DEVELOPMENT OF A JOB WEB PORTAL

TO CAPTURE INDUSTRYS NEEDS

MARJAN MANSOURVAR

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF
COMPUTER SCIENCE

FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
KUALA LUMPUR

MARCH 2011

Abstract
Development of the Web has affected different aspects of our lives, such as
communication, sharing knowledge, searching for jobs, social activities, etc. The web
portal as a gateway in the World Wide Web is a starting point for people who are
connecting to the internet. The web portal as the type of knowledge management system
provides a rich space to share and search information as well as communication services
like free email or content provision for the users.
This research aims to develop a web portal for students in the Faculty of Computer
Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), University of Malaya (UM). The main
aims of this portal are to provide information for the students to help them to choose the
right courses and major that are relevant to their intended future jobs or career in IT.
Two surveys were conducted to identify the students problems with the existing portal
of the faculty and to gather their requirements which can be incorporated in to the new
portal to be developed.
The portal was developed, using the Web Information System Development
Methodology (WISDM) and using the development tools that include: ASP.Net and C#
for the programming, Visual Studio 2008 and Photoshop for the interface design,
Information Internet service (IIS) for the web server and SQL Server 2005 as the
database management system.
This knowledge system connects to the industries and acts as an online recruitment to
support the students to find the right IT job after graduation. Furthermore, this system
enhances the understanding concept and importance of the web portal, uses of
knowledge management system and knowledge sharing as an essential educational tool
for students in the universities.

ii

Acknowledgements

The successful completion of this dissertation is due to the support and guidance from
many people, and I would like to thank all of them. Acknowledging everyone by name
is impossible and my apologies to those not mentioned.
First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Norizan Mohd Yasin, for her infinite
support, expertise and patience during all stages of my research. Her advices were very
useful and encouraging in motivating me to complete my thesis.
I am indebted to my kind family for their persistent love, help and encouragement.
Last but not least, I am thankful to all my friends for their moral support and useful
suggestions in my research.

MARJAN MANSOURVAR
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
University of Malaya
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

iii

Dedication

This work is dedicated to my devoted parents, whose support gave me

the strength to persevere .

iv

Table of Contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. ii
Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................iii
Dedication ........................................................................................................................ iv
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. v
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problem Statements ................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Research objectives ................................................................................................. 3
1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Scope of the Research ............................................................................................. 4
1.6 Methodology and Research Approach .................................................................... 4
1.7 Expected Research Outcomes ................................................................................. 5
1.8 Overview of the Organization of the Dissertation................................................... 6
1.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................................................................... 8
LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Knowledge management systems ........................................................................... 8
2.2.1 Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems .............................. 10
2.2.2 Types of Knowledge Management Systems................................................... 11
2.3 Portal as a method for Knowledge Management .................................................. 11
2.3.1 What is a portal? ............................................................................................. 11
2.3.2 History of Web Portals ................................................................................... 12
2.3.3 Web Portal Definition ..................................................................................... 13
2.3.4 Why are portals useful? .................................................................................. 15
2.3.5 Comparison between Website and Web portal ............................................... 15
2.3.6 Portal services classification ........................................................................... 16
2.3.7 Types of portals and their differences ............................................................ 17
v

2.4 Job Portals ............................................................................................................. 19

2.4.1 Job Procurement: Old and new ways ............................................................. 21
2.4.2 Importance of Job Portals ............................................................................... 22
2.4.3 Features of job portals .................................................................................... 23
2.5 Knowledge Portals ................................................................................................ 26
2.6 Conceptual Portal Framework ............................................................................... 27
2.7 The Role of portal in the university....................................................................... 28
2.8 Examples of university portal................................................................................ 31
2.9 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 36
Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................................... 37
Research Methodology ................................................................................................... 37
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 37
3.2 Research Methodology .......................................................................................... 37
3.3 Quantitative Research Methods............................................................................. 38
3.4 Qualitative Research Methods............................................................................... 39
3.5 Comparison between Quantitative and Qualitative Method ................................. 40
3.6 Mixed Research ..................................................................................................... 40
3.7 Research Methodology Used In this Study ........................................................... 41
3.7.1 Survey ............................................................................................................. 41
3.7.2 Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 42
3.7.3 Design of Questionnaires ................................................................................ 42
3.8 System Development Methodology ...................................................................... 44
3.8.1 Web Information Systems Development Methodology ................................. 45
3.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 47
CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................... 48
DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ................................................ 48
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 48
4.2 Collection of Data ................................................................................................. 48
4.3 Outcomes of the First Survey (Using Questionnaire 1) ........................................ 48
4.3.1 Personal information....................................................................................... 48
4.3.2 Ways of selecting a major............................................................................... 49
4.3.3 Intention to use the web portal........................................................................ 50
4.3.4 How do you find the FCSIT web portal?........................................................ 52
4.4 Outcomes of the Second Survey (Using Questionnaire 2) .................................... 53
4.4.1 Personal Information ...................................................................................... 53
vi

4.4.2 Ways of finding job ........................................................................................ 54

4.4.3 Using job portal for searching jobs ................................................................. 55
4.4.4 How do you find the FCSIT web portal?........................................................ 56
4.5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 57
CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................... 59
SYSTEM DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT ........................... 59
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 59
5.2 System Design and Requirements ......................................................................... 59
5.2.1 The tools used in developing the system ........................................................ 59
5.2.2 The primary requirements for designing the system ...................................... 61
5.3 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 61
5.4 Scope ..................................................................................................................... 61
5.5 The proposed framework for the web portal ......................................................... 62
5.5.1 Web Portal ...................................................................................................... 63
5.5.2 The Users System ........................................................................................... 64
5.6 System Functionality ............................................................................................. 65
5.6.1Create Knowledge System .................................................................................. 65
5.6.2 Functional Requirements ................................................................................ 66
5.6.3 The Non-functional Requirements ................................................................. 68
5.7 System Design ....................................................................................................... 69
5.7.1 Database Design ............................................................................................. 74
5.7.2 Interface Design .............................................................................................. 78
5.8 System Testing ...................................................................................................... 99
5.8.1 Unit Testing .................................................................................................... 99
5.8.2 Integration Testing ........................................................................................ 101
5.8.2 System Testing.............................................................................................. 102
5.8.4 End User Testing .......................................................................................... 102
5.9 Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 106
CHAPTER 6 ................................................................................................................. 107
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 107
6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 107
6.2 Outcomes of the Research ................................................................................... 107
6.3 System Strengths ................................................................................................. 108
6.4 System Limitations .............................................................................................. 109
6.5 Future Work ........................................................................................................ 110
vii

6.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 111

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 112
APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................... 115
QUESTIONNAIRES .................................................................................................... 115
Questionnaire 1.......................................................................................................... 115
Questionnaire 2.......................................................................................................... 119
APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................... 123
EVALUATION FORM ................................................................................................ 123
APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................... 125
Responses of Questionnaire 1 ....................................................................................... 125
APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................... 131
Responses of Questionnaire 2 ....................................................................................... 131

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Research Outcome .......................................................................................... 5

Figure 1.2: The Organization of the Dissertation ............................................................. 6
Figure 2.1: Job portal architecture (Source: Bsiri et al. (2008)) ..................................... 25
Figure 2.2: Web-based job portal architecture (Source: Mochol et al. (2007)) .............. 26
Figure 2.3: Conceptual portal framework ....................................................................... 28
Figure 3.1: Stages in WISDM ......................................................................................... 45
Figure 4.1: Preferred ways to get the information for selecting courses and major ....... 50
Figure 4.2: How informative is the faculty portal? ........................................................ 52
Figure 4.3: Does the faculty portal help in order to choose major or job? ..................... 53
Figure 4.4: Preferred way to searching job ..................................................................... 55
Figure 4.5: Reasons for using job portals ....................................................................... 56
Figure 5.1: The proposed framework for FCSIT web portal .......................................... 62
Figure 5.2: The conceptualization of the relationship between web portal, students and
companies ....................................................................................................................... 64
Figure 5.3: Users of the system schema .......................................................................... 65
Figure 5.4: System Structure for General User Module ................................................. 70
Figure 5.5: System Structure for Job Seeker User Module............................................. 71
Figure 5.6: System Structure for Employers User Module............................................ 72
Figure 5.7: System Structure for Admin User Module ................................................... 73
Figure 5.8: The Home Page of Portal ............................................................................. 79
Figure 5.9: Education Help Page .................................................................................... 80
Figure 5.10: The Description page about a major ........................................................... 81
Figure 5.11: The Study plans page ................................................................................. 81
Figure 5.12: The Requirement page ............................................................................... 82
Figure 5.13: Give Suggestion Page ................................................................................. 82
Figure 5.14: Job Advertising Page .................................................................................. 83
Figure 5.15: Registration Page ........................................................................................ 84
Figure 5.16: Register Job Seeker .................................................................................... 85
Figure 5.17: The Error message for duplicate username ................................................ 85
Figure 5.18: Successful new job seeker registration ....................................................... 86
Figure 5.19: Jobseeker control panel .............................................................................. 86
Figure 5.20: Change password ........................................................................................ 87
ix

Figure 5.21: Profile Management ................................................................................... 87

Figure 5.22: Create Resume ............................................................................................ 88
Figure 5.23: View and edit resume ................................................................................. 89
Figure 5.24: Edit the resume and upload CV file ........................................................... 89
Figure 5.25: Review Apply Page .................................................................................... 90
Figure 5.26: View company information Page ............................................................... 91
Figure 5.27: Search for jobs Page ................................................................................... 91
Figure 5.28: Search for job using Keyword Page ........................................................... 92
Figure 5.29: Advanced search for job ............................................................................. 92
Figure 5.30: Employers Registration Page ..................................................................... 93
Figure 5.31: Employer control panel .............................................................................. 93
Figure 5.32: Job offer management ................................................................................ 94
Figure 5.33: Review Apply ............................................................................................. 95
Figure 5.34: Admin Login .............................................................................................. 95
Figure 5.35: Admin control panel ................................................................................... 96
Figure 5.36: Skills Management Page ............................................................................ 97
Figure 5.37: User management page............................................................................... 97
Figure 5.38: News management page ............................................................................. 98
Figure 5.39: Job management page ................................................................................ 98
Figure 5.40: Error message displayed ........................................................................... 100
Figure 5.41: Login to Job Seekers Control Panel ......................................................... 100
Figure 5.42: Login to Employers Control Panel ........................................................... 101
Figure 5.43: Change information in user control panel ................................................ 102
Figure 5.44: Comments on Interface Design ................................................................ 103
Figure 5.45: Comments on system performance .......................................................... 105
Figure 5.46: Users Satisfaction of Portal ..................................................................... 105

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: History of web portals.................................................................................... 12
Table 2.2: Comparison between a Website and a Web portal ........................................ 16
Table 2.3: The screenshot of UM Portal ......................................................................... 31
Table 2.4: The Screenshot of Campus Cruiser ............................................................... 32
Table 2.5: The Screenshot of UT Portal ......................................................................... 33
Table 2.6: The Screenshot of University of British Portal .............................................. 34
Table 2.7: The Screenshot of MyUB Portal .................................................................... 35
Table 3.1: The type of qualitative research ..................................................................... 39
Table 3.2: Differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches ....................... 40
Table 4.1: Personal Profiles of Respondents .................................................................. 49
Table 4.2: Different reasons for visiting the faculty portal ............................................. 51
Table 4.3: Profile of Respondents ................................................................................... 54
Table 5.1: The primary requirements for designing the web portal................................ 61
Table 5.2: Lists of tables in the portal databse ................................................................ 75

xi

Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Introduction
In recent years, there has been continuing trend among youths to pursue higher
education in their quest to become better qualified and better skilled.
Acquiring knowledge and specific job skills have become the main objectives for
students in the universities. Knowledge is necessary to make informed decisions,
especially, in critical situations. Knowledge and knowledge management (KM) in any
organization are crucial to give it a competitive edge in todays challenging and
globalised environment.
New technologies, especially, the internet have made a huge impact on knowledge
management and information dissemination in education. The web portal as a
knowledge management system is very popular topics in many organizations including
universities. Universities have been at the forefront of website development, which later
led to the development of web portals to provide more compressive links to information
resources. There are various types web portals with various utilities that provide
benefits to the users. Each user can have his or her own distinctive definition of web
portals. Simply, a portal is a gateway to online network accessible resources through the
intranet, extranet or internet, thus a simple web page could adjust this definition, as
could a complex site involved of thousands of web pages. The early portals were very
simple, offering their members a static view of contents from a small number of
sources. Generally, a web portal allows the users to access information from varied
sources in an integrated way. Apart from the standard search engine, web portals
provide other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, and
entertainment, depending on the nature of business of the portals host institutions.
1

Portals have different applications or services to solve various problems. One of the
main purposes of web portals is to allow information sharing over the Internet. For
example, in a university, the new students in the faculty need access to information
resources to select courses and to decide on the different majors available, in the
faculty. This need can be addressed through a knowledge portal which must contain
sufficient data and information about the requirements of the students.
The number of jobless graduates has become one of the serious problems existing both
in the developing and developed countries, today. The Internet has changed the way of
looking for jobs, through the development of job portals. A job portal is a kind of web
portal that provides an efficient ways for searching the Internet or the web for vacant
job positions available.
This research will look at various types of web portals but will, in particular look, at job
portals as a knowledge management system based on a standard framework. This
research will focus on the information on jobs available, as needed by fresh graduates of
the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), University of
Malaya (UM).

1.2 Problem Statements

Web portals have become more important than ever because of the need to get access
to find information and to acquire knowledge, through the Internet. Existing web portals
are studied to come out with the conceptual framework for the web portal to be
developed in this research.
It is important that universities have a strong link to their students, both currently
studying and those who have graduated.
The problems to address in this research would be on how the Faculty of Computer
Science and Information Technology (FCSIT) can improve its services to the students
by using the internet. Some issues pertinent to this research to consider include:
2

Most students do not have enough basic knowledge on how to select a major
specialization available in their department.

Student expectations in terms of course contents are often different from that
of faculty.

Students cannot find the right jobs after graduation.

Many new graduates, who become unemployed because they do not have the job skills
needed by the industry, pose a big challenge for any country in the world. In Malaysia,
it was reported that about 70% of graduates from institutions of higher learning were
unemployed in 2006 (Suresh Ram, 2006).
This research will address the communication gap between students and faculty, so that
the latter can help to resolve the problems mentioned, above.

1.3 Research objectives

This research aims to develop a web portal that will allow the faculty to share
relevant data and information with students, as well as to make available information on
online-recruitment.
The objectives of this research are:
I.

To design, implement and develop a web portal as a knowledge management

system for Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT) of
UM.

II.

To identify the needs of the students which will be incorporated in to a

knowledge management system in the faculty with updated information.

III.

To understand the meaning, features and categories of web portals as a

knowledge management system.

IV.

To design an on-line recruitment system for FCSIT that allows employers to

post their job advertisements, which students can refer to, when looking for jobs.
This job portal is able to capture job requirements based on industry needs.
3

The above objectives cover the overall study of the web portals, and the significance of
the objectives is to meet the students need for a system that contains knowledge and
information relevant to their study and when they look for jobs.

1.4 Research Questions

The two research questions below should be born in mind throughout this study:
1- How can the faculty uses web portals to improve its relationship with the
students through a knowledge management system which can help them to
select courses and major?
2- How can graduates be overcome in failing to get a suitable job?
3- How to educate students in making an informed choice when selecting their
courses and majors which will be relevant to their future jobs?
4- How to provide a place for searching online job advertisements base on courses
and majors in computer science?

1.5 Scope of the Research

The main goal of the present research is to design a knowledge management system
as portal for the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT),
University of Malaya (UM). This portal will contain courses information as well as
information on job vacancies to help graduates to find appropriate jobs.

1.6 Methodology and Research Approach

To achieve the research objectives, a quantitative research method will be used. Two
questionnaire surveys will be carried out to gather data on the use of the web portals
among the students, and to identify the needs of the students regarding the portal to be
developed.
The target survey population includes:

Year 1 to year 3 undergraduate students of FCSIT.

Final year students and fresh graduates of FCSIT.

4

1.7 Expected Research Outcomes

A web portal would be developed for the Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology (FCSIT) as an objective of this research.
Using the portal, students will be able to access information on the courses offered in
FCSIT, from anywhere and at anytime via the Internet. The development of the portal
will enhance the link, not only between FCSIT and the students, but also between the
industry and FCSIT. IT companies will be approached to post their job advertisements
in the portal.

Organizations / Companies

WEB PORTAL
Faculty
Student

Decision

Job

Portal

Support

Search

Management

Content
Communication

Figure 1.1: Research Outcome

The outcome of this research will give students of FCSIT an online method of selecting
the courses they wish to take during a semester, as well as selecting their major (field of
specialization).
The researcher classified the expected outcomes as follows:

Sharing information between students and faculty.

To create an integrated environment in FCSIT where students can access the

required information needed to make important decisions such as choosing a
major or applying for a job.

The result of this research supports the concept of knowledge management system
which is done through online recruitment portals.
5

1.8 Overview of the Organization of the Dissertation

Introduction

Literature
Review

Methodology

Data Collection
&Analysis

System
Implementation

Conclusion

Figure 1.2: The Organization of the Dissertation

Basically, the research is organized into 6 chapters:

Chapter 1 includes the introduction of the research. It covers an overview of the
research and includes the problem statements, research objectives, research questions,
scope of the research, research methodology and expected outcomes of the research.
Chapter 2 presents the literature review and regarding the overall aspects of web portals
and their roles in the university. The first section began with a definition of knowledge
management system followed by discussion on web portals, their history and types of
web portals.
Chapter 3 explains the methodology used in the research. It discusses some of the
research methods and compares the quantitative and qualitative research approaches.
Chapter 4 discusses the questionnaire surveys and analysis of the data collected.
6

Chapter 5 discusses the proposed web portal, its design and development. This chapter
explains the technology used for the software development, the tools used, the
methodology and system requirements.
Chapter 6 presents the conclusion of the whole study. It presents a short summary of the
outcomes of the research, the strength and limitation of developed system and the
recommendation for future research.

1.9 Conclusion
This chapter gives a background of the issues pertinent to the research. It presents the
problems which students are facing in the faculty regarding access to the required
information. The objectives, scope of the research and expected outcomes are also
presented in this chapter. The chapter has also covered the methodology used and the
organization of the dissertation.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
The World Wide Web (WWW) has greatly impacted many aspects of our lives, such
as in communication, business and education, these days (Yang et al., 2005).
In the age of online communication, universities need to embrace the new information
and communication technologies as the tools to enhance the quality of education.
Universities need to update their curriculum formats, with the developments educational
information and communication technology framework. The Web portal is one of the
most important subjects of conversation, today (Pickett & Harmre, 2002). There are
many different types of web portal. This research focuses on the development of a web
portal for students of FCSIT, University of Malaya (UM). It is meant to be both a
knowledge portal as well as a job portal.
The sections below define the concept of knowledge, knowledge management and the
relationship between knowledge management systems (KMS) and decision support
systems (DSS).

2.2 Knowledge management systems

To have a precise definition of knowledge management system (KMS), it is
important, first look at knowledge contents. Knowledge is derived from data and
information. Data is a collection of words, numbers, observations or facts which are not
meaningful. Data can be converted to information when it is put in a meaningful
framework. Finally, knowledge is derived from information which has been validated to
be true. Vance (1997) defined information as data that includes meaningful contents,
while knowledge is defined as authenticated information. Alavi and Leidner (1999)
8

assumed that knowledge is information in the individual mind. It means that it is

subjective information that states facts, procedures, concepts, interpretations, ideas,
observations and judgments. The important issue that is related to managing knowledge
is about capturing and integrating knowledge. It means knowledge is not so valuable
and useful if it cannot be shared. Therefore, in the network of computer systems with
features for communication and information sharing, the methods for managing and
integrating knowledge, improve the effect and efficiency. Information system is
established in organizations to facilitate the collection, integration and dissemination of
knowledge. These systems are in fact, the knowledge management systems (KMS).
KMS must have the capability of responding to changing situation fast and must be able
to assist in inventing, decision-making and productivity. KMS is multi-functions
system. Productive KMS includes technology as well as culture and organizational
issues. It means that the mix of cultural and organizational with technology can form a
successful KMS. In some companies, there should be a culture shift to change the
staffs attitude about sharing their knowledge and information. It should be borne in
mind that quality and quantity of knowledge is the main issue for developing KMS.
Knowledge management should be connected to the organizational performance
features such as customer satisfaction, product innovation and cost. Hence,
organizations establishing a KMS need to consider adding the value of knowledge.
Integrated and integrative technologies architecture are two key factors in KMS. KMS
needs the technology tools in three aspects: database and database management;
communication and messaging; and browsing and retrieval. The tools in these three
domains may be integrated to control the Internet-based KMS framework. The internet
based technology in KMS provides the connection with the external knowledge zones
(Alavi & Leidner, 1999).

2.2.1 Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems

Knowledge management focuses on the collection of business processes developed
in an organization to store, create, transfer and apply knowledge. KM improves the
ability of the organization to learn from its environment and to incorporate knowledge
into business processes. It should be mentioned that effect KM is 80% managerial and
organizational, and 20% technology. The first challenge for firms in making knowledge
repositories is the issue of identifying the suitable categories in classifying document.
Firms are using a collection of internally developed taxonomies and search engine
techniques. Firms obtain knowledge in different ways, depending on the type of
knowledge. They store the corresponding documents, patters and rules to retrieved and
used. Knowledge storage includes databases, document management systems, expert
systems, etc. New knowledge need to build in to a firms business processes and key
application systems.
KMS and knowledge storages facilitate the problem solving process. In the process of
solving problems managers engage into decision making, the act of selecting from
alternative problem solutions. The different stages in firms includes strategic,
management, and operational have different decision-making requirements. Decisions
are structured, semi-structured or unstructured. The structured decisions are clustered at
the operational level of the organization, and unstructured decisions at the strategic
level.
Decision support systems (DSS) join data, sophisticated analytical models and tools,
and user-friendly software into a single powerful system that can support semistructured and unstructured decision making. The main elements of the DSS are the
DSS database, the user interface, and the DSS software system.

10

Ultimately, KMS and DSS facilitate the decision-making and they are the integrated
part of the overall problem solving process. The knowledge objects approach to the
knowledge representation allows considering contemporary DSS as integrated parts of
the corresponding KMS (Cortes, et al., 2001).
2.2.2 Types of Knowledge Management Systems
Benbya et al. (2004) divided KMS into four categories:
1- Content management tools: These tools mix and group knowledge from
different originating sources.
2- Knowledge sharing tools: These tools provide the facility for sharing knowledge
among people or organizations.
3- Knowledge search and retrieval system: This provides the ability to search and
retrieve knowledge from the systems
4- General KMS: These types of systems provide the requirements for knowledge
management in the organizations.
Web portals are general KMS that provide the facility for organizations or companies
to share, create, exchange and reuse knowledge.

2.3 Portal as a method for Knowledge Management

2.3.1 What is a portal?
Generally, we can describe a portal as a website, which provides quick access to
services and personalized information. Pickett and Harmre (2002) stated that a portal is
a gateway to resources in accessible networks such as internet or intranet. Thus, a site
may include many web pages or even a simple web page, which presents users a static
view of available resources and information.

11

2.3.2 History of Web Portals

Since the mid 1990s the web portal has become a hot topic everywhere because of
the rapid development of the web browser. According to Robins and Sochats (2000)
portals have evolved at three important levels, as shown in table 2.1:
Table 2.1: History of web portals

History of Web Portals

1

Early phase

Growth Phase

Expansion Phase

Early phase :
This phase also witnessed the birth of some of the components of a web portal. Portals
have been defined as a door or gateway to information on the web. They were used as
an entry point to information sources. In this phase, differentiation was the main idea
was shown by most websites. It is easy to consider website differentiation as the
precursor of the portal concept, especially, in thinking of a portal as a door.
Differentiated websites are similar to a house with several doors. When a person enter a
door, he or she can only visit a certain section of a building that are reachable from that
door, but those who enter through a gateway, regardless of which door they use, can
reach every room in the house .
Growth Phase:
During the growth phase, the size of web sites had increased in terms of number of
pages. This situation caused a lack of general organization to the information, and also
weak navigability. Following this, search engines were defined for web portals. A
search service is an automatic software for scanning the web for web sites. Most search
service businesses were started during this phase, for example: AltaVista, Lycos and
Excite. The quality of search service provides a new concept to portal which becomes
12

an entry of an ad hoc nature. Thus, during a search, the content displayed is specified as
the latest, at the time of access.
Expansion Phase:
In this phase, web portals developed in terms of size (number of servers and users) and
depth (content). The World Wide Web had also progressed during this stage.
Technological advancements have made the web more accessible and robust when
compared to the other two earlier other phases. These developments in web server and
browser technology led to the existence of private virtual network. Web access to
databases is another advancement made. Hence, there was a big expansion in the
functions of portals to support various web services for different users.
2.3.3 Web Portal Definition
There are many different definitions of a web portal. Researchers who worked on
web portal admitted that there is no unique definition of a portal until now. For
example, Bajec (2005) stated that a portal is a connection, content, commerce, and
community. Santa Barbara City College described portal as a knowledge management
implementation to provide access to personalized information. In fact, it is fascinating
that different people have different definitions of a web portal. Some researchers
described a web portal as a gateway to information such as:
Looney and Lyman (2000) indicated that, basically, web portals collect a sort of
applicable information resources into a single, "one-stop Web page; this function helps
to prevent users from feeling lost on the Web.
Aragones and Hart (2002) stated that a portal provides a starting point for users to
access and explore information on the WWW. Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) is a general
portal; a university website homepage is a specialized portal.

13

Another source had declared that portals integrate varied channels as a central point of
information. Thus, essentially, a web portal is a gateway or single access point to
resources on the internet (Wege 2002).
Some researchers consider a web portal as a usercentric-community based tool for
example consumer portals like Google! Some portals provide information for a special
group of user with specific interest. When other users with similar interests browse a
web portal, a virtual community is formed. Hence, a web portal has to provide
information and facilitate communication to community so that they can share
knowledge and experiences, hold discussion forums, etc. Dias (2001) mentioned that it
is important for portal users to be able to connect with everyone who share common
interests. It means that an efficient web portal is a communitybased system to manage
and present information and other resources.
Some researcher look at a web portal as a system that provides multiple services to the
community; they believed that web portals aggregate two types of services in to a
single interface:
-

Personal services for users

Maintaining information service

EDUCAUSE, an online association, considers portals as large aggregative internet

technology that replaces the home pages to provide a gateway to the WWW. This
definition stated that a web portal is a central point to access multiple services, rather
than a trap-door to a single web site.
Powell (2003) stated that a portal is a network service that collects information from
different resources into a personalized and single point of access using searching
technology such as cross searching, harvesting and alerting to help users.
Web portal was used to describe mega-sites like AOL, Yahoo and MSN for the first
time because users used these sites as a starting point when searching for a special topic.
14

However, web portals support other services except searching for users (Goodman and
Kleinschmidt, 2002).
This study uses the ideas of Goodman, Kleinschmidt and Powell for defining a web
portal. Therefore, a web portal should be more than a simple gateway to access
information. It must act as the search, analytical, and communication centre for its
target members.
2.3.4 Why are portals useful?
The main reason for using the portals: efficiency. A portal helps users to make more
efficient use of their time (Pickett & Harmre, 2002). Moore (2001) highlighted the
integration of applications that portals provide for users,

rather than being merely a

simple collection of contents. Devedzic (2005) believed that people are attracted to portals
because of their ease-of-use. Usually, users start their sessions on the internet by opening

a portal to retrieve information such as news, weather, bulletins, etc. Users also make
use of the free personal communication services such as email, message boards, via
portals. It is not surprising that portals are the most visited sites on the internet (Telang
& Mukhopadhyay, 2005). However, it must be borne in mind that a portal cannot fulfill
all of information needs of users.
2.3.5 Comparison between Website and Web portal
Azarbarzin (2008) highlighted the differences between the website and web portal,
as shown in table 2.2:

15

Table 2.2: Comparison between a Website and a Web portal

Web Site

Web Portal

Website is owned by an organization or

centre.

Portal is user-centric, which means that a

user can organize and offer information and
data.

The user cannot interact with a website.

The user and portal can have two-way

communication or interaction.

Website is not an essential knowledge

domain.

Portal is the gateway to specific or special

knowledge domain.

The information and sources on a

website are, rarely updated.

The information sources on a web portal are

updated, regularly by the owner.

2.3.6 Portal services classification

Portal services can be classified based on the following two criteria:
1- The progression and maintenance of different services need different methods,
therefore this gives rise to different cost structures.
2- Members use different utilities for the different services, hence the presence of
distinct usage models.
Ang et al. (2005) divided web portal services into three types:
-

Search
The need to find essential information on a certain topic or subject has made the
search function a very important component of a web portal. Web portals use
different types of strategies such as homegrown solution or outside solutions to
satisfy the members needs.

Information

Web portals provide different types of information to users, news, sports, job
vacancies, weather reports, etc. Users can get this information directly from portals,
even without any special username and password. For example, a user can access
the weather reports just by clicking on the relevant link on the web portal.
16

Personal Service
These services allow the users to customize the mode of interacting with the portal.
Usually, users need to register to assign a username and password to use these
services. Emails, chat rooms, messaging services or personalized home pages are
some examples of these types of services. Each user has a different interface to use
these services. As we are aware, when a user opens the yahoo mail, she/he has a
different interface from that of other users. This reduces the time that users spend
to search for information on a special subject on the internet. This function,
however, causes traffic on the portals to slow down more than the others services.
Information and personal services have increased resulted in the number of visitors
to web portals. Rob Allan.et (2003) listed some services available on web portals as
follows:

Online shopping

Query based resource discovery

Query based application selection

Job offering service

Job submission

Video/ audio delivery and portal-based collaborative services

Resource scheduling

Policy-based authorization

Deployment service

Life cycle management

2.3.7 Types of portals and their differences

Portals can be distinguished based on their contents and the target users.
Murray (1999) classified portals into four types:
-

Information Portals: These portals provide information to users.

17

Collaboration Portals: These portals connect users and provide facilities for
them to collaborate in activities, etc.

Expertise Portals: These portals allow users to communicate with each other
and share their experiences, special interests and services.

Knowledge Portals: These portals provide users a combination of all the abovementioned services.
As we have seen, these portals are different based on their functions.

Dane Phillip (2008) divided portals into 6 categories based on their contents:
-

Vertical Portals :

These portals concentrate on the industry domain or vertical portals. A vertical portal
acts as a gateway to present the products and services of a specific industry to the
users. A vertical portal, also called vortal provides all the tools, information, articles,
research findings and statistics related a domain or vertical. A good example of these
portals is cnet.com which presents computer and related information; mp3.com that
focuses on mp3, audio, production, etc.
There are 2 main types of vertical portal available:
1 - Corporate Portal: Allows personalized access to specific resources of an industry
2- Commerce Portal: Provides business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and ecommerce information.
- Horizontal Portals:
These portals are single entry point of a web surfer to provide a variety of resources and
information on different topics to the general users. Yahoo.com and msn.com are
classic examples of horizontal portals. They are considered as megaportal and they
have search engines to help users search for information on a large variety of topics
such as weather, stock or news. Horizontal portals facilitate their members with
personalized web page through different channels.
18

Intranet Portals :

These portals are used by members who are in the enterprise network or intranet of
organizations, institutions, etc. Enterprise portals provide employees with updated
information such as documents for management system, applications, online training,
etc, as well as facilities to communicate using emails, messaging, or web meetings.
-

Knowledge Portals :

Knowledge portals service users by providing access to useful information and

resources. These portals increase the effectiveness of searching.
-

Enterprise Portals :

These portals have become one of the hottest topics in the new age of technology.
Enterprise portals also called corporate portals support their members by providing
accessing to suitable resources of the certain company or organization. An enterprise
portal is useful for the companys own employees as well as the companys business
partners such as suppliers and customers. With its link to public web portals, an
enterprise portal provides a virtual workplace for each user. Hence, the website of a
company is not only a corporate portal; it also provides personalization and navigation
functionalities to its users. One of the most important advantages of this portal is the
ability to access its services via mobile devices services like cell phone, PDAs or
hand-held PCs which are useful when out in the field, for decision-making and other
business or companys tasks.
-

Market Space Portals :

These portals support business-to-business and business-to-customer e-commerce.

Web Portals use a large variety of applications, as the following two examples show.

2.4 Job Portals

Unemployment is one of the serious social issues faced by both developing and
developed countries. For example, in Europe the rate of unemployment has been
19

increasing rapidly since the 1970s. Dorn and Naz (2007) mentioned that one of the
reasons for this problem is the unfair distribution or lack of information on job
opportunities so people are unable to know the new job vacancies. It means that there
are some jobs available, but jobseekers do not have access to that information. An
efficient search of the internet might help to jobseekers in their job hunt. There are some
web portals that provide an efficient way to search the web for online information on
job vacancies for jobseekers (Dorn & Naz, 2007).
Today, the internet has changed many aspects of our life, such as the way we look for
jobs. If one wants to find a new job, one can submit a resume using word-processing
software like Microsoft Office Word, open a web browser to send the resume and
receive an e-mail. Online recruitment has become the standard method for employers
and jobseekers to meet their respective objectives. The employers upload in to the job
offerings in the job portals. Online recruitment has been accepted not only by most of
large companies but also the small ones. The organizations send information or jobs
vacancies for posting on the portals and communicate with the applicants via the
internet and E-mail.
Rosita and Nadianatra (2007) defined the concept of online recruitment or erecruitment as the use of the Internet to search for jobs which have been advertised
electronically. Thus, the employers advertise the job opportunities, save the resume and
curriculum vitae (CV) of applicants, contact the jobseekers who are qualified, online.
Today, the Internet has become one of the key methods for getting information relating
to job vacancies. Large institutions, like universities include information on career
prospects in their websites which are also linked to e- recruitment sites.

20

2.4.1 Job Procurement: Old and new ways

Job seeking usually involves different ways to look for jobs such as through personal
contacts, direct telephone calls to employers, job agency office, scanning online job
listings, etc.(Doyle, 2008).
Before the internet, became widely uses as a method of seeking jobs, jobseekers spent a
lots of time using various methods to look for job openings. Today, jobseekers use
online methods which are very convenient and save a lot of time.
Galanaki (2002) lists the following methods to be the traditional (old) ways for
recruitment:
-

Employment recruitment agencies

Job fairs

Advertising in the mass media such as newspapers

Advertisement in television and radio

Management Consultants

Existing employee contacts

- Schools colleges or universities students services department

-

Workers or professional referrals

These old job seeking methods are too slow, stressful, challenging and also lack quality
(Mauno, et al., 2007). In addition, the applicants have to consider the cost and the
amount of time to get the information they need, and other preparations they have to
make. Finding all available job vacancies is a main step at in the job-seeking process.
The Internet is now a powerful tool that jobseekers can use. Today, there are many sites
that advertise job positions to be filled by people with certain skills in various fields.
The Internet plays an important role in the area of human resource planning and
development. Most planning and development organizations are now using computer
technology and the Internet for staff recruitment. It should be noted that although the
21

Internet has facilitated the process of job-seeking, it has not replaced the traditional
methods, completely.
2.4.2 Importance of Job Portals
In the age of technology, the Internet has become the main source of information for
jobseekers. Large corporations, institutions, and universities include information on
career prospects on their websites. According to a survey, 70% of the workforce uses
websites or portals on the Internet to search for jobs in France. These websites or portals
provide a search engine to access information on job opportunities (Bsiri, et al., 2008).
Sulaiman and Burke (2009) found that most employers are keen to use online
recruitment methods of getting staff. He mentioned that online recruitment methods
have the ability to identify the best applicants. That is the reason why more developed
countries such as Malaysia have started to use online job portal as one of the important
way to recruit people to fill job vacancies. A study done in2007, found that 21% of
internet users in the EU used the web to search for jobs or to send job applications. In
2006, this had increased to 67% for unemployed people (Gangle, 2007).
Most companies publish their job vacancies on their website, or use online jobsites.
These methods result in great saving in costs.
Mochol and Nixon (2007) stated that the use of semantic web technology gives market
transparency, higher speed of procurement but reduced transaction cost.
Today, the Internet is used for a large number of business transactions. People find the
Internet to be an effective communication tool. In a report in 2005, it was found that
90% of jobseekers in Germany use the internet to look for jobs. A reason for this high
rate of Internet is that applicants are young and highly qualified and use the internet a
lot, and many companies published their job opportunities online and via their portal.
Job portals are the starting point of jobseekers when searching for jobs. Thus, some job
portals charge employers high fees to publish information on job vacancies. In spite of
22

this, many employers still continue to advertise or publish information on job

opportunities on the job portal, but limited in order to keep costs down. Many
employers still believe that a jobseeker will visit job portals when searching for job
vacancies (Mochol et al. 2007).
A good job portal can also support knowledge sharing among the members. The number
of online job portals continues to increase. It is believed that three quarters of people
who are searching for jobs, use the internet and online portals. Rosita and Nadianatra
(2007) stated that online recruitment has the following advantages: employers can
identify a large number of eligible job seekers and get their information easily. It means
that companies or organizations can extend the search domain, hence, they have better
prospect of selecting the most qualified candidates. Internet provides employers a way
to attract a higher number of candidates, especially, those who fulfill the job
requirements. With online recruitment, people have access to the job information from
anywhere in the world, while with the newspaper, information is disseminated at local
level. One key aspect of job portal is the cost. Companies spend less to publish or
advertise job vacancies on the portals or websites, as compared to the use of other
media such as newspaper or job fairs. Furthermore, online recruitment is very fast, and
saves time. Once the employers upload the job vacancy on the portal, the jobseekers are
able to view it and send in their resume. Therefore, cost and time saving are two
significant advantages of job portals. Ganalaki (2002), cited in Rosita & Nadianatra
(2007), stated that the Internet is a tool without borders, and is an excellent method to
reach a worldwide audience.
2.4.3 Features of job portals
One of the ways to improve employment mobility is to provide online job offer
services. Online job portals can help jobseekers as they contain all required information
about available vacancies in a single point. Such portals enhance efficiency in job
23

recruitment as applicants can match their qualifications and skills to the requirements of
employers. Generally, searching for

jobs on the internet involves a process of

information collecting because the jobseeker gathers information contained in the job
portals, during the search (Weber & Mahringer, 2008 ).
A good job portal shares information and experiences with its members/users. This save
time and efforts and better decisions can be made. Job openings requirements can be
matched to an applicants qualification and skills. In this way, job portals return not
only the precise matches but also return the most similar match. The members of the
European Commission (EC) stated that online job portals should have quite similar
characteristics that include: an online searchable database of positions for job searcher;
facilities to send CVs to the website; email alerts of jobs which match the users profile;
extra instruction, for example, about working in foreign countries or career guidance;
the capability to manage job applications; employers must have the ability to publish
and manage job positions, search the CV database; and have online contact with
potential jobseekers.
Bsiri et al. (2008) presented an online job system that uses local grammars to convert
unstructured pages into structured ones. The interface of this system coordinates access
to the job vacancies which are obtained using job search engines. Job search engines
have some differences from the standard search engines. They index only a part of a
document which includes the job advertisement. The pages that involve job notices are
arranged by humans for humans. The main parts in these forms like the name of
companies or identifier of job vacancy merge with a high limiting vocabulary zone then
form local grammars the tool for finding a job offer which is integrated into a relational
structure. To provide transparent access to job advertising, the platform classified the
web pages in to database, automatically. The following figure shows the architecture of
the system:
24

Figure 2.1: Job portal architecture (Source: Bsiri et al. (2008))

Local grammars and electronic lexica were used to extract data and then transformed
the text in to a semantically structured arrangement. The linguistically analysis filled the
form with values and make possible selectivity to retrieval functionally. This system
included three interaction modules for searching job and a relational database to keep
job announcements and queries.
Mochol et al. (2007) presented a prototype job portal that worked with Semantic Web
technology. This technique joins annotations with information that is related to an
application domain. They used this system to improve market transparency and speed
the process and decrease the cost of transactions. They believed that search engines
such Google or Yahoo or worldwidejobs are necessary for job portals. The quality of
search in the portals is influenced by four factors: search, index method, web
technologies, and the automatic interpretation of the company. In a Semantic Web-based
system, the information that is changed among employers, jobseekers and job portal
such as job skills, salary, and profession is based on a set of vocabularies. The first
stage of processing in the system was making human resources ontology (HRontology). The ontology uses vocabularies to provide the uniform set of job advertising
and members information with a semantic matching in the portal. This system can be
25

improved based on users requirements. The system concentrates on the process that
vocabularies are derived from standards recruitment area and the stages of merging data
infrastructure with non-RDF human resources systems. Figure 2.2 shows the
architecture of a job portal that uses HR-ontology.
Information
Customers

Information
Aggregator

Information
Provider

Figure 2.2: Web-based job portal architecture (Source: Mochol et al. (2007))

Information providers play the employers role. They upload the job vacancies and
manage information using controlled vocabularies and in the RDF format. Information
Aggregators crawl the published data and display it in the standard format to the
members. This part uses semantic matching services. Information Consumers are users
of the job portal and use the information related to the job positions, and the employers.
In conclusion, the number of job sites and job portals continues to increase. These
portals provide online information zone for jobseekers to obtain information on the
relevant job vacancies, easier.

2.5 Knowledge Portals

With the mass of information and resources on the web, the main challenge for the
new information systems is providing the users with the right information at the right
moments.
Knowledge portals are used to satisfy this requirement of users. The main aim of a
knowledge sharing system is to make information accessible and easy for exchange by
26

users. These portals model, structure and interlink knowledge to support flexible
integration and personalized presentation of knowledge to the members (Chau et al.,
2006).
Knowledge portals manage knowledge and use on integrated interface for users to
access vast amount of information. Most students, especially international students in
universities, usually encounter problems when searching for the required information
through the vast amount of data on the Internet. Knowledge portals facilitate users to
obtain relevant and even specific information and resources (Gavrilova & Jin, 2008).

2.6 Conceptual Portal Framework

The portal is a favorite topic among programmers because of its ease of
development, easily customized interface, rich functionalities, and pluggable
architecture. When users face a problem, they search the relevant portal to find a
solution. Portal framework can provide benefits, but it is clear that no framework can
provide solutions to all problems. It is important to understand the technology of used
and the framework before starting the development process.
Allen et al., (2003) identified 5 standard features to consider when selecting a portal
framework:
-

Integration with the existing functionality

Easy to develop new functionality

Programming language independence

Standards to access content

Standards for interoperability and portability

Figure 2.3 presents the conceptual framework with the basic knowledge management
system that includes some main components of a portal administration, decision
support, document management, Web management, content communication, and
programs.
27

User Interface

Portal Core
Collection of Meaningful Content, Services, and Tools

Administration
Example:
Configuration
Users and roles

Decision
Support

Document
Management

Example:

Example:

Standards Report
Registration and Login

Policies & Procedures

Web
Management

Content
Communication

Programs

Example:

Example:

Example:

Supplemental Resources
On-line Subjects

Protocols,
Training

Departmental Pages

Data Base Repository

Security, Authorization

Figure 2.3: Conceptual portal framework

2.7 The Role of portal in the university

In 1998, a proposal was submitted to SHEFC1 to build an online interface for
students to access electronic information sources. The main aims of this project
included:
Students in institutions of higher education need to access and manage electronic data.
They need to use computers and have access to networks to retrieve training materials,
databases, financial data, etc. Thus, a web portal for university students is essential to
learning. It is also important for the university portal to be integrated with the university
IT infrastructure, both internal and external.
A university portal can be viewed as a single point, which provides comprehensive
access to information on courses, data search tools, educational resources, interactive
teaching materials, communication tools, etc. It can act as a gateway, to provide access
28

to learning resources for experts, teachers or researcher, and also allow interactive
access to online information, and to other students (Maedche et al., 2003) .
Over the last few decades, there had been rapid technological advances in online
services. Universities have been at the forefront of this development, and they started to
upgrade their websites to portals for online transactions. Some online transactions
include: online courses enrolment, delivery, and materials, digital library, and etc.
University websites are also acting as a web portal, today, providing a single point of
access to information and applications. A university web portal is a single point of
access to resources and information that include web mail, course information,
examination results, and tuition payments, etc., for users such as the students, faculty,
and staff.
Presently, most universities use the web portal for various educational goals such as
monitoring knowledge, controlling educational processes such as providing access to
educational resources, and etc. Some modern universities even use external educational
resources in their portals, for example, electronic catalogues, which are published
overseas.
Portals have become one of the popular facilities in higher education institutions for
various uses. Almost all universities developed their portals to provide for specific new
needs (Bajec, 2005). The portal Framework Project undertaken by the Java Special
Interest Group (JA-SIG), linking up 20 universities and colleges together, is a good
example.
Portals help the university to unlock all internally and externally forms which store
information, provide users in the university a single gateway to access the knowledge
and resources.
Arthur (2005) mentioned that universities consider three aspects pertaining to use of the
portals :
29

Systems integration

Utilization of e-business technology

Provision for a wider use of data and services offered by existing systems
Systems Integration

By increasing the use of the internet, universities have tried to have a more
integrated IT system within their campuses. In this way, universities can transform
more effectively and offer more varied services to the campus community.
Utilization of e-business technology
Today, companies use the internet to provide better and more efficient services to
their staff, and customers. Universities and other educational institutions have done
likewise. In some countries, some important processes in e-business have been
developed by educational institutions to offer better services to the staff and
students.
Provide wider use of data and services of existing systems
The knowledge and resources in the existing information systems of universities
could be useful if the students and lecturers have easy access to them. Portals can be
used to facilitate access to the required information.
Tate et al. (2009) noted that universities, which have been at the forefront of online
service provision, have gradually changed, and are beginning to provide their online
services using the web portal. These portals act as a single point of online access to
information as well as provide utilities to perform enrolment, course delivery, course
support, library transactions, job search, etc.
Sulaiman and Alias (2005) believed that it is essential for the universities to conduct
further study on knowledge portals that will enable students to have access to much
needed data and resources that are pertinent to their studies.

30

2.8 Examples of university portal

The following section looks at some university web portals, which could be general
purpose portals or special purpose portals.
Table 2.3: The screenshot of UM Portal

University of Malaya Portal

http://umportal.um.edu.my/

Features

General purpose web portal

Single sign on
Common interface
Gateway to information

Services

Sharing information
Data Manager
Interactive applications

Strengths

Information centre for students

Good arrangements of the modules

Weaknesses

Limited services for users

Information seems cluttered.
Information is not regularly updated.
No useful information for new students
No information on job vacancies for graduates
No specialized knowledge for different faculties

31

Table 2.4: The Screenshot of Campus Cruiser

Campus Cruiser
http://www.campuscruiser.com/

Features

Services

Strengths

Weaknesses

Used by over 2.5 million students, faculty, and

administrators
Community portal
New web calendaring technology
An education portal
Learning management system
Course evaluation solution
Clustered server environment
Integration services

Implement effective course management

Increase efficiency campus-wide
High priority notification system
Close communication, collaboration and learning
management
Information regularly updated

Limited services
Seems complicated for first-time login users
Not friendly user interface

32

Table 2.5: The Screenshot of UT Portal

University of Texas at Austin "UT Direct

http://utdirect.utexas.edu/utdirect/

Features

Personalized, customizable web portal

Common interface
Interactive applications

Services

Business and academic activities

Customized services for different campus groups
Provides one-stop shopping

Strengths

Site customized based on individual needs

User-friendly interface
Specialized resources for special users
Information updated regularly
High security

Weaknesses

Not easy to work for nonprofessional users

33

Table 2.6: The Screenshot of University of British Portal

University of British Columbia

http://hr.ubc.ca/learning/

Features

An academic institution , learning portal

Uses the term "learning" in a very extensive sense
Gateway to information

Services

Supports the professional development of all employees

Creates opportunities for reflective learning
Runs the expand border of academic programmes
File transfer

Strengths

Innovates a culture of learning for members

Specialized target

Weaknesses

Limited service

34

Table 2.7: The Screenshot of MyUB Portal

University of Buffalo (MyUB)

http://www.buffalo.edu/aboutmyub/

Features

Has common interface

Gateway to information
Offers a variety of services

Services

Online financial transaction

Course guidelines
Online tutorials
Job offering services
Serves a target community

Strengths

Good management
Vast amount of information
Useful resources for new students
Specialized knowledge for different faculties
High security

Weaknesses

A few unnecessary links

Cluttered information

35

2.9 Conclusions
This chapter provides a review of the literature pertaining knowledge management
system, Web portal as a method for supporting knowledge management, history and
definition of web portals, different types of portal, job portal, knowledge portals and the
role of web portals in the universities.
The general goal of web portals is to manage knowledge and sharing information and
resources on the internet and acts as a single point or gateway and provide 5 key
competencies for users as following:
Cognitive, technological, documentary, research and communicative.
Universities as a forefront of new technologies are placing more emphasis on web
portals for their students to access the required knowledge and to learn new skills.
However, it is important that be aware a web portal can never fulfill all the information
needs of members.
At the next chapter, the research methodology and system development methodology
will be presented.

36

Chapter 3
Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the research methodology and system development
methodologies which are suitable for this research. The purpose of this research is to
develop a web portal for FCSIT. A web portal is a gateway to online information and
services that provide users with: a search function, community features, personal
applications, and a way for communication between the owner of the portal and the
members. This web portal to be developed is intended to share information with
students and help new students of the faculty to choose suitable courses and choose the
appropriate major, and to assist graduates in their job search by establishing links
between the faculty and related ICT organizations. This means that this knowledge
management system, should also serve as online recruitment system. Today, most
universities add career links to their portals to allow fresh graduates to obtain
information on jobs and career prospects in the industry.
The web portal can guide the students to select their major and the related job
opportunities available, and the type of skill sets needed by the industry. Thus, the
industry plays a significant role in helping the university to have the right curriculum to
equip graduates with the appropriate skills to meet the industrys needs.

3.2 Research Methodology

From 1970, different methodologies have been used to develop information systems.
The methodology selected for this research is based on the objectives of the research.
Maddison et al. (1983) stated the different methodologies used for developing information
systems. He identified levels, sub-levels and the technologies used in each level. He
recommended that there should be planning management, evaluation and control at the
37

different levels and sub-levels. Before the web based technology was available, old

information systems were developed using computerbased systems. The main issue at
that time was that the organizations were willing to spend large amount of money for
information system development to stay competitive. Today, web technology and the
Internet have changed the traditional way of developing information systems to become
what is called Web-based Information Systems (WBIS). A web portal can be a type of
Web-based Information Systems.
Two methodologies were used in this research. The major aim of the methodologies
used is based on an understanding of problems considered in the study- relationship
between the students and faculty and the positive effects of the web portal as
communication and information channel between them. Before explaining the research
metrologies of the current study, two research approaches-quantitative and qualitative
methods, are discussed below. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are
commonly used in information system research. They have different paradigms and
assumptions and thus, different paradigms and different hypotheses should be
formulated for information system development.

3.3 Quantitative Research Methods

Rolfe (2006) stated that the quantitative research method is used to determine the
relationship between an independent variable and a dependent or outcome variable on a
number of things. The quantitative method quantifies the relationship between different
variables. Variables can be described as something such as weight, performance,
treatment, or time. A quantitative method can be descriptive, which is based on
coalition between variables or experimental data, which is based on causality. This
method can involve: survey methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical methods
such as mathematical modeling.

38

3.4 Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research method is used when exploring issues, understanding
phenomena and answering questions. For example, this method is used to study
conditions and occurrences in the workplace. This method acts as a tool to discover and
explain the human experiences.
Straub et al. (2004) stated that qualitative research developed from the natural sciences
in the study of natural phenomena. This method uses qualitative data such as documents
and observations to illustrate social phenomena.
According Myers and Avison (1997), the main goal of the qualitative research method
is to present an aspect of a situation and produce research reports which can show the
researchers capability in describing an observed phenomenon. The depth and richness
of explorations and description are some of the main strengths of this method.
Table 3.1 shows the main types of qualitative research:
Table 3.1: The type of qualitative research

Case study

This research method studies a case and tries to shed light on

phenomena- person, an event, a group or an institution can be
used as example of a case.

Grounded theory This method improves on an induction, which is made by an

observer.

Phenomenology

This method explains the structure of experiences which show

themselves; and it does not need theory or training.

Ethnography

Ethnography concentrates on the sociology phenomena and the

community.

Historical

In this method, data on past happenings is collected and

evaluated for testing hypotheses that may help to illustrate
present and predict future occurrences.

39

3.5 Comparison between Quantitative and Qualitative Method

Quantitative and qualitative research methods are different based on ontological and
epistemological assumptions made to achieve the goal of research investigations. Jean
Lee (1992) classified the fundamental differences between these two methods, as shown
in table 3.2:
Table 3.2: Differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches

Quantitative
Objectivity

Qualitative
Ontological Assumption
Subjectivity

Positivism

Epistemological Assumption
Phenomenology

Universality

Aims of Inquiry
Particularity

Outsider

Detachment

Insider

Role of Researcher

Involvement

Researcher-Respondent Relationship

3.6 Mixed Research

The mixed approach is a relatively new research methodology. It aims to mix the
best features of qualitative and quantitative methods. Generally, the mixed method
focuses on getting an eclectic, practical and commonsense result. This approach uses
deductive and inductive methods to acquire quantitative and qualitative data. It is a
balanced method for the research environment.

40

3.7 Research Methodology Used In this Study

The principal goal of the research is to identify the problems students faced in
selecting the major and finding the right job after graduation. The method used is
suitable to achieve the research objectives. The following section will present the
research methodologies used in the current research, in detail.
3.7.1 Survey
Determining the students requirements is one of the key factors to achieve success
in designing the proposed information systems. One method of obtaining the needed
information and data is to conduct a survey. A survey is one of the important methods
used in quantitative research .The survey is used to collect information and data from
the sample population (students). The sample is a part of the population being studied.
The size of the sample depends on the aim of the study. Surveys may have different
goals and there are many ways to conduct surveys such as the use of the telephone or
mail. Basically, surveys provide consequential source of scientific knowledge. Some
surveys involve the sample population in a defined area, while others focus just on a
part of the population. Surveys can be divided according to the size and type of
samples, and by the methods of collecting data. Mails, telephone interview, online
correspondence and personal contact, are four basic kinds of survey method.
It is possible to use a combination of methods or hybrid method to get better results.
The Telephone Mail Telephone (TMT) or Online bulletin boards are two examples
of the hybrid method.
Surveys can be done by questionnaires or interviews. This research used the
questionnaire to conduct the survey to identify the main problems the students of
FCSIT face when selecting courses and a major and after they graduate and start to
look for a job. The questionnaire tries to identify the students requirements which will
be incorporated into the web portal to be developed for FCSIT.
41

3.7.2 Questionnaire
The questionnaire is a cheap way to collect data from a large sample population.
Sometimes, this method is the only way to get enough data for statistical analysis. The
questionnaire method is more convenient than telephone or face-to-face surveys
methods. The respondents can answer the questionnaire at any time and form any
place. Moser and Kalton (1971) stated that ease of data analysis and lower cost are the
key factors for using the questionnaire method. A well-structured questionnaire can
collect data about the performance of the system and also about the components of the
system. There are various stages involved when using the questionnaire approach.
Each stage should be planned carefully. The following must be considered when
designing a questionnaire.
Clarify the survey objectives
Decide on the sample population
Write the questionnaire
Administer the questionnaire
Interpretation of the results
A researcher who designs the questionnaire has no control on how the questionnaire
will be answered. The validity of the outcomes is dependent on the honesty of the
respondents. Questionnaires can be designed to collect both qualitative and quantitative
data. Answers to quantitative questions are more precise than those for qualitative
questions. Respondents prefer to answer questionnaires than to be interviewed because
they are free to decide when and how fast they answer the questionnaire (Bryman,
2001). This is the reason for using the survey questionnaire rather than interview, in
this research.
3.7.3 Design of Questionnaires
Mccoll et al. (2001) divided questionnaires into three types:
42

 Mail Questionnaire
Self-completion questionnaire
Telephone survey and face-to-face interview.
This research uses the self-completion questionnaire because the response rate is
likely to be higher as the respondents have more time to read and understand the
questions and the goals of the survey. A set of the questionnaires is shown in
appendix A. Some questions require just a Yes or No answer. Some are more
complex and have multiple-choice answers. Respondents can offer their comments at
the end of the questionnaire. There are two different sets of questionnaires, one set
(Questionnaire 1) was distributed to year 1-3 students, and the other set
(Questionnaire 2) was distributed to final year students and those who have just
graduated. Questionnaire 1 has twenty-seven questions divided into four parts. Part 1
gathers personal information about the respondents, both male and females. The
second part is related to the ways that students select a major and the problems they
face. The third part introduces web portal to the participants and gathers information
on the students usage of the current portal of FCSIT when selecting courses or major.
The last part gathers information on the problems that the students face with the
current faculty portal and extracts the students requirements for the new portal.
Questionnaire 2 designed for final year students and fresh graduates contain twentynine questions in four parts. The first part gathers personal information about the
participants. The second part concerns the methods they use when looking for job
vacancies and the problems they face. The third part introduces job portals to the
participants and collects feedback on how useful are job portals in helping them to
find a suitable job. The last part elicits the participants idea about FCSIT web portal
and what new features the portal should have to help them in finding jobs.

43

The questionnaires were distributed to the different groups of students at the Faculty
of Computer Science and Information Technology. In addition, a questionnaire was
designed and distributed to ten students to evaluate the new web portal at the end of
the research.

3.8 System Development Methodology

System development methodology is the process or framework involved in planning,
designing, and implementing an information system. Different approaches have evolved
over the years, each with its own features. Generally, the system development
methodology also involves the techniques, tools and documentation that are used by
system analysts, developers, designers and users to develop and implement an
information system, successfully. It is very important for researchers to consider the
time-frame and quality assurance aspects of the system when choosing a system
development methodology. Traditional system development methodologies can be
classified into 5 main categories: (Wikipedia)
Waterfall
Prototyping
Incremental
Spiral
Rapid Application Development (RAD)
When the web technology became available, organizations and companies started to
develop web-based applications and services to reach out more globally. Yahoo.com or
Google.com are good examples of this development. The internet has led to the change
in information system developments. Today, Web-based information systems are at the
forefront of modern business information system development. This research uses the
Web Information Systems Development Methodology (WISDM) as the system

development methodology.
44

3.8.1 Web Information Systems Development Methodology (WISDM)

Web Information Systems Development Methodology (WISDM) is an ISD
methodology, developed by Richard Vidgen, David Avison, Bob Wood and Trevor
Wood-Harper (Vidgen 2002). This method adapted the traditional system development
methods, web development technology and the hypermedia development methodology.
Hypermedia is a mix of rich texts, graphics, audio and video, and uses hyperlink to link
to other pages and sections of an application. The main framework of WISDM is
extracted from Multitier. Multitier is a methodology with user participative approach that
includes many stakeholders like computer experts who are responsible for developing the
system and users who are using the system. Therefore, Multitier focuses on both the human
and technical aspects of Information System. The framework of the WISDM that helps in

the development of a Web-based Information Systems considers two aspects: one

relating to the organizations, people and technology; the other relating to the analysis
and design. Figure 3.1 shows the different stages of Web Information System
development processes:

Organization analysis

Work design

Information analysis

Technical design

Human computer
Interface design

Figure 3.1: Stages in WISDM

45

Organization analysis
The first stage, organization analysis originated of building an e-commerce strategy and
conducting a market survey. The e-commerce survey is focused on aligning the
development project. The market survey concerned with customers and involved a
postal and telephone survey to identify attitudes to the Internet, e-commerce, and
confirm their research information requirements. Organization analysis, involves the
creation of values.
Work design
In work design stage, the programmer plans an approach to sociotechnical design. It is
concerned with achieving a suitable match between job satisfaction the fit of an
employees job expectations and the job requirements as defined by management and
the efficiency objectives of the organization.
Information analysis
The information analysis level presents the needs of the users; the third stage involves
the requirement specifications with the unified modeling language, UML. UML use
cases were developed to explain the major functionality of the proposed system,
including registration and purchase, research queries, and maintenance. Given that this
is a data-intensive application that would be implemented around a relational database.
Technical design
The technical design stage involves the design of the software model. The physical
requirements of the implementation were clear; a database was needed together with
some technology to link the database to the web.
Human computer interface (HCI) design
In the human computer interface (HCI) design stage involves the development of the
user interface. HCI design is located in an area overlapping software design and work
design as it needs to draw on both. (Vidgen, 2002).
46

3.9 Conclusion
To deduct chapter 3, the researcher used questioner as the selected method for this
study. Questionnaire approach is one of the famous methods in academic research; it
provides an easy and useful way to collect data from a large sample population. This
method is an easy analyzes and inexpensive way compared to others methods such as
face-to-face interviews. Researcher prepares two series questioners and distributes
them between the students in the Faculty of Computer Science and Information
Technology (FCSIT) to solicit users requirements for developing the new portal. Web
Information Systems Development Methodology (WISDM) is selected as system
development methodology for this research. WISDM is a new information system
development that mixes the traditional methods with the web development technology.
The next chapter will be presented analysis and finding from the data which is
collected through the questioners.

47

CHAPTER 4
DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction
This chapter briefly discusses the way data was collected for the research. It also
presents the analysis of the data and the results of the analyses.

4.2 Collection of Data

As discusses in chapter 3, two sets of questionnaires (Questionnaire 1 and
Questionnaire 2) were designed for the data collection. Altogether, 90 sets of the
questionnaires were distributed to the two groups of students in FCSIT. Of the total, 60
sets of Questionnaire 1 were distributed to year 1-year 3 students, while 30 sets of
Questionnaire 2 were distributed to the final year students and those who have just
graduated (fresh graduates). The details of all responses are shown in appendix C and
appendix D.
The answers to the two questionnaires will help in identifying the students
requirements that would be incorporated into the new knowledge portal.
This portal will contain all the necessary information to help the students to choose
courses and majors, as well as information on jobs and career opportunities for
graduates.

4.3 Outcomes of the First Survey (Using Questionnaire 1)

4.3.1 Personal information
Table 4.1 presents a summary of the personal information of the participants of first
questionnaire in the sense of gender, age, nationality, major of study and the year of
study.

48

Table 4.1: Personal Profiles of Respondents

Gender

Respondents

Respondents (%)

Male

37

61.7%

Female

23

38.3%

18-23

56

93.3%

23-29

5%

Above 30

1.7%

Malaysian

46

76.7%

Other Students

14

23.3%

Computer System and Networking

17

28.3%

Software Engineering

14

23.3%

Management Information & System

15%

Artificial Intelligence

5%

Multimedia

10%

Management

11

18.3%

One

11.7%

Two

26

43.3%

Three

27

45%

Age Group

Nationality

Program Of Study

Year

4.3.2 Ways of selecting a major

This section discusses the ways, and the information sources that students use when
choosing courses or major and the main problems they faced when making selections.
Results of analysis show that: 38% of the respondents mentioned that they asked their
friends; 21.7 % of respondents use their background knowledge. This shows that
49

students do not have authoritative sources to refer to when selecting courses or major.
67% of the students mentioned that the main problems they faced when selecting major
are: the lack of consulting sessions; and insufficient information on the faculty website.
The majority of the students (83.3%) emphasized that selection the right major can
affect their future prospective jobs. It is, therefore, very important for FCSIT to assist
the students in making the correct choice of the courses to take, and the major. Figure
4.1 shows that most of the students (39%) prefer to use online services and search the
Internet to get the information for selecting their courses and the major. This is the
main reason why the researcher developed the knowledge system to provide the
students with the online required information or related services, to help them in
selecting their courses and major.

5%

39%

28%

Search internet
Consuliting session
Discuss with others
Othes

28%

Figure 4.1: Preferred ways to get the information for selecting courses and major

4.3.3 Intention to use the web portal

Of the 60 respondents, 56 (93.3%) have visited the existing faculty portal at least once.
Of these 56 visitors, 50% visited once, 38.3% twice, and just 11.7% three o four times
in a week. Most of the students (60%) stated that the current portal of FCSIT is not
easy to use to find the required information. Perhaps, this is the reason why 54% of the

50

respondents spent only between 15 and 30 minutes on the portal, each time. Table 4.2
reveals the purposes of visiting the faculty portal.

Table 4.2: Different reasons for visiting the faculty portal

The Reasons

Respondents

Respondents (%)

Getting news

24

41.7%

Obtain courses information

25

43.3%

checking emails

11.7%

Others

3.3%

The above table shows that 43.3% of respondents visited the portal to obtain
information about courses; followed by those who want to get news (41.7%); check
emails (11.7%); and other usages (3.3%). As mentioned earlier, most of the students
are not satisfied with the services and information available in the current faculty portal.
This is evident from the answers to the question whether the portal of the faculty is
informative: 26 respondents answered as fair; 18 answered as poor; 2 respondents
answered as excellent; and 14 of respondents answered as good.

51

43.3
45
40
35
26.7

25.7

30
25
20
15
10

3.3

5
0
Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

Figure 4.2: How informative is the faculty portal?

Please note that being informative include not only information, but also data,
resources and services available on the faculty portal .
4.3.4 How do you find the FCSIT web portal?
This section presents the evaluation made on the role of current faculty portal in
helping the students to choose the courses, major, and jobs. Altogether, 50
respondents (85%) stated that the current portal does not help them to choose a major,
and 95% of respondents said that there is not enough information on the portal to help
students to find any part-time or full-time job.

52

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes

No

Yes

Does the faculty portal help you in order to

select a job ?
Does the faculty portal help you
in order to choose your major ?
Yes

Does the faculty portal help you

in order to choose your major ?
No

50

51

Figure 4.3: Does the faculty portal help in order to choose major or job?

This survey also asked the students regarding features which they expect the faculty
portal to have for it to become a knowledge-sharing system and information portal.
Most of them indicated that the portal should be more informative, and some changes
should be made to improve the quality: update the information related to the courses
offered and the available majors in the faculty. It means the students need the
informative portal.

4.4 Outcomes of the Second Survey (Using Questionnaire 2)

4.4.1 Personal Information
Questionnaire 2 was distributed to 30 final year students and fresh graduates who are
looking for jobs. Table 4.1 shows the personal profiles of the respondents with regards
to gender, age, nationality and the study major.

53

Table 4.3: Profile of Respondents

Gender

Respondents

Respondents (%)

Female

17

56.3%

Male

13

43.7%

18-23

14

46.7%

23-29

15

50%

Above 30

3.3%

Local

12

40%

International

18

60%

Computer System and Networking

23.3%

Software Engineering

26.7%

Management Information & System

26.7%

Artificial Intelligence

23.3%

Multimedia

Management

Age

Nationality

Program Of Study

4.4.2 Ways of finding job

Figure 4.4 shows that more than half of the respondents (54%) used online websites to
search for job vacancies; 23% used employment agencies; 23% used job
announcements in public media such as newspapers.
In addition 30%, of respondents stated that the main problem in finding a suitable job
is because it is impossible to find the information on the jobs available; 26.7%
emphasized that job vacancies are limited; and lack of experience. This could be the
54

reason why more than half of the students (54%) prefer to get information about job
vacancies from online websites. As mentioned in chapter two, the Internet has changed
the way of searching for data and information on job opening. The old methods of
searching for jobs through the newspapers or recruitment agencies are too slow, and
also, expensive. As J. Dorn and T. Naz (2006) stated, three quarters of jobseekers use
online methods to search for jobs.

23%

23%
job agencies
online websites
Public media

54%

Figure 4.4: Preferred way to searching job

4.4.3 Using job portal for searching jobs

The results of analysis shows that 28 respondents (93.3%) are aware of the availability
of websites and job portals, which provide online searching for jobs; 80% of
respondents used and visited job portals at least once. 53.3% stated that they have some
experiences with the job portals; while 9% do not have enough experience; and 5 %
claimed that they have enough experience in using job websites. This clearly shows that
job portals are widely used to search for jobs, today. Hence, the respondents were asked
the question: How can job portals help you to find a good job vacancy? Figure 5.4
shows the survey results of the answers to the question.

55

30%

40%
Convenient Search
Save time
30%

Easy to access

Figure 4.5: Reasons for using job portals

The figure shows that a convenient way of searching is the key factor expressed by 40%
respondents; 30% of respondents said that it saves time; and another 30% said that it
provides easy access to information.
To answer on the question of whether the job portals contain adequate information for
finding jobs, 23 respondents expressed that they do, but 7 respondents said that they do
not. It shows that although job portals have become a standard way to advertise job
vacancies, they cannot meet all the requirements of the respondents that job portals
must have all the required information, provide easy access to information and save
time.
It is interesting to note that among the different job portals in Malaysia, jobstreet.com
is more well-known to the respondents, as 66.7% of them selected it as the job portal
they have visited more than others; 16.7% of respondents selected job.com.my; 13.3%
selected jobs2u.com.my.
4.4.4 How do you find the FCSIT web portal?
Analysis of the 30 returned questionnaires shows that 16 of respondents said that they
have visited the existing portal of FCSIT when they were looking for jobs; but 73.3%
of them claimed that there is not enough information about ICT jobs in the portal.
Hence 79.7 % of the respondents prefer to use the faculty portal as a job portal. The
respondents were allowed to suggest improvements to the FCSIT portal such as adding
56

information service, personal service, and search service. The majority of the
respondents (56.7%) prefer to have more updated information; 30% suggest adding a
search service; and 13.3% want to have facilities to add personal information. At the
end of the questionnaire the respondents were asked to give their comments to improve
the faculty portal and give suggestions for the design of the new system. Most of the
students suggested that the portal should have information to assist them to search for
job opportunities, after completing their studies; others suggested that the portal should
have links to ICT employers to help them to know of job vacancies. A few students
recommended that the portal provide online job training for job positions in the IT
companies and organizations. The suggestions from the respondents can be
summarized as follows:
-

Update job information, training contents, information about the courses and
different majors offered by the faculty.

A search service to provide students a convenient way to search for information in

the portal.

Customized services.

4.5 Conclusions
Analysis of the data collected from the two surveys indicates that most of students
are not satisfied with the current faculty portal. The respondents said that they have
problem to get the needed information to choose courses or major, and when they are
looking for a job. Also, there is not enough information and resources related to help
them. The students in the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
(FCSIT) want a knowledge sharing system to get such information and help them in
their decisions.
The development of the new web portal is based on the feedback from the two surveys
and the requirements of the students. In recent years, the structure of university portals
57

has changed from static information to dynamic and transaction mode.

It is very

important for the faculty to provide the students from the first with online access to
different services and transactions such as online enrolment, course support and job
information. Nowadays, most modern universities web portals provide information and
services to achieve various goals and to improve the quality of education with these
services. This is the reason that researcher is developed the knowledge management
system that provide E-recruitment for students. This system helps the students to
discover the nature of the offering courses at the faculty base on the industry needs.

58

CHAPTER 5
SYSTEM DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT
5.1 Introduction
Based on information from the literature review, as well as the students
requirements identified from the surveys, a new portal was proposed for the Faculty of
Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), University Of Malaya (UM).
This portal is a knowledge management system for the students to create a better
academic environment for their studies. This chapter also discusses other issues related
to design of the portal, including the portal requirements, interface, etc.

5.2 System Design and Requirements

The design of the web portal takes into consideration the requirements identified
from the surveys, and from the literature review.
5.2.1 The tools used in developing the system
The choice of tools to use to develop a system is critical, as this will eventually
influence the quality and efficiency of the system. Hence, it is important for a
programmer to select suitable tools for designing and developing the system.
In this research, ASP.NET was selected for web programming and SQL server 2005 for
designing the database.
ASP.NET was developed by Microsoft for building dynamic websites, web
applications, and web services. Version 1.0- was published in 2002 to overcome some
limitations of the Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, and it became an improved
replacement for the ASP framework. ASP.NET is a web application framework that
provides for the creation of server-side applications based on HTML, XML and SOAP.
The Visual Studio software was used to develop ASP.NET.

59

It is web application software to design the user interface (UI) very easily. Visual
Studio 2008 was used to develop the portal for this research. The web application of
ASP.Net involves the state of application, session and the use of cookies.
ASP.Net and PHP are well-known for web programming in the market. However, both
software have almost similar functions and also in their implementation, but they have
some differences, also. For example, PHP supports only C and C++ style scripting
languages with older ASP style markup as its coding language, while ASP.Net supports
more than 25 languages, and two of them C# and Visual basic.Net - are the most
commonly used. C# was selected for developing the portal in this research. PHP is
associated with most commonly-used operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Solaris
and Linux, but ASP.Net supports Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server
2003. C#, ASP.Net is selected for this system.
The database is developed using SQL Server 2005. This version of SQL Server was
released in 2005 as the successor of SQL Server 2000. It fulfills the need for data
management and it increases performance and application programmability. SQL
Server 2005 presents the SQL Native Client, which involves an updated SQL Open
Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers and SQL OLE database (OLEDB) is provided
with the network libraries in a single dynamic-link library (DLL). It supports the
association with the Microsoft.NET framework that covers the latest ADO.NET
version. Databases are connected to the web portal with an ODBC on the web server.
The web server which is selected for this portal is Internet Information Service (IIS),
which is a collection of Internet-based services such as Hypertext transfer protocol or
file transfer protocol that is integrated with Microsoft Windows NT, and Windows
Server 2000 operating systems.

60

5.2.2 The primary requirements for designing the system

The primary software and hardware which are needed to design the web portal are
shown in table 5.1:
Table 5.1: The primary requirements for designing the web portal

The hardware and software requirements

Intel Pentium III 733 MHZ
512 MB of RAM
Window XP
ASP.NET
SQL Server 2005

IIS server
Mozilla or Internet Explorer

5.3 Objectives
The main aim for designing this system is to achieve the objectives of this study.
The students requirements for the new portal were identified from the findings of the
surveys, discussed in the previous chapter. The new portal serves as a web-based tool
which caters to the needs of: Year 1-3 students as general users; final year students and
fresh graduates as the job seekers in the system, and organizations as the employers.
The Admin is considered as a different category of user that manages, controls, and
views the whole process in the system.

5.4 Scope
The main scope of this chapter concerns the selection of tools used and the
requirements to be met by the system. This research concerns the development of a
61

knowledge management system to implement E-recruitment in the FCSIT. The

research attempts to provide a new link between students, unemployed graduates and
the IT industry. This relationship will illustrate how knowledge-sharing is done
through an online system to help students to find jobs.

5.5 The proposed framework for the web portal

This section presents the proposed framework of the FCSIT web portal. This
framework is based on information gathered from the literature review and also the
students requirements, is identified from the survey results. This framework is
implemented in a portal that works as a knowledge portal as well as a job portal.

Web Portal

Admin

Industry

Users

Students

Current Students

Year 1

Year2

Graduated

Faculty

Students

Courses

Year3

Figure 5.1: The proposed framework for FCSIT web portal

62

Figure 5.1 shows the external schema of the web portal framework. The framework has
five levels; the detail, of each level will be discussed in the section, below.
5.5.1 Web Portal
The top level of the system framework includes the web portal, designed for the
research. The goal of this research is to design a web portal as a knowledge
management system for the undergraduate students in the FCSIT which will provide
them with enough information to help them in choosing the courses and major. This
selection should be based on their intended future career. It means that the portal not
only provides information about the nature of the courses but also shows how these
courses are relevant for what type of jobs in computer science. The system creates a link
between unemployed graduates and the ICT organizations and companies. This portal
also should be as online recruitment system to help fresh graduates to find jobs through
online services. This link between the faculty and the industry, with emphasis on
sharing knowledge can enhance the quality of the educational environment. The top
level of the framework, gives rise to an improved online research environment for users.
In todays academic environment, the availability of information and knowledge is an
essential component of students learning. Knowledge management (KM) is largely
used in the area of information technology. When fresh graduates who are potential
leaders for a country, cannot be absorbed for work in the industry, it becomes a major
social problem. This situation also exists in Malaysia. Suresh Ram (2006) stated that
70% of students, who finished their studies at tertiary level education, cannot find a job.
This shows how important it is to have access to the right information to find a job. It is
important for the universities that provide information to jobless graduates on the jobs
or career opportunities. Sulaimun and Alias (2005) emphasized that it is necessary for
the universities to pay more attention to their knowledge management system or web
portals to have the necessary information for the students.
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Figure 5.2 shows the schema of the proposed web portal, in illustrating the relationship
between the students and the faculty, and the unemployed graduates and the potential
employers.

Implementation of
Knowledge sharing

Unemployed
Graduates

Web Portal

Employing
company

Students in years 1-3

Figure 5.2: The conceptualization of the relationship between web portal, students and
companies

5.5.2 The Users System

Users of this portal can be divided into 4 categories:
-

Admin

General Users who comprised students in year 1, year 2 or year 3

Employers

Jobseekers who comprised final year students and fresh graduates

The fourth category (Jobseekers) can be subdivided into:

-

Registered users

Non-registered users

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Users

Admin

General Users

Employers

Non-Registered

Job Seekers

Registered

Figure 5.3: Users of the system schema

5.6 System Functionality

This section presents the functions of the Web Portal, together with an explanation
on how the students use this portal.

5.6.1Create Knowledge System

According to the objectives of this study, this portal also acts as a knowledge
management system, which provides information to undergraduate students to help
them in selecting courses and major in the faculty.
Also, this system should contain information on the industries needs to give students a
clear picture of future career and job prospects in the computer science. Based on the
results of the survey, the courses that the students take during their studies and also the
major that they select, will affect their future job prospect. Also 85 % of the respondents
stated that there is not enough information in the existing faculty portal on the courses
offered by the faculty, and their relevance to future IT jobs. Hence, the importance of
having a faculty portal that shares knowledge and provides information is highlighted.
This section of the portal design provides information about the different majors and
courses which are offered to the students in FCSIT and how they relate to future jobs in
the It sector.
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A knowledge portal is a website which presents online information and services to its
users. In addition, this knowledge portal can be a suitable medium for the users to
establish a link with the faculty. Moreover, this portal which provides updated
information about the courses and other related topics is a good way to satisfy the
students requirements.
A main feature of knowledge portals is the sharing of information from authenticated
or authorized sources. This section of the portal is open for to users and will be more
helpful, especially, for the students in Year 1 who are deciding to choose the major
and the for students in year 2 and year 3 who are selecting the courses to study and
how the courses they take can affect the type of jobs, in future.
5.6.2 Functional Requirements
In designing a system, the functional requirements reflect a set of inputs, the actions
and the outputs of the system. They define the reactions of the designed system in
different situation. The developed portal which also acts as a job portal also to help
fresh graduates and final year students to search for jobs has three sections- Admin,
non-registered users and registered users. The functional requirements of the proposed
web portal are explained below:
Admin section
This involves all the management functions in order to control and manage those
aspects of the web portal. Such as employers and jobseekers management, news,
about us, settings , files upload, contact information, security, received message
settings, users and advertising .
The General Users
General users are the students who use the standard services in the portal. These users
are allowed to view the information about courses, major and the study plan in the

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semester. They can also view information about the job categories, job
advertisements, requirements, qualification and career in computer science.
The Non-registered Users
When a user wants to be a member of the portal as a jobseeker, he or she should
register with the portal as a new jobseeker .This sub-module works in the same way for
the companies or organizations, which might wish to upload information and their job
vacancies for the students. They register in the system as a new employer.
The Registered Users
When users register themselves as a jobseeker or an employer, they can access their
personal data and the control panel. The registered users can login and log out from the
portal and can access the relevant information based on their membership type. When
a user signs in as a jobseeker and access the control panel, he can have access to
special facilities which the general users are deprived:
-

Security management: Users can change their old password and replace it
with a new one.

Profile management: The registered users are able to view their profile
information and edit it, if necessary.

Resume management: The jobseekers create their resume to indicate their

skills, abilities, and qualifications to the employers, they can read and edit the
resume and upload it as a Microsoft Word or text file.

Upload CV: The jobseekers can upload their CV as a text or document file to
show it to the potential employers.

Search Job: The search option is one of the important features available on the
jobseekers control panel. From the control panel, the users can search for job
vacancies which have been uploaded into the portal by the companies. Two
types of search method have been designed for the users convenience. The
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jobseeker can search for job vacancies using keywords and also perform
advanced search by entering more detailed information for search such as the
qualifications (degree), job type, skills, level of experience, part-time or fulltime job preference.
-

Apply job: When the users find a suitable job vacancy, they can apply for it
online, and this application will be sent to the company that advertised the
vacancy.

Log out: Users can exit from the portal by using their control panel log out
page and return to the main page of the portal.

Employers who are registered with the portal also have their control panel. The
security, management profile, search and log out functions are similar to that for the
jobseekers,
Function except for the following differences:
-

Job offer management: The registered employers can create the job
advertisements for the jobseekers here and also can edit them.

Review applications: Employers can view the applications sent online by the
jobseekers and appoint them to a specific job position.

5.6.3 The Non-functional Requirements

The non-functional requirements include the services constraints and the quality of the
system. Quality can be defined as the characteristics of the system which affect the level
of users satisfaction with the system such as quality attributes, quality goals and quality
of service requirements. Constraints are restrictions to the services or functions of the
system such as the choice limitation during the development process. The nonfunctional requirements for current web portal are as follows:
-

Availability: The amount of time available for some activities such as database
upgrade and backup.
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Reliability: It focuses on maintaining the performance of the system. An

unreliable system is more prone to failure. It is important to choose the correct
parameters to evaluate a web portal to ensure its reliability.

Robustness: A robust system is able to solve errors and tolerate invalid data,
software defects, and unexpected operating conditions. The portal should be
robust enough to face expected and unexpected failures.

5.7 System Design

This web portal is designed to cater to the needs of FSKTM students. The portal
acts as a job portal that providing information on job vacancies in the industry for those
who fulfill the requirements, skills, and certification and have taken relevant courses
and related major. Hence when the students enter the faculty and they are facing with
the problem of choosing a major they can get a background of future work of all
available majors and courses in the faculty to have secant decision .
The structure of portal is designed for four categories of users. The first category, the
general users are students in year one, year two and year three. Figure 5.4 shows their
access levels in the system. The second category users -jobseekers who need to register
with the portal, as shown in Figure 5.5. The third user category-employers, as shown
Figure 5.6; and the last category admin, as shown in Figure 5.7.

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Login
Module
Web Portal

View News
Module

View Contact us
Module
View
Requirements
Module

View About us
Module

View Education
Help Module

Get Suggestion
Module
View Job
Advertising
Module

Figure 5.4: System Structure for General User Module

The general users can login into the portal without the need for any username and
password. They use the internet browser to login to the portal home page. There are
seven modules, as shown in Figure 5.4, which they can access. These are common
services modules for all users. Currently, any user who logins to the portal can get
standard information about the courses and major offered, their requirements as well as
view the employers advertisements.

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Login
Module
Web Portal

Registered as
Jobseeker
Module

Search
Change
Password
Module

Module
Upload CV
Module
View the Offer
From Employer
Module

View / Edit
Profile Module

Create/View/Edit
Module

Apply for
Job Vacancy
Module
Logout
Module

Figure 5.5: System Structure for Job Seeker User Module

Users who wish to login into the portal as jobseekers, have to register with the system,
first. Admin will confirm their registration and after 24 hours the usernames and
passwords will be active. It should be noted that the jobseekers have the same access
rights as the general users, but in addition, they have access to eight extra modules as
shown in Figure 5.5. They can create and edit the personal profile, upload CV, view
companys information, apply for a job, and search the database.

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Login
Module
Web Portal
Register as
Employer
Module

Change
Password
Module

Create/Edit
Job Offer
Module

Upload the
Jobseeker CV
Module
View
Jobseeker Apply
Module

View / Edit
Profile Module
Logout
Module

Search Jobseeker
Information Module

View Jobseeker
Module

Appoint jobseeker
Module

Figure 5.6: System Structure for Employers User Module

When a company wants to connect to the system, it needs to register with the portal as
an employer and provide the necessary details about the company. If the admin
approves the registration, the username is activated and the company will be able to
connect to the portal and access to the relevant control panel. When an employer logins
into the portal it has access to nine modules, as shown in Figure 5.6. The company can
create the job vacancies information in the portal. It can view the information of job
seekers who have registered and applied for a job and accordingly, appoint him/her for
specific positions.

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Login
Module
Web Portal

Change password

Module

Create/Edit
User Module

Upload File
Module

Logout Module

View
Received massage

Module

View/Active/Edit

View/Active/Edit
Employers
Modules

Jobseekers Module

About Us

Contact Us

Management

Management

Module

Module

Certification
Management
Module

Job Category
Management
Module

Requirements
Management
Module

Location
Management
Module

News
Management
Module

Skills

License

Management

Management

Module

Business Type
Management
Module

Module

Advertising
Management
Module

Figure 5.7: System Structure for Admin User Module

Figure 5.7 shows that the Admin user has the highest access rights in the system. Once
the admin logins in to the portal using the special username and password he/she can
perform all functions in the portal. Admin can view, edit, control, create and manage
all functions in the system .The portal was designed in such a way that Admin can
easily make changes, add new sections any time. For example, this portal is developed
for undergraduates students of FCSIT but it can be adapted to cater to students of other
degrees, as Admin can make the change in the license management module.

73

If FCSIT decides to add a new major in the faculty, admin can easily make the change.
If companies in the Singapore want to register with the portal and upload their
information on job vacancies, admin can add Singapore to the portal as a new location
using the location management module. Hence, it is clear that one of the most
important features of this portal is that it is a dynamic portal. It means that Admin can
change, add, update, and edit all the features and functions, according to the users
requirements.
5.7.1 Database Design
Database design is one of the main tasks in the design of an information system.
Database design involves the logical design of the database which is used to store data
and manage the data for retrieval. Data integrity, data availability, efficient updating
and retrieval are the main factors which should be considered in designing the
database.
SQL Server 2005 is used as the database management system (DBMS) for the
proposed web portal. SQL Server 2005 has been one of the exciting releases of SQL
Server for many years because of new and applicable features. SQL Server 2005 has
the features which are big improvements from the earlier SQL Server 2000. Microsoft
SQL Server 2005 has been revised to meet the new data management requirements and
to improve performance programmability. Each component in SQL Server 2005 has a
unique architecture and life cycle.
SQL Server 2005 was selected for the database infrastructure because of the following
features:
-

Easy to Install and Manage: SQL Server 2005 can be downloaded very fast
and setting up the user interface (UI) is simple.

74

Rich Database functionality: SQL Server 2005 has the ability to store
procedures, extended indexes, support SQL transactions and good report the
generation facility.

Deep Integration with Visual Studio 2005

Robust Security: Security is one of the prominent features of SQL Server

2005. It implements security by using default settings and supports active
directory.

The database of this portal includes 26 tables, which store information and data in the
system .Table 5.2 shows the list of tables.
Table 5.2: Lists of tables in the portal database

Table1: About Us

Table2: Accounts

Field Name

Data type

Field Name

Data type

Id

Integer

Id

Numeric

Comment

Nvarcahr

Username

Varchar

Password

Varchar

Table 3: Advertising
Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Account Type

Varchar

Account Active

Bit

Description

Varchar

Register Date

Varchar

URL

Varchar

Email

Varchar

PhotoFileName

Varchar

Active

bit

Table 5: Brand Details

Table 4: ApplyOffers
Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

FirstOfferUserName

Varchar

FirstOfferId

LICReshteCode

Varchar

FirstOfferReadStatus

Numeric
Bit

Brand

Varchar

FisrtOfferReciveDate

Varchar

Comment

Varchar

FisrtOfferUserName

Varchar

SecondOfferId

Numeric

Table 7: CompanyInfo
Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

UserName

Varchar

Table 6: Business Type

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int
75

CompanyName

Varchar

BusinessCode

Varchar

BusinessTypeCode

Varchar

BusinessType

Varchar

NOEmployee

Varchar

Country

Varchar

State

Table 8:Contact Us

Varchar

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

WebSite

Varchar

Comment

NVarchar

TurnOver

Varchar

NOffices

Varchar

Profile

Varchar

Table 10: Experiences

Table 9: Customers Info

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

CompanyName

Varchar

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

CompanyTel

Varchar

CompanyFax

Varchar

ExperiencesName

Varchar

IdentifyPerson

Varchar

ExperiencesCode

Varchar

UserName

Varchar

Password

Varchar

Table 12: Job Categories

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

JobCategory
JobCatCode

Table 11: Extra Tools

Varchar

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

Varchar

Comments

Varchar

Table 14: Job Seekers

Table 13: Job Offers

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Usename

Varchar

Usrname

Varchar

Title

Varchar

JobTitle

Varchar

FirstName

Varchar

Role

Varchar

LastName

Varchar

LicenceLevelCode

Varchar

Varchar DateOfBirth

Varchar

CertificationCode

Varchar

PasportNo

Varchar

JobcategoryCode

Varchar

Contry

Varchar

SubJobCategoryCode

Varchar

State

Varchar

MainSkillCode

Varchar

STNo

Varchar

ExperienceCode

Varchar

PhoneNo

Varchar

Salary

Varchar

HowPaySalary

Varchar

JobType

Varchar

Table 15: JobSeekrsResume

Field Name

Data type

76

Id

Numeric

JobStatus

Varchar

Username

CVFile

JobDescription

Varchar

LicnenceLevelCode

varchar

JobOfferAddedDate

Varchar

CerticationCode

varchar

ActiveStatus

Bit

FinishLicenceDate

varchar

CompletedStatus

Bit

varchar

Country

Varchar

MainSkillCode

varchar

State

Varchar

Ability

varchar

StateImportant

Bit

ExperienceCode

varchar

Requirement

Varchar

Salary

varchar

UsefulCourses

Varchar

JobStatus

varchar

CompletedEducation
Status
ResumeAddedDate

Bit

Field Name

Data type

varchar

Id

Int

ActiveStatus

Bit

LicenceLevelCode

varchar

CompletedStatus

Bit

LicenceLevelName

Varchar

ResumeDescription

varchar

Country

varchar

State

SubJoBCAtegoryCo
de

Table 16 : Licence Level

Table 17: LICReshte

varchar

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

StateImportant

Bit

LICReshte

varchar

CVFile

varchar

LiceReshteCode

varchar

Table 18: Location

Table 19: Message

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

LocationCode

varchar

Title

varchar

LocationName

varchar

En_FullName

varchar

En_Comment

varchar

Table 20: News

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Email

varchar

SendDate

varchar

NewsTitle

varchar

ReadStatus

Bit

Description

varchar

AddedDate

varchar

Active

Bit

Table 22: Security

Table 21: Permissions

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

UserName

Nvarchar
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Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

STView

Bit

StSave

Bit

Username

Nvarchar

EMView

Bit

Password

Nvarchar

EMSave

Bit

Active

Bit

EXTFull

Bit

Table 23: Setting

Table 24: Skills

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

Field Name
Id

Data type
Int

EnTitle

Varchr

SkillCode

Varchr

EnMessage

Varchr

SkillName

Varchr

SiteTheme

Varchr

Sitelogo

Varchr

SiteName

Table 25: SubJobCategories

Varchr

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

EnLanActive

Bit

SubCategoryName

Varchr

footerInfo

Varchr

SubCatCode

Varchr

CountROwMessage

Int

JobCatCode

Varchr

ButtomPicFirstpage

Varchr

ChangeLanEnMS

Varchr

newsTitle
MailServer

Table 26: SubLocation

Varchr

Field Name
Id

Data type
Numeric

Varchr

SubLocationCode

Varchr

SubLocationName

Varchr

LocationCode

Varchr

5.7.2 Interface Design

Photoshop is used for the design of the graphics in the interface of the portal. It was
selected because of its simplicity in designing the graphics for web pages. Figure 5.8 is
a screenshot of the web portal home page.

78

Figure 5.8: The Home Page of Portal

The home page will be displayed when users login into the web portal using any
browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. In this page, users can view the
news as last updated. When the general users login into the portal, they have access to
the common services such as information about the courses and majors, the
requirements to fulfill for future jobs, read the news, give suggestions, view the
advertisements, and contact the admin. The general users do not need any username
and password to access the knowledge section of the portal.

79

Figure 5.9: Education Help Page

Figure 5.9 is a screenshot of the Education Help Page. In this page, users can view all
majors in the faculty together with the relevant information about each major. Once a
student selects one of the majors, he can read the study planes (Figure 5.11), which
include information on courses offered in the semester and complete explanation of
each major such as the requirements, qualifications and future jobs suitable for a major
(Figure 5.10) .

80

Figure 5.10: The Description page about a major

Figure 5.11: The Study plans page

81

Figure 5.12: The Requirement page

Figure 5.12 is a screenshot of the Requirement Page relating to a job. This page shows
the type of jobs in computer science and the matching courses to take to handle the
jobs.

Figure 5.13: Give Suggestion Page

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Figure 5.13 is a screenshot of the suggestion page. In this page, students are able to
connect to the admin of the portal; they can fill in a form to make their suggestions and
send to the admin.

2
Figure 5.14: Job Advertising Page

Figure 5.14 is a screenshot of the Job Advertising Page. In the page students can view
the job advertisements that the registered companies had uploaded into the portal. A
big difference between this page and other pages is that the information in this page is
dynamically updated by the companies. It means that when a company uploads the job
vacancies in the portal the students are able view the job vacancies with information on
the title, role, requirements, and courses taken that are relevant to the job, job category
and main skills required. The information in the other pages are uploaded and edited by
admin. Students can also view only limited information about the job vacancies. If the
complete information in an advertisement such as company information is needed, the
students need to register with the portal as jobseekers. The advertisement in this page is
automatically removed when the company has appointed someone to fill the vacancy.

83

This page provides the students to obtain the information about their courses that are
relevant to needs of the industry.
If a user wishes to register in the portal as jobseekers and to have access to the
database, they should select the register hyperlink and fill in a form and provide their
personal information and click on the Submit button. (See Figure 5.15 and Figure 5.16)

Figure 5.15: Registration Page

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Figure 5.16: Register Job Seeker

This information will be sent to admin. Admin checks the information, and then
confirms the registration to activate the username and password. If the username
already exists in the database, the user will receive a message asking him to change the
username. (See the Figure 5.17).

Figure 5.17: The Error message for duplicate username

85

Figure 5.18: Successful new job seeker registration

Once Admin approves and activates the username, jobseekers can login into the portal
and access the relevant control panel (See the Figure 5.18).

Figure 5.19: Jobseeker control panel

When the jobseeker has login into the portal successfully, the control panel will appear,
as shown in Figure 5.19. The user can choose to perform six functions from this page86

security management; profile management; resume management; review apply; search

job; and log out.

Figure 5.20: Change password

Figure 5.20 is a screenshot of Change Password page, if the need arises.

Figure 5.21: Profile Management

87

Figure 5.21 is a screenshot of the Profile Management page. Users can view and edit
their personal information, here.

Figure 5.22: Create Resume

Figure 5.22 is a screenshot of the Create Resume page. In this page, a jobseeker can
create his resume containing information such as license level, date of graduation, the
kind of jobs being sought, part-time or full-time jobs and other abilities and skills. A
user can create more than one resume depending on the type of jobs being sought.

88

Figure 5.23: View and edit resume

Figure 5.23 is a screenshot of the View and edit resume page. In this link the users can
upload his/her CV, here. Jobseekers can also view their resume and update it base on
new information. The file format for uploading can be a Word document, a pdf file or a
picture file. (See the Figure 5.24).

Figure 5.24: Edit the resume and upload CV file

89

Figure 5.25: Review Apply Page

Figure 5.25 is a screenshot of the Review Apply page. In this page, jobseekers can
view the requests from the companies or potential employers. This happens when a
company wants to appoint a jobseeker for a position; the user can view the requests
here and also view the full information of the company (Figure 5.26).

90

Figure 5.26: View company information Page

Figure 5.27: Search for jobs Page

One the main features of the portal is its search facility. Figure 5.27 is the screenshot of
the Search for jobs page. The jobseeker can search the database using keywords
(Figure 5.28) or do advanced search (Figure 5.29) based on license level, certification,
job category, skills, experiences, job title and job status .

91

Figure 5.28: Search for job using Keyword Page

Figure 5.29: Advanced search for job

The last feature is Log out. It allows users to exit from the control panel and return to
the homepage again.
If companies want to connect to the portal to upload their job vacancies, they should
register with the portal, first. The registration process for employers is the same as for
92

jobseekers. They need to fill a form and provide the relevant information, and wait for
confirmation from admin.

Figure 5.30: Employers Registration Page

Figure 5.31: Employer control panel

93

Figure 5.31 is a screenshot of the Employers Control panel. This page contains six
functions for registered companies. The Security management and Profile management
functions allow users (registered companies) to view and change the password, and
edit their profile information, respectively.

Figure 5.32: Job offer management

In the Job offer management, the companies can create the job vacancy postings with
information on the category, certification, and job; they can also type and edit the
posting. A company can create more than one job vacancy postings for users
depending on the requirements.
In the Review apply function; the companies can review the applications of jobseekers.
They can view the jobseekers personal information, resume and CV.

94

Figure 5.33: Review Apply

The search function in the Employer control panel is different from the search function
for jobseekers. Here, employers can search for information on the jobseekers, instead
of the job vacancies. If they find a registered jobseeker who is eligible to fill the
companys vacancy, they will appoint him/her for that position.

Figure 5.34: Admin Login

95

Figure 5.34 is a screenshot of the Admin Login page for the system administrator to
login. After Admin has login, the control panel, as in Figure 5.35 is displayed.

Figure 5.35: Admin control panel

Figures 5.36 - 5.39 show the screenshots of the functions or utilities that can be initiated
from the Admin control panel.
As stated in section 5.5, Admin has the highest access rights and is permitted to view,
edit, and delete all the processes in the portal and all data created by other users in the
portal.

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Figure 5.36: Skills Management Page

Figure 5.37: User management page

97

Figure 5.38: News management page

Figure 5.39: Job management page

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5.8 System Testing

System testing is one of the main phases in the development of the web portal. It is
conducted to ensure that the system runs successfully, satisfies the requirements of the
users, and meets all the objectives. It is also done to remove any bugs or errors in the
system. Testing is done not only at the end of the project but also during the process of
developing the system. System testing refers to how the system should be working and
where errors may be present. It tests the system performance by entering data which
may cause the system to return incorrect results. In this project, every module in the
system is tested iteratively. After unit testing has been completed, all the modules in
the system are integrated to make the whole system which was then subjected to
integrating testing.
5.8.1 Unit Testing
Unit testing is a kind of testing which tests the small or individual unit in the system to
detect errors. In the current system, there are many small units to be tested. For
example, the login module was tested to check whether the system could run
successfully. When a user wants to login into the portal as jobseeker or employer, it
needs to enter the correct username and password. The system will check whether the
username and password entered are correct and have been registered in the system and
confirmed by Admin. If a problem is encountered, the system will display an error
message, Your Username or Password Is Incorrect as shown in Figure 5.40.

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Figure 5.40: Error message displayed

If a valid username and correct password are entered the system will allow the user
into login to the portal and the user can get access to their relevant control panel, as
shown in Figure 5.41 and 5.42.

Figure 5.41: Login to Job Seekers Control Panel

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Figure 5.42: Login to Employers Control Panel

5.8.2 Integration Testing

Integration testing is conducted after unit testing and before system testing. In this
phase, all modules are merged and tested as a whole system. The aim of integration
testing is to test the performance, reliability, requirements and the dependency between
the modules, and also to ensure that each part of the system is supporting the other
parts.
In this project, testing was done on the change profile function involving users who
have registered with the system as jobseekers. When the user login into the web portal,
he or she should be able to read, edit, and update his/her personal information as shown
in Figures 5.43.

101

Figure 5.43: Change information in user control panel

5.8.2 System Testing

After integration testing is completed, system testing is carried out. The system is tested
to ensure that it is working successfully as a whole system. In system testing different
parts of the system are run to test that they perform smoothly.
5.8.4 End User Testing
The final phase in software testing is the end user testing. This is done to evaluate
whether the developed system satisfies the users requirements. It is important to
conduct end user testing before the system is released to the real world because this can
help to identify problems that the target users might face. In addition, any small change
to improve the system might make a big difference to the quality of the system.
Ten fresh graduates from FCSIT were asked to evaluate the system by answering an
evaluation questionnaire, shown in Appendix B. This questionnaire contains seven
questions about different aspects of the system such as the interface, user friendliness,
usability, search facility, performance, and overall satisfaction. The following
summarizes the results of the evaluation:
102

 Interface
The graphic of system such as use of colors, icons, and command buttons, is
important as well as output display in designing the interface. The researcher
had also included all these elements when designing the proposed web portal.
Most of the users agree that the design of the interface is reasonable and they
like it. The researcher has tried to make the new portal as close to the existing
web site of the faculty with regard to the color and the graphics. This could
be one reason why the users accept the system to be user-friendly.

10%
10%
Very Good
20%

60%

Good
Fair
Poor

Figure 5.44: Comments on Interface Design

Usability
A common technique, that can be used to evaluate a system by testing it on
the users, is usability testing. This technique focuses on measuring a humanmade products capacity to meet its intended purpose. The results indicate
that the users are satisfied with the system as 90% confirmed that the system
can help them in choosing the major according to their intended future career.
It means that users view the system as a knowledge portal.

103

 Search Facility
The search facility in the knowledge system with the updated information
helps the users to save a lot of time for finding information. This portal
provides search facilities for jobseekers who have registered. The new portal
has two search methods to allow the jobseekers to retrieve information from
the database. The registered users in the portal can access the job vacancies
posted in the portal and access the information of the companies through the
keywords search or search for information like job category, full-time or parttime job through the advanced search method. Thus, the users can find the
exact data that they need and can save time, also. It is not surprising that 80
% of respondents stated that the searching facility in the system is really
helpful for finding the required job vacancies.
Performance
In the computer science, performance testing is used to determine the speed
or effectiveness of the software. This portal was designed to help the students
in choosing the major relevant to their intended future career, and also to help
the fresh graduates in finding jobs in the IT industry. Figure 5.46 shows that
70% of the users stated that the performance of the system is very good; 20%
said that it was good; and 10% said that it is fair.

104

80%

70%

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%

20%

20%

10%

10%

0%

0%
Very Good

Good

Fair

Poor

Figure 5.45: Comments on system performance

Satisfaction
Users satisfaction with a system is very important. In the evaluation, only
10% of the end-users surveyed stated that they are not satisfied with the
system, while 90% of end-users said that they are satisfied.

10%

90%

Figure 5.46: Users Satisfaction of Portal

105

5.9 Conclusions
In developing the portal, care was taken to incorporate all the good features
considered in the earlier chapters, and the users requirements identified from the
survey. The system, however, can be further enhanced by adding new features. It should
be noted; however, that the developed portal has addressed the following issues:
a) Achieved the research objectives.
b) It provides online recruitment through the knowledge management system for
the students in the faculty.
c) Provides enough information to help the students to choose the major and to find
jobs.
d) Promotes a new relationship between the faculty and the industry.
Although the research objectives have been achieved, the portal can be further
improved in future, by adding new features and services such as chat facility or
reporting facility.
Most of the users claimed that the new portal is very user-friendly, has high
performance, and is informative.
It provides information for new students of the faculty who need help about selecting
courses and major, and for senior students who are interested to know about the
industry requirements for jobseeker. In this way, the portal has established a link
between the fresh graduates and their potential employers.
This system has achieved the aim to be a single gateway for information sharing, as
well as a dynamic link between students, faculty and the industry.

106

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION

6.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the findings and conclusions of the whole research which
include the outcome, system strengths and limitations and future work to the
undertaken.

6.2 Outcomes of the Research

The first objective of the research is to understand the meaning, features and
categories of web portals as a knowledge management system. This objective had been
achieved through the literature review, which provided knowledge on the components
of web portals like the significance of portals, the various kinds of portals and the vital
role that the portals play as a link between the students and the faculty.
The second objective is to identify the needs of students to be built into a knowledge
management system with update information. The students requirements have been
identified through the finding of the questionnaire surveys.
The third objective is to develop a web portal for FCSIT has been achieved in chapter
five. A web portal has been successfully developed to provide students with information
on choosing courses, majors and seeking for jobs. Based on the survey, most of the
students confirmed that one of the big problems they faced when they enter the faculty
was choosing the major and the related courses. They lack knowledge about the
difference between choosing majors and choosing courses relevant to the majors; they
believe that the right selection of major can have a big impact on their future career.
The knowledge system developed is able to provide the enough information about
courses offered, the majors in the faculty and their relevance to future career.

107

This portal also acts as an on-line recruitment system, with links to the industry to allow
IT companies to upload their job vacancies in to the portal. In this way, the students can
obtain enough information to make good decisions regarding their studied and their
future career. Thus, objectives four, five and six of the research have been achieved.
Beside the surveys, the researcher collected information from journal articles, books,
and Internet to support the objectives. During this study, the researcher also had visited
many university portals to analyze and compare their features.
After passing different stages from literature review, done the survey and collected the
requirements, the author developed the portal and evaluated it with ten end users.
In general, hopefully this research has achieved all the objectives that were expressed
in the first chapter of this thesis.

6.3 System Strengths

The researcher challenged various issues to develop a system for responding some
problems that the students are facing them in the Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology. The main aim of the research is to develop a web portal,
which caters for various types of users in FCSIT and is easy to use. The advantages of
the new portal are as follows:
i) Achieve the main targets of the research
This portal, developed for the undergraduate students has, two main targets: firstly, to
give students clear information on all available majors and courses in the faculty, and
what the industry needs for the students to be employed. The new portal has addresses
the aims.
ii)

Standard content, services and display

In comparison with other job portals, the new system has the most number of
common services throughout all the modules. The researcher had taken much care to

108

standardize the contents to make the system easier to use and make it more efficient.
Furthermore, the graphics are displayed fast, even with low speed internet connection.
iii) High level management and flexibility
As it mentioned in chapter five, the admin has the highest access rights in the portal.
The manager of the system, not only can control and manage all sections and
activities in the portal, but he can also change, add more features to the system
without the need to change the code structure of the portal. For example, if the faculty
decides to generalize the system for students from other faculties or add employers
from other countries, the admin can meet this new request from the admin control
panel, easily.

6.4 System Limitations

It is clear, that every system has some weaknesses and drawbacks. Perhaps, the
system cannot satisfy all users requirement as an online recruitment system. The
researcher has identified the main limitations in this study, as follows:
i)

Limited services

By comparing the new portal with the well-known job portals such as jobstreet.com or
jobsdb.com, the researcher believes the developed portal can be further improved with
additional services. For example, there are various tests in some job portals that can
determine the abilities of jobseekers like the test to assess the level of English
proficiency. The results of these tests can be sent to the employers directly. This service
is available in jobstreet.com. In jobstreet.com if the users want to send their resume to
the employers, they have to take this test, first. In addition, the researcher believes that
the system needs extra features to amplify the communication between the users and
the portal such as embedding an alert service into the portal. For example, Jobsdb.com
makes it possible for its users to send updated information and job vacancies to the
registered job seekers every night, based on users resume and skills.
109

6.5 Future Work

This research had focused on improving the education environment in FCSIT and
tried to reduce some problems that existed in the FCSIT by developing a knowledge
system that also acts as a job portal. It can be said that the main goal of this portal is
to attempt to produce the right graduates based on the industry needs. Thus, this portal
can be more beneficial with further enhancements the services and features. The
author divided the future enhancement of this system into three areas of
improvements, as follows:
Graphic improvements: The design of the interfaces needs to be improved to
make the interface more interesting and attractive.
Contents improvements: Enhancements of the contents, for example by adding
online learning classes: this feature can increase the quality of the educational
section in the portal. The portal can coordinate with online accredited institutions to
host online educational courses related the computer science and award certification
also. The students can take advantage of this facility and improve their knowledge
and skills. In addition, the portal can add a reporting facility to show various
statistics pertaining to efficiency, usage and users satisfaction. Such facilities will
encourage the users to use the system and strengthen the relationship between the
faculty and the students.
Technical improvements
The other enhancement that can be added to the portal is to link it to other university
portals or other job portals to share information. Through this cooperation with other
portals students can benefit from the greater amount of useful information .The
researcher hopes to obtain an obvious view from the advantage of e-recruitment on
improving the education environment in the universities.

110

6.6 Conclusion
This chapter presents a summary of the results from the current research. It listed
the fundamental points which make this study, briefly. As s conclusion, the objectives
of the research have been achieved. The main aim of this study is to develop a web
portal for FCSIT to share knowledge with the students to assist them in choosing
courses, major and to find jobs relevant to their qualification. The quantitative method
was used and the questionnaire forms distributed to collect the data and students
requirement. The system was developed and then evaluated by the end users
successfully.

111

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114

APPENDIX A
QUESTIONNAIRES
Questionnaire 1
Dear students:
Thanks for your participation in this questionnaire.
The purpose of this questionnaire is to elicit your idea about the following issue:
What are the most important factors and problems in selecting major and courses for the
students at FCSIT and how much does the FCSIT web portal can be useful for students in
providing information relating to the students majors.
Part 1: Personal Information
1-Age
18-23

23-29

30>

2-Nationality
Local

International

3-Gender
Male

Female

4-In which programs are you study?

Bachelor of Computer System and Networking
Bachelor of Software Engineering
Bachelor of Management Information & System
Bachelor of Artificial Intelligence
Bachelor of Multimedia
Bachelor of Management

5-In Which Year?

Year One

Year Two

Year Tree

Part 2: Ways of selecting major

6-How do you decide on selecting the major that is suitable for you?
Your background knowledge
Ask lectures

Ask friends and their experiences

Search from internet

Just select one because I need to

others

7- What is the most difficult problem in selecting a major in FCSIT?

115

Lake of consulting session

No system available to get information
Academic advisor not helpful

Shortage of information at the website

No one to refer to him/her
Other

8- How would you like to get information about the major or courses?
Search in the internet
Discuss with other students

consulting session
other

9-How do you currently obtain needed information about the courses that is
important for your career later?
Friends

Lecturers

Internet

No sufficient resources

10-Do you think it is important for students to know the different kinds of job
available in the industry before selecting the major?

Yes

No

11- Do you think that the selected major will affect your prospective job in the
future?
Yes

No

Part 3: Intention to use of the web portal

A web portal is a web site with a highlighted feature: provides quick access to
information, personal services and search service. It is sharing information and resources
on the internet as a single point or gate way.
12- Have you ever visited the web portal of FCSIT?
Yes

No

13- Have you used the Web portal of FCSIT when you want to select the courses or
major?

Yes

No

14-How long do you typically spend on the portal site of faculty each time you visit
it? (Please circle one)
15 minutes 30 minutes
1 hour less than 2 hours

30 minutes 1 hour
2 hours less than 3 hours

15-In a typical week, how many times do you use web portal of faculty?
(Please circle one)

time

2 times

3 times

4 times
116

16-On which of the following matters have you visited portal of FCSIT?
Getting the last news
Checking the emails

Obtain information regarding the courses

Other, please explain

17- How informative is the portal of faculty?

Excellent
Fair

Good
Poor

18-Does web portal of faculty make it easier to find what you want?
Yes
No
Part 4: How do you find the FCSIT web portal?
19- Is there sufficient information about courses and majoring on the FCSIT
portal?
Yes
No
20- Is there any information about the ICT jobs available on the FCSIT portal?

Yes

No

21- Does the portal of faculty help you in regard to choosing your courses?
Yes

No

22-Doses the portals of faculty help you in order to choose your major?
Yes

No

23-Doses the portal of faculty help you in order to select a full or part time job?
Yes

No

24- If you are given the opportunity to improve the FCSIT web portal, what would you
suggest?

Information service

Personal service

Search service

25- FCSIT portal on the Internet brings students closer to faculty

By making it easier to find information
By providing better service
By making it easier for students to communicate their views to lectures
By providing students to find the job
117

26-Do you have any additional comments about web portal of faculty to be closer
as a knowledge sharing system and information portal?

27- If the FCSIT portal is going to be updated, what features would you like to
add on it?

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING!

118

Questionnaire 2
Dear students, thanks for your participation in this questionnaire.
The purpose of this questionnaire is to elicit your idea about the following issue:
What are the most important factors and problems for FCSIT students in finding a suitable
job after graduation and how much the job portal can help them to find and search related
ICT job vacancies .
Part 1: Personal Information
1-Age
18-23

23-29

30>

2-Nationality
Local

International

3-Gender
Male

Female

4-In which programs are you study?

Bachelor of Computer System and Networking
Bachelor of Software Engineering
Bachelor of Management Information & System
Bachelor of Artificial Intelligence
Bachelor of Multimedia
Bachelor of Management

Part 2: Ways of finding job

5-How do you search for a job?
Employment recruitment agencies
Advertising in the mass media such as newspapers
Review the job announcement
Online recruitment agency like www.jobstreet.com

6-What is the most difficult problem in finding a suitable job?

Impossible to find information
Not enough related knowledge

limited job vacancies for fresh graduate

Not enough related experiences
119

7-Do you think that the selected major will affect your prospective job in the
future?
Yes

NO

8-Do you think it is important for students to know the different kinds of job
available in the industry?

Yes

No

9-How would you like to get information about the job vacancies?
Public media such as newspaper
Online website

Job agencies
Email or SMS

10-How do you currently gain the abilities and knowledge about the job that is
important for your career?
Impossible to find information before starting a job
By the coursed passed during studying

By the training classes

Other ways

Part 3: Using job portal for searching job

Job Portals are a kind of web portal that list job offers for all skills and in various fields
such as jobstreet.com. Also, specialized job portal offer job opportunities for specific
section, such as computer science, accenting, tourism, etc.
11-Are you aware of the availability of web sites and job portals that set up by
different organization to deal with all matters related to job finding?
Yes

No

12- Have you ever used a public job portal like jobstreet.com? (Please circle one)
Yes

No

13-Please indicate your level of experience with using job searching web sites:
No experience

some experience

Experienced

14-Are the on-line job sites helpful for finding job?

Yes

No

15-Have you had any negative experiences in any of your dealings with job
portals?
Yes

No
120

16-How can job portals help you to find a good job vacancy?
Convenient to search
Easy to access information

Save time
Others

17-How informative is the job portal?

Excellent
Fair

Good
Poor

18-How often do you utilize the job sites for searching a job?
Most of the time
Seldom

Often
Not at all

19-Job portals are useful for people:

By making it easier to find information about job available position
By providing better service (service that is convenient to use and reliable)
By providing better search
By making it easier for people to communicate with employers
20-Which job portals do you visit more often than others?
www.jobstreet.com
ww.jawatankosong.com.my
www.my-hr.net

www.job.com.my
www.jobs2u.com.my

21-What do you like MOST about having access to job opportunities and
information about jobs on the internet?
Easy search the job positions
Save time

Easy access to information

Save money

22-Do you think sharing information and knowledge via web portals will be useful
source of linkage with employers?

Yes

No

23-Do you think there is adequate information for finding job with public job
portals?
Yes
No

Part 4: How do you find the FCSIT web portal?

24-Have you visit the web portal of FCSIT when searching job?
Yes

No
121

25- Is there enough information about the ICT jobs available on the FCSIT portal?
Yes

No

26- Do you prefer that the portal of faculty acts as a job portal in order to help
the graduates for finding job?
Yes

No

27- If you are given the opportunity to improve the FCSIT web portal, what would
you suggest?

Information service

Personal service

Search service

28-FCSIT portal on the Internet brings students closer to faculty

By making it easier to find information
By providing better service
By making it easier for students to communicate their views to lectures.
By providing students find job after graduation

29-If you are given the opportunity to improve the FCSIT portal as a job portal, what
would you suggest?

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING!

122

APPENDIX B
EVALUATION FORM

Dear Respondents:
This system is acting as a knowledge portal which is designing for FSKTM to support
the students in finding the suite job after graduation .This portal also helps to the
students in choosing the courses and major with getting a feedback of their future work
according the industry needs .This form includes seven questions to evaluate this portal.
Thank you for your valuable time.

Name:

Department:

1- How do you think about interface design?

a. Very Good

b. Good

c. Fair

d. Poor

2-Do you think whether system is user friendly?

a. Yes

b. No

3- Is this portal helpful to select the courses and major according to your career?
a. Yes

b. Not exactly

c. Not at all

4- Is this portal helpful for searching job?

a. Yes

b. Not exactly

c. Not at all

5- Overall, how do you think about the performance of the web portal?
a. Very Good

b. Good

c. Fair

d. Poor

6- Are you satisfied with this web portal?

a. Yes

b. No

123

7- In general, is the system useful for students?

a. Very Good

b. Good

c. Fair

d. Poor

8- Do you have any suggestion to increase the quality of the system?

Thank You

124

APPENDIX C
Responses of Questionnaire 1
Respondent/
Question

Q1
18-23

Q2
Local

Q3

Q4

Q5

Q6

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year tree

friends

Year one

friends

18-23

Local

Male

Management Information &

System

18-23

Local

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year tree

friends

23-29

International

Female

Artificial Intelligence

Year two

internet

18-23

International

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year one

friends

23-29

Local

Male

Management

Year tree

internet

Female

Management Information &

System

Year tree

background
knowledge

18-23

International

18-23

International

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year one

internet

18-23

Local

Male

Software Engineering

Year one

others

10

18-23

Local

Male

Management

Year tree

others

11

18-23

Local

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year tree

friends

12
13
14
15
16
17

18-23
18-23
18-23
18-23
18-23
18-23

Local
Local
Local
Local
Local
Local

Male
Male
Male
Female
Male
Female

Computer System & Networking

Computer System & Networking
Computer System & Networking
Computer System & Networking
Computer System & Networking
Computer System & Networking

Year tree
Year tree
Year tree
Year tree
Year tree
Year tree

friends
others
others

18

18-23

Local

Female

Management

Year two

19

18-23

Local

Female

Software Engineering

Year tree

20

18-23

Local

Male

Software Engineering

Year tree

Year two
Year two
Year two

lectures
friends
background
knowledge
internet
background
knowledge
background
knowledge
lectures
friends
friends

Software Engineering

Year two

others

Female

Software Engineering

Year two

others

Male

Software Engineering

Year two

others

Year tree

background
knowledge

21

18-23

Local

Male

22
23
24

18-23
18-23
18-23

Local
Local
Local

Female
Male
Female

Management Information &

System
Software Engineering
Computer System & Networking
Software Engineering

25

18-23

Local

Male

26

18-23

Local

27

18-23

Local

28

23-29

Local

knowledge

Male

Artificial Intelligence

Year two

29

18-23

Local

Male

Software Engineering

Year one

friends

30

18-23

Local

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year tree

friends

Q7
Shortage information on the
web site
No system for getting
information
No system for getting
information
Lake of consulting
No system for getting
information
Shortage information on the
web site
No refer
Shortage information on the
web site
Shortage information on the
web site
No refer
Shortage information on the
web site
Other
Lake of consulting
Other
No refer
No refer
Lake of consulting
Shortage information on the
web site
Other
Shortage information on the
web site
Shortage information on the
web site
No refer
Other
Lake of consulting
No system for getting
information
No system for getting
information
No system for getting
information
Lake of consulting
No system for getting
information
No refer

Q8

Q9

Search internet

Friends

Discuss with others

Friends

Consulting session

Lectures

Consulting session

No
resources

Consulting session

Internet

Search internet

Internet

Consulting session

Internet

Search internet

Internet

Search internet

Lectures

Discuss with others

Lectures

Discuss with others

Friends

Search internet
Discuss with others
Search internet
Discuss with others
Consulting session
Consulting session

Internet
Internet
Internet
Friends
Internet
Friends

Search internet

Friends

Others

Internet

Discuss with others

Internet

Discuss with others

Lectures

Search internet
Consulting session
Discuss with others

Lectures
Friends
Friends
No
resources

Consulting session
Search internet

Internet

Others

Internet

Search internet

Lectures

Consulting session

Lectures

Consulting session

Friends

125

Respondent
/Question

Q1

Q2

Q3

31

18-23

Local

Male

32

18-23

Local

Male

33

18-23

Local

Female

34

18-23

Local

Female

35

18-23

Local

Male

36

18-23

Local

Female

37

18-23

Local

Female

Q4
Computer System & Networking

Q5

Q6

Year tree

background
knowledge

Year two

friends

Year one

others

Year tree

Discuss with others

Internet

Other

Consulting session

Lectures

friends

Lake of consulting

Discuss with others

Friends

Year two

others

Lake of consulting

Consulting session

Internet

Software Engineering

Year two

friends

Shortage information on the

web site

Search internet

No
resources

Software Engineering

Year two

Lake of consulting

Discuss with others

Friends

Lake of consulting

Search internet

Friends

Lake of consulting

Search internet

Friends

Lake of consulting

Search internet

Friends

Discuss with others

Internet

Consulting session

Friends

Search internet

Lectures

Search internet
Consulting session

Internet
Internet

Discuss with others

Lectures

Search internet

Lectures

Discuss with others

Search internet

Search internet

Friends
Friends
No
resources
Internet

Lake of consulting

Search internet

Lectures

No system for getting

information

Consulting session

Friends

Lake of consulting

Search internet

Internet

Lake of consulting

Discuss with others

Friends

No refer

Discuss with others

Friends

Lake of consulting

Consulting session

No
resources

Search internet

Internet

Discuss with others

Search internet

Lectures
Friends

Management Information &

System
Management Information &
System
Management Information &
System
Management Information &
System

Year two

friends

Software Engineering

Year two

friends

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year tree

friends

International

Male

Management

Year tree

others

18-23
18-23

International
International

Male
Female

Artificial Intelligence
Multimedia

Year tree
Year tree

internet
friends

46

18-23

International

Female

Multimedia

Year tree

friends

47

18-23

International

Female

Management

Year tree

others

48
49

18-23
18-23

International
International

Female
Female

Multimedia
Multimedia

Year two
Year two

50

18-23

International

Male

Management

Year two

51

18-23

Local

Male

Management

Year tree

52

18-23

Local

Male

Management

Year two

friends
internet
background
knowledge
others
background
knowledge

Local

Female

18-23

Local

Male

40

18-23

Local

Male

41

18-23

Local

Male

42

18-23

International

43

30<

44
45

53

18-23

International

Male

Q9
Friends

Year two

18-23

39

Q8
Others

background
knowledge
background
knowledge
lectures

38

Q7
Shortage information on the
web site
No system for getting
information

Management Information &

System
Software Engineering
Management Information &
System

Software Engineering

Year two

Year one

friends
background
knowledge
others
background
knowledge

54

18-23

Local

Female

Multimedia

Year tree

55

18-23

Local

Female

Computer System & Networking

Year two

56

18-23

Local

Male

Computer System & Networking

Year two

57

18-23

Local

Female

Multimedia

Year tree

as need

58

18-23

Local

Male

Management

Year two

friends

59
60

18-23
18-23

Local
Local

Female
Male

Management
Management

Year two
Year two

friends
as need

Shortage information on the

web site
Lake of consulting
No system for getting
information
Lake of consulting
Lake of consulting
No system for getting
information
Shortage information on the
web site
Lake of consulting
No refer
No system for getting
information
No refer

No system for getting

information
Other
Other

Consulting session

126

Respondent/
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Q10
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Q11
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Q12
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Q13
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

Q14
15 min-30 min
30min-1hours
30min-1hours
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
30min-1hours
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
30min-1hours
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min

Q15
2
2
4
1
4
1
1
2
1
1
1
4
4
1
3
2
1
2
1
2
1
3
1
1
1
3
2
2
2
4

Q16
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
checking emails
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Getting news
checking emails
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Getting news
checking emails
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news

Q17
Fair
Good
Fair
Good
Good
Poor
Good
Good
Good
Good
Fair
Good
Fair
Good
Fair
Fair
Fair
Good
Fair
Poor
Fair
Good
Good
Poor
Poor
Good
Fair
Fair
Fair
Poor

Q18
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No

127

Respondent/
Question
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

Q10
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Q11
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Q12
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Q13
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No

Q14
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
30min-1hours
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
30min-1hours
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min
15 min-30 min

Q15
2
2
2
2
1
1
3
1
3
2
1
3
1
3
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1

Q16
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
checking emails
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
checking emails
Getting news
Others
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
Getting news
checking emails
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Obtain courses information
Getting news
Obtain courses information
Others
Obtain courses information
checking emails
Getting news

Q17
Fair
Fair
Fair
Good
Fair
Fair
Fair
Excellent
Good
Poor
Fair
Good
Good
Good
Good
Excellent
Poor
Good
Fair
Good
Poor
Fair
Fair
Fair
Fair
Fair
Fair
Good
Good
Good

Q18
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No

128

Respondent/
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Q19
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No

Q20
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No

Q21
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No

Q22
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No

Q23
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No

Q24
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Search Service
Information Service
Search Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Search Service
Search Service
Personal Service
Personal Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Personal Service

Q25
find information
better services
find information
better services
better services
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
find information
better services
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
better services
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
find information
find information
find information
better services
find information
find job
better services
better services
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
better services
find information

129

Respondent/
Question

Q19

Q20

Q21

Q22

Q23

Q24

Q25

31

No

No

No

No

No

Information Service

better services

32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No

No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No

Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No

No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Search Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Personal Service
Information Service
Information Service
Search Service
Information Service
Personal Service
Search Service

find information
communicate with lectures
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
find information
better services
find information
find information
find information
find job
find information
find information
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
better services
communicate with lectures
find information
better services
find information
communicate with lectures
find information
find information
better services
find job
find information
better services
find information

130

APPENDIX D
Responses of Questionnaire 2
Respondent/
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Q1
18-23
30<
23-29
18-23
23-29
23-29
18-23
23-29
18-23
18-23
23-29
18-23
23-29
23-29
23-29
23-29
23-29
23-29
18-23
18-23
18-23
18-23
18-23
23-29
23-29
23-29
18-23
18-23
18-23
23-29

Q2
Local
International
International
Local
Local
International
International
Local
Local
International
International
Local
International
International
International
International
Local
Local
Local
Local
Local
Local
International
International
International
International
International
International
International
International

Q3
Female
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male
Female
Female
Male
Male
Female
Male
Male
Male
Female
Male
Female
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Male
Female
Female
Female
Female
Male
Male

Q4
2
3
1
3
0
3
0
1
2
1
0
1
3
1
2
2
2
1
2
0
2
3
0
0
1
0
1
3
3
2

Q5
Employment agencies
Employment agencies
Employment agencies
Employment agencies
Employment agencies
Employment agencies
Advertising
Advertising
Job announcement
Job announcement
Job announcement
Job announcement
Job announcement
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment
Online recruitment

Q6
Not enough knowledge
Not enough experience
Limited job vacancies
Impossible to find
Impossible to find
Limited job vacancies
Impossible to find
Impossible to find
Not enough knowledge
Limited job vacancies
Not enough experience
Limited job vacancies
Impossible to find
Not enough experience
Not enough knowledge
Impossible to find
Not enough experience
Not enough experience
Impossible to find
Not enough experience
Not enough experience
Impossible to find
Limited job vacancies
Not enough knowledge
Not enough experience
Limited job vacancies
Limited job vacancies
Limited job vacancies
Impossible to find
Not enough knowledge

Q7
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes

Q8
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Q9
online websites
job agencies
job agencies
online websites
Email or sms
online websites
online websites
online websites
online websites
online websites
job agencies
Email or sms
job agencies
online websites
online websites
job agencies
online websites
online websites
Email or sms
Email or sms
online websites
online websites
Email or sms
online websites
Email or sms
Email or sms
online websites
job agencies
job agencies
online websites

131

Respondent/
Question
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Q10
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes

Q11
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Q12
online websites
job agencies
job agencies
online websites
Email or sms
online websites
online websites
online websites
online websites
online websites
job agencies
Email or sms
job agencies
online websites
online websites
job agencies
online websites
online websites
Email or sms
Email or sms
online websites
online websites
Email or sms
online websites
Email or sms
Email or sms
online websites
job agencies
job agencies
online websites

Q13
courses
courses
courses
Impossible to find
Impossible to find
Training class
Training class
Impossible to find
Impossible to find
Training class
Others
Training class
Training class
Others
Training class
Training class
courses
courses
Training class
Training class
Training class
courses
Impossible to find
Training class
Training class
Training class
courses
Training class
Impossible to find
Training class

Q14
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Q15
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

Q16
Convenient Search
Easy to access
Convenient Search
Save time
Convenient Search
Convenient Search
Convenient Search
Easy to access
Convenient Search
Convenient Search
Save time
Convenient Search
Easy to access
Convenient Search
Save time
Save time
Easy to access
Convenient Search
Convenient Search
Save time
Save time
Convenient Search
Save time
Save time
Easy to access
Easy to access
Easy to access
Save time
Easy to access
Easy to access

Q17
Good
Excellent
fair
fair
Excellent
Good
fair
Good
Excellent
Good
fair
fair
Good
Good
Excellent
Good
Excellent
Good
Good
Good
fair
Excellent
Good
Good
Good
Good
Good
Excellent
Good
Good

Q18
Seldom
Most of time
Seldom
Seldom
Most of time
Seldom
Seldom
Often
Seldom
Seldom
Seldom
Seldom
Seldom
Most of time
Seldom
Most of time
Often
Often
Often
Often
Often
Seldom
Seldom
Seldom
Often
Often
Often
Most of time
Most of time
Seldom

132

Respondent
/Question
1

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

providing better service

communicate with
employers

Q19

Q20

Q21

Q22

Q23

Q24

Q25

Q26

Q28

Q27

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Personal Service

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Personal Service

www.jobstreet.com

save time
easy access to
information
easy search

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Search Service

better service
easier to find
information
find job

www.jobstreet.com

easy search

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Search Service

find job

providing better service

www.jobstreet.com

easy search

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Information Service

better search

www.jobstreet.com

save money

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Search Service

communicate with
employers

www.job.com.my

save time

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Personal Service

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Information Service

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

No
Yes

No
No

Yes
Yes

Information Service
Search Service

communicate with
lectures
communicate with
lectures
better service

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

9
10

providing better service

Easier to find information

www.jobs2u.com.my
www.jobstreet.com

easy access to
information
save time
easy search

11

better search

www.jobs2u.com.my

save money

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Information Service

12

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

save time

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Personal Service

13

better search
communicate with
employers

www.jobstreet.com

easy search
easy access to
information

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Search Service

easier to find
information
better service
find job
easier to find
information
easier to find
information
better service

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Information Service

find job

15

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

easy search

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Information Service

16

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Information Service

17

better search

www.job.com.my

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Information Service

18

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

easy search

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Information Service

19

better search

www.job.com.my

easy search

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Information Service

www.jawatankosong.co
m.my
www.job.com.my
www.jobs2u.com.my
www.jobstreet.com
www.jobstreet.com

save time

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Information Service

21
22
23
24

communicate with
employers
providing better service
better search
better search
employers

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes
No
Yes
No

Yes
No
Yes
Yes

Yes
No
Yes
No

Yes
Yes
Yes
No

Information Service
Search Service
Information Service
Search Service

25

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Information Service

26

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Search Service

find job

27

providing better service

www.jobstreet.com

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Information Service

28

Easier to find information

www.jobstreet.com

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Information Service

29
30

Easier to find information

better search

www.jobs2u.com.my
www.jobstreet.com

easy search
easy search
save time
easy search
easy access to
information
easy access to
information
easy search
easy access to
information
easy search
easy search

Yes
Yes

Yes
No

No
No

No
No

Yes
Yes

Information Service
Search Service

find job
easier to find
information
find job
better service

14

20

www.job.com.my

easy access to
information
easy access to
information

easier to find
information
easier to find
information
find job
easier to find
information
easier to find
information
easier to find
information
better service
find job
better service
with lectures
easier to find
information

133