Roadmap for Diamond Data - Planned Features, Improvements etc

[noahcs2002]

Roadmap

This discussion is meant to serve as a roadmap for planned features, improvements, bug fixes, changes etc. coming to Diamond Data.

If a comment has been hidden, that means it has been resolved!

To the Maintainers:

We will use this as a way to gather inspiration for things we want to design and implement. We will also use this as a way to gather feedback from users and other people who have suggestions for how to improve the app.

To the Users:

Feel free to comment things you think we should add. This is the one discussion that will never be closed, and will have every feature we can think of, even if we aren't going to add it. Don't be afraid to put your idea out there.

[noahcs2002]

Quick entry for game stats

We should come up with a convenient way for managers to enter statistics. As is, it might get tedious or annoying to try and keep up with entering statistics during a game, not to mention not all ball parks have WiFi access. We need to find convenient ways to allow managers to handle statistics.

[noahcs2002]

One solution provided to us at the banquet was the suggestion that we allow for PDF scanning to import data quickly. We could do so by generating our own PDF that the mangers could print to keep track of, and read that. Alternatively, we could use some third party module and train it based around various common score cards to allow greater flexibility.

[noahcs2002]

Alternatively, since we've leveraged a RESTful API system, we could design some kind of utility mobile app. This is somewhat of a nuclear option, but eventually we might want one anyway.

[noahcs2002]

Upon presentation, we got another vote for some kind of PDF reading module, via creation of our own printable PDF form that we could then scan and re-upload

[noahcs2002]

Leveraging AI and ML

AI and ML usage is much a hot-button topic, and I'm not super sold on selling out to it in this app. As is, we can use a rudimentary AI without achieving any level of sophistry, and that alone would improve the quality of the app loads. We don't necessarily even need to call it AI (although that might get some good attention on it), but just offer a "recommended players" section that uses this algorithm to pick players based on a big score

ML has no place in this app, according to field experts. The things we are doing with this app don't really warrant any kind of ML. IF we develop this thing to use some kind of sophisticated AI or neural network to make decisions, maybe ML is something to consider, but as is, I really don't think we need it

[noahcs2002]

Printable Reports

It would be cool to add a few printable reports to a future feature list. A full list of potentially printable things is below:

• Player stats
• Team stats
• Rosters

[noahcs2002]

Pitching Suite

We could re-imagine the way that pitching is worked in the app, making it such that we would record and offer a lot more insights on pitching data, such as spinrate, velo, break, etc. We could also track a pitchers kit, as well as that kit's effectiveness. Maybe we could use some kind of ML or AI to decide what pitches to recommend a pitcher should consider adding to their kit to cover weaknesses.

[noahcs2002]

The multi user update

Eventually, it would be cool to change the view depending on who's account it is. We could allow different types of account sign ups (parent, athlete, coaching staff etc) and allow parents to see some info, athletes to see more info, and coaches to see all the information.

Coaches could create an account and generate 2 session sign up keys, one for athletes and one for parents. They could provide that key to the athletes and the parents to give them access to their team circle basically. Then the coach could send updates out via SMS or email about games, practices, team outings, scheduling etc.

We could generate an upcoming games and events calendar using something like the Google Calendar API to allow people to subscribe to the events and games calendar.

[noahcs2002]

Forgot password

Right now, since we aren't leveraging an email API of some kind, we can't really allow users to reset their password if they've forgotten it. We can instead provide some kind of database-based backdoor to reset the password, but that's not super great. We should leverage an API to send emails to give access codes to reset passwords

[noahcs2002]

Presentation Feedback

On 29th April, we presented our project to stakeholders (classmates and professors) to garner feedback and get further clarity for the future of our product.

Game Day

The biggest point of improvement would be regarding Game Day. We got suggestions that kind of back up the suggestions we got from our banquet display, saying some way to either read a PDF or read a scoresheet would be a hefty improvement to the quality of life usage in our app.

Additionally, we could also work on a "Record an At Bat" tab, that would essentially open a modal that would allow the manager to record one at bat for that specific player. If we do, we would want to use a model similar to GitHub's issue reporting, with a Cancel, Submit, and Submit and Record Another buttons.

Further Feedback from Coaches

We were suggested to get in contact with coaches and see what they would need to make the app usable. We would likely enter some form of Closed Beta Agreement with them, where they give it a go on a one-month trial basis, and give us their feedback, in exchange for a discount on perpetual use. This would mean they get to try the tool (giving us exposure), we get our feedback (obviously useful) and they get a discount (they win, and we get a customer).

My uncle is a coach for High School level softball and baseball, and getting this tool in his hands might give us vital feedback on what to improve, add, and remove from the product.

Colour Scheme

We were also suggested to change the colour scheme to be where the coach could set his team colours, and that would be the colours of the application. This was a planned feature anyway, but hearing it suggested made it such that we now know we should definitely include this as a feature as soon as we can work out the logistical kinks

[noahcs2002]

Testing

Right now, the API is at around 75% testing coverage, while the app is not even REMOTELY tested. We need to increase coverage of the API, and begin coverage of the front end ASAP.

[noahcs2002]

Filtering Data

It would be neat to see a filtering data screen that would allow users to filter their data by a number of criteria, such as pitchers with 3 or more starts etc.