Re: What am I looking for?


<robert@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:420c6540-3cf6-4b1c-a239-b8b3faf0fae4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all
I used to post here a lot years ago, but now I skim read the group.
It's a coincidence that this topic has come up. Years ago similar
discussions were held here and the problem of constantly re-inventing
the wheel came up. Some people had their own electronic record keeping
system that fit their purposes but doesn't exactly fit others. My self
included. I think the situation is still the same but I think there is
one access database going round. (I got the link to download off this
group in jan/feb this year.)
About 3 or 4 years ago I had a problem with my access database and
needed to redevelop it from scratch and based on the discussions from
this group I redeveloped it in a way I hoped that would make it easy
for people to jump in and write their own bits to it. The coincidence
is that only 4 days ago I have started work on a community website
onto which I plan to use to try and recruit people who can help take
ownership of the whole project and help develop what I have into
something that is wildly useful.
The website is not ready (I think I will need at least a month to put
it together) but I do have the old (now abandoned website) which has
the latest version of the program and some documentation.
(www.metcarob.com and click on the electronic scout management
project.)
I am pleased that some people here have mentioned that they have VBA
skills because if they were to join in they could add plenty to what I
am trying to do.
I'm going to continue working on the website (are there any drupal
experts around here?) I will paste the first FAQ article I have
written here so if anyone's interested they can have a taste of what I
am trying to do.

How does Scout Management Stop us from having to re-invent the wheel?

The Problem
Leaders in every youth organisation need to keep various records. The
most sensible way to do this is frequently to use computers and some
of the more computer literate users are able to build databases or
write programs to store this information. This causes a problem since
writing and maintaining a working database takes a lot of time and
effort. Most of this work is duplicated and many of the databases
solve specific problems. E.g. A Scout leader will develop a database
useful for Scout leaders but will omit features she doesn't need that
a Beaver leader would.



The Solution
Scout management has been designed to address these issues in a number
of ways:

Publicly available source code
Developed by a community
Owned by a community as opposed to as single person
Modular Design
Community of developers and testers
Comprehensive online documentation
Public and open Bug Tracking system
Public and open Feature request System
Support for users provided by community

Note: At the time of writing this is not yet developed. I am currently
trying to build a community who will contribute to making this work.




Modular Design
The most important part of making Scout Management useful to as many
people as possible is making sure that as many people as possible are
able to add their own ideas to the project. The program has been
designed in a way to promote this.

There is a basic core (SM_Backend) which stores all the data and
performs validation on input. This basic core is written in c++. The
idea is that c++ developers are able to create programs that link in
with this core. This could result in lots of different applications
accessing the same information. The core will be developed by a
community.

For windows users there is also a COM interface. This uses SM_Backend
to provide an interface to the Scout Management data for developers
who use COM. This means that Excel, Word and Access developers who use
VBA can create programs using the data. The COM interface is community
developed.

I hope that this design results in a number of programmers working on
creating useful applications that share the same data. This will
results in users being able to use these programs and share
information. Developers will be able to join in with the community and
help develop Scout Management, or if they prefer could go it alone
with their own projects that make use of the components available.

OK it looks interesting and installed it - but I don't really want it at
work so how do I uninstall it (or do I just delete it).

Thanks

DaveB
West Yorks


.

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