Introduction
Dataset and Dataset Ticker Features:
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A tooltip column to add tooltip text that displays when a column data is being entered.
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A mandatory ( NOT NULL) flag to indicate the column cannot have a null value. A red asterisk preceeding the column would provide a visual cue to the person entering data that this column is required to have a value.
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Default value column. If the mandatory flag is set and the column data value is NULL, the default value would be applied when the record is saved. Sometimes the data managers neglect the mandatory flag.
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A data validation formula column to enter validation criteria that returns a positive number if the validation criteria is met. A validation error message column to display if validation fails (non-positive number returned from validation formula). Nice to have would be to have the formula displayed with variables values in the validation criteria filled in if there is a validation error. Screen real estate can be a scare resource. There could be multiple validation errors in a single record. So the error display region would have to be scrollable. Please note that the default
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The column order for data entery would also specify the order the validation formula evaluation. This same column order would be used to specify the order of evaluation of columns of type ‘Formula’. This would allow formulae referencing other columns of type ‘Formula’ to be evaluated in the correct order.
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A ‘Duration’ column to indicate number of seconds to display the current record in a dataset ticket. This would allow for variable durations per record. (May have issues when the ticker is not displaying one item per page - maybe a max of the durations of the records displayed on the page could be used. Not elegant, but I am sure someone will have a better suggestion).
Would you prefer that I divide the above into separate topics?
User Story
I personally have a 42 year background in Canada in process re-engineering. Most recently I had been working in an Oracle environment on back-end transactional, datawarehouse and business intelligence project for large and small organizations before retiring 3 years ago. The industry range included retail (secure payment processing/POS), distribution & logistics, manufacturing, product life-cycle planning and actionable BI. (no, I am not submitting this as my CV for a job).
I am currently volunteering (temporarily) for a cultural charity and community support organization in UK. In an effort to increase active participation from the community and support the membership drive, we have devised a plan to digital signage to increase awareness of the various programs we offer and past and upcoming events. Most of the people we serve are older and reluctant to use the website or read the newsletter. Digital signage is one way to get the information to attendees about programs they may not be aware of or know someone they feel might be interested and would invite them to the next event or program.
The digital signage would also provide an opportunity to recruit volunteers and show our appreciation for the many sponsors and contributors to the organization and the community.
The staff that will be maintaining the system once I have completed the initial setup is somewhat technically challenged. In an effort to make things as simple as possible for them to maintain, I have setup several datasets and layouts for them to manage. The features requested above will go a long way towards making the system very simple for them to manage.
The excitement is already building and despite some hiccups due to my unfamiliarity with Xibo and some issues faced due to data entry errors, there has been overall praise for the value Xibo brings to the objectives of the organization in general and this project in particular. Best of all, there are several young people who are interested in learning the technical details of this new environment. This will allow me to slip back into retirement mode, soon, I hope.
Thank you for reviewing our request.
Vic
