Functional Requirements and User Interaction:

Management Plan:

Final Summary and editing final version:

Executive Summary

The system will serve as a group time management system providing personal schedules for all employees and a meeting scheduler that employees can use to schedule meetings which will then appear on the schedules of invited employees.

Time Tracker will be divided conceptually into two sub-systems; the Meeting Scheduler and the Personal Daytimer. The Meeting Scheduler will use employee availability data and existing meeting times to determine optimal time for a meeting and then inform those involved of the meeting. The personal daytimer will provide each employee with an `at a glance` view of their personal schedules.

Time Tracker will satisfy the need to schedule meetings with multiple co-workers in a fast, reliable, and efficient manner. An employee will be able to schedule meetings with other employees without having to make direct contact with each employee involved in the meeting or know the schedule of the employee. Time Tracker will enhance communication between employees enabling them to work together more efficiently and spend less time in non-productive activites such as 'phone tag'. An easy to use mouse driven interface will empower the customer to get maximum use of this application very quickly after it's deployment.

Meeting Scheduler Sub-System

1. Schedule meetings: Employees will be able to schedule a meeting or appointment on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. As well, an employee may schedule single, "one-time-only" meetings. When a meeting is scheduled, the system searches for the first time slot when all employees invited to the meeting are available. If the system cannot create an acceptable meeting time then it will find a time with the least conflicts between schedules. All employees who are invited to the meeting are then informed of the meeting and given a chance to respond. A meeting may also be scheduled 'manually' by simply choosing a time rather than having the Meeting Scheduler find a slot.
2. Cancel existing meetings: The employee who scheduled a meeting will be able to cancel it. Employees may also cancel their own attendance at a meeting from their personal daytimer.
3. Change existing meetings: The employee who originally scheduled the meeting may alter any information corresponding to a meeting after it has been scheduled. Invitees are informed of these changes and new invitees will be notified when they are added.
4. Create a group alias: The program will be able to address groups of employees as well as single employees. Aliases will be defined from a list of employees and enable employees to schedule meetings with working groups or departments very easily.

Personal Daytimer Sub-System

1. Set hours of availability: Employees must make known to the system at which times they are available to attend meetings.
2. View schedule: Employees will be able to view their personal schedule for 1 day, 1 week, 1 month periods. Employees
3. Print out scedule: Employees will be able to print out a hard copy of their schedule (1 day, 1 week, 1 month).
4. Display meeting information: An employee may select a meeting from their schedule and have the system display all information pertaining to that meeting. Information regarding new meetings is presented to the user in the 'RSVP' portion of the program, providing details of the meeting and giving the employee response options.

The following is a sample of the screen interface:

The screen will be divided into two side-by-side halves. On the left, a calendar will be shown, displaying a month or a day. By clicking on individual days or weeks from the monthly display, users will be able to 'zoom in' on their schedules, and quickly 'zoom out' by pressing a button. On the right will be four pages stacked on top of each other like index cards with large, labeled tabs on top of them to quickly switch between the four other parts of the program. The different views on the left will show this information:

    MONTH VIEW: A window showing a calendar-style display of all days
                in the current month

    WEEK VIEW:  The month view will satisfy this need.

    DAY VIEW:   A window showing the hours of a day, in the style of a
                regular daytimer (ruled lines divide 1/2 hour increments)

The `RSVP` tab will have a list of meetings the user has been invited to. By clicking on an invitation they can get more information about the meeting, and accept or decline the invitation.

The `Availability' tab will show a worksheet with checkboxes and fields for users to set up their availability for meetings. In general, the user will be able to set up their usual availability over a period of time and exceptions.

The `Employees' tab will display a list of employees and their contact information such as phone number and email address. It will also show all currently defined aliases. From this screen new employees are entered into the employee database and new aliases may be defined.

The 'Meeting Manager` tab allows the user to access information about meetings they are attending or have scheduled for a selected time period. For example, if you had the day March 5, 1996 selected on the calendar the Meeting Manager would display your schedule for that day. If the user clicks on a specific meeting all information about that meeting would be diplayed as a meeting information form . If it was a meeting they had convened, they could edit this form including canceling or rescheduling the meeting. They could also get a blank version of this form to use for scheduling a meeting.

To simplify data entry by reducing typing and memory load, some input fields will be dynamically linked to the database in two ways. To begin with, double clicking an icon at the end of a field will pull up either an icon so input can be entered by mouse clicking (e.g., to select days of the week 7 boxes labeled Sunday - Saturday would be displayed clicking a box would select it), or a pull down menu from which input could be selected (e.g., names of people or group aliases currently scheduled by the system). In addition for some fields on the meeting information form the user can instruct the system to search for a match and if a unique one is found, fill in the rest of the information form (For example if a user wants to cancel a meeting but cannot remember the date and time they can enter the title to call it up and cancel it).

The Daytimer Display

FUNCTION: Login To System

	INPUTS:
		-login name
		-password
		
	OUTPUTS:
		-welcome message or
		-warning messages

	DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
	
		- system requests the login name
		- enter the login name
		- verify the login name
		- if the login is valid then go to next step;
		  otherwise show warning message 1 and request
		  the login again
		- requests the password
		- enter the password (the characters won't be
		  shown on the screen for security reason)
		- verify the password
		- if the password is valid then show welcome
		  message and access is granted; otherwise
		  show warning message 2 and request the login 
		  again


  FUNCTION: Select DAY VIEW from MONTH VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left double-clicks on a day in monthly calendar

      OUTPUTS:
        MONTH VIEW calendar is replaced by DAY VIEW display.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse to desired day -  left double-click

  FUNCTION: Select WEEK VIEW from WEEK VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left double-clicks on WEEK button at left edge of desired
          week.

      OUTPUTS:
        MONTH VIEW display is replaced by WEEK VIEW display.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse to left edge of week in calendar ->.  left double-click

  FUNCTION: Change to previous month

      INPUTS:
        User left clicks on PREVIOUS MONTH icon at upper left corner of MONTH
          VIEW display.

      OUTPUTS:
        Current MONTH VIEW is replaced with previous MONTH VIEW.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse to PREVIOUS MONTH icon -> left click

  FUNCTION: Change to next month

      INPUTS:
        User left clicks on NEXT MONTH icon at upper left corner of MONTH
          VIEW display.

      OUTPUTS:
        Current MONTH VIEW is replaced with next MONTH VIEW.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse to NEXT MONTH icon -> left click

  FUNCTION: Select MONTH VIEW from WEEK VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left clicks on MONTH icon at upper left corner of WEEK VIEW
          display.

      OUTPUTS:
        WEEK VIEW display is replaced by MONTH VIEW; month is the one
          containing the current week.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse to MONTH VIEW icon -> left click

  FUNCTION: Select DAY VIEW from WEEK VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left double-clicks on desired day in WEEK VIEW display.

      OUTPUTS:
        WEEK VIEW display is replaced by DAY VIEW.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse pointer to desired day -> left double-click

  FUNCTION: Select MONTH VIEW from DAY VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left clicks on MONTH VIEW icon at upper left corner of display.

      OUTPUTS:
        DAY VIEW display is replaced by MONTH VIEW display; month displayed is
          the one containing the current day.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse pointer to MONTH VIEW icon -> left click

  FUNCTION: Select WEEK VIEW from DAY VIEW

      INPUTS:
        User left clicks on WEEK VIEW icon at upper left corner of display.

      OUTPUTS:
        DAY VIEW is replaced by WEEK VIEW display; week displayed is the one
          containing the current day.

      DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:
        Move mouse pointer to WEEK VIEW icon -> left click


  FUNCTION: Print Out Currently Displayed Schedule

	INPUTS: From the Month, Week or Day view, the user clicks the large and obvious
        'print' button on the bottom left of the screen.

Sample Dialog

After entering her password to log into the application the main application screen appears, with a calendar view of January. Mary wants to see what went on last month, so she moves the mouse to the PREVIOUS MONTH button and clicks on it. The calendar view redraws, to display December.

Mary sees that Dec. 15,16, and 18 all have meetings. She doesn't remember what the meeting on the 18th was about, so she double-clicks the left mouse button on the 18th to bring up the DAY VIEW. The monthly calender for December is replaced by a notepad-style display of the hourly activities for Dec. 18th. Mary sees that there were two meetings on the 18th that she supposedly attended, because there are two short entries entitled "Sales Meeting" and "Project Wrapup". "Project Wrapup" is displayed in red, meaning it was high priority; Mary is pretty sure this was the final status meeting she remembers, but to make sure she clicks on the meeting title to bring up more information. To the right of the DAY VIEW window, the detailed information for the meeting is displayed.

RSVP Tab

FUNCTION: Accept or Decline Meetings

	INPUT: User clicks on a meeting then clicks ACCEPT or DECLINE

	OUTPUT: Message stating 'meeting accepted' or `meeting declined`.

Availability Tab

			o weekly (Mon - Fri)
			o Every Mon To Wed
				===    ===
			o Every Mon
				===
			o From dd/mm/yy to dd/mm/yy 	
				o Every Mon to Fri
					===    ===
				o Everyday
				o Except dd/mm/yy

			From HH:MM to HH:MM

		        o Available
			o Not Available

FUNCTION: Set hours of availability
		- allow user to set up his/her availability for
		  the appointment/meeting.

	INPUTS:
		- weekly
		- days range
		- date range
		- hour:minutes range
		- availabilty

	OUTPUTS:
		- confirmation message

	DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION:

		- User uses the mouse pointer to check the
		  appropiate choice of the date/day range:

FUNCTION:  Display Meeting Information

INPUTS: 
	1) Meeting manager file icon

	2) Weekly mode icon
	
	3) Daily mode icon
 
OUTPUTS:
	1) TOPIC - the topic of the meeting in a dialogue box

	2) DATE - in the form of month/day/year

	3) TIME - in hours and minutes
 
	4) LENGTH - displayed in 30 minute intervals

	5) ATTENDEES - includes the people who will attend the meeting

	6) AGENDA - an outline of what will be discussed in the meeting

	7) PRIORITY - a color code to indicate the importance of the meeting


FUNCTION:   Schedule meeting 

INPUT:
	Enter information into new meeting information form as described above.
OUTPUT:

	System message that meeting is scheduled successfully or if unsuccessful best
        time and list of those who cannot attend (Can choose to schedule now or browse
        through alternative times.) Form will display information about the meeting
        once it is officially scheduled.

	TITLE: 
	DATES (MM/DD/YY):
	TIME (HH:MM): optional
	LENGTH (30 MINUTES TIME SLOTS):
	ATTENDEES:
	AGENDA:
	PRIORITY:

FUNCTION: Cancel Meeting
          - cancel a meeting scheduled by the user

INPUT:

	- enough information into form that system can locate it or click on meeting
	 to pull it up. 
        - reason for cancelation (When prompted)
OUTPUT:

	-confirmation the meeting(s) has (have) been canceled giving Title(s) and list
	 of invitees.

FUNCTION: Change a Meeting

INPUT:   
 	- get meeting information form for the meeting(s)

OUTPUT:
 	- edited form
     	- changes meeting in database and informs invitees

FUNCTION DESCRIPTION:

To edit a scheduled meeting, 
     type over existing field text.

To save the changes,
     click on SAVE button

To cancel / abort changes,
     click on the CANCEL button

To add new aliases,
     click on the ALIASE button (see Add Aliases)

FUNCTION: Add Employee

	INPUT: User CLicks on 'New Employee Button' and then types name and information
	       of new employee into a text box

	OUTPUT: List of employees is changed


FUNCTION: Add/Delete/Change Aliases:

	INPUT: If existing alias is to be modified it is double-clicked
		names of group members
		name of alias

	OUTPUT: Displays changed alias and/or alias list.

FUNCTION DESCRIPTION:

	Using the available list of employees, new aliases can be created or old ones
	added to by entering their names or dragging them in with the mouse.

TERMS			FORMAT		VALUE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGENDA			Characters	Agenda of the meeting - unrestricted
					format


ATTENDEES		Characters	Names of individual(s) invited to
					attend the meeting.


AVAILABILITY				Hours that user is available or 
					unavailable


CONFIRMATION	



DAY VIEW		Current view of	  
			selected day


DATE 			MM/DD/YY	date of meeting to be scheduled. 
					date may be entered by
					  * clicking on the date on the 
					    calendar 
					  * typing in the value
					- Possible typos
					  * invalid format
					  * illogical date

LENGTH 			1/2 hour frame	Duration of Meeting ??
					System detects for logical errors
					 if duration is more than **** hours

LOGIN NAME		characters      User's account name 

MEETING SERIES:                  	 A dialogue box for user to input the
                                         title of a series of meetings it can
					 be any length or left blank if the
					 meeting is not part of a series.
					 Users can click the field to display
                                         a pull-down menu listing all meeting
       					 series  they have scheduled. They can
     					 select the meeting series from the
					 pull-down menu.

MEETING SERIES DAY(S):			 Day or days when meeting can be
					 scheduled


MEETING SERIES FREQUENCY:  		Radio buttons for selecting daily,
					 weekly or monthly


MEETING SERIES TIME:  Time or range of times
                      (Attached to MEETING SERIES DAY(S))
 


PASSWORD   		6 - 8 length		digits / & characters 

MONTH VIEW		Current	view of
			calendar month
                

PRIORITY 		Buttons		Labelled HIGH / NORMAL	
					rank of meeting : HIGH - important
							  NORMAL - usual

REGULAR ATTENDEES:  	Employees		List of people who will
						normally attend meetings


TIME  			HH:MM		Numeric
					HH - hours, range 00-23
					MM - minutes, range 00-59
 					system assigned value, if not entered


TITLE:			Characters	topic of meeting
					- typo errors, not detected by system


WARNING MESSAGE1			Invalid login name!


WARNING MESSAGE 2			Invalid password!


WEEK VIEW                  		Current view of 	   
		                  	selected week
             
WELCOME MESSAGE				Access is granted.

PRELIMINARY DATA STRUCTURES

• Employee
  • login
  • password
  • first name
  • last name
  • working hours begin
  • working hours duration
• Group (Each employee has his own group aliases)
  • group name
  • employee logins
• Meeting Place
  • place name
  • place address
  • maximum capacity (in humans)
• Meeting Info
  • topic (or meeting title)
  • place name
  • convenor login
  • attending employee logins
  • a priority for each employee, all set by convenor, may be altered individually
  • date
  • start time
  • duration
  • agenda (or meeting description)

PRELIMINARY ALGORITHM

Since this is the most complicated algorithm, and least dependent on implementation and language, our company has provided some pseudo-code. However, if we decide to implement the SQL structure for our database, we will not use this function.

The system will go through each day specified to check, and search from the start_time to the end_time for the best possible time when the most people can attend. When it gets to a new day, it calls the following function:

function GET_BEST_TIME_IN_DAY

parameters:
	      ( date,			// date to search
		start_time,		// beginning of time to check
		end_time,		// end of time to check
		duration,		// in .5 hours
		num_people_invited,	
		employee_ids[1 to num_people_invited],
					// person 1 is the convenor
		min_people_busy		// for return purposes
	      )

variables:
	i
	j
	k
	people_busy
	timetable[people_invited+1][48]	// position 0 in this array is
					// for the overall availability
	best time

algorithm:	

	min_people_busy = num_people_invited + 1
	best_time = -1

	for i = 1 to people_invited
	{
	// fills the timetable array with the schedules of people
	//  invited to the meeting.  A 1 in a position indicates
	//  that the person is busy for that 1/2 hr of the day. 
	//  A 0 indicates they are free.
		GET_EMPLOYEE_DAY_SCHEDULE (date, employee_id[i],
			 timetable[i])
	}

	for j = start_time to (end_time + 1 - duration)
	{
	   for i = 1 to num_people_invited
	   {
	      for k = 1 to duration
	      {
		 if timetable[i][j] = 1 then
		 {
		    if i = 1 then
			people_busy = people_busy + num_people_invited
			// if the convenor can't make it, nobody can
		    else
			people_busy = people_busy + 1
		    end if
		    exit for	// exit the for loop and check the
				// next person.  This one is
				// already unable to attend.
		  }
	      }  // end for k = 1 to duration
	   }  // end for i = 1 to num_people_invited

	   if people_busy = 0 then
		// this is a time when everyone is free.
		best_time = j
		min_people_busy = 0
		return best_time
	   else if people_busy < min_people_busy then
		// at least one person is busy.  Check next 
		// time slot, just in case
		best_time = j
		min_people_busy = people_busy
	}  // end for j = start_time ...

	return best_time

FUNCTION CLASSES

The functions are described in the Functional Specification area of this document. However, the following should highlight the relationships:

		Login
		  |
		  |
      -------------------------------------------------
      |            |      	  |		      |
Availability   Calendar         RSVP		Meeting Manager
	 	   |      (message system)            |
	           |      -------------------------------------              
		   \	  |		      |               |
 		    ------------------- Daily Schedule   Convened Mtgs    
		          |
		          |
		   Arrange Meetings

POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATIONS

The implementations depend on what kind of platform and language we are going to use.

• Platform
  • Work Station - UNIX: There are some limitations on the systems.
  • PC - DOS based system: User friendly, less cost.
• Store the information
  • Using only file structure to store the information. If the information is not big, probobly we can store all the information into files, and using C or other programing language to program. but it may require lot of programming. Since we have limited time for this project, we may not using this option
  • Using database management system to store the information. If we have lot of information to store and lot of users, it is better to use database system. But it will require more database software package.

We will build the databases in Paradox, and use SQL for the maintaining of the database (adding, updating, deleting).

THE MINIMAL SYSTEM

The minimal system (Phase 1, slated for mid-February) will include all the features outlines in the functional specifications with the following exceptions:

• The system will not check holidays or long weekends and other special days that may not be regular workdays.
• The system will implement only a simple text based viewing of messages in strict format.
• Employees are booked for meetings without their consent. If the employee decides he cannot make it, he must cancel his appointment for that meeting
• One cannot point-and-click from RSVP to access the information for the said meeting
• On the calendar display, days with meetings scheduled will be highlighted as such. No extra information.
• The calendar and the Meeting Manager will not be connected in any way. No point-and-click to the calendar and automatically getting that day.
• When scheduling meetings, there will be no graphical assistance.
• The system will not notify a user of any new messages upon logging onto the system. It will be up to the user to check his "message area" for any messages he may have.
• Everyone in the company will have the availibility to book a meeting in any listed room, without regard to their position in the company.
• No meeting will span two days (e.g. 11:30pm - 1:00am)

OUR PROJECT TEAM

Project Overseer:

Software Design and Implementation:

User Documentation:

Quality Control and Testing:

This system is meant as a tool to assist a company in planning meetings, but as such, it is also designed to be useful for the employee as a daily planner.

The employee is considered available at all times for a meeting, unless he/she has made themsleves unavailable. This is as an added incentive for the employee to keep their planner up-to-date, and thus make the system as reliable and effective as possible.

What we have given you is a proposal for a daily planner system. Consider this our interpretation of your requirements for the system. If this interpretation does not correlate with your idea of a employee scheduling system, please understand that Axiom Enterprises is dedicated to the customer and what the customer demands.

If you find our proposal acceptable, make any changes you deem necessary, and if possible, email your amendments to me on or before January 30th, 1996.