Department of Information Systems

Faculty of Business & Informatics

Divine Word University

Project Report
Student Management System

Ishmael Faru
Year 3 Student
Bachelor of Information Systems, 2017

Supervisor(s):
Ms. Maryanne Bagore

IS311 Enterprise System | 2017

Table of Contents
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Purpose ........................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 Business functions & processes ...................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Functional areas of operation ......................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Traditional view of information systems ........................................................................................ 5
2.4 Enterprise-view of information systems ......................................................................................... 5
2.5 Costs/Benefits of enterprise systems ............................................................................................. 6
3. Student Management System .............................................................................................................. 7
3.1 Overall design.................................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Database design .............................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 Process description ....................................................................................................................... 11
4. Lessons learned ................................................................................................................................... 12
5. References .......................................................................................................................................... 12
6. Glossary ............................................................................................................................................... 12

IS311 Enterprise System | 2017

 1. Introduction

In this modern era of technology, many business processes are now being automated, making it
convenient for businesses to process information and communicate efficiently.

Many companies and business organizations are making good use of the improvements in
technology and moving away from traditional information systems and are moving in to
enterprise systems. Enterprise systems provides many benefits and combines various business
processes and functions providing businesses with greater operational efficiency.

This is a report of the proposed enterprise system I developed for Western Pacific University and
a discussion on enterprise systems.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this project is to develop an enterprise system for Western Pacific University which will
be used by the students, registrars office and office of student services. This enterprise information
system will comprise of two subsystems, using a single shared database. The system will be used to
manage certain processes in the university. The three systems are:

Online enrolment System

Student Admission System

Dormitory Management System

These systems will enable both students and staff to view access and manage information using
various interfaces developed for the enterprise system.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Business functions & processes

Business functions are activities that are specific to a particular functional area of operation (Tom
Matys, 2012). In order for a business to achieve its objective or goal, the various functional areas in the
business carry out several functions or activities that are specific to that area which contributes towards
achieving operation of that functional area. The business functions shown in figure 1 below are
performed in specific areas of operation. In figure, Marketing and Sales area of operation have
marketing of products function, Taking Sales function, Customer function, Sales forecasting and
advertising function.

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Figure 1 showing an example the different business functions under each functional area. Taken from Tom Matys (2012).

According to Tom Matys (2012), a business process is a collection of activities that take some input and
creates an output that is of value to the customer. The inputs can be materials, people and equipment.
Business processes in an organization can be of a single functional area or can include the whole
organization. The example shown in figure 2 shows the customer order process involves Sales function,
accounting function, Production function and Logistics function.

Figure 2 showing the processes view of business operation. Taken from Tom Matys (2012)

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2.2 Functional areas of operation

Traditionally, businesses have four main functional areas of operation: Marketing and Sales (M/S) Supply
Chain Management (SCM), Accounting and Finance (A/F), and Human Resources (Monk & Wagner, 2013).
Each functional area specializes in specific business function. Functional areas also called departments or
sections, may operate separately from each other but interdependent on each other. This means
functional areas require information or data from other functional areas in order carryout their operations
successfully.

2.3 Traditional view of information systems

Large organizations usually have a traditional arrangement of information systems, where they have
different systems, supporting only the activities functions and business processes of individual functional
areas (Daniel, 2016).

Figure 3 Showing traditional view of Information Systems. Each Functional areas has its own systems and they are
independent from each other. Taken from Daniel (2016, p.22)

According to figure 3 shown above each of the functional areas have their own information systems. Each
system requires its own database which means there are more than one database within one
organization. Each information system of the functional areas operate independently and there is no
communication or sharing of information between the systems. Information had to be shared manually.
This is inefficient and can be very costly in terms of business operations.

With traditional information systems businesses may face many problems such as duplicate data entry,
incorrect data entry and update and inconsistency in data. There will also be delay in delivery and access
of useful information. These problems will have negative impact on the performance of the organization.
Because of these businesses are now venturing into Enterprise Systems.

2.4 Enterprise-view of information systems

Organizations are now implementing enterprise systems to respond to the problems previously
discussed and operate efficiently in a changing and competitive business environment. Those doing so
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employ a process business model, which view the business as a set of processes comprising functions
from multiple functional areas (Monk & Wagner, 2013).

Figure 4 showing an enterprise view of information systems. Taken from Daniel (2016).

Figure 4 above illustrates the enterprise view of systems. In enterprise information systems, there is a
centralized database, and all other business processes are automated using the same database. Data
input from one functional area can be accessed by all the other functional areas. For instance data from
Finance can be accessed by Human Resources. This allows information to flow seamlessly throughout
the organization and reduces many of the problems faced with traditional information systems.

2.5 Costs/Benefits of enterprise systems

Integrated information systems can lead to more efficient business processes that cost less than those in
unintegrated systems (Ellen Monk, Bret Wagner and Brady, 2003). This allows for different functional
areas to have access to one organization-wide database which makes sharing of data/information easier.
It also avoids duplication of data, data inconsistencies, update anomalies multiple entry data entry errors.

Enterprise systems managers do not just monitor but manage operation of an organization. For example,
rather than a manager ask and get answers from each departments or section to questions like How is
our operation? managers can access progress information for themselves.

With enterprise systems, entering of data into multiple databases would be done away with and the work
of maintaining database would be much easier as there is only one database to update and repair. It
support team would be able to do upgrades and maintenance to the system very easily.

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3. Student Management System

3.1 Overall design

This is a documentation of the proposed student management system for Western Pacific University. The
system is an enterprise system which consists of a centralized database and three subsystem with their
own functions and processes. The systems functions can be accessed by users via a web interface and
two separate desktop interface.

Figure 5 showing the functionalities of WPU student management system

As shown in figure 3 students will use the web interface to login and enroll in course offerings, and view
their transcripts for each semester. The dormitory management system will be used by the dean via the
desktop application to assign rooms to students and view dormitory details. The student admission system
will be used by the registrar to enroll new students and view student details, and also view students
eligible for HECAS scholarship.

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3.2 Database design

The third step in the database design process is the conceptual design which is expressed using a high
level diagram such as an Entity Relational (ER) or an Extended Entity Relational (EER) diagram. ER/EER

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model shows the entities and relationships in the DB, data about this entities and relationship to be
stored in the database, and integrity constraints or business rules that must be hold.

Figure 6 showing the conceptual EER diagram of the WPU student management system.

After the conceptual design, the EER/ER model is then mapped into a Logical diagram called the Relational
Schema. The relational schema model is a is a logical representation of the actual physical database.
Looking at logical model one can know what the physical database is like. In logical model, as the
conceptual model is mapped, extra tables can be added.

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Figure 6 showing the relational schema for WPU student management system

The figure below is a screenshot of the physical design from phpmyadmin. It is the enterprise database
which all data used by the three subsystems of the WPU student management system used. It has eight
(8) tables each for an entity and different attributes stored in each table. It is the physical database
represented logically in the relation schema.

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Figure 7 showing the physical database of the WPU student management system.

3.3 Process description

Enrolment Process

For the enrolment process the student will have to be registered in the student database. The students
will use the web interface to login using their credentials then view course offerings and select the
courses they wish to enroll. Students can also view their transcript by clicking on view transcript whilst
logged in.

Dormitory Management Process

The dormitory management process allows the deans to assign students to a room in a dormitory. The
dean would have to login on the desktop app, go to room allocation and assign student to a room. All
registered students will be listed allowing the dean to assign room to them. After assigning rooms to
students, the dean can view a report of dormitory details.
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Student Admission Process

This process will be used by the registrar to register new students. The registrar will have to login on the
student management desktop application and enter student details, the details will then be saved on
WPU database. After saving the student details the registrar can view a report of registered student
details. The register can also view a report of students eligible for HECAS scholarship.

4. Lessons learned

In this project, I learnt a lot from the actual system. Coding using VB.NET which takes almost three
quarter of this project time.

5. References

Thomas Matys - Team - Institut fr Soziologie - Fakultt KSW - FernUniversitt in Hagen [Web log
post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fernuni-agen.de/soziologie/team/lg2/thomas.matys.shtml
M D. (n.d.). Enterprise systems: An emerging technology for Papua New Guinea universities.
Database Design and System Design [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www2.amk.fi/digma.fi/www.amk.fi/opintojaksot/0303011/1146161367915/1146161680673
/1146161836562/1146161929756.html
Database Design | Udemy [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.udemy.com/database-design/
Three Different Types of Enterprise Systems | Chron.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-different-types-enterprise-systems-73267.html

6. Glossary

Business function Activities specific to a functional area of operation such as recruitment

and selection in the HR

Business Process Collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates
an output, such as a report or forecast, which is of value to the
customer

Database Collection of related data about things such as students

Enterprise system A suite of integrated software modules used to integrate and manage
organization-wide business processes that share a common central
database and management reporting tools

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Enterprise view of systems An arrangement where an organisation has one system that integrates
business processes from multiple functional areas of operation using a
single database.

Functional areas of operation Broad categories of business activities including marketing and sales
(MS), supply chain management (SCM), accounting and finance (AF) and
human resources (HR)

Information System` People, procedures, software, and computers that store, organize,
analyze, and deliver information

Traditional view of systems Arrangement of information systems, where organisations have

different systems, supporting only the activities, functions and business
processes of individual functional areas.

Author

Ishmael Faru is a student in the Department of Information Systems at Divine Word University
(DWU). He is a third year student currently doing his Bachelor degree in Information System.

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