Evaluation Enviroment

Evaluation Date: Feb. 18th, 2010 Evaluated Version: 2.0.8.3 Server Environment:

• PHP 5.2.12
• Apache 2.2.13
• MySQL 5.1.42

Workload Analysis Summary

For Current Version

Setting up production environment and backups: 10h

• Bug Fixing: 10~20h
• Compatibility and Portability Check: 10h
• Daily Maintenance: 10h/month (According to Jim's document)
• Stress Testing: 10~15h
• Cross-browser Support: 10~15h
• Data migration: 10~40h
• For Future Development

Codes Cleanup: 5~10h

• Development: ?h/week (Depending on features requested and schedule)
• Unit Testing and Function Testing: the same hours as development
• User and Develop Documentation: 30~40h (If Jim has more documentations, we may need less time to do it.)
• Setting up bug tracking system and project management system: 2~4h

Developer Requirements

• Familiar with PHP programming language
• Familiar with MySQL
• Familiar with *NIX environment
• Knowledge of CakePHP framework (or MVC structure)

User and Development Documentation

Both user and development documentations are need. Currently the build-in tutorial wizard is not working and there is no other help on any page. The user documentation on the iPeer website is outdated (only for 1.6). The first time user may need some detailed documentation or training to use this application. Project Maintenance

A bug tracking system and project management system (e.g. TRAC) are need to be set up. The project history will be more track-able. And it will provide better collaboration between developers as well as users and developers.

Unit Testing and Functional Testing

To ensure the quality of the codes, unit testing and functional testing are need. An automated testing framework maybe used to control the execution of tests. There is currently no testing codes included in this application.

Stress Testing

The bottleneck of the application need to be identified and a testing plan needed to be set up.

Compatibility and Portability Check

During the evaluation, there are some non-compatible or low portability codes found. Those codes may cause problem or fail in different server environments. Some of the syntax are not recommended in official PHP documentations. If necessary, the CakePHP framework may need to be upgraded for better compatibility and performance.

Cross-browser Support

The current version of iPeer does not support the Safari. All main browsers requires to be supported.

Future Development

• CWL authentication for instructors or Shibboleth for both instructors and students
• Automatically upload courses, students and instructor information (Retrieve information from SIS or SEoT)
• Integration with other system, e.g. Vista

Competitors

WebPA

Advantage

• Stable
• Up-to-date User Documentation
• Wizard mode for creation with detail instructions. Easier to use for new users
• Support cross course/module grouping
• More reports supported
• Larger user group and commuity

Disadvantage

• No CWL integration
• Very simple Team builder(vs TeamMaker)
• Do not support mix type evaluation (either likert scale or split 100)
• Not many options for report visibility and access control

Bugs Found During the Evaluation

• Clicking on Show/Hide button in any course under Course tab will generate SQL error
• SQL Error and PHP warning after clicking on user tab
• PHP notice when resetting the passwords
• Syntax error when view the event (MECH 328: > Term 1 Evaluation)
• iPeer Tutorial Wizard is not working (Blank page)
• Some CSS need to be fixed (login page in firefox)
• SQL Error when click on "View Groups" under COURSE> Events
• Add Another Course button in Users page is not working
• Students is not able to see evaluations
• Email sending is not working properly

Patches Applied During the Evaluation

Some of the patches has to be applied before the application can work correct.

• for i in grep -lir "<?= " *; do sed -i 's/<?= /<?=/g' $i; done

Changed <? to <?php in the following files:

• app/views/evaluations/view_rubric_evaluation_results_detail.tpl.php: $aveScoreSum = 0;
• app/views/evaluations/view_mixeval_evaluation_results.tpl.php: $aveScoreSum = 0;
• app/views/evaluations/view_rubric_evaluation_results.tpl.php: $aveScoreSum = 0;
• app/views/evaluations/view_mixeval_evaluation_results_detail.tpl.php: $aveScoreSum = 0;

changed "<?=" to "<?php echo" in views/courses/ajax_course_submenu.tpl.php, fixed bug #1