worldbest:

What can yours do?

Dude, you had a chance to suggest something better but you didn't. No one is saying the ideas that were chosen where top notch -- they happen top be the ones that got the most votes. Let's just deal with that and do better next time.

Kobojunkie:

Dude, you had a chance to suggest something better but you didn't. No one is saying the ideas that were chosen where top notch -- they happen top be the ones that got the most votes. Let's just deal with that and do better next time.

Okay!

I hate posting comments such as this that may seem insulting on cyberspace, but really? Power failure app and budget app? Rotflmvwcao! Have you forgotten we're in Nigeria? Ok . . . if you write the budget app, and find discrepancies in the budget usage/implementation, what next? You're gonna sue? Sue who? Smh!

^^ Stop whining and just vote.

lordZOUGA: creating APIs for nairaland will be cool tho

This would have been pretty cool.

Much cooler than any of the items on this list (most of which already exist, actually).

worldbest: Call me a detractor, It doesn't take away the fact that a the two ideas are "suckish" ideas. Simply tells me how a lot of Nigerian programmers aren't creative. Budget monitoring app may still be ok, but an app to guess when PHCN takes or brings power sucks (even PHCN don't follow their distribution model at times).

okay!! I understand that these were not your choices, they were not my choices too. But in a team/collaborative environment, there is a period of brain-storming where everybody has a chance to make his argument to convince others of his idea, you probably didn't do that, and even if you did, you either win or lose & when you lose you have two choices: either you support the winning effort or you break away to form your own team. Yet you've done non of these, but you want to be the "dog in a manger".

Now if you say the PHCN idea sucks, how do you know that? You need to demonstrate how this is not gonna be viable. We all know there are challenges to that choice, thus one of the reasons we embark on any project is to work out effective & efficient methods to solve or at least alleviate those obstacles/failures. So PHCN does not follow their distribution models, ok!! can you think of an innovative way to tackle that?

what if these guys go on to successfully develop this app, to produce a website that will show a schedule of PHCN's supply plan, produce a map of all PHCN's switch stations in Lagos with the areas they serve & their power plans on a daily basis so that people know when to expect power in their area. In addition they will have a means vote on the site on whether PHCN in that locality is really supplying power like they were scheduled to or they are simply diverting these powers to other areas who have paid a bribe. what if the minister of power fall in love with this social participation in reporting PHCN performance(rather than what officers report to their oga's), He adopts it & government decides to sponsor it's further development? Maybe you were too busy considering ideas of "Einstein proportions" these simple values didn't occur to you.

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SimonAndal: I hate posting comments such as this that may seem insulting on cyberspace, but really? Power failure app and budget app? Rotflmvwcao! Have you forgotten we're in Nigeria? Ok . . . if you write the budget app, and find discrepancies in the budget usage/implementation, what next? You're gonna sue? Sue who? Smh!

The work of the app is to find discrepancies.
What next you may ask, well after that its left for the people to make their choice during the election. Information changes a lot of things.

okeyxyz:

okay!! I understand that these were not your choices, they were not my choices too. But in a team/collaborative environment, there is a period of brain-storming where everybody has a chance to make his argument to convince others of his idea, you probably didn't do that, and even if you did, you either win or lose & when you lose you have two choices: either you support the winning effort or you break away to form your own team. Yet you've done non of these, but you want to be the "dog in a manger".

Now if you say the PHCN idea sucks, how do you know that? You need to demonstrate how this is not gonna be viable. We all know there are challenges to that choice, thus one of the reasons we embark on any project is to work out effective & efficient methods to solve or at least alleviate those obstacles/failures. So PHCN does not follow their distribution models, ok!! can you think of an innovative way to tackle that?

what if these guys go on to successfully develop this app, to produce a website that will show a schedule of PHCN's supply plan, produce a map of all PHCN's switch stations in Lagos with the areas they serve & their power plans on a daily basis so that people know when to expect power in their area. In addition they will have a means vote on the site on whether PHCN in that locality is really supplying power like they were scheduled to or they are simply diverting these powers to other areas who have paid a bribe. what if the minister of power fall in love with this social participation in reporting PHCN performance(rather than what officers report to their oga's), He adopts it & government decides to sponsor it's further development? Maybe you were too busy considering ideas of "Einstein proportions" these simple values didn't occur to you.

Okay. Thanks for the article. I was wrong, I shouldn't have called them "suckish" ideas. Carry on.

A-ZeD:
A Budget Monitoring/Performance Application.

Monitor the budget of the both federal and state governments

Please be ready with the list of requirements for the app, should it win the vote on June 4th. We need to start preparing so those who are ready to work, can start designing and building.

Also see www.github.com or any other online subversion tool to open up a work area for the team.

Budget/Performance Monitoring Application won the Summer of Code Pick. Please we need the developer, with the help of others to come up with a list of requirements so we can proceed.

@A-Zed, are you ready?

it should be made in java using mysql or do people here prefer c# .net ??

The project is supposed to be in two stages(Federal and states.)The idea is to break down the budget to its simplest form so that the average Nigerian can take a look at it and understand it. The budget should also be updated periodically to show expenditure when approved(approved in this context means the day the "project" to be executed is announced.)
Requirement for phase one can be gotten from http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_appropriation.html
The major challenge is monitoring the budget which is near impossible but there is a cabinet meeting weekly and journalist are usually briefed about the meeting and various projects approved are usually released along with source of funding
simply put it like this

Step 1:- Budget explained for all to see and understand.
Step 2:- When a project is announced, we subtract project cost from the ministry executing the project's budget.


The app would really be useful down the years when we can see that xy project occured in 2012 budget why is it in 2014 budget.

so... Its basically a database to dump all government's budget that can be accessed by everyone?? where exactly is the monitoring? Sounds like a boring project for a "summer of code"

Ok @A-zed. Here is a list of what we have you have so far, can you please add what you need to the list so we have a better idea of the features this application could and will have.

Please take a look at the sites below for help on how to put together great user stories to not only help us develop this app but help keep us all aware of what needs to be done. The success of the project depends on your active involvement and since it is your idea, I would expect that you would be willing to do all that you need to, to help us get it done this summer, if possible.

Please try to take charge of this, so we can help along the way, and gain from the process.

How to write good User Stories

Create cool UML/Use Case diagrams.

Possible User Stories
=====================
1) User should be able to view a breakdown of the National Budget
2) Users should be able to view breakdown of budget at the state level
3) Budget items need to be updated periodically to reflect changes(additions/modifications as the year moves on
4) User should be able to view information on projects, costs and effects on overall budget
5) User should be able to track government spending

Kobojunkie:

Possible User Stories
=====================
1) User should be able to view a breakdown of the National Budget on a yearly basis
2) Users should be able to view breakdown of budget at the state level on a yearly basis
3) Budget items need to be updated periodically to reflect changes(additions/modifications as the year moves on
4) User should be able to view information on projects, costs and effects on overall budget
5) User should be able to track government spending
6) Users should be able to see the summary of government spending on a particular agency/ministry over a certain period(in years e.g 2011-2014)
7) Users should be able to spot duplication of projects in the budget
8.) Users at any given time should be able to know the current price of oil.

This basically the major feature of the app

A-ZeD:


This basically the major feature of the app

Ok! Now what next? Please understand you will be the TEAM LEAD on this project.

Kobojunkie:

Ok! Now what next? Please understand you will be the TEAM LEAD on this project.

1)We decide on language/technology to use.
2)We refine the user story to get "actors" and "actions"

A-ZeD:

1)We decide on language/technology to use.
2)We refine the user story to get "actors" and "actions"

Cool,well, lets break down a couple of the user stories so we can get a better picture of what needs to be developed first and what may come later. Since this is going to be data-dependent, it would also be a good idea to research what is available and what we can request from the authorities on this.

We can easily create class diagrams with yuml, and wire them all up so it makes sense to others as well.

Kobojunkie:

Cool,well, lets break down a couple of the user stories so we can get a better picture of what needs to be developed first and what may come later. Since this is going to be data-dependent, it would also be a good idea to research what is available and what we can request from the authorities on this.

We can easily create class diagrams with yuml, and wire them all up so it makes sense to others as well.

The whole budget is available with its breakdown on the website of the budget office.
http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_appropriation.html

A-ZeD:

The whole budget is available with its breakdown on the website of the budget office.
http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/2012_appropriation.html

And projects?

Kobojunkie:

And projects?

Looking for a credible source.

Looks like nobody is interested.

A-ZeD:
Looks like nobody is interested.

Waiting on you to confirm that this is feasible at this time. It is not only suggesting a project, but a project that is feasible. Again, see yourself as the Project manager, the one to decide how this goes, and proactively search and more this project forward.

a) You suggest we can pull Budget information from the pdfs on the Budget site, but what about the project info?
b) Should design start without out ensuring that project info will be available?
c) If you want us to start? Where do you want us to start.

I apologize if I did not make this clear but the idea is for the person who suggests the project to OWN it. We are here to help make YOUR idea come to light .. . we will help YOU build it but you have to help us with the information necessary to build it.

Any updates? @A_Zed

Kobojunkie: Any updates? @A_Zed

From my research, there'll no official way to monitor/get approved projects other than newspaper reports which aint good enough.
Re- thinking the whole thing

Ok. If you come up with ideas on how we can do it, do share, so we can help figure out a way. We could even look for an IT approach to solving that problem once and for all so others who want to do similar work, can also have access to the data.

@A-zed, @kobojubkie
why don't you create a new thread asking how to get access to govt budget documents, contacts of relevant offices, electronic copies, schedules of projects to be executed, protocols for release of funds, etc, then push it to the front page. This is more of a business-requirement gathering aspect of the project, i'm sure there other nairalanders who know these things better that you programmers. don't forget to state the reasons you want to gather these info's, maybe people would be impressed & put in more effort to assist.

okeyxyz: @A-zed, @kobojubkie
why don't you create a new thread asking how to get access to govt budget documents, contacts of relevant offices, electronic copies, schedules of projects to be executed, protocols for release of funds, etc, then push it to the front page. This is more of a business-requirement gathering aspect of the project, i'm sure there other nairalanders who know these things better that you programmers. don't forget to state the reasons you want to gather these info's, maybe people would be impressed & put in more effort to assist.

Thanks Okeyxyz

GOOD SUGGESTION!

ok, over to you @project manager. Create a thread and link it here so those who come here will know of it too.