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The Outpost Platform* referrs to the suite of applications, tools and resources that make new kinds of service 'directories' possible. Its *free, open source and community driven*.
Currently the platform contains:
- Outpost - a service management system (repo)
- Outpost API service - a publicly accessible API using the Open Referral UK standard (repo)
- Scout - a quick start service directory to get you up and going quickly (repo)
- Ofsted feed client - to enable Outpost services to sync with the Ofsted feed (repo)
- Find-a-childminder - demonstration of the sorts of targeted sites that can be created using the Outpost Platform (repo)
- You own and manage your own data
- Works out of the box
- Low cost to get started
- Extensible - customise to suit your needs without re-inventing the basics
- Provides the tools you need to customise to your requirements (see Milestones)
- Free up time spent wrangling data
- New features are shared across adopters of the platform for the benefit of everyone
- Part of a community with a common goal
- Provide data to people who may have been grouped under the wrong categories in the past
The wiki is divided into the following sections.
Outpost Platform This section talks about the Outpost Platform as a whole, the past, present and future. It also outlines our thinking around certain things and why it is the way it is.
Outpost Contents Go here to find out about current members of the Outpost Platform Family and where to get more information on each one indivisually
Outpost This section covers Outpost, the service management system. It acts as a user guide to using Outpost.
Developers Technical information around the code and deployment guides.
I'm a developer looking to get started with Outpost? You have an entire section dedicated to development. We would also recommend reading the concepts section as well as the outpost sections as well as they contain some things that may not be covered on the technical side,
Is there a demo? We hope to produce a series of video tours but You're welcome to try out the applications yourself using the instructions on the homepage or if you would like to arrange a demonstration please see the Team page and get in touch.
What sort of things can I do with Outpost Platform? We have created a page specifically to keep track of all the ideas we have had for the Outpost Platform; What can you do with the Outpost platform. Since the data is kept in one place you can send it anywhere! To give a few examples:
- A single service directory or multiple service directories with different topics
- Integrate with call centre software, point of sale systems
- Mobile apps
- Integration with voice assistants
- Chat bots
- Augmented reality
- Your not limited to user facing applications you can also create admin applications to better visualise your data or produce reports.
I'm interested in using Outpost in my organisation but I would like to speak to someone first, who can I speak to? There is a discussion board on the Outpost respository where you can ask any questions you might have, or if you prefer to speak to someone involved in the project please see the Team.
How compliant with Open Referral UK are you? Take a look at the Open referral UK section for more information on Open Referral Compliancy.
What are the costs involved? Initial costs will be low but these will grow depending on how many users, applications within the Outpost Platform and your technical architecture. You can read more about costs here.
How secure is the Outpost Platform? Outpost is written using Ruby on Rails a popular and widely used framework. You can read more about security here.
How easy is it to switch to Outpost? We have documentation available Importing data. We highly recommend using this opportunity to evaluate your data, we hope to expand our Things to think about to be as helpful as possible.
How can I keep up to date with development? You can keep up to date with the current progress through the Outpost repository. Every sprint, the Outpost team write up a short sprintnote detailing what we have been up to in that sprint. It's part of our plan to work in the open to and it helps keep everyone informed about progress and what we're learning as we go. You can see our sprintnotes here: Sprintnotes
* Outpost itself is an application, the Outpost platform referrs to everything making up the entire eco-system. The wider name needs suggestions!