DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ACADEMIC REGISTRATRION INFORMATION SYSTEM

CASE STUDY: CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF BUKAVU

SUBMITTED BYRICHARD MPANGO AKILIMALI

REG NO: 02/01010/11895

Supervised by: MR KOMAKECH Brians

A project proposal submitted to the Faculty of ICT in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Bachelor of Science

in Information Technology of Cavendish University

April 2012CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY

Chapter OneIntroduction

1.1 Background of the study:

The Catholic University of Bukavu was officially

established on 21 November 1989 by decree of the

Archbishop of Bukavu. On 15 November 1990, it opened

its doors to students.

On 11 September 1991, a decree authorizes the operation

of the University as an institution of higher

education. In 1992, the faculties of Medicine and

Economics are open, followed two years later, by the

Law School.

To date, May 2007, the university has five faculties:

Agronomy, Law, Economics and Management, Medicine and

Science (Management Information; Sociology (Social

Work). Its student population is approximately 1500

students.

The university also has several research centers

including the CEAM (Center for Studies and Conflict

Management) attached to the Faculty of Law and the LEAD

(Applied Economics Laboratory Development) attached to

the Faculty of Economics. In 2009, the Catholic

University of Bukavu and the birthplace, in

collaboration with its School of Law, Regional Centre

for Research on International Humanitarian Law and

Human Rights (CERDHO). Apart from research in

international law, the Centre, in cooperation with

VLIR, a master's degree in international humanitarian

law and human rights. Eminent professors of the DRC,

the African Great Lakes region and the Catholic

University of Louvain, Free University of Brussels, and

elsewhere in Europe and even the United States come to

teach in this prestigious program where theory

confronts the realities of daily life on the ground.

They have like motto “Super lacus Ac Montes Splendens”

Many universities in Congo are still using

manual paper records keeping storing information

about students. This is because of less

resources or lack of interest in the

introduction of new technology in their

organization.

Access to timely, accurate, and well- organized data through the university registries is an important

first step towards improving the academic conditions

and reducing the search time.

1.2 Statement of the problemIn most British Universities, the process of

registering all students as members of the institution

is largely concentrated into a very short period of

time. The registration period occupies a little over a

week in September, at the start of the academic year.

Their records are kept in paper files in a box. This

makes the operations very slow and very unreliable

to both students and the university.

Student’s records are very important and

confidential for both the students and the

university.

A lot of inefficiency and insecurity issues are

manifested in this manual paper records keeping

system and the end result is always time

consuming resulting into poor performance in the

university records management and decision

making.

There are also a lot of paper files to be wasted in

such kind of a system.

Some academic institutions have been unable to know the

number of students within a faculty and within all the

University and to retrieve information about formers

students; this was due to the disorganized file system

used by them and they should be sued because of the

loss of important information.

Issues arise when the processes and operations

at the university are slow, data and information

is misplaced and numerous errors in capturing of

data when using the paper based Information

System.

The final result is poorly analyzed information

about students and their faculties which make it

hard for the university administration to make

decisions and keep an accurate follow-up on

students and their different applications

processes.

The system in proposal therefore, is a computerized

academic registration information system. It is a

computer application that will be used to capture,

manage, and provide information on specific conditions

to support organized care management of students’

information.

1.3 Research Objectives1.3.1 General ObjectiveThe main objective of this research is to design a

computerized academic registration information system

which will keep records of students in order to improve

their registration procedures and to reduce the time

and cost.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives 1. To review the current system and to review the cause of its inefficiencies when dealing with students data. This will be done through interviews and administering of questionnaires to the workers of the Catholic University of Bukavu.

2. To identify the system requirements needed to

develop the new computerized academic registration

information system based on what already exist.

3. To establish and develop a faster, reliable, secured and easily accessed and effective system that can

record and maintain data about student registration at

UCB.

Make the use of information technology in order to make

the system suitable to the users’ requirements, robust

and easy to maintain or to upgrade.

4. To enhance efficiency, accuracy, reliability, and

precision of the system and also making it user-

friendly.

5. Generation of reports should be fast and accurate as

compared with the manual system and

also to keep the paper work to a minimum level.

6. To keep the paper work to a minimum level,

speed up the work and increase the productivity,

minimize the workload

and to facilitate in timely decision making.

1.4 Research QuestionsThe study will be guided on the following

research questions:

i. What is the current system being used in

managing students application forms?

ii. How is information collected and kept at

Catholic University of Bukavu?

iii. How will the proposed system be develop,

implement and tested in order to meet the

requirements?

iv. How relevant will be the proposed system?

1.5 Scope of the Study1.5.1 Geographical scopeThe study will be conducted in Catholic

University of Bukavu which is located in Bukavu

town, South-Kivu Region, Democratic Republic of

Congo. It will involve different faculties and the

administration in general.

1.5.2 Technical and System scopeThe system will have a graphic user interface

which will allow the users to interact with the

system. We shall also have a database at the

back end which will store all information about

the students and different courses that each and

everyone will be allocated after admission.

The study will be expected to cover mainly the

area dealing with application and admission

management which includes data storage,

retrieving, updating, patients search, ensuring

security of the university information.

1.5.3 Financial scopeDue to limited fund, this project will take care

of the major aspects of the system like saving,

updating the data in the database, searching etc

but will not be able to do tasks like making

graphs showing the number of new comers for a

given intake.

The research want take enough time because of

the money aspect, the research would like to get

enough time but the cost of leaving is also

related.

All the rest will subject of further research

work later in the newer future.

1.6 Significance of the StudyThe significance of the study is to make

contributions to the literature in term of

evaluating the importance of a computerized

registration information system, how we can

develop one and integrates it to the field

activities and their impact to service delivery

and students handling will be fast and secure to

responds to the major problems of the current

system.

To the university, this proposed system will

help the university in administration student’s

data. So by the implementation of a computerized

registration information system this task will

be easier, fast and secured.

1.7 ConclusionThis chapter has dealt with the clear

theoretical and practical information about the

background to this project, statement of the

problem, objectives of the project, scope and

limitations, Significance and Justification of

the study.

The next chapter will deal with theoretical

framework of the project and it will look at the

information plan and literature review about the

project.

Chapter TwoLiterature Review

2.1 IntroductionThis chapter will involve the review of literature

related to the study and therefore it will contain what

others authors said about the computerized registration

information system and its management. It will examine

the far past, near past and the present current system

used to manage students application forms.

2.2 Definition of an information systemInformation System is a combination of people,

hardware, software, communication devices, network and

data resources that processes (can be storing,

retrieving, transforming information) data and

information for a specific purpose. The operation

theory is just similar to any other system, which needs

inputs from user (key in instructions and commands,

typing, scanning). The inputted data then will be

processed (calculating, reporting) using technology

devices such as computers, and produce output (printing

reports, displaying results) that will be sent to

another user or other system via a network and a

feedback method that controls the operation.

2.3.1 Role and benefit of an information system

Aim and purpose of each information system is

conversion of data into information. This process

consists of four basic concepts:

1.People, hardware, software, and data are four basic

resources of information systems;

2.Human resources consist of end users and IT

specialists; hardware consists from machines and

media; software resources consist of programs and

procedures; data resources consist of data, model,

and knowledge base;

3.Data are converted in information process into many

information products for end users;

4.Information processes consist of input, processing,

output, storage, and control processes.

All components of information systems are mutually

connected and cannot exist individually and to perform

role of informing. The relationship between separated

components is defined for best process efficiency.

Components of information systems (basis for definition

of information system) and their relations are

presented in the following figures.

With the help of Information System, businesses are able to process and operate its daily works more accurate and easier. All data and information are stored in electronic database which is much safer and easier to be attached then traditional method.

2.3.2 The current manual paper based records system:According to Butler (2007) even in the electronic age,

there are still organizations that, despite using

electronic systems to manage their information, still

print all documents and records and maintain the paper

version as the official records.

The Catholic University of Bukavu uses also this paper

based records system to store the information about

student applications.

Advantages of the manual paper based systems

1. It is very cheap to acquire.

2. No training is needed for the staff.

3. There is no need for hiring technical staff.

4. No extra cost is needed to use this system: ie let

say electricity is not needed here or antivirus.

Disadvantages of the manual paper based systems

1. Manual paper based systems make it difficult to

update the data, looks messy if changed.

2. It consumes a lot of office space because of many

files in which the patients information is kept.

3. A lot of time is wasted in delivering paper records

from a storage facility.

2.4 Definition of a computerized academic registration information system

It is an information system for the registration and

consultation of information on:

- Students (personal data, study plan, previous

educational career, absence registration, etc..)

- Courses (structure and content: grade, study year,

subjects, exams, tests...)

- Teachers (staff members involved in the academic

education process)

- Organizational units (faculties, departments,

laboratories, institutes...)

2.4.1 Advantages of this computerized registration information system

i. Rapid response: A computerized registration

information system allows rapid response in that the

computer system allow user to make speedy computation

at lower cost. The turnaround time from the input of

student’s details to the output of information about

the course is a few seconds therefore the decisions

makers achieve time management.

ii. Quality support : computers can improve the quality of the decision made since it provides one with a variety of the alternatives that can be evaluated and forecasts can be made more efficiently for example in deciding which course the student should take.Improvement of data management: with the use of computers data is stored in a very organized way so that it can be access in a shorter time period. Data can be stored, searched, be transmitted to other users and be secured.2.4.2 Database management system and its role in an academic registration information system development.A database is a system intended to organize, store, and

retrieve large amounts of data easily. It consists of

an organized collection of data for one or more uses,

typically in digital form. One way of classifying

databases involves the type of their contents, for

example: bibliographic, document-text, statistical.

Digital databases are managed using database management

systems, which store database contents, allowing data

creation and maintenance, and search and other access.

(Introducing databases by Stephen Chu, in Conrick, M. (2006) Health informatics: transforming healthcare with

technology, Thomson, ISBN 0-17-012731-1, p. 69.).

The database of this proposed registration information

system will intend to store all information about the

students (personal details), also information about

their courses and past records.

2.5 Databases2.5.1 Advantages of a database

Data sharing: with the use of a database different users in different departments of the university will

access and share data in order to perform different

tasks at the same time.

Improvement of security: Database security is the

protection of the database from unauthorized users by

the use of password. Without this measure data will be

more vulnerable and less reliable.

Data integrity: A DBMS (database managements system) always enforce integrity constraints of the data when

data is access through it.

Decision support: with the use of a database, decision will be make at a shorter time. The database will keep

information about the past studies, the courses and it

grades which will make the decision on faculty easier

and faster.

2.5.2 Disadvantages of a database -They are complex and difficult to use:Some databases are very complex to manage and needs a

lot of technical knowledge to manage them.

- Time-consuming to design: To build a very strong database it takes some extra time.

- Start-up costs regarding hardware and software: Need for extra money for hardware like servers and software

like DBMS to come up with a very nice database.

Database management systems are complicated and heavy

software. Additional memory and processing power may be

required to run the DBMS. It may require more powerful

hardware.

- A Damage to database will affect all applications

programs: In database management system, all resources and components are centralized. If any of these

components fails, the whole system stops.

- Training required for all programmers and users: DBMS is complex software with many features. The programmers

need a thorough knowledge of system to use it to best

advantage. If the organization hires experienced

database programmers, it has to pay extra cost for this

expertise.

We shall have to train the users who will be using the

system.

.Higher Conversion Cost: If an organization converts its records to database management system, data has to be

converted from files to the database system. Because of

the different formats used by different systems, this

may be a difficult and time-consuming process.

Moreover, the structure and data may also have to be

modified according to the requirements of the database

management system. This process requires a lot of

finance.

2.6 Hardware ResourcesOne of the definitions of 'hardware' according to

Webster's dictionary is 'major items of equipment or

their components used for a particular purpose'

These are computer hardware which will help as basis

where software will be installed for the design of the

new academic registration system.

We shall use a laptop to design, test and implement our

system.

SDLC (Systems Development Life-Cycle)Acronym for system development life cycle. SDLC is the process of developing information systems through

investigation, analysis, design, implementation and

maintenance. SDLC is also known as information systems

development or application development.

SDLC describes a process used by engineers and analysts

to create and deploy all aspects of an information

system. These include defining requirements,

validation, training, and emphasizing ownership of the

system. Whenever SDLC is employed, the goal is to

create a system that meets the primary stakeholder (or

owner’s) expectations. These include but are not

limited to delivering the project within time and cost

constraints. Factors taken into account are system

deployment, ease of use, and minimization of errors

when connecting to legacy system components likely

created by different software vendors. To help manage

the inherent complexity when designing Enterprise

software, there have been several SDLC based models

created such as the Waterfall, Spiral, and Agile

methodologies.

We are going to use the waterfall method.

The waterfall model of development is an example of a

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) model. It is

called waterfall because of the way it falls down. This

visual aspect is what affects people’s perceptions of

what it does and hence how it is implemented. The

earliest paper which describes the waterfall is

“Managing the Development of Large Software Systems” by

Dr. Winston W. Royce published in 1970. However he did

not call it the waterfall model and he had several

criticisms in using it if it was naively implemented.

Instead he was championing the concepts of a sequence

of development stages and crucially iterating back to

previous stages as more evidence emerged during

development.

The waterfall model is an example of a SDLC model. The

example model used in this article has seven stages

which map to the four SDLC phases.

2.10 ConclusionThis chapter looked at the review of related literature

of the project like the different information about

related books and ideas about information system, the

database and the database management system its

advantages and disadvantages and the ideas of other

authors on system development life cycle.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section gives description of the techniques and

methods that will be used to accomplish the stated

objectives in the development of an academic

registration information system. This chapter will

focus on the methodology of the research. It will cover

the research design, requirement identification, sample

size, and sampling techniques, data collection and data

analysis methods.

This chapter gives the reader detailed and sufficient

information in order to make an estimate of reliability

and validity of the methods which will be used.

3.2 Research Method:This study will be use a case study research method and

the case study will be the catholic University of

Bukavu.

The researcher will use this research method because of

the below advantages:

1. The information about student application and

registration will be available then the researcher can

get access to it.

2. UCB is in my country and my home town, so it very

easy to go there and collect data.

3. To develop analytic and problem solving skills and also to allow the researcher to apply new knowledge and

skills studied at school like the use and design of information systems.

3.2.2 Study population

A population consists of all elements-individuals,

items, or object-whose characteristics will be studied.

The population that is being studied is also called the

target population (Mann 1995).

The population in this research will include the

registrar, students, receptionist, etc. at UCB.

This people are the one who will provide information

about how data is captured, stored, retrieved and

updated from the manual system. To get relevant and

accurate information the researcher will work hand in

hand with these people.

3.2.3 Sample sizeThe researcher is planning to get information from the

students located in the same town, the university

registrar, and the lectures of UCB. These are the

people who will provide accurate information needed to

develop this system.

By visiting the registry department and interviewing

the students and registrar will allow the researcher to

get relevant information.

3.2.4 Sample selection Cluster sampling will be used in this research.

Cluster sampling is a sampling technique in which the

entire population of interest is divided into groups,

or clusters, and a random sample of these clusters is

selected. Each cluster must be mutually exclusive and

together the clusters must include the entire

population.

The main reason for using cluster sampling is that it

usually much cheaper and more convenient to sample the

population in clusters rather than randomly.

3.2.5 Data sources3.2.5.1. Primary data sourcesThe researcher will use personal interviews,

questionnaires and group discussion to collect the

necessary primary data.

3.5.5.2 Secondary data sources

Library researchThe secondary sources of data that will use included

textbooks found in the university library, journals as

well as the internet to gather other relevant ideas

from other researches on the topic under investigation.

3.2.6 Data collection techniques

1. Examining documents: This technique will used to gain an insight about the organization, the current

system and why there is need to design a new system.

2. Interview: This involved holding face to face

interviews with Partners and senior staff of the

university. The interviews will help the research to

get firsthand information from the respondents.

3. Questionnaires: they will be given to the people who are going to use the proposed system in order to

collect more data about the current system. This will

be advantageous to people like students who are not

always around to answer questions, they will do so at

their own convenience.

3.6 Development platformsThis part will cover the tools that will be used to

develop this academic registration information system.

3.6.1 Operating systemWindows will be the operating system which will be used

to develop the system because it has more free software

available like WAMP (Windows Apache MySQL and PHP) to

make the development easier.

Windows is friendly and has a very simple user

interface.

Keep in mind that the system will run in other

operating system like Linux and Mac OS not only

windows.

3.6.2 HTMLThis stands for Hypertext Markup language, is the

predominant markup language for web pages. It provides

a means to create structured documents by denoting

structural semantics for text such as heading,

paragraphs, lists as well as links.

It allows images and objects to be embedded and can be

used to create interactive forms. It can include or

load script scripts in languages such as Java script

which affect the behavior of Html processors like web

browser, and cascading style sheets (CSS) to define the

appearance and layout of text and other material.

3.6.3 PHPPhp stands for Hypertext Preprocessor (the name is a

recursive acronym) is a widely used, general-purpose

scripting language that was originally designed for web

development to produce dynamic web pages.

The php codes can be easily embedded in HTML and the

time it takes the process and loads the browser with

html and creates a full web page is very quick.

Php codes store user information and other functions

that are called since it supports object oriented

programming and Mysql.

3.6.4 MySQLThis stand for my structured query language. This will

be used to formulate the system database since it is

scaled and accommodates large amounts of data and

provides high level of security for the information.

Its maintenance costs are low as compare to other

database management systems.

3.6.5 HardwareThe researchers will us a Laptop type HP compaq

Hard-disk space required: 40GB of free space

because this will serve as a server to store

different files, so we shall need a lot of

storage space.

Pentium: Dual core CPU 2.10GHZ for faster

processing power.

RAM 3GB.3.7. Testing and validation of the system The academic registration information system will be

tested to identify the errors and check if the system

is running to ensure that the system will do what is

intended for.

3.7.1 TestingDifferent modules of the system will be tested to

ensure that they are error free. Thereafter on

integrating the modules to ensure that all modules are

working in harmony.

3.7.2 ValidationValidation will be carried out to ensure that the

system perform what it is intended for and meets user

requirements.

This will be done in the following:

-the system will be presented to expert for examination

and recommendations.

-the system will be presented to the university too to

use its functionalities and interact with it.

3.8 ConclusionThis part of the research will deal with the tools and

techniques which will be implemented to come up with

the design of the proposed system.