Running head: Lab 01 – REMSY Product Description
Lab 01 - REMSY Product Description
REMSY - Blue Team
Zachary Regelski
CS411W
Janet Brunelle & Hill Price
March 17th, 2014
Version: 2
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Lab 01 - REMSY Product Description
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Table of Contents
1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 3
2: REMSY PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................ 5
2.1: Key Product Features and Capabilities ................................................................................ 5
2.2: Major Components (Hardware and Software) ..................................................................... 7
3: IDENTIFICATION OF CASE STUDY ..................................................................................... 9
4: REMSY PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION .............................................................. 11
4.1: Prototype Architecture ....................................................................................................... 11
4.2: Prototype Features and Capabilities ................................................................................... 12
4.3: Prototype Development Challenges ................................................................................... 13
5: GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................. 15
6: REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 16
Figures
Figure 1: RWP Major Functional Component Diagram ................................................................ 8
Figure 2: Prototype Major Functional Components .................................................................... 12
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1: INTRODUCTION
The surge of popularity of computers and electronic technology in the past several
decades has been from their ability to make tasks more efficient. Efficiency in technology for
administration is about managing items or people, also known as resources, and sometimes with
regards to time and appointments. Efficiency in technology pertaining to a service to the general
population is about being as easy to use as possible, while remaining effective at the task it is
serving. Efficiency in technology for businesses is for managing data and enabling people to use
that data in ways that are helpful to the business. In most ways of implementing efficiency, it is
also meant to refer to optimizing the speed of transactions while keeping errors in the system as
low as possible. An effective system of tutoring needs to represent those principles of
administration, of a service to the general population, and of business.
In tasks of administration, system administrators are using methods to monitor and assign
resources. A good administration knows where its tools are, and who needs them and when.
Tutoring at a university level also needs to apply administration to its system. In tutoring,
students make appointments to receive help in some area of education. Administrating a tutoring
system requires tracking of tutor availability and location availability, because appointments
need to occur somewhere but making sure everyone knows exactly where is important for both
holding a record of the event, and to provide information to those seeking to attend the event.
There are special cases of equipment that also needs to be managed properly. To make tutoring
as efficient as possible, these resources need to be coordinated and managed effectively.
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Tutoring has many attributes of other services to the general population. People who are
not a part of the tutoring administration have to be able to use the system else it completely fails
to accomplish the task of tutoring. Students need the capability to seek help or the tutoring
system has failed. Therefore, an efficient and well designed tutoring system is required to be
readily available. People need access the tutoring system in order to make appointments and sign
up to be a tutor. Clarity is important especially in the cases where people are unfamiliar with the
workings of the system. Tutoring is meant for those who need help, and should not deter those
who seek it.
Just as any other system with huge quantities of information to keep track of, a good
tutoring system needs to handle management as business-like as possible and make capable data
reports. A student accessing the tutoring system needs to be able to find which classes are
available, which tutors are available, and whatever necessary information exists for
appointments. If the tutoring system is going to be efficient, it needs to be able to provide the
data the student seeks quickly and accurately. Errors that cause problems are the markings of an
inefficient system. The CS410 2013 and CS411 2014 Blue Team have designed REMSY with
the purpose of meeting the convenience, speed, and efficiency criteria for an effective tutoring
system.
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2: REMSY PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
REMSY stands for REsource Management SYstem. The objective in designing REMSY
was to create a method for managing a tutoring system that is both effective and practical to use.
Through REMSY, tutors at an institution can become available and students can sign up for
tutoring sessions. By centralizing and consolidating the management of the tutor system,
REMSY will be the tool students rely on if they seek help in their education. The software will
manage the clerical aspect of tutoring as well. REMSY will keep records of transactions and
collect data from the users that the administrators of the tutoring center require. User data will
include satisfaction with REMSY, reviews of tutor effectiveness, and objective data about the
student such as grades to help better understand the impact of tutoring.
2.1: Key Product Features and Capabilities
REMSY can be accessed in a few different ways. Users can utilize REMSY via a web
browser or by downloading the REMSY app for an Android or Apple mobile device. Students
and tutors make user accounts on the REMSY system that they log-in to and use to manage their
appointments. After logging on, users are greeted with an interface that gives them the ability to
access the variety of services that REMSY provides.
A general student who seeks tutoring can create their account and log in to REMSY to
browse the courses loaded into the system that are available for tutoring, and which tutors are
available for each course. The student can schedule and manage appointments for themselves. A
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tutor can log into REMSY and assign tutoring slots or make them available for students to enlist.
Tutors can manage these appointments from their REMSY account as well.
Users of REMSY can receive notifications pertaining to their REMSY related activities
either by logging into REMSY or by enabling alerts to be sent to their phones or emails. Tutors
and students can receive notifications about upcoming appointments, and about new class
availabilities recently added to REMSY. Users can also send one another messages via email if
they need to contact one another for more information or to cancel an appointment.
When a tutoring appointment is held, REMSY tracks which people showed up to the
appointment by having each participant log into the system for verification and assign a time
stamp. If the student misses a determined amount of sessions, a number at the discretion of the
institution implementing REMSY, that student can be blacklisted on the REMSY server for their
irresponsible behavior. The institution or university also needs to be aware of tutors who do not
show up because it reflects poorly on their reputation and prevents a student from acquiring the
help they seek. This is also a large concern for paid tutors, who try to take advantage of the
system and get a salary from the institution even when they did not actually tutor.
There are also other features of REMSY that provide helpful data for a tutoring center.
Students who wish to apply to become a tutor can do so through REMSY. Students and Tutors
can review and rate one another to give feedback to the REMSY administrators, in order to help
them make the experience better. Students and tutors can also apply for classes which are not
currently available in the REMSY system but they wish to take tutoring in, thus letting the
administration know that there is a need to update the system. This flexibility of REMSY fosters
an environment that is customizable and adaptable to needs as they arise.
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2.2: Major Components (Hardware and Software)
The implementation of REMSY requires a database server and a web server. The
database server will hold the institution information, user accounts, and user data of REMSY in a
MySQL database language. The web server will be running Apache, and will be responsible for
hosting the web page and linking mobile platforms to the REMSY systems.
The flexibility of REMSY will provide it with the capabilities to hook up with existing
institution installments and software, such as proprietary email servers and existing student
account data. Institutions and universities that adopt REMSY can use these features to integrate
it into their pre-existing systems of log-in information.
The RWP Functional Component Diagram (Figure 1) illustrates how the usage of
REMSY works. REMSY will not contribute any software in the form of a program that needs to
be run on a computer. Software provided will all be web based, and accessible from either a web
browser or a mobile device. The mobile application will also perform the services of REMSY.
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Lab 01 - REMSY Product Description
Figure 1: RWP Major Function Component Diagram
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3: IDENTIFICATION OF CASE STUDY
The Blue Team performed the tutoring case study on the Old Dominion University
tutoring center. The project has two mentors from the Tutoring Center and the Peer Educator
program at Old Dominion, Marissa Jimenez, a Resource Specialist at the Old Dominion Student
Success Center and Jeffrey Turner, a Higher Education Teacher Resident Assistant at Old
Dominion. Alongside their help and guidance, the Blue Team members registered as students
and tutors to gain an appreciation for the current system.
This case study at Old Dominion was deemed useful because of the diversity of the
program. Their system is a fragmented tutoring center managed by several different departments,
and utilizes a number of different buildings. These different sects cause coordination issues when
scheduling rooms, equipment, and tutors. Due to the scale of their operation, in the Fall of 2013
Old Dominion implemented a migration to a new digital system called TutorTrac. As of Spring
2014, that procedure is still a work in progress.
The hope for using TutorTrac is a unified tutoring center at Old Dominion University.
TutorTrac is an online, web-based system that users can manage their tutoring appointments. It
has built in card-reader functionality that the University is currently exploring to enable students
to check in at scheduled appointments by card swipe. Currently, users have to enable an
appointment and remember to end their session, otherwise the system eventually runs into an
error.
The other faults of TutorTrac lay in their implementation. The website has broken links,
and pieces of their service will glitch when accessed and do not work as they should. Their
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mobile app can randomly give users power in the TutorTrac system that can easily be abused to
the detriment of the University. TutorTrac is not very adaptable because of limited support from
their main office.
TutorTrac needs to have better and smoother interfaces. They also need to have a better
system for monitoring whether students show up to the appointment or not. REMSY exists to
improve on these lackluster implementations of TutorTrac.
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4: REMSY PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION
The REMSY prototype will have a database with the proper elements installed that are
required for a fully operational REMSY. The web server will also have a framework indicative
of a full product. The prototype will implement both the web server and the database server in a
website user interface and a mobile application which can be used to view and test REMSY
functionality. Users will be able to use the REMSY prototype to create student, tutor, and
administrator accounts. These accounts can be used to sample the features of the REMSY
prototype.
4.1: Prototype Architecture
The prototype of REMSY will run from an account created in a virtual environment on
the Old Dominion servers. The web server will run Apache, and the database will use MySQL
database structure. The website will implement PHP language to access the database.
Due to Old Dominion University constraints, the REMSY prototype will not have access
to Banner. Instead, artificial student accounts and data will be used as part of the testing harness.
The model data will be loaded to the database in order to simulate the real world scenarios. The
Prototype Major Functional Components diagram (Figure 2) illustrates the prototype features
and how it works. Users of the prototype access the REMSY web server which simulates real
world situations despite being only a prototype.
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Figure 2: Prototype Major Functional Components
4.2: Prototype Features and Capabilities
The prototype features many of the essentials capabilities required of an online tutoring
service. Student accounts can browse course catalogs, sign up for tutoring, manage
appointments, and contact other users. Tutors will be able to sign up for tutor availability and
manage appointments. The administrator account will have full control over the REMSY system,
including database modification capabilities.
Users will be able to set up a system of notifications sent over Email or text message.
Users will also be able to submit reviews and contact the REMSY administrators about to apply
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to be a tutor or to request new classes be added to the database. The REMSY prototype will have
algorithms built-in to assess usage data and provide useful statistics.
4.3: Prototype Development Challenges
Developing the prototype for REMSY requires a database. Developing the database so
that it fulfills every need which REMSY promises could pose a problem. The database will need
thorough testing to make sure all code behaves as a user expects. The database will also need
populating before it can be tested. Making all of the fake data and substituting it in will have to
be done with extreme attention to detail. Testing these systems will take creativity, in order to
prepare for anything the users may require in the future.
The user interface of REMSY will have to be made flexible. Making the website behave
properly in both a browser and a mobile environment takes the design of the web portion to an
extra level of complexity. Both formats need to operate smoothly, or else the entire prototype
presentation will suffer noticeably. The mobile interface in particular can be especially difficult
to design because of the wide variety of devices that will attempt to use it. What works on one
device might be unusable on another device.
Programming the mobile app can be a real challenge for the prototype. Creating
something in such a limited environment puts constraints on the project that are not as prevalent
for programs on a computer. Designing the app to send push notifications and alerts is a feature
not on the web site, and requires special implementation. Implementing method that utilizes
mobile device hardware and their diverse buttons and layouts for the REMSY app can be time
consuming and difficult.
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Once completed, the prototype will simulate a tutoring service and provide a
comprehensive look at REMSY functionality. The fake user data that inhabits the database will
be testable and capable of showcasing how a user would create and manage tutoring
appointments. Creating a system that does this is the goal of the prototype phase because that is
the central issue of the tutoring problem.
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5: GLOSSARY
508 compliance: Amendment of the Rehabilitation Act which requires Federal Agencies to
make electronic and information technology accessible to people with and without disabilities.
Administrator: The manager of a software tier. As a User, has all rights and privileges
concerning a program and how it operates.
Apache: A web server format for HTTP.
Banner: Centralized academic and administrative records system.
Blue Team: The creators of REMSY. Zachary Regelski, Seth Hohensee, Denis Mileyko, Eric
Diep, Corey Campbell, and Matthew Letchworth.
CS410/CS411: Classes taken in the Fall semester of 2013 and the Spring semester of 2014.
Taught by Janet Brunelle and Hill Price. The Blue Team was founded in this class.
FERPA: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. It is a law that gives students privacy to
their personal records.
MySQL: A database query language. It is structured to store and sift through information.
Old Dominion University: University in Norfolk, Virginia. Home of the Monarchs.
PHP: A scripting language used for websites.
REMSY: REsource Management SYstem. The name of the tutoring service designed by the
Blue Team.
User: A person using REMSY either on the web or via the mobile application.
Student: A student who is not currently a Tutor. As a type of user, Students are seeking to either
find tutoring, or apply to be a tutor.
Tutor: A student who has applied to the institution and was granted tutor status. They teach
students about classes they need help in.
TutorTrac: REMSY’s rival. The current system at Old Dominion that is being implemented for
tutoring. It is an online tutoring management software.
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6: REFERENCES
Old Dominion University. (n.d.). Peer Educator Program. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from
http://www.odu.edu/peereducator
Redrock Software Corporation. (n.d.). TutorTrac. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from TutorTrac:
http://www.tutortrac.com/subpage.php?go=tutor
REMSY Blue Team. (2014). CS411 Lab01: Product Description. Retrieved February 11, 2014,
from REMSY: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~411blue/?p=deliverables
REMSY Blue Team. (2014). REMSY Overview. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from REMSY:
http://ww.cs.odu.edu/~411blue/?p=overview
U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Retrieved February 11, 2014, from ED.gov:
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html