VIVA VOCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

IN
KULLIYAH OF ENGINEERING

MARWAN SHUHAIMI 1128939

FINAL YEAR PROJECT 2

SUPERVISOR: DR. AFIDALINA TUMIAN

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER

ENGINEERING

KULLIYYAH OF ENGINEERING

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

JANUARY 2016
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated.

I also declare that is has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other

degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Marwan bin Shuhaimi (11128939)

............................................................. Date: 25 January, 2016

 APPROVAL PAGE

I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to

acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate in scope and quality, as

Final Year Project as partial fulfillment for a degree of Bachelor in Engineering (Computer and

Information Engineering) (Honours).

................................................

[ Dr. Afidalina Tumian]

Supervisor

................................................

[ Dr. Mohamed Hadi Habaebi]

Examiner 1

................................................

[Dr. Malik Arman Morshidi]

Examiner 2

ii
 ABSTRACT

Manual filing system using the cabinet as a medium to store records nowadays is becoming

less important, as it is not efficient and creates latency in works. Thus, this project is developed

to overcome this problem. This project is about designing and developing a web-based

management system for post graduate unit in Kulliyyah of engineering. This system was

developed by using open source software MySQL, PHP and Apache server through XAMPP.

A research about the requirements has been done before the design and implementation. The

system database was managed through phpMyAdmin and testing it with PHP script in a web

browser. This system is a custom system created especially for the post graduate unit in

Kulliyyah of engineering. All the basic features of a database management system should have

are included. This system can help the unit to work more efficient, and more productive in

terms of time optimization.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillah to the greatest Allah s.w.t for giving us patience and the courage to finish

this project. Thousands of appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Afidalina Tumian for the

guidance and support during the project development. I am deeply inadequate to thank her, for

her encouragement, suggestions and constructive comments, during the completion of this

project. I also would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Sulong and Mr. Noryussaini Sahak,

for helping in understanding web development and the coding, and also to my beloved family

for their support and encouragement while doing our project.

Finally, I would like to thank to my friends who have contributed their ideas, suggestion,

criticism, equipment and materials for this project.

Special thanks to all of you.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ............................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE ..........................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. v

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ viii

LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................ix

CHAPTER 1 ..................................................................................................... 1

1.1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 1

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ......................................................................................... 1

1.3 OBJECTIVE................................................................................................................ 2

1.4 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 2

1.5 REPORT LAYOUT ORGANIZATION ..................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................................................... 4

2.1 OVERVIEW................................................................................................................ 4

2.2 FACULTY INFORMATION SYSTEM ..................................................................... 4

2.3 EXAMINER DUTY’S SCHEDULE .......................................................................... 6

2.4 FYP ONLINE SYSTEM ............................................................................................. 8

2.5 SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 11

v
CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................... 12

3.1 OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................. 12

3.2 COMMUNICATION AND REQUIREMENTS IDENTIFICATION ..................... 13

3.2.1 Requirements ..................................................................................................... 13

3.3 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................ 18

3.3.1 Examiners’ Management ................................................................................... 19

3.3.2 Management of Thesis Evaluation..................................................................... 20

3.3.3 Conduction of Viva Voce .................................................................................. 21

3.4 DEVELOMENT TOOLS.......................................................................................... 22

3.4.1 XAMPP .............................................................................................................. 22

3.4.2 MySQL Database ............................................................................................... 25

3.4.3 phpMyAdmin ..................................................................................................... 25

3.4.4 PHP .................................................................................................................... 26

3.5 DATABASE DESIGN .............................................................................................. 26

3.5.1 Database for admin ............................................................................................ 26

3.5.2 Database for examiners ...................................................................................... 27

3.5.3 Database for Management of Thesis Evaluation ............................................... 28

3.6 SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 28

CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................... 29

4.1 RESULTS.................................................................................................................. 29

4.1.1 Login page ......................................................................................................... 29

vi
 4.1.2 Admin Homepage .............................................................................................. 30

4.1.3 Admin Page ........................................................................................................ 31

4.1.4 Examiners Page .................................................................................................. 32

4.1.5 Thesis Evaluation Page ...................................................................................... 32

4.2 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................... 35

5.1 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK.................................................................. 35

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 36

APPENDIX A ................................................................................................. 37

APPENDIX B ................................................................................................. 38

APPENDIX C ................................................................................................. 44

vii
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Solution and the technology used (Christian, 2014, p. 3). ............................ 8

Table 2.2: FYP Procedure (Abdul Mutholib, 2011). ................................................... 10

Table 2.3: Classification of users (Abdul Mutholib, 2011). ........................................ 10

Table 3.1: User and privileges for this application ...................................................... 13

Table 3.2: Viva Voce Management System ................................................................ 14

Table 3.3: Examiner report sample .............................................................................. 16

Table 4.1: Button Symbol and the description............................................................. 31

viii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: FIS design in block diagram (Geanne, 2015) .............................................. 5

Figure 2.2: RAD approach (Geanne, 2015) ................................................................... 5

Figure 2.3: XDSched block diagram for website management system (Christian,

2014). ............................................................................................................................. 7

Figure 2.4: XDSched mobile application and website relation block diagram

(Christian, 2014). ........................................................................................................... 7

Figure 2.5: Comparison between RAD and Traditional development methodology

(Abdul Mutholib, 2011). ................................................................................................ 9

Figure 3.1: Waterfall Model (Pressman, Software Engineering: Practitioner's

Approach 7th Edition, 2009, p. 39).............................................................................. 12

Figure 3.2: Initialize Database of Examiners ............................................................... 19

Figure 3.3: Management of thesis Evaluation ............................................................. 20

Figure 3.4: Conducting VIVA VOCE ......................................................................... 21

Figure 3.5: XAMPP homepage .................................................................................... 22

Figure 3.6: php MyAdmin login page.......................................................................... 23

Figure 3.7: htdocs (all web development coding are stored here) ............................... 23

Figure 3.8: Database, Web server and phpMyAdmin details ...................................... 24

Figure 3.9 phpMyAdmin page after logged in............................................................. 25

Figure 3.10 – 1: User’s table. ....................................................................................... 25

Figure 3.10 – 2: Departments’ table. ........................................................................... 26

Figure 3.11 – 1: Examiners’ Table. ............................................................................. 25

Figure 3.11 – 2: Nations’ Table. .................................................................................. 25

Figure 3.11 – 3: Pdf’s Table. ....................................................................................... 25

Figure 3.12: Tables in thesis_evaluation database. ...................................................... 25

ix
Figure 4.1: Expected Home page of the system .......................................................... 29

Figure 4.2: Homepage for admin ................................................................................. 30

Figure 4.3: Admin Page ............................................................................................... 31

Figure 4.4: Examiners Page ......................................................................................... 32

Figure 4.5: Thesis Evaluation form ............................................................................. 33

Figure 4.6: Thesis Evaluation table. ............................................................................ 33

x
 1 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

This project is mainly about designing a database system which manages the viva voce

process for postgraduate unit in Kulliyyah of Engineering (KOE). Apparently, there is a dire

need for such system due to the inefficient and manual process adopted in the unit. For

example, there has been complaint on the lack of varieties in the choices of examiners, as

some academics become examiners more often than the others. Therefore, in this particular

matter, the staff of Postgraduate unit need to monitor the number of times an examiner has

examined a thesis.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

All the records of examiners have been kept in filing-cabinet system. Since all

information is in manual records, searching for specific information can be a daunting

process. Below are the specific situations that need a revamped process:

a) The staffs at Deputy Dean Post Graduate (DDPG) office in KOE need to remind the

examiners about the due date of submitting their thesis evaluation report. Since the

current system is paper-based system, the staff needs to check the examiners’ file one by

one and this will delay the time to release reminder letter to the examiners, and thus

make all the related process delayed.

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 b) Report and letter are produced manually. Thus, this causes inefficiency and time

consuming, since it is highly dependent on manpower. If there is such an online system,

any authorized personnel could assists with the task.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

a) To understand the current process in managing viva voce process in postgraduate unit

of KOE and analyze its limitations.

b) To propose and develop a web-based database management system using the concept

of Web Content Management System (WCMS) to overcome the problems in the

current system.

1.4 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT METHODOLOGY

 Information Gathering:

o Having discussion with Sr. Noor Hidayah Arasad, the staff at the Deputy Dean of

Postgraduate office to get more understanding about the problems.

o Discuss on items that will be included in the Web App and highlight the important

point on how to implement it.

 Planning:

o Review past study on similar Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)

and synthesis the best approach on the design.

o Study on the usage and capability of the website development software.

o Evaluation the best software to use for dynamic web app.

2
  Modeling:

o Apply the waterfall model (Pressman, Software Engineering: Practitioner's

Approach 7th edition, 2009, p. 39)

 Construction

o Prototypes are developed using different web building software, such as XAMPP

for local development, plus phpMyAdmin and MySQL were included for free, and

Flash Develop for coding were used. For more dynamic website, javascript and

jquery were used.

o Finalizing prototype by uploading files and information onto the localhost and final

touch-up to ensure the website is user friendly.

 Deployment:

o Time by time, the website is tested.

 Documentation:

o Report is written based on the study and the building of the WCMS for RDBMS of

examiners.

1.5 REPORT LAYOUT ORGANIZATION

In the first chapter is about the background of the project, regarding the problem

statement, objectives and the overview of the project. In second chapter is about literature

review on past papers such as Faculty Information System (Geanne, 2015), Examiners’ duty

schedule (Christian, 2014) and FYP Online System (Abdul Mutholib, 2011). In third chapter,

it is about the research methodology that have been used to do the project. Then, in fourth

chapter, is about the result obtained from the research and discussions. Lastly, chapter five,

is the conclusion of the project and future work suggestion.

3
 2CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 OVERVIEW

Document collection, submission and reports are one of the major concerns in any

university’s administrative department, as they will be accredited and assessed by the

Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), and other agencies based on related industries such

as Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) for engineering audit, the goal is the same, which

is to maintain the quality of education in Malaysia. In this section, I reviewed some of related

studies, and previous works, which have used similar technologies.

2.2 FACULTY INFORMATION SYSTEM

According to (Geanne, 2015), Geanne has developed a web-based system for De La Salle

University, Institutional Accreditation and Assessment (IAA) office, known as Faculty

Information System (FIS). The system objective is to tackle problems such as “(1) confusion

due to multiple copies of records submitted by the faculty through the years (2) manual

consolidation and sorting of faculty information, (3) monitoring problem due to Faculty

Information Form (FIF) are submitted through email, (4) record conflict due to submission is

sent to several administration personal e.g. department chair, department secretary, dean,

Quality Management Office (QMO) and IAA, and (5) different data format like dates, country,

monetary values, proper names of institutions, and others” (Geanne, 2015). Thus, Geanne Ross

(2015) proposed the system design as in Figure 2.1, by using Rapid Application Development

(RAD) approach (Figure 2.2).

4
 Figure 2.1: FIS design in block diagram (Geanne, 2015)

Figure 2.2: RAD approach (Geanne, 2015)

The system focused on four type of users, who are the system administrator, the manager,

the faculty and the assistant. To support each user tasks, eight module were created namely the

user authentication module, the data entry module, the faculty personal information module,

the degrees earned/pursue module, the work history module, the publication module, the grants

5
and awards to faculty module, and generate reports module as shown in Figure 2.1. Other than

that, the tools that were used for the development are common web tools such as Hypertext

Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), Javascript (JS) and Bootstrap. For

the dynamic web function, (Geanne, 2015) use Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), MySQL and

Javascript Object Notation (JSON) are used for system development and database and

information storage respectively. Lastly, (Geanne, 2015) conclude that, the system really helps

the IAA office documentations before and after accreditation process. Besides that, problems

such as multiple copies, repetitive submissions, and non-related reports generation are solved.

In addition, the system is online, which make the system mobile, and can be access remotely.

Hence, increase the efficiency of the process for the accreditation.

2.3 EXAMINER DUTY’S SCHEDULE

In (Christian, 2014), Christian has developed a system called “XDSched”, which is a short

form of Examiner Duty’s Schedule. The system main function is to smooth the conduction of

examinations by solving the following problems as mentioned by (Christian, 2014):

1. Lack of synchronized data of examiners amongst university and individual institutes.

2. Lack of direct contact between the scheduling authorities and final end examiners.

3. No proper means for immediate notification of any duty or schedule changes [to the

examiner and the scheduling authorities and even examination centre(s)].

4. No mechanism which can directly track any error(s) if exists in the schedule or duty

allocation [ Human allocation errors because of manual process like improper exam date

and time, or same examiner being allocated to different centers at the same date/time, etc.].

5. The major problem that arises is the delay in information passing, as it depends on

different personnel at different point of places and different point of time.

6
 Due to above problems, (Christian, 2014) proposed the system which consist of two

parts, online management system and mobile application (apps) for the system, which the

design is as in Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4 respectively.

Figure 2.3: XDSched block diagram for website management system (Christian, 2014).

Figure 2.4: XDSched mobile application and website relation block diagram (Christian, 2014).

7
 In Figure 2.3, (Christian, 2014) present that, examiners have their own account, where they

can update their expertise and contact details. They also can request for change or cancel their

status as examiner. In addition, they can view the examiners’ duty schedule and also the

allocated examiners (done by the dean through the website), including the centers that they

have been assigned to (Christian, 2014, p. 2). Besides that, all information in the website, is

also updated in the mobile apps, where the examiners also could get notification from there

such as duty reminder and the location of the examination center will be held (Christian, 2014,

p. 3). Other than that, it works similar to the website. The technologies used in (Christian, 2014)

are as in Table 2.1 below:

Table 2.1: Solution and the technology used (Christian, 2014, p. 3).

Solution component Technologies Used

Website HTML, PHP, Java script, CSS
Mobile application ANDROID 2. 2 [ Froyo ] and later
Web services PHP and JSON

Finally, Christian conclude that old manual system is not efficient as it exposed to

human error, communication problem, that leads to delay in the processes, and the system

developed really helps to minimize the chance of errors, and violation of rules. Furthermore,

the duration of process is optimized. Hence, all works become more efficient and agile in time

as the system can be accessed from anywhere and anytime (Christian, 2014).

2.4 FYP ONLINE SYSTEM

In (Abdul Mutholib, 2011), they have developed a system to manage students’ final year

project development in order to support Outcome Based Education (OBE) to be transparent

and more objective approach as mandated by Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) in

Malaysia. Abdul Mutholib et al. stated that, the technologies they used are “GNU Linux

Ubuntu, Apache for the web server, MySQL for the relation database management system

8
(RDBMS), PHP server scripting and jQuery java script framework which is addressed by

Google” (Abdul Mutholib, 2011). Furthermore the design approach that they used is RAD,

which is similar to (Geanne, 2015) method instead of traditional method. In Figure 2.5, it shows

the differences between Traditional and RAD development methodology, as (Abdul Mutholib,

2011, p. 1314) present that RAD approaches is better in terms of functionality and performance,

thus enabling rapid development and ease application maintenance.

Figure 2.5: Comparison between RAD and Traditional development methodology (Abdul Mutholib,
2011).

9
 Table 2.2: FYP Procedure (Abdul Mutholib, 2011).

Thus, the system is developed based on the FYP procedure shown in Table 2.2, which

consists of three modules: Registration, Student Progress and Submission. From the table, six

class of users were generated, such as follows:

Table 2.3: Classification of users (Abdul Mutholib, 2011).

10
 All in all, (Abdul Mutholib, 2011) conclude that, the system is a success, as the students

gain more knowledge and realizing the university goals. Other than that, the evaluation for the

FYP students become more effective and efficient as the system makes it more objective and

transparent. Hence, OBE and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) implementation is

supported as mandated by the EAC.

2.5 SUMMARY

In conclusion, all the reviewed papers, have a lot in common, such that, the development

of the system is to assist the faculty or departments to meet the standards set by their respective

accreditation council. Due to that, a lot of documentations need to be done, which most of the

problems are caused by manual process which results in more major problems such as time

lag, miscommunication, lost files, outdated information or record, and etc. Hence, this system

(Viva Voce Management System) is needed in Deputy Dean of Post Graduate office of

Kulliyyah of Engineering to counter similar problems.

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 3 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 OVERVIEW

The structure of the viva voce management system website is built in three steps:

1) Collecting data about the viva voce management;

2) Using MySQL to build the database;

3) Using Apache as web server, PHP/HTML/CSS as development tools to build the

website and administration system (Dedoimedo, 2011).

In this sections, we are going to explain the research background and information

technologies used in this project.

To begin developing the “Web based Management System for Post Graduate Unit in Kulliyyah

of Engineering”, a structured approach to the development of software is considered by

following the Waterfall Model. This traditional Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

follows five steps for the completion of the project. The steps are as follows:

Figure 3.1: Waterfall Model (Pressman, Software Engineering: Practitioner's Approach 7th Edition,
2009, p. 39)

12
 Therefore, the development methodology for our software is based on this software is

based on this Software Development Life Cycle. However, necessary modifications are made

as required during the development process.

3.2 COMMUNICATION AND REQUIREMENTS IDENTIFICATION

Communication and requirement identification phase is the first and the main step in

building an application. In this step, the users, requirements and other relative information

regarding this application are determined. After determining the users, the requirement

identification step is proceeded with, by meeting with the expected users. The users and

privileges for this application are as follows:

Table 3.1: User and privileges for this application

No. Users Privileges

1. Staff in DDPG Office a) They could insert, modify, add,

delete, etc.

2. PG Coordinator and Head View Only:-

a) Database of Examiners (all reports
of Department except for generation of Ascii data)
b) Frequency of Examiner’s usage
(Management of Thesis Evaluation
Table)

c) Examiner Report (Conducting of

Viva Voce Table)

3.2.1 Requirements

3.2.1.1 User Requirements

There are few requirements that have been specified by the staff in DDPG Office,

which are as follows:

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 Table 3.2: Viva Voce Management System

a) Database of Examiners i. Form to key in Data of Examiner.

In this form, user could key in:-

Name of Examiner, Designation, Office
Address, University, Email, Phone No.,
Handphone No, Specialization,
Nationality, Type of Examiner (Internal/
External)
ii. Allow user to upload CV
iii. Report that user could obtain from this
form:
- List of Examiners (all)
- List of Examiners (Malaysian)
- List of Examiners (International)
- Statistic of Examiners by
Nationality
iv. Enable user (DDPG Staff only) to
Download ASCI data

b) Management of Thesis i. Form to key in data of Thesis

Evaluation Evaluation
In this form, it’s divided to 2 sides:
i) Student ii) Examiners.
Student: Name of Student, Matric No,
Programme, Mode of Study, Title, Date
of Thesis Submission

Examiners:
Name of Examiner 1 [ Use scroll up
and Down button]-Choose from
Database of Examiner table, KPGC
Approval, Date sending Thesis, Date
received Evaluation Report, Type of
Examiner (automatic generated from
database of Examiner table)

Name of Examiner 2, [Use scroll up

and Down button]-Choose from
Database of Examiner table, KPGC
Approval, Date sending Thesis, Date
received Evaluation Report, Type of
Examiner (automatic generated from
database of Examiner table)

ii. Report needed

 Frequency of Examiner’s usage
[Name of Examiner, KPGC Approval,
University]- Report could be generated
using date as parameter. From ______
to ______ date

14
  Checking Evaluation due date.
To generate report of the
Examiners who had exceeded
the due date.
Checking Coding: “Date sending Thesis
(from Management of Thesis
Evaluation form) + 35 days”
 Generation of Reminder Letter
(Template will be given to you)
From i, generation of reminder letter
(automate) could be done. Parameter of
this letter:
Name of Examiner [Management of
Thesis Evaluation Table]
Office Address (Database of Examiner
Table)
Name of Student (Management of
Thesis Evaluation Table)
Title of Thesis (Management of Thesis
Evaluation Table)
Date of Sending Thesis (Management
of Thesis Evaluation Table)

 Checking for Warning,

(Exceeded due date after
Reminder), to generate report of
the Examiners who had
exceeded the due date.

Checking Coding: “Date sending Thesis

(from Management of Thesis
Evaluation form) + 45 days”
 Generation of Warning Letter
(Automate) could be done
(Template will be given to you).
Parameter of this letter as same
as (iii)

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c) Conducting of Report generated from (Management of Thesis
Viva Voce
Evaluation Table)

i. Examiner Report
Table 3.3: Examiner report sample

Student’s Examiner 1 Examiner 2

particular
Name of Thesis Thesis
Student, Received:__date__ Received:_date___
Matric No, Name of Name of
Programme, Examiner:_____ Examiner:_____
Mode of Type of Type of
Study Examiner:______ Examiner:______

ii. Automation: Letter of Appointment as Examiner

(Template will be given to you)
iii. Automation: Letter for Invitation of Viva Voce (Template
will be given to you)
d) Auto Reminder (To be discussed further)
using Email

e) Suggested Data a) IIUM SERVER (Maybe we could deal with the KOE
Storage Webmaster and ITD to get some space for the data
storage.) So that, this system could be viewed in KOE’s
Website.
b) Or else you have to use Open source database (MYSQL
maybe)
c) Or, build stand-alone system, share in KOE’s network.

16
3.2.1.2 Functional Requirements

a) The application must be available for most of operating systems existed such as

Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac OS and etc. for wide usage.

b) Data backup and recovery should be granted.

c) The system also, should have standard error checking.

d) The data in the system must be consistent and updated.

e) Basic authentication system for user utilization should be implemented.

f) Restrict certain user based on their privileges.

3.2.1.3 Non-Functional Requirements

a) The system must be working efficiently in terms of bandwidth usage, memory, traffic

and etc.

b) Implement a comprehensive, adjustable and maintainable database system.

c) Well presented, and have nice aesthetic value for the user interface.

d) Make sure, the system development is well documented for future use.

3.2.1.4 Hardware and System Requirements

a) Computer desktop or laptop.

b) Operating system – Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or higher.

c) Memory – Minimum 512 MB RAM.

d) Webhost – Localhost (XAMPP).

e) Webhost server – Localhost server (XAMPP).

f) Software – Apache, MySQL and PHP.

17
3.3 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Based on Figure 3.2 (Initialize Database of Examiners), as the administrator, he or she

can log into the system, and the privileged given to them are all access, including view, add,

edit, upload examiner’s CV, download reports and delete. As for Post Graduate Coordinator

(PG Co.) and Head of Department (HOD), they can log into the system and ‘view only’.

Besides that, in Figure 3.3 (Management of Thesis Evaluation) shows that, the

administrator could fill the thesis evaluation form, which consist of student’s details (Name,

Matric no., Programme, Mode of Study, Title and Date of submission), examiner 1 and 2

details (Name, Date of KPGC approval, Date sending thesis, Date received evaluation report

and type of examiner), and then the data will be insert into database of thesis evaluation

(thesis_evaluation). Some data from examiner’s database (examiner_vivavoce) are used for

selection of names, which are already existed in the database. After that, calculation of

checking evaluation due date (Date of sending thesis + 35 days) and warning (Date of sending

thesis + 45 days) is made. Then the letters will be emailed to the examiners. Other than that,

admin can do any other common access such as add, edit and delete. As for PG Co. and HOD,

they can only view report of the frequency of examiners’ usage.

In Figure 3.4 (Conducting of Viva Voce), after PG Co. and HOD logged in, the can

view the thesis evaluation report, where it consist of students details and both examiners (data

obtained from thesis evaluation database). While, administrator have all access and manage

the tables.

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3.3.1 Examiners’ Management

Admin PG Co. & HOD Interface

Login
Login
Verify user name,
type of user and
Lo password
Lo

Fill Form
- Details of Database
examiner of
- Upload CV Examiners
Table

Report Generated
View only a)Nationality
-All
-Malaysian
-International
Access all data
(View, Edit, Add, b)ASCII data
Download and etc)

Exit

Function
Figure 3.2: Initialize Database of Examiners

19
3.3.2 Management of Thesis Evaluation

Admin PG Co. & HOD Interface

Login Login

Verify user name, type

of user and password
Fill Form
- Students’
details
- Name,
Matric No.,
Programme, Database of Management of
Mode of thesis Evaluation Table
Study, Title,
Date of
Submission

Fill Form Examiners’ Table

- Examiners’ - name, type of examiner
details
- Name, KPGC
approval, Date
sending thesis,
Date Received
Evaluation
Report, Type Report generated:
of examiner. View only
a) Freq. of
Examiners Usage
b) Checking
Evaluation due
date
c) Generation of
Access all data Reminder letter
(View, Edit, Add, Download d) Checking of
and etc) Warning
e) Generation of
Warning letter

Exit

Figure 3.3: Management of thesis Evaluation

20
3.3.3 Conduction of Viva Voce

Admin PG Co. & HOD Interface

Login Login

Verify user name, type

of user and password

Access all data Database of

(View, Edit, Add, Download Management of thesis
and etc) Evaluation Table
View only

Report generated:

a) Examiner report.
b) Automation: Letter of
appointment(Examiner
)
c) Automation: Letter for
invitation of VIVA
VOCE

Exit

Figure 3.4: Conducting VIVA VOCE

21
 3.4 DEVELOMENT TOOLS

3.4.1 XAMPP

This is a Windows web development where it allows creating web applications with

Apache, PHP and a MySQL database; these three tools are offline together with the system.

In addition, phpMyAdmin is also in the package, for database management.

Figure 3.5: XAMPP homepage

a) XAMPP homepage – This is the homepage as shown in Figure 3.5, to set or change how

the user wants to manage the system. Here user can enter phpMyAdmin page, or change

the database password.

b) phpMyAdmin – This option will launch phpMyAdmin access as shown in Figure 3.6, In

phpMyAdmin user can manage, query, select and browse the MySQL databases. Other than

that it is very simple to use.

c) htdocs – Here are the files, where files can be uploaded and stored there, HTML, PHP,

CSS, Javascript, images and more (as shown in Figure 3.7).

22
d) MySQL – Here the databases can be created and user can view existing database, and they

also can delete if it is needed (as shown in Figure 3.9).

Figure 3.6: php MyAdmin login page.

Figure 3.7: htdocs (all web development coding are stored here)

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Figure 3.8: Database, Web server and phpMyAdmin details

24
3.4.2 MySQL Database

MySQL is a popular open source database tools. In basic terms, a MySQL database

is capable of storing any type of that data. It will let us quickly store and retrieve

information (Robert, Web Hosting FAQs, 2008). MySQL is the database of choice for

several different web programming languages including PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python and etc.

These languages make it easy for user to connect to the database.

3.4.3 phpMyAdmin

Databases can be difficult to manage using just individual SQL statements. It is

much easier to manage database using a graphical user interface (GUI) (Robert, Web

Hosting FAQs, 2008). PhpMyAdmin is a web-based application that ease the management

of MySQL database.PhpMyAdmin will let user add, remove and manages databases, tables

and entries; backup the database, run specific SQL queries, search and import record, and

more. Figure 3.9 show the phpMyAdmin page for MySQL database.

Figure 3.9 phpMyAdmin page after logged in.

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3.4.4 PHP

PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open

source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development

and can be embedded into HTML (Bill Abt, 2001-2015). For this purpose, PHP code is

embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP

processor module, which generates the web page document. As a general purpose

programming language, PHP code is processed by an interpreter application in command-

line mode performing desired operating system operations and producing program output

on its standard output channel. It may also function as a graphical application. PHP is

available as a processor for most modern web servers and as a standalon interpreter on most

operating system an computing platforms.

3.5 DATABASE DESIGN

3.5.1 Database for admin

Database for admin are called admin_vivavoce, consist of two table: ‘user’and

‘dept’ – These table were used to store user information, when the new info are added. The

field and data type are shown in Figure 3.10– 1 and Figure 3.10 – 2 respectively.

Figure 3.10 - 1: Users’ table Figure 3.10 – 2: Departments’ table

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3.5.2 Database for examiners

Database for examiners are called examiner_vivavoce, consist of three table:

‘examiner_table’, ‘nation’ and ‘pdf’ – These table were used to store examiner information,

when the new info are added. The field and data type are shown in Figure 3.11 – 1, Figure 3.11

– 2 and Figure 3.11 – 3 respectively.

Figure 3.11 - 1: Examiners’ Table

Figure 3.11 – 2: Nation’s Table

Figure 3.11 – 3: Pdf’s Table

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3.5.3 Database for Management of Thesis Evaluation

Database for thesis evaluation are called thesis_evaluation, consist of four table:

‘student_table’, ‘examiner1_table’, ‘examiner2_table’ and ‘examiner_table’ – These table

were used to store thesis evaluation information, when the new info are added. The field and

data type are shown in Figure 3.9.

Figure 3.12: Tables in thesis_evaluation database.

3.6 SUMMARY

All in all, the project is developed based on the requirements gathering, and it is

implemented and deployed through common web development tools such as XAMPP,

MySQL, phpMyAdmin, PHP, HTML, CSS and Javascript (JS). The result of the

implementation will be discussed in next chapter.

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 4 CHAPTER 4

RESULT AND ANALYSIS

4.1 RESULTS

4.1.1 Login page

In this semester, we have finished the coding, and we are more focused on the

functionality rather than the aesthetic graphical user interface. Thus, this is the preview of the

Login page. Here, admin and other user can log in. The different between user and admin page

is user can only view data that has been updated such as examiners and thesis evaluation table,

but admin can manage users, and add or edit or delete data in examiners and thesis evaluation

table.

Figure 4.1: Expected Home page of the system

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4.1.2 Admin Homepage

Figure 4.2 below shows the homepage of the system for admin, which consist of a main

picture of IIUM and five tabs on the top-right, which are Home (for homepage), Admin

(for administrating user), Examiners (for managing examiners records), and Thesis

Evaluation (for managing thesis evaluation records).

Figure 4.2: Homepage for admin

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4.1.3 Admin Page

Figure 4.3: Admin Page

Figure 4.3 shows the Admin page, where it consist of two parts, which are the ‘Add New

User’ form on the top and users’ table below. In this page, administrator can add or edit or

delete user’s details such as username, full name, staff designation, email address,

password, department and status. Below is Table 4.1 which describe the button in the

system.

Table 4.1: Button Symbol and the description

Button Symbol Description

Save/Confirm data

Cancel/Clear/ Delete data

Edit/Change data

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4.1.4 Examiners Page

Figure 4.4: Examiners Page

Figure 4.4 above, shows the Examiners Page, which consists of two parts, first part is ‘Add

New Examiner’ form, and the next part is the bottom part which shows the list of examiners

details, after being added into the database. In this page, an administrator can add or modify

or delete the data. The data that the administrator can modify are the examiner’s name,

designation, office address, university, email address, phone number, mobile phone

number, specialization, nationality and type of examiner, respectively.

4.1.5 Thesis Evaluation Page

Figure 4.5 and Figure 4.6 below shows the parts’ of Thesis Evaluation page, top

and bottom respectively, where on top, admin can fill the thesis evaluation form and

bottom, admin can view the data that has been added.

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Figure 4.5: Thesis Evaluation form

Figure 4.6: Thesis Evaluation table.

33
4.2 DISCUSSION

In this project, we have faced a lot of problems through the coding, because, it is quite

difficult what type of software to used and what programming language is suitable. However,

we have decided to use PHP and MySQL for the start. Other than that, is the coding, it is

quite difficult because, we have no background in PHP and MySQL except basic in Object

Oriented Programming (OOP), thus, we need to learn on our own. Besides that, there are

many things that can be improved in this system later on.

Other than that, there are few requirements that are not fulfilled due to resource and

time constraints, such as Generation of reminder and warning letter, invitation letter, email

automation and frequency of examiners usage. However, these requirements can be done in

future, as there is still a lot space to improve. Generation of the mentioned letters can be done

as the library coding is available, but time to explore more on the report template and to

match with the coding is needed. Email automation also is possible, however, most of the

websites out there are using cron job, which is operating system of the server are needed to

handle the automation such Unix or Linux. Thorough study is needed for this part. Other than

that, frequency of examiners usage can be done, but study on suitable algorithm is needed.

However, examiners and thesis evaluation report from examiners and thesis evaluation

database are done, but still need improvement in prompting user for confirmation such as

“Are you confirm to add/edit/delete?”,. This is needed to avoid administrator from mistake

during data entry and accidentally delete data. Other than that, the code can be improve in

terms of security, because currently the coding is focused on functionality. Besides that, the

server that is currently used is a localhost, thus further discussion with Information

Technology Department (ITD) is needed as ITD is known for high network security and it

will help the data to be safe from malicious intention.

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 5 CHAPTER 5

5.1 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

In this project, Viva Voce management system for post graduate unit in KOE was

developed to help the unit to manage the database of examiners efficiently. This system is

implemented by using XAMPP, MySQL, PHP and Apache. Besides that, this system can

handle large number of database and can eliminate time consuming problem. Other than

that, there are additional features in this system that gives benefit to user. Throughout this

project, many new things we have learned and gain more knowledge especially in software

development. This developed system is not stable version, and need more improvement. It

is hoped that, that this system can be upgraded in the future in terms of security, aesthetic

value and further complex usage. Other than that, maybe, there will be mobile app for this

system such as in XDSched (Christian, 2014). More on future work, can refer the flowchart

in appendix C.

35
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdul Mutholib, T. S. (2011). Development of FYP Online System for Outcome Based

Education. TENCON 2011 - 2011 IEEE Region 10 Conference (pp. 1312-1316). Bali:

IEEE.

Christian, M. (2014). XDSched-A synchronized web based and mobile based solution for

examiner's duty schedule. In terna tionai Conference on Advances in Computing,

Communications and Informatics (ICACCI) (pp. 2054-2057). Noida, India: IEEE.

Dedoimedo. (2011, February). Apache Web Server Complete Guide. Retrieved May 11,

2015, from Domeido: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/apache_book_part.html

Geanne, R. (2015). Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Faculty Information

System. TENCON 2015 - 2015 IEEE Region 10 Conference (pp. 1-5). Macao: IEEE.

Lerdorf, R. (2007). PHP on Hormones. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from itc conversation

network: http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3298.html

Oracle. (2011). Top 10 Reasons to Use MySQL as an Embedded Database. Retrieved May

11, 2015, from Oracle: http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/white-papers/top-10-reasons-

to-use-mysql-as-an-embedded-database/

Pressman, R. S. (2009). Software Engineering: Practitioner's Approach 7th edition.

McGraw-Hill.

Robert. (2008). Web Hosting FAQs. Retrieved from Host Shopper: http://www.host-

shopper.com/what-is-a-mysql-database.html

Robert. (2008). Web Hosting FAQs. Retrieved May 8, 2015, from Host Shopper:

http://www.host-shopper.com/what-is-a-mysql-database.html

36
 6 APPENDIX A

GANTT CHART (FYP 1 AND FYP 2)

37
 7 APPENDIX B

CODING

Adminuser.php

<?php
error_reporting(0);
session_start();
require_once('db.php');
include('checkuser.php');
include('modules.php');
?>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>System User Add</TITLE>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mystyle1.css" />
</HEAD>
<BODY>

<?php
pheader();
?>
<div style="margin-top:35px;">
<?php

date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kuala_lumpur');
$time = date("H:i:s");
$today = date("d/m/Y");

/*echo "<script type='text/javascript'>

38
var date = '{$today}'
var time = '{$time}'

alert('Today is '+ date +' and The time is '+ time)

</script>";*/

echo "<div>";
echo "<form method='POST' action='adminuser_add.php'> ";
echo "<table border='1' width='50%'>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><th colspan='2' class='listh'>Add
New User</th><tr> ";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Username</td><td
class='list1'><input type='text' name='user' size='30'></td></tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Full Name</td><td
class='list1'><input type='text' name='name' size='60'></td></tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Staff
Designation</td><td class='list1'><input type='text' name='designation'
size='60'></td></tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Email
Address</td><td class='list1'><input type='text' name='email' size='60'></td></tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Password</td><td
class='list1'><input type='password' name='password' size='30'></td></tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Department</td>
<td class='list1' style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><select
name='dept'> ";
$resultrec = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM dept order by deptno");
while($row11 = mysql_fetch_array($resultrec))
{
echo "<option value='$row11[deptno]'> $row11[description]
</option> ";
}
echo "</select> </td> </tr>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><td class='listh'>Status</td>

39
 <td class='list1' style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'><select
name='status'> ";
echo "<option value=1> Active </option> ";
echo "<option value=0> Inactive </option> ";
echo "</select> </td> </tr>";
echo " <tr><td class='list1'></td> <td class='list1'>
<input type='image' src='images/ok24g.png' name='save'
value='save' alt='save' >
<input type='image' src='images/close24y.png' name='cancel' value='cancel'
alt='cancel' >
</td> </tr> ";
//echo " <input type='hidden' name='company' value='SIB' >";
echo "</table>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<div height='auto'>";
echo "<table border='1' width='90%'>";
echo "<tr style='align:center;color:#FFFF00'>
<th class='listh' width='5%'>No</th>
<th class='listh' width='10%'>USERNAME</th>
<th class='listh' width='30%'>FULL NAME</th>
<th class='listh' width='10%'>DESIGNATION</th>
<th class='listh' width='10%'>DEPARTMENT</th>
<th class='listh' width='20%'>EMAIL</th>
<th class='listh' width='10%'>STATUS</th>
<th class='listh' width='10%'>ACTION</th>

</tr>";
$i = 1;
$result1 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM user ORDER BY
user");
while($row1 = mysql_fetch_array($result1))

40
 {
$user = $row1[user];
$name = $row1[name];
$designation = $row1[Designation];
$dept = $row1[dept];
$stat = $row1[status];

$resultld = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM dept where

deptno = '$dept'");
if (!mysql_num_rows($resultld) == 0 ) { $deptname =
mysql_result($resultld,0,"description"); }

echo "<tr align='center' style='color:#FFFF00'>";

echo " <td class='list1' style='text-align:center'>$i</td> ";
echo " <td class='list1' style='text-
align:center'>$user</td>";
echo " <td class='list1'>&nbsp;$name</td>";
echo " <td class='list1'>&nbsp;$designation</td>";
echo " <td class='list1' style='text-
align:center'>$deptname</td> ";
echo " <td class='list1'>&nbsp;$row1[email]</td>";
if ($stat == 1) {
echo " <td class='list1' style='text-
align:center'>Active</td> ";}
if ($stat == 0) {
echo " <td class='list1' style='text-
align:center'>Inactive</td> ";}

echo " <td align='middle' class='list1' style='text-

align:center'>
<a href='adminuser_edit.php?user=$user'>
<img src = 'images/tool24y.png' border = '0' alt =
'Change/repair'></a>

41
 <a id='del'
href='adminuser_del.php?name=$row1[user]' name='$row1[user]'
onCLick='confirmdelete(this.name)'>
<img src='images/close24y.png' border='0' alt='Delete'></a></td>";

echo " </tr>";

echo "<tr></tr>";

$i++;

}
echo "</table>";

echo "</div>";

?>
<script>

function confirmdelete(str) {
var bool = confirm("Are you SURE you want to delete this record : "+ str +" ?");

if (bool == true){
document.getElementById("del").href="adminuser_del.php?name="+ str +"" ;

} else{

42
 document.getElementById("del").href="adminuser.php?name=null";

}
</script>
</div>
<?php
if (!empty($_SESSION[user]) )
{
pfooter();
}
?>
</BODY>
</HTML>
*note: for more coding you can visit this link:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8W93zAfOC2jb2tLZE5GU2x5TGM&usp=sharing or
email me at marwanshuhaimi@gmail.com for more inquiries.

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 8 APPENDIX C

FUTURE WORK FLOWCHART

44