CHUKA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SECMAN)

Project Proposal
Kemboi Henry Cheruiyot EB1/01470/09 9/26/2012

Presented to Mr. G. D. Mwathi De art!ent o" Co! #ter S$ien$e %a$#&t' o" en(ineerin() S$ien$e and Te$hno&o('

This Document is a document for the initial proposal to the development of SECMAN, a system for secondary school management. It covers the pro lem statement, o !ectives, development methodology and the udget and schedule for the process of development.

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Executive Summary
This document covers initial stages of the system development. The first issue is the statement of the pro lem that has een that the system see"s to solve. It also touches on the reasons as to #hy it$s #orth developing the system and the o !ectives of its development. The proceeding sections refer to the area of coverage of the system, the case study, i.e. some past e%perience that sho#s the need of the system, the cost rea"do#n and finally the program schedule on the system development all through from the proposal to testing.

Secondary School Student Mana ement Sy!tem

Table of Contents

E%ecutive Summary...................................................................................................................... i Ta le of Contents......................................................................................................................... ii &.' Introduction............................................................................................................................ & (.' )ro lem Statement................................................................................................................ & (.& *ustification............................................................................................................................ & +.' , !ectives.............................................................................................................................. ( -.' Scope..................................................................................................................................... ( ..' /easi ility0Case...................................................................................................................... ( ..& Technical /easi ility...............................................................................................................( ..( ,perational /easi ility...........................................................................................................+ ..+ Economic /easi ility.............................................................................................................. + ..+ Methodology.......................................................................................................................... + 1.' Development Environment.....................................................................................................2.' Definition of terms0Acronyms.................................................................................................3.' 4udget................................................................................................................................... . 5.' 6antt Chart............................................................................................................................ . &'.' Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 1

ii

1.0 Introduction
This eing a pro!ect course in computer science for developing soft#are system calls for the steps re7uired for soft#are engineering. This is a proposal on Secondary Management System8 a system for the management of secondary school students and users 9in most cases the teachers: of the system. It #ill contain a data ase of students, teachers and their records; therefore, it can easily e used to generate reports oth on the users and the students.

2.0 Problem Statement

Secondary schools are institutions of learning and contain students as a ma!ority in their e%istence. Therefore, the need for proper management arises so as to allo# for good #or"ing and success oth to the institution and individual students. The management of the students runs from having their data ase of the total students, getting a record of individual student ehavior, getting records on academic progress, getting and "eeping records of student ac"ground on #ho their guardians are and finally reports are re7uired for accounta ility and responsi ility. This has so far een done y means of paper #or" #here records are made on printed papers y individuals in the different departments. The other means #hich seems more advanced compared to the paper records is the use of simple programs li"e Microsoft ,ffice access forms and other simple data ase management applications. These have not so far provided an efficient means for management, time and finance eing factors to consider especially over the long run.

2.1 Justification
There has een in the current time the need to graduate from the traditional paper#or" and manual generation of reports to the modern automated means #here information is centrali<ed and can e accessed and progress trac"ed at different departments in an institution. This system #ould y the time of completion e a le to reduce the paper #or" administered y management in secondary levels of education in =enya and increase the level of automation. This generally reduces the time of generating reports; therefore, students #ould not e re7uested to #ait for the results as in many institutions of today. )arents and guardians #ould receive prior reports on performance and ehavior of their children, thus reduce cases of cheating y undisciplined students since the administration #ould have proper records on them and #ould easily ma"e communications.

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3.0
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

b!ectives
to enhance proper record "eeping y use of data ase management systems. to enhance easy generation of reports. to "eep trac" of student performance oth academically and in ehavior. to increase the use of technology and automation in secondary schools in =enya. to allo# for easy chec"ing of fee alances. to centrali<e data for easy access hence reducing mo ility y management.

".0 Sco#e
The system can e comple% if it has to cover all the aspects of secondary school management. The system #ill cover student educational performance in terms of e%ams, ehavioral cases records on guardians0parents and fee payment and alance including reports on each. It is to run on an intranet and allo# for local access for authori<ed personnel #ithin an institution. It #ould have a module for teachers, student #elfare administrator, finance and general administrator.

$.0 %easibility&Case
/easi ility is the initial visit or study of the pro lem at hand and the possi ility of its implementation and its operational, technical, social and economic effectiveness in its development. This pro!ect has een initiated due to the needs that have risen from some past e%periences in the field and interaction #ith the secondary level of education. >aving een in secondary, some of the issues in the pro lem statement #ere recurrent and can no# see the need to develop this system. This also #as provo"ed y a visit to oth =athigiririni Secondary School in the year ('&& ,cto er. The headmaster approved the need to have an automated means of maintaining student data ase and generating reports. These have een the driving force and I elieve #ith many factors cutting across all the institutions in =enya, the pro lem of manual management must e cutting across and developing such a system #ould lead to a step in ma"ing management efficient.

$.1 Tec'nical %easibility.

There are issues on the asis of the development for the system to suit the current development platform. This system #ill e #e ased since it has to e accessed y users #ithin and intranet. Therefore, it #ill e developed using >TM?, php and myS7l for data ase management. The languages can easily e integrated #ith myS7l data ase on @ampserver as a local host or any other S7l data ase management tool. The system eing #e ased #ould also ring a lot (

of difficulties in ma"ing it accessi le on a server to client machines if languages li"e visual asic is used given the level of understanding and e%perience on the same is lo#.

$.2

#erational %easibility

The management system though students are the ma!ority and the aim of the management o !ective, #ill not e part of those #ho have access to the system. It #ill only e used y those #ho interact #ith student information, i.e., teachers and the central management of the teachers themselves. Therefore, it #ould have a module for teachers as users and a module for the general administrator, student #elfare administrator and finance.

$.3 Economic %easibility

The comparison et#een the effectiveness and the cost of the system development sho#s an economical ratio and given most of the re7uirement are "no#n. The ma!ority of the feasi ility study is "no#n, therefore, the collection and analysis or re7uirement #ould e less involving compared to an idea that has not een e%plored y the developer upfront.

$.3 (et'odolo)y
The system poses a challenge on the methodology to e used ut since there are factors to consider, it #ould #or" #ell #ith #aterfall. Some of the reasons and !ustification for the choice are as elo#A the re7uirements are "no#n and do not need to change in the process of development. The development platform and technology is understood The time schedule for the development is 7uite short and #ould not fit other methodologies li"e incremental The definition of the system is sta le. The methodology follo#s a simple process that can e understood easily and #ell follo#ed.

The #aterfall methodology has the follo#ing structure in its developmentA

Be7uirements Design Implementation Testing

+Installation

Installation

*.0 +evelo#ment Environment

Ser"er! 8SC? server (''. or higher 8 @indo#s ,perating System Client 8 Microsoft Internet e%plorer and Mo<illa /irefo% ro#sers 8 @indo#s operating system

#ool! 8 8 8 Macromedia Dream#eaver Macromedia fire#or"s SC?yog Enterprise

Dser Interface 8 8 *avascript A!a%

4ac" code 8 8 )hp html

,.0 +efinition of terms&-cronyms

SECMAN E secondary management 9used to refer to the system:. >TM? E >yperte%t Mar"up ?anguage )>) 8 )erl >yperte%t )reprocessor SC? E structured 7uery language A!a% E Assynchronous !avascript and FM?

..0 /ud)et $
&. (. +. -. .. 1.

%tem
Stationery 9foolscaps,pens, etc: )rinting 4inding ?aptop Application programs Miscellaneous

&uantity
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'mount (K!h!)*
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#otal

42+,00

0.0 1antt C'art

-antt Chart
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#a! #a!. . /o
1 2 , 4 2 6 )ro lem Identification and !ournal )roposal preparation and su mission Be7uirement specification and analysis System model design System testing methodology and plan System design documentation

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10.0 Conclusion
The idea of system development pro!ect is a ig tas" in itself and ena les us to put into use the concepts learned especially in soft#are engineering #here a developer is e%pected to follo# a conventional frame#or" and set guidelines. The process of pro lem statement is no le in itself as it dictates the preceding steps and activities over the period. It is y this that #e get the via ility of the pro!ect at hand and get a go ahead on the development. The SECMAN considering the factors at hand is a pro!ect that can e used to ring efficiency in the general management of a secondary school in =enya.