Team Name
ThinMintTechies
Timeline
Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
Students
- Brandon Faulkner – CS
- Tommy Do – CS
- Bryan Badgero – CS
- Bao Chau – SE
- Leigh Nolasco – SE
Abstract
The current process for cookie management in Girl Scout Troops provides significant room for improvement. CookieTrack is a free Progressive Web App that makes managing cookies easier for both parents and troop leaders. Parents can place and return orders, choose rewards, and view stats and monthly suggestions to track progress. Troop leaders get a secure, centralized system to manage members, orders, cookies, and rewards. It also keeps track of any unfilled orders, making sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Background
Our sponsor has firsthand experience managing Girl Scout cookies for their child’s troop, which highlighted numerous inefficiencies in the current process. Managing inventory and Girl Scout Cookie sales by a parent relies on text messages from other parents throughout the week. The parent responsible for ordering cookies for their troop then sends in an order to the warehouse for pickup. That becomes convoluted and confusing when multiple parents send in cookie requests, change their orders, and add more cookies to their orders. The parents in charge must also track their troops’ order requests and send orders accurately, making an already difficult task harder. Official websites linked with Girl Scouts handle ordering cookies from warehouses nearby and personal tracking. Though some websites aim to help with cookie management, they fail to provide information on individual sales, past season trends, or milestone tracking. Additionally, many do not assemble sales documents into a report the troop sends in at the end of the sale season. The difficulty of the task combined with the lack of a centralized web-based platform for inventory and cookie management provides the core of the sponsor’s need for the project.
Project Requirements
- COPPA For Minors Under 13
- Three Different User Access Levels
- Parents Can Submit Orders
- Cookie Manager Pulls Information
- Cookie Manager Puts In Rewards and Cookies
- Data Encryption
- Role-Based Access Control
- The System Must Support Bi-directional Cookie Transfers Between the Troop and Parent Inventories
- Parents Can Select Rewards
Design Constraints
COPPA is a significant legal consideration in this project since CookieTrack relies on storing some information on all girls with accounts in the Troop. COPPA dictates that all digital systems storing information on minors below the age of 13 must have the permission of that minor’s parents [7].
Storing statistics on each Trooper’s sales is particularly constrained by possible behavioral and social misuse. A problem that came up early in the planning for the project was the possibility for the statistics to facilitate harassment and bullying amongst parents and kids.
An overarching constraint for CookieTrack is cost. As a program geared towards a yearly fundraiser for a non-profit, it must be as free as possible to remain feasible for any Troop to use it long term.
Troop leadership setting up the system poses a significant usability constraint. It forces a straightforward set up for the systems CookieTrack needs, and necessitates additional documentation to answer any questions along the way.
A heavy reliance on the backend provides constraints on CookieTrack’s functionality. Firstly, it constrains the project to backend services capable of near-real time updates and synchronisation. Secondly, it constrains the accuracy of the program, since network related problems cannot always be detected.
Engineering Standards
- CookieTrack relies heavily on the standards provided by W3C. The two most used W3C standards in CookieTrack are CSS and HTML. We use HTML for the structure of each web page, while we use CSS for styling the HTML elements [3]. CookieTrack also adheres to WCAG 2. WCAG 2 is a standard focusing on web accessibility [6].
- Another web standard CookieTrack uses is OAuth. OAuth is a standard on managing access to private information [5].
- CookieTrack adheres to portions of ISO/IEC 25010, specifically portions focusing on useability and performance efficiency.
- CookieTrack seeks compatibility with backend services like Firebase [1].
- Lastly, CookieTrack depends on Git, a version tracker, for managing changes to the source code [3].
System Overview
The software system for CookieTrack is designed as a multilayered architecture that organizes core functionalities into distinct layers, each with a specific purpose and role within the system. Our strategy prioritizes allowing each layer to function independently while seamlessly interacting with others to be an efficient system. At the top level, the User/UI Layer provides a user-friendly interface for scouts, leaders, and parents, offering interactions like account setup, order management, and reward tracking. Beneath the UI layer, the Functions/Backend Layer handles business logic, data processing and requests from the UI, serving as the core processing hub. Supporting this backend is the Cloud/Firebase Layer, which provides secure storage for user data and authentication services, making sure that data is consistent across devices. Together, these layers create a scalable system that provides users an organized, efficient, and secure way to manage the cookie season.
Results
We were able to implement many of the requirements that we asked of us for this project including multiple access levels, inventory management, order submissions and management, reward selections, troop leaders being able to view all information, and more.
Future Work
In the future, CookieTrack will undergo regular maintenance as open-source software. Potential future improvements include support for the unique processes and challenges booths provide. Additionally, OCR functionality could improve the process for submitting documents and images.
Project Files
Project Charter
System Requirements Specification
Architectural Design Specification
Detailed Design Specification
Poster
References
[1] Firebase. (n.d.). Firebase. https://firebase.google.com/
[2] Tailwind CSS – Rapidly build modern websites without ever leaving your HTML. (n.d.). Tailwind CSS. https://tailwindcss.com/
[3] W3C. (n.d.). W3C. https://www.w3.org/
[4] Git. (n.d.). https://git-scm.com/
[5] OAuth 2.0 — OAuth. (n.d.). https://oauth.net/2/
[6] Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. (n.d.). https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
[7] Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA”). (2023, February 3). Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule-coppa
