Ready for eServices 2.0?

[Panache]

Apparently, NHQ has been re-designing / re-coding eServices, and the "eServices 2.0" (my term) has been in beta for a couple of months and "will probably be released in a month or two."

I caught a five-second glance of it during the PAWG wing conference when it was brought up on an overhead projector hooked up to a laptop.  All I know is what was said above.

[Eclipse]

[Panache]

Now, if only somebody with some elite photoshop skillz could change the shirt to the CAP polo...

[Walkman]

I had a brief opportunity to be a part of the member group that was advising and assisting on this. Brief in that I was able to do a couple of initial conference calls and then I had to bow out as my spare time to work on the project disappeared quickly. However, the other members involved were way more skilled and knowledgeable that I am when it comes to web development. Hopefully these true web professionals were able to direct NHQs team to build something solid.

[JoeTomasone]

Now, if only somebody with some elite photoshop skillz could change the shirt to the CAP polo...

Ask and ye shall receive...  And you did mean to ask for proper grey trousers too, right?   

[Panzerbjorn]

Lol....sweet!  Nicely done!

[BFreemanMA]

This definitely just made my day    :clap:

[JeffDG]

I've not seen anything on eServices 2.0, but last I heard, WMIRS 2.0 was in final testing now, with a projected release date of June 1.

[Eclipse]

Sweet!

[Panache]

Now, if only somebody with some elite photoshop skillz could change the shirt to the CAP polo...

Ask and ye shall receive...  And you did mean to ask for proper grey trousers too, right?   

You, sir, are a boss.

[A.Member]

Who's providing the requirements?  How are they ensuring that they are focused on driving change to things we need?

[JeffDG]

Who's providing the requirements?

The Echelons Above Reality 

How are they ensuring that they are focused on driving change to things we need?

It will meet their needs well.  Any ancillary improvement for operational capability is a bonus.

[arajca]

Who's providing the requirements?

The Echelons Above Reality 

How are they ensuring that they are focused on driving change to things we need?

It will meet their needs well.  Any ancillary improvement for operational capability is a bonus completely unintentional consequence.

FTFY

[A.Member]

Who's providing the requirements?

The Echelons Above Reality 

How are they ensuring that they are focused on driving change to things we need?

It will meet their needs well.  Any ancillary improvement for operational capability is a bonus.

[Panache]

I've not seen anything on eServices 2.0, but last I heard, WMIRS 2.0 was in final testing now, with a projected release date of June 1.

WMIRS 2.0 was also mentioned, as well as back-end improvements to ORMS.

[Tim Day]

Now, if only somebody with some elite photoshop skillz could change the shirt to the CAP polo...

Or did someone sneak in a picture of our new corporate polo?

[Panache]

Now, if only somebody with some elite photoshop skillz could change the shirt to the CAP polo...

Or did someone sneak in a picture of our new corporate polo?

(*cough*)

[Eclipse]

Ahhhhhh!   Not the dreaded "non-uniform uniform".

[JackFrost3k]

I had a brief opportunity to be a part of the member group that was advising and assisting on this. Brief in that I was able to do a couple of initial conference calls and then I had to bow out as my spare time to work on the project disappeared quickly. However, the other members involved were way more skilled and knowledgeable that I am when it comes to web development. Hopefully these true web professionals were able to direct NHQs team to build something solid.

You're talking about current CAP members right? 

[Tim Medeiros]

eServices 2.0 (working name), which is mainly a "style change" for the main pages of eServices at this point, has been in testing for roughly a year.  It should be made available for members probably in a few weeks to get even more feedback, other than just the members testing now.

As for WMIRS 2.0, rumor has it that the testing/release schedule got pushed back due to the need for additional feedback.

[dwb]

This is the best thing I've seen all day. Kudos to you, good sir.

[a2capt]

.. as long as it's not like that Safety section.

[A.Member]

eServices 2.0 (working name), which is mainly a "style change" for the main pages of eServices at this point, has been in testing for roughly a year.  It should be made available for members probably in a few weeks to get even more feedback, other than just the members testing now.

As for WMIRS 2.0, rumor has it that the testing/release schedule got pushed back due to the need for additional feedback.

Thanks for your comments.

FWIW, off the top of my head, here are a few items on my wish (no particular order)...

* Allow integration with SSO (so unit sites can seamlessly integrate) - both WMIRS and eServices

WMIRS
*  Restructure entire site navigation; simplify/consolidate/remove pages and navigation where appropriate (a lot of clean up opportunities)
*  Redesign all forms; auto-populate where possible and limit info collected to minimum needed
*  Add audit/workflow functionality to WMIRS for 108; auto-check, flag potential discrepancies
*  Allow for integration/release for multi-Wing/multi-Region activities

eServices
*  Group left navigation menu items logically by specialty; promote WMIRS, KB, etc to a more visible location (not in the footer area)
*  Size/name navigation links so they do not span more than one line
*  Work with CAPWATCH to add scheduling/batch functionality so that tables can easily and regularly (read: daily) download (useful for integration with unit intranet sites - Google Apps, Office 360, etc.)
* Enhance report descriptions and feature them more prominently on the page (not in the footer area); consolidate/remove seldom used reports

[Eclipse]

eServices 2.0 (working name), which is mainly a "style change" for the main pages of eServices at this point, has been in testing for roughly a year.

It takes a year to change the style sheet?

[a2capt]

The last time they changed the style sheet, rumor was they paid someone $5K and we got the goofy looking space wasting non-reactive thing that is there now. So. Yay.  ;-)

[Eclipse]

The last time they changed the style sheet, rumor was they paid someone $5K and we got the goofy looking space wasting non-reactive thing that is there now. So. Yay.  ;-)

I'll do it for $2500 - I'll even give you candy-apple buttons with reflections and a brushed aluminum background.
This stuff is backing up in the salvage warehouses now that many OS developers have eschewed skeuomorphism.

Drop shadows included at no extra charge.

[raivo]

What about lens flares? Can you do lens flares?

[Eclipse]

^ Normally extra, but to get the job I'll thrown them in.

[Panache]

What about lens flares? Can you do lens flares?

Oh, so you want the J.J. Abrams Special Package?

[Walkman]

You're talking about current CAP members right? 

Yup! I wasn't referring to NHQ staff, I'm talking about some regular CAP SMs who happen to be really high-speed professionals in the web development arena that volunteered to help advise NHQ on how to make it better.

[NIN]

What about lens flares? Can you do lens flares?

Oh, so you want the J.J. Abrams Special Package?

I'll take my CAP website with a side of J.J. Abrams. If we can get a Michael Bay explosion ala carte, I'll take that too.

[NIN]

Drop shadows included at no extra charge.

I'd like a scrolling banner.

And music. Definitely music. Something by John Williams. I have a MIDI file right here for you.

[Panache]

Drop shadows included at no extra charge.

I'd like a scrolling banner.

And music. Definitely music. Something by John Williams. I have a MIDI file right here for you.

Don't forget flashing text!

[Eclipse]

OK, all of the above is in the channel, nothing's ever too much, right?

I just picked up a metric ton of sparkly letters from MySpace's garage sale, thinking those will be sweet
on 101s.

Gonna have to scale back user testing, though, and no point in vetting the logic or insuring the system
matches the regs, few people seem to notice or care about that anyway.

Besides when something doesn't match, its easier to just change the reg or ignore until people comply
out of frustration and lack of choice....

[Devil Doc]

Wow, I remember them days, Myspace, all of them custom Glitter Letters and Custom Backgrounds.


What ever happened to myspace anyway? It has diminished, almost non existant.

[Garibaldi]

Wow, I remember them days, Myspace, all of them custom Glitter Letters and Custom Backgrounds.


What ever happened to myspace anyway? It has diminished, almost non existant.

FaceTwitGram took it over.

[Spaceman3750]

I love how the IT people decided which tasks I have to evaluate people on to renew them, when the reg says its my choice...

[Eclipse]

I love how the IT people decided which tasks I have to evaluate people on to renew them, when the reg says its my choice...

Definitely high on my hit parade as well, not to mention the non-trivial changes that were
made to the entire system in that regard with no phase-in or even explanation.

[Tim Medeiros]

I love how the IT people decided which tasks I have to evaluate people on to renew them, when the reg says its my choice...

That information actually comes from the ops shop at NHQ.

eServices 2.0 (working name), which is mainly a "style change" for the main pages of eServices at this point, has been in testing for roughly a year.

It takes a year to change the style sheet?

Getting feedback and testing is the main thing that's pushed things back.  They are also building widgets that can be added/removed at the users choice.


As for WMIRS, from what I hear, it's going to be built into eServices, no more separate sites it seems.

[FloridaCaptain]

My suggestion is to take away the HUGE statistics window.  It is not current up until this date anyway.  Also, email retrieval needs to be easier to find.  For new members this is going to be a lot of hunting pecking.  So far not digging this. 

[MajorM]

Seriously, where did you find email retrieval?  I'm still looking!

And I agree.. the stat window not being up to date, how is that?  For a split second I thought we lost 8 cadets in a day's time.

[Tim Medeiros]

My suggestion is to take away the HUGE statistics window.  It is not current up until this date anyway.  Also, email retrieval needs to be easier to find.  For new members this is going to be a lot of hunting pecking.  So far not digging this.

Seriously, where did you find email retrieval?  I'm still looking!

And I agree.. the stat window not being up to date, how is that?  For a split second I thought we lost 8 cadets in a day's time.

You are able to remove the Statistics widget by clicking the gear icon next to your name, then selecting Manage My Widgets.  From there simply remove what you don't want to see and/or re-order how you see fit.  This was actually covered in the initial introduction video which should have shown when you first went to the eServices beta link.


As for gathering emails, that widget, last I heard, is in progress and not available yet.

[MajorM]

I actually like the stat widget... it's size is a bit silly, but I like it.  I just don't understand why it isn't current.  Then again our unit is on a tremendous upswing.  I might not like it so much if the trend line was the other direction

The email widget would've been a good thing for roll out... since it's a primary tool.  Still not sure how I feel about the beta, but I think the customizable widget thing has potential.  Points to them for trying a new approach.

[Tim Medeiros]

I actually like the stat widget... it's size is a bit silly, but I like it.  I just don't understand why it isn't current.  Then again our unit is on a tremendous upswing.  I might not like it so much if the trend line was the other direction

The email widget would've been a good thing for roll out... since it's a primary tool.  Still not sure how I feel about the beta, but I think the customizable widget thing has potential.  Points to them for trying a new approach.

The stats info is pulling from a different table (I presume, based on what we get in CAPWATCH_DownLoad) than the live numbers.  The stats widget pulls from ORGStatistics, which updates at the end of every month.


My unit is actually in a down-swing (but recovering right now thankfully), I like seeing the graph, then again I like visual cues like that.  It's also good to see trends over the last few years.

[Eclipse]

I got invited to the "beta".

FWIW, I couldn't find anything to really whine about on my first pass through, so that's saying something right there.

[FloridaCaptain]

MajorM, I didn't find the email addresses.   Change is good, but as is the case with the impossible to manage new CPPT reg, why does it always have to be painful, and leave us thinking we were better off before?

[a2capt]

Hmmm.. time to file some tickets. ;-)

[Grumpy]

I miss the email addresses too.  It was nice to ck the boxes and paste them in the blind copy line.  Other than that I find it much easier to find information.  Anybody like Tony (a2capt) who knows my lack of ability on the web can appreciate what I'm saying.   

[Capt_Redfox30]

Someone had mentioned the stats window, I like it it can be utilized to shows trends in a units membership more easily.  I was going through it and found that all units in the program were listed for all wings as well as NHQ and I have always wondered what are the units assigned through NHQ?  The stats has the following listed

NHQ-NHQ-XXX
000- National HQ Unit
001-?
004-Aero Ed
005- ?
007-?
008-?
100- Okinawa
103- Yokota
113- Misawa
119- Ramstein
126- Spangdahlem
801 - ?
888 - ? Only has 1 Member
901 - ?
902 - ?
903 - ?
955 - ?
966 - ?
995 - ?
996 - ?
997 - Only has 1 Member
998 - ?
999 - National Commanders Sqd

I am just curious if anyone is able to fill in the blanks

 

[Eclipse]

007 is NESA.

[Spaceman3750]

007 is NESA.

Bond is a member...

[husker]

Though we have no MI6 members, we do take our brown Atterbury water shaken and not stirred...

[sardak]

NHQ-NHQ-XXX
001-National Commander Squadron
005 - O S Hold Unit
008 - National Radar Analysis Team
801 - Osan AB Cadet Squadron
888 - AOPA members
901 - National Group
902 - Overseas Group
903 - Green Flag Group
955 - Green Flag West Squadron
966 - Green Flag East Squadron
995 - National Commander Reserve Unit
996 - National Patron Unit
997 - Spaatz Patron Unit
998 - National Advisory Council Unit
999 - National Commanders Sqd  Congressional Squadron

Mike

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

I would be curious to know how the regulation links are maintained in the new version. They are just links to the publications page and I could see them not updating when a regulation is revised.

[MajorPain]

As for gathering emails, that widget, last I heard, is in progress and not available yet.

Tim,

Thank you. I use the email list in eServices ALL THE TIME. I searched and searched with the eServices Beta and could not find it. Eventually, I gave up and went back to the old eServices.

[SARDOC]

As for gathering emails, that widget, last I heard, is in progress and not available yet.

Tim,

Thank you. I use the email list in eServices ALL THE TIME. I searched and searched with the eServices Beta and could not find it. Eventually, I gave up and went back to the old eServices.

I found that I have access to gather the emails through the Commander's Corner if you have access to that.  Click into it and there is a "gather emails" option in the left menu

[MajorPain]

Thank you SARDOC for the work around.

[Tim Medeiros]

As for gathering emails, that widget, last I heard, is in progress and not available yet.

Tim,

Thank you. I use the email list in eServices ALL THE TIME. I searched and searched with the eServices Beta and could not find it. Eventually, I gave up and went back to the old eServices.

You're welcome.  I'll see what I can do to get an update on that particular (and other planned) widget.

[MajorM]

However the gathering emails functionality is restricted to one member (plus the CC I'm assuming) per unit.

[Tim Medeiros]

However the gathering emails functionality is restricted to one member (plus the CC I'm assuming) per unit.

It is limited to the following duty assignments:


Commander
Deputy Commander
Director of Operations
Vice Commander


and those that have been given temporary CC permissions by the commander via Commanders Corner.

[a2capt]

..and I actually don't see any issues with it being that way. Not everyone needs the ability to spam everyone. ;-)

[MajorM]

Completely disagree.  It really reduces the functionality, particularly for cadet staff.  They can't run reports, can't access email addys in anything... That was the easiest way to communicate with your entire cadet body via email.   I can say that in four years I've never seen anyone use the email address list inappropriately.

[JeffDG]

However the gathering emails functionality is restricted to one member (plus the CC I'm assuming) per unit.

It is limited to the following duty assignments:


Commander
Deputy Commander
Director of Operations
Vice Commander


and those that have been given temporary CC permissions by the commander via Commanders Corner.

And the list above is the list of those eligible for that + Chief of Staff.

Why not Personnel or Admin?

[Storm Chaser]

The commander should be able to grant those permissions to anyone who needs them.

[JeffDG]

The commander should be able to grant those permissions to anyone who needs them.

Or appoint a Web Security Administrator who can.

[Tim Medeiros]

However the gathering emails functionality is restricted to one member (plus the CC I'm assuming) per unit.

It is limited to the following duty assignments:


Commander
Deputy Commander
Director of Operations
Vice Commander


and those that have been given temporary CC permissions by the commander via Commanders Corner.

And the list above is the list of those eligible for that + Chief of Staff.

Why not Personnel or Admin?

The listing I gave came straight from the Duty Position Access by Application report.  Chief of Staff does not get that module of Commanders Corner.  As for why not Personnel or Admin?  I suspect the the idea has never come across anyones minds until now because of the ability to gather emails straight from the primary screen of eServices.  Best way to resolve this is via Help Desk ticket recommending the change.

The commander should be able to grant those permissions to anyone who needs them.

The commander should be able to grant those permissions to anyone who needs them.

Or appoint a Web Security Administrator who can.

Any commanders corner applications cannot be assigned by a WSA, this includes commanders.  Again, the best way to change that is by a request to the help desk.

[JeffDG]

Any commanders corner applications cannot be assigned by a WSA, this includes commanders.  Again, the best way to change that is by a request to the help desk.

Oops...

That's why I was once the Deputy Commander of TN-000, so I could do a demo of Commander's Corner for a Wing Command Call once...man, my safety compliance reports looked REALLY bad!

[JeffDG]

The listing I gave came straight from the Duty Position Access by Application report.  Chief of Staff does not get that module of Commanders Corner. 

I only mentioned CS because you mentioned the "Assign Temporary Commander" option, and the list you gave (CV/CD, DO) is the same list that you can assign Temporary Command rights to, except you can also assign the CS to that.

[Tim Medeiros]

The listing I gave came straight from the Duty Position Access by Application report.  Chief of Staff does not get that module of Commanders Corner. 

I only mentioned CS because you mentioned the "Assign Temporary Commander" option, and the list you gave (CV/CD, DO) is the same list that you can assign Temporary Command rights to, except you can also assign the CS to that.

Ahh ok, misread your post then.  That's actually a recent change too, stemmed from someone saying "hey, why can't I do this?" the IT committee got wind and said sure why not.

[Tim Medeiros]

The links for the email lists have made their way to the new eServices, it seems the statistics widget has been revamped slightly.

1) Unit/Wing stats updated to present levels, not the end of the previous month
2) Links to the email lists are back
3) When you expand the widget, the graph now includes current membership levels in addition to the timeframe selected.  (this includes current national levels)

[rbrehm]

The links for the email lists have made their way to the new eServices,

...

Where are these links located? It's only a minor inconvenience to switch back to the old eServices when I need to send out unit emails, but with a SAREX approaching and the number of emails I'm sending out increasing, it's beginning to get a little old.

[rbrehm]

Disregard my last. Found out it's now in the Statistics Widget that I had removed.