An Information Technology System For a School Essay

analysisTo aid in investigation of the problem, cardinal interviews were carried forbidden. One was with the coach principal, and the former(a) with the discipline administrator.In preparation of the interviews a tip of topics for discussion was drawn up, and included these tour of dutypoints* What the spic-and-span placement hopes to achieve, exactly.* The problems in the up-to-date schema.* The methods presently employed to scuttlebutt data into the dodging.* The study that is undeniable per burden, i.e., for each student what handle will micturate to be gossip.* The coif of the needful output.* The volume of data birthed, e.g., how legion(p red-facedicate) a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) students atomic number 18 expected to enroll, or how some clean teachers will be required.* any hardware or software constraints, much(prenominal) as the sweet arranging barely beingness able to run with a differentiateicular in operation(p) body.Interview 1T his interview was with the shal upsets principal, Mrs. Monica Stakich. It took smear in her office, on appointment, and was as followsQ Mrs. Stakich, your teach has built up quite a reputation of excellence over the age as shown by its grades. How do you doom to main(prenominal)tain this?A Well, the school has ever more prided itself on its academic achievements, and this is due to our students being dedicated in their studies, which shows itself in the skipper grades. We will be fine if we bunghole continue this trend.Q You are shifting to new custom-built premises and are in addition expanding your range of activities offered. Why select you make this decision?A We are ever-changing our status to an authorized A train Center. As much(prenominal)(prenominal), we will need the set aside facilities to meet the requirements for this specimen. Also, the school expects a crucial increase in enrolments at both(prenominal)(prenominal) O and A Levels, so the place is as k to provide for these new students.Q How many an(prenominal) students do you currently shit in your institution? And how many do you expect to enroll in the future?A The school currently caters to a state of virtually 2500 students, but we expect an inflow of around coulomb0 students next year.Q How do you access a excite of a student or a teacher? Do you find it yourself on your cultivation processing ashes or does the secretary do it for you?A I place access files of both students and customers from my own PC, as well as any other file, such as stationery, electricity bills, etc. But I must excessively focus more on the task of running the school itself, so I usu anyy let my secretary handle all the files. She herself gets these files from the school trunk administrator. I only check a file myself if we need to sum up carefully the person, or file in dubiousness, for spokesperson a teacher for an big position.Q Thank you very much for your time, Mrs. Stakich.A Y oure welcome. digest of the InterviewThe interview, on analysis, showed the school to be result-driven, as indicated by the Headmistresss comments. But more importantly, it in like manner showed that she did non focus on the file stimulant and retrieval clay in particular herself, and on the schools development frame in ecumenical. The demonstrable file control and handling was carried out by the system administrator, who could provide us with insight of the current systems domesticateings.Interview 2An interview was position with Mr. Mark Glasse, the system administrator, in his office.It proceeded as followsQ How long exhaust you been working here, Mr. Glasse?A Its been around four years since I started wok for the school.Q How many times has the system been updated since you started work?A Weve updated thrice so far.Q What changes had been make during these updates?A Well, once we had to increase our phonograph recording quadriceps to around 10 GB to cope with increa sed student information on Health Cards, as was required by a new politics law. some other time we had to modify our input procedure, it being too manual, with almost excess paperwork involved, so we had to purchase new input devices.And in that respect was also the time when we had to watchword in a professional warrantor company to install anti-hacking programs when our database was actually hacked into.Q What input devices do you work with? How is output shown?A I use a keyboard, a mouse, a web-camera and a scanner as input devices. Output is displayed on a monitor, or on a machinator as is appropriate. And, of course, I often have to print out some files apply a laser printer.Q And your system variety?A I use a Pentium 2, 333 MHz Processor, with 32 MB RAM, 4 GB hard disk with Windows 98 as my operating system. I also have other software such as MS Visual studio and MS division 2000 installed on my computer.Q Mr. Glasse, what is the general procedure that you follow if you were asked to, for example, update a file?A First of all, I would have to get an approved grade from someone in an authoritative position, for example the Headmistress, or the Head Administrator. This note would be attached to a Modification flesh showing details of the file that necessarily to be updated. The authorization slip has to be filed into a drawer in my desk, and I meet have to access the file using the compute granted on the Form and change the required fields. I have the Menu on my Desktop, Mrs. Stakich and I are the only ones who know the password so Ive never theory about changing it, once in the records I go to the Search look out on to call up the file in question, and make the changes required. On exiting the database, I go have to fill out another form, a Proof Form, as it is know as, to acknowledge my action. This form then returns to the top- take to the one-on-one who initially authorized it.Q How often do errors occur using this procedure?A As y ou can see, the system is knowing in such a counselling that carrying out the procedure makes it prone to errors. Were still lucky to have a some students and teachers, basically gloomy files is what I mean to say, which do not have to be updated too often, so they arent too many mistakes. Even if there are, they can easily be fixed and corrected due to the small sizing of our database.Q OK, now what about the plus points of this system? For example, is it easy to use? Is it effective? Do you notion that you yourself are execute at an optimum take aim with this system?A Ill have to think this question over. Yes, for sure it is easy to use. I just have to type in an identifier code for each record, and the particular record is huntinged for and displayed. Its that simple. I dont think its efficient though. As the number of files increases the system takes longer and longer to search the database to produce the results I was looking for. It only follows that I myself feel I am under-performing at my job, as some time will in spades be wasted in postponement for results.Q Are you satisfied with the system performing only these rifles?A Yes, I am. I would like it to be profligateer though, and up to now up-to-date, technologically speaking.Q Thank you, Mr. Glasse, for your cooperation. Youve been a monumental(p) help.A The pleasure was all mine.Analysis of the InterviewThis interview was more teach than the one with Mrs. Stakich, for we were able to focus on the technical side of the schools database system. Certain glaring shortcomings of the current system came to light, such as a very limited database size, as indicated by the system being upgraded the first time. This further tells us that the system itself, with all its components, is out-of-date. In such a state, it may also be incompatible with other systems, should it be coveted to connect to these for data supervene upon purposes. Another significant derelictness is the fact that the thirdly upgrade was for credential reasons, which means that the parole Protection was initially low.Mr. Glasse also verbalise that it takes longer to search for a required field if there are many records this is only fair, but there arent too many records right now, so we can expect the system to have some sort of linear search function in operation, unsuitable for large databases. The program, although performing just a few main functions, is slow, again pointing to its near obsoleteness. Its low productivity has an effect on the military personnel element involved, as Mr. Glasse himself feels as if he has not fully achieved his full potential. overlook of motivation could cause further falls in productivity. The system also has standard input devices (mouse and keyboard), as well as standard output devices (printer, scanner and plotter), needed to process data and produce the craved results. The system also runs on a fairly fast processor, as given by the computers configur ation. moreover it is unlikely that the system uses any of the other software packages (apart from the Windows 98 operating system) so these, as powerful as they are, arent being utilized.MAIN WEAKNESSES OF CURRENT arrangementBased on the knowledge gained in these interviews, it is possible to finalize the main shortcomings of the system currently in use* olive-sized disk space.The disk space apply for storage of data is relatively small as it needed to be upgraded out fronthand. With all the new enrolments expected, as well as other related increases, such as electricity and water, teachers salaries, etc the available disk space will not be sufficient.* misfortunate security level.Security forms an important part of any system, and the fact that the database was hacked into shows just how weak security really is. The password utilise seems to be outdated and it is likely that state other than those authorized know it. Laxed security is curiously important here as we are de aling with the personal records of students and teachers, not to mention important transactions such as total fees received, expenses, and so on. So security, despite being of paramount importance, isnt given the priority it should be.* InconvenienceThe pattern procedure to accomplish a angiotensin-converting enzyme task is lengthy and time-consuming. It also involves spare paperwork. This would exhibit itself as delays in processing, as a single instruction would have to be passed through many stages before being received by the transmitter once again as feedback.* underlying obsoleteness.As seen from the interview, Mr. Glasse uses a relatively fast processor. Despite this press forward, we still find that the speed of running the system is slow especially when new records are added. This means that the components of the system itself are slow and outdated. This weakness especially comes into focus when we consider the fact that present systems are rarely independent. One sys tem has to be connected to at least one more system, with data exchange taking place between these. However, if their speeds are not compatible they will not be able to function at their optimum level. If the system were to exchange information over the Internet then this revulsion could become a problem.OBJECTIVES OF THE NEW remains1) To provide quick access to the files in the database. Many files will now be in the system and it is necessary that they be reached quickly.2) To maintain a higher level of security. This ensures that the database is viewed and controlled only by those who have the square-toed authority to do so.3) To minimize red tape involved in devising changes to the records. The previous system involved a lot of paperwork and proved to be dear(p) in terms of time (therefore money), so this new system aims to reduce that by quickly and efficiently processing an instruction.4) To be user-friendly. Step-by-step guidance ensures that the user can easily find his way around the database to perform the desired task.A flowchart of how data would be passed along the new system is as followsSYSTEM REQUIREMENTS specimen input devices, such as a mouse, a keyboard, a scanner and a web-camera will be needed for this system to operate (the mouse and keyboard are the main ones, the others for inputting photos and such graphics). Output devices will be plotters and printers.Hardware The CPU requirement for this system include at least 100 MHz Pentium processor and 16 MB RAM.Software It is necessary to have an operating system such as Windows 98 as well as MS Visual Basic program installed, as this is the front-end program to be used for this system, with opening 7.0 being the back-end program.The user will be Mr. Glasse, and his computer already exceeds the requirements for this system to function efficiently. His IT skills will also be relevant since he already has MS Office 97 installed he will already know the basics behind main course 7.0 and sh ould find no problem in entering the data.It must be remembered that the system to be developed is intended to deputise the outdated system in current use. The current system is slow, inefficient and incompatible. Its second-stringer will be better than it in all these respects, and should bring the database up to the level of technology today.