Roadmap (Django)

A roadmap visualisation tool for planning and communicating delivery across objectives, outcomes, and teams. Built with Django + SQLite, server-rendered with Alpine.js for in-page interactivity.

This is the Django proof of concept. A separate Node.js/Express rebuild exists; this app has been brought up to the same feature scope.

⚠️ Proprietary — all rights reserved. Work-in-progress proof of concept, not licensed for public or third-party use. See LICENSE.

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Features

• Gantt timeline — months / quarters / hybrid scales, with a virtual timeline that compresses long periods so near-term detail stays readable.
• Swimlanes — group the timeline by Defra Outcome, Objective, or Team.
• Group vs Service roadmaps — group roadmaps use central Government Objectives; service roadmaps use roadmap-specific Objectives.
• In-page editing (no admin round-trip):
  • Create / edit roadmaps and items in modals
  • Manage tags — click chips to add/remove; create scoped Objectives & Teams; select-only for central Outcomes & Gov Objectives
  • Click any chip to view and edit its description
• Roadmap list — search by name + filter by organisation.
• Per-roadmap tag scoping — Teams and service Objectives are unique to a roadmap; Outcomes, Gov Objectives, and Categories are central (admin-defined).
• Coloured tag chips — auto-assigned from an accessible palette.
• Export — download the current view as PNG or PDF.
• Spreadsheet import — bulk-create items from an .xlsx template (downloadable from the admin).

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Tech stack

Layer	Choice
Backend	Django 5.2
Database	SQLite
Templating	Django templates
Interactivity	Alpine.js
Data layer	JSON endpoints under /api/ (CSRF-protected)
Import/export	openpyxl · html2canvas + jsPDF

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Getting started

Requires Python 3.11+.

git clone https://github.com/MarkJYoung/roadmap-django.git
cd roadmap-django

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py runserver

Then open http://localhost:8000/.

The repository ships with a populated db.sqlite3 containing demo data, so the app is usable immediately. To explore the admin, create a superuser:

python manage.py createsuperuser

…then sign in at http://localhost:8000/admin/.

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Data model

Model	Purpose
Roadmap	name, team, organisations (M2M), roadmap_type (group/service), mission, vision, tags
Organisation	Delivery organisation (name, abbreviation, description)
Item	Activity / milestone / metric with dates, priority, size, links, tags, linked activities
Tag	outcome · gov_objective · objective · organisation (Team) · category. Scoped types carry a roadmap FK; central types are global.

roadmap.tags is the single source of truth for which objectives / outcomes / teams appear in a roadmap's header.

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JSON API

Same-origin endpoints backing the modals (CSRF token sent via X-CSRFToken):

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
GET	/api/organisations/	List organisations
GET POST	/api/tags/	List (filter by ?type= & ?roadmap=) / create
PUT DELETE	/api/tags/<id>/	Update / delete a tag
POST	/api/roadmaps/	Create a roadmap
PUT DELETE	/api/roadmaps/<id>/	Update (incl. tag membership) / delete
POST	/api/roadmaps/<id>/items/	Create an item
PUT DELETE	/api/items/<id>/	Update / delete an item

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Tests

A Django TestCase suite (no extra dependencies) covers models, the JSON API, the gantt/view logic, and the spreadsheet importer:

python manage.py test

Tests run against a throwaway test database — the committed db.sqlite3 is left untouched. Modules live in roadmap/tests/ (test_models.py, test_api.py, test_views.py, test_importer.py).

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Project layout

config/             Django project settings & URLs
roadmap/
  models.py         Roadmap, Organisation, Item, Tag
  views.py          List + detail pages, gantt builder
  api.py            JSON endpoints
  importers.py      Spreadsheet import + template generator
  admin.py          Django admin
  migrations/       Schema + data migrations
  templates/
static/             CSS + JS (Alpine component, export)

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Notes

• DEBUG = True and a development SECRET_KEY are committed for convenience — set real values via environment before any non-local deployment.
• The committed db.sqlite3 is demo data, not production data.