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Tue 29 Oct 2019 5:22PM

e-NABLE Web Central - Ongoing Development and Web Hosting

JS Jeremy Simon Public Seen by 82

3D Universe continues to invest in the development, hosting, and support of the e-NABLE Web Central platform. While we are happy to cover a portion of these costs, it seems reasonable to ask for the e-NABLE Fund to help cover a portion as well. In this thread, I intend to create a proposal outlining a suggested funding approach to support the historical and ongoing development of e-NABLE Web Central.

JS

Poll Created Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:24PM

e-NABLE Web Central - Development and Hosting Closed Fri 15 Nov 2019 5:03AM

Outcome
by Jeremy Simon Fri 15 Nov 2019 3:49PM

This proposal has passed with 25 Agree votes, 1 Abstain vote, 0 Disagree votes, and 0 Block votes. Thanks to everyone who participated! We look forward to bringing additional improvements to e-NABLE Web Central!

Description of Proposed Project:

In early 2017, 3D Universe began developing the e-NABLE Web Central platform to provide a volunteer/recipient matching service for the e-NABLE community. Over the last 2.5+ years, our team has invested thousands of hours of time into the development and support of this platform. We have never requested any payment for the time we have invested, and we do not intend to do so. EWC has also benefitted greatly from the support of volunteer Bob Reiger, who has been working for over a year as a case facilitator and continues to support EWC on a volunteer basis.

However, there have also been significant out-of-pocket expenses in continuing to develop and support the EWC platform, and it does seem reasonable to ask that the e-NABLE Fund help to cover a portion of those costs.

Aleks Jones, the original lead developer, is no longer available to assist with EWC development. A volunteer lead developer began working with us earlier this year, but he had to depart shortly thereafter due to time commitments with a new job. While we are still seeking volunteer developers, we have been required to rely on a single contract-based developer who we have paid hourly so that we can continue to make improvements to EWC.

We have also had significant out-of-pocket costs related to the web hosting for this platform, as it is hosted on a dedicated server running Microsoft Windows, IIS, and MS SQL. We are now in the process of preparing to migrate EWC to a Microsoft Azure hosting environment which will be covered by Microsoft's charitable organization licensing, thus significantly reducing or eliminating ongoing hosting costs. For this reason, we are not seeking any reimbursement for web hosting costs moving forward.

Expected results/impact:

Approval of this proposal will help us to continue developing e-NABLE Web Central to add important features and improvements. Some of the plans we have include:

  • Chapter-specific functionality, making it easier for chapters to centrally manage their cases and volunteers
  • Internationalization, providing multiple language options for all of the on-screen interface labels throughout EWC
  • Reporting interface, providing charts and summaries to help us better understand various metrics (i.e. most popular designs, average time to deliver a device, most active volunteers, etc.)
  • Recipient follow-ups, to help gather feedback about the effectiveness of our devices over different periods of time
  • Integration of SolidWorks Sell platform, to provide real-time 3D visualization for custom device configurations (as demonstrated in Jack Sutcliffe's Online Configurator)

Estimate of work effort involved:

While it is difficult to estimate the total effort involved in ongoing development, our current independent contractor is paid $26/hr for his development work, and we are estimating 10 hours per week of his time throughout the remainder of 2019 and 2020.

Estimated timeline for completion:

In terms of the current proposal, this would cover ongoing development through the end of 2020.

Names of individuals responsible for deliverables:

Jeremy Simon

Amount of funding being requested: $16,067.72

Below is a summary of the out-of-pocket costs that have been associated with the development and hosting of EWC, including the projected cost of ongoing development through the end of 2020. 3D Universe is proposing that these costs be split 50/50, with half of the costs being covered by 3D Universe as a donation to e-NABLE and the other half being covered by the e-NABLE Fund.

Summary of EWC Developement and Hosting Costs
Historical payments for independent contractors (for development): $18,896.86
Historical web hosting fees: $7,638.58
Total historical out-of-pocket expenses: $26,535.44
Previously reimbursed from the e-NABLE Fund: -$10,000.00
Balance of out-of-pocket expenses: $16,535.44
Additional projected development costs for remainder of 2019 and 2020: $15,600.00
Projected total of out-of-pocket expenses: $32,135.44
50% to be covered by 3D Universe as a donation to e-NABLE: $16,067.72
50% to be reimbursed from the e-NABLE Fund: $16,067.72

A brief overview of my background with e-NABLE:

Jeremy has been a part of e-NABLE for 6 years and helps to support the enablingthefuture.org website and the e-NABLE Hub. His company, 3D Universe, is a strong supporter of e-NABLE and is responsible for developing the e-NABLE Web Central application. He is a mentor to fellow volunteers as well as classrooms around the world who are interested in participating in the e-NABLE project.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 96.0% 24 JS EL E JO S W ME PB SM AA KB WM JB LG SD NM BM BR MM AG
Abstain 4.0% 1 T
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 128 AB DU JS J RB JL AC JS AD JP AT LB TO JS DD GD AJ JB B AT

25 of 153 people have participated (16%)

S

Shashi
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:28PM

Thanks for all the good work you do!

AA

Adam Armfield
Abstain
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:34PM

Hi Jeremy. We currently have version 1 developed of a app that can be used on any android device that we are testing. The idea is we would test it in enabel medellin than release as open source to the rest of the global enable chapters. It adresses many of these issues and has been developed via a volunteer. Many of your expected results have been adressed and implemented locally. Perhaps we can present it to the SPC and see how we can develop this together ?

JO

Jen Owen
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:38PM

There is no question as to whether this proposal should be funded or not. The amount of volunteer hours and out of pocket expenses that has been given by Jeremy and through his personal business has been far greater than any volunteer should be expected to provide for such a valuable tool for the global community without reimbursement of some kind.

Enable Web Central can only be considered one of the biggest assets we could have for our community.

JS

Jon Schull
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:39PM

Long overdue. Much appreciated!

AA

Adam Armfield
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:47PM

Hi Jeremy. We currently have version 1 developed of a app that can be used on any android device that we are testing. The idea is we would test it in enable medellin than release as open source to the rest of the global enable chapters. It adresses some of these issues and has been developed via a volunteer. Some of your expected results have been adressed and implemented locally. Perhaps we can present it to the SPC and see how we can develop this together ?

E

ebubar
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 6:53PM

No brainer for funding in my opinion.

T

Theo
Abstain
Tue 29 Oct 2019 7:34PM

Since EWC is absolutely of no use for us in France, and the fact that I stongly disagree with its approach, I should disagree, but Jeremy has made so many things for e-nable over the years, i'll up my vote to abstain.

BR

Bob Rieger
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 8:26PM

I support this proposal completely......it will fund important enhancements to EWC for the good of the entire community!

WM

Wayne Munslow
Agree
Tue 29 Oct 2019 8:55PM

Although it seems a large amount, in my opinion this funding is of great value to, and essential to the success of, the e-NABLE community.

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