Bulding Community Service Projects Effectively1 BUILDING COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS EFFECTIVELY Lisa MacLean and Michael Werner Department of Computer Science and Systems Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MA 02115

2 Why Community Projects May satisfy community service requirements for graduation Students become aware of the social and ethical implications of computing Real projects are more demanding than toy projects – The students learn more Students are highly motivated

3 Some Recent Projects St. Francis House – A homeless shelter needed a database system to track the delivery of services. The Nelson Mandela Training Center - An online application process for students seeking training Parker Hill/Fenway ABCD - A database of available day care slots. New England Home for Little Wanderers - A web- enabled application for sponsoring Christmas gifts Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts - A registration system for courses and other services

4 Difficulties and Constraints Semesters are too short Students are inexperienced Project schedules conflict with coop FallSpringSummer Sophomores Coop? Juniors Coop SeniorsCoop

5 Community-based organization Serves African Americans and other residents of color Provides job training and professional skills Advocacy and public policy Funded by donations, foundations, government entities

6 ULEM’s Software Need Enroll students into training courses On-Line Applications Internal review and approval Tracking attendance and progress Provide reporting internally and to funding agencies

7 Initial Scope 1. EPST (Employment and Professional Skills Training Program) 2. SCSP (Seniors in Community Service Program) 3. Parent Involvement Program 4. Youth Program 5. Technology Training Program 6. Volunteer Program

8 Actors Public – Browse courses on-line and request admission. Front-Line Staff – Help walk-ins fill out request forms. Coordinators – Create courses, approve enrollment, and record attendance and progress. Managers – Report to funding sources on services delivered. Database Administrators – Maintain database integrity

9 Project Initiation (Spring ’03) Database Class Sophomores Back-end design Identify data elements Prepare database schema Class divided into 6 groups Each group assigned to one ULEM program Running example driving the lectures Software Design Class Seniors Front-end design HTML screens Server-side scripting Business logic Single group Other groups did unrelated projects Not used much in the lectures

10 Collaboration and Project Management Back-end team sent representatives to meet with the client Front-end team met separately with client Professors plus a few students acted as liaisons Front-end was held up waiting for the database design Little over-all project management

11 Database Explosion Back-end produced 6 database designs for the 6 programs Massive data integration problem (200 tables) Front-end team mocked up a database design so they could test their scripts

12 Stored Procedures Instituted by back-end teams Provided good security Front-end could call stored procedures without needing to know their implementation Back-end was free to modify database design while maintaining the procedures Lessened the need for coordinating front and back ends

13 Summer and Fall ‘03 One Senior continued the project Reduced to a single ULEM program Wrote ASP scripts using stored procedures (but these were unreliable) Different Senior continued in the Fall Massive database and stored procedure redesign

14 Spring ‘04 New front-end team constituted Rewrote ASP scripts into PHP Prototype completed and installed on ULEM’s computers ULEM staff start providing feedback and bug reports BUT – ULUM had switched to Active Directory Login procedures needed to be rewritten

15 Project Completion – Summer ‘04 One Senior completed the project Most bugs addressed Authentication conformed to active directory.

16 Risk Factors Identified Communication can break down The development team may lack needed skills. Projects may fail to progress in a timely fashion. Participants may have different goals and time schedules. Integrating work done by separate groups is problematic. If projects drag, clients are likely to change their requirements.

17 Better Next time The client contract Developer’s commitment and time line Client’s commitment and time line Clear requirements specification Student preparation Formal course in project management Course in WWW applications including server- side scripting

18 Project Management  Estimating costs and benefits  Work breakdown into phases and tasks  Assigning personnel to tasks  Coordinating  Assessing risks  Managing resources  Monitoring progress  Managing artifacts  Tracking costs and resources

19 Nonprofits share common traits Provide services free or at reduced cost. Employ both paid staff members and volunteers. Funded by government agencies, foundations and contributors. Need to report on how funds are used. Need to manage day-to-day operations such as scheduling classes and appointments Require different levels of access for different users Prefer common web interfaces for use internally by the staff, and externally by contributors, clients and the public.

20 Application Frameworks Reusable partial application Provides core functionality to support nonprofits Customizable to meet specific requirements Under development at Wentworth

21 Layered Architecture

22 Implementation Languages SQL –Database back-end and building stored procedures. PHP –Server-side programming. PHP has strong database interfaces. HTML –Client and server side web programming. Javascript –Client-side checking of requests prior to submission.

23 Future Directions Service learning is valuable Students gain experience with real projects Give-back to the community New - Center for Service learning Better understanding of how to do it Student and faculty preparation Project management Application frameworks

24 Questions?