UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

LOGARAJ AIL CHAMUHENADEN

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS*

JUDUL: UTEM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

SESI PENGAJIAN: 200812009

Saya LOGARAJ A/L CHAMCTHENADEN (HURUF BESAR)

mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah) ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut :

1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka 2. Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dibenarkan membuat

salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dibenarkan membuat

salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi. 4. ** Sila tandakan (I)

SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERI-IAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasihadan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

/ TIDAK 'IERHAD

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Alamat tetap : N0.6, S.E.K BATU AMPOR NORHAZIAH MD SALLEH 35350 TEMOH, Nama Penyelia PERAK

Tarikh : Tarikh : 3 u -05 CATATAN: *Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai Laporan Akhir Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM)

** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa.

UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

LOGARAJ AL CHAMUHENADEN

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Computer Science (Database Management)

FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

2009

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project report entitled

UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

is written by me and is my own effort and no part has been plagiarized

without citations.

STUDENT : Date:

(LOGARAJ S/O CHAMUHENADEN)

SUPERVISOR: Date:

(PM N O R W I A H BINTI MD SALLEH)

DEDICATION

To my beloved parents Krishna Vanee Dl0 Vedaiyan

& Chamuhenaden SIO Maniam

To all the UTeM's lecturers

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor, PM Norhaziah Md.Salleh for providing assistance

throughout the development of this thesis and development of UTeM Student Timetable

Scheduling System (USTSS) . PM Norhaziah had been contributing brilliant ideas

suggestions in developing the system.

I would also like to thank my Advance Database Programming lecturer and my

examiner for this project, Dr. Yahya Ibrahim for teaching how to develop the system

using Oracle 9i Developer besides providing ideas and solving complicated problems in

developing this projects.

Other than that, I would like to thank my beloved parents for providing support and

confidence for me in developing the system.

Besides that, I would like to thank all my course mate that contributed by sharing their

knowledge in developing this system.

Last but not least, I would like to thank to all those that have contributed in this

development of the project directly or indirectly.

ABSTRACT

This thesis contains the development phases of UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling System (USTSS). USTSS is developed for the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in order to replace the current manual system of student timetable scheduling. Through this system the student timetable will be generated automatically by using the data provided by the staff in charge. USTSS is developed in order to solve the problems in the current system. USTSS will ease and reduce the manual work in scheduling student timetable. Administrative features are also added in the USTSS to ease the maintenance of the system. USTSS is an intranet system that can be used within the university. It uses the two-tier architecture. Only the authorized user can access the system, Database Life Cycle (DBLC) methodology is used in developing USTSS. Oracle products are used in developing USTSS. USTSS development aspect is to reduce the complexity and problems occur in the current manual student timetable scheduling system. 7

ABSTRAK

Projek ini mengandungi fasa pembangunan UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling System (USTSS). USTSS dibangunkan untuk Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) untuk mengantikan sistem manual yang sekarang digunakan untuk menjana jadual waktu pelajar. Melalui sistem ini jadual waktu pelajar dapat dijana secara automatik dengan menggunakan data yang dibekalkan oleh pekerja yang bertanggung jawab untuk membuat jadual waktu pelajar. USTSS dibina untuk mengatasi masalah yang timbul dalam sistem sekarang. USTSS akan memudahkan dan mengurangkan kerja manual dalam menjana jadual waktu pelajar. Ciri-ciri pengurusan juga telah diaplikasikan di dalam USTSS untuk memudahkan kerja pengurusan sistem. USTSS merupakan satu sistem intranet yang hanya boleh digunakan di dalam kawasan universiti sahaja. USTSS mengaplikasikan senibina 2-tier. Hanya orang yang menpunyai kuasa untuk menguruskan sistem tersebut @at menggunakan USTSS. Database Life Cycle (DBLC) merupakan pendekatan yang digunakan untuk membangunkan USTSS. Produk Oracle digunakan untuk mernbangunkan sistem USTSS ini. Pembangunan sistem USTSS ini diharap dapat mengurangkan masalah-masalah kompleks yang wujud di dalam sistem sekarang.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER SUBJECT

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

ABSTRAK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

CHAPTEN INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

1.2 Problem Statements

1.3 Objective

1.4 Scope

1.4.1 Target User

1.4.2 Modules

1.5 Project Significance

1.6 Expected Output

1.7 Conclusion

PAGE

i

ii

iii

iv

v

x

xi

xii

CRAPTER n LITERATURE REVIEW AND PROJECT

METHODOLOGY

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Facts and Findings

2.2.1 Domain

2.2.2 Existing System

2.2.2.1 PKK

2.2.2.2 GaSchedule

2.2.3 Technique

2.3 Project Methodology

2.3.1 Database Life Cycle (DBLC)

2.4 Project Requirements

2.4.1 Software Requirements

2.4.2 Hardware Requirements

2.4.3 Other Requirements

2.5 Project Schedule and Milestones

2.6 Conclusion

CHAPTER m ANALYSIS

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Problem Analysis

3.2.1 Flow chart of Current System

3.3 Requirement Analysis

3.3.1 Data Requirement

3.3 -2 Functional Requirement

3.3.2.1 Data Flow Diagram for USTSS

3.3.3 Non-functional Requirement

3.3.4 Other Requirements

3.3.4.1 Software Requirement

vii

3 -3.4.2 Hardware Requirement 32

3.3.4.3 Network Requirement 3 3

3.4 Conclusion 3 3

CHAPTER IV DESIGN

4.1 Introduction

4.2 High- Level Design

4.2.1 System Architecture

4.22 User Intedace Design

4.2.2.1 Navigation Design

4.2.2.2 Input Design

4.2.2.3 Output Design

4.2.3 Conceptual and Logical Database Design

4.2.3.1 Conceptual Database

Design

4.2.3.2 Logical Database Design

4.2.3.3 DBMS Selection

4.3 Detailed Design

4.3.1 Software Specification

4.3.2 Physical Database Design

4.3.2.1 Data Definition Language (DDL)

4.3.2.2 Design User Views

4.3.2.3 Design Security Mechanism

4.3.2.4 Database Contigency

4.4 Conclusion

... Vlll

CHAPTER V IMPLEMENTATION

5.1 Introduction

5 -2 Software Development Environment Setup

5.3 Database Implementation

5.4 SoAware Configuration Management

5.4.1 Configuration Environment Setup

5.4.2 Version Control Procedure

5.5 Implementation Status

5.6 Conclusion

CHAPTER VI TESTING

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Test Plan

6.2.1 Test Organization

6.2.2 Test Environment

6.2.3 Test Schedule

6.3 Test Strategy

6.3.1 White-Box Testing

6.3.2 Black-Box Testing

6.3.3 Classes of Test

6.4 Test Design

6.4.1 Test Description

6.4.2 Test Data

6.5 Test Result and Analysis

6.6 Conclusion

CHAPTER VII PROJECT CONCLUSION

7.1 Observation on Weakness and

Strength

7.2 Proposition for Improvement

7.3 Contribution

7.4 Conclusion

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

Comparison between PKK, GaSchedule and USTSS

Data Requirements for the Lecturer

Input Type and Validation of Logon Page

Data before Normalization

Course-Subject Table

Course Table

Subject Table

Course-Subject Table

Logon Pseudo Code

Implementation Progress of USTSS

Test Organization for USTSS

Hardware Specifications for Test Environment

Soffware Specifications for Test Environment

Test Schedule for USTSS

Test Cases and Expected Result for Module Login

Test Data for Login Module

Test Results for the Login Module

LIST OF FIGURES

DIAGRAM TITLE PAGE

Database Life Cycle (DBLC)

Flow Chart of the Current System

Context Diagram of USTSS

Data Flow Diagram for USTSS -Level 0

DFD Level 1 - Process 2.0 Generate Timetable

System Architecture of USTSS

Navigation Diagram for USTSS

Input Design for Login Page

Output Design for Staccess Message

Output Design for Failure Message

Output Design for Report Produced

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) for USTSS

Sample Screen of Logon

User-Level for USTSS

Two-tier Architecture of USTSS

Oracle Listener Configuration file

Oracle tnsnames Configuration Files

Code Version of USTSS

Development Codes

xii

LIST OF APPENDIXS

APPENDIX TITLE

Interfaces of Existing System

Gantt Chart

Data Requirements

Input Type and Validation

Data Dictionary

Pseudo Code of Modules

Data Definition Language Statements

Oracle Listener Configuration

Local Net Service Name Configuration

Test Cases and Expected Result

Test Data

Test Results

PAGE

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

The system developed is UTeM's Student Timetable Scheduling System

(USTSS) for the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM).USTSS can be used for

student timetable scheduling and administrative task by using user-friendly interfaces.

Currently the timetable scheduling is done manually. This manual scheduling

consumes a lot of time and man power. USTSS will generate automatically the student

timetable where this will reduce the difficulty faced in scheduling student timetable. The

administrative tasks such as user multi-level user controls, backup and recovery,

dynamic database creation can be done using the interfaces in USTSS.

1.2 Problem Statement

Currently, the process of scheduling timetable for the student is done manually.

The process of scheduling timetable was found to be time consuming and frustrating

especially for the person responsible in doing the time scheduling. Plenty of steps

needed to be followed in order to schedule student timetable. First of d l the Bahagian

Pengurusan Akadernik @PA) will send a letter to each faculty for latest list of subjects

that will be offered by the faculty for the coming semester.

After all the faculties have submitted the subject list for each course, a meeting

among representatives fkom the faculties will be held in order to determine the time and

day for the classes according to subjects and courses. This is the most crucial part of

timetable scheduling because unanimous agreement must be achieved in determining the

courses that will accommodate the period of time in the timetable.

The timetable scheduling will not just end here. The next process will be the

analysis of the timetable by each faculty through "burden" meeting. Through this

meeting, the timetables are finalized and the lecturers are assigned to the subjects and

courses. The assignment of lecturers will base on their "burden". Then the timetable

scheduling is considered complete.

Manual process of timetable scheduling require a delicate work so that any

redundancy or loss of data will not occur although sometimes mistakes might occur due

to large number of paperwork.

1.3 Objective

The objectives of UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling are as follows:

1. To provide a computerized system to ease the task of scheduling timetable

Timetable scheduling can be done using a computerized system that will auto

generate timetable when suEcient information provided. This will reduce the man

power and the time slice used in determining the timetable for the student.

2. To provide interfaces for the administration purposes

By providing adrnin interfaces, the administrative tasks can be done through the

interfaces rather than doing the tasks in conventional ways by tying the SQL commands

manually. This wiH simplifl the administrative task.

3. To produce reports dyuamialty

Dynamic reports are different from static reports whereby dynamic reports give

the users control to choose the content of the report which is not able to be done in static

reports. Dynamic reports are important in order to provide user the information they

desire.

4. To control multi-level user

Multi-level user control is important in order to restrict the modules that can be

accessed by users. Restrictions on modules are done in order to protect the confidential

information and avoid alteration of data by unauthorized users.

5. To perform backup and recovery

Backup involves making copy of database to be recovered in case of the

hardware failure, program bug or system crash. This is important in order to ensure the

availability and reliability of data in the system. The database backup and recovery are

done using GUI of the system.

6. To manage transaction logging

Transaction logging is a part of the database security features. All transactions

done in the system can be kept track by transaction logging. Any data tempering can be

detected by going through the transaction log. This method allows tracing any changes

made by unauthorized user and preserve data confidentiality.

1.4 Scope

The scope of the USTSS system can be divided into two. The target users and the

modules created in the system.

Target users are users that are allowed to use the system. In the USTSS system

the target user will be the student, staff and the database administrator.

1.4.2 Modules

The modules included in USTSS are:

1. Timetable Scheduling Module

Student timetable scheduling is done in this module. This module will be used by

the staff. The time table will be automatically generated.

2. Timetable Alteration Module

Any changes in the generated modules and insertion of missed out classes during

timetable generation will be done in this module.

3. Dynamic Database Module

The database administrator will be able to create table, users dynamically by

using this module. Which means the database administrator only have to enter the table

name, column name and choose the data type only. Complete SQL statement does not

have to be entered.

4. User Control/ Grant Privileges Module

By using this module the user access of the system can be controlled by granting

and revoking the privileges of the user. This will restrict the modules that can be

accessed by the user and provide confidentiality and security of data.

5. Backup and Recovery Module

The database administrator can perform database backup and recovery using this

module. In this module the user only have to specifj the location of the backup and the

name of the backup before pressing the button. Backup will be created.

6. Dynamic Report Module

In the USTSS system the dynamic report module allow users to choose required

information in generating reports. This will help in decision making.

1.5 Project Significance

The system will benefit UTeM staff that involved in student timetable scheduling.

The USTSS will replace the manual method of timetable scheduling.

The main function of the USTSS system is auto generation of timetable after certain

condition achieved and data is obtained. This hnction is very beneficial for the

timetable scheduling. The time and man power will be reduced.

USTSS system will also provide administratiodmaintenance interfaces for the

administrative tasks. Burden of administration task can be reduced by these interfaces

because no complex SQL statements need to be written.

1.6 Expected Output

The expected output of this project is UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling System

(USTSS). This system will be used by the staffs of UTeM in scheduling student

timetable.

The authorized user can access the modules in the system as their privileges and

roles. The staff in charge of scheduling can auto generate the student timetable besides

editing the processed timetable.

Administration tasks can also be done using the USTSS system by the administrator.

The administrative tasks include create table, create user, grant and revoke privileges,

backup and recovery and transaction log view.

1.7 Conclusion

USTSS is developed in order to reduce the difficulty faced in scheduling student

timetable every semester by UteM. Faster timetable scheduling can be achieved by using

USTSS. The objectives and the scope for developing USTSS are stated.

The information from this chapter will be used as a guide in completing the next

chapter. The next chapter will be Literature Review and Project Methodology. In that

chapter, project methodology, requirements and schedule will be discussed.