This came up during a call with Portland, but I think there are probably other stations that want this feature as well so I'm thinking of adding the fields to the core Project content type.
The request was to be able to limit the total number of hours a Project can checkout equipment for. The goal of this feature is similar to the point system MNN has been trying to implement where users worked from a virtual budget. The idea was that the user were given a budget of points for their project. They lost points everything they reserved and gained points for every video they added. When we looked at building on what MNN had done with Open Flows to facilitate this feature, it looked too complicated for stations even DOM's size. Since the point budgeting was a core feature of the MNN solution that had to be used, we opted to go a different route with MERCI.
So initially, I was going to say we weren't going to support anything like that. But now that we've been using MERCI for a few months at DOM, I've been working on displaying the $$ value Projects are getting for their DOM memberships. This is going to be the first time we will be able to report on which Projects reserve the most equipment. Ideally, those Projects will also submit the most video. If not, that's something DOM's staff will need to resolve with the problematic producers.
To facilitate Protland's request, I'd simply need to add a field to Projects to track the number of hours or $$$ value a Project should be limited to. Access to that field can be limited with content permissions module in configurations like DOM's where producers create their own projects. If Projects are created by staff, they'd complete that field when they created the Project. Then we'd simple add some logic to remove the link to Create Reservation for that Project if the hours or $$$ are greater than what they were allocated. Better yet, we'd replace that link with an text saying something like...
This Project has exceed its quota for reservations. Contact the station's staff to resolve this.
This would not add to that quota automagically when users submitted videos like MNN's system, but it would give stations using MERCI more control over how much equipment a single Project could reserve.
Any thoughts on this approach?
Comments
Thanks!
Kevin,
I was just logging in to post something on this and saw that you had done so already. Fantastic!It shows that I'm not a developer that I thought these restrictions would have to come from the Project (OG) module.
Since we have been using this system at PCM for a while I thought that I might be able to let you know of some trouble we have had with enforcement over the years. If producers cannot see their deadlines or "equipment budget" before reaching their quota, their being cut off from equipment typically results in a production crisis. When I was the designated staff person for producers I would often get phone calls at home to resolve these crises.
Automatically adding to a producer's quota isn't nearly important in PCM's work flow as we do not have a set amount of resources every program that is under production receives. In development jargon we determine the program scope and decide what resources would be appropriate for that project. We do this either in a face to face meeting of with review of planning paperwork. We think that this helps increase the quality of projects submitted as it allows producers to be able to take on large, complicated projects if they are interested and gives them a moment to have staff planning support.
Just wanted to share a couple of thoughts on this. Thank you so much for your post Kevin.
Peter Poire-Odegard
Media Education Facilitator
Portland Community Media
www.pcmtv.org
"Media from the heart of our Community"
This is EXACTLY the type of
This is EXACTLY the type of feedback Chad, Brian, and I need to develop tools that actually work well for multiple stations. Much like you're unsure of which module does what, we have few insights into how producers behave in the wild. Sure, we could interact more with producers... but that would just mean we'd have less time to write code.
Thanks for the feedback.
The budget limit would help
Even though UPTV doesn't have a project budget set up for members using equipment, I think this will be very useful for the station. I particularly like the idea of being able to compare of the amount of checkouts with the amount of programming submitted. At the moment, UPTV has an (unsuccessful) practice of requiring a submission of programming 30 days after the initial check out of equipment. It is very difficult to track that information, particularly when a project takes more than a month to complete. Will the number of programs submitted by a member be correlated automatically with the ability of that member to continue to check out equipment or is that something that would need to be manually assessed and restricted?
-Kate