Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Hall Allocation System for Examination (a Case Study of Nau, Faculty of Physical Sciences)
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives of the study
The aim of this project work is to design and implement an automated hall allocation system for examination.
The objectives of this research work includes the following:
1 The primary objective of this research work is an initial feasibility survey on the complexity and variety of the hall allocation problem within Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Faculty of physical sciences. This is intended to
discover whether a generalized system could be created or whether the problem is too varied to make such a system feasible.
2 The secondary objective is to obtain information regarding the number of student in each level of the department and the capacity of halls to be allocated.
3 To providing a fast and efficient system of managing halls for examination thereby reducing time wastage, strain and high labour input.
4 Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hall database which will contain information on all available halls in the institution.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
General Hall Allocation Problem in Nigerian Universities
The student population is rapidly increasing, while the infrastructural amenities are declining in supply and their stock depreciating. “Hall facilities are in deplorable states and are overcrowded” (Akpan, 1998). It is quite evident that in our Nigerian universities, the accommodation especially halls is nothing to write home about. The question therefore is, should the institutions continue to run the halls at the current level or should economic rates
be charged, or alternatively, should halls come under Federal Government’s privatization arrangements? Although this problem is not restricted to only higher Nnstitutions of learning. Handler (2001) observed that “Every society is faced with the problem of producing human habitation in sufficient quantity, and obtaining the kind of quality desired, at prices that individuals and families can afford”. The hall allocation problem is essentially concerned with scheduling a number of exams into a limited number of timeslots or periods in order to satisfy, as much as possible, a set of specified constraints which include capacity of the hall, number of students and timetabling or timeframe. According to (A. Wren, 1996) who stated that “Timetabling is the allocation, subject to constraints, of given resources to objects being placed in space and time, in such a way as to satisfy as nearly as possible a set of desirable objectives.” The aim in examination timetabling is to produce the most appropriate schedule for a set of examinations under a given constraint. This subject has received special attention of the scientific community
in the last five decades. This great interest, caused in 1995, the creation of series of conferences PATAT (Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling) with new editions every two years (PATAT, 1995) and the establishment of EURO
(Association of European Operational Research Societies) WATT (Working Group on Automated Timetabling). In 2002 emerged with the support of PATAT, the International Competition of Timetabling (ITC, 2002). These constraints vary from institution to institution. It is often essential that some constraints are completely satisfied. Such constraints are called hard constraints. Usually these constraints relate to operational limitations that cannot be by passed in the real world, such as the constraint that one person cannot be in two places at once or that
there are a maximum number of people that can be accommodated in a particular hall. We call a timetable that satisfies all hard constraints a feasible timetable. Another class of constraints that occur in timetabling problems is those that are deemed desirable, but that are often either difficult or impossible to fully satisfy.
This could include making more efficient use of halls. These constraints are usually called soft constraints. Such constraints often determine the capacity of a hall. According to (Austin, 1984), he stated that several researchers have explore the relationship between allocated hall and it’s satisfied capacity. A researcher has demonstrated that number of students, time framing and capacity can be a substantial problem to hall allocation for examination. Mason (2000) stated that “the simple answer to a problem is: go to work”.
In general one would think of a good quality timetable as one that is (firstly) feasible and that (secondly) satisfies the soft constraints to an acceptable level. Of course, the quality of a solution is very much subjective.
Information System
An information system consists of three components human, task and application system. In this view, information is defined in terms of the three levels of semiotics. Data which can be automatically processed by the application system corresponds to the syntax-level. In the context of an individual who interprets the data they become information, which correspond to the semantic-level. Information becomes knowledge when an individual knows and evaluates the information example for a specific task. This corresponds to the pragmatic-level. In
general systems theory, an information system is a system, automated or manual, that comprises people, machines, and or methods organized to collect, process, transmit, and disseminate data that represent user information. Cooper and Sullivan (2003) professed that failure of the information systems can cause a major loss of
service, and so their dependability is a major concern. Current facets of dependability, such as reliability and availability, do not address the needs of\ critical information systems adequately because they do not include the notion of degraded service as an explicit requirement. Some background material about critical information systems is helpful in understanding the need for a precise notion of survivability and how it differs from other notions of dependability.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is been done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by the
researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them. It is also the part of any research or analysis that is used to find out what type of data is maintained, what fact to find and look for, how to find them and how to record them for usage.
The methodology adopted for the implementation of this project is Object Oriented Analysis and Design Methodology (OOADM) and Structured System Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM). The following were steps the researchers underwent:
Feasibility Study
There is need to understand the present system. Information collected during the study is weighed to justify the development of the new system or to continue with the old one. It helps to determine whether to improve on the entire system or part of it. Feasibility study was considered in the following point of view.
Data used in this research were collected using the following techniques.
a Interview- the researcher had one-on-one interview with the deputy registrar for examination. This gave the researcher an in-depth information of the present system in terms of the allocation of halls and the problems
encountered.
b Studying of examination timetable.
c Observation-the researchers observed some examination procedures. This have a firsthand knowledge of the problems encountered.
Analysis of the present system
The existing system was found to be manual, that is, information is captured from the department down to the faculty and from faculty to admin. The Admin have\ exam time table committee, their main function is to create time table and the allocation of halls for examination. The faculties also have its own committee, before hall can be allocated, the department collects the number of student offering each course and make their own timetable and submit to the faculty where it is cross checked and core courses are then added to it.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
System Design
System design which is the third stage of systems development deals with the implementation of the analysis of the system. In carrying out the design, some issues were considered such as; the human-computer interaction that makes it possible for the communication between the computer system and the user, the database design, input/output design and specification and the general information/data security (yeates and wakefield, 2004). The details of the software specification and design are shown in this chapter. The database and the sub systems that make up the program design are explained.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSON AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The primary purpose of this project is to replace the existing manual processing with error free, high speed and low cost and should improve the system capability. Working on this project was a good experience. We understood the importance of planning and designing as a part of software development.
Suggested Areas for Further Research
This research work is limited to only faculty of physical sciences. Further improvement and enhancement can be made whereby building a system that will allocate hall for the university at large.
Conclusion
The aim objective of this project is to provide a Web-based Hall Allocation system to be used in the university to improve efficiency. Though in the long run, more features could still be added which will entail expanding the program to be more complex than this
Recommendation
Proposed system improves the systems performance because the current system is based on manual processing while the proposed system is based on computer processing. The project can be further enhanced to provide different faculties of the university. Also can be enhanced to provide different department to each faculty, thereby solving the problem of the university and no longer a faculty.
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REFERENCES
- Burke, E.K., and Bykov, Y. (2008), an adaptive fle-deluge approach to university Exam timetabling submitted to inform journal of computing.
- Burke, E.K., Elliman, D.G, Ford, P.H and Weare, R.F. (1996) “Exam Timetabling In British Universities – A Survey” in the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling.
- Couger, (1997) “Co-Evolutionary Approaches to University Space Allocation”. Proceedings of the AISB Evolutionary Computation Conference, Manchester, UK.
- Gardiner, P.D. (2005), Project Management: A Strategic Planning Approach. China: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Kerzner, H. (2003), Project Management: A System Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. 7th Edition. Published by John Wiles & Sons, Inc., Canada.
- Leedy, P.D. and Ormond, J.E. (2001), Practical Research: Planning and Design. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
