant’s online application and confirmation • Committee Member uploading Forthcoming Events details • Festival participants inputting personal details for application to

participate • Chair of the Committee, receiving reports of competition entries and

Festival Participant application details Some of these items are being implemented in the future, however they have been designed in to the Entity Relationship Diagram. See Appendix (6)

Entity Relationship Diagram This design is of a relational database that deals with the management of people, competitions and events data. The database can be added to at any time with additional information by way of different tables. For example, if there is a new competition launched, a table may be designed to accommodate that new competition, retrieving existing data from the other tables that manage say, the personal data. See Appendix (7)

Software used • Macromedia Dreamweaver • Macromedia Fireworks • Microsoft Project • Microsoft Access • Microsoft Excel • Microsoft Word • Microsoft Publisher • Microsoft Visio • Microsoft Outlook Express • CamStudio • MySQL • PHP • Terrapin FTP

Summary of Design Issues Usually, with a client, a website designer will draw diagrams, suggest colours, discuss layout, talk about images and their content, and work with the client to work out a suitable layout. In this particular instance, because of time constraints with the clients imminent press release and heavy cost of advertising, client wanted a static website published almost immediately.

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The design drawings and all of the usual flow of information for design has all been incorporated in the urgent static website – if you like, to consider we have ‘missed’ that stage. Because the design was published almost immediately, and the client approved every item, colour, image, text content and display style, navigation and location of items, we have missed that element of the design process. The balance of the design, being database design and dynamic pages is straight-forward. The current design allows for growth, change and more dynamic pages within the website. The database used was selected from the most popular which are:

• Microsoft Access Database • Oracle Database • MySQL Database

Microsoft Access was my preferred option initially. This was because I understood, mistakenly, that the server space purchased by the Durrington Festival Committee supported MS Access. However, although oneandone.co.uk (the server space provider) did support MS Access, the package that had been purchased was designed to work with MySQL. I did have some minor concerns about using Microsoft Access Database because apparently it ‘locks’ whilst someone is using it and therefore may not be suitable for a larger scale dynamic website design. I considered using Oracle Database, however my understanding is that although there is a free version, we had difficulty in exporting databases and although this needs further research, apparently if Oracle is purchased then databases may be exported. I had not really worked with MySQL other than a little input on the command line. However, all feedback from other developers and research on the internet showed that this was a popular database to use, not only is it efficient but also open source, so there is no cost element. The same applies to the dynamic pages, my initial choice was asp (Active Server Pages), however, the server space we purchased to support the dynamic pages did not support ASP.

Therefore these software choices and design choices were influenced by circumstances, cost, research and evaluation and I consider that we made the most appropriate choice for this project.

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Development, Implementation and Testing The site was developed as a static website first. Then the dynamic pages were developed. This was achieved by setting up a series of php pages in my testing server, then coding them to work by creating a connection to the database, see screenshot below:

This is a screenshot of my test site and this is where the majority of my design, build, implementation and testing was carried out

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This is a screenshot of my test page of forthcoming events on my test site. This shows the bindings. This shows the repeat of table rows which is added as a Server Behaviour and I am experimenting with layout in this screenshot

This is a screenshot showing the implementation of Event Input, in a very rough draft on my testing server

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Here is an error, which occurred during testing, and is a known error that is caused by creating an index, which I did on ‘Date’ Field in the database. Because this tested in this way, and we did not need the index for this small amount of data likely to be stored on this database table, I took the index out of the design for the actual design. However, I did research this and there is a ‘fix’ available for this error.

This is a screenshot of MySQL being prepared in the command line and by doing this, this helped me to understand how MySQL worked.

I found difficulties with the format of date display and spent a long time researching code on the internet that would change the display to a more readable format. I found the following code on the us3php. net site for the date : <?php $timestamp = $row_Event_rs['Event_Date']; $year = substr($timestamp, 0, 4); $month = substr($timestamp, 5, 2); $day = substr($timestamp, 8, 2); $varTheDate = date('D, d M Y', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month, $day, $year)); if ($varTheDate == 'Wed, Dec 31, 1969') { $varTheDate = "No Date Set"; } echo $varTheDate; ?>

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This worked ok. Then I wrote similar code for the time display <?php $timestamp = $row_Event_rs['Event_Time']; $hour = substr($timestamp, 0, 2); $minute = substr($timestamp, 3, 2); $varTheTime = date('g.i a', mktime($hour, $minute)); if ($varTheTime == '12.00 am') { $varTheTime = " "; } echo $varTheTime; ?> I then found there was a download for Dreamweaver that would assist with this date format display issue, so I downloaded it, but I kept my code in as it worked well. Here is a screenshot of Dreamweaver, after the time format download. Before the download, Dreamweaver did not have the ability to format the date in MySQL and php automatically.

The building of the dynamic pages was completed, and instructions for use were placed on the dynamic pages, and for anyone that uses the internet and completes online forms would find it simple and straight-forward to use. The only problem that I see with it is the format going ‘in’ to the database, I have not yet been able to address that issue and it is a priority for me to do so.

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Here are some screenshots of the finished dynamic pages:

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Here the link matches the ID’s and shows just the one record for deletion

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This is where I placed the link to the Confirm Delete page and the coding for the record ID to match

Test Strategy I prepared a Test Plan early on in the project listing all the items that I would anticipate would require testing. During the development of the project, as items were designed in, they were checked to see that they were included in the Test Plan. Each time I added/update/deleted an element of the website design I would test it before moving on to the next item. For example, if I was adding an image, with a rollover effect, I would prepare the image, add it to the website, together with the rollover effect, then I would add the alternate text and the necessary link. Then I would test in browser, usually using just one browser for this type of testing, and then I would add this item to the test plan, and I would test that the image worked, the rollover worked, the sizing was correct, the alternate text was correct, and that it did not distort the other pages. Towards the end of the project I had tested so much, that it became very easy and I got into a routine of clicking each button in order, clicking each link in order and cross checking links on each page. Please see Appendix (9ii)) Test Plan

User Reference Manual All of the instructions are on the dynamic pages themselves.

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Here is an extract from the email instructions provided to client with the password hidden for the purpose of this report. The procedure to ADD a Forthcoming Event is:

1. Open the website www.durringtonfestival.org.uk 2. Navigate to 'Forthcoming Events' 3. Scroll down the page of the events listed to the very end, and click the link

'Committee Member - Log in here to update' 4. Enter the login details - user name nickyroberts password ******** 5. The Welcome Screen will appear 6. Click on ADD a Forthcoming event 7. Type in the 5 boxes the Event Name, Date, Time, Venue, Other Information 8. Click Submit 9. Nicky will receive a message that the website has been updated 10. If Nicky then looks at Forthcoming Events on the website, the new event that has just

been added will be listed there (Nicky may need to 'refresh' the page if the Forthcoming Events page was open before adding the event by clicking on "View" on the top menu bar of Internet Explorer and then "Refresh". That will provide an up-to-date image of the page.)

Nicky then has the option to add more Forthcoming Events, or to delete an event.

1. To DELETE 2. Click on Delete an Event 3. Type the first letter of the event in the search box, i.e for Funfair, type 'F' 4. All the events beginning with F appear 5. At the end of the row listing the event, click the link 'delete' 6. Just the item you selected will appear 7. You will be asked to confirm the delete 8. Confirm the delete by clicking the button 9. The item is now deleted

At any time you can exit the procedure even if you are half-way through adding or deleting and go back to the main website.

Keeping the site up-to-date This is not an easy task with an annual event such as a Carnival. However, keeping Forthcoming Events up-to-date has been addressed because the user has a dynamic interface that they can use to manage Forthcoming Events. It would be useful to filter by date, this is something for the future. For example, at the moment the date is in ascending order, but we need to add some code, in psuedocode it would be:

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http://www.durringtonfestival.org.uk/


if the date of the event is smaller than today’s date then do not display this event

The website will need updating with winners names, images of the actual event, maybe how much money was raised, or where it is being channelled. It could actually become quite a useful ‘meeting point’ for the people of Durrington and become a community website, rather than just an annual Festival website, and I think that is the direction it may take, depending upon the take-up in the community of working together to achieve Durrington Festival Committees goals.

Submission to Google Search Engine This was done very early on, so as to allow Google the time it requires to crawl the web and find the site and link it to its search facility

and later….here are the search results I did in early June, however it has been appearing in Google Results since mid May, approximately two weeks after I submitted the details to Google

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System Evaluation

From the client’s perspective The client is pleased that:

• the website was launched quickly so that expensive advertising could refer people to the website address

• the navigation and structure of the website is as drawn, as they have had the option to change anything they want, and they have not requested one single design change

• that the website looked professional, this may have assisted in attracting high profile sponsors such as Lloyds TSB Registrars and Nsure, Splash FM, The Worthing Herald and many more

• the sponsors would appear to get their name and logo and website links ‘advertised’ on the Durrington Festival website, this in turn may make it easier for the Durrington Festival Committee to raise money from other sponsors

• raises the profile generally of the event to have a website that appears to be well designed

• the ability for the Festival Committee to update Forthcoming Events themselves is extremely useful as they will be able to manage information displayed in this section of the website themselves and thus it creates a greater sense of ownership and freedom to add items as and when they are ready to be listed.

The screenshot below shows the two main sponsors with their details in prominent places, which display on every page, being Lloyds TSB Registrars

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and Nsure, also listed are all of the logos on the sponsor sites, with links to their respective websites.

From Northbrook College’s perspective Northbrook College has quite a high profile in the Worthing and Shoreham area and is constantly being publicised in the local press for the good work of its students and tutors and for innovative work. This website design, coupled with the status of the Members of the Durrington Festival Committee goes a little way in continuing to promote Northbrook College as a quality learning centre.

From my Tutor’s perspective I feel that my tutor put Northbrook College very much on the line by letting me loose on this website for the Durrington Festival Committee. Had the website been poorly designed, it would obviously have been a reflection of the tuition at Northbrook College, however this has not occurred and all feedback from client is positive.

From my perspective I am really happy with the website. First of all I am happy that I managed to get a static website up and running really quickly, second that the client was offered design changes, ie colour, layout, navigation, content, image layout, and they chose to leave it exactly as it is without one single change.

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This means that I have anticipated well their requirement, and I think this was achieved by blending into the website the colours that were on their logo. I am very happy with the navigation, it is clear, however it does not allow easily for additional items, and I felt at times that I needed more flexibility with navigation. I think the images are adequate. The standard of images that I received from the Durrington Festival Committee to use were of varying standards, with dull skies, and dull colour through to some really beautiful weather with blue sky and crystal clear pictures. However it takes me a long time to prepare an image, as I import it into Fireworks, I get the content, size and rotation ok and select the area of the image that I want to present on the website, then crop it, size it again to make sure it’s accurate, export it to dreamweaver, then pick it up and insert it. It is quite a time consuming process, and I wish I had a way of dealing with this dynamically, as I am sure this is possible. For example, get all of the images the same size, and then there could be a slideshow somewhere, or dynamic links using the database. However, this is beyond the scope of this project. The best bit of the website is the Forthcoming Events, I am absolutely delighted with it. This is because any Committee Member anywhere in the world that has access to a computer with internet access may update the Forthcoming Events. That seems like the ultimate to me. To have a website, where you do not need any technical knowledge whatsoever, you do not need to buy any software, and you don’t really need any training as it is so intuitive to use. So this is where I want to continue developing my skills.

From a user’s perspective The website has all the information needed to attend or participate in any of the Festival events. However, it would have been good to be able to provide more online communication, for example, online application to run a stall in the Village Fayre, online competition application, download of event material, forms, terms and conditions. I consider that most people expect some interactivity now when they visit a website, and if it is just static, they can be slightly disappointed. On the other hand, it does provide information about events, and provides contact telephone numbers and email addresses and contact names and I think for a Festival of this size and type, this is essential information that in today’s business world is expected to be able to be accessed from a website.

If I could do anything differently I would still prepare the static site first and as a high priority item, but I would advise the Durrington Festival Committee that once the static site was uploaded and live, apart from any initial amendments that were required, there would be no amendments allowed until the complete system

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development life cycle was in place and the site was being implemented. This would have saved me a lot of time. I would then have used that time to design, build, implement and test the dynamic element and I would possibly have been able to deal with the online competition entry within that time. I experienced a lot of file management difficulties which I thought were because of the remote server setup, but it seems the difficulties were related to Passive FTP and the fact that I have a wireless router, even though I use an Ethernet connection. The next time I have a technical issue, I will sit back and think about it logically, and try and focus on getting the right information to manage the issue, rather than just keep trying to upload files that just will not work, without trying to resolve the issue. The reason I was not able to resolve the issue immediately is because I didn’t know anything about Passive FTP and I still do not know that much, although I have had a brief look on the internet and plan to research this fully outside the scope of this project. I did try to address Accessibility, but I did leave that till last and there is not as much Accessibility as I would like on the website. Again, this is due to time constraints but I am not sure that it is acceptable to me, or others to not address Accessibility as really this should be a priority and I will take that thought process with me to my next website development and apply it. I would have liked to have provided an alternative to the displayed text using CSS and a button for a user to click to change the layout. I would also have liked to have had just text pages for a user to read. I did however do something that I have always wanted to do, and that is to name Navigation Buttons as exactly that, because I have tested a speech browser at home, and shutting my eyes, it is very difficult to determine what is Navigation and what is not. This way, the user with the speech browser can run the mouse down the Navigation Buttons and the alternate text states:

“Navigation Button – Home” “Navigation Button – Carnival”

……….and so on. This I feel is one step forward for a person with certain Accessibility issues and I will continue to try and address this further in all my future website designs. I would have liked to have used a webcam and created a broadcast of the Carnival. I would like to have met with my client in person as I feel that I would have learned more about their existing procedure than I know at the moment.

Tasks planned that took longer than anticipated The upload of files was extremely problematic. The server space for webhosting had been purchased by a Member of the Durrington Festival Committee and I was not familiar with using this server, which was a oneandone server. When I transferred files to the webspace, they

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transferred perfectly well and tested all ok. The next day, when I went in to check the website, some files would not display properly, so I would correct them. This occurred several times, more than six times and each time it showed the web site pages not displaying properly. I telephoned one and one and they could throw no light on the problem, and I considered that maybe I was corrupting the files somehow in Dreamweaver, as the remote servers are set up on various websites on my pc, and there are different remote servers for each different web site. So I took extreme care when managing files and made a completely new folder and did not open any other websites in Dreamweaver, however the problem persisted. Durrington Festival Committee then purchased additional webspace on a different server, of which I have used before, and I sent the files over to the new server, they tested perfectly well, and then I changed the DNS and monitored the changeover, which went well with no downtime of the website. However, the corruption of the files continued, and the technical support for the new webserver advised ‘ticking’ the Passive FTP box in Dreamweaver on the site definition (Edit Site) area. They advised that as I was using a wireless router, even though my computer network card was connected via Ethernet cable, that this was causing the issue. I need to investigate this further, however, selected Passive FTP on the site set up in Dreamweaver. Since selecting Passive FTP I have had no problem with the files being corrupted. Here is a screenshot just giving a glimpse of some of the file corruption that occurred

Project Futures I have thought about this, and there are some scheduling issues to consider

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First of all, there is a lot to do to complete the system so that it may be used next year, for example, we need to:

• build the database for online competition entry • build the database for person/participant/event management • test • train Members of Durrington Festival Committee • maintain the website, database and dynamic pages

We also need to:

• clear all of the detail of this year’s Festival • provide information on competition winners • publish any post-Festival information that Committee want to publish

on the website Next year:

• will be a new carnival, requiring new images and a ‘fresh’ look • it is likely the website will need to be totally redesigned, or else it may

be redeveloped during the year • sponsors may be different • if I am at college next year, then the busy time for me will be with my

end of year project, and this will coincide with the same time period that Durrington Festival Committee will want their website updated and information input

Considerations

• I have considered working on the Durrington Festival website next year for my project, but feel it may not be commercial enough. I would like to try working for a business client who is retailing on the internet for next year’s project if that is appropriate and meets the project requirements for next year.

• For example I may be able to design the website for Lifeline Care, which is likely to cover processes such as booking a ‘home help’ online.

Project Futures - Conclusion I will extend my assistance to the Durrington Festival Committee but make them aware that I will have time constraints to deal with next year with my end of year project and will not be able to dedicate that time, from March 2008 onwards, to their website apart from some very minor input. It may be that some training can be given to assist the Durrington Festival Committee to upload information, however, this training is likely to be extensive and beyond the scope of this project.

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Jane Jakeman of 41

Summary Taking all of the content of the above report into consideration, I feel that the website design with the dynamic pages generally met the project brief for the client in terms of content and scheduling. I feel that the website provides an information point and also my client has the flexibility to update the website themselves (Forthcoming Events). Had I have not spent so much time on the static website I feel this website would have contained more dynamic element at this stage. However I feel that my client finds this website useful and will wish to take it forward and use it extensively next year. I have learned a lot about working with Dreamweaver, MySQL, php, searching for information on the internet and in designing and displaying dynamic pages and for me, I feel that this is just the start of a lot of fun with dynamic page design. I will continue using php and MySQL as much as possible as I feel they are the most appropriate pieces of software together with the added attraction that they are Open Source and therefore cost effective. I have found that during this project I have been working very much in ‘building block’ mode, ie I have been building on all of the work that I did last year, and feel that last year’s work gave me a solid foundation to build upon to create this website and complete this year. I found when I started approaching a task for this project, that learning in another area suddenly became appropriate and relevant, the only way I can describe it is a bit like ‘roads and streets’ - I know each road and street, but all of a sudden, they are joining up together and falling into place and that is the same with this course. It’s all beginning to fall into place.

hnd in computing year 2 major project...

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