Research Website Grants Database View

The primary functionalities that are worked out for the application are:

• Administration functionality.
  • Updating the records for the grants.
  • Creating new users to update records and administrating them.
• Searching through the records.
• A MySQL database will be used to store the grants records and the users.
• Updating the grants records will be done through a web interface where the user will upload an XML file of the grants. The XML file can be created from an Access database by exporting it or the documentation states that Peoplesoft can export data into a XML file as well. A primary reason for using an XML file is to ensure that the application does not need to be refactored each time a vendor has a change of format. CHANGE: Instead of an XML file the update will be done with a CSV file.
• The search will be a keyword search on all or selected fields of the records.

Estimated hours split among the work:

• (1 hr) Setup Database
• (3 hr) Templates
• (4 hr) Keyword search
• (5 hr) Update records
• (4 hr) Users

Extra padding has been added to the tasks to account for any possible problems.

The report will originate from a PeopleSoft Finance public query:

UM_GM_OTD_CURRENT_AWARDS

• In the Grants query results, there is a field named “type”. Are its values enumerated?
  This means, is there a set list of values that the data can be (ex: a list of 5 choices), or can the data be anything (endless posibilities)?

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ‘TYPE’ CODES REPRESENT. I CAN FIND OUT IF NECESSARY, BUT I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO DECRYPT THESE CODES. I WOULD JUST LEAVE THEM IN THE SEARCH RESULTS LISTING. THERE IS NO NEED TO SEARCH BY ‘TYPE’ (SEE BELOW).

• Who enters this data and from where?

DATA IS PRIMARILY ENTERED BY THE OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS; HOWEVER, SOME OF THE DATA IS CURRENTLY BEING ENTERED BY DEPARTMENTS. EVENTUALLY, THE DATA WILL BE ALL ENTERED BY DEPARTMENTS.

• Which field or fields would be ideal to search by?

IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SEARCH THE TITLES BY KEYWORD. IT WOULD ALSO BE NICE TO SEARCH BY ‘INVESTIGATOR’ AND BY ‘DEPARTMENT’. THERE IS NO NEED TO SEARCH BY DATE, TYPE, CONTRACT NUMBER, OR SPONSOR.

• Would limiting the search to one or two fields be ok?

THERE IS NO NEED TO SEARCH MORE THAN ONE FIELD AT A TIME. SOMEONE WOULD NOT BE SEARCHING TITLES AND WANT TO USE THE SAME SEARCH TERM TO SEARCH THE DEPARTMENT OR INVESTIGATOR FIELDS.

• How do you want results ordered / sorted?

FIRST BY ‘PRIMARY CONTACT’ (THE BETTER TERM WOULD BE ‘PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR’ OR JUST ‘INVESTIGATOR’ OR ‘PI’), THEN BY DATE.

• Do you want a search or link that also shows all results?
  (instead of a search that shows limited results Ex: entering nothing into the search could provide all grants)

I THINK THAT THE SEARCH SHOULD SHOW ALL RESULTS; ALTHOUGH, IF SOMEONE SEARCHES ON A BLANK FIELD, THEY SHOULD NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. IF A SEARCH RESULT INVOLVES A LARGE NUMBER, IT MIGHT BE NICE TO HAVE A PAGE LIMITATION, I.E., LIKE GOOGLE ETC. IF SOMEONE SEARCHES AND GETS A LARGE RESULT, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REFINE THEIR SEARCH TO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF RECORDS FOUND.

• The search on peoplesoft requires user interaction. It asks “PLEASE ENTER ACTIVE DATE:”.
  What should be entered here? Will it always be the same date? If not, is it a predictable date (ex: 30 days before the current date)?

• I am curious if you wish to add an introduction to the page and what copyright information and such you wish to place in the footer?

Simple instructions or an introduction that describes the information might be useful.

• Where should the page reside?

Stephen: Can you take a look at the research web site? The search engine page should match the color scheme, etc. so it fits in. I am copying Eleanor on this e-mail in case she needs her designer to work with you to make it look like the search engine is part of the Research page.

Nick: This is pretty important, but somewhat easy to switch to (especially since you used properly structured code). They want it to fit into a template of a page that has already been created. You can probably alter the existent css, or add a new reference and your own file. The style of the text et al should obviously look similar to the rest of the site. The search would go in the light blue right section of the inner research pages. Look here for an example: http://www.umbc.edu/research/blog/archives/2005/10/weird_wasps_hat_1.html . The pages were created in photoshop and dreamweaver. There should be dreamweaver template files out there. If not, let Eleanor or me know.