Meeting with Betty

Today we went down with Enlace and presented her with our final product. We had let her know that the website was up and to look over and provide us with feedback. She just let us know about some minor things that she would like adjusted on the website. The only major thing that needs to be done is setting up the paypal account on the website, we have scheduled a time to talk with her bookkeeper about acquiring the neccessary information. Also we showed her the database for the first time today and she was ecstatic about the way the database looked. We left the database with her and will allow her to get used to it and provide us with feedback on anything she needs changed. Also we began setting up a network folder to place the database in on some of her computers and will be going back later this week or next week to complete setting that up. We also realized that her wireless network was not encrypted. This was going to become a big issue as her database was now going to be on her network. We encrypted her wireless network so that these files could not be accessed by any user. We will be setting up a time either this week or next week to go down and meet with her again.

Update

Yesterday our group meet and began working on our work on our formal presentation. We were able to meet and finish our power point presentation that we will present to the class today. Our database and website are as close to completion as they can be. All the hard parts of both pieces have been completed. There are a few aesthetic things that need to be done to each to clean them up. Also we heard back from Betty and will be heading down May 4th at 2:30 to present her with our final product. This Friday we will be going down to and re recording our tape with Betty and getting some more shots of the place and also showing her our database and seeing what she thinks about it.

Meeting with Betty Last Week

Last week we met with Betty and were able to record at least the opening part of the video we wanted to place on the website. We also have set up a temporary time to potentially go back in May to record some videos of the Holyoke Unites meeting. These videos will not hold up our website as we be able to add them later on. Also we have gotten the ball rolling on our database and have added in queries and tested them out with sample data and they seem to be working fine so far. The next process going forward is starting to work out our manuals which is something we we will begin this week. I believe we are definitely on the schedule with the one we set it to accomplish before our this semester began.

Meeting with Betty

The Thursday before we left for spring break we met with Betty at Enlace in Holyoke. We had a very productive meeting and were able to clear up a lot of points of confusion. We showed her what we had so far with the website and she was more than impressed, she was ecstatic of the progress we had made thus far. She loved everything about and was very appreciative of what we had done. She provided us with a lot more content for the website and we are on pace so far with the website. As far as the database she provided us with required information we were missing. We had created the templates from what she had given us and it steered us slightly off track as we had to do a little more work than was necessary but now that we have exactly what we need we should be all set going forward and will hopefully have a meeting with her in the coming weeks to ensure that we are still providing for her what it is that she needs.

Website and Database Update

After running into a few snags with our website we have got the ball rolling. Dave and Katie have been working for the most part on the website. We have decided on a template that we like which is the same one that the Juntos Collaborative. There are still some structural changes that need to be made but Dave and Katie are getting a good grasp on Joomla and hopefully will not run into any more issues. Ansari and myself have finished our templates but have run into some issues about whether some sheets should be put into a databse or not. A lot of the intake forms are repetitive making us wonder if it would be possible to make a universal form with some extra spots that would pertain to people's situations. We are planning to meet with Betty either at the end of this week or early next week to discuss with her what she thinks going forward would be the best options for the database. After meeting with her I will provide another update on the blog.

Website Update

Last Wednesday we set up the hosting with Dreamhost and installed Joomla with Ashley's help (Thanks, Again!).  We had some trouble logging into the administrator backend, but I finally figured out what the problem was.  Right now, we've got the site running but with a message that it is under construction. 

I need to add more admins and start working with templates and content. Also, this week I would like to have a basic layout set so that we are ready to add content and start working with the extensions.  Betty requested a mapping feature similar Google maps module on the Holyoke Unites site. Also, Betty wants to have a slideshow on the front page. If anyone has any suggestions for best modules to use, your advice is appreciated. 

Hope all is well, 

Dave

Meeting with Betty

Our group met with Betty on Friday and were able to get a lot of valuable information. She said that she was very satisfied with our proposal and is excited to get started. We also received some encouraging news regarding our training of the employees at Enlace. She said that americorps is going to provide them with a tech who will be able to train and support them with microsoft access. This takes some of the burden off of us to teach them how to use the database that we design. Also we have a very good understanding of what she would like for the website. She was very specific about what it was she was looking for which will make it easier for the group to design. Also for the database she is going to be in touch us because she is meeting with some one who is going to provide us with exactly what she is looking for in the database. We are currently waiting to hear back from her and will provide an update as soon as we hear back.

Group Meeting

Our group met for the first time today after break. We discussed what we had learned over break, we each spent time learning joomla and Microsoft access. We feel that we have all gathered enough information on these two pieces of software to jump in and begin working immediately. We have split up our group into teams Ansari and myself will be working on the database using Microsoft Access. Dave and Katie will be working with joomla for the website. These groups of course are not permanent we will all be working on both projects and help out each other as much as possible.
We come up with a tentative schedule for now until the end of the semester with a week by week breakdown of what our two mini groups will be doing. For this first week we will filter through the current information we gathered from last semester and start planning how our information will be used in the database and the website. With our current schedule if everything goes according to plan we should have about two weeks at the end to troubleshoot. Also we have planned for a buffer week at the end for anything that may occur during the semester that may push our schedule back.