A COMPUTERISED -BASED RESULT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

 CHAPTER ONE

1.0            INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Caritas University, Amorji Nike, Enugu, is a private University approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria on December 16 2004. It was officially opened on January 21, 2005 by the Federal Ministry for Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji. The formal opening was on January 31, 2005. The pioneer students of 250 matriculated on May 28, 2005 in beautiful ceremony that attracted dignitaries both church and state. It is the second Catholic University in Nigeria founded by Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel Paul Mathew Edeh Cssp, OFR. Although he founded the school, the proprietor of the University is the Congregation of Sisters the Saviour, a religious Congregation of Nuns founded by him.

The vision of Caritas University is to rescue some of our wandering and teaming youths from further slide into academic and moral decay, and development and transformation of our society through sound and adulterated education. Its mission is to discover, sanctify and apply the knowledge of science, environmental and engineering for human well-being and sound development of man for better society.

Caritas University’s goal is to give efficacy to the University’s motto and to its philosophy of education. We embrace not only sound education for professional skills and competency in various fields; but also maintain strict discipline. We train the mind, body, soul and spirit in the exercise of obedience and self control. The students must not only be intellectually and professionally prepared for different tasks and roles in the world, they must also be morally equipped to face the world itself with all its tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions. We achieve this with the help of God Almighty who is with us always.

The philosophy is to promote sound education for professional skills and competencies in various fields with strict discipline. By discipline the University meant the training of the mind, body and soul and spirit to obedience and self control. Also to prepare the students to be intellectually and professionally sound for different tasks and roles in the word with its tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions.

The University operates faculty system. Presently, the University operates six faculties: Education and Arts, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Management, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences.

1.2     DEFINITION

A Computer-Based Result Management Information System (CBRMIS) is a set of software programs that  is designed to control the institution’s (practically using CARITAS UNIVERSITY), storage, management, and retrieval of data (RESULT) in a database. CBRMISs are categorized according to their data structures or types. The CBRMIS accepts requests for data from an application program and instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data. The queries and responses must be submitted and received according to a format that conforms to one or more applicable protocols. When a CBRMIS is used, information systems can be changed much more easily as the organization's information requirements change. Use of manual imputation of result is discarded and new categories of data can be added to the database so easily without disruption to the existing system.

A database management system provides the ability for many different users to share data and process resources. But as there can be many different users, there are many different database needs. The question now is: How can a single, unified database meet the differing requirement of so many users?

As this study entails using a different form of database management in connection with organizational result computation and assessment. This brings about the use of computer-based result management information system (CBRMIS).

Before the database management approach, the institution relied on the manual method of data processing and storage. Each file was specialized to be used with a specific application. Needless to say, file processing was bulky, costly and nonflexible when it came to supplying needed data accurately and promptly.

This study therefore, examines clearly the effect of the computer-based result management information system (CBRMIS) towards the development of CARITAS UNIVERSITY.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Since this study is specifically to use the physical view  to make efficient use of storage and processing resources, therefore, the objective of this study includes the following;

1.     To help in facilitating generation of ad hoc query.

2.     To ensure reliability and transparency in the creation and computation of results

3.     To present a platform for assessment of the performance of the students and workers in other to help develop enabling policy for academic quality and standard.

4.     To prevent unauthorized access or mutilation of the results of the students thereby maintaining data integrity.

5.     To help the users of the result database software (RDS) to manage the overall database environment by providing facilities for backup and recovery, security management, query optimization, concurrency control, and change management.

1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of this study is to examine closely the advantage of this result application to the benefit of Caritas University and the entire community.

1.     It will serve as a reference material to those who use this project material.

2.     It is a contribution to knowledge

3.     It will provide information to other researchers/developers on how best and beneficial the use of a management information system can be in providing accurate information for an organization’s decision making.

4.     It will ensure high level quality service development of the management which will ensure that students are not subjected to undue suffering in collection of their transcript or clearance prior to the deployment for youth service.

1.5     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is an integrated study on the use of a Computer-based Result Management Information System (CBRMIS) a case of Caritas University.

1.6     LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Realizing the financial and time constraints usually associated with students in project of this nature, there is no research carried out that does not experience some difficulties. This work is no exception; the following factors posed serious limitations to the research work.

Financial constraints: a study like this nature is expected to be carried out on a broader base but because of lack of funds required, some function and programs could not be applied.

Time constraint: in the course of the study, time posed a serious problem in carrying out the test. The duration given for the conduct of this study was short.

Non-availability of materials: during the course of this research, there were non-availability of some critical documents and materials which were classified as confidential.

Non-availability of Exit: because of the nature of the school as a private university, Permission to go out was not always granted and this posed a serious problem towards the actualization of this goal.

1.7     DEFINITION OF TERMS/VARIABLES

Management: Management is a human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system.           

Processing: To deal with somebody or something according to an established Procedure.

System: a set of computer components i.e. in assembly of Computer hardware, Software and peripherals functioning together.

Automation: the replacement of human workers by technology; a system in which a workplace or processes has been converted to one that replaced or ministries human labour with electronic or mechanical equipment.

Information: Data that has been worked upon and processed.

Database: a systematically arranged collection of data, designed so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated easily by authorized users.

Database servers: Database servers are computers that hold the actual   databases and run only the DBMS and related software.

Data structure: Data structures (fields, records, files and objects) optimized to deal with very large amounts of data stored on a      permanent data storage device (which implies relatively slow access compared to volatile main memory).

Data security: Data security prevents unauthorized users from viewing or updating the database by the use of passwords.

Data consistency: Data consistency ensures a consistent view of data to   every user.

Password: this is a secret code that a user must type into a computer to enable He/she access it or its applications. This is made up of numbers, letters, characters or contribution of any of the above categories.

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (the name is a recursive acronym) This is a Programming language known as a server-side scripting   language. It was used in the developing of this software.

Query language: A database query language and report writer allows users to interactively interrogate the database, analyze its data and update it according to the user’s privileges on data. It also controls the security of the database.

Software: a software is a collection of written programs which directs the computer on what to do.

Querying: Querying is the process of requesting attribute information from various perspectives and combinations of factors.

Modules: this is an independent/self- contained program.

SQL: Structured Query Language, it is a code used to query or insert records in a Database.

 

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESULT PROCESSING AND COURSE REGISTRATION SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE

1.1            INTRODUCTION

There were three fundamentally distinct education systems in Nigeria in 1990: the indigenous system, Quranic schools, and formal European-style education institutions. In the rural areas where the majority lived, children learned the skills of farming and other work, as well as the duties of adulthood, from participation in the community. This process was often supplemented by age-based schools in which groups of young boys were instructed in community responsibilities by mature men. By the 1970s, education experts were asking how the system could be integrated into the more formal schooling of the young, but the question remained unresolved by 1990.  Western-style education came to Nigeria with the missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century. Although the first mission school was founded in 1843 by Methodists, it was the Anglican Church Missionary Society that pushed forward in the early 1850s to found a chain of missions and schools, followed quickly in the late 1850s by the Roman Catholics. In 1887 in what is now southern Nigeria, an education department was founded that began setting curricula requirements and administered grants to the mission societies. By 1914, when north and south were united into one colony, there were fifty-nine government and ninety-one mission primary schools in the south; all eleven secondary schools, except for King's College in Lagos, were run by the missions.

The education system focused strongly on examinations. In 1916 Frederick Lugard, first governor of the unified colony, set up a school inspectorate. Discipline, buildings, and adequacy of teaching staff were to be inspected, but the most points given to a school's performance went to the numbers and rankings of its examination results. This stress on examinations was still used in 1990 to judge educational results and to obtain qualifications for jobs in government and the private sector.

As more information is made available in a variety of formats and media and in a variety of locations, the need to manage information/data efficiently becomes more and more critical. Both staff and public users want access to stored information and want to access it more efficiently. It is the University Policy to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of course registration and result processing operations and services through the implementation of an integrated automated database System.

1.2     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Caritas University is made up of four (4) faculties namely:

1.     Engineering with the following departments: Computer, Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

2.     Environmental with the following departments: Architecture, Urban & Regional Planning and Estate Management.

3.     Management and Social Sciences with the following departments: Accountancy, Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Industrial Relation and Personnel Management, Mass Communication, Marketing, Banking and Finance.

4.     Natural Sciences with the following departments: Biochemistry, Computer Science & Information Technology, Industrial Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics and Microbiology & Biotechnology.

In Universities like Caritas, the need for automated method of keeping data has been there. Software, so many of them has been developed and even sold worldwide to solve this problem. I have analyzed these software and discovered that very many of them are inefficient. Students as well has researched and developed their own software but they could not give or develop error free software that will assist in result generation, automated course registration to keep or build a database of results in the University that will facilitate students’ transcripts.

This problem has been delaying or delayed the results of graduating or graduated students that has made some of them not to go for youth service when they ought to or ought to have gone and has even made some not to have gone at all. To bridge this gap or solve this problem, there is a need to develop software that is accurate, error free as the problem has imposed so much stress on both exams and record and the management in Universities.

Organizational Structure

 

Fig. 1.1 Organization Structure

1.3     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Database of information is vital in today’s education with respect to course registration and examination result processing. This has become a very vital issue as students spend so much time trying to know the number of credit units for each semester. This problem has lead to time wasting, inaccuracy of results and even open to fraud. Cases of missing results have been recorded thereby making examination processing more difficult and untimely.

1.4     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study are to:

1.     Provide a reliable solution to result processing that is corruption free.

2.     Ensure that normal credit load in line with the school is maintained.

3.     Provide a software that will generate result that is accurate, timely and error free.

1.5   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The project work will help in a good number of ways to ease the delay in manual examination processing. The software developed will help schools management to achieve efficient information management system. There are many other advantages, and some of them are listed below.

1.     It saves time during examination processing

2.     Database for course registration and examination result is maintained

3.     References are very fast and delays can be avoided.

4.     It allows easy access to stored information.

5.     Help in reducing the costs such as labor, inventory and stationary.

6.     Generation of accurate results/information on transactions is sure.

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work will concentrate on course registration and examination processing system using Caritas University (Computer Science & Information Technology Department) as a case study. The system developed will only cover registration of students, course registration and result processing

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS/VARIABLES

Information System: It is a collection of procedures, people, Instructions and equipment to produce information in a useful form.

Technology: It is study of techniques or process of mobilizing  Resource (such as information) for accomplishing   objectives that benefits man and his environment.

Information: Information can be defined as the process of gathering,   transmitting, receiving, storing and retrieving data or    several items put together to convey a desired message.

Computer Network: Computer Network is a system that connects     two or more computers together using a communication link.

Databases: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.

File Transfer:  Any kind of computer file can be sent via the Internet    from  one Internet user to another. Table of accounts on spreadsheets, design by a graphic artists, music   sound files etc, can all be exchanged in this way.