Hi everyone,
I have recently installed GN2.1 to see how it has progressed since I last
looked at this project (2.0,2.. I think).
As well as AJAX used to resolve some of the performance problems associated
with marshalling XML over the wire, the new look and feel for data discovery
is nice and would be an easy sell to clients so well done.
After my review I had a number of points that I though I would share to help
the project progress more into the area of professional use.
The first thing that struck me was the lack of a workflow, where
traditionally a document is created (perhaps not completed), then is edited
to complete and is submitted to be validated and reviewed. Once cleared the
document is pushed 'live' where it is now searchable. This is but one of many
possible flows but I think you get the idea. For a production implementation
the lack of a checking process is a major stumbling block.
I (and I'm sure others must have the same problem) found that the validation
and reporting sections of the application were well below expectations. I was
able nullify just about all required fields and still was able to publish a
19115 record. I would like to see validation enforced for records at some
point in a workflow (perhaps configurable to please everyone?).
Additionally I found that when there was an error the reporting was not very
useful. With the output scrolling in another window I was usually able to
find the problem, but again for a production implementation this is a show
stopper. Could something similar to Struts validation be employed to at least
highlight the failed element?
I very much like the breadth of functionality in the harvesting and batch
importing. Is it possible to schedule a batch import from a Web Accessible
folder?
Lastly I think there are some factors that make the entry interface
(different to the discovery interface) a difficult sell to clients. I am not
a designer or a usability expert so I cannot site examples but perhaps some
redevelopment in UI this area would go a long way.
I hope I haven't gone over old ground, I couldn't find much in the list logs
that identified these problems.
Have any of these items have been penned as work for future releases? Or are
the major objections to moving in any of these directions?
Cheers,
Michael Gannon.