7 Software Comparison Criteria
7.1 Criteria for Comparison of E-device Apps
The e-device subgroup identified 6 different groupings of criteria for comparing different data entry apps: Forms Options 7.1.1, Data Interface Options 7.1.2, Photo Integration and External Sensor Options 7.1.3, Hardware Platform Options 7.1.4, Security Factors 7.1.5, and Vendor Business Model 7.1.6. The main categories considering include options within the forms building tools, including QC related factors such as constrained choices and rules that guide subsequent fields. Other categories include IT security protocols, photo integration, cost of different product options, and factors related to the business model of each vendor, including the longevity of the company and the level/cost of customer/technical support.
7.1.1 Forms Options Criteria
| Category | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Data entry validation/QC | Geo-referencing | Are the coordinates for each data observation logged; is this a automatic (extracted from the device GPS ) or manual (entering GPS on keyboard)? |
| Constrained choices from a list | Can the app reference data tables to provide a contrained response? | |
| Rules guiding answer series (e.g., “Conditional Questions” and “Skips”) | Can the form be customized to adjust subsequent questions based on the responses entered? | |
| Constrained choices from an external table | Can the app reference access data tables from cloud or local hard drive to provide a contrained response? | |
| Form Version Control | Is there a record of the changes to a form and which version was used to collect the data? | |
| Real-time Data Review | Can the data records be reviewed during data entry; can the lengths be reviewed as a list of lengths per species? | |
| Real-time Edit (“on the fly”) | Can the data entered be edited easilly? | |
| Ease of Form Development | Intuitive form design tool | Is it difficult to build a form? Does it take a long time to get up to speed? |
| Coding language required? | Does one need to know an advances programming language to build a form? | |
| Different styles of question types | How much flexibility does the app provide in types of questions available? (e.g., drop down list; multiple choice; searchable tables) | |
| Flexibility to configure in a logical order for field entry (e.g., nested desgin) | Can the form be divided into separate sections to accommodate a nested sampling design? | |
| Other IEP Survey needs | Permissions Management | Are there different permissions levels to control edits to the form? (e.g., user level versus form manager level) |
| Muti-users of an app | Can multiple users access the same account? Or does each user have to have (and pay for) a separate user account? | |
| Off-line capacity | Does the app function off-line?; are there any gaps in function if switch off and on-line? | |
| User Accessability | Multiple-language options | |
| Font adjustment/Speak-to-text |
7.1.2 Data Interface Criteria
| Category | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Database interface | Data storage location | Where does the data get stored? |
| Edit after transfer | Editing data ‘on-the-fly’ (data already submitted) |
Can the data be edited in the local data storage? Can data be edited after having been pushed to a remote location? |
| Data format | Open (standard) format output | What is the file type of exported data? Are there multiple file type options? |
| Data format logical / useable | What is the format of the exported data? (e.g., single table or relational tables associated with nested forms design? Does one need to post-process to associate across levels?) | |
| Data transfer | Real-time data transfer | Is the data transferred to a on-line or off-site database in ‘real-time’; or does it have to be manually transferred after the data collection period? |
| Cloud connectivity & back up | Is there a cloud storage location? Can the data be transferred to a remotely located database? | |
| Data change logs | Audit trails (data version control) | Is there a mechanism to log changes in data made |
| Direct integration with database | Can the form be directly configured to an SQL or Access database? If do, how difficult is this configuration? |
7.1.3 Photo Integration and External Sensors
| Category | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Photo Integration | Collect photo & assoc. with element | Can multiple photos can be linked to a single record? |
| Ease of interface | ||
| Multi-photo per element (and # limit) | What is the size limit for photos? | |
| Drawing/Annotating on photo | Can the user draw and annotate photos | |
| X-tern sensors | GPS from device | Can the app integrate the GPS from device; how difficult? |
| Integrate data from bar codes | Can the app interpret barcodes though device’s camera without external barcode hardware ? | |
| Integrate data from external sensors | Can the app integrate a datastream from an external sensor (Navigation data or fish board data?) |
7.1.4 Hardware Platforms
| Hardware/Operating System | Yes/No: app can be used / HW type |
|---|---|
| Smart Phones and Tablets | |
| - iOS (phone and tablet) | |
| - Android(phone and tablet) | |
| Desktop/laptop | |
| - Windows 7,8,10, 11 | |
| - MacOS (computer) | |
| - Ubuntu Linux |
7.1.5 Security Factors
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Where’s the application/product origins from? | IT have concerns about apps from countries that tend to distribute malware |
| Is the application Cloud based, and if so, where? | IT wants to know the location of a cloud storage service |
| Where is the data being stored for the application? | |
| Is the data center FedRAMP certified? | Larger cloud services have all gone thru FedRAMP certification; but smaller services do not have this standard |
| Online Security measures |