Tue, Oct 13, 2026Client Meeting
Workflow demo with Jeanne Lovmo
Demoed two of Nora's workflows to Jeanne, who gave feedback on topic pages, questions, ratings, and filtering.
Key points
- Demoed two of our workflows to the client.
Action items
- Include contacts and a webpage for each topic.
- Add a question page and include FAQs there.
- Add a place for researchers to give feedback or leave a comment, with a thumbs up/down or a star rating.
- Let researchers and admins filter for a specific office to view its policies in one topic.
- Use the Ask a Question page/tab for suggestions and FAQs.
- Add a quick rating system and an in-depth ranking system.
Sun, Oct 11, 2026Team Meeting
Demo workflows and task split
Defined the two workflows we'll demo, set up the database and backend schemas and all documentation, and split the demo work into four tasks.
Key points
- Defined our two workflows that we will demo.
- Set up the database and backend schemas.
- Set up all documentation.
Action items
- Anton: Content and search backend: build the offices, topics, and documents tables and migration, seed the 9 categories with about 15 cited policy excerpts, and serve them through /api/topics and full-text /api/documents?topic=&q=, with keyword-only /api/ask as a stretch goal.
- Adithi: Frontend researcher pages: build the researcher home with Browse, Search, and Ask given equal weight, topic cards that open a document list, and a search box whose results show each citation and source link.
- Andy: Frontend shell, sign-in, and admin mockup: set up the router, layout, and theme, build the sign-in page that sends each user to the researcher home or admin page by role, and guard the admin routes in front of a stub admin page.
- Jerry: Auth backend: build the users table and migration, the seed users researcher1 and admin1, the mock-login, logout, and /api/me endpoints, and a require_role("admin") check that returns 403 to researchers.
Thu, Oct 8, 2026Coach Meeting
Coach meeting with Vinir Rai
Followed up on journal action items, discussed hosting through ITS, and set requirements for next week's demo.
Key points
- Demo requirements: target at least one core functionality, use dummy data, and show at least two workflows. Hard deadline for the demo video is Wed, Oct 14 at 11:59 PM.
- The ethics assignment is due in two weeks.
Decisions
- Every journal action item gets an owner; pairs are fine.
- Pursue the OKD environment (OpenShift on Carolina CloudApps) through ITS for hosting.
Action items
- Anton: Assign an owner to every action item in the journal.
- Anton: Add a team meeting to the website.
- Anton: Add an Assignments tab with the ethics assignment.
- TBD: Email ITS about getting the OKD environment for hosting, CC Vinir.
- Everyone: Prepare a demo video of 2 workflows, due Wed, Oct 14 at 11:59 PM.
Thu, Oct 1, 2026Coach Meeting
Coach meeting with Vinir Rai
Reviewed this week's milestones, discussed deployment options, and planned the first check-in demo.
Key points
- Deployment options: UNC CloudApps or GitHub Pages.
- Discussed the three milestones due Saturday, Oct 3: the architecture diagram, system metaphor, and platform selection.
- First check-in demo is in two weeks.
Decisions
- Every journal action item must be assigned to a person.
Action items
- Anton: Fill out the team meeting box on the website.
- Anton: Assign a person to every action item in the journal.
- Jerry: Architecture diagram, due Sat, Oct 3.
- Jerry: Platform selection, due Sat, Oct 3.
- Andy: System metaphor, due Sat, Oct 3.
- Adithi: Prepare midterm talk slides.
- Everyone: Prepare for the first check-in demo in two weeks.
Tue, Sep 29, 2026Client Meeting
UI direction and dashboard requirements with Jeanne Lovmo
Jeanne set direction for Nora's look and the admin dashboard, gave the project a new name, and scheduled the Steering Group showcase.
Key points
- Must-have dashboard features (the rest is up to us): top topics being asked; answers delivered vs. referred to an office; the number and types of questions; questions that couldn't be answered confidently; user activity, i.e. how much the tool is used; and feedback analytics.
- Open question: whether to create subtopics within the policy categories.
Decisions
- The project's new name is Nora the Policy Navigator.
- Keep UNC colors and a simple design, using UNC Research's official branding page for images and logos.
- Analytics data should be downloadable.
- The showcase will be for the Steering Group on Nov 19, 3–4 PM, replacing the tentative Oct 30 showcase.
Action items
- Plan the Steering Group showcase for Nov 19.
- Decide whether to add subtopics within the policy categories.
Mon, Sep 28, 2026Team Meeting
Codebase setup and project architecture
Set up Nora's codebase, its file and project architecture, and the repository workflow, and updated the team website.
Key points
- Backend: FastAPI skeleton with a SQLAlchemy and Alembic database layer; the first migration enables pgvector for retrieval.
- Frontend: React and TypeScript app scaffolded with Vite, which forwards /api requests to FastAPI during development.
- Docker: Dockerfiles for the backend and frontend (with dev and prod targets) and a Docker Compose stack for local development.
- CI: a GitHub Actions workflow builds the backend, frontend, and Docker images.
- Documentation: a README covering setup, architecture, and workflow, plus a CLAUDE.md with shared project context for Claude Code.
Decisions
- Branch flow is dev → qa → main, enforced by a GitHub workflow.
- PostgreSQL with pgvector stores the policy data for retrieval.
- Local development runs through Docker Compose.
Thu, Sep 24, 2026Coach Meeting
First coach meeting with Vinir Rai
Reviewed our team website and project plan. We received a list of website updates and guidance on the project's technical direction.
Decisions
- Follow the client's lead when designing the interface and visualizations.
- Build the database for RAG (retrieval) first.
- Implement authentication toward the end, around the end of October.
- Deploy on UNC CloudApps (AWS), UNC's deployment platform.
- David Cowig is our contact for UNC Onyen authentication and admin permissions.
Action items
- Turn the timeline into a journal of meetings, feedback, and upcoming changes, and update it after every coach and client meeting.
- Put the spec document on the website itself instead of linking to Google Docs.
- Client section: list the client's name, department, and email.
- Team page: list our names, emails, and project roles.
- Move the project introduction from the overview to the home page.
- Fix the site's fonts.
- Make screenshots neater, possibly on a separate page.
- Talk with the client to set more concrete expectations, especially for the UI.
Tue, Sep 15, 2026Client Meeting
Project kickoff with Jeanne Lovmo
Jeanne presented her vision for the project: one place for researchers to find, understand, and act on UNC research policy.
Key points
- Goals: save researchers time, organize policy information, and make it easier to navigate.
- Content comes from the UNC Policy Knowledge Base, organized into 9 categories, with fewer than 200 documents in the repository.
- Researcher flow: sign in with Onyen, browse or search a topic, ask a question, and receive guidance.
- Researchers should be able to ask plain-language questions and get clear answers, and Nora must recognize when it shouldn't give an answer.
- Admin side: a quick view of what researchers are searching for, common struggle points, unanswerable questions (gaps in current policy coverage), and helpfulness feedback, which is important metadata for training, education, and workshops.