In this article we are going to analyze the requirements of the database application that is required to run a group like AFS.We will also evaluate Dotproject as a possible solution.

• Requirements Analysis.
• Dotproject Introduction.
  
• Using Dotproject in AFS .
  

 Requirements Analysis

 The main requriments of the AFS database when it was built were as follows:

1. Track the various materials received.
2. Track and allocate the various resources.
3. Divide the various tasks among the employees.
4. Track the time spent on each task,material for better control of the procedure
5. Have a ticketing system for issues management.

Please read the article A typical day in AFS to better understand the requirements. 

Dotproject Introduction

Originally commenced in 2000 by dotmarketing.org, dotProject was developed as a state of the art Project Management tool from the start.The original theme (still available in the first release of 2005) flagged dotProject as an open source alternative to Microsoft products and other expensive, commercial applications.

Right from the start, dotProject had, as it's core aims a number of simple requirements:

* Clean, simple and consistent user interface;

* Project Management functionality - not another CMS, groupware environment or all things to all people collaboration tool, but a project management environment;

* Open source / open access / free usage.

Features Include

Using Dotproject in AFS

Dotprojects'  security  model allows hierarchical roles  for users of the database. At AFS the heirarchy is there are many teams that are managed by team leaders, team leaders are managed by the supervisor. All team members including the team leader work on editing,formating  and other tasks. 

As each student has different amount of work required, keeping track of billable hours is made simpler by the client management .All the projects for a particular client can be handled in this manner.The tasks arising from the projects can also be handled by dotproject.

If the client has any issues the  Ticket system can be used to handle them.

For more on how to use dotproject in an AFS group email "support at wintriangle.org".