ARRA – Statistics tools

ARRA

Statistics tools

The Project consisted in transposing the existing ARRA Statistical Tool running through various Excel files to a web application unifying the management of a database with the statistical processing of these data.

Total project duration: 5 months
The total cost of the project was 100 man-days..

Details of the project :

Problematic

During the development of the Regional Observatory, the ARRA modernised its operating mode in terms of information feedback from social housing organisations to the ARRA. The next step is to use the database thus collected to generate annual statistics on the production costs of social housing.

The needs that the application had to meet are :

Generate a large number of graphs and statistical tables
Be able to use advanced filters and sorts and change display options

Mission statement

Development of a web application including :

A complex interface for the selection of treatments, data to include/exclude, and graphical rendering
A data preparation engine to perform complex and heavy calculations in processing time, allowing real-time generation of graphics

Organization

For the realization of the project, 3 persons have been allocated :

1 project manager and functional manager
2 development engineers

This contract was executed entirely with Tana Corp resources dedicated to the project.

Main characteristics of the client

Created in 1975, the Rhône-Alpes Regional Association of Social Housing Organisations (Association Régionale des organismes d’HLM de Rhône-Alpes) brings together 84 social housing organisations based in Rhône-Alpes.

These organisations, present in the 8 departments of the region, manage a stock of 416,000 social rental housing units. The ARRA’s missions are articulated around 3 strategic axes: regional lobbying, territorial structuring and professional animation based on networking.

Conduct of the project

Advice and support role provided throughout the project

A real force of accompaniment: The organization of the project gives a primordial importance to the quality of the accompaniment, to make the customer benefit from the expertise and the know-how capitalized by Tana Corp on its projects of the same type.
Consulting strength : Working in close collaboration with the client’s interlocutors during the solution design phase, as well as our experience in specific development projects has enabled us to propose the best technical and functional solutions to the client’s various problems. In addition, Tana Corp. is a driving force in the identification of functional options likely to bring high added value.
Expertise on web applications: The interfaces for managing and exploiting the results have been realized in the form of web applications to facilitate collaboration and access to information. We used our expertise in this field to create ergonomic and easy-to-use screens to maximize the productivity of technicians using these applications.

Proposed methodology to validate the project steps from a client’s point of view

Proposed project reporting
A monthly steering committee enabled us to steer this long-term project in close collaboration with the client.

Tools chosen for the project management
Project Management: MS Project
Incident follow-up : BugX (based on Mantis,http://www.mantisbt.org/)
Version and configuration tracking: SubVersion (http://subversion.tigris.org/)

Solution features

Business processes covered by the solution

Data preparation
Generation of statistical reports

What were the most difficult features to implement?

The solution had to be scalable: it had to allow the modification of existing statistical treatments or the addition of new treatments very easily. To do this, all the information concerning a statistical graph / table (data to be studied, analysis axes, possible filters, possible axes, etc.) was modelled in the form of XML files. Thus, any modification of a statistical treatment can be made directly in the corresponding XML file, without modifying the source code of the application. When the treatments are launched, a display engine interprets these XML definition files, selects the data and generates the results.

Technical platform elements

Software package, software or development languages used

After analysis of all the constraints, Tana Corp proposed the realization of a custom application, based entirely on a Microsoft :

Microsoft .Net Framework, C# language
ASP.NET with AJAX
SQL Server 2005 Express
IIS 6 Web Server

Reasons for the choice

Microsoft .Net Framework with C#: development platform allowing an excellent cost/delivery time/quality implementation ratio.
ASP.NET and AJAX: scripting languages allowing the development of WEB interfaces with a high level of ergonomics.
SQLServer 2005 Express: free, high-performance database server, perfectly adapted to the target data volume.
IIS 6 Web Server : Microsoft’s Web server for ASP application hosting

Share of pre-existing developments used on which the Supplier has capitalised to complete the project

Libraries of AJAX interface elements already developed internally by Tana Corp.
Database set up during the Regional Observatory project

Challenges and key success factors

Ergonomics: fast selection interfaces, customization, easy generation of reports

Business result

Today, the developed application is in production and is fulfilling its role to the full. It has received excellent feedback from users, who have appreciated :

The ease of generating statistical reports
The large number of data customization and filtering options

ARRA

Statistics tools

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