Hard Knocks School Database - Case Study Example

Hard Knocks School Database Report Pupils Introduction Hard Knocks school has currently been experiencing an upsurge in the number of enrollments of pupils to the school. This has made it quite cumbersome for the management to effectively and efficiently manage the pupil’s records and services. In order to allow the school to grow without limitationsand to meet the services required for each pupil, there is aneed for the design of a functional database system that holds the records of the pupils. The system can then be used by the administration to track the activities involving the pupils, teachers, parents and the school merchandise. Developing this database system requires a proper understanding of database concepts, elements of system analysis and how they can be used to develop dynamic models of data (Balter, 2008). The pupil would have to identify data and information needs within the various organizations. Computer skills involving usage of software packages are necessary to develop a functional information system. Analysis The Hard Knocks School record systemwas analyzedin order to determine the functional objectives needed for implementation in a bid to meet the required objectives of an effective record system (Guan et al., 2004). The system would work through a number of major channels. The pupil’s data would first be capturedby the system. This way the activities involving a parent, teacher and the pupil, or the pupil and teacher only would be captured and stored using the pupil’s reference number. Meetings between the parents and the teachers can be captured, and the necessary or important information from the meeting captured and stored by the parents.The school also needs to store and track the attendance of the pupils. From this record, the number of times the pupil was present and absent can be determined and stored for future reference. Research showed that the pupils required reports of their performance and their activities which would be submitted to the parents or guardians usually at the end of a learning session. An automated system would allow for a continuous capture of the pupils records for the time they are pupils. This would allow for easier and proper maintenance of the records over time (Chiang et al., 2009). Queries done to the database can provide a comprehensive record of a particular pupil’s history in the school over a short period. The database would also allow for production of various documents relating to the history. For instance the academic performance, school fee payment records and transaction history. The school also offers the option of selling merchandise to pupil such as the stationery the pupils use. Accounting for the merchandise sold with an increasing population requires a database system that would automate the process. The merchandise would be recorded to allow for recording of the items in store that are available; those that have been sold as well as the financial transactions for easier accounting of the property (Chiang et al, 2009). The merchandise records can be easily maintained using an electronic database. Implementation of this design would create a number of advantages to the school. Besides reducing the time required to serve the pupils, it would enable accountability of all pupils in the school system (Henning, 2010).The pupils financial records can be tracked and the system can be prompted to give possible defaulters. The academic records of the pupils can also be well organized, and statistical analysis can be done without the need for recapturing the data. The system would, therefore, reduce redundancy in the way the data is captured (Ulrich et al., 1995). This allows for more accurate data to be stored. Furthermore, the resources needed for capturing the data and storing it are reduced. Thus, the administration can cut on cost both of the work force required and the stationery. Security of the data would be significantly enhanced as the database allows for a number of security mechanism in the access of the data (Feddema, 2004). This would ensure that only those who are authorized to access certain information can reach it. The administration, on the other hand, would have an easier time in decision making as they can analyse the data and get the desired information just by querying the database (Jennings, 2002). This would significantly reduce the time required before making a decision hence create room for the management to deal with other vital issues affecting the entire school fraternity. The system would, however, require the implementation of computerized information software and train its management on how to utilize the software. Computers would also be required to provide a client terminal for serving the pupils.This might incur extra expenses to the institution (Schneider, 2006). Design The design stage involves organizing the identified information into modules that are supported by the software and computer application. Seven primary tables would first be created with fields to holddata elements. A table is a repository where data regarding a certain object is stored (Toliver, 1997). Fields form the titles of the columns of the table (Kruse et al., 2000). They hold specific data for an attribute of an object. The first table would consist of the teachers and their respective classes they are assigned to administer. The elements in the teachers table would consist of five fields with the following names:‘FormTeacherID’ as the primary key, ‘Title’,‘Room’, ‘Phone’, ‘CRB_No’. The second table would include the pupils table that would contain the following fields: ‘PupilID’, ‘Surname’, ‘Forename’, ‘Address’, ‘Phone’, ‘Year_Of_Admission’.The parents will also have their records stored in a table whose fields will include: ‘ParentID’, ‘Surname’, ‘Forename’, ‘Phone’ where the ‘parentID’ would be used as the primary key. Another table named Absence would also be created to contain the records of the pupil’s absence from school and would have the following fields:‘AbsenceID’, ‘Date’, ‘PupilID’ with the ‘AbsenceId’ as the primary key.A table named ‘PupilParent’ would also be created to facilitate creating of relationships between the tables.It will have the ‘PupilParentID’, ‘PupilID’, ‘ParentID’ as its fields with the ‘PupilParentID’ as the primary key. Meetings would be recordedin a table named ‘Meetings’ with the following fields: ‘MeetingID’, ‘Date’, ‘Subject’, ‘Notes’, ‘teachername’. The last table, ‘Merchandise’ would hold fields for the merchandise records that include the ‘MerchandiseID’, ‘MerchandiseName’, ‘MerchandiseDetails’, ‘StockNo’. Once the tables have been created, forms would be created to allow manipulation of the data in the table.Forms can be defined as user interfaces that provide the user a user-friendly and appealing graphical interface that they can use to enter, edit and remove data in the database (Jennings, 1997). The forms provide the user with input elements such as text fields, text areas, combo boxes, check boxes that ease the handling of data (Hennig, 2010). Thisis essential especially since the end users are not a technical users hence require a more user-friendly design that they can handle easily. Six forms would be necessary for this project for the Teacher, Parent,Pupil,Merchandise, Absence and Meeting data input. An electronic database allows for joining data and querying to produce results. This requires creating of relationships to ensure there is no redundancy in the data. A relationship is created between a primary key and a foreign(secondary) key (Chang et al., 2007). To meet the requirements of this project and for simplicity, the following assumptions were made: Only one parent and one teacher would be present at any meetingregardless of the nature hence one teacher is recorded in case of more; any pupil can be absent more than once and can only have one form teacher; a parent in the database can have multiple children in the school and they can have more than one meeting with the form teacher; similarly the pupil can have more than one meeting. The entities of the database would, therefore, be related as follows: The ‘formteacher’ would be joined to the meeting table using its primary key and the ‘teachername’ in the meetings table as the foreign key. The meetings table would then be joined to the parent id with the parented in the parents table as the primary key and the ‘parentname’ in the meeting table as the foreign key.The ‘formteacher’ table would also be linked to the pupil table with the ‘teacherid’ in the form table as the primary key and the ‘teachername’ field in the pupils table as the foreign key. A further relation would also be created to link the pupil to their absence records using the pupil id as the primary key and the pupil name in the primary table as the foreign key. The pupil using the ‘parentpupil’ table would be linked to the parent table. This way data entered in the system would be specific hence no repetition. The system would validate the data by ensuring it complies with all the various entities it is linkedwith. This enhances referential integrity of the data in the database (Harkings et al., 1999). Future maintenance thus becomes easier. Querying the tables can also be done to produce more detailed data from the system. Queries fetch data from multiple tables using certain criteria. They can be modified to perform mathematical calculations on the data to produce detailed information inform of reports. Reports are a way of representation of data to make it appear more appealing and easier to understand by the user (Chiang et al., 2009). To meet the objectives of this project, a number of reports would be created to display the pupils history in the school (which includes; academic records, financial records, absence records,the number of meetings and their outcomes), the number of merchandises sold and for further accounting options of the project. Production Designing a database is the main engagingactivity in developing an information system.Once the database has been designed, production becomes easier especially if the developer has had prior experience of designing databases. For this project,a number of database application software could be used. In this case, Microsoft Access was chosen, primarily for its availability and because most people use the WindowsOperating System that uses the Microsoft packages as the default packages. The various entities and their tables with fields would be created first. This would be followed by forms and for data input, output, and manipulation. Queries would then be created once the relationships between the tables have been created. The display in the queries can be showed in reports, forms and sub forms depending on the nature of the query. Care has to be taken in the design to allow for easier debugging in case of a problem. The attributes regarding each field have to be clearly defined, and the best way to do it is using the design view (Balter, 2008). Moreover, a naming system that allows for easier identification and differentiation of the components of the database have to be used. Thisincludes for instance, naming tables starting with the name table followed by an underscore and then the functionality name of the table. Thishas to be implemented in the naming of the forms, reports, queries and any other entities.The forms and reports that are the graphical user interface for the user have to be designed in such a manner that they are user-friendly. This can be achieved by using icons on buttons with actions that denote the functionality of the system. Words can be added to supplement the actions. The spacing between elements in a form should create a properdistinction to avoid a clumsy and clustered design. Only the basic and most important functionality should be displayed for simplicity.The color of the user interface of the system can also be adjusted to be appealing to theuser. The database can then be packaged using packaging software that can be installed as a separate software from Microsoft Access (Hennig, 2010). Testing Testing and debugging is vital in developing any software or database. This enables identification of possible errors that might cause the system to crush or to produce the wrong results. Test data has to be entered using the standard operating procedure for the database. A keen eye is needed to monitor the input, storage, processing and output of the data in the system. The test data must have expected outputformatsuch that once the data is entered, the output received is as expected. Errors that can arise could either be syntax errors, which cause the application to fail to execute hence crush or logical errors that cause the application to ruin but end up producing incorrect results (Kruse, 2000). Syntax errors can be corrected by referring to the production whereas the logical errors can be corrected by identifying the problem from the design phase. The most common cause of such errors happens during the development of the relationships. Implementation Once an information system has been developed, a procedure is followed in deploying it to ensure full functionality. A user manual on how to use the system has to be accompaniedby the system. This could be printed or in softcopy. Furthermore, the information system should incorporate a standard menu for help in case a user is stuck. The users are first guided through the installation of the system and how it works. This can be done by teaching them practically busing sample data. A number of methods can be adopted in implementing the system. A parallel system, in which the new system runs parallel to the old system for some time as the users get familiar with it would be the best option. This method allows for a backup in case the data is lost orincase the implementation procedure is incomplete. The old system can continue to run. If successful, the old system is discarded after some time, and the new system fully installed.However, this is usually expensive for the institution. Other options for implementation of the system include installing the new database in parts. This could start with the pupil merchandise, followed by the meeting, absence and the records of the pupils. Once one level is successful, the next level is implemented (Schneider, 2006). During this process, features such as security, data privacy, and usability are addressed and clarified. Passwordsare set and assigned to the respective system users for a certain level to ensure privacy and security of the data. Teaching the users allows them to familiarize with the project in time for full installation. Any issues that make the users uncomfortable can be raised and corrected. All the procedures adopted in the implementation have to be documented for future references. The documentation explains how the system was developed, the environment it was developed to run, how to correct problems arising, how to use it as well as the potential the database has. Its scope of application has to be mentioned to help the new users understand the system better. Conclusion Developing an information system requires theapplication of technical skills and most importantly the experience. The basic format followed in developing a database requires definition of the problem and analysis ofthe detailsrequired for development of the software. Once the data is collected, and the situation understood, the data can then be used to design a database that solves the problem. The design of the process is often the hardest part in the development. Once an acceptable model is designed, it is implemented for production. Testing and debugging are then done on the system whence it is installed and deployed. The process necessitates care for a robust and stable information system. 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