Development of a computer system for efficient student recruitmnt

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 20th April 2017

1.0 Introduction

This report is designed for the development of a computer system that will allow Education in Australia to automate its computer system for enhanced efficiency in recruitment of students. As noted, the company is presented having issues like:

·         Duplicate records, both online and offline

·         Loss of studnets’ information

·         Lack of updates and alerts on students’ enrolment

·         Poor storage of students’ information and a host of other issues.

The reason for these issues is that its computer system is not fully automated, allowing for only one staffa at a time whne accessing information. Thus, this project aims to ceate a new system that can grant access to all staffs (preferably cloubd based  for 24/7 access), store the student’s records without duplication and enhance overall effecincy in the company’s business process.

2.0 Investigation Techniques:

Interview (questionnaire)

Interview processi is a form of qualitative research that involves the researcher asking open ended questions to th respoondents, for the respondent to address as desired. For this case, the researcher developed questionnaire and distributed the questionnaire amongst stakeholders. Responses were gatehered and evaluated before being documented. The data were also analysed to define new findings in relation to the research topic. The reason for choosing this research method is because it allowed the researcher to have a clear idea of what the stakeholders think of the system , highlighting ways to upgrade the system in the process. Considering that the system were basically developed for the stakeholder, understanding their view is vital towards effective usage and posiive experience through the use of the system.

Observe and document business process

Besides the interview questionnaire passed to the stakeholders, the researcher also observed the functionality of the new automated information system at the Education in Australia systems. Through such process, it was easy for the researcher to identify certain issues about the system based on personal experience. Additionaly, it allowed for detailed criticism of the system, towards the course of developing a much effective that will enhance consumers’ experience and usage decisions positively.

Watch and learn

Finally, the researcher watched other uses adopt the system and learned from such experience on areas where issues might have been due to the researcher’s poor understanding of the system – allowing for necessary adjustments. The benefit of this is that it allowed for all user-based issues ot be understood properly, paving the right way for enhanced user experience.

3.0 Use Case Diagram

Considering that there are various functions in the company’s business process, it is important to design a use case diagram in order to define each function in accordance with activities associated with them. As such, the use function of EIA is as documented in the tabe 1 below.

Table 1 - Use cases and Actors for Figure 3 - Use Case Diagram

Use cases	Users/Actors
Approach EIA for admission	Students
Arrange and fill out application form	EIA staff
Sending form to provider for offer letter	EIA staff
Sign offer and pay EIA	Student
Claim commission for student enrolment	EIA Acountint staff

From the above case, it can be sen that use case is enclosed within each systems, making it easy for the company to identify new measures and changes in decision making process. Basically, the aboe use case diagram is a clear illustration of the fact that the functiosn are palyed by the student and staff of EIA. The student play more of the information providng roles, while the staff oversees the role of enrolling the student into a university and claiming commission for such enrolment form the university once the student starts the course.

Figure 1 - Use Case Diagram for EIA Information System

4.0 Domain Model Class Diagram

In the doemian model diagram below, the classes of objectives are represented with their attributes and assocations that needs to be recorded within EIA’s information systems. These object classes are sued to dscribe the stafss involves in line with the main functions that the undertake, how they presently undertake it, and how they can effect enhanced imput in the project process. Additionally, it allows for easy highlighting of the problems discussed.

Figure 2 - Domain Model Class Diagram for EIA Information System

5.0 Activity Diagram

The below diagrm is used to represet the work flow by deifning the activities performed by te users and systems together with the flow of these activities in thir sequential order. The below figure is based on the figure 2 above, where it is reported that the potential studnt is tasked with the duty of providing information for admission, while the staff is tasked with the responsibility of providing addition for the student, which the student accepts through acceptance fee and the staff claims commission for the student admitted.

Figure 3 – Activity Diagram – admiiting student in line with functions in the information systems

Table 2 - Complete use case description for Activity diagram

Use case name:	Accept student request
Scenario:	Accepting the admission request sent by students
Triggering event:	Admission form is filled according to studnets’choice of university and course.
Brief description:	The students’s choice of choice is sent to the university for obtaining admission and offer letter
Actors:	Staff
Related use cases	None.
Stakeholders:	Studets, Staff
Preconditions:	Student must be willing to study in the univerity
Postconditions:	Student must accept the offer letter by paying school fees and enrolling into a course.
Flow of activities:	Actor	System
	1.      Staff accepts amisison request from study. 2.      Staff fills the student’s information in accordance with choice of university and course. 3.      Staff sends the admission form to the university for admission and offer letter. 4.      The university sends offer letter back to staff. 5.      The staff send offer letter to the student. 6.      The student accepts the offer by enrolling into a course and paying enrollent fees. 7.      The accounting staff processes for commission from th university once the student has enrolled into a course.	2.1  System information about the student’s choice of course and university enrolled into. 7.1  System accepts input and processes the admisiso for student. 7.2  System sends acceptance offer to student ones the admission has been granted. 7.1  System sends commission request to univerty once the student has enrolled into a course.
Exception conditions:	None.

6.0 System Sequence Diagram

Figure 13 – System sequence diagram (SSD) represents the flow of information between the contract manager and PSSM Information system. Vertical dashed lines are referred as lifelines and are an extension of the contract manager and the system during the use case to show the sequence of messages. The arrows with solid lines represent the command sent from contract manager in camelback notation to the system and are labelled with the input data in brackets. The dashed arrows represent the message returned from system to the contract manager and is labelled with description too. Alt frame represents the if-then logic, as if staffing request is found as valid, contract manager enters staffing request onto database as outstanding and database forwards that request to placement department, otherwise unable to fill memo is issued by the contract manager, which is forwarded by the system to the customer along with the copy of staffing request.   

Figure 4 - Sequence Diagram based on Activity Diagram Scenario

7.0 Conclusion  / Recomendations

New information system for EIA has been modelled using UML with documentation to aid the stakeholders to understand the reliability avd adoptability of the system – in accordance to how they will function. Context diagram and DFD diagram is used to represent the current functiosn of the company, whle the use case diagram is used to represent the main actors. It is recommended that the compay should proceed with the advised system development method for attaining an integrated and automated information system to provide enhanced enrolment process and claim for commission once the student has bene enrolled.

In line with the discussion help with EIA, automated system is what the compay desires in order to enhance its business process by enhancing flow of information and liminating duplication of data. As such, the issues faced by the company in terms of usage can be  addressed with necessary solutions in order to ensure that they can be approved later on as needed, and because of the committed cooperation of EIA stakeholders to work together for system requirements, validation and endorsement of iterations at every stage, the success of this project is definitely assured.

8.0 References

Satzinger, JW, Jackson RB, & Burd SD 2012, Systems analysis and design in a changing world, 6th edn, Course Technology Cengage Learning, Boston USA.

Rasoolzadegan, A, & Barforoush, A 2014, 'Reliable yet flexible software through formal model transformation (rule definition)', Knowledge & Information Systems, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 79-126.