Presentation, Features & Program Usage
Data Storage of Particulars
Essentially, the kinds of data that BilbiWare will request for storage
would be the particulars of the registrants, as provided by the registration
forms that registrants complete. The program also calculates the age of each
registrant.
Apart from all the registrants' particulars, the program stores the names
and addresses of all medical practitioners and chemists. The program links
these with the registrant records, i.e. each registrant's record
shows their doctor and chemist. From there, a direct link is available to the
actual record of the doctor or chemist. The doctor's (and chemist’s) record in
turn provides a list of all their patients who are registered. A link is
available to go back to the registrant's record from there.
A registrant’s record shows whether they are living with another registrant(s),
and a direct link toggles the user to the other resident’s record. Any edit made in
the address particulars of any registrant automatically shows up in the records of
all other registrants living at the same address.
The names of all locations can be entered via pop-up menus. These menus
contain all the locations and postcodes provided by Australia Post countrywide. This
convenience ensures uniform entries and accurate filtering functions. It also ensures
that envelopes and mailing labels are configured in the Post Office-preferred manner.
All of these pop-up menus can be edited and added to by the user or the
coordinator.
There are a number of other pop-up menus and pre-programmed and built in, including
a Date Picker for easy and error-free date entry for Australian dates.
No registrant record is ever erased. The records are simply archived by marking
them as resigned, moved or deceased, and hence no longer
appear on lists and summaries, but continue to be included in the statistics.
Moved in this context means the registrant has moved away from the geographical
area covered by the register. Archived records can still be accessed for reference
purposes, as read-only displays.
Registrants' records can be located and opened in four ways:
- By alphabetic search (full surnames) available from menus;
- By ID number;
- By alphabetic quick search (partial surnames) – a quicker search
method available from all records as well as menus;
- By address search (location, street, street number).
All searches are instantaneous and require only one or two mouse clicks.
User Interface Functional Design
BilbiWare's user interfaces are intuitive and easy to understand. Instructions
are given for every step, either next to the field in use, or in a context-sensitive
help region at the bottom of the application window.
The programs are menu-driven with clear labels and descriptions, in logical
sequences, allowing the user to go forward and backtrack.
History Logs
BilbiWare maintains logs of every entry, edit and deletion in every data
item to a general monthly log file, as well as onto an individual history log
file for each registrant. These logs can be inspected by administrators and
coordinators only, for error tracking and training purposes. The individual
history logs are printed out automatically whenever a registrant record is
archived (i.e. the registrant has been marked as resigned,
moved or deceased).
Audits and Auto-Correction
BilbiWare contains a feature that conducts an audit of all the fields in
all databases. Users are prompted once a week to run it, in order to check
and make repairs to a variety of errors automatically. The records that cannot
be repaired are displayed on a list, which is then printed out for the users
to follow through and correct. The audit is also a first resort diagnostic
tool for administrators and coordinators to track input errors by inexperienced
users.
In addition, the program contains a multitude of error alerts that warn
users when they have made mistakes. Many fields also have automatic self-correction
and editing features, as well as some spell-checking.
Statistics
BilbiWare calculates and prints out cumulative and monthly statistics, by
gender, seven age groups (Australian Bureau of Statistics categories), all the
locations in a specified precinct or locality, and a dozen other characteristics
of the registrants.
These characteristics include:
- Living in shared home;
- Having next of kin;
- No English spoken at home;
- Requiring interpreter;
- Requesting to be called regularly by our volunteers;
- Being connected to an Emergency Service (e.g. Vital Call);
- Living with pet animals;
- Having medical condition(s);
- Having disability or handicap.
The above detailed statistics are calculated on all currently active registrants.
Because no registrant record is ever deleted from the database, the statistics
functions also provide cumulative totals of all people joined or marked as
resigned, moved or deceased.
It also calculates and prints out referral statistics and the countries of origin
and languages spoken by registrants.
Filtering Functions
The program allows users to filter names of registrants by up to 5 criteria
at once:
- Status (active, absent, deceased, moved, or resigned);
- Gender;
- Age (ABS age groups or any other preferred grouping);
- Location.
Plus one other characteristic, as follows:
- Living with house partners;
- Living alone;
- Wanting contact by e-mail;
- Having medical condition(s);
- Having no medical condition(s);
- Having disability/handicap;
- Having no disability/handicap;
- Needing interpreter;
- Having next of kin;
- Having no next of kin;
- Being on regular calls list;
- Not being on calls list;
- Connected to an emergency system;
- Not connected to an emergency system;
- Having a spare house key externally;
- Not having a spare house key;
- Having an external key safe;
- Having no external key safe;
- Living with pets;
- Living without pets;
- Having back-up for pets;
- Not having back-up for pets
In addition, the above filtered lists can be subdivided into lists of people
with e-mail and people without. Filtering also provides printing facilities for
printing lists of people who have a birthday in any given month, and a list
of e-mail recipients.
These lists can be printed out as contact lists, and/or as mailing
labels, and/or as mail-merge details. Running totals of each selection
can be generated in the reports that have a filter applied, thus providing
statistical information in addition to that generated monthly.
Daily Care Calls
The program generates and prints an instant daily list of all the registrants who
have requested regular or periodic care calls.
Other Printing Features
The program furthermore provides these additional printing features:
- Personalised welcome correspondence;
- An ID Card insert suitable for lamination;
- Key tag inserts;
- Follow-up check lists for volunteer to make sure that new
registrants have received and understood everything;
- A File History Sheet;
- Any other mail merge letter;
- Envelopes (3 standard sizes);
- A file copy of all the registrant’s record particulars;
- A history of all entry traffic and changes for every record
(printed upon closing a record);
- A list of registrants absent from their residence;
- A contact list, mailing labels and envelopes for all doctors
and chemists.
The correspondence is pre-programmed but can be edited by administrators,
should circumstances change. The size of the mailing labels can also be edited
if the users change their suppliers.
Authorisation of Users
Users are issued with a user name and a password by an administrator or deputy
administrator. They determine the level of access by the users, (that is, as a regular
user or as a coordinator).
Back-up Procedures
At the end of each work session, the users are prompted to use the BilbiWare's
automated back-up procedure to back up the database files onto a USB memory
device. Administrators can also organise additional backup procedures employing
other technologies, (such as Windows Backup to another hard drive or to CD) as
supportive backup strategies.
Reliability
The latest version of this software has now been running for two years, without
loss of data or any other problems. Many improvements have been made progressively
in response to user behaviours.
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