Version 1.3 March 31 2013 - Montana Technological UniversityMarch 31 2013 Applying Montana Tech SUM Standard Version 1.0 Project Director: Prof. Celia Schahczenski Maintence Project

AbOut Software Users’ Manual Version 1.3 March 31, 2013

. 10/24/2013 page i of 36 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Montana Tech CS Department AbOut

Software Users’ Manual

Version 1.3

March 31 2013

Applying Montana Tech SUM Standard Version 1.0

Project Director: Prof. Celia Schahczenski

Maintence Project Manager: Prof. Frank Ackerman

Maintenance Project Team: Cade Foster, Jeff Hall, Clint Hillerman, Jake Jones,Brian

Knopp, Matt Morris, PJ Neary, Tom Powell, Frank Sholey, Logan Warner

Document Authors: Jeff Hall, Clint Hillerman, Jake Jones, PJ Neary, Tom Powell,

Frank Sholey, Logan Warner

Compliat with MTM SUM Standard Version Number 1.0

Version Date Authors Comment

1.0 2/22/13 Jeff Hall, Clint Hillerman, Jake

Jones, PJ Neary, Tom Powell, Frank

Sholey, Logan Warner

Seperated work and synthesized

1.1 3/6/13 Jeff Hall, Clint Hillerman, Jake

Jones, PJ Neary, Tom Powell, Frank

Sholey, Logan Warner

Collaborated work (Table of Contents is not finished)

1.2 3/15/13 Frank Ackerman Cosmetics

1.3 3/31/13 Frank Ackerman Edits:

CAS failure


. 10/24/2013 page ii of 36 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Montana Tech Software Engineering Students:

These Montana Tech Method software engineering standards encapsulate Dr.

Ackerman’s decades of experience in the software industry, the IEEE software

engineering standards, and many suggestions from various texts. They have gone through

many revisions and additions over the last several years. They are part of your software

engineering studies so that (1) you may have the experience of developing software to a

standard (which you may find you need to do if you take a job that requires high quality

software), and so that (2) you will have the experience of developing high quality

software. You are also invited to participate in the continuing evolution of these standards

by studying them critically and making suggestions for their improvement and correction.


. 10/24/2013 page iii of 36 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1

1.1 PURPOSE OF THS MANUAL .................................................................................... 1 1.2 SCOPE .................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................ 1

1.3.1 Definitions ....................................................................................................... 1

1.3.2 Acronyms and Abbreviations .......................................................................... 2 1.4 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 3 1.5 OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................... 3 1.6 DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................ 3

1.6.1 Definitions ....................................................................................................... 3

2 GENERAL INFORMATION .................................................................................. 3

2.1 AUDIENCE ............................................................................................................ 3

2.2 CONVENTIONS ..................................................................................................... 4 2.3 PROBLEM REPORTING .......................................................................................... 4

3 USER INSTRUCTIONS .......................................................................................... 5

3.1 LOGIN SCREEN ..................................................................................................... 5

3.2 ABOUT MAIN FUNCTIONS ................................................................................... 8 3.2.1 Administrative Functions ................................................................................ 9 3.2.2 Faculty Functions ......................................................................................... 24

3.2.3 Report Functions ........................................................................................... 28

3.3 LOGOUT SCREEN ............................................................................................... 32


abOutSUMv1.3.docx 10/24/2013 page 1of 36

1 Introduction

This section of the Software Users’ Manual (SUM) will explain the purpose and scope of

the SUM, its planned evolution, reference materials, and the definitions and abbreviations

used within this SUM.

1.1 Purpose of ths manual

This document is a Software Users’ Manual for AbOut, which was constructed and is

maintained by the Montana Tech Computer Science (CS) department. In particular, it

presents step-by-step procedures that ence faculty and administration can use to better

understand and use the functions of AbOut.

1.2 Scope

The goal of the AbOut web application is to simplify and standardize how faculty

members measure how well their courses meet ABET outcomes. In most cases the

software will streamline the methods which the faculty are currently implementing

themselves. This application should make course evaluation, relative to ABET outcomes,

easier.

1.3 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

1.3.1 Definitions

Registered User A person who is on the User List.

User List A list of Montana Tech registered compus network users who can

access the Montana Tech CS Department AbOut web

application.

Assessment An assessment associated with a course offering. The assessment

is created by the instructor of the course. It consists of a

description, maximum number of points, and a list of the

program outcomes which it measures.

Assessment

Goal

The amount above which a student is considered to have met the

program outcome. This needs to be kept in a variable so the

assessment goal can be changed easily. Throughout this

document it is assumed that the assessment goal is 70%.



Course Course contributing to measuring program outcomes and offered

by the CS department. Courses are identified by a prefix and

number, such as ESOF 328. The course prefixes are CSCI and

ESOF. The course has a name, such as Software Requirements

and Specifications.

Course Report Report showing the extent to which all course offering within a

semester range for the given course, met the outcomes associated

with the course.

Course offering A particular section of a course offered in a particular semester.

Course offerings are identified by a course, a section and a

semester.

Offering Report Report showing the extent to which a course offering met the

program outcomes associated with it.

Outcome A program outcome defined by the CS department. These are

identified by a prefix followed by a letter or number. The

prefixes are CAC or EAC. Each outcome has text.

Outcome

abbreviation

Uniquely identifies a program outcome. Begins with prefix CAC

or EAC followed by a letter or number.

Outcome Report Report showing the extent to which a program outcome was met

over the semester(s) of interest, divided by the courses which

measured that outcome.

Semester A Montana Tech semester. Consists of a year and either fall,

spring or summer.

Semester(s) of

interest

A single semester or arrange of semesters for which a report is

being generated.

Simple average An average of each value with no weighting due to

characteristics of the values.

Student score The score that a student earned on an assessment.

Overview

Report

Report showing the extent to which the program outcomes were

met over the semester(s) of interest, divided by the courses active

during the semester(s) of interest.

Function Tree

Box

The box on the left of the AbOut’s screens that shows the

flow/current location of the application

Input Box The “main” box of each page of AbOut, where the user will enter

information or offer other input.

1.3.2 Acronyms and Abbreviations

ABET Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology

CAC Computing Accreditation Commission.

CAS Central Authentication Service

CS Computer Science

CS Computer Science

EAC Engineering Accreditation Commission

MTECHS Montana Tech Campus Network Domain



SUM Software Users’ Manual

SRS Software Requirements Specification

1.4 References

ABET http://www.abet.org/accreditation-criteria-policies-documents/ , retrieved

02/28/13.

CAS, https://wiki.jasig.org/display/CAS/Home, retrieved 02/28/13.

1.5 Overview

The remainder of this SUM contains general information about the audience,

conventions, obtaining help, and problem reporting. It also contains detailed descriptions

on how to use each of the functions of AbOut.

1.6 Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

1.6.1 Definitions

Registered

User

A person who is on the User List.

User List A list of Montana Tech registered compus network usesr who can

access the Montana Tech CS Department AbOut web

application.

2 General Information

This user manual has been written to aid anyone using AbOut in how the software works

and is controlled. It will contain screenshots and diagrams to help explain or show the

functionality of AbOut. After reading this document, the user should be able to use

AbOut to the extent of its abilities and have a good understanding of how to go about

using the program. This user manual is also to be used as a reference for any questions

the user may have while using AbOut.

2.1 Audience

As a fairly wide range of users will be using AbOut, it is important to define what

assumptions are made as to what the user or reader knows.

It is assumed that the user has a good understanding of how a computer, the

internet, and a modern web browser work. The user must also have the correct

and valid credentials to login through CAS.

http://www.abet.org/accreditation-criteria-policies-documents/

https://wiki.jasig.org/display/CAS/Home



It is also assumed that anyone using the software has some connection to Montana

Tech and how classes on this campus work (i.e. courses may have different

sections for the same course offering).

An adequate understanding of what ABET is and the outcomes it prescribes to

Montana Tech’s courses mean is required. Certain courses meet different ABET

outcomes and AbOut was created to keep these outcomes organized.

2.2 Conventions

This section works to outline the conventions used in this user manual so as to clearly and

concisely define what is meant.

Symbols- symbols included in this document include English characters and

numerals, as well as diagrams(consisting mostly of screenshots) to communicate

visually to the user.

Highlight- Important material in the text will be designated by italics (while in

text) and bold or bold-italics and numerals to indicate section titles.

Stylistic Conventions- the style of the user manual adheres to the Montana Tech

standard for Software Users’ Manuals version 1.0. Most notably, section naming

conventions will consist of a bold numeral and section title while sub-sections

will begin with a numeral with the subsection number occurring after the decimal.

After each section the sub-section numbers will reset. Bullets and numbering

inside of text may be used to outline multiple key pieces of information.

Command Syntax Conventions- Syntax for various commands (should they be

present) will shown in the font Courier New and will be shown exactly how

they should be typed/executed.

2.3 Problem Reporting

This subsection should describe the methods by which the user should use to report any

problems he/she may find while using AbOut. There are two different classes of

problems:

Application problems- Application problems include any problem with hardware

or software while using AbOut.

Document problems- Document problems include all apparent errors of omission

of commission in this document.

Both types of errors should be reported by e-mailing the product director, Prof. Celia

Schahczenski at [email protected]. The e-mail should explain what type of error

it is (see above), what error the user is experiencing, what the user was doing when it

happened. If possible, screenshots showing the error should be included.



3 User Instructions

3.1 Access and Login

This section relates to SRS requirements X and Y.

A Montana Tech CS department user accesses the Montana Tech CS department version

of AbOut by using the Firefox browser to accesses https://katie.mtech.edu/AbOut .

The browser brings up the About Front Screen shown below. This screen outlines what

AbOut can do.

Figure 1: AbOut Front Screen.

https://katie.mtech.edu/AbOut



To get acces to AbOut the user must click the Logon button in the screen shot above.

This brings up a CAS Login Screen to authenticate the user as registered on the Montana Tech

network.

Figure 2: CAS Login Screen.

Only registered Montana Tech campus computer network users can access the Montana

Tech CS Department AbOut application. On the CAS Login Screen the user must enter a

Montana Tech network username and password and click the LOGON button. If the

username/password is not accepted an error message is displayed:



Figure 2a: CAS Login Error Screen

and a user can make another attempt.

In addition, to use the the Montana Tech CS Department AbOut the users name and

campus network login must have been entered in the Montana Tech CS Department

AbOut User List by someone who is a Registered Montana Tech campus computer

network user.

A person who is a registered Montana Tech campus computer network user but is not a

Registered Montana Tech CS Department AbOut User will, upon passing the CAS

screen shown above get the following screen:



Figure 3: Unsuccesful Login Screen

At this point the users only options is to exit from this browser access.

A user who is a registered Montana Tech campus computer network user and a

Registered Montana Tech CS Department AbOut User will, upon passing the above

CAS screen, get a version of the AbOut Main Screen described in the next section.

3.2 AbOut Main Screen

The AbOut Main Screen consists of two parts: a left side panel and a right side panel. The left

side panal has tabs tht provide access to the three groups of AbOut functions. The content

of the right side depends on which function has been selected on the left side.

Figure x:



All of AbOut’s functions are organized into three groups:

1. Adminstrative

2. Teaching

3. Reports

The functions available in each of these groups are organized into function trees on each

of the thee

3.2.1 Administrative Functions

To access the administrative functions, click the Administrator link above the function

tree box.

Figure 1: Function tree box.

The administrative functions are broken into four groups in the function tree box. The

groups are, in order of appearance:

3.2.1.1 Courses

3.2.1.2 Outcomes

3.2.1.3 Semesters

3.2.1.4 Users

Click a group’s plus sign to expand the tree and list the functions in that group.

3.2.1.1 Courses

This section provides functions relating to all courses. Those functions are:

3.2.1.1.1 Add course

3.2.1.1.2 Edit/view course

3.2.1.1.3 Edit/view offering

3.2.1.1.4 Add offering

3.2.1.1.1 Add Course



To add a course, click Add Course at the top of the Courses section of the function tree

box.

Figure 2: Add course.

This shows the Add Course form in the input box to the right.

Figure 2: Add course form for user input.

The Add Course form is used to add new courses to the curriculum. Enter the course’s

abbreviation and name in the appropriate text boxes.



Figure 3: Add course text input boxes.

Indicate which curriculum(s) the course belongs to by clicking the appropriate

checkbox(es). This displays the outcomes associated with those curricula beneath the

Outcomes header. Select this course’s outcomes by clicking their checkboxes.

Figure 4: Outcome indication.

Select the starting and ending semesters for this course from the drop-down lists beneath

the offerings.

Save the course by clicking the Save button. The Reset button clears all changes to the

Add Course form. Clicking the Done button clears the input box and collapses the

function tree without saving the course.



Figure 5: Start and end semester input.

3.2.1.1.2 View/Edit Course

To view or edit a course, click the title of the course located in the Courses section of the

function tree box.

Figure 6: Course Selection.

After selecting the title of the course, the Edit Course form will appear in the input box

located to the left of the function tree.

Figure 7: Edit Course.

The input box displays the current course information and allows editing of the course

information. Use this form for editing the course name, course curriculum, course



outcomes, and the start and ending semesters in same manner as in the Add Course

section above (3.2.1.1.1).

Save the course by clicking the Save button. The Reset button clears all changes to the

Edit Course form. The Delete button removes the course from the function tree. Clicking

the Done button clears the input box and collapses the function tree without saving the

course.

3.2.1.1.3 Add Offering

To add an offering, click the plus symbol corresponding to a course and click Add

Offering.

Figure 8: Add Offering.

This displays the Add Offering form in the input box.

Figure 9: Add Offering form in the input box.



Select the semester from the drop down box, indicate the section number in the Section

text box, and select the instructor from the drop down box.

To add a student to the offering, type the student’s name in the Students form at the right

side of the input box, and click the Add button. To add more than one student at a time,

click the Import Students From File button.

Figure 10: Add Students.

Type the name of the file in the textbox that appears or click Browse to browse the

filesystem. The input file must be a text file containing a comma-separated list of student

names. To import the file, click Import. Clicking cancel hides the Import Students From

File options and does not attempt to import information.

Figure 11: Import Students.

To save the offering, click the Save button. Clicking the Done button clears the input box

and collapses the function tree without saving the offering.



3.2.1.1.4 Edit/View Offering

To view or edit an offering, click the plus symbol corresponding to a course to display its

offerings. Offerings are listed under the course name by semester and section number.

Figure 12: Edit/View Offering.

Click on the name of an offering to display the Edit Offering form in the input box.

Figure 13: Edit students in Offering

The input box displays the selected offering’s information and allows editing of the

offering information. Use the Section textbox to edit the course’s section number. Use



the drop-down list to change the course’s instructor. The course’s semester cannot be

altered.

Clicking the Remove button beside a student’s name will remove that student from the

offering. To remove every student from the offering, click Remove All. Students can be

added to the offering in the same manner as Add Offering (3.2.1.1.3), above.

Save the offering by clicking the Save button. The Reset button clears all changes to the

Edit Offering form. The Delete button removes the offering from the function tree.

Clicking the Done button clears the input box and collapses the function tree without

saving the offering.

3.2.1.2 Outcomes

This section provides functions relating to all outcomes. Those functions are:

3.2.1.2.1 Add outcome

3.2.1.2.2 View/Edit outcome

3.2.1.2.1 Add Outcome

To add an Outcome, click the plus symbol corresponding to Outcomes in the function

tree and click Add Outcome.

Figure 14: Add Outcome.

This displays the Add Outcome form in the input box.



Figure 15: Add Outcome input.

Enter the Outcome’s abbreviation and description in the appropriate textboxes. Select the

Outcome’s Program Abbreviation from the drop-down list. Use the Start Semester and

End Semester drop-down lists to select the starting and ending semesters for this

Outcome.

3.2.1.2.2 View/Edit Outcome

To view or edit an Outcome, click its name in the function tree box.

Figure 16: View/Edit Outcome.

The Edit Outcome form will appear in the input box located to the left of the function tree

box.



Figure 17: Example input for the Edit Outcome.

The input box displays the current Outcome information and allows editing of the course

information. Use this form to edit the Offering name, description, program, and the start

and ending semesters in same manner as in the Add Outcome section above (3.2.1.2.1).

Save the Offering by clicking the Save button. The Reset button clears all changes to the

Edit Offering form. The Delete button removes the Outcome from the function tree.


saving the Outcome.

3.2.1.3 Semesters

This section provides functions relating to all outcomes. Those functions are:

3.2.1.3.1 Add Semester

3.2.1.3.2 Change Default

3.2.1.3.3 List All

3.2.1.3.1 Add Semester

To add a Semester, click the plus symbol corresponding to Semesters in the function tree

and click Add Semester.



Figure 18: Add Semester.

The Add Semester form will appear in the input box located to the left of the function

tree box.

Figure 19: Set as default semester.

Semesters are added in sequential order. To add the next semester, click the Add

Semester button. To make this semester the default semester, first click the checkbox.

The Done button clears the input box.

3.2.1.3.2 Change Default

To change the default semester, click the plus symbol corresponding to Semesters in the

function tree box and click Change Default.



Figure 20: Change Default.

The Default Semester form will appear in the input box.

Figure 21: Select Default from the dropdown list.

To change the default semester, select it from the drop-down list and click the Save

Default button. The Reset button clears all changes to the Default Semester form.


changing the default semester.

3.2.1.3.3 List All



To view all available semesters, click the plus sign next to Semesters in the function tree

box and then click list All.

Figure 22: List All Semesters.

A bulleted list of all available semesters appears in the input box.

Figure 23: List of all available semesters

Clicking the Done button clears the input box.

3.2.1.4 Users

This section provides functions relating to all users. Those functions are:



3.2.1.4.1 Add User

3.2.1.4.2 View/Edit User

3.2.1.4.1 Add User

To add a user, click the plus sign beside Users in the function tree box and then click Add

User.

Figure 24: Add User.

The Add User form appears in the input box to the right of the function tree box.

Figure 25: Add User Input.



Enter the User’s name in the Name textbox. Enter the User’s Mtechs domain username in

the Mtechs UserName textbox. To indicate that this User is active, click the checkbox.

Save the User by clicking the Save button. The Reset button clears all changes to the

Add User form. Clicking the Done button clears the input box without saving the User.

3.2.1.4.2 View/Edit User

To view or edit a User, click the plus sign beside Users in the function tree box.

Figure 26: Edit User.

The Edit User form appears in the input box to the right of the function tree box.

Figure 27: Edit User Input.



Use this form to edit a User’s Name, Mtechs UserName, and Active status in the same

manner as in the Add User section (3.2.1.4.1), above.

3.2.2 Faculty Functions

Figure 1: Faculty view with unexpanded tree.

While in the faculty tab, a user should see a list of the semesters for which they teach

offerings (Spring 2013 in Figure 1). Clicking on the expand button (a white box with a

plus sign in it) shows all the offerings the user teaches for the semester next to the button

(see Figure 2).



Figure 2: Faculty view with an expanded semester.

3.2.2.1 Edit Offering

Once a semester is expanded, an offering can be edited by clicking on its name on the list

of offerings (see Figure 3) or an offering may be expanded to list its assessments.

Figure 3: Edit offering screen.



While in the edit offering screen, displayed are the outcomes that apply to that offering’s

course (1) and the students enrolled in that course (2). A user may remove students (3),

add students (4), export students to a file (5), add an assessment (6), generate a CORE

report (7), or save, reset, or finish a change (8).

3.2.2.2 Add Assessment

Figure 4: Add assessment screen.

While in the add assessment screen, a user may enter an assessment description (1), enter

maximum points (2); select outcomes that the assessment applies to (3); add the amount

of points scored by each student, which must be between 0 and the maximum points (4);

and save, reset, or finish their changes (5).



To edit an assessment, a user must expand an offering and then click on a listed

assessment.

3.2.2.3 Edit Assessment

Figure 5: Edit assessment screen.

The edit assessment screen is almost the same as the add assessment screen. The

differences are that the save, reset, and done buttons (5) are joined by the delete button

(6), which deletes the assessment.



3.2.3 Report Functions

This section provides functions relating to reports. To access the report functions, click

the Reports link above the function tree box. To generate a specific type of report, click

the menu option that matches the type of report you would like to generate. There are 5

different reports to choose from.

Figure 1: Types of Reports.

3.2.3.1 Overview Outcome Report.

An Overview Outcome report shows the percentage of students in the semester who

earned 70% or higher on all assessments measuring the outcome.

Figure 2: Overview Outcome Report screen.



First, select which program you would like to generate a report for. For

example, if your report is “CAC”, select “CAC” from the drop down box.

Then, select either a single semester, or a range of semesters.

The “Show Raw Data” button does nothing, and will be removed in a future

revision.

Finally, click “Generate Report” to create your report.

3.2.3.2 Overview Course Report

An Overview Course Report shows the percentage of students in the course who earned

70% or higher on all assessments measuring the outcome.

Figure 3: Overview Course Report.

First, select which program you would like to generate a report for. For

example, if your report is “CAC”, select “CAC” from the drop down box.

Then, select either a single semester, or a range of semesters.

The “Show Raw Data” button does nothing, and will be removed in a future

revision.

Finally, click “Generate Report” to create your report.



3.2.3.3 CORE report (screen)

A CORE report shows the percentage of students who earned 70% or higher on all

assessments in the offering measuring that outcome.

Figure 4: CORE report screen.

Select which course offering you would like to generate a report for. For

example, if your course is CSCI498, select CSCI498.

Select a semester that the course has been offered.

Select a valid section number for the course.

The “Show Raw Data” option does nothing, and will be removed in a future

revision.

Finally, click the “Generate Report” button to generate your report.



3.2.3.4 Outcome Report

An Outcome Report shows the percentage of students in the course who earned 70% or

higher on all assessments measuring the outcome.

Figure 5: Outcome Report screen.

Select which course offering you would like to generate a report for. For

example, if your outcome is CAC f, select CAC f from the dropdown box.

Select either a single semester, or a range of semesters from the appropriate

drop down boxes.

The “Show Raw Data” option does nothing, and will be removed in a future

revision.

Finally, click the “Generate Report” button to generate your report.



3.2.3.5 Matrix Report

A Matrix Report shows the outcomes measured by each course in the program.

Figure 6: Matrix Report screen.

Select the program you would like to view a Matrix Report for, and click the “Generate

Report” button.

3.3 Logout Screen

The user may log out of AbOut at any point in time. When logged out, the user will be

required to log back in if they wish to continue use of AbOut.

To log out, the user must click the “Logout” located on the top right of each page.



When the user is logged out, a successful logout screen will be displayed (see Figure 11).

Figure 1: Successful Logout screen.

Documents

Version 1.3 March 31 2013 - Montana Technological UniversityMarch 31 2013 Applying Montana Tech SUM Standard Version 1.0 Project Director: Prof. Celia Schahczenski Maintence Project