sections of the poster

1. problem and the solution

   Pitch:

   Simplify Onboarding, Elevate Quality

   Traditional onboarding in software teams is often fragmented and lacks consistency. Our specialized platform offers a tailored solution. We streamline onboarding with custom learning paths, real-time progress tracking, standardized guidelines, mentorship integration, and a gamified recognition system. Say goodbye to complexity and hello to efficient skill development. Elevate your team's quality with us.

   Problem:

   • Onboarding Complexity: Traditional onboarding of software team members is often complex and lacks a standardized approach, leading to inconsistent training, information gaps, and a steep learning curve.
   • Limited Oversight: Organizations struggle to monitor the progress and skill development of new hires and interns effectively. There's a need for a centralized system to track and manage these aspects efficiently.
   • Standardization Challenges: Establishing consistent coding practices, development processes, and project standards across teams can be challenging, leading to variations in project outcomes and quality.

   Solutions (Various Approaches):

   • Custom In-House Training: Some organizations develop their in-house training programs, which can be resource-intensive and may require substantial time and effort to maintain.
   • Third-Party Learning Management Systems (LMS): Employing existing LMS platforms can be an option, but they might not be tailored to the specific needs and standards of a software development team.
   • Mentorship Programs: Pairing new team members with mentors is a common practice, but it may not provide a structured and scalable solution for skill tracking and progress monitoring.

   Our Chosen Solution:

   • Comprehensive Skill Tracking Platform: We have developed a specialized online platform designed to streamline and enhance the onboarding process for software development teams. Our platform offers a one-stop solution for:
     • Learning Pathways: Customized learning paths created by the team, covering coding standards, best practices, and project-specific knowledge.
     • Progress Tracking: Real-time tracking of team members' progress, skill development, and project contributions.
     • Standardization: Clear documentation of coding standards, development processes, and project-specific guidelines.
     • Mentorship Integration: Facilitates mentor-mentee relationships and allows mentors to track their mentees' growth.
     • Badge and Trophy System: Recognizes achievements and encourages skill development through a gamified system.

   Why Our Platform:

   • Tailored to Software Teams: Unlike generic solutions, our platform is tailored to the unique needs of software development teams, addressing the specific challenges they face during onboarding and ongoing skill development.
   • Scalable and Structured: Our platform provides a scalable and structured approach to onboarding, ensuring that all team members receive consistent training and can easily track their progress.
   • Efficient Mentorship: Integrated mentorship features enable a smooth transition for new hires and interns, promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration.
   • Gamified Learning: The badge and trophy system adds an element of gamification to the learning process, making it engaging and motivating for team members.

   In summary, our skill tracking platform offers an innovative solution to the challenges of onboarding and skill development within software development teams. By providing a structured and tailored approach, we aim to streamline the process, enhance learning outcomes, and foster collaboration among team members.

2. MVP requirements (show growth and evolution of the prototype first/discovery project)
   1. from the first interaction with the product owner, we realized this project would heavily rely on discovery on our part. that even the PO wasn’t exactly sure what they wan’ted atleast not in speciics and that it owuld be up to us to disover the parts along the way. so our process relied heavily on weekly discussions and contiuous user story discovery.
   2. initial list of requirements
      1. we started off coming up with ideas for the differnet features that would be needed for the system, simply brainstorming everything and anything that came to mind. After coming up with maybe 20 user stories (not fleshed out ones, but just general concept ideas for the parts of different features) we saw a pattern emerge in terms of actual features: account management, uiux, learning roadmaps, and networking, badges. from there, we went into the process of classifuing these not fleshed out user storues by urgency using the MoSCOw system and realized that there was a lof of dependency on certain features more than others and saw what needed to get done first.
   3. intermediary
      1. as we went along we realized that we were making qutie a lot of mistakes in choosing what user stories to work on becuase we didn’t have the entier context of the work we needed to get done. We realized we had to continue expanding the backlog, not just grooming it but exapnd it. otheriwse we would work on a feature and realize that part of the feature hadn’t explicitly been written down but was a large part of the user story. So with every user story assigned we realized it needed not only more detail but also we discovered user stories alogn the way.
   4. what we have today
      1. finally, our current backlog (completed and pending user stories) spans over 100 user stoires. and most of the user stories needed for this system haven’t even been discovered yet.

3. project evolution
   1. seeing how our project came together is more important than sumply seeing the final product. we were able to heailty ramp up throughout the last few sprints, co,mleting over half of the user stories (maybe 80%) in the last half alone. This is a key detaul considering we went through a number of setbacks including a complete codebase restructing, a datbase transition, and had a team mate quite making the team go from 3 to 2 people.
   2. But honestly, all of this back and forth iteration actually helped. Our team far outperformed our initial thoughts and really gave us the opportuntuy to rely on each other for our indiviudal strenghts. Amani took on a lot of the inital set up and figuring out the database, we discussed the backedn structure with me recommending mvc and him figuring out how to implement it. And I focused on creating the designs, creating all the front ends, and figuring out all the dunamic connections that allow each user to have their data on the UI represent what they have in teh backend.
   3. Sprint 1 primarily focused on project initiation, research, and setting up essential development tools.
      • Key tasks included defining the MVP, researching required technologies, and creating user stories.
      • The frontend work in this sprint allowed super mentors to create user accounts, and initial UI/UX designs for dashboards were developed.
   4. Sprint 2 continued frontend development with a focus on UI/UX design for various user roles.
      • User profiles, dashboard designs, and improved registration capabilities were developed.
   5. Sprint 3 involved creating essential project documentation, optimizing the codebase, and implementing password reset functionality.
   6. Sprint 4 marked a significant milestone with the transition to a SQL database, improving account management, and database design.
   7. Sprint 5 focused on enhancing user authentication by enabling email-based sign-ins and implementing proper authorization checks.
   8. Sprint 6 marked the final sprint, focusing on the creation of learning roadmaps, continuous documentation updates, and additional frontend and backend features.

4. our system design

5. how we implemented things

   The Learnr is an application designed to manage user interactions, track skills, and provide seamless communication between the frontend and backend services.

   Table of Contents

   • Installation
   • Getting Started
   • Usage
   • Directory Structure
   • Backend File Function Descriptions

   Installation

   Follow the steps below to set up the project on your local machine:

   1. Node.js Installation:
      • Download and install Node.js version (v18.17.1) from Node.js official website.
      • Use the recommended installation settings during the setup.
   2. Project Setup:
      • Clone the repository to your local machine.
      • Navigate to the project directory in your terminal.
   3. Dependency Installation:
      • If the following modules are not installed, you can download and install them by running the given commands:

        npm install express
        npm install bcrypt
        npm install csv-parser
        npm install mysql2
        npm install @azure/msal-node
        npm install ejs
        

   4. MySQL Setup:
      • Download mySQL from this website: https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer/
        • For windows select the download with the higher download count.
        • For mac select the option that works for your specified operating system.
      • Once downloaded use all default settings and when it asks to enter a password type the recommended: 'root' or 'password' (This passowrd may vary from computer to computer).
      • If possible do a full installation which will include mysql workbench and mysql sever.
        • Run mySQL workbench and select the database and log in using the password you set for yourself.

   Getting Started

   To get the application running:

   1. Navigate to the project directory in your terminal.
   2. Run the following command to start the server:

      node server.js
      

   The application will start and run on localhost. Access the system via a web browser.

   Usage

   1. Access the application via a browser using the URL http://localhost:3000.
   2. Interact with the application as per your requirements.

   Directory Structure

   LEARNR_SKILL_TRACKER/
   │
   ├── Learnr/
   │   ├── controllers/
   │   │   └── userController.js - Manages user operations and interactions between the user models and views.
   │   │
   │   ├── models/
   │   │   ├── database.js - Centralized database connection settings and functions.
   │   │   ├── msalConfig.js - Configuration for Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL).
   │   │   ├── pathwaysModel.js - Manages learning pathway data interactions with the database.
   │   │   └── userModel.js - Handles user data and logic, interfacing with the database.
   │   │
   │   ├── public/
   │   │   ├── icons/ - Contains image assets used across the front-end.
   │   │   ├── LearnrLogin.js - Front-end logic for handling user authentication and login.
   │   │   ├── Pathways.js - Front-end scripts for learning pathways interaction.
   │   │   └── Profile.js - Script for handling user profile interactions on the front-end.
   │   │
   │   ├── routes/
   │   │   └── authRoutes.js - Routes authentication and authorization requests.
   │   │
   │   ├── views/
   │   │   ├── admin/
   │   │   │   ├── supermentor-deletePathway.ejs - View for deleting learning pathways by a super mentor.
   │   │   │   ├── supermentor-management.html - Admin panel for super mentor management tasks.
   │   │   │   ├── supermentor-mentee_pathway_tracker.ejs - Tracks mentee progress for super mentors.
   │   │   │   └── supermentor-profile.ejs - Profile view template for super mentors.
   │   │   │
   │   │   ├── mentee/
   │   │   │   ├── empty_pathways_tracker.html - View displayed when there are no pathways to track.
   │   │   │   ├── mentee-profile.ejs - Profile view for mentees.
   │   │   │   ├── user_pathways_tracker.ejs - View for tracking assigned learning pathways.
   │   │   │   └── user_skill_tracker.ejs - Skill tracking interface for mentees.
   │   │   │
   │   │   ├── mentor/
   │   │   │   ├── assignForm.ejs - Form for mentors to assign tasks or pathways.
   │   │   │   ├── mentor-management.html - Management view for mentors.
   │   │   │   ├── mentor-mentee_pathway_tracker.ejs - Interface for mentors to track mentee pathway progress.
   │   │   │   └── mentor-profile.ejs - Profile view for mentors.
   │   │   │
   │   │   ├── assignForm.html - HTML form for assigning new tasks or pathways.
   │   │   ├── createPathwayForm.html - Form for creating new learning pathways.
   │   │   ├── LearnrLogin Front.html - Front-end for the Learnr login page.
   │   │   ├── NewUserForm.html - Form for registering new users.
   │   │   └── ResetUserPasswordForm.html - Form for users to reset their passwords.
   │   │
   │   └── server.js - Initializes and starts the application server.
   │
   ├── database files/
   │   └── SQL Workbench Files/ - Contains SQL scripts and database workbench files for managing the database schema and data.
   │
   └── README.md - Project documentation and setup guide.
   
   

   Backend File Function Descriptions

   userController.js

   The userController.js module is responsible for handling all user-related operations within the application, mediating between the views and models.

   Functions

   • handlePathways(req, res): Manages the assignment of learning pathways to mentees, including validation and the creation of new mentee-pathway relationships.
   • assign(req, res): Renders the assignment form to the user, populated with mentees and pathways data.
   • assignPathway(req, res): Assigns a selected pathway to a chosen mentee and handles potential errors in assignment.
   • login(req, res): Authenticates a user by verifying their credentials and redirects them to their respective dashboard.
   • logout(req, res): Resets the current session's user information, effectively logging out the user.
   • getProfile(req, res): Retrieves and renders the profile data for the logged-in user.
   • getPathwayData(req, res): Retrieves and renders the pathway data for a specific course ID for the logged-in mentee.
   • getUserDashboard(req, res): Determines the user type of the logged-in user and renders the appropriate dashboard.
   • verifyIsAdmin(req, res): Checks if the logged-in user is an admin.
   • updateProfile(req, res): Updates the profile information of the logged-in user and handles profile update operations.
   • checkIfLoggedIn(req, res, next): Middleware that checks if the user is logged in before allowing access to certain routes.
   • admin_reset_password(req, res): Allows an admin to reset a user's password and handles the password reset process.
   • register(req, res): Handles new user registration, ensuring the email doesn't already exist and saving the new user information.
   • redirectToPage(req, res): Redirects the logged-in user to their respective dashboard based on their user type and admin status.
   • validateRoute(routeType): Middleware that validates the user's permission for accessing specific routes based on their user type.
   • msalLogin(req, res): Authenticates a user using Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) and handles the login response.
   • getPathways(req, res): Retrieves all pathways data for display and management by an admin.
   • removePathway(req, res): Disables and removes a pathway based on a given pathway ID, handling errors related to pathway removal.

   Global Variables

   • accountEmail: Keeps track of the currently logged-in user's email address.
   • accountUserType: Stores the user type of the currently logged-in user.
   • accountIsAdmin: Indicates whether the currently logged-in user has admin privileges (1 for admin, 0 for non-admin).

   userModel.js

   The userModel.js module is designed to interact with the database for user-related data management, such as authentication, profile updates, and registration.

   Functions

   • login_msal(callback): Initiates a login flow using Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL).
   • checkUser(email, password, callback): Verifies if user credentials match those in the database and retrieves the user type and admin status.
   • validateEmail(email, callback): Checks if the provided email exists in the database.
   • addUser(newEmail, newPassword, userType, name, position, callback): Adds a new user to the database with the provided details.
   • getUserData(email, callback): Retrieves full user profile data based on the user's email.
   • updateProfile(email, firstName, lastName, position, bio, school, interests, callback): Updates the user's profile information in the database.
   • adminUpdatePassword(email, newPassword, callback): Allows an admin to update a user's password in the database.
   • getMentees(callback): Retrieves a list of all users with the 'mentee' user type from the database.

   pathwaysModel.js

   The pathwaysModel.js module manages the interactions with the database for operations related to learning pathways within the application.

   Functions

   • getPathwaySkill(pathwayID, callback): Retrieves the skill associated with a given pathway ID from the database.
   • addPathway(pathwayID, menteeEmail, callback): Adds a new pathway assignment for a mentee in the database.
   • checkPathway(pathwayID, menteeEmail, callback): Checks if a pathway assignment already exists for a mentee.
   • getMentorMentees(mentorEmail, callback): Retrieves all mentees and their pathway progress associated with a specific mentor.
   • getMenteePathwaysAll(menteeEmail, callback): Retrieves all pathway assignments for a specific mentee.
   • getMenteePathwaysSingle(menteeEmail, pathway_id, callback): Retrieves a single pathway assignment for a mentee.
   • getPathwaySkills(pathwayID, callback): Retrieves all skills associated with a specific pathway.
   • validatePathwayID(pathwayID, callback): Validates the existence of a pathway ID in the database.
   • removePathway(pathwayID, callback): Removes a pathway assignment from the database.
   • disablePathway(pathwayID, callback): Sets a pathway as disabled in the database.
   • getPathways(callback): Retrieves all pathways from the database.

   database.js

   The database.js module establishes and manages the connection to the MySQL database used by the application.

   Setup

   • A MySQL connection is created using the mysql2 package. You will need to update the host, port, user, password, and database name with your MySQL server's details.

   Connection Handling

   • connectToMySQL(): A function that establishes a connection to the MySQL server and logs any errors or confirms a successful connection.
   • Connection Event Listener: Listens for a 'PROTOCOL_CONNECTION_LOST' error and attempts to reconnect to the MySQL server if the connection is lost.
   • Exit Event Listener: Ensures that the MySQL connection is properly closed when the application process exits.

   Export

   • The established connection is exported so that it can be utilized by other modules within the application.

   learnrLogin.js

   • Frontend event listener on the 'loginForm': Captures login form submission and calls the login function from the userController.

   authRoutes.js

   The authRoutes.js file is responsible for defining the route handlers for authentication and user management within the LEARNR_SKILL_TRACKER application.

   Route Handlers

   • GET /: Serves the main login page to the user.
   • POST /login: Handles user login requests using the login function from userController.
   • GET /logout: Logs out the user and redirects to the login page.
   • GET /management: Serves the management dashboard for mentors and admin users based on their permissions.
   • GET /skill_tracker: Serves the skill tracker page for mentees.
   • GET /pathways/pathway_:courseId: Retrieves and displays pathway data for the given course ID.
   • GET /profile, POST /updateProfile: Retrieves and updates the profile of the logged-in user.
   • GET /dashboard: Directs the user to their respective dashboard after login.
   • GET /admin, GET /mentor, GET /mentee: Directs admin, mentor, and mentee users to their respective dashboards.
   • GET /register, POST /register: Displays the registration form to the admin and handles the registration process.
   • GET /user/profile: Retrieves the profile information for display.
   • GET /admin_reset_password, POST /admin_reset_password: Serves the password reset form for admins and handles the password reset process.
   • GET /assign, POST /assignPathway: Displays the pathway assignment form to the user and handles the assignment of pathways to mentees.
   • GET /getPathways: Retrieves all pathways data for management by an admin.
   • POST /removePathway: Handles the removal of a pathway assignment from the system.
   • GET /msal: Initiates the login process using Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL).

   Middleware Usage

   • userController.checkIfLoggedIn: Middleware to check if a user is logged in before accessing certain routes.
   • userController.validateRoute(routeType): Middleware to validate if the logged-in user has the permission to access specific routes.

   Export

   • The router object is exported for use in the main server.js application file.

   server.js

   The server.js file is the entry point for the LEARNR_SKILL_TRACKER web application. It sets up the server and includes the necessary middleware to handle requests and static files.

   Setup

   • Express Framework: Initializes an Express application to set up the server.
   • Body Parser Middleware: Uses body-parser to parse JSON and URL-encoded form data.
   • Static Files: Serves static files from the 'public' directory.

   Port Configuration

   • The application listens on port 3000, which can be configured as needed for your environment.

   Routing

   • Authentication Routes: Includes and uses the authentication routes defined in authRoutes.js for handling login, registration, and other auth-related endpoints.

   Server Initialization

   • The server is started and begins listening on the specified port, logging a message to the console to indicate that it is running and available for connections.

   Usage

   To start the server, run node server.js in the terminal. Ensure all other configurations, such as database connections, are set up correctly beforehand.

6. verification
   The verification process for this application primarily consisted of cross-referencing the data values retrieved from the database with the expected values, ensuring that no errors were encountered during data retrieval. Unfortunately, no formal code-based testing, such as unit tests or integration tests, was conducted. Additionally, we ensured that our UI designs closely matched the created UI mockups to maintain visual consistency throughout the application.
   

   In terms of our current testing setup, it primarily revolves around manual testing and validation of the application's features and functionalities. This includes checking that all user stories' acceptance criteria have been successfully completed. While we have been able to confirm that the application meets its defined requirements, a more comprehensive testing strategy, including automated tests, would further enhance the application's reliability and robustness.

7. summary of what we did