A framework for an in-house development of educational management information system.

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NJEM, Vol. 13, NOL 1,2012

A FRAMEWORK FOR AN IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

V. 0. Oladokun and C. C. Arawo Deparbnent

of Industrial

and

Production Engineering,

University

of

Ibadan, Ibadan, NtGERlA

ABSTRACT

A large

percentage of Nigerian educational institutions

use manual and paper- based

system for collecting, processing, and disseminating information. This approach

results in

inefficient

utilization of

resources, low productivity

and

stunted growth of the educational sector. In this study lhe in-house

users-

development approach has been

used to

deveiop a obmputer based Educational lnformation Management System

(8MS)

for

a

typical University academic depament.

The

existing

work System and

tho underlying

tnformation

flow pattern in

a

department

were

critically

studied.

The associated

information needs

were

identified and analyzed.

A broad

review of

the literature

on

Information Technology (IT) solutions were carried

out to

identify possible solutions

h m e

work. Graphical User Interface (GUI) software embedded

in

Relational Database

Management System

(RDBMS), Microsoft Access,

was

devetoped using Visual Basic.Net. The

soflware was

^' deployed and tested using data from

the

department

of

Industrial Engineering.

University of Ibadan. The GUI, compatible with the regular

Windows

environment,

was

shown to be user friendly.

The capabiiii of the EtS

compares very well with the imported EIS

systems.

Keywords: Information

system,

Relational

Database,

Software, Visual

Basic

A large percentage of Nigerian

education

organizatims. from primary to tertiary level, to

a

very large extent,

use

manual and paper-based

system

for data collection, pmessing , and infmation dissemination (Okonigene et al, 2008). This leads to slow acquisition of information resulting in inordinate delay

n

tak~ng necessary

actions.

loss of opportunities

when

the information

needs

are time- critical, and inability

to

access certain ~nformation due to the inflexible and static nature of the system.

A lack

of

timely information

and fact

to support decision is one

of

the b g d

consequences of these

slow and unresponsive infmation

systems, and

the

effect is

an

intuition-based

and short-sighted

decision making

processes. These lead to poor

organizational . effectrveness

and

inefficient operations. While tnformation Systems

have

been shown to have the capacity to impact

on ?he

productivity of

any Work System

(&rawski, 2004;

Turban et al, 1996)) with the educational

system of

the

developed nations

benefiting greatly

from the

judicious and

eff'iient use of

Information System (IS) and lnfonnation Technology

(IT) in

management

of

data. the Nigerian education

=,tor is

still lagging behind (Oladokun and Badmus ,2008: Badejo.

2007).

The

use

of a

well developed computer

based database system will provide access

to relevant

and 1

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

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NJEM, Vol. 13, No. 1,2012

actionable information thus making the institution mwe responsive and i m p m the quality

of decision ma

king process.

Nigeria

universities general! y

have diverse ed-naf cultuks and

practices

such

that it

n

difficult

to

find any Edumonal Information Management System (€MIS) that can fit and meet all their requirements. Hence the adoption

of off the

shelf EMlS sofhkare

in

Nigeria

has

not been widely accepted. It

has atso hen

suggested that t@ high qursition

costs of

many of the

imported

EMlS packages may be responsibk for apathy

of

Nigerian education

mangers

to the use of EMIS. The

use of

n-house soffIMare development model

h a s been

suggested as way

out

(Okonigene et

al,

^2008, Oladokun et at. 2009). This study is thus presenting a framework for

the

in house system development process

MATERiALS AND METHODS

The prototype system

development methodology

(Mall. 2004: ^'

Maclennan,

1999)

based on the in-

house development approach

.has been

adopted.

The Department of Industrial

and Production Engineering, Faculty

of Technology, University

of Ibadan, tbradan,

Nigeria was used

as

the prototype depaFtment Preliminary investigations about the curri3nt manual

record

keeping of examinations and

other academic activities

in

the

department and

its

interactions wtth other departments, Institutes,

and

Directorates

and udts w& canied out.

A

detailed

study of the

student infomatioh

handbook was also carried out The pmbbms with

the

manual operations

were identified

and

a

new system

was

proposed. Stakeholders

or users

expectations

of an

EMlS were investigated. The proposed solution involves developing

systems which

are capable of validation, sorting,

ctassifying,

calculating, summatizing,

storing,

retrieving, reproducing

and mmrnunicadng.

The

main methodology invokes

data collection and

Students, Information

Management System

development The sysbm has

been developed using

Visual Bask.Net

programming

language and

Microsoft Access and Database

Management System,

a relational

database

management system,

the comptete source

code is contained

In

Arawo (2009).

Information

System Model and Data Colfectbn

The

mmponents

of educatianal

organizations

considered am students.

abdemic staff

(Lecturers and Laboratory

Staff). non

academic staff,

project

files, courses

and quipment.

The system

elements and .the interrelationships considered

in

this solution approach

can be

depicted

in the model of

Fig. 1.

Student Information

is

at the centre of the system and every other component interacts

with

it and I or with the other

camponents

to

ensure

education

of me

students.

Fig. 1: Educational Management Information System

r

TECHNOLGISTS

supemision -

I

ADMINSTAFF. _A

I

-use

-tmrhinn mid

t

STUOEMTS

4 14/>

^-Leaning^aid ^EQUIPMENT

-R8fmrenru

learning

v

-use - t m h i n n rrM

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

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NJEM, Vol. 13, No. 1,2012

System Design and Descrip'rlon

The overall logic of ine proposed system follows the flowchart of Fig. 2 while Fig 3

shows

the start up ^. s p \ ~ ~ h s u e m . T h e ~ h s m x m i s ~ b y I h e LoginlSecurity screen. The application users are. by

design, categorized into three; general users, coord~nators, and adminishtors. While unrestricted wmponents are accessible by everyone, restricted components are accessible to Coordinators and

the

Admlnisbator. All users require authorization fgr access. Authorization is granted to

only

Staff who provide their identification information such as User ID and password. The

links to

the software components are only provided on successfully signing on to the

restricted

area. Unauthorized users are denied access

to

the software. Fig. 4 shows the logn

screen.

Tasks that can be performed by the software include database backup (by.

admmistrator), Change password (by all usrs), CGPA

calculation

and result printing (Fig. 5).

The database information include the following components; Student Information, staff Information, Departmental Library materials record, Equipment and Facilities information, and Archivaf Materials records. Tables 1,

2,

and Fig. 6 ^'show some eleinents of the database table structure and their required information sources. These ~nformation items are needed by the management,

lecturers

and other staff to be able to educate, access, counsel and process requests by students. An electronic form has

been

designed for information capturing and database storage

System Requirement for Application Microsoft. Net framework 3.5 or tater

Operating System: Microsoff Windows Server 2003 or

later

^(Serverif a network is required)

Microsoft Windows XP Professions! Sewice Park 2 or later (for the client computers)

Database Requ!rements Microsoft Access 2000 or later,and Microsoft SQ

t

Setver 2005 or later

Processor: Minimum Pentium Ill, 796MHr (1 GB Recommended) with Random Access Memory (RAM) of 256MB (512 Recommended) and minimum Hard Disk Space of 250MB

Table 1: Student information tabte

I

^Names

\

^Students

⁾

^Entry^forms

I

Ipha-

Addresses :umeric Students Entry foms State

- . .

,- of ^Text

Students

Enw forms Matric.

Number

I

^Gender

pt' /

^Students

I

^Entry^forms

I INumeic I

^Students

I

~ n t r y i n s

I

Students Entr/ forms

I

Performance ext

Table 2: Information Required on Academic' Non- Academic Staff

Management

Field Name Names ID number

Alpha

1

Oesignation kumeric (Managementi

Result report

Title

1

^Addresses

r,"Zric I

^Staff

I

~ocurnentsl Field

Type

Text

Text

I I

I

specialization@f

I

^staft ¹

I

^Documents

Sources Staff File Staff File

Qualifications

Captured in

Oocuments Documents Management Documents

lpha

ANumenc

lk

1

^Gender

^/

^Staff

I

~ocurnentsl

t

Ipha Contacts bumedc

Wext

Staff

Manasement

-.

Management

Documents

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

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NJEM, Vot. 13, No. q, 2012

Display Splash screen

n

Input Password.

-

^.-^--

Display Programme Options

I

Run selected Programme Option

i..

,a

.

/ Reports generation

1 Need Re~art?

I I

Yes

I

-

(

Logout /Stop

1

Fig. 2:

Program

Flowchart

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NJEM,

⁴

Val. 13,

^.

NO* 1,2012

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

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NJERD, Vol.

10,

No. 2, 2091

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RESULTS AN0 CONCLUSION

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REFERENCES

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Ciitnd

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Art c l ( p k 3 t ~ f ~ R V ; ~ ~ ~ E ~ ~ I O I I 11t 'the rflU~ld SySfem

Adekunle

.

^0. ^(W7)f 'Fwhnolog~cal and

~ i l s m ~ e d C I U U S I ~ at1 ~ r n p t w l r d low pres~ure ation a Scale Battery lt'HnWal'v Jwram tnlmh)n rCsts were Manufacture

BSr.

Thesis, Depamenl of industrial a-.nf~r:tl r r l ~ t uwng plaststc cjlml~las ol ddfcrent ihws

a,d Producban Engineering. Vniverrity of ,badan 'Slzc~hG~Ily ptastrc: ~ r n n d c s mad@ lmm mrxbms of

31l(r:*c .? wifilcs illastc f!mtLnals

iheWqmeou$ . _L.

_(199,): _Plash

Engmeenng +mtyyin .grqqqr1t L ;tuti qratrukq I r r h

a%%

plastic type

of the Society of the Plastrcs Industry Inc

F

~ f l h w:al . . r , t l 1 cr: uldwicd bC:W piadu: fonnali

wt!. :I Ilcrrt:vi!iv.ci l.. polypfupylenr! phsilc

thm

4 1 p r c . ..!, ~ I C :

..,

^:. ^rI;I8^,Iy h t ~ c ! ,plastic Cradong

% h ~ ~ t d i w w ~ ~ h i > t - ( " 4

ard

1ilting.s

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' ~ ~ D r i l l ~ ~ ~ l ~ r h t ~ l ~ s . cd@% with said

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