SYSTEM ANALYSIS

PURPOSE OF THE SPECIFICATION

The purpose of this document is to present the institute with the over view of the project, the systems requirements, specifications, functional and non-functional requirement of the new system. It will give an avenue to compare the new system and the old system, why the new system is desirable and the merits it brings along with its implementation.

USER ENVIROMENT

The user environment is like every other computer application, there shall be about ten to fifteen systems with the program running on them. There shall be an administrator and other users. The administrator may be a technician who will support the program, help other users to use the program more efficiently and train others users. Other user will be office assistants that will process the details filled in on the internet by applicants, pick phones to attend to people will wants to make booking over the phone, respond to enquiries, assist provide information about the institute etc. All the machines will be networked together and connected to a main server which will connect the terminals to the internet. Each operator will be trained in the use of the program to process the information fed into the system by the various applicants and utilise the program to make decisions.

OPERATING ENVIROMENT

The program will work on various versions of windows and internet explorer.  The system will supports all versions of windows and internet explorer.

Basically users will require internet connection to access the site and make applications.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENT

The system will require Intel Pentium processor, 1GigaByte hard disc memory, a very good, clear and moderately big monitor ranging from 15. 4” to 17”. The processor could be from Pentium II to the more recent Pentium M series. Input device will include the keyboard which must be a standard modern keyboard, and a mouse. The system should be able to support external devise storage system to allow mobile storage device be used on the systems. The systems will be connected together using Ethernet cables and USB cables to network the computers together, other cable types will be used too like the RJ45 will be used to connect the computer to the modem to the computer. Each computer will require a modem and a terminal to connect the internet.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT

The system will run on all versions of windows, from the old Windows 95 to the more recent Windows XP, all versions of internet explorer will be supported too. There is no special program to install to run this program and the program will integrate easily with other programs on the system.

ISSUES  

From the specification given, bookings can be made either by phone or through the internet. The issue is what will applicant who phone to make bookings be required to do? What data will be available to such applicants? It might be a bit difficult to integrate this aspect of the system to the web based part of it. The online based side of the system will be well documented and all applicants will be able to access the service at any time, but the phone system will require someone to receive calls which means this can only be done during working hours unless there will be a provision for staffs to work all day and all night.

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Functional requirements are functionalities of the system that relates directly to the operation of the system. It is usually either process oriented or information oriented

The functional requirements of the short course institute to be built will include the following:

1. The system must allow users to choose what course to register for; this may be from a dropdown list of courses or just a list.
2. The system must allow users to choose either single booking or make multiple booking
3. The system must make sure the appropriate discount is given to bookings that qualifies for it as stated in the specification
4. The system must check availability of rooms before accepting or confirming booking from applicants
5. The system must ensure that places are reserved after applicants have made the mandatory 10% payment and confirmed after the remainder have been paid two weeks before the start of the course
6. The system must allow cancellation of bookings up to one week before the commencement of course training to qualify for a refund
7. The system must ensure that only deposits are not refunded
8. The system must ensure that all rooms are allocated to different course at different times and also make sure that no two rooms are allocated to the same or different course at the same time such that there will be no clash to venue of training
9. The system must record all applicants that opted to write the certification test and also ensure that required payment for the exam was made.
10. the system must provide the option of having the training done on-site for multiple bookings
11. The system must refuse all cancellation of on-site delivery booking and also ensure that the full payment have been made before commencement of the training.
12. the system must have the directory of all staff and what course is allocated to each staff
13. the system must have a record of the period of lecture for each staff, course and the venues for each
14. the system must have a record of all salary and other payments to be made or made to staffs and others  

DATA DICTIONARY

“In database management systems, this is a file that defines the basic organization of a database. A  dictionary contains a list of all files in the , the number of records in each file, and the names and types of each field. Most  keep the data dictionary hidden from users to prevent them from accidentally destroying its contents. Data dictionaries do not contain any actual data from the database, only book keeping information for managing it. Without a data dictionary, however, a  system cannot access data from the database.” (www.webopedia.com)

The following are the definitions of terms that make up the data dictionary for this project:

1. Courses: These are the various subjects offered by the institute to the public, they include but not limited to the following: Oracle, .Net, C#, etc
2. Bookings: these are applications that are made by various applicants. Booking can either be successful, refused, declined or rejected. These are the different stages a booking can go through and there are many reasons bookings can be either of these.
3. Individuals: these are applicants applying to the institute as one person. This type of application will be treated as a single application from other applications even when they are made at the same time.
4. Companies: these are corporate organisations that apply to the institute for training of their staffs. The training could be for one staff or for many staffs but the institute will relate to them based on the terms and condition relating to corporate organisations.
5. Places:  These are the placement for the courses offered. This depends on the availability of spaces and the number of places available on each course. Confirmation of places to an applicant means the applicant have been granted a place, an offer to attend the course he applied for
6. Room:  These are the venues for the training. The institute operates from six rooms which are the classes from where the courses are taught.
7. Applicant:  Applicant is another term that defines an individual. Any reference or mention of the term applicant in this document will mean the same as an individual.
8. On-Site:  This refers to the institute premises. The courses can either be done on the premises of the institute or the organisation’s site but not taken to an individual
9. Tutor: These are the lecturers for the various courses employed by the institute to administer the course on the applicants. They may be called consultants too
10. Institute: This is the school, the organisation that comprises of the staffs, courses and the student that attends the school. This is the owner of the program

DATA MODEL

This is the representation of the organisational data. The purpose of this model is to show the meaning and interrelationships among data as much as possible. The diagram below shows the entity relational diagram (ERD) of the new system to be built and the explanation of the diagram are provided too.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             M                        1                 1 1                    M                                                                                                         1

        1                                        M

          1

                 M                                                                                                                                                                        M                                M                                                                        1

Fig 1: Diagram showing the relationship between the entities of the system

A person can either be a candidate or a tutor with respect to the system. Staffs of the institute may be student as well and student of the institute can be staffs. The entities in the news system will be Candidates, Tutors, Certification, Enrolment, Courses and venues. The entity labelled person is a super class entity and all its attributes will be in the subclass entities: candidates and tutors. The attributes of each entity are listed below in the other by which they occur in the model:

Candidates: There is “one to many relationship” between candidates and tutor. This translate to the fact one tutor can have many students and not the other way round.  The attributes of the candidate entity is as follows

1. Candidate_Id: This will be the primary key of the table and it will be an auto number which will be unique to every candidates, it will be assigned by the system and will be made to be read only.
2. Candidate Name
3. Address
4. Telephone Number
5. Course Applied for

Tutor: Every tutor must have an Identity number;

1. Tutor_Id
2.  Name
3.  Office Address
4.  Home Address
5.  Office Phone
6.  Mobile Phone
7.  Speciality
8.  Assigned Course

Enrolment:  The enrolment table is important in the model because candidates and courses enjoy a “many to many” relationship hence a table needs to come in between them to avoid duplication of data in the database. For each enrolment there must be the following attributes

1. Enrolment_Id
2. Candidate name
3. Start Date
4. End Date
5. Course name
6. Tutor in Charge

Course: For every course run by the institute, there must be the following attributes in the table:

1. Course_Id
2. Course Name
3. Tutor in charge
4. Commencement date
5. End date
6. Qualification Title
7. Venue
8. Course Schedule

Venue: Each of the venues must the following characteristics

1. Room_Id
2. Room Number
3. Building Name
4. Room Schedule

Certification: For each certification there must be the following attributes

1. Certification_Id
2. Certification name
3. Title
4. Exam Passed
5. Awarding Body
6. Date of Award

PROCESS MODELS

Jeffrey Hoffer et al defines process model as “the graphical representation of functions, or processes which capture, manipulate, store and distribute data between a system and its environment and between the components within a system.” A common example of process model is the data flow diagram. A data flow is a data in motion while a data store is a data at rest. These are among the most common of terms associated with data flow diagrams (DFD). The following processes are the process that will be represented in the diagram which will be displayed below and on subsequent pages of this report:

1. A potential applicant responds to an advert on the internet and makes an enquiry to the institute for more information.
2. The institute replies the potential applicant by sending the requested information pack to the potential applicant.
3. The applicant makes a formal application for course of study to the institute; this could be either on phone or online. This could also be an individual or multiple applications
4. The institute initiates the verification process by checking for availability of space on the course. This will entails so many things as there must be enough space in the allocated room for the course. The number of applicant considered for each course will depend on the number of spaces available on each course as determined by the room space.
5. Confirmed booking will be made for successful applications and the necessary deposit demanded from applicants. Invoice will be produced for the deposit.
6. Unsuccessful application will be rejected and documented. A message will be to the applicant explaining the decision of the institute and why the decision was made. All unsuccessful applications will be kept in a file and kept for a particular time to be determined.
7. After all deposit has been made, a letter of confirmation will be sent to the applicant with the terms and condition of the institute , among which there is a requirement that the whole fee must have been paid two weeks before the commencement of the course.
8. There will be a provision to allow applicant cancel there confirmation a week before the commencement of the program but the deposit will not be refunded and this will be stated clearly on the letter sent to the applicant. After this time cancellation is not allowed as both deposit and full payment made will be lost to the institute.
9. Multiple applications will enjoy a 20% discount. The course can be delivered to companies who made such arrangement with the institute, but this will depend on the availability of tutor. The tutor in charge of such course to be administered off site should first be contacted and informed; his approval and availability will afford a company that wish to take the course to her staff on their site to do so.
10. An applicant may opt to take the certification exam of the course at the institute, but this is not compulsory. Any such candidate that wishes to take the certification exam must pay for the exam in advance; at the time of registration

The following diagrams explained the processes listed above in pictorial detail

Fig. 2:  Diagram showing the flow of data from external information source to the institute.

Fig. 3:  Diagram showing Information flow between the system entities

Fig. 4: Diagram showing the exploded process of the short course institute

Fig. 5:  Diagram showing the exploded processes of the system

Fig. 6: Diagram showing all the processes

Fig. 7: Diagram showing all the processes.

BEHAVIOURAL STRUCTURE

At some point in the life of the information flow through the system, the structure of the data changes because the data form has changed. This is attributed to the transition that comes along in the life of the data as it change from one form to another, however it should be clearly stated that no form of the data is destroyed it only changes form. Data change form when a potential applicant becomes an applicant, then becomes an ex student of the institute or become certified. An applicant (Candidate) may drop out from the course, finish a course and start another, become a tutor. These behaviour will no doubt affect the data structure in some way because it could cause duplication of data in the system and this is not very desirable in any database.

One of the ways to deal with this behaviour is to create a history of event which could be in form of a status entity in the system. This will log an event when it starts and when it ends. As soon as the event comes to an end then the system will exit the data from the system. In the event that the situation occurs again, then there will be no duplication of data

                                REFERENCES

1. JEFFREY A. HOFFER et al: Modern Analysis & Design, (3rd Edition), Part I, II, and III. Published by prentice Hall 2002.
2. www. Prenticehall.com: Internet reference retrieved on the 2nd of may 2006 from the World Wide Web.