MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY Project Proposal Title Campus Name: Student Name: Registration Number: Supervisor Name: Topic Area: Project Title: Introduction: Students Management System Lilongwe Kenneth Liabunya LI0103 Web based system Chinsapo Secondary School Students Management System Chinsapo Secondary School is a government secondary school situated in the rural area of Chinsapo, Lilongwe. Established in 2003, it is a co-education institution and home to more than 800 students. To manage the high number of students, classes are split into six sections per class (denoted as classes A, B, C, D, E, F) and the classes are divided into morning and afternoon shifts. In the same manner, teachers, librarians, bursars and other essential staff take shifts to serve the students. When these students are enrolled in the institution, their details are stored on paper files. It is from these files that other important student data such as fees payment records, student attendance and performance trackers are made. However, these student details do not bear student numbers as the institution does not have a mechanism in place for allocating the students such information. The administration therefore had to resort to physically tracking students in cases such as those that involve them sharing a name. Moreover, since these files are paper based, there is a complex filing system in place that creates more problems in retrieval and update of records. Since the staff works in shifts, it becomes very easy to lose critical student information. Since other records such as fees payments are tracked from the said student records, misplacement of such data has a negative impact on the operation of the institution. With these factors in mind, this paper proposes the development of a web-based student management system for the institution. The main idea is to have the student information student in a database, which will also serve as an introduction to student numbers for easy tracking of students. With this system, the institution shall be able to automate various academic and administrative activities of the institute. While being able to capture and store student registration information, the institution shall also be able to record student grade and track their performance, track their fee payment as well as generate the report for the said registrations, performance as well as outstanding fees payments. The introduction of this system will also cut down on costs (such as those incurred in procurement of stationery and storage space) as well as easing the process of making backups to the aforementioned student data for ease of recovery should disaster strike. Key functional requirements and system users are listed below: User Functional Requirement Administrative Clerk This will deal with all new students to register them with their personal information/details. Transferred students might also be recorded into the system Format for Project Proposal Template Page 1 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101 MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY Admin is the main user who has full access to the manage, view and modify all information that is stored in the database system. They will also be responsible for creating uses and grant them access to what they can view (level of access). System Administrator Headteacher/teachers Record the attendance of students, Record student grades Record students’ fees payments, keep track of outstanding fees balances, Generate report for single/ multiple student payment information Bursar Justifications: For the company: Upon completion of the project, the institution shall acquire a functional webbased system that shall integrate a database system. This database system shall handle student admission records. This will rectify issues faced by the current method that include complexities of retrieval and update of student records from paper-based files as well as difficulty in keeping track of active students. Moreover, since database-oriented data is bound by uniqueness of records (via primary keys), students will easily be identified and separated from one another. Use of electronic data storage will also ensure that data is easily backed-up through either physical storage media or if need arises, cloud-based backup. Moreover, migration to electronic data storage will eliminate need for physical room where to store files. For the student: During the course of the project, I shall be able to learn and experience new system development techniques development including creating links between web-based systems to databases as well as further exploration of other development languages such as PHP and MySQL. My knowledge of these skills is unarguably essential in moulding me into the Information Systems professional I should be upon completion of my course. Constant communication with the institution will also help me learn of ethical issues that need to be kept in check among peers, as an organisation as well as the society. Furthermore, the use of such techniques as prototyping will act as a guideline for me to create a picture of what the organisation has in mind as a final outcome of the project while being a constant reminder for me to align my progress with time and resource constraints. Objectives: Objective: Conduct an investigation and feasibility study of the project before the initiation stage Activities: Identification of reasons why the project must be carried out as well as business needs that must be met by the project. Moreover, potential users are interviewed in order to identify whether or not the project will meet their needs. Format for Project Proposal Template Page 2 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101 MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY Deliverables: User requirements, data models Who will use them and why? IT Manager (or other individual with skills relevant to such). They will at this point discover how users are likely respond to the change that the new project will bring. This will necessitate their development of techniques to manage change as well as avoid resistance by end users. Objective: To manage the entire project from the start to the end Activities: This will involve the co-ordination of all activities, project-related work as well as users and organisation staff. Ultimately, it will involve the definition of project scope and documentation. Deliverables: Project scope, User documentation, technical documentation Who will use them and why: Users, IT Manager (or other individual with skills relevant to such). Users will have the ability to have a brief overview by the use of the user documentation whereas staff will use the technical documentation to acquire an overview of the technical aspects of the system. The IT manager shall use the project scope to develop a resource plan for the project. Objective: To design and implement a web-based database system to store student admissions records Activities: Employ the necessary development methodology techniques to design a webaccessible database system to hold securely the data records Deliverables: Database schema, Data model, prototype Who will use them and why: Data administrators, Database administrators, Member users. Data and Database administrators will use the schema to maintain data integrity. Member users will be able to log into the database to record and store information To create a documentation about all the activities and processes of the system Objective: Activities: A line up of all logs and activities that are technical, user oriented as well as those of system installation. All these will make the final system documentation. System documentation, Activity logs Deliverables: Who will use them and Why: End users as well as system administrators will use these as a walkthrough or overview of the system. Furthermore, system logs will show records of system activity. Conduct unit tests of system modules Objective: Activities: Refinement or correction of erroneous source code as well as removal of bugs that could negatively affect system performance. Error reports, System test logs Deliverables Format for Project Proposal Template Page 3 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101 MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY Who will use them and Why: These will be used by the system developer to determine sources of bugs which hinder execution of system commands. System test logs will essentially help the developer manage time since frequency of errors will guide them to consider a different approach in their work Resources Needed for Carrying out the Project: Hardware: Computers (desktop/laptop). Computer network hardware (LAN cables, switches, routers) will also be needed. Software: Minimum of Microsoft Windows 7 operating system with at least 2GB RAM and 320 GB of internal storage. Microsoft SQL server, MySQL (or similar database software), Web browsers (Chrome, Mozilla or Microsoft Edge) Literature sources: (Outlined under Books/Articles read) Risks: Type: Software / hardware failure Action to be taken if arise: Migration to standby computer pre-fitted with necessary software. To avoid inconveniences, periodic creation of data backups on removable media such as compact disks will be done to ensure that vital data is not lost Type: Schedule Risk Action to be taken if arise: Since this project cannot under any circumstances exceed the predefined schedule, the risk will have to be curbed by adequate project planning. This will be achieved by clear definition of project scope and budget plan. Type: Skills resource risk Action to be taken if arise: Its inevitable that there will be inadequacies in the level of skills to tackle a particular area during the lifetime of the project. To counter this problem, I intend to draw alternative methods to apply to a problem area. I also intend to apply the guidance provided by my assigned supervisor where necessary. Type: Communication risk Action to be taken if arise: This will pertain to the interaction between the developer and the stakeholder for which the system is being developed. Scheduled meetings might be missed especially if the stakeholder is preoccupied with other activities outside the project. Should such a risk materialise, I shall engage alternative communication channels such as electronic mail and teleconferencing. Type: Ethical / Legal Risk Action to be taken if arise: This pertains to usage of data, software or development within the predefined moral and legal scope. To contain such a risk, I shall make sure to follow all the laws as far as data management is concerned. Usage of personal information under the project will be undertaken with prior permission from all concerned parties with their awareness as to what extent that data will be used. Investigation Plan: The investigation plan will among other consist of: • Dates and investigation activities: criteria that will be analysed and exact dates on which this will be done. Format for Project Proposal Template Page 4 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101 MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY • • • Steps to be taken: The cost/benefit analysis of the current system against the proposed system Inquiry with system stakeholders to gain insight on what they expect to change and how they will deal with that change Analysis of methods proposed by book authors in their work as a baseline for determining solutions to problems encountered during the project life cycle. 1. Conducting a walkthrough of the current system to gain an understanding of what to incorporate into the new system 2. Use of published material on programming and computer software development. These contain a wider insight into development methodologies, project scope as well as risks. Books/Articles read: 1. James Cadle, Donald Yeates (2008), “Project Management for Information Systems (5th edition)” Pearson Education 2. Jon Duckett, (2010) “Beginning HTML, XHTML, CSS and JavaScript” Wiley Publishing 3. Elizabeth Naramore, Jason Gerner, Yann Le Scouarnec, Jeremy Stolz, Michael K. Glass (2005) “Beginning PHP5, Apache, and MySQL Web Development” Wiley Publishing 4. Matt Zandstra (2000), “Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 hours” Sams Publishing 5. Online tutorials from websites such as: • http://www.w3schools.com • http://www.lynda.com • https://www.tutorialspoint.com/ • https://www.youtube.com Project Development Plan: Gantt chart with milestones As attached Supervisor’s Comments: Reasons for comments: Areas of concern: Additional support required: General guidance/comments: Format for Project Proposal Template Page 5 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101 MALAWI COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY Letter of Agreement As attached Signature of Student: Signature of Supervisor: Date of Agreement: NB Electronic signatures will be accepted. Format for Project Proposal Template Page 6 of 6 MCA Blantyre Campus Ginnery Corner 01871411 Email: mcabt@globemw.net MCA Lilongwe Campus Near Area 10 Peoples 01788314/315 gjc MCA Mzuzu Campus AHL Building 01310101
