IMSMA News

May 16, 2005 at 03:03 o\clock

Support for IMSMA V3.0

by: khstierli2

Reply to IMSMA Newsletter and Website - Reply from Alan Arnold (3) by Alan Arnold, GICHD

We  requested more information from Mr. Alan ARNOLD, Program Manager Mine Action Information Systems, GICHD  about the support plan for IMSMA V3 and got the following reply:
 
Once all of the sites have been offered the opportunity to transition to V4 we will discontinue support for V3.  This will be a phased process and has already begun.  We have already eliminated V3 training from our support package and will only be providing emergency updates to the system from this point forward.  All support services from ETHZ will end on June 30th of this year.  The team there has already been significantly reduced and no further updates for V3 are planned.
  
For the UNMACA/MAPA a technical support structure is essential for our IMSMA V3 system. We are very concerned about the plans of the GICHD, especially to stop the 2nd level technical support from the IMSMA V3 development team from ETHZ by mid of this year. Many of our support requests from the past have been forwarded to the IMSMA V3 development team by the IMSMA support at GICHD because it was above the capability and capacity of the support personnel in Geneva. 
 
Mr. Arnold looks to begin a transition for the Afghan programme in late 2006. Our program will have to work with IMSMA V3 for at least the next 18 months. During that time we are only offered emergency updates and no further updates. We compiled a wish list with significant changes and updates of V3 which should be realised in a SP2 update before the support services from ETHZ will end.
 
Mr. Arnold  tries to channel all funds to the IMSMA V4 and drastically reduce the amount going into IMSMA V3 support.  Should the support services from ETHZ end before a transition to IMSMA V4 could be completed, the UNMACA will be forced  to set up it's own IMSMA development and technical support capacity.  

May 16, 2005 at 03:02 o\clock

IMSMA V3 SP2 Wish List (UNMACA/MAPA)

by: khstierli2

Navigator: task record viewing window

The Navigator in IMSMA V3.0 SP1 should have a task record viewing window like the 12 already existing ones.

This would allow to:

  • quick select tasks based on a geographic selection and criteria's.
  • quick navigate from a tasked record to the task or up and down the chain of action.
  • see the task activities (referenced records) of a task and their relationships
  • see which records are tasked (how many times and by which tasks

The Afghan IMSMA database has more then half a million records and the navigator is very helpful in keeping the overview.

Selection for edit form: Name field expansion

The Name field in the Selection for edit form of Task and Minefield should be expanded to show the complete Task or Minefield name which are based on our the following naming convention (see AMAS Chapter Nine Edition 1, Revision 0, 17 February 2005, 5. Hazardous Area/Minefield Numbering Systems):

  1. A country code, AF.
  2. A four digit district code.
  3. A five digit community code.
  4. A MF or BAC task number for the district.
  5. For example; AF/0101/00176/MF0372.

For the Lesson learned we didn't define strict naming conventions but a larger Title field in the Lesson learned Selection for edit form would be helpful to faster find an LL.

Solution (Added 2005-07-09)

The column widths for frmEditSelection.lbxObjects are hardcoded and not taken column withs in the form. Therefore the source code needs to be changed.  

Data Management Report: Filter by Owner

The Administration > Data management reports (DMR) should have a third filter criteria for the owner MAC "Owned by" like the Selection for edit forms. Our regions don't cover the the AOR of the AMAC's and especially the SubAMACs.

Data Management Report – Datapool Overview: Devices

The Administration > Data management reports > Overview report for the IMSMA datapool (ORDP) should be expanded to include the number of records from the devices tables (MA SuspectedDevice, DA SuspectedOrdnance, DeviceDestroyed and DeviceMarked for PR, CL, CS and IncAcc Device). This could be done in a devices page.

We experienced lost devices during incomplete synchronizations and got device incompatibility messages in tblProgressReportDeviceDestroyed. A similar problem sometimes happened when importing a new MAC on top of an already filled database. The suggested report could help the easy recognize a missing records problem.

Solution (Added 2005-07-09)

The tables listed in the overview report are taken from tblApplicationSemanticKeyControl where clnControlName='cboKindOfItem'. For additional tables just add a row and enter the table name in column clnSemanticKey.

Synchronization: conflicting record resolving tool

To respond to "conflictiong record" messages from the synchronization and resolve the problem, a tool should assist and guide to a solution.

Coordinates: Customizable Formats

The frontend automatically converts Lat/Lon coordinates to Degree, Minutes and Seconds (DMS) and displays them in this format. The display format should be customizable and there should be a way to switch from DMS to decimal degree and back (by pressing a hotkey or radio button). Also the print format in the reports should be customizable and alternative formats should be available to be used to customize the reports. (Added 2005-05-26)

Solution (Added 2005-07-14)

A parameter in tblApplicationParameterLocal could define how geo coordinates are presented (in forms and reports). This needs to be done in the source code.

Incident Form: Reference to Areas

Like the reference to areas in the accident form the same functionality should be added to the incident form. Therefore the three attributes (clnReferenceTC, clnReferenceOther, clnReferenceGUID) need to be added to the tblIncAccIncident or to keep the table structure unchanged, three UDFs could be used to store this data.

(Added 2005-06-02)

Sketch: Support for more document types

Image file types are supported but no application files (lile .doc or .pdf). Application files should be accepted (no preview required in IMSMA or GIS) in the field 'Path to selected file'. The contents of this field should be printed with the image in the MS-Word reports. The copy function (keyboard short-cut Ctrl-C) is not applicable because it is a display only field. A copy button could be a substitution for this useful function.