Arcus Application - Project Scope and Implementation Guide

Overview

Arcus is a custom-built project planning application tailored specifically for software development projects, such as the Retirement Calculator project. The name "Arcus" signifies a streamlined approach to managing tasks, organizing projects, and keeping track of progress efficiently, providing a centralized workspace for planning and executing all aspects of software development.

The primary goal of Arcus is to offer flexibility and usability for solo developers or small teams, allowing you to break down complex projects into manageable tasks, create dependencies, and efficiently manage your workflow. By providing a task-oriented and structured approach, Arcus helps enhance productivity while ensuring that all project requirements are clearly defined, easily accessible, and organized.

Key Features

• Task Management: Allows users to create, update, and organize tasks for various projects, assign them to users, and monitor their progress.
• Sections for Task Grouping: Each project can contain multiple sections that help in grouping tasks logically, enhancing the clarity of larger projects.
• Customizable Tags: Tags can be applied to tasks to allow easier categorization, filtering, and identification. Tags include areas such as Frontend, Backend, Testing, Deployment, Documentation, etc.
• Task Dependencies: Users can set dependencies between tasks, ensuring that certain tasks are completed before others begin.
• User Assignment: Tasks can be assigned to specific users, allowing better collaboration if multiple users are working on the same project.
• Prioritization: Assign different priority levels to tasks (e.g., High, Medium, Low), ensuring the most critical tasks are completed first.

How to Use Arcus

1. Create a Project: Start by creating a new project. Provide a name and a description to outline the scope of the project. Set a start and an expected end date to monitor progress.
2. Add Sections: Use sections to logically group tasks within a project. For example, you can create sections like "Frontend Development," "Backend Development," and "Testing" to organize tasks.
3. Add Tasks: Break down the project into smaller, actionable tasks. Each task can have a title, description, due date, priority, status, tags, and be assigned to a user. Tasks can be further organized within sections.
4. Order Tasks: Use the ordering functionality to prioritize tasks within a section or a project, ensuring a logical workflow.
5. Set Dependencies: Define task dependencies to ensure that the workflow follows a sequence. For example, make sure certain backend calculations are done before starting on frontend visualizations.
6. Track Progress: Update the task status as you complete work. Use the priority settings to focus on critical tasks first.

Project Scope

Arcus aims to streamline software project management for developers. The key components are as follows:

1. Project Management

• Project Model: Represents a software project, including attributes like name, description, start and end dates, status, and creator.
• Ordering: Projects are ordered by their start date, with active projects listed first.

2. Section Management

• Sections: Projects are divided into logical sections, enabling better categorization of tasks. For example, a project could have "MVP Development" and "Future Enhancements" sections.
• Ordering: Sections can be ordered to control the progression of tasks across phases.

3. Task Management

• Task Model: Tasks are individual pieces of work that make up a project. Attributes include title, description, due date, priority, tags, assigned user, section, and dependencies.
• Self-referential Relationships: Tasks can reference other tasks to establish dependencies. This ensures that tasks needing prior completion are clearly defined.
• Ordering Tasks: Tasks can be ordered within sections to reflect their priority and logical sequence, ensuring a smooth workflow.

4. Tags and Categorization

• Tags: Tags provide flexible categorization for tasks, helping in filtering tasks by categories like "Frontend" or "Testing."
• Colors for Tags: Tags are assigned colors to make identification easier.

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Setting Up Arcus

1. Clone the Repository: Clone the Arcus repository from the appropriate source control location.
2. Install Dependencies: Ensure you have Django installed, along with other dependencies such as django-import-export for importing tasks and django-rest-framework for API support.
3. Set Up the Database: Run migrations to set up the required database tables:

python manage.py migrate

4. Create a Superuser: To access the admin panel and set up the initial data, create a superuser:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Step 2: Configuring the Application

1. Add Projects and Sections: Use the Django admin interface to add initial projects and sections.
2. Import Tasks: Use the django-import-export library to import tasks from a CSV file for quicker setup.
3. Assign Tags and Priorities: Make sure tasks are assigned appropriate tags and priorities for better organization.

Step 3: Using the Admin Interface

• Admin Features: The admin interface allows you to manage projects, sections, and tasks with all the bells and whistles that Django provides.
• Ordering: Use the ordering feature to establish a clear sequence for tasks and sections.

Step 4: Deploying Arcus

• Configure Settings: Update settings for production, including database, allowed hosts, and static files.
• Deploy: Use tools such as Docker or Gunicorn with Nginx to deploy Arcus to your desired hosting provider.

Conclusion

Arcus is designed to be an efficient tool for managing software development projects, providing a customizable, developer-friendly interface for organizing tasks, tracking progress, and maintaining a logical workflow. By offering functionality such as self-referential tasks, detailed categorization with tags, and flexible sectioning, Arcus aims to enhance productivity and project management efficiency.

Arcus can be extended to fit various development workflows, from solo projects to small collaborative teams. This documentation should provide a solid foundation for understanding the application, how to implement it, and how to make the most of its features for effective project planning and execution.