We’re pleased to announce we have released V1 (Final) of the PINEAPPLE Core software.

It is available on Sourceforge for download at https://sourceforge.net/projects/pineappletool/

Alternatively if you want to have a quick play check out the sandbox we have setup.

We’ve just made a version of the tool available for you to try.

It is worth noting the admin and process designer side of the tool isn’t part of this sandbox but we will have a version of the software available shortly if you wish to download and try all the functionality locally.

Have a play with the sandbox here using the usernames “test1″, “test2″ or “test3″ with the password “temp123″.

It’s been a very busy couple of months. We implemented significant changes to the Pineapple Core, process and documents based on the feedback and our experiences from the piloting. We are really pleased with the way the this has all come together. We have been able to reduce the number and complexity of our process and documentation without sacrificing quality or clarity.

The tool has also undergone much development. Lots of improvements to the interface as a result of the usability testing in the piloting stage. We have also added in new features. A few of these are listed below

• grouping of claims by year and status (live, completed, archived)
• claim overview page providing information about when it was created, last accessed etc
• claim summary / print version of summary
• add private notes and files to a claim
• share the claim with users in and outside of your institution
• view all steps completed so far and use them to navigate
• access all resources used by the process when working through a claim
• users now create and add module / programme information
• progress information added e.g. you are on section 2 of 5
• many bug fixes, prompts and usability improvements

I hope to write these changes up in more detail over the coming weeks and provide some more screenshots and alternative views of this.

Apologies for the lack of news from us but we’ve been busy working away on the last few aspects of the project. One additional part of this is the benefits realisation work we have been funded to do by JISC in collaboration with Staffordshire University. We have been looking at their APEL policy, drawing it up into a process and then implementing this within our Pineapple Core tool.

Well after many months of work we have an alpha version of the Pineapple Core ready. We have a bit more work to do on it before we look to trial it in September.

I have put together 3 short videos showing the administration, process management/design and the user end of the system. There are still bugs and things to work on but we feel the system is at a suitable level of development to be able to demonstrate it.

I’ve been keeping a log of development progress so far on the system. Been concentrating on backend administration so far whilst we finalise the APEL process aspect of the system. Much of this functionality is in basic stages and will be refined in time. Got a bit more work on this backend basic setup side of things before moving onto APEL applications and process side of project. Aim is to add in AJAX and javascript functionality down the line to improve usability and error checking.

• Basic site structure HTML and CSS
• Basic setup system script (to create admin)
• Register user
• Login / Logout
• User profile page (edit/update)
• User list of contacts (within college / upc)
• databases structure setup
• input error checking

Admin Area

• Edit User information
• Manage roles within system (e.g. advisor, tutor, administrator, student) (Add/edit/delete)
• Manage Areas (Institutions) within system (Add/edit/delete)
• Manage Locations (Campus’ or sites) within system (Add/edit/delete)