MAT Solutions : Records Management System

Background

As stated in the first feasibility report, pgs 1-2, MIC (Metal Industries Company) was selected by the government of Trinidad and Tobago to train and equip the human resource capital of Trinidad and Tobago within areas of Engineering Technicians, Toolmakers, Precision Machinists, Maintenance Technicians, Welding Professionals, Non-destructive Testing Personnel, and certified Welding Inspectors among other specialized Technical Vocational Training. It was revealed that there is an important need for the streamlining of the company’s operations in order to increase its efficiency and to improve the quality of service to its stakeholders. In order to fulfill this need, it was decided upon by the management staff of MIC to initialize the computerization of the educational services to uphold the level of professionalism of its operation, hence the development of the RMS (Records Management System).

Scope

The general requirements of the Records Management System:

To maintain relevant data on all students
To maintain data from the point of application to the point of placement of the students
To maintain information on all courses and programs offered by the college
To generate reports, summaries and statistical information as required

During the registration process, registrar details are entered into the system and the applicant is enrolled as a student. The RMS will maintain course information for each student, and will produce the necessary reports which relate to the students placement etc.

Currently, student management functions at MIC are controlled by using a combination of manual systems and spreadsheets. In order to achieve productivity it was decided that two modules: an Application Module and a Student Management Module be developed. This approach permits focus on a distinct area and creates an environment in which less errors would occur.

Application Module

This module accepts and processes applicant information.

Student Management Module

This module maintains information on all students from the time of commencement of the program, the data obtained at this point would pertain to the registration of students, and enrolment into appropriate courses.

Reports

These two modules would be used to generate several reports:

Weekly, monthly, annual and ad-hoc, which seeks to track how many students are enrolled in the various programs
Class lists which would provide the listing of students in the particular classes
Reports on applicant information e.g. Educational history, subjects taken and the location in which they were enrolled
Enrolment Reports on subjects, that is how many students are enrolled in particular subject.

Purpose/Structure of Report

This report on the second phase of the project seeks to inform about the steps taken towards the creation of the database, a detail description of the process flows within the organization, the many approaches available towards the building of the system, and detail plans of the steps and schedule to be taken towards the finalization of the project as well as the proposed date of the handing over of the Records Management System to MIC.

Business Process

The business process or work flow of the training administration involves various departments within the organization. For example, placements at the various centers all constitute an integral part in the work process on a daily basis.

The business process of Training Administration:-

The placement officer first receives the applicant’s application form via hard copy from the applicant or from the various centers around Trinidad and Tobago or via electronic mail.
The application form is forwarded to the data entry clerk situated within the training department where sorting and creation of a file for the applicant is done.
The files are returned to the placement officer for selection of prospective students
Acceptance letters and Interview dates are set up
A panel of interviewers from placement, training and human resources departments conduct interviews and select students into the program
A hard copy of the location of placement is created and attached to student file
Copy of student’s application form and acceptance letter is forwarded to the respective center where the creation of another file for the student is made by the data entry clerk I.
Data entry clerk in training department creates an excel spreadsheet with all accepted students.
Additional information to be added to student record is gathered at centers, attached to the center’s student file, then forwarded to training department where the clerk I re-enters the information into the student file (hard copy), a copy of the information is finally forwarded to the clerk II where updating of the excel spreadsheet takes place.

Existing System

Currently the training department uses a combination of:

manual system

The student files are kept within a filing cabinet at the head office and at the various centers and the students activities are noted within log books these various centers.

COMPUTERIZE D system

The use of Microsoft office suite, mainly excel spreadsheets are used to manage information and generate minor reports.

Description of user needs

From the gathering of the information from the business process currently used at MIC, there are mainly two types of users; the data entry users and the administrative users. For data entry users, requirements are basic: add, update and query student profiles and course information which would eliminate double entry work. The administrative users however, in addition to these basic tasks, would be able to delete records, request and generate reports. The overall user requirement is, for a system that can store, manage and track trainee’s information. It should be able to collate this information when needed by managers, course administration and or the various training departments in a timely and efficient manner. The records management system would create a more efficient and reliable system when it comes to storing and retrieving information saving on the time to locate as well as the space required for the storage of hardcopy documents.

Priorities

Basically this proposed system will be developed to capture, store, update, query and generate enrolled student’s information in courses offered by Metal Industries Company Ltd. The MAT solutions priority is to provide a working application for the end users within the specified time. The system needs to be fully functional having proven to be stable so that the changeover from the manual system can be initiated.

Constraints

Current constraints of the Records Management System would be the location of the various centers. For the updating of information where a soft copy of update information can be emailed to the clerk I who is located at the head office where the update would take place.

Alternative Approaches /Design Considered

MAT Solutions has looked at Java as an alternative programming tool. However, due to the time schedule given to complete the project, we decided to use MS Access 2003 as our user interface and SQL server as our back end since that is what MIC currently uses for their database applications. This was the main factor in choosing the software and the MAT Solutions team programmer is also well acquainted with the software. If the alternative solution must be brought in the MAT Solutions will be capable of resorting to this option the project would not be completed within the time schedule.

Criteria for Evaluation of Approach

MAT Solutions came up with a prototype to be used in the testing stages of the project in order to get feedback on its strengths and weaknesses so that improvement can be made. The administrator and other identified personnel would be asked to interact with the prototype for the duration of a week. Evaluated feedback would be integrated into the completed Record Management System.

Recommendations with Supporting Rationale

To purchase a custom-built software application may be costly for MIC at this time since they have recently upgraded their IT equipment. The use of Java will be very time consuming option to build the database application. However, most systems within the organization have been already using MS Access 2003 which is a benefit to the development of the application.

Initial Records Management System Design

MAT Solutions has chosen to build the database application in MS Access as its front end and an SQL server as the back end to design the application fields for the database system. The interface is designed in MS Access and is a user friendly environment which can be used by a person with basic computer literacy. MAT solutions will be designing a system that is easy to use and understand with step by step user instructions in the form of a user manual.

Why were MS Access and SQL server considered?

1. Easy to maintain and upgrade.

2. The company is presently using the software

3. It provides scalability, security, and robustness

4. It can be restored to the point of failure.

5. It allows storage of large amount of data

6. It allows concurrent user

View redesigned dataflow diagram

View redesigned entityrelationship diagram

Description of use case scenario

Main Flow

1) Administration checks to see if student has a record.