New Web Site Testing

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

CRGC's web site is being updated, and we will be running the old site and the new site in parallel for several weeks as we conduct testing of the new site.  We don't anticipate moving the new site into production until 1/1/2012, so members can continue to use the existing site.  Even after the web site changes are put into the production code, there will be no change to the club's URL (http://www.canbyrodandgun.com), although detail-oriented members may notice the addition of new URLs during and after the testing.  Members who have previously read this notice may go to the new web site by clicking this link.

The web site is being changed to update the site (it was designed 10 years ago, and the structure has not changed in several years) to be compliant with new coding standards, and to add new features and functions for members, club officers, and committee chairpersons.  It has become more difficult to manage the club as the membership has grown, and we have engaged in more activities and provided more services.  (It is probably worth noting that in 2002 there were 538 active members - regular, life, and honorary.  There are now 707 active members, mostly due to the addition of 50 regular members in March 2006, and a substantial increase in the number of life members as members have aged in the past decade.)  Several of the changes are being made to allow the officers and chairpersons to be more efficient, and to have better communication about club activities.

There are some fairly significant changes being made to the web site, including:

• The web site is linked to a member database, which will allow authorized members to access their own membership record, and change parts of it, such as mailing addresses, telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses.
• The member database and the supporting software will also allow officers to make membership status changes, add applicants, and track new member requirements.
• The member database contains a list of officers, directors, and chairpersons, along with their level of authorization to access or change club information.
• The club's web site calendar is completely changed, and presents a much larger set of information to users.  In addition, authorized members can request to schedule events and club facilities via the web site calendar, and the software will send an e-mail to the appropriate club officers and chairpersons to request approval, and will also remind them of requests requiring approval of an officer or chairperson.
• A package of software written using Microsoft Access has been created to run on the PCs of authorized officers, directors, and chairpersons to produce reports and documents from the member database.
• For the computer technicians among us, the web pages are being updated to use CSS (which will be an on-going effort, as there are 810 files to be checked, and changed if necessary), and are being tested for W3C compliance.
• More technical information is that the new web site will use a combination of HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, and jQuery, and will access a MySQL database on a Linux server for many of the functions.

Given that we will have the member database available to the web software and authorized users, we will also have the basis for adding more functions over time, including order requests and order status; trap management software for Tuesday and Thursday nights, and league shooting; on-line member advertisements; and other projects.

The words "authorized members" occur several times in the foregoing text, and require some explanation.  Any person, authorized or not, can access the new web site just as they have in the past.  In order to use the new features of the web site, a member must receive a logon ID and password from CRGC by sending an e-mail to crgc@canby.com.  (You may also request a specific member identifier in your e-mail message.)  The e-mail address of the sender will be checked against the club's member list, and if the request is actually from a member, a user ID and password will be sent in response.  The member, by default, will have the ability to make changes to the member's own record, and to use the web site calendar to request use of club facilities, or to make changes to calendar or facility requests they have made previously.  If the member subsequently becomes a committee chairperson, or is elected to be a director or officer of the club, the member's authorization level will be changed accordingly, and the member will have access to more of the functions of the club software - information exchange, scheduling notifications, scheduling approvals, maintaining member records, maintaining new member records, maintaining officer records, and so on.  Members are encouraged to obtain a logon ID and password to use the software, but it is not required that you do so.

The existing web site will be changed to include a new menu option on the left menu bar to allow members to connect to the new web site.  If you wish to use the new web site directly, without first connecting to http://www.canbyrodandgun.com/ and using the new menu link, you may connect using the URL https://data.canbyrodandgun.org/.

Remember that the new site has been tested by the developers, but is still considered to be in user acceptance testing (sometimes called "beta test") for the next several weeks.  If you encounter a problem, or wish to ask a question, or wish to offer a suggestion or criticism, please send an e-mail to crgc@canby.com.  We will try to get a response back to you so that you know you have been heard, and if we can provide any information about your problem or question.  We expect to make changes during the test phase, and continue to make more changes on a scheduled basis after the test software completes the user acceptance test.