Conference Manager
An Android app built for the Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering to enable for easy management of participants in the numerous local, national and international conferences the college hosts.
Client
Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering and Savitribai Phule Pune University (formerly University of Pune)
duration
3
months
technology stack
Android (which encapsulates Java and XML), SQLite and Firebase
Team size
4
members
process model followed for development and delivery
Process model followed during development
Before we could start coding the app, it was important to document what we wanted our solution to look like and get the client's approval on it. The diagram below outlines the process we followed right down to the release stage.
Requirements Gathering
Filtering common requirements
Finalize
objectives
This, in most cases, were a series of meetings where we would first, understand the needs of the client and then go back with questions.
Since this app would be used across multiple conferences, it was necessary to filter out the common requirements that would arise across all conferences.
Once the requirements had been finalized, they were mapped to individual objectives that the application would meet.
Deployment
Client review
Development
The application was released onto the Play Store.
The alpha version of the application was sent to the client for their feedback on its usability.
This was the implementation phase where we got down to the technical aspects of the solution including system design, coding and testing,
Process model followed for delivery
This app for not just meant to be a one-time use case but was instead to be put to use for every conference that the college hosted. Here is the process that was followed for every iteration of the app that was delivered (until now the app has been deployed at 4 major conferences)
Client Request and understanding requirements
Get new data and upload
Client requests application to be deployed at an upcoming conference, we set up a meeting and understand the requirements.
No new functionalities desired
Get new data from the client pertaining to the conference and its participants and upload it.
Client review and deploy
Get the new iteration of the app reviewed by the client and once approved, deploy to the Play Store.
New functional feature(s) desired
Understand new functional feature
Brainstorm and figure out the best way to incorporate the new functional feature into the application, also analyze if this feature is a one-time need or can be made permanent.
Code change
Make the necessary code changes to implement the desired functionality.
The prototype and GUIs developed
Once we had our objectives and features of the application finalized, I decided to start brainstorming on what the GUI would look like. Since this was my first time for both, working on an Android app and designing a GUI for an app I decided to do what I knew best at that time. I fired up CorelDraw and started experimenting. Below are the designs that the team finalized and we decided to take this forward.
The countdown
We couldn't figure out what to put on the home screen and we didn't want the menu to be the first things that popped up when the user would start the app so we decided to put a countdown to the day and time of the inauguration of the conference. Later iter iterations of the app replaced the countdown with a link to the proceedings of the conference once the countdown reached zero.
The menu
For the menu and I decided for a sort of a minimalistic look. This was in 2015 and minimalism in design had become quite the trend which inspired me. I also designed all the icons on the menu screen displayed above. We used the same icon files in the final version of our app and continue using it till date with a few minor changes.
The menu icons
I made the menu icons responsive to a certain degree. Every time a user touched the icon it would be filled with a greyish color. As an Android beginner, I had little knowledge of how to do this using code and it seemed a lot so I decided to just do it using images. Every icon had 2 images: one as shown in the above menu picture and another that would be displayed when the user touched the icon. Pictures below:
on user touch
on user touch
The application and its screens
Once we had the rough sketches of the GUI finalized, we finally sat down and built it all. After around a month of figuring out how to develop in Android and then building our app we finally had our final product. Here are the screens :
This was the first screen that the user would see on starting up the app. Contained general information about the conference.
Moving forward from the screen would bring the user to the countdown screen. The arrow circle button on the bottom brought up the menu.
This was the menu. We tried to keep it as similar to our initial design as we could. Designing in Android we realised was a major hurdle to us. We could write code, that was simple but getting the UI right, that was a challenge. It would take me a couple of years more before I would finally gain a grip on layouts in Android.
Screens of the major features the app offered
1. Finding the location of your/others' presentation
One of the key features that arose from our meetings during the requirements gathering phase. The current way that our college was managing the participants simply didn't leave much scope for the participants to know which rooms other papers were being presented. They had to either go through a long list or simply ask a volunteer. The app would enable all of this through a simple search functionality. On the plus side they also wouldn't have to open their e-mail to know the details of their presentation.
2. Navigation to and within the conference venue
One of the larger problems that the organizers faced was putting enough volunteers on the field to guide participants to their venues. This strategy simply wasn't scalable. Putting this feature in the app meant the participant simply fires up GMaps and it navigates them to their destination.
3. Guidelines
There are tons of guidelines that a participant has to adhere to at the conference. There are a number of categories for guideline, they can be venue specific guidelines, paer-specific guidelines or presentation specific guidelines. Making this a major feature of our app meant that every participant would have ease of access.
4. CMT login
Within our college, Microsoft's CMT was the software used to handle all activities leading up to the conference. We decided to put this in to allows the users to access their paper's CMT portal from within the application as opposed to closing the app and opening a web browser. This was in fact also a core part fo the conference.
Releasing on the Play Store
Once our app was ready and approved. We released it to the Play Store. Back then, the Play store featured cover images, below is the one I designed:
I also designed the screens that show up on the application's page on the Play Store. The cover has gone since the re-design of the Play Store, the screens still live on and can be viewed on the Play Store here.
Epilogue
What was my role in the team?
I primarily worked on designing the entire look and feel of the app. Right from the initial rough designs to actually implementing them in code, giving them their required functionality. This was an incredible learning experience for me because it was my first exposure to tons of new areas: Android, working in a tech team, coding in a collaborative way. All of these learnings have helped me immensely in my life first as a computer engineering student and presently as a software engineer, of course over the years these learnings have refined immensely but it all traces back to this project.
What were the end results of this project?
The app went on to be deployed in multiple conferences, the latest one being ICCUBEA 2019.