We aim for three releases per year. If urgent updates are needed in between releases, we may put out an additional release. In calendar year 2023, we project releases in January 2023, May 2023, and September 2023.
Work Currently Scheduled through Fall 2023
When work is ready it goes into a release. Sometimes work will be moved to a future release if it is not ready by the time of a scheduled release. More detailed information is available closer to the time of a release.
Brief explanations of scheduled projects:
bulk edit/update - increased ability to update information in records already in the system across records
code refactoring to make it more efficient and maintainable - ongoing work to improve existing code in the process of addressing bugs and feature requests
multi-language and international standards support - while the application can be used in many different languages and different standards, currently there are only limited workarounds or local customizations for doing archival description of the same materials in multiple languages (a necessity in many institutional or national contexts) or using international archival descriptive standards like ISAD(G). The aim would be to build more of this support into the core code itself. (Please note that this will be a major undertaking requiring substantial developer time and effort, and will significantly impact the capacity to take on other projects while it is going on.)
PDF improvements: Improve mechanism for public user interface PDF and bring staff and public interface stylesheets closer together. Improve accessibility of PDFs across the application.
public interface search improvements - improved relevancy, accuracy, and display of search results
public interface layout/functionality improvements - improved accessibility and usability of the public interface
staff interface upgrades: Many infrastructure upgrades that are needed for future staff interface improvements - Bootstrap 4, Rails 6, new date picker, revisit Selenium tests, reviewing Javascript packaging/dependencies
subjects module - expansion of the subjects module, with particular focus on making it accommodate more inclusive description - it may be necessary to convene a community working group to develop a specification for the updated module (anti-racism and inclusion priority)
technical documentation improvements - working with the Technical Documentation sub-team, improvement to the layout and content of the technical documentation that would make it more helpful for system administrators and developers
trigger warnings, TK labels, and mechanism to provide feedback via the public interface (anti-racism and inclusion priority)
Priorities not currently scheduled for the year, but may be added if resources or community partners become available
users and permissions
customization from the staff interface
controlled value lists improvements
reports
Please note that additional anti-racism development priorities will be scheduled through a different process.