1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

Situation Analysis According to Rooney (2010), all payrolls used to be calculated manually, without any help from a computer. Professional accountants invested a lot of time and energy into keeping track of all employee data, files and information, calculating monthly salaries, hourly remunerations, bonuses, sick leaves, benefits, taxes, deductions and so on. And they did this all by keeping numerous files filled with track records for each and every person employed. Nowadays, however, things are far simpler than they used to be. Technology is always dedicated to making things easier and better, quite a wide variety of computerized payroll systems is available to save from tedious task. Now, instead of keeping dozens of files and spending endless hours calculating, all you have to do is get a payroll software system and let it do all the nasty work. He described that the manual payroll system means doing everything by hand, while a computerized one will enable its users to store unlimited data, keeping track of everything. He added that a manual payroll system, you'd have to keep track of all employees' time by hand, He stated that the computerized payroll system is payroll software you can automatically transfer all punches or swipes directly into the system, which will store them instantly. It can even separate regular work hours from overtime, and calculate the different remunerations according to set parameters. And if human error sneaks in even with the most organized 1

2 manual payroll system, computerized payroll software will provide accurate calculations regardless of the amount of data stored. He compared to computerized software systems, the manual payroll system takes up valuable time, resources and money. Instead of wasting valuable time with the tedious accounting tasks, the software calculate the paychecks, while you work on developing your business, increasing production and revenue. Katz(2004) stated the burden of payroll and tax preparation can be eased by hiring an in-house accountant, purchasing the state of the art payroll software or by outsourcing your load to a local accountant, payroll service or to an internet payroll service. Different types of payroll software just by doing a quick research on the web. Several of these payroll programs are exactly the same software just branded under different names. It is almost impossible to find a payroll software program that meets all the needs of your business without having a program designed. Payroll encompasses every employee of a company who receives a regular wage or other compensation. Some employees may be paid a steady salary while others are paid for hours worked or the number of items produced. All of these different payment methods are calculated by a payroll specialist and the appropriate paychecks are issued. Companies often use objective measuring tools such as timecards or timesheets completed by supervisors to determine the total amount of payroll due each pay period.

3 Iamregigijubilo (2010), in a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries, wages, bonuses and deductions. The current Federal payroll service environment evolved over many years of incremental changes that have been implemented in different ways across the Government. The influence of Agency-unique interpretation of legislation, regulation, and HR policies have all contributed to a complex set of requirements that, when taken together, create an obstacle to the modernization of payroll systems and processes. Twenty-two Government providers currently deliver Federal civilian payroll services using 14 separate systems. The four largest Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Interior, and General Services Administration service over 80 percent of the total civilian payroll, accommodating over 190 different pay plans. Because of age and capacity limitations of payroll processing environments, many service providers have either considered or completed capital investments in payroll systems infrastructure. Over the years, Federal agencies have attained cost savings through consolidation of their payroll operations with Federal payroll providers by Achieving cost avoidance in both capital investment and daily business operations. Department of Health (2001) cited Computerized Payroll system as program especially designed to facilitate and simplify the monthly

preparation of general payroll and reports. They are used in all DOH offices in the Philippines. Based from their performance, they have faster and more accurate computation of monthly gross income, deductions and net salary. 3

4 The general payroll and reports generates faster and less resources consuming and; it has security and integrity of payroll data information. The Philippine Central College of Arts, Science and Technology is an educational institutions that was established as single proprietorship. The school is still implementing simple payroll system, which is task mostly manned by hand and not by an electronic device or computer. They have been established the department to empower the contributions to the facilities and equipments to adapt information system and technology. Last year, they patronize the Time and Attendance Finger Print Biometrics System. The use of the technology is to lessen the time cost to compute the time sheet and to emphasis the security of the payroll procedures. Concurrently, the flaw is, after gathering the data, the accountant needs to print and input the data gathered from the technology to another computer. The accountant uses spreadsheet to finalize in computing for the pay slip. Therefore, based on the situations cited are fragments in order to meet the needs of the research. Conceptual Framework Yusefweiss (2011) stressed in any company, it is very important to monitor the employees attendance or time for accurate payroll and discipline. Some companies and schools are using manual punch card to record the employees attendance while others are still using logbook. 4

5 Traditionally, such information would be gathered on a site by site basis and transmitted by either manual or electronic means, to a central point where payroll would then be processed and other reports prepared. Oftentimes, the information was outdated by the time it arrived, delaying payroll preparation and requiring numerous employees to complete just that one task. Universidad de Manila is currently using the punch card machine and log book for time and attendance data tracking. But these systems are inaccurate and are less secured. According to Learn-Source(2011), As the job market changes, more and more companies are finding that payroll is becoming an extremely challenging task to perform. The mounds of paperwork and huge amounts of data that have to be processed and analyzed often make payroll a complex and thankless task to perform. However, thanks to new payroll software programs, the job of payroll is becoming much easier and more efficient. So, if your companys payroll is getting out of hand, think about purchasing some payroll software. Payroll software encompasses a wide variety of computer applications that can help you organize and process your employees salary information. Any kind of computer application that you use to help you with your companys payroll is defined as payroll software. Payroll software can consist of a simple spreadsheet or it can encompass an entire system of software applications. Software payroll has become extremely popular over the past five years and is now used by a large number of companies, both small and large. With an increased number of 5

6 companies using temporary, contract, or short-term workers, payroll has become a much more complicated task. Payroll software eliminates paper work by allowing you to automate most of the payroll process. Payroll software also decreases the amount of time you need to spend performing payroll tasks and increases accuracy and efficiency. Bulwarks(2002) stated that Payroll management system developed by Bulwark Systems targets specifically Enterprises. It has all the features of Payroll processes that a typical HR/Accounts dept. of a small/medium/large sized company follows. The software covers all the forms which the Government of Indi has made compulsory for the Indian firms to adopt with respect to their employees. It is much simpler for the person who operates the software of Payroll process. He doesnt have to deal with those bulky registers during the payroll generation. Here all the processes are categorized, giving a very simple interface to the end user. The software starts off from formation of a Company. After filling up the entire Employee related information and the group or department he is recruited, assign the employee a salary structure. Now we can start generating and managing payroll processes for that particular employee. Also the end user has the option of creating his own salary structures and salary

formulae.Theformulae. The pay slip is generated after the attendance is marked for that month. The software also managemanages the company and the bank holidays.

7 According to Harty(2000). ALGAR Information Systems developed information systems and manages the companys employees and payroll processing. It is designed primarily for use by companies operating in the Philippines, It can be used with Employee Smart Card IDs, RFIDs or Barcode IDs with biometrics fingerprint or iris scanning authentication to facilitate employee time entries and eliminate fraud. Simply put, PayCheck is a fast, secure, accurate and easy-to-use payroll software solution that simplifies the burden of managing your companys payroll and HR functions, and lets you concentrate on the other aspects of running your business. From the concepts gathered, thegathered, these are the guide to the researcher plan to develop an Automated Payroll System of Philippine Central College of Arts, Science and Technology. It covers, the current status of payroll system of PCCAST with the following terms: a. used time for computing the payroll; b. on time for releasing the pay slip, the disadvantages of existing manual system of PCCAST, payment process of the employees, advantages of automated payroll system. The design and development of this system were based on the software, hardware and people ware requirement.

Survey questionnaire was used to help identify the status of the current system of the six areas of Payroll System along with the following terms: a. Performance, b. Information, 7 c. Economics, d. Contr

8 ol and Security, e. Efficiency, and f. Service. Payroll Procedures, policies and forms will also be included as a basis in the development of the developed system. The Rapid Application Development (RAD) by James Martin will be the model to be used in the development of the system and to assess the level of usability of the Payroll system, the researcher used the Standard Usability Measurement Inventory(SUMI) questionnaire. The input box

contains the Payroll procedures and policies in which it will be answered by a survey questionnaire and the Capabilities and Constraints of Philippine

Central College of Arts Science and Technology Payroll System along with the Wetherbes PIECES will be answered by using the RAD as guide in System Development and the researcher will use SUMI survey questionnaire to evaluate the developed system.

The research paradigm is shown in Figure 1.

1. Payroll Procedures and Policies 2. The current statusCapabilities and Constraints of Payroll System of Philippine Central 1. College of Arts Input Process Science and Technology Payroll System along with: 2. a. b. c. d. e. f. Performance, Information, Economics, Control, Efficiency, and Service

Conduct Survey Output Questionnaire System Development using RAD model AUTOMATED PAYROLL SYSTEM OF PHILIPPINE CENTRAL COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (APSP)

3. Determining the level of usability of Automated Payroll System in terms of: a. Affect b. Efficiency c. Control d. Helpfulness e. Learnability

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Feedback

Figure 1 Research Paradigm

Statement of the Objectives The main objective of this study is to develop an Automated Payroll System (OPSAPSP) of Philippine Central College of Arts, Science and Technology Specifically, it attempts to achieve the following objectives: 1. To Identify the Payrolls Procedures and Policies 2. To determine the Capabilities and Constraintscurrent status of Payroll System of PCCAST along with: a. Performance, 10

11 b. Information, c. Economics, d. Control, e. Efficiency, and f. Service. 3. To develop an Automated Payroll System of Philippine Central College of Arts Science and Technology using Rapid Application Development a. Planning requirements, b. User design, c. Construction, and d. Cutover phase.

4. To evaluate the level of usability of Automated Payroll System of Philippine Central College of Arts Science and Technology (APSP) along with the following dimension: a. Affect b. Efficiency c. Control d. Helpfulness e. Learnability Importance of the Study

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12 The development of the Automated Payroll System of PCCAST will contribute a lot of information about making the payroll system more productive and efficient. The result of the study will serve as a basis for the needed improvement of services for employees of Philippine Central College of Arts Science and Technology, and will be beneficial to the following: To the Higher Education Institutions, it will become more productive and efficient in Human Resources and accounting processes such payment of payroll taxes and other beneficiaries. It is mandatory to pay taxes of there will be penalties and fine that will have to pay. Accuracy is needed in order to produce the correct payroll taxes for the institution and for the employees as well. To the school administrators, this may lessen the computation of deductions such as insurance like: benefits, incentives, loans, SSS, PAGIBIG, Phil health and others. To the Accountant, this will help them for ease computation for net pay in each corresponding employee depending what contract they belong. It may also lessen their time in computing for deductions and salaries. To the Employees of PCCAST, for them to have their payroll be updated and time cost for waiting the net pay against the manual computation of payroll. Calculations for the co-employees taxes is

specialized job and with the knowledge regarding payroll will help them provide the right payroll taxes to their employees.

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13 To the Researcher, who is the primary benefit, and boost his programming skills and innovative learning from his research To the Future Researcher, this will serve as basis or guidelines for their research study and also a reference regarding the Payroll System Definition of Terms Current statusCapabilities and Constraints Payrollof Payroll

System of PCCAST. This refers the condition of Payroll System of Philippine Central College of Arts, Science and Technology (PCCAST). The status of PCCAST is evaluated through: (1) Performance. It indicates the

current transaction in terms of ease of process and produce output efficiently. (2) Information. It indicates

whether the end users get timely, accurate, and useful information. (3) Economy. It

indicates whether services provided by the current system of PCCAST are cost-effective/worth to invest. (4) Control. It

indicates whether there are effective controls to produce accurate and secure information. (5)

Efficiency. It indicates whether the current system of PCCAST makes good use of resources and had human resource management. (6) Services. It indicates whether the current services of PCCAST are reliable, flexible, and expandable. Level of Usability of the Developed System. It refers to the methods of measuring the degree of usability of the developed system. This 13

14 was obtained through the following dimensions: (a) Affect which refers measurement of the user's general emotional reaction to the software (b) Efficiency which refers to the measurement of degree to which users feel that the software assists them in their work and is related to the concept of transparency. (c) Control which refers the dimension which measures the level to which the users authentication; whether the website allows them to navigate through it with ease, and whether the website communicates with them about what it is doing. (d) Helpfulness which refers the measurement of degree to which the software is self-explanatory, as well as more specific things like the adequacy of help facilities and documentation and

(e)Learnability which refers the measurement of speed and facility with which the user feels that they have been able to master the system, or to learn how to use new features when necessary. Payroll Procedures and Policies. This refers the forms of payment or proofs of business transactions. Rapid Application Development (RAD). This refers the conceptual model used in software development methodology. This generally allows software to be written much faster, and makes it easier to change requirements. There are four phases of RAD. (1) Planning requirements is much like traditional problem definition and systems analysis. (2) User design. Design and refine phase. Programmers can build and show visual representations of the designs and workflow to users. (3) Construction. As each transaction is built it may be demonstrated to the end-users for 14

15 revision. End-users are closely involved in the construction phase. Testing occurs throughout the process. (4) Cutover phase. As the systems are built and refined, the new systems or partial systems are tested and introduced to the organization.

Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Payroll Procedures and Policies According to Natalie (2000), The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforce the federal employment laws and the federal payroll tax laws. These are the payroll procedures being done in by every state featuring: Timekeeping, Payroll Processing, Payroll Taxes and Reporting. From the time keeping procedure, Employers implement a 15

16 timekeeping system to monitor employee time. The employer does not have to use a specific timekeeping system, but it must be correct and complete, according to the DOL. A timekeeping system is particularly important if the employer has hourly workers; the latter are paid based on hours worked during the pay period. The employer requires the employee to use a time clock or to complete weekly time sheets. Payroll includes computing the time card/time sheet data and making sure that employees are paid accordingly. Payroll processing procedures vary by system and employer. Payroll processing procedures/tasks may include paying hourly, salaried and piecerate workers; processing bonuses, commissions and retroactive, overtime and severance pay; printing live checks and pay stubs; benefit days processing, such as vacation and sick time; direct deposit processing; and processing statutory and voluntary deductions. Payroll tax duties include withholding federal income tax, and Social Security and Medicare taxes, from employees wages. The employer must also pay its own share of federal taxesspecifically, Social Security and Medicare taxes and federal

unemployment tax. If the state has an income tax or there are city or local taxes, the employer must withhold them from employees paychecks. Notably, a few states, such as Alaska, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming, do not have a state income tax. In such cases, the employer should not withhold it from employees paychecks. The employer is responsible for paying state unemployment tax.

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17 Werner (2010) discusses their policies and procedures. UCAR policy requires that time worked and any leave taken be accurately reflected on an employee's time card. UCAR employees are paid bi-weekly upon receipt of approved time cards, where appropriate. The Time Card application allows employees to accurately reflect actual hours worked as well as all nonworked time used. UCAR calculates and pays overtime, travel, fieldassignment, shipboard-assignment, and call-back pay. UCAR pays employees through automatic deposits to financial institutions upon employee

authorization or by check if necessary. Deductions from gross earnings are made for items authorized by employees or as required by UCAR policy or government regulation. Odina (2010) define Payroll Policy as the responsibilities and

accountabilities of payroll staff and managers. She states that, since payroll involves confidential information, the policy must specify access and security levels. It also identifies the training required by different employee groups. The payroll procedures detail the process from when the employee is hired. They include payroll activities and forms required for processing new hires, employment changes, information updates, special payments, deductions, time reporting and termination.

The features that are stated above are will benefit the researcher and will adapted some concepts to complete

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his research.

Capabilities and Constraints According to Wetherbe (2009), PIECES focuses on the actual work of doing requirements determination. This model is used to classify identified requirements into one of six subject areasPerformance, Information, Economy, Control, Efficiency, and Services. The goal of the model is to assure the systems analyst and the user that questions will be included during analysis about each of these six essential subjects as it relates to the problem domain. The responses to the questions for each of these subject areas significantly contribute to the definition of the system's requirements. What follows is a brief summary of each of the six subject areas. Performance questions address how the system needs to perform for the user. Issues of throughput (the amount of work performed over some period of time) and response time (the average delay between a transaction or user request and the response to that transaction or user request) are considered. For example, the systems analyst may ask questions about the needed response time or throughput required on the network, the quality of print needed, or the need to have a graphical user interface or a menu or text type of interface. In other words, the question the systems analyst asks is, "How does the system need to perform in this environment?" Its answer can be multifaceted depending on the needs of the user.

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19 The information category provides the basis for the information or data model that the system needs to maintain. Issues dealing with input data, output data, and stored data are considered. The systems analyst may ask the following questions: "What information is required by the users of the system?" or "What outputs are required?" and "What do these outputs need to look like?" These questions need to be addressed and answered while the systems analyst is interacting with the user to define output or report definitions. Similarly, questions related to input data required in order to produce the outputs are also included in this category, for example, "What input screens are needed?" or "What is the source for the input (where does it come from)?" and "Can the input enter the system with source data acquisition equipment such as bar code scanners, laser guns, mouse, and so on?" Ultimately, the data need to be defined with a high degree of detail, which is discussed further in a later chapter of this book. The third category in this framework is economy. This subject area addresses project development and operational cost information along with any objectives that may relate to economy or savings associated with the system. For example, the systems analyst may ask, "What is the budget for this project?" or "What is a workable solution to the problem worth to the user of this system?" Other questions can include: "What are some anticipated cost savings associated with this system?" and "Are there current manual activities that an automated solution to the problem may affect?" If so, "How will the automated system transform the role of these workers?" 19

20 The control category is closely associated with system security issues as well as the editing required on the incoming data. For example, questions may be asked related to needed accounting controls for some processes, or at what levels (workstation, user, screen, file, data element, and so on) security is needed. Any issue related to controlling the use of the system, its outputs and inputs, or required controls over the data can be included in this category. Somewhat related to economy, the other "E" in the PIECES framework refers to efficiency. Efficiency is a measure of method correctness. In other words, "Are things being done right?" Efficiency's impact is usually measured at least at one of three levelscorporate-wide, department, or individual. Questions related to efficiency are primarily directed toward the impact that any solution must have on the environment. For example, "How can the operations in the office be improved by this system?" and "What values can be added to the environment by using an automated solution to the problem?" are two questions that the analyst can ask in this subject area. The final category in Wetherbe's PIECES framework is essentially the functional requirements of the system that he associates with services. "What does the system need to do in order to solve the problem?" and "What processes need to be performed?" or "How are the objects expected to perform?" and "What do the objects need to be able to do?" are typical questions the analyst asks for this subject area. In addition to functional requirements, services may also include implementation concerns, such as 20

21 ease of use and needed support for ongoing use of the system, maintenance of the system, and training and documentation requirements. Ledda(2010) stressed the integrity of Wetherbes PIECES in developing his thesis which is the Integrated Online Student Affairs and Services System(IOSASS). Based from the findings upon his respondents, it must be emphasis on performance sector having the highest average mean to develop its constraints. According to Barayuga (2010) in his thesis Automated Enrollment System for Ilocos Sur Polytechnice State College-College of Agriculture, all of the aspects of PIECES were constraints. It needs to strengthen every side of the field in manual system. Both Barayuga and Ledda benefited on the PIECES framework effectively, thus, this will serve as input to strengthen the development of the Automated Payroll System of PCCAST. Rapid Application Development According to Shelly (2005), IT departments sometimes developed systems without insufficient input from users. Not surprisingly, users often were unhappy with the finished product. Over time, many companies discovered that systems development teams composed of IT staff, users, and managers could complete their work more rapidly and produced better results. Two methodologies became popular: joint application development (JAD) and RAD.

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22 team-oriented development is the norm, some companies see the role of the IT department as a gatekeeper, responsible for screening and evaluating system requests. Should the IT department perform the initial evaluation, or should a cross-functional team do it? The answer depends on the companys size and organization, and whether IT is tightly integrated into business operations. In smaller companies or firms where only one person has IT skills, that person acts as a coordinator and consults closely with users and managers to evaluate systems requests. Larger firms are more likely to use an evaluation team or systems review committee Top managers expect the IT department to deliver the best possible information system, at the lowest possible cost, in the shortest possible time. To fulfill these expectations, many IT managers have tried to increase user participation in the development process. Greater user involvement usually results in better communication, faster development times, and more satisfied users. The traditional model for systems development was an IT department that used structured analysis and consulted users only when their input or approval was needed. Although the IT staff still has a central role, and structured analysis remains a popular method of systems development tasks. A common technique is called joint application development (JAD), which is a team-oriented technique for fact-finding and requirements modeling. Because it is not linked to a specific development methodology, 22

23 systems developers use JAD whenever group input and interaction are desired. Anotherusers. RAD provides a fast-track approach to a full spectrum of system development tasks, including planning, design, construction, and implementation. Companies use RAD to reduce cost and development time, and increase the probability of success. To simplify the system development process, IT vendors offer software that can provide an application development environment. Because it is a dynamic, user-driven process, RAD is especially valuable when a company needs an information system to support a new business function. The primary advantage of using RAD is that systems can be developed more quickly with significant cost savings. According to OBrien (2008), system testing may involve testing and debugging software, testing website performance and testing new hardware. An important part of testing is the review of prototypes of displays, reports and other output. Prototypes should be reviewed by end users of the proposed systems for possible errors. Of course, testing should not occur only during the systems implementation stage, but throughout the systems development process. For example, you might examine and critique prototypes of input documents, screen displays, and process procedures during the systems design stage. Immediate end user testing is one of the benefits of a prototyping process. 23

24 Martin (2010) cited that RAD advocates believed that the development of rapid prototypes was a good way to flush out customer requirements by gaining immediate feedback from the client. One of the problems that had been identified with other software development practices was that clients often didnt really know what they wanted or didnt want until they saw a practical implementation. It was through the process of customers

commenting on an evolving application that new requirements were teased out. Usually, this would be seen as an unwelcome development which could play havoc with agreed schedules. With the RAD methodology, however, it became a standard and accepted part of the development process. In its embrace of the object-oriented paradigm, and the use of software engineering tools to enhance programmer productivity, it was certainly ahead of its time.

Martin(2010) development

denotes,

As RAD

well

as

denoting

formal of a

software marketing

methodology,

became

something

buzzword and was casually applied to a variety of software development products. Although hardly hardcore implementations of the methodologys ideas, these products did incorporate some of its key concepts. For example, to facilitate RAD, strong emphasis was placed on the idea of software re-use. The notion of software components began to be nurtured. Supporters believed that complex software systems could be constructed largely by stitching pre-built software components together. The ActiveX control and 24

25 JavaBeans software component standards did acquire some degree of traction, and a market for third-party code components written to these standards did emerge, even if it was never all that vigorous. Another key element of the RAD-lite approach was visual programming. According to this concept, it should be possible to construct software with little or no knowledge of programming. The ideal was that programs could be built by non-programmers hooking components together in some kind of workshoplike development application. This ideal was never quite fulfilled, but visual development practices did become a standard part of the typical

programmers toolkit and are now routinely used to develop some parts of software applications, while more traditional coding accounts for the rest. Graphical interfaces, for example, are now constructed visually more often than not, with programmers or user interface designers modifying the desired look of the user interface from within a visual editor and the RAD tool then generating the appropriate code to create that look automatically. The automatically-generated code then forms a skeleton framework for the application as a whole which the software developers then build upon and edit by hand.

In common use today, the phrase Rapid Application IT professionals would be unaware that it once referred to a formal software development methodology. Almost any software tool which is used in the creation of other software will be described in its marketing literature as something that 25

26 facilitates RAD. RAD usually indicates that the tool in question takes some of the burden from the programmers back by automatically generating part of the program code. The software tools today is used by the majority of programmers to develop new software are called Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). Almost all of them include some RAD features. When creating a new program, for example, the software engineer can indicate what kind of application it should be, such as a console application, a program with a graphical user interface or one that is database-driven. The IDE will then generate a base template of code which the programmer takes as a starting point for his or her own work. According to SmartDataSmart Data(2010),their years of experience has evolved a method of "incremental Delivery" which uses cycles, where each cycle part of design and implementation is done. This ensures that at the fatal end day of a project we should rather have 80% of the (most important) features 100% done, than 100% of all features 80% done. In the first case, customer has a choice to either put the product on the market or to add some more bells and whistles. In the latter case, the customer has no choice but to wait and grumble. Requirements change is a known risk. Better than ignoring the requirements paradox, use a website development process that is designed to cope with it: Evolutionary delivery, uses rapid and frequent feedback by stakeholder response to verify and adjust the requirements to what stakeholders really need the most. Between cycles there is a short time slot where stakeholders input is allowed and requested 26

27 to reprioritize the list. To know more about customized application development The literatures and concepts are tools that helped the researcher to support his research.

Software Usability Measurement Inventory Yeap (2009) stated, The Software Usability Measurement Inventory is a rigorously tested and proven method of measuring software quality from the end user's point of view. SUMI is a consistent method for assessing the quality of use of a software product or prototype, and can assist with the detection of usability flaws before a product is shipped. It is backed by an extensive reference database embedded in an effective analysis and report generation tool. SUMI is recommended to any organization which wishes to measure the perceived quality of use of software, either as a developer, a consumer of software, or as a purchaser/consultant. SUMI is increasingly being used to set quality of use requirements by software procurers. SUMI also assists the manager in identifying the most appropriate software for their organization. It has been well documented that if staff have quality tools to work with, this contributes to overall efficiency of staff and the quality of their work output. SUMI is the de facto industry standard questionnaire for analyzing users'

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28 responses to desktop software or software applications provided through the internet. SUMI is the only commercially available questionnaire for the assessment of the usability of software which has been developed, validated, and standardized on an international basis. There is a large range of languages in which SUMI is available. Each language version is carefully translated and validated by native speakers of the language. SUMI enables measurement of some of the user-orientated requirements as a recognized method of testing user satisfaction. SUMI started with an initial item pool of over 150 items, assembled from previously reported studies, from discussions with actual end users about their experiences with information technology, and from suggestions given by experts in Human Computer Interaction(HCI) and software engineers working in the Measuring the Usability of Systems in Context (MUSiC) project. The items were examined for consistency of perceived meaning by getting 10 subject matter experts to allocate each item to content areas. Items were then rewritten or eliminated if they produced inconsistent allocations.

According to Kirakowski and Corbett (19902006), The questionnaire developers opted for a Likert scaling approach, both for historical reasons

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29 (Likert-scaled) and because this is considered to be a natural way of eliciting opinions about a software product. Different types of scales in use in questionnaire design within HCI. The implication is that each item is considered to have roughly similar importance, and that the strength of a user's opinion can be estimated by summing or averaging the individual ratings of strength of opinion for each item. Many items are used in order to overcome variability due to extraneous or irrelevant factors. This procedure produced the first questionnaire form, which consisted of 75 satisfactory items. The respondents had to decide whether they agreed strongly, agreed, didn't know, disagreed, or disagreed strongly with each of the 75 items in relation to the software they were evaluating. Questionnaires were administered to 139 end users from a range of organizations. The respondents completed the inventory at their work place with the software they were evaluating near at hand. All these respondents were genuine end users who were using the software to accomplish task goals within their organizations for their daily work. The resulting matrix of inter-correlations between items was factor analyzed and the items were observed to relate to a number of different meaningful areas of user perception of usability. Five to six groupings emerged which gave acceptable measures of internal consistency and score distributions. Revisions were made to some items to centralize means and improve item variances, and then the ten best items with highest factor loadings were retained for each grouping. The number of groups of items was set to five. Items were revised in the light of critique 29

30 from the industrial partners of MUSiC in order to reflect the growing trend towards Graphical User Interfaces. A number of users had remarked that it was difficult to make a judgement over five categories of response for some items. After some discussion, it was decided to change the response categories to three: Agree, Don't Know, and Disagree. Analysis showed that item response rates, scale reliabilities, and item-scale correlations were similar to or better than those in the first form's sample. Analyses of variance showed that the questionnaire differentiated between different software systems in the sample. The subscales were given descriptive labels by the questionnaire developers. These were: Efficiency, Affect, Helpfulness, Control and Learnability. According to Veenendaal (2002), Usability is an important aspect of software products. However, in practice not much attention is given to this issue during testing. Testers often do not have the knowledge, instruments and/or time available to test for usability. This article identifies the Heuristic Evaluation and the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) testing techniques as possible solutions to this problem. The focus of this article will be on SUMI. In a heuristic evaluation a small number of evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles ("the heuristics"). SUMI is a rigorously tested and validated questionnairebased method to measure software quality from a user's perspective. Using SUMI the usability of a software product or prototype can be evaluated in a consistent and objective manner1. The technique is supported by an 30

31 extensive reference database and embedded in an effective analysis and reporting tool. SUMI has been applied to a great number of projects. The ideas of the usability serve as a guide to his research in developing the Payroll System of PCCAST.

Chapter 3 Methodology Research Design This study will be using the descriptive and developmental type of research with the documentary analysis through checklist and structured interview as the main tool to gather information for the development of Payroll System of Philippine Central College of Arts, Science and Technology. 31

32 Calderon and Gonzales (2006) define descriptive method of research as a fact-finding study with adequate and accurate interpretation of the findings. It describes what is. It describes with emphasis what actually exist such as current conditions, practices, situations or any other phenomena. This research design was a help in the determination on the current status of Payroll System of PCCAST and evaluation of the level of usability of Automated Payroll System of PCCAST. Richey (2003) describes developmental research on the other hand as the study of the instructional design, development, and evaluation process as a whole or of particular process components. The developmental method was used by the researcher in the development of Automated Payroll System of PCCAST. According to Shelly (2005) another popular user-oriented method is Rapid Application Development. RAD resembles a condensed version of the entire System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), with users involved every step of the way. Companies use RAD to reduce cost and development time, and increase the probability of success. To simplify the system development process, IT vendors offer software that can provide an application development environment. There are four phases in RAD: (1) requirements planning, (2) user design, (3) construction, and (4) cutover phase. The researcher will use RAD Model as a walkthrough to the system development and the researcher will discuss the different phases of RAD implementing regarding to the developed system. 32

33 Population and Locale Table 1. First Group of Respondents Position Head of Accounting Department Accounting Staff Accountanting Assistant Cashier Staff Total Number 1 15 1 1 3 7

To identify the flaws about the payroll system of PCCAST, the researcher initiate interviews who are indulge in payroll procedures. There were two groups of respondents of the study. Table 1 shows the first group of respondents. Table 1 includes the Head of Accounting Department, Cashier and Accounting Staff of PCCAST who will be the future end user of the developed system. They will answer the PIECES questionnaire to evaluate the current status of Payroll System of PCCAST. The second group of respondents was participated by Head of Accounting Office who is responsible for supervising the payroll procedures and IT Experts who will contribute in the technical aspects featuring the developed system. . They will answer the SUMI questionnaire provided by the researcher to evaluate the developed Payroll System of PCCAST. The credentials of the experts are shown in Table 2. Table 2. Credentials of the Experts Evaluators Position 33 Qualification

34 Evaluator 1 Evaluator 2 Evaluator 3 Evaluator 4 Evaluator 5 IT Expert/Computer Instructor PCCAST Freelance Programmer Computer Instructor PCCAST Network Administrator Accountant Certified TESDA Computer Technician Master in Information Technology Bachelor of Science in Office Management Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering Bachelor of Science in Accounting

Data Instrumentation To gather reliable information for the study, the researcher will utilize a survey questionnaire which was supplemented with documentary analysis for current status of Payroll System of PCCAST. A structured instrument in the form of a survey questionnaire using the PIECES instrument will be used in evaluating the Capabilities and Constraints for status of Payroll System of PCCAST. The PIECES framework, originally developed by James Wetherbe and then adapted by the authors, can serve as a useful tool to classify the various problems, opportunities, and directives. The researcher will use RAD method as an instrument in developing the system. The model consist of the following: a) requirements planning b) user design c) construction and d) cutover
Planning Requirem ents

User Design

Constructi on

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Cutover

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Figure 2. RAD Model In requirements planning phase, researcher will meet with the Head of Accounting to create specific objectives from the desired program. Strategies for development and tools for development are also laid out in a specific project. For business organizations, this stage is important since the projected answer to business concerns will be laid out for the first time. Everything in this stage is theoretical but it will be working together with the clients or businesses that need software to answer their business need.

Planning Requirem ents

User Design

Constructi on

Cutover

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36 Figure 2. RAD Model

The

user

design

phase,

the

researcher

will

examine

the

requirements and transforms them into logical descriptions. Unified Modeling Language (UML) tools are used extensively during this phase. The system design can be planned as a series of iterative steps or allowed to evolve

The construction phase, a prototype is built using the software tools described earlier. The researcher then exercises the prototype iteratively and provides feedback from the end users (Accounting members) that are used to refine the prototype by using Visual Basic programming language, Structured Query Language Software as serves as the database. The researcher will add dynamic features using biometrics fingerprint

technology. The feedback and modification cycle continues until a final, acceptable version of the system emerges. In some cases, the initial prototype consists of screens, forms, reports, and other elements of the user interface, and the underlying logic is added to the prototype only after the user interface is stabilized. The cutover phase is similar to the traditional implementation phase Key activities include training the users, converting or installing the system, and completing the necessary documentation. During the development process, the researcher will conduct demonstration and will give briefings on the end users upon the prototype. 36

37 A structured instrument in the form of a survey questionnaire using the SUMI instrument will be used in evaluating the Capabilities and Constraints for Automated Payroll System of PCCAST. SUMI will assess the developed system during system evaluation and it will make comparisons between developed system and future versions of the system. Data Analysis To gauge the current status of the Payroll System of PCCAST, the following Likert scale was used:

Numerical Equivalent 5 4 3 2 1

Statistical Range 4.21-5.00 3.41-4.20 2.61-3.40 1.81-2.60 1.00-1.80

Descriptive Equivalent Rating (DER) Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Descriptive Interpretation

Constraint Constraint Constraint Capabilities Capabilities

Responses of the respondents with mean ranges of 2.61-5.00 will be considered as constraint, as these were weak points for the existing system while means ranging from 1.00-2.60 were considered capabilities as these

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38 were strengths of the existing system. It is inversely represented because the framework was tailored to a specific application domain. The degree of usability (satisfaction and acceptance) of the website could be assessed along the following dimensions: efficiency, control, helpfulness and learnability; data gathered from the Usability Questionnaire were gauged using the test for central tendency (the average weighted mean) and evaluated according to their numerical descriptive.

Point Value 5 4 3 2 1

Statistical Range 4.21-5.00 3.41-4.20 2.61-3.40 1.81-2.60 1.00-1.80

Descriptive Equivalent Rating (DER) Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Descriptive Interpretation Very Usable Usable Fairly Usable Unusable Very Unusable

The researcher will use the weighted means to weigh the information collected. The data gathered through the questionnaire were treated statistically and followed the ranges of scores (Likert Scale) that served as the base for determining the efficiency and effectiveness of the interaction and process of the website.

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39 Mean ranges from 2.61-5.00 interpreted the software to be usable on the other hand, those with mean ranges from 1.00-2.60 considered these aspects as not usable which means respondents are not satisfied with the software.

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2002, Erik van Veenendaal, Low-cost usability testing,http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=644752

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