Open IRIS - Feature requests from HY

Last modified by jkenkkil@helsinki_fi on 2024/01/16 08:06

I

NEW IDEAS

Tagging people to training request

Requested by: BIU 2019-11-15

There should be a way to tag Training Requests to a particular Admin the same way as Services (Requests). This way the person responsible for the instrument would more easily see the Training Request in their Inbox.

Project request extension to separate request

Requested by: LMU 2019-10-15

Service request extensions got lost because they are not top in Admin Inbox as other new requests.
Smarter filter Pending expiring

Make training request bounce if user doesn't have a project/group

Requested by: HELMI 2019-09-20

Add link to instructions for how to register/join a project/group.

  • it is enough to be a participant in a project request
  • it is enough that the project request is pending

Cancellation of future booking limit

Requested: HELMI 20190920

Description: Time limit before booking in which cancelling is no longer possible. For example: No cancellation < 60min before booking start.

Hierarchy of usage prices in Multi-price

Requested: LMU 2019-09-30

Description: Currently in multi-price you can specify the basic usage price, and whatever is outside that time will be off-hours. This limits the usage prices to two (basic and off-hours). We propose to add the possibility to specify a hierarchy of prices and multiple hour intervals with different usage prices. In the LMU / HELMI case this would work like this:

  • level 1: prime time 9-17
  • level 2: "other time" 8-22
  • level 3: night time 0-24

Level 1 would take precedence over level 2, etc. This might also eliminate the current problems with reservations spanning multiple days, and the need to split night time discounts in two part (22:00-23:59 and 00:00-08:00)

Show request details in Edit Group -view

MM 2018-09-26

In Edit Group -view details of Requests missing . Needing similar view as in Inbox. Should work for Group leaders and admins

Status: Stalled

Split Description field on charges view

MM 2019-09-24

Bookings Start time, End Time , Resource and Request Id should be in separated columns. This would make the handling of the bookings easier.

Mostly these are in export but it would be nice to have them on charges view. Separate Start and End time in export would be useful.

Status: Partially done


Important features

Billing integration with UH SAP

Requested by: HELMI

Description: 1. Need to define data format that SAP understands, and make sure we can produce corresponding reports in Open IRIS. 2. Enable direct communication from Open IRIS to SAP (via Tietoväylä etc.).

Added feature request: 2018.09.19. Meeting with SAP experts on 2018.10.04.

Status: Still waiting for the data field and format description from UH SAP people


Nice to Have features


List of Trainings and training dates per user

Requested by: BIU

Description: We need to be able to quickly access which machines one user has a training for and the training date without needing to go to each instrument separately. (For example this could in a similar way viewing the "Resources" per user.

Status: Has already been discussed and planned. Work in progress Request originally made by LMU

Automatic refreshing

Requested by: BIU

Description: If bookings are changed or other changes are made, the page should update itself.

Status: Impossible due to technicalities. This would unnecessary amount of stress to the server.
Note: Refreshing the page when ever some one makes a booking would equal a situation of "make a reservation with in 10 seconds until some refreshes the page forcing you to redo the process". If there would be something preventing this and some one booked on the slot you wanted. This feature would not replace the healthy F5 (refreshing) of the page when you are continuing to work with IRIS.
Many of the reservation systems does not have "live" update of the scheduler if booking has been made. They will simply A. State that you were late B. Ought right make you start from scratch.
There is a refresh function only for version updates. When ever a update has been released the system will refresh the page. This still does not mean you should not F5 the page if it has been standing there for a while.

Admin inbox update (adding groups, WBS etc.)

Faster response time

Requested by: BIU

Description: There's a noticeable lag on using the functions of IRIS. Is this due to the demo server resources or network connection speed? Will it be improved on the production version (on cloud or UH server?)?

Is this still a problem? Yes it is (2019-08)

Status: Not advisable. Lag issue has been dealt with small tweaks

Enable "fixed fee" to override hourly charge

Requested by: LMU

Background: We currently offer a % discount from the hourly rate for imaging during the night (22-08). In addition to this, we would like to give an additional discount for all-night experiments. This could be done by offering a bulk price for the time slot (22-08).

Status: doable. LMU internal discussion before proceeding.



Longer lists

Request by: LMU

Description:  Longer lists for items as a default, maybe 25 for every list or at least for the lists or then 25 for a default for lists that now have 10 as a default and 10 as a default for shorter lists. Number of items in the list button also at the top of the list.

Status: ask for sticky feature

Titles to charges

Request by: LMU

Description: Booking title  visible for Charges list at Admin Billing so it would be easier to know if there is bookings that needs changes. Adding column selector for the list to customize it more.

Status: Doable

Show project title in Browse / Groups / Requests

Requested by: HELMI (20181112)

Description: Currently you can only see request date, would be more useful to see also the title.

Status: Ongoing, 19.9.2019
Request has been submitted to Dean 13.11.2018 waiting for response.
Response: Is doable 15.11.2018.

Add navigation to project from Browse / Groups / Requests

Requested by: HELMI (20181112)

Description: It would be nice to be able to navigate to a project's settings from the group configuration.

Status: Ongoing, user tab 19.9.2019
Request has been submitted to Dean 13.11.2018 waiting for response.
Response 20.11.2018: Group related requests can be found from Inbox by using filters. Same way you can find your own requests.

Show projects where user participates in Browse / People / Requests

Requested by: HELMI (20181112)

Description: The user configuration view only shows projects that the user owns. For convenience, it would be nice to see also projects where the user participates (and the role).

Status: Show in user tab, 19.9.2019
Request has been submitted to Dean 15.11.2018. Response 15.11.2018.
Inbox has all the information that was is requested to be seen from users side. It shows projects user owns / participates, group related requests, role in the group and of the request. The filtering system is not perfect yet. Thus there is really no need to complicate things by adding this feature. If this addition is really needed then it can be added. For Admin side this could be more beneficial to keep track on user projects.
image2018-11-13_10-46-34.pngimage2018-11-13_10-58-55.png

AGENT RELATED REQUESTS

Agent on virtual machine should log out user at end of reservation

Requested: HELMI 19.9.2019

Description: Request for Roger, as soon as possible. Immediately if there is another reservation starting, with buffer if no next reservation.


Add possibility to make an add-on exclusive

Requested by LMU, BIU

Background: Some microscopes can be used either with or without lasers, and we would like to have a list of add-ons like "405", "488" and "No lasers". We would like to be able to prevent user from selecting both "405" and "No lasers". This would also apply to the Lago/Gas anesthesia combo.

Status: Doable.

Add "outside these hours" option for pricing

Requested by: LMU

Description:  We have a new concept called "outside these hours" for some restrictions, and we can add this to the pricing rules, so we could do something like:

- night: discount X% or price Y “outside these hours” 08-22 Mo-Fr

(the lowest price will win if overlapping with another price)

Status: Can be added

Integration with UH IT to verify WBS codes

Requested by: HELMI

Description: At the moment it is possible to manually add WBS codes (cost centers) in Open IRIS. It would be useful to have the possibility to verify that a WBS code is correct. This could be done by integrating with the UH IT, specifics to be discussed, possibly a REST query to "Tietoväylä". Pertti Laiho is the contact for this integration project.

Status: Probably doable.

Allow exporting price lists

Background: Price list could be exported as PDF, or a separate page on the system? It would be convenient not to have to duplicate the data on another web-site. And maybe it would also make it easier to check that the prices are correct. 

Requested by: LMU

Status: Will be added

Make favorites star to be less prominent when unselected

The star can be appear to be already selected.

Requested by: EM

Status: not fixed yet


Work in progress PRIORITIZED

1.Show where the WBS codes are in use (requests)

Requested:HELMI 25.10.2019

Brows groups should shown in the request tab what code is in use.

Status: In planning

2. Agent should not shorten Maintenance reservations if not opted

Requested:HELMI 19.9.2019

Description: Maintenance can often include multiple log-ins with different user accounts.

3.Anonymize bookings if not trained

Requested by: BIU

Description: Since we're giving access to all instruments for all requests, we cannot use the access as criteria for limiting visibility of bookings and booking details. Adding the "if not trained" as a criteria on those would solve this.

Status: In planning

4. Cancel only edit/modify booking policy

Users can only cancel bookings and shorten like in the older restriction however no deletion is possible.

Request by :LMU

Status: In test

Allow sharing of requests between providers

Requested by: HELMI

Description:  There are two aspects at least to consider:

1. It might be nice to have a shared HELMI project form, instead of three separate, identical forms. But would it cause confusion about where the user primarily applies and who should react to a request? Add a checkbox for site in the form?

2. Once a project has been created, it should be possible to grant it access also to a system at another HELMI site. It would be annoying for the user to fill in the same form twice, and a waste of staff time to manage the same project at multiple sites.

Discussion:

HJ20180928: But how about collaboration with providers outside HELMI, with completely different user forms? The project entity (title, owner, members, billing details, possibly a project ID) is the same, but what is asked on the current request forms varies from provider to provider. Would it be possible to support this type of project entities?

Status: "So, it is worth considering and seeing how we can achieve it, and I would be happy to work with you all on it, just it will take some time."

Request based requesting, 19.9.2019

Added features


Show laser/add-on information on mouse over (e.g. gather stats/usage alert/no laser option)

Requested by: LMU

Status:

  • Works, but could maybe still be improved.
  • Now add-ons are shown on one line, and that will be truncated after the first laser. If you mouse-over on the line, you see the complete line.
  • Instead of two mouse-overs it is possible to click the reservation and then open the Add-ons tab. This is easier to read but slower.

Request that a user can delete themselves if they have no bookings

Requested by: EM

Status: Org AD integration slightly contradicts but user can delete his/her account if so wishes

Invoice ID in charges view

MM 2019-09-24

Invoice id in Charges view so you could filter the charges list by invoice. Invoiced view is very difficult to work for several reasons.

Status: Done

Add link from reservation creation dialog to active issues

Requested by: LMU

Description: When there are open issues on a resource, the user is warned about them when making a reservation. Currently there is only the issue title. It would be nice to have a link to the issue description and provider comments.

Status: done


Issues visible for users

Requested by: LMU

Dascription: Users should be able to see the issue also elsewhere than booking window. Preferably title as a link in calendar and clicking it would show the detailed description.


Satatus: Solved 19.9.2019

Possibility for late cancellation charging rule

Requested by: BIU

Description: We want to create a booking rule where users can A) cancel there booking free of charge until time point X B) can still cancel there bookings after time point X, but then will be only charged if nobody else books the microscope during that time (so if somebody else does book the time they canceled, they will be freed from paying for this time)

Status: ?

Configurable calendar entry color per configuration

Requested by: LMU

Description: Live-imaging microscopes can be booked either at room temperature or +37C. It would be nice to have the +37C reservations show up in red on the calendar.

Is it possible to link the color codes to the configurations? For example to show +37C color when the instrument is booked in the +37C configuration.

Status: work in progress 

User, group, department and organization databases should be restricted

Requested by: BIU

Description: The full user and organization databases are searchable in the Resource-User/Department/Organization access drop-down lists. This will allow e.g. all of the emails of users to be seen by outside users.

Status: "People" tab has been removed from regular users. Departments, organizations and groups tab is still visible. However the option to export information of groups is being assessed. Waiting for response.

Price types per project (request)

Requested by: BIU, LMU

Description: BIU has users from multiple organisations, and each organisation should have it's own price type. So far so good, can be set up in "multi" price list item. But things get more complicated because some users belong to run projects for more than one of these organisations, and therefore the pricing decision cannot be made based on the user alone.

Status: "We have considered that a "price type" may be assigned to a request, and then the bookings against that request are assigned to the price type."

Note: Replaced by https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/CoreManagement/Open+IRIS+-+Feature+requests+from+HY#OpenIRIS-FeaturerequestsfromHY-PricetypesperWBS(costcenter)

Forward group and cost center selections from service request form to request details in Admin inbox.

Requested by: HELMI and EM

Description: At the moment the user form values are disconnected from the request details and admins need to copy the WBS selected by user.

Status: Done (HJ tested feature and updated list on 20181112)

Add cost center and remit area code to invoice

Requested by: UH

Description: There is a column for cost center in the invoices, but currently the values are left empty. We would like to have the cost center (WBS) name shown there. Furthermore, we would need an additional column to list the remit area code that is associated with the WBS.

Status: Done

Enable attributes on cost centers (remit area code on WBS)

Requested by: LMU

Background: This replaces the request to "enable group attributes on invoices". At UH, we need to list in invoices 1) WBS code; and 2) remit area code. WBS codes are now modelled as cost centers in Open IRIS. Remit area codes refer to an organisational unit, department, group, etc. A WBS code always belongs to only one remit area code. So it is better to have the remit area code as an attribute of the cost center. Thus in a request based booking scenario: 

  1. reservation has request
  2. request has cost center (WBS)
  3. cost center has remit area code

This way it should be easy to get the necessary data for invoices.

Status: Added.

Allow restricting reservations during warm-up and cool-down periods

Background: Microscopes used for both live and room temperature imaging are unstable during warm-up and cool-down periods. This feature is needed to block users from making successive reservations in different temperatures without taking into account the necessary warm-up / cool-down.

Requested by: LMU, Institut Curie

Status: will be implemented, priority depends on Curie

Make approval email contents configurable

Background: The form contents are now being sent to the approvers. This is not good if the form deals with sensitive information. 

Requested by: LMU could use the approval mechanism to communicate with the facility access key manager, avoiding duplicating the information outside Open IRIS.

Status:

Allow specifying fixed 2.5 hour slots in reservation calendar M-F 8:30-17:00

Requested by: EM

Status: Added.

Add “resource admin” concept

Requested by: EM

Status: Added. Resource config → Settings → Resource admins.

Keep track of canceled reservations / changes made to reservations.

Requested by: HJ

Keeping  a track of all the alterations made to reservations and when like reservation cancellation, reservation time moving and other alterations.
The main thing is to keep a record of all small alterations done to reservations and when it has been done.

Alternate label for Request = Project

Requested by: LMU
Status: Done, Portal admins should be able to alter labels on various things.

Allow project owners to add participants

Requested by: LMU

Background: Currently provider admin has to approve new project members. It would make sense to allow the project owner (usually PI) to add new members, and provider admins only would get a notification.

Status: Dean says "we can easily add it. We will probably make it an optional setting that is enabled". This function has been implemented. It still requires that provider admin accepts this add. This acceptance thing was set up as safety mechanism. 

Show portal admin tab when the user is a portal admin

Requested by: LMU

Status: Closed.  Update on 21.11.2018 fixed this request.


Dropped requests

Add approval mechanism to Invoices

Requested by: LMU

Description: This feature would make it faster to send invoices to PIs and later possibly also allow billing integration. NOTE: this must be discussed with UH billing in general, currently PIs approve invoices after they have been submitted in the UH system.

- group leader is default approver 
- possible invoice statuses: 1. draft, 2. sent for approval, 3. approved, 4. billed, 5. paid, 6. waived 
- provider admin can use "submit approval email" to change from 1 to 2. 
- approval could be exactly the same as service request approval now: PI clicks a link in email 

Ideally, transition from 3 to 4 would be automatic. Approval could trigger sending of the invoice to the university SAP system. We were told that for them it's enough if we manage to send data in .csv, they can deal with it. 

And of course it would be nice if we could also read the status of the invoice from SAP, or if it could be somehow periodically imported. 

Status: sounds doable.


Multifactor authentication

Requested by: LMU

Description: It would be good to be able to secure at least admin accounts with multifactor authentication. Ideally a physical token like Yubikey could be used.

Comment: One workaround could be to create a Google account with MFA and use it to log in to Open IRIS.

Status: Can be done.

Bulk removal of cost centers

Requested by: LMU

Description: Add option to select multiple cost centers and delete them. To make this safer, this could be limited to only inactive cost centers. Furthermore, the option could be made configurable so that it is not always visible in the UI.

Status: Can be added.

Add a "novice" training level to users

Requested by: BIU

Background: It would be useful to able to separate new users on some instruments and require confirmation for bookings from resource administrators/operators.

Status: This can be done by using the training types.

Integration with VMware

Requested by: LMU

Description: "

We would use the VMware View (Horizon) API instead of vSphere. https://code.vmware.com/apis/75/view

There could be a scheduled task with short intervals that would update UserEntitlements to match the current reservation status. Let’s assume that a user u has a booking from 3 pm to 4 pm. Task would run say 2:30 and update the entitlements so, that the user has access to the virtual workstation from that time. Say 4:30 the assignment would be removed if the reservation had not been extended by the user. Also the system could possibly notify the currently logged (previous) user that his/hers time is going to end soon if that were the case.

"

Status: "Sounds all doable and we do very similar things already"

Replace by Agent log-off request 19.9.2019

Allow a resource to be listed in multiple providers

Requested by: LMU and BIU

Status: "Currently two providers cannot share a resource, but we will work to find an acceptable solution, e.g. a provider listing resources from other providers in their resources, which is an idea we have had for awhile."

Solved by request based requesting

Add limit to how long the agent can extend a booking without user approval

Comment: Replaced by agent request dated 19.9.2019

Requested by: HELMI (HJ 20180928)

Description: 

The limit would be useful especially on virtual machines. Two issues we've seen so far:

- If there are two consecutive bookings, the agent keeps extending the first one, and thus windows log off is never enforced.

- If there is something wrong with the client connecting to the VM, the user may think he got out of the VM, but actually didn't, and the agent just keeps on extending the reservation.

Example: if limit is set to 5 min, the user will be logged off five minutes after the end of the original reservation. If limit is set to 0, the agent can extend the reservation forever.

Discussion on the limit length needed. Should it be 5 or 15 min?

Status: unknown and under investigation

Add project selector and custom fields to instrument training request

Requested by: LMU

Background: When using request-based booking, it's important to also track the training reservations and which project they should be billed to.  The custom fields could be e.g. "previous microscopy experience" and static text to tell the user what to do in case s/he doesn't have a project yet. Adding these fields in the training request directly (instead of using a separate form) will also keep the Admin inbox more tidy, and admins don't need to figure out which training item and which training form belong together.

Status: Suggested by Dean, can be done.

Price types per WBS (cost center)

Requested by: BIU, LMU

Description: BIU has users from multiple organisations, and each organisation should have it's own price type. So far so good, can be set up in "multi" price list item. But things get more complicated because some users belong to run projects for more than one of these organisations, and therefore the pricing decision cannot be made based on the user alone. Furthermore, some projects have funding from multiple organisations. 

Status:

Dean says:"

I owe you:

- pricing per cost center solution

"

Note: this replaces https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/CoreManagement/Open+IRIS+-+Feature+requests+from+HY#OpenIRIS-FeaturerequestsfromHY-Pricetypesperproject(request)

Enable negative price for add-ons

Requested by: LMU, BIU

Background: Some microscopes can be used either with or without lasers, and we would like to have a list of add-ons like "405", "488" and "No lasers". Usage with lasers is the default, basic price, but usage without lasers should be cheaper, and therefore we would like to be able to give a discount for the "no lasers" add-on. This is something that could also be applied to solve the Lago/Gas anesthesia booking and billing problem (Make Lago the main instrument and "Gas anesthesia only" a negative price add-on).

Not really needed with the add-on model of pricing.

Status: Doable.

Add selector for open projects

Requested by: LMU

Description: When access to resources is granted by project (request), there arises the need to know the currently active projects. For example, a user might want to join a project, but it will be difficult if he doesn't know the exact name. Here it will be useful to have a form element that allows to select one of the open projects of a group (selected by a previous selector element).

Status: Now all group members can see all group related projects in their “Dashboard” -> “Inbox”. There is a button that anyone can use to add a member, and the request submitter gets an email to approve/reject the new member.

Update 2018-05-18: The participation request email notification now includes the name of the new participant. Overall this works well enough, so it is not necessary to create a separate selector element as originally requested.

Automatic creation of invoices

Requested by: UH

Background: At UH invoices are addressed to WBS codes. With close to hundred research groups, and each group with possibly multiple WBSs, the task of manually creating invoices for each WBS becomes too heavy, and should be automated. In a brief test period we also noticed that we always mechanically added charges to invoices, so this step should also be possible automate.

Update 2018-04-18: There is already a feature that allows to put all unassigned charges in one invoice. This is is fairly close to how invoicing is done at HELMI units at the moment. However, the feature is broken and does not work. Once fixed, it probably makes this feature request redundant.

Update 2018-05-08: The feature to put all unassigned charges to a new invoice works now, so this feature request can be dropped at least for the time being.

Description:

  1. Default invoice per WBS
    1. Invoice name = <group_name>_<wbs>_<start_date>_<end_date>.
    2. Projects use the default invoice of their WBS.
    3. Automatically assign project charges to default invoice.
  2. Provider action to "make billing"
    1. Create and set new default invoices for all (active?) projects.
      1. Remember the start of billing period in invoice names.
      2. Maybe allow admin to set start date? (Default: <start_date> = <today>).
    2. Rename previous default invoices
      1. Show the entire billing period in invoice name.
      2. Maybe allow admin to set end date? (Default: <end_date> = <today> - 1).
    3. Export all previous default invoices
      1. Use invoice name in .xls name (not only invoice ID).
      2. Fix export file name extension (now .xlsx.xls).
      3. Set the invoice status to billed.
    4. Submit invoices (optional / nice to have)
      1. Email invoices to billing coordinator (current system).
      2. Coordinate with this request for more advanced integration. At the moment PIs see the invoice for approval after they have been submitted in UH system by the billing coordinator.

Enable group attributes on invoices

Requested by: LMU

Background: LMU (and possibly other cores at UH) need to list remit area codes in invoices. We can store the codes in group attributes, but at the moment the attribute does not show up in the invoice.

Status: Replaced by "Enable attributes on cost centers"

Show completion on requests with "pending" status

Requested by: LMU, BIU

Background: When the new project request form is being processed by multiple admins, it remains in "pending" status, but no % of completion is shown. To see how complete the request is, it needs to be opened. It would be handy to see the completion level of all "pending" requests in "Inbox".

"pending" should be changed to "active" when the request is being processed. If it is rejected, change it to "rejected".

Status: Not needed