DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WEB BASED RECRUITMENT PORTAL (A case study of Nigeria Civil Service Commission Enugu)

BY NWAMAGHINNA BLESSING CS/2006/078 SUBMITTED TO

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCEINCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN FACULTY OF NATURAL SCEINCES CARITAS UNIVERSITY AMORJI NIKE, ENUGU STATE.

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF SCEINCE (BSc) DEGREE IN COMPUTER SCEINCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

AUGUST, 2010.

CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that this research work was carried out by Miss Nwamaghinna Blessing, of Computer Science and Information Technology Department, under my close guidance and supervision.

Sign: Mr Ugwu Ejike (Supervisor)

Date:...

APPROVAL PAGE This project, web based recruitment portal, has been carried out in accordance with the standard required by the Computer Science and Information Technology Department, of which is presented by Miss NWAMAGHINNA BLESSING with Reg. No CS/2006/078 has been assessed and approved as satisfying the requirement of department of computer science, Caritas university Enugu State. Sign Mr Ugwu Ejike (Supervisor) Sign Mr Ugwu Ejike (Head of Department) Sign Engr. Mrs. Chiemeka Stella (External Examiner) Date.. Date.. Date..

DEDICATION This work is dedicated to God Almighty, the creator of the whole universe, the fountain of all knowledge and source of all wisdom.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincere thanks are due to my parents, Mr & Mrs Ferdinand Onyenduzi Obimba, my uncles; Engr. Maxwell Obimba and Mr Samuel Ogbonna, my aunties; Evan. Gladys U. Onyemaeze, Mrs Monica Ogbonna, Mrs Nkeiruka Obimba and Mrs Josephine Adiku, my siblings Ezenwa, Ugonna, Akachi, Amarachi, Ubakaghinwa, and my cousins; Eberechukwu, Chimeremeze, Chizaram, Prince and Favour, for their support both spiritually, financially and otherwise. I also acknowledge with thanks the assistance given me by my supervisor Mr Ugwu Ejike, and other of my lecturers; Mr Israel Aneke, Mr Lawrence Ikpeama, Mr Uchenna Ugwuanyi, Mrs Chisoba N. Ezeme and Mr Prado, throughout this research. I also wish to acknowledge the help of my friends; Ifeoma, Lynda, Chika, Ukefi, Nneka, Loveth, Cynthia, Ngozi, Anulika, Judit, and that of my course mates too numerous to mention. I am also indebted to the deputy vice-chancellor Caritas University Amorji- Nike, very Rev, Prof. Remy Onyewuenyi (CSSP), whose efforts has helped me in the pursuit of my career.

LIST OF TABLES TABLE Table 4.1 Table 4.2 TITLE Data Structure Data Structure of the Report PAGE 36 37

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Fig 4.1 Fig 4.2 Fig 4.3 Fig4.4 Fig 4.5 Fig 4.6 TITLE Application Form Typical Report from the System Flowchart of the Recruitment Process Resourcing Flowchart System Flow Diagram Site Definition Window in Dreamweaver PAGE 38 39 40 41 42 44

TABLE OF CONTENT Cover page Title pagei Certificationii Approval pageiii Dedication..iv Acknowledgement.v List of Tables..vi List of Figuresvii Abstract..xiii Chapter One: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study1 1.2 Statement of the Problem2 1.2.1 Solution....2 1.3 Objectives of the Study..2 1.4 Significances of the Study3 1.5 Scope of the Study3 1.6 Limitations of the Study4 1.7 Definition of Terms/Variables..5 Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Overview of Recruitment Process.7 2.1.1 The Induction Timetable8 2.1.2 The Induction Process11 2.2 Implication of Poor Recruitment by Line Managers12 2.3 Overview of Web Portal..13 2.4 History of Web Portal..14 2.5 Types of Web Portal15 2.5.1 Personal Portal.15 2.5.2 Vertical Portal..16 2.5.3 Regional Web portal16 2.5.4 Vertical Information Portal.17 2.5.5 Search Portal17 2.5.6 Government Web Portal..17 2.5.7 Corporate Web Portal..18 2.5.8 Stock Portal.20 2.5.9 Tenders Portal20 2.5.10 Hosted Web Portal21 2.5.11 Domain-Specific Portal22 2.5.12 Engineering Portal22 2.6 How Portals Functions and Components.23

2.6.1 Channels24 2.6.2 Directory Services....24 2.6.3 Roles25 2.6.4 Customization Backend Integration....25 Chapter Three: Research Methodology and System Analysis

3.1 Research Design.27 3.1.1 Sources of Data27 3.2 Analysis of the Existing System.28 3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Existing System.29 3.3.1 Advantages of the Existing System.29 3.3.2 Disadvantages of the Existing System.29 3.4 Analysis of the New System30 3.4.1 Online Application Form..30 3.4.2 Form Validation30 3.4.3 Database31 3.4.4 Job Advert Page31 3.4.5 How the Site is Run...31 3.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of the New System.32 3.5.1 Advantages of the New System..32 3.5.2 Disadvantages of the New System..32

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3.6 Justification of the New System.33 Chapter Four: Design, Implementation and Testing of the New System

4.1 Object of the Design34 4.2 Input and Output Specification....34 4.3 Input and Output Format..37 4.4 System Flowchart.39 4.5 Overall Data Flow Diagram.41 4.6 System Implementation....42 4.7 System Documentation.44 4.8 Testing and Integration.44 4.9 User Guide45 4.10 Choice of Programming Language.45 4.11 Software Testing and Integration46 4.11.1 The Test Plan46 4.11.2 System Testing..46 4.11.3 Main System Driven Testing46 4.11.4 Database Testing...46 4.12 Performance Evaluation/Cost Analysis47 Chapter Five: Summary, Recommendation and Conclusion

5.1 Summary..48

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5.2 Problem Encountered and Solutions....48 5.3 Suggestions for further Improvements.49 5.4 Recommendation..49 5.5 Conclusion....49 Bibliography Appendix : Appendix 1; source code Appendix 2; Application form Appendix 3 ; A Typical report form for the system Appendix 4; Site definition in Dreamweaver

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ABSTRACT Web based recruitment portal is a web based application that monitors the recruitment process of any organization online. It has the features that allow the user to apply for job online. When application is sent through the web portal, based on the requirement of the said job description, the portal screens the candidate and determines whether or not the applicant is qualified. If the applicant is not qualified, the portal rejects the application and returns a feedback to the user, else the applicants information will be sent to the portals database, where the administrator can access notify the applicant of a date of an interview. The web based recruitment portal is or should be recommended for every organization in their personnel department because it will ease the stress of the personnel managers and as well help them to select the suitable people to suit the position. This web portal will be developed using dream weaver platform and the scripting writing with PHP server technology. The database will be administered using mySQL.

KEY WORDS; Web, Recruitment, Portal, Application, Dream weaver, Database, mySQL, Server.

CHAPTER ONE
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INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY On-line activities have in recent past replaced virtually every form of transactions. This is because of the advent of the internet, which provides a global network connection for all such activities. With this technology, many institutions have their tentacles spread across the glob. In line with this trend, job search activities and job providers need to join the band wagon of the global community in shearing their information across the internet. The Project work is based on this notion. A web portal, also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which otherwise would have been different entities altogether.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

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Individual websites need to be created so that clients can access their desired information directly. 1.2.1 Solution The use of metadata and ontologies will enable to model the company organization and to relate these concept to the information. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The practical objective of this work is to design and implement an online recruitment portal. One of the most important objectives of this project is to contribute to academic research work while the subsidiary objectives include; to help employers to post their job offers online and search their database to find people who best suit their vacant job positions. providing the possibility for job seekers to build their curriculum vitae (CVs) online, look for new job opportunities in industries and organizations, get e-mail notifications of interesting job vacancies and apply directly through the website.

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 to help organizations attract, test, recruit, employ and retain quality staff with minimal amount of administration.
to reduce or totally remove IM that goes amongst the recruitment

agents or personnel managers. 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY If this prototype is fully developed will be very useful in many areas such as:
a.

It will ease the work of the personnel department of the any organization.

b.

It will create more employment opportunities for our youths. The government can also review and deploy it to other sectors. Private individuals can also find it interesting

c.

d.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This project will go as far as deploying web technologies in the implementation. Dreamweaver will be use as the major development tool. connection using MySQL will extensively be covered in this work. Database

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Studies were carried out in the various institutions that conduct interviews and recruitments. The scheme used is closed tag to the information collected at the point of this research. All forms and database designed followed the pattern of the manual means by the employers of labour. This project was deployed using a local sever, which runs on a stand alone Pc and not deployable to the internet. 1.6 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The study was limited by several factors, of which some posed serious constraints towards the development of the project. drawbacks was due to financial incapacitation. One of the major

This is among other

frustrations such as program failures during modular construction stages. In ability to procure personal internet access for uploading made it difficult for the deployment at testing stag. Again was the distance and availability of research materials. It was

absolutely difficult to source most of the important information needed for this work. For instance, collection of information that helped me to develop the forms and database was another serous issue.

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1.7

DEFINITION OF TERMS / VARIABLES

RECRUITMENT: This refers to the process of attracting, screening and selecting qualified people for a job at an organization or firm. WEB: This refers to a vehicle for accessing and sharing of information. SERVER: A computer or program managing access to a resource or service in a network. PORTAL: A web application that is designed to represent a ton of information in a concise and centered way thereby making the internet easier to use eg. Yahoo.com, Netscape.com, etc. ONTOLOGY: Ontology in computer science and information technology is a formal representation of the knowledge by a set of concepts within a domain and the relationship between those concepts. METADATA: This is loosely defined as data about data. It is a concept that applies mainly to electronically archived data and is used to describe the definition, structure and administration of data file

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with all contents in context to ease the use of the captured and archived data for further use. SQL: Structured Query Language is a database computer language designed for managing data in relational database management system (RDBMS) and originally based upon relational algebra. It scope include data query and update, schema creation and modification, and data access control. DATABASE: This is designed to offer an organized mechanism for storing, managing and retrieving information.

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 OVERVIEW OF RECRUITMENT PROCESS

According to Nadler Ed, (1984), recruitment is the premier major step in the selection process in the organization. It has been explained as an activity directed towards obtaining appropriate human resources whose qualification and skills match functions of the relevant posts in the organization. Its importance cannot be over emphasized and can be best described as the heart of the organization. Elwood F, etal (1996), said that the process of recruiting new staff is a critical. To large extent, the success of an organization depends on it. This so because, when the right crop of manpower is enrolled, it makes for a better work output. On the other hand, employing the wrong candidate will mar the future of that organization. Odiagba E, (2004), said that in many organization, enough and quality time is allocated to this exercise, in order to ensure a successful outing. The following are some processes and stages by some companies, which may also be termed as standard.
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2.1.1 The induction timetable From the journal of vocational and technical education vol 12, induction often begins before the person has actually started, in that the organization will supply material as part of an initial 'information pack', or with the invitation to interview, or with the letter of job offer. This may be particularly important in jobs of a technical nature, where it is helpful for the new starter to be as well informed as possible about that side of the work. Clearly, learning the particular projects and initiatives will have to be done in the workplace but much 'mental preparedness' can be undertaken in advance. The Company Handbook, and the Written Statement of Employment Particulars, can also provide essential information about the organization and the job. According to Kelly D, (2001), a good reception, with the line or personnel manager spending time with the new employee, is important on the first day. There may be further documentation to complete, perhaps a preliminary discussion about training either immediately or in the future, an explanation of the development opportunities that are available, and of course enough information to give the new starter a good grasp of the working practices of the organization.

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According to Elwood F, etal (1996), any particular health and safety requirements should be made known, together with details of whom to go to for help and advice during the course of their employment. Many companies use a 'buddy' system, where an experienced worker is nominated to assist the new recruit in all the day-to-day questions that may arise. According to McDonald I, (1995), it is useful to have a written checklist of the items that need to be covered in the induction programme; Not only does this give some structure to the induction but it also ensures that both the new starter and the manager know what has or has not been covered at any given time. Such a checklist is normally drawn up by the personnel section in consultation with other involved staff, such as safety officers, line manager/supervisors, employee representatives (if appropriate), and training officers. Kelly D, (2001), said that the induction programme may be spread over several days or weeks, and may incorporate specific job training, but the following points should be borne in mind:

All employees need to be able to work in a safe and healthy manner. Recruitment and placement procedures should ensure that employees (including managers) have the necessary physical and mental abilities

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to do their jobs, or can acquire them through training and experience. Employers should have systems in place to identify health and safety training needs arising from recruitment.

People can take in only so much information at any given time, and should not be overloaded. It is important that health and safety is introduced in a structured way.

If there are special health and safety requirements, make sure the new starter fully understands their importance - otherwise there is the risk of being exposed to unnecessary danger or endangering their coworkers. All employees must know what to do in the event of a fire or other emergency.

Omenyi A. S, (1997), added that the following which should be considerer during induction:

Setting out the plan of induction at the beginning avoids the problems that can arise in trying to arrange time in the future, when the employee is established in the job.

Odiagba E, (2004), also added that the following should not be forgotten;

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Dont forget induction needs for shift workers or night workers. They may need some time on days, or modified shifts, to cover the induction period

Even if the induction period covers job training, try to let new starters do some practical work, as this will assist their learning and enable them to relate what they are being taught to what they will be doing.

Popoola S.O, (2000), said that the outcome of induction timetable is that the new starter should have a good feel for the organization, and should continue to feel that they made the right decision in joining the firm.

2.1.2 The induction process According to Nadler Ed, (1984), induction need not be a very formal process but it needs to be properly managed. In many organizations it will be carried out informally by the new starter's manager or supervisor on a day-to-day basis. Nevertheless, having a structured checklist to follow is useful for both parties. Most induction will consist of meeting and talking with new colleagues, watching activities and asking questions. It may be appropriate to provide certain information in written form; and if the organization has a

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company handbook, this can often act as an aide memoire covering important aspects of the company organization and how it functions. From journal of vocational and technical education vol 12, if a group of new employees is recruited at the same time, it may make sense to hold group induction sessions on the common topics to be covered - discussion, videos, slide presentations can all add to the effectiveness of the programme. McDonald I, (1995), said that even the people transferring from one part of the organization to another need induction into their new area. Don't assume that they will know the relevant people or the skills they will need in the new job. However, they may need a more individually tailored induction programme to meet their particular needs.

2.2

IMPLICATIONS OF POOR RECRUITMENT BY LINE

MANAGERS According to Kelly D. (2001), the absence of planning leads to chastise recruitment that leads to a bumper harvest of unqualified applicants resulting in more unnecessary work for staff in recruitment. Starting the process

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without systematic approach, can rush decision and can end up with a mismatch person who will not be suited to in the organization. McLean G.N, etal (2002), said that there is need to have a system that assists to access candidates throughout. This reduces the odds that will have to repeat this extensive, time consuming process. To terminate a poorly employee especially at managerial level, is a costly failure to the organization considering the cost involved in the recruitment, selection, training, etc. Wrong placement at officers level can lead to stagnation within the system. This may also affect production at one point or during the time of change. 2.3 OVERVIEW OF WEB PORTAL According to Maedche A etal (2002), a web portal, also known as a links page, presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. They go beyond static web pages and require a sign-on which links to some knowledge the organization has collected about the visitor. That knowledge allows portals to be tailored to meet individuals need. From portal business dictionary (2009), portals go beyond the delivery of static information and often provide access to services offered by the organization. A portal makes network resources (application, databases, etc)

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available to end users. The user can access the portal via a web browser, WAP phone, pager and other devices. Portals include network enabling services such as e-mail, chart rooms and calendars that interact seamlessly with other applications. Most web portals allows for adding personal links as portal providers realize that user may have other interest beyond the organizational boundaries. Personalization will make the portal more appealing to the user or make it sticker. A portal allows me to enter my own data space, a space where I can view and do what I want to do and not what someone else think that I want or should do. Examples of web portals are Thrashbarg, AOL, iGoogle, MSNBC, Netvibes, and Yahoo!.

2.4

HISTORY OF WEB PORTAL

Maedche A etal (2003), said that in the late 1990's the web portal was a hot commodity. After the proliferation of web browsers in the late-1990s many companies tried to build or acquire a portal, to have a piece of the Internet market. The web portal gained special attention because it was, for many users, the starting point of their web browser. Netscape became a part of America Online, the Walt Disney Company launched Go.com, and Excite

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and @Home became a part of AT&T during the late 1990s. Lycos was said to be a good target for other media companies such as CBS.

The portal craze, with "old media" companies racing to outbid each other for Internet properties, died down with the dot-com flameout in 2000 and 2001. Disney pulled the plug on Go.com, Excite went bankrupt and its remains were sold to iWon.com. Some portal sites such as Yahoo! and those others first listed in this article remain successful.

2.5

TYPES OF WEB PORTALS According to portal business dictionary, the following are the types of

portal. 2.5.1 Personal portals A personal portal is a site on the World Wide Web that typically provides personalized capabilities to its visitors, providing a pathway to other content. It is designed to use distributed applications, different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources. In addition, business portals are designed to share collaboration in workplaces. A further business-driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as personal computers,

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personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones/mobile phones. Information, news, and updates are examples of content that would be delivered through such a portal. Personal portals can be related to any specific topic such as providing friend information on a social network or providing links to outside content that may help others beyond your reach of services. Portals are not limited to simply providing links. Information or content that you are putting on the internet creates a portal, or a path to new knowledge and/or capabilities.

2.5.2

Vertical Portal

A vertical portal focus on a specific industry, and the channels offered are industry specific. For example, an educational portal will have channels that provide educational information and services from many resourses.

2.5.3 Regional web portals Along with the development and success of international personal portals such as Yahoo!, regional variants have also sprung up. Some regional portals contain local information such as weather forecasts, street maps and local business information. Another notable expansion over the past couple of years is the move into formerly unthinkable markets.

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"Local content - global reach" portals have emerged not only from countries like Korea (Naver), India (Rediff), China (Sina.com), Romania, Greece (in.gr) and Italy, but in countries like Vietnam where they are very important for learning how to apply e-commerce, e-government, etc. Such portals reach out to the widespread diasporas across the world.

2.5.4 Vertical Information Portal VIP is a specialized entry point to a specific market place and/or industry niche. It provides news, editorial content, digital publications and ecommerce capabilities. It provides dynamic multi-media including social networking, video posting and blogging.

2.5.5 Search Portal The search portal aggregate results from several engines into one page.

Maedche A, and etal (2002), added the following types of portal: 2.5.6 Government web portals At the end of the dot-com boom in the 1990s, many governments had already committed to creating portal sites for their citizens. In the United

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States the main portal is USA.gov in English and GobiernoUSA.gov in Spanish in addition to portals developed for specific audiences such as Disability.gov; in the United Kingdom the main portals are Directgov (for citizens) and businesslink.gov.uk (for businesses).

The official web portal of the European Union is Europa (web portal). Europa links to all EU agencies and institutions in addition to press releases and audiovisual content from press conferences.

All relevant health topics from across Europe are gathered in the Health-EU portal.

2.4.7 Corporate web portals Corporate intranets became common during the 1990s. As intranets grew in size and complexity, webmasters were faced with increasing content and user management challenges. A consolidated view of company information was judged insufficient; users wanted personalization and customization. Webmasters, if skilled enough, were able to offer some capabilities, but for the most part ended up driving users away from using the intranet. Many companies began to offer tools to help webmasters manage their data, applications and information more easily, and through personalized views. Portal solutions can also include workflow management, collaboration

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between work groups, and policy-managed content publication. Most can allow internal and external access to specific corporate information using secure authentication or single sign-on. JSR168 Standards emerged around 2001. Java Specification Request (JSR) 168 standards allow the interoperability of portlets across different portal platforms. These standards allow portal developers, administrators and consumers to integrate standards-based portals and portlets across a variety of vendor solutions. The concept of content aggregation seems to still gain momentum and portal solution will likely continue to evolve significantly over the next few years. The Gartner Group predicts generation 8 portals to expand on the Business Mashups concept of delivering a variety of information, tools, applications and access points through a single mechanism. With the increase in user generated content, disparate data silos, and file formats, information architects and taxonomist will be required to allow users the ability to tag (classify) the data. This will ultimately cause a ripple effect where users will also be generating ad hoc navigation and information flows. Corporate Portals also offer customers & employees self-service opportunities.

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2.5.8 Stock Portals Also known as Stock-share Portals, Stock market portals or Stock exchange portals are Web-based applications that facilitates the process of informing the share-holders with substantial online data such as the latest price, ask/bids, the latest News, reports and announcements. Some stock portals use online gateways through a central depository system (CDS) for the visitors to buy or sell their shares or manage their portfolio (finance).

2.5.9 Tender's Portals It stands for a gate way to achieve data on tenders and professional processing of continuous online tenders. With a tender portal the complete tendering process submitting of proposals, assessment, administration will be done on the web. Electronic or Online Tendering is just carrying out the same traditional tendering process in an electronic form, using the Internet. Using Online Tendering, the Bidders can : Receive notification of the tenders Receive tender documents online Fill out the forms online

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 Submit proposals and documents Submit Bids Online

2.5.10 Hosted web portals As corporate portals gained popularity a number of companies began offering them as a hosted service. The hosted portal market fundamentally changed the composition of portals. In many ways they served simply as a tool for publishing information instead of the loftier goals of integrating legacy applications or presenting correlated data from distributed databases. The early hosted portal companies such as Hyperoffice.com or the now defunct InternetPortal.com focused on collaboration and scheduling in addition to the distribution of corporate data. As hosted web portals have risen in popularity their feature set has grown to include hosted databases, document management, email, discussion forums and more. Hosted portals automatically personalize the content generated from their modules to provide a personalized experience to their users. In this regard they have remained true to the original goals of the earlier corporate web portals. Emerging new classes of internet portals called Cloud Portals are showcasing the power of API (Application Programming Ineterface) rich software systems leveraging SOA (service oriented architecture, web

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services, and custom data exchange) to accommodate machine to machine interaction creating a more fluid user experience for connecting users spanning multiple domains during a given "session". eg: Nubifer.com's Cloud Portal.

2.5.11 Domain-specific portals A number of portals have come about that are specific to the particular domain, offering access to related companies and services, a prime example of this trend would be the growth in property portals that give access to services such as estate agents, removal firm, and solicitors that offer conveyance. Along the same lines, industry-specific news and information portals have appeared, such as the clinical trials specific portal: IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal

2.5.12 Engineering Aspects The "portal" concept is to present the user with a single web page that brings together or aggregates content from a number of other systems or servers. For portals that present application functionality to the user, the portal server is in reality the front piece of a server configuration that includes some connectivity to the application server. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

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is one example of how a portal can be used to deliver application server content and functionality. The application server or architecture performs the actual functions of the application. This application server is in turn connected to database servers, and may be part of a clustered server environment. High-capacity portal configurations may include load balancing equipment. SOAP, an xml-based protocol, may be used for servers to communicate within this architecture. The server hosting the portal may only be a "pass through" for the user. By use of portlets, application functionality can be presented in any number of portal pages. For the most part, this architecture is transparent to the user. In such a scheme, security and capacity can be important features, and administrators need to ensure that only an authorized visitor or user can generate requests to the application server. If administration does not ensure this aspect, then the portal may inadvertently present vulnerabilities to various types of attacks. [see also articles on SOAP and SOA]

2.6 HOW PORTAL FUNCTIONS AND COMPONENTS A portal is not a single technology, but it brings together a wild range of technologies and enables them to work together for the benefit of the individual. To present users with information and services that are

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appropriate at any particular time, portals need to be modular and dynamic. At best, organizations can guess appropriate structures and features for various constituents and then leave it up to each individual to personalize his/her portal. In order to achieve that goal a portal has to provide, Maedche A, and etal (2002) gave the following components which helps the portal function effectively via;

2.6.1 Channels These are the portals building blocks. They are modules that link to or contain snippets of information or services. Users should be given a library of channels from which they can choose an not to defeat their own interest, though organizations will make certain channels mandatory. Different constituent groups or roles will have different default selection of channels with the understanding that many channels are universal (eg mail, calendar, weather) and will be available to aa groups.

2.6.2 Directory Services In order to customize the information for the entering individual, the organization needs to know whom the visiting person is. What role does

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he/she represent vis--vis the organization and what are his/her preferences and requirements? The more an organization knows about the portal visitor the better it is positioned to present a portal that best meet the individuals need. Individual information is maintained in the organization directory that also facilitates the sign-on and the persons authentication.

2.6.3 Roles As a starting point, organizations will need to develop default portals for different types of customers such as students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, future students. These default portals contains information and services that organization deem to be most attractive to each customer group or role. In addition to providing different channels, the portal design may differ for different roles. Eg students prefer other layouts and graphics compared to alumni. Roles determine how the portal looks for different audiences. Information about which role a person has, is stored in the organization directory.

2.6.4 Customization Backend Integration In addition to linking to the organizations directory, portals become even more powerful where they can draw on the wealth of information and logic

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stored in the organizations ERP system. Through the logic and data embedded in the ERP system, it does not only know who is entering the portal but also what that person has to do or can do. The organizations ERP system has accumulated in its database valuable information and the ERP system itself contains the logic on how that information should be acted upon. This can be used to deliver information at appropriate intervals or when critical content change.

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CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SYSTEM ANALYSIS 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN The concept research design is simply referred to the specification of the relevant procedures for collection and analysis of information (data) which would help solve the research problem at hand (Agburu 2001).

3.1.1 Sources of data I gathered the material through both primary and secondary sources. The primary data are fresh materials that are realized either through interviews or questionnaire or both, but the one used in this research work is realized through interview. The major source of data used in this work is the secondary source which represents works already done in the research topic and include the following information form; Textbooks Computer journals Magazines Articles Library and
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 Internet.

3.2

ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

In the existing system a vacancy arises. Sometimes this is due to the creation of a new job, on other occasions it may be because an existing member of staff has been promoted or is retiring. The job description is updated and an employee specification is written. The job description lists the duties of the job whilst the employee specification gives details of the experience, skills and abilities needed to carry out the job. A vacancy advertisement is written and is circulated via different media including newspapers, internet recruitment sites, specialist publications and the Employment Service. Application forms are sent out along with copies of the job description and employee specification and must be returned on or before the closing date that has been set. A shortlist is compiled of applicants who are going to be invited to attend for interview. This is done by the recruitment panel who compare each application form with the requirements of the employee specification. Feedback can be provided (upon request) to those not shortlisted and applicants have the right to complain if they feel they have been unfairly treated. Interviews are held. The panel will use the same set of questions with each interviewee. The interview may include a selection test.

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Feedback can be provided (upon request) and unsuccessful applicants have the right to complain if they feel they have been unfairly treated. The successful candidate are the invited for orientation, which is closely followed by induction training, after which the successful candidates are now absorbed into the force and deployed accordingly.

3.3

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTING

SYSTEM 3.3.1 Advantages of the existing system The existing system has the following as advantages: 1. 2. It ensures that the right candidates are selected the available position. The system gives all the applicants equal opportunity to be tested fit for the available position 3. 4. The system has the potentials of encouraging professionalism It paves the way for due process.

3.3.2 Disadvantages of the existing system The following are the disadvantages of the existing system; 1. It can cause obsolesce to employees. 2. It can resist the introduction of new ideas inside the organization.

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3.4

ANALYSIS OF THE NEW SYSTEM

The new system, which this work intends to address will be internet based. This is to say that the system will be deployable on a website in the internet for users to access on-line. The following will be the key features of the new system:

3.4.1

On-line Application Form

The system will be fitted with an on-line application form, of which the users can fill on-line. This will replace the primitive paper application, which has many potential problems. With this form, as applicants enter the site and clicks on the application form link, they can fill out the required information and submit same immediately.

3.4.2

Form Validation

This feature ensures that the form contains the correct required information before they are submitted. This laces the applicant on the situation of

ensuring that he/she has supplied the all but necessary information.

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3.4.3

Database

The new system will be database driven. The database will be implemented with SQL, and hosted locally. In other words, the system that hosts the site will be a local server. The database is designed in such a way that form data are bounded to the database for the purpose of form submission. The user may only access the database when they submit forms but cannot retrieve information from the database.

3.4.4

Job Advert Page

The system will be fitted with link to a page that advertises available job vacancy. The user is requires to access the link to find out any job vacancy that has been posted from the server. As a result of this feature, the server has the ability to upload information to the site whenever such need arises.

3.4.5

How the Site is Run

The site when lunched will present users with the home page. This home page allows the user links to other pages. The pages accessible by the users are the application form page and the vacancy page. Other links requires

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authentication and password, which must be issued by the site operator or administrator.

3.5

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE NEW

SYSTEM 3.5.1 Advantages of the new System

The new system has numerous advantages, which includes the following: 1. On-line access to information is a crucial aspect of this work, which makes it possible for the user to access the content from any remote distance. 2. 3. 4. 5. The system is cost free for users The system is user friendly The system ensures that fraud is eliminated The system maximizes the use of limited spaces.

3.5.2 1. 2. 3.

Disadvantages of the new System Users must be computer literate to be able to use it Hosting such a site is capital intensive It takes time to develop such a dynamic system

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4.

Security is key issue since there is a lot security threats on-line.

3.6

JUSTIFICATION OF THE NEW SYSTEM

A system like this, Web Based Recruitment portal, is needful at this time, when information technology has taken over almost every aspect of human activities. In the first instance, we need such a system to stay afloat with the recent technological level with other nations. It is also important because of its easy method of documentation without human interference. Instated of having many staff doing the same thing, only one staff may be required to monitor how the information is flowing in and out.

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CHAPTER FOUR SYSTEM DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, TESTING AND INTEGRATION 4.1 OBJECT OF THE DESIGN

The main objective of this design is to implement a Web Based Recruitment Portal. At the end of this design, an on-line site that is capable of running on a local server will be realized. In addition this, a full database driven site with good user interface will be achieved. 4.2 INPUT AND OUTPUT SPECIFICATION

All input used on this system were rendered to suit the inputs of both stand alone Pc and distributed system architectures. The input interface presents a form with text, label and command buttons. The text boxes allow users to type in text while the command button is used to initiate events that execute some server/client site codes. application forms: The table below shows the design o the data structure. Below shows on of the specification

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Table 4.1:

Data structure

Field Name Date Name Sex Age Marital Status DOB Address Phone Occupation

Field Type Date/Time Text Text Number Text Date/Time Text Number Text

Field Size Automatic 30 6 3 8 Automatic Memo 12 20

The output is rendered mostly on the screen. In other words, all outputs from this system is only presented to the screen, the specification was designed in such a way that they give good representation on the computer screen. Majorly, the output from this work is a report containing the

shortlisted candidate for interview. Below shows data structure used for the design.

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Table 4.2:

Data Structure of the Report

Field Name Name Sex Phone Address

Field Type Text Text Number Text 30 6 12

Field Size

Memo

4.3

INPUT AND OUTPUT FORMAT

In designing the input interface, of which the input form is one, a data structure that binds the input data to a table was drawn. The binding was done by simply using the form objects to relate the respective fields as contained in the database design. The sample input form realized after the design is as shown below:

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Fig 4.1

Application form

The output format as stated earlier is the report form. It displays the list of all successful candidates scheduled for interview with date. Below is a sample of the form

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Fig 4.2

Typical Report from the system

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4.4

SYSTEM FLOWCHART

Fig. 4.3 Flowchart of the Recruitment Process

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Fig. 4.4

Resourcing Flowchart

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4.5

OVERALL DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

Fig. 4.5

System Flow Diagram

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4.6

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

The system was implemented using Macromedia Dream Weaver Mx. The implementation began with the site definition, which involves the following steps Planning, Chose a browser, Organize the structure, under which you have to choose a folder and a folder structure that would be used to store the site files. This also determined the server that would be used, for instance, remote server or Local server. Below is the site definition window in Dreamweaver.

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Fig. 4.6

Site Definition window in Dreamweaver

After the site was defined, the next step of the implementation phase was to translate the design into the required forms, and all the tables required in the database were built and the data binding done with the HTML code and sql language.

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4.7

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION

The system will run well on any system that meets the following requirements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Windows XP with active X installed Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Hard Disk size of 2 GB minimum RAM Size of 128 Minimum Super VGA with at least 32 MB SVGA Monitor

4.8

TESTING AND INTEGRATION

In the course of this design, the development was done in modules. Each module was implemented separately and tested. Every stage entails

debugging, which was done and all error fixed. The entire system was integrated by joining each module to work with the main system. At the end of the integration, the entire system was tested and confirmed Ok.

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4.9

USERS GUIDE

To use this software, the following steps must be followed; 1. Open your browser 2. Type the address of the home page at the address bar 3. Use the hyper links to navigate around the web portal 4.10 CHOICE OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE In developing a system that requires a high level sensitivity such as this one, a language that simplifies thing was necessary for use. This was the reason for choosing the HTML, with few elements of DHTML and Java script. SQL was chosen for programming the database. 4.11 SOFTWARE TESTING AND INTEGRATION 4.11.1The Test Plan The test activities were carried out in stages. Each module was tested after and during Design using visual basic debugger.

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4.11.2System Testing The modules tested include the module discussed earlier in the previous chapters. Each of these modules was tested with some test data. After each debugging stage, the module would be integrated into the main system. 4.11.3 Main System Driver Testing

The main driver, being the Home Page of the recruitment portal was tested for proper connectivity to the database. Improper linkage to database was immediately corrected and assurance was made to see that data were adequately retrieved and presented without errors. 4.11.4 Database Testing Database testing was tested basically for connectivity and storage. The test started with the design stage, where efforts were ensured that the correct data representation was made. 4.12 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION/COST ANALYSIS The performance of the system was very near the expected result. That is about 95% of the expected result. The work is valued at One Hundred Thousand naira (#100,000.00).

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CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 5.1 SUMMARY

At the end of this research work, several lessons were leant. These include among others, how web pages can be hosted on the internet. Again the primary aim of this work was achieved, which is the design of a recruitment web portal. 5.2 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND SOLUTIONS

There were several problems encountered in the process of this design. The most important aspect of the problem was the aspect of information gathering. It was very difficult to for me source information for the relevant thing that I needed to do. Finance was another important aspect of the work that rendered everything almost impossible.

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5.3

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS

I would rather here suggest that anybody wishing to repeat this work should dwell more on incorporating sound into the system. Higher programming languages such as java, .Net, etc may be used for future development. 5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

I will strongly suggest that more time should be allocated to school project. This will go a long way to helping the student involved to truly participate actively in developing his work. Another important suggestion is financial support. Government and

agencies should come to the aid of the student carrying out such project work as this financially. This can only be possible if the school will link the student to such agencies and governmental institutions. 5.5 CONCLUSIONS

Web portals are essential aspects of the internet that provide temporal link to vital information resources. This project work has been able to implement one for job recruitment exercises.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS Baye E.N, (1998). Record Management Programme. Ibadan, Nigeria. Adeyomi Printing Press. Elwood F, Hotton II, James W, Trott Jr, (1996). Trends Towards a Closer Integration of Vocational Education and Human Resource Development. New York, ACM Press, pp 99-107. Kelly D, (2001). Dual Perception of Human Resource Development: Issues for Policy: SMEs. London, Oxford University Press, pp 48-62. Maedche A, Stab S, Stajanovic N, Studer R, Sure Y, (2003). Semantic Portal- The Seal Approach in Spinning the Semantic Web. London, MIT Press, pp 317-359. McLean G.N, Osman-Gani A.M, Cho E (Eds), (2002). Human Resource Development as National Policy. Hong Gong, Progn Press, pp 98-102. Nadler Ed, (1984). The Handbook of Human Resource Development. New York, John and Wiley Sons Press, pp 12-25. Odiagba E, (2004). Advances in Developing Human Resources. Enugu,

Vossen Gottfried, (1991). Data Models, Database Languages and Database

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Management System. Adison-Wesley Publication Company.

JOURNALS AND ARTICLES Journals of Vocational and Technical Education, Vol 12, p7. Maedche A, Stab S, Stajanovic N, Studer R, Sure Y, (2002). Volz SealTying up Information Integration and Website Management by Ontologies in IEEE Computer Society: Data Engineering Bulletin, Special Issues on Organizing and Discovering the Semantic Web, Vol 25, pp 16-19. McDonald I, (1995). Managing Records in the Modern Office: Training the Wild Frontier. Archivaria 39 (Spring). Omenyi A. S, (1997). Effective Report Management: A tool for Effective Counseling. Journal of Counseling and Communication. (Counseling Association of Nigeria, Anambra State Chapter). Popoola S.O, (2000). Records Management Programmes in Nigeria: A Survey of the Osun State Civil Service. Article on Portal Business Dictionary, 08/08/2009.

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APENDIX 2:

APPLICATION FORM

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APENDIX 3:

A TYPICAL REPORT FROM THE SYSTEM

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APENDIX 4:

SITE DEFINITION WINDOW IN DREAMWEAVER

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