Background
Our team worked on the case management system (CMS) with Care Corner Counselling Center (CCCC) / Care Corner Centre for Co-Parenting (CCP).
Care Corner is one of the largest Voluntary Welfare Organisations in Singapore. Through its various touch points across the island, Care Corner has provided a range of community services to support individuals and families in need. For the past 5 years, CVWO has been maintaining and improving the CMS used by the two aforementioned Care Corner centres, CCCC and CCP. This application has helped their Case Workers, Counsellors and Administrative Staff to better manage cases, events and internal meetings within the centre, as well as to generate various types of reports for auditing purposes.
Project Objectives
1. Rails 6 Upgrade
We upgraded the backend framework to its latest version, Rails 6.0.3, which is better supported by the Rails community. This also encompassed upgrading legacy dependencies in the system to maintain compatibility with this latest version of Rails.
2. Frontend Upgrade
We enhanced the legacy version of the app and adopted modern frontend frameworks/languages, namely React, Redux and Typescript. This improved the performance of the application, modernised the look and feel of the CMS, as well as improved the maintainability of the CMS.
3. Addition of New Features
We added new features, such as the Mass Import feature, which makes it easier and more convenient for the staff when using the CMS. The Mass Import feature provides a one-click solution that allows event coordinators to work much more efficiently by simply importing event attendance into the system via excel sheets.
Project Process
Codebase Familiarization and Framework Upgrade
This CMS currently used by CCP and CCCC was built by CVWO in 2014 and has been maintained by various CVWO teams since then. When our team took over this project in May 2020, we began our work by first studying the design of the project and understanding the considerations behind the design choices made by the previous teams. Through this process, we learnt essential software and valuable skills, frameworks and tools such as Ruby on Rails, SQL, and Git.
Development
We started the development process with bug fixes and development of minor features in the legacy system. This helped us to deepen our understanding of the user’s requirements and codebase. Next, we upgraded the backend to Rails 6.0.3.
Subsequently, we dedicated the majority of our development efforts to the migration of the legacy frontend to React, Redux and Typescript. While rebuilding the frontend, we studied the current workflow from the user’s perspective and re-designed new workflows that optimize the time and effort spent on frequently-used features. We proposed these changes to the users and gathered their feedback before implementing these changes. We also added newly requested features from CCCC and CCP during this process of rebuilding.
Testing and Deployment
One week prior to deployment, we scheduled a User Acceptance Test (UAT) with each centre to obtain their sign-off on the upgraded version of the CMS. We provided bug fixes and enhancements after collecting feedback from the staff who attended the UAT. Finally, we deployed the upgraded CMS onto the live servers and monitored it for a few days to ensure that their day-to-day operations continued to run smoothly with the upgraded CMS.
Screenshots
All data shown below are fake data used for demo and testing purposes.
Project Team
- Daniel Lau (Project Lead)
- Shi Jing Lin (Developer, Year 1)
- Zhang Yifan (Developer, Year 1)
- Chrystal Quek (Developer, Year 1)
- Simon Teo (Developer, Year 1)
- Geraldine Tay (Developer, Alumna)
Afterthoughts
Feels great to do this again, each time is always filled with new surprises.
– Daniel
CVWO showed me that there’s still much more to be learnt in software development and taught me a considerable amount in both programming and design.
– Jing Lin
CVWO has taught me many things that I won’t be able to learn in classrooms and has been a truly valuable and eye-opening experience. I’m grateful to be part of the team to contribute to the community while achieving personal growth along the journey.
– Yifan
The workload of CVWO is no joke, but if you want to spend your summer on something meaningful and challenging and work alongside the brightest talents in SoC, join CVWO.
– Chrystal
CVWO has not only allowed me to sharpen my skills as a developer, but also contribute to the community by aiding VWOs in their work. I truly enjoyed the experience and will always remember it!
– Simon
I believe in Tech for Good; and CVWO is an excellent example of that. I am honoured to have played a small role in the process of digitalizing the social service industry in Singapore for the benefit of those we serve. It energises me to work with young and passionate people who are as capable as they are compassionate. I sincerely thank my brilliant team mates and Prof Ben for teaching me various Software Engineering know-hows and Product Management principles. The future of Singapore appears brighter with all of you in it!
– Geraldine
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the following people who have been influential and supportive during our project:
- Prof Ben Leong (NUS) for his patient guidance
- GIC for their generous support for the programme
- Our partners and clients for their co-operation and support for the programme:
- Care Corner Counselling Center
- Care Corner Centre for Co-Parenting