[Tutor] Conceptual Question About Use of Python for Employee Training Program

[Mac Ryan]

Just thought to google for "S5 python", and google came out with a lot
of interesting links! :o

/mac

> Good Morning:
> 
> I am very new to Python but I am enjoying the learning process. I
> have a question about the application of Python to a problem at the
> industrial business where I work. My two main questions are:
> 
> 1. Can Python be used to achieve the goals of the possible project?
> 2. Where are the best places to look (books, blogs, websites, etc.)
> for programming examples or modules that would help me begin to
> assemble and test some code?
> 
> We currently have a Windows-PC based safety training program that was
> put together in MS Access around 2001. Access has evolved through
> several versions since then, as has the Windows OS, and the original
> author of the database has left the company. Originally designed to
> be deployed on an employee's desktop, the database is now restricted
> to two older PCs in the facility that run a version of Access
> compatible with the original. In short, the program is quickly
> becoming obsolete.
> 
> The safety training program is a monthly exercise for all thirty nine
> employees at our location. The training is mandated by OSHA, and the
> subject matter is chosen based on the relevance to our processes. The
> program consists of the following general steps.
> 
> 1. The employee is prompted to enter his or her employee identity
> number.
> 
> 2. A confirmation is generated showing the employee name and other
> minor details, accessed from a simple list, to be sure the identity
> number and the person are correctly matched. This requires employee
> acknowledgment.
> 
> 3. The employee freely selects a training subject from a list.
> 
> 4. Once a subject is selected, a PowerPoint (or could be the
> OpenOffice Presentation) is launched. The training information is in
> the presentation. The employee can navigate forward or backward
> through the presentation, or they can exit.
> 
> 5. Once the presentation is complete, or the employee has started and
> used ESC to exit from the presentation, they are prompted to take a
> quiz or exit the training program.
> 
> 6. The quiz is a simple true-false ten question process based on the
> material in the training presentation.
> 
> 7. The employee clicks on their answers to questions, the quiz is
> completed and scored. The employee must get at least eight of the ten
> questions correct to pass the topic. 
> 
> 
> 8. Right now the Access version of the program prints the quiz, the
> employee's answers and the correct answers to the quiz, and the hard
> copy is signed and left with their supervisor. The printer is the
> default location set for the machine on which the training and quiz
> are completed. I think that the only reason the quizzes are printed
> is because no topic and quiz verification process was written into
> the program. In other words, an employee can take the time to review
> a topic, take and pass the associated quiz but if the printed copy is
> lost there is no way to verify that the employee completed anything. 
> 
> 
> I would like to see a program that can be deployed as originally
> intended, on individual PCs, that can be more easily maintained and
> modified than the behemoth Access program we now have. We are running
> a Windows network with most production floor PCs using the latest
> version of XP and most individual desktops and laptops using Windows
> 7. I have the blessing of our network gods to pursue an open source
> solution because the options for this kind of program, which is
> tailored to individual locations, are few. The best approach the
> network folks suggested was a Lotus Notes database, which would work
> great I'm sure but the development cost is very, very high and each
> of the company's many manufacturing locations would require a
> slightly different version of the database.
> 
> Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my long note. I
> appreciate any help or direction that can be offered.
> 
> Adam