Overview
In order to fulfill the capstone requirement for the School of Computing at UNL, I worked on a year-long technical project for an industry sponsor. I worked on a team of six students to implement new features on a grant management site for the Nebraska Environmental Trust. We hosted weekly meetings with our sponsor to go over our roadmap status, accomplishments, goals, questions, and demos of our completed features.
Nebraska Environmental Trust Grant Management Site: https://environmentaltrustgrants.org/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2F
Tech Stack
Backend: .NET/C#, MySQL
Frontend: CSS, HTML, JavaScript
Version Control: GitHub
Project Management: ZenHub
Problem
The Nebraska Environmental Trust awarded nearly 15 million dollars in 2022 to almost 100 different projects. All the interactions between the NET and its awarded projects (such as submitting applications, transfers of funds, or periodic reports) happen on a Grant Management System (GMS) website. The site is used by hundreds of people with various user roles: Administrators, Board Members, Grantees, Public Users, etc. The team’s focus for this Senior Design project was to implement a new role, called the Inspector, that would be able to perform on-site audits for in-progress projects on behalf of the NET. Most of the roadmap for this project was outlined by the NET. The development team was responsible for arranging that roadmap into feasible sprints, epics, and releases, updating it throughout the year.
Solution
The Inspector role was introduced so that the NET could ensure that funds were being used appropriately by grantees. Instead of having the limited NET staff, who are all Lincoln-based, conduct audits across the state, Inspectors that are already geographically close to the project location could be contracted to inspect the use of funds and equipment. Since these individuals are not official NET staff and need their own set of permissions and abilities within the GMS, a new role had to be created. The team implemented various features for both the new Inspector role and the existing Administrator role. Administrators are now able to assign the role of Inspector to users. Administrators can also filter through and manage all past and current inspections. Inspectors can view assigned inspections, schedule a date for the inspection to occur, and enter findings for specific checklist items that are unique to each project.
The development team worked closely with the NET administrators to ensure that the user interface was navigable and stayed consistent with other pages on the site. Many stories and wireframes ended up being refactored as new requirements and issues were discovered in conversations during weekly sponsor meetings. Overall, this project provided a wide range of professional experiences including frontend design, database management, web application programming, scrum practices, and project management — all while serving the NET’s mission to conserve, enhance, and restore the natural environments of Nebraska.