Final Status of Project

        In its current state, the prototype is almost capable of performing the basic, data collection tasks. This includes maintaining and storing a list of tasks for the day along with important associated information. The task list prints nicely but only the first page. The program currently assumes that all tasks occur on a daily basis.
        There is a Flash-based time-line based calendar display embedded in the application that conveys how all of the data that has been entered into the system could be presented in a meaningful way. This visualization currently acts on “dummy” data for purposes of the demonstration. This was necessary both because implementing actual data storage system would have taken some time, and then we still would have had to create artificial data for purposes of the prototype in that format.
        Some persistent data is stored in XML based data files. This includes the current list of tasks in the task display, as well as a list of users and clinicians that have been entered into the program. The program does not yet allow the list of users and clinicians to be managed.
        There is also a help window that uses an embedded web browser, so it is easy to include detailed help information with pictures. The table of contents is read from XML. A brief walk-through as well as descriptions of each of the current interface windows is included.
        The software is currently implemented in Java using SWT, which allows automatic portability between Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.

Future work possibilities

        The first two items that need to be taken care of before the system can be developed further are implementing an information storage system, and redesigning the timeline and calendar features in Java. Long-term storage of the child’s history is the main goal of the system, but was not important for a prototype. It was never intended that the final versions of the calendar and timeline features be implemented in Flash, but due to time constraints it would have been impossible to implement the timeline in SWT.
        There are several features that could either be added or expanded upon in our final prototype if this program was to be completed. One area to look into are suggestions we received from usability testing such as a wizard to aid in the initial setup of the program, additional options for printing and sending information, and a way to have different task list for different days of the week.
        We feel that a wizard to set up all the initial information such as medical information and contacts quickly would be very useful. There could be a lot of this type of information so we feel having a step by step walkthrough of every piece of input would be very helpful and also prevent the user from leaving out any information that they might need later. A wizard would also act as a good chance to walk the user through the features and forms of the program in a useful manner.
        Suggestions about allowing greater flexibility when printing and sending information were received during the usability testing. These suggestions ranged from several different ways to format the information and choose what information to include, to the ability to design your own forms to export. Also many people had interest in a way to automate the program to email a specific set of information to a list of people on a regular interval, such as day, week or month. This would be a function used mostly by expert users but the higher level of configuration would grant another layer of functionality to the program.
        Another suggestion that we liked was the ability to have a day-specific task list. For older school age children this could be very beneficial. If the child is receiving services at school during the week the other tasks that need to be completed at home might vary day to day depending on what other services he had received that day. Also on weekends when he is not at school there would be many more things that need to be done. This need was not anticipated by our initial design, where we were mostly targeting very young children with daily schedules.
        Our current design could also be refined, especially the timeline and calendar. These two features are currently the weakest in our design in terms of meeting their true potential. We want the calendar to be useful for storing appointments and other events that do not recur as tasks. Even though some users might prefer to use Microsoft Outlook for this purpose, it could be important to have all the information in one place.
        The timeline is also lacking some key features. Currently it only allows a brief description of items to be viewed. Ideally it would allow for you to view the detailed daily reports on a specific task or to view information for entire time periods at once, such as a daily, weekly, or monthly summary. Also, the ability to filter the information based on time carried out, who prescribed it, keywords, or other features would allow you to easily view all the information that related to a specific item of interest.
        The ability to search the timeline for keywords or events could prove to be very useful over a long time with a large set of data. For example, if you had tried a therapy treatment a year ago and it was recommended again by a different doctor, you could search the history and find out that it had already been tried and how successful it was.
        The information screen can also be developed much further. The information screen was something that we envisioned from the beginning of the project but did not have time to implement. We felt that it would be very beneficial to have all of the information that would be useful to a caretaker organized in one place. This such as health concerns, diet, cognitive level, and behavioral protocols as well as emergency contacts would all be very useful for temporary caretakers, such as babysitters or grandparents. Also the ability to store contact information for all of the child’s physicians would be useful in making and coordinating appointments. If the information was stored in the program it would be easy to use that information when emailing or faxing reports to doctors and clinicians.
        All of these suggestions would add new and useful functionality to the overall product. Although this includes many directions in which improvements could be made it is by no means exhaustive of the possibilities that could be explore for a product of this kind.