UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling System (USTSS).

UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

LOGARAJ AIL CHAMUHENADEN

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS*
JUDUL: UTEM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)
SESI PENGAJIAN: 200812009

LOGARAJ A/L CHAMCTHENADEN
(HURUF BESAR)

Saya

mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah) ini disimpan di
Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dengan syarat-syarat
kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
2. Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dibenarkan membuat

salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.
3. Perpustakaan Fakulti Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi dibenarkan membuat
salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi.
4. ** Sila tandakan (I)

/

SULIT

(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah
keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti
yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA
RASMI 1972)

TERHAD

(Mengandungi maklumat TERI-IAD yang telah
ditentukan oleh organisasihadan di mana
penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK 'IERHAD

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS)
Alamat tetap : N0.6, S.E.K BATU AMPOR
35350 TEMOH,
PERAK
Tarikh :

(TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)
NORHAZIAH MD SALLEH
Nama Penyelia

Tarikh :

3

u-05

CATATAN: *Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai Laporan Akhir Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM)

** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak
berkuasa.

UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

LOGARAJ A L CHAMUHENADEN

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Bachelor of Computer Science (Database Management)

FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
2009

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project report entitled

UTeM STUDENT TIMETABLE SCHEDULING SYSTEM (USTSS)

is written by me and is my own effort and no part has been plagiarized
without citations.

STUDENT

Date:

:

(LOGARAJ S/O CHAMUHENADEN)

SUPERVISOR:

Date:
(PM N O R W I A H BINTI MD SALLEH)

DEDICATION

To my beloved parents
Krishna Vanee Dl0 Vedaiyan

&

Chamuhenaden SIO Maniam
To all the UTeM's lecturers

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor, PM Norhaziah Md.Salleh for providing assistance
throughout the development of this thesis and development of UTeM Student Timetable
Scheduling System (USTSS)

. PM Norhaziah

had been contributing brilliant ideas

suggestions in developing the system.

I would also like to thank my Advance Database Programming lecturer and my
examiner for this project, Dr. Yahya Ibrahim for teaching how to develop the system
using Oracle 9i Developer besides providing ideas and solving complicated problems in

developing this projects.
Other than that, I would like to thank my beloved parents for providing support and
confidence for me in developing the system.
Besides that, I would like to thank all my course mate that contributed by sharing their
knowledge in developing this system.
Last but not least, I would like to thank to all those that have contributed in this
development of the project directly or indirectly.

ABSTRACT

This thesis contains the development phases of UTeM Student Timetable
Scheduling System (USTSS). USTSS is developed for the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka (UTeM) in order to replace the current manual system of student timetable
scheduling. Through this system the student timetable will be generated automatically
by using the data provided by the staff in charge. USTSS is developed in order to solve
the problems in the current system. USTSS will ease and reduce the manual work in
scheduling student timetable. Administrative features are also added in the USTSS to
ease the maintenance of the system. USTSS is an intranet system that can be used within
the university. It uses the two-tier architecture. Only the authorized user can access the
system, Database Life Cycle (DBLC) methodology is used in developing USTSS.

Oracle products are used in developing USTSS. USTSS development aspect is to reduce
the complexity and problems occur in the current manual student timetable scheduling
system.

7

ABSTRAK

Projek ini mengandungi fasa pembangunan UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling
System (USTSS). USTSS dibangunkan untuk Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
(UTeM) untuk mengantikan sistem manual yang sekarang digunakan untuk menjana
jadual waktu pelajar. Melalui sistem ini jadual waktu pelajar dapat dijana secara
automatik dengan menggunakan data yang dibekalkan oleh pekerja yang bertanggung
jawab untuk membuat jadual waktu pelajar. USTSS dibina untuk mengatasi masalah
yang timbul dalam sistem sekarang. USTSS akan memudahkan dan mengurangkan kerja
manual dalam menjana jadual waktu pelajar. Ciri-ciri pengurusan juga telah
diaplikasikan di dalam USTSS untuk memudahkan kerja pengurusan sistem. USTSS
merupakan satu sistem intranet yang hanya boleh digunakan di dalam kawasan universiti
sahaja. USTSS mengaplikasikan senibina 2-tier. Hanya orang yang menpunyai kuasa
menggunakan USTSS. Database Life Cycle

untuk menguruskan sistem tersebut @at
(DBLC) merupakan pendekatan yang digunakan untuk membangunkan USTSS. Produk
Oracle digunakan untuk mernbangunkan sistem USTSS ini. Pembangunan sistem
USTSS ini diharap dapat mengurangkan masalah-masalah kompleks yang wujud di
dalam sistem sekarang.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

CHAPTEN

SUBJECT

PAGE

DEDICATION

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ii

ABSTRACT

iii

ABSTRAK

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

v

LIST OF TABLES

x

LIST OF FIGURES

xi

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

xii

INTRODUCTION
1.1

Project Background

1.2

Problem Statements

1.3

Objective

1.4

Scope
1.4.1 Target User
1.4.2 Modules

1.5

Project Significance

1.6

Expected Output

1.7

Conclusion

CRAPTER n

LITERATURE REVIEW AND PROJECT
METHODOLOGY
2.1

Introduction

2.2

Facts and Findings
2.2.1

Domain

2.2.2

Existing System
2.2.2.1 PKK
2.2.2.2 GaSchedule

2.2.3
2.3

Technique

Project Methodology
2.3.1 Database Life Cycle (DBLC)

2.4

CHAPTER m

Project Requirements
2.4.1

Software Requirements

2.4.2

Hardware Requirements

2.4.3

Other Requirements

2.5

Project Schedule and Milestones

2.6

Conclusion

ANALYSIS

3.1

Introduction

3.2

Problem Analysis
3.2.1 Flow chart of Current System

3.3

Requirement Analysis
3.3.1

Data Requirement

3.3 -2 Functional Requirement
3.3.2.1 Data Flow Diagram for USTSS
3.3.3 Non-functional Requirement
3.3.4 Other Requirements
3.3.4.1 Software Requirement

vii

3.4

CHAPTER IV

3-3.4.2Hardware Requirement

32

3.3.4.3 Network Requirement

33

Conclusion

33

DESIGN
4.1

Introduction

4.2

High- Level Design
4.2.1 System Architecture
4.22 User Intedace Design
4.2.2.1 Navigation Design
4.2.2.2 Input Design
4.2.2.3 Output Design
4.2.3 Conceptual and Logical Database Design
4.2.3.1 Conceptual Database

Design
4.2.3.2Logical Database Design
4.2.3.3 DBMS Selection
4.3

Detailed Design
4.3.1 Software Specification
4.3.2 Physical Database Design
4.3.2.1 Data Definition Language (DDL)
4.3.2.2 Design User Views
4.3.2.3Design Security Mechanism
4.3.2.4 Database Contigency

4.4

Conclusion

...

Vlll

CHAPTER V

IMPLEMENTATION
5.1

Introduction

5-2

Software Development Environment Setup

5.3

Database Implementation

5.4

SoAware Configuration Management
5.4.1 Configuration Environment Setup
5.4.2 Version Control Procedure

CHAPTER VI

5.5

Implementation Status

5.6

Conclusion

TESTING
6.1

Introduction

6.2

Test Plan
6.2.1 Test Organization
6.2.2 Test Environment
6.2.3 Test Schedule

6.3

Test Strategy
6.3.1 White-Box Testing
6.3.2 Black-Box Testing
6.3.3 Classes of Test

6.4

Test Design
6.4.1 Test Description
6.4.2 Test Data

6.5

Test Result and Analysis

6.6

Conclusion

CHAPTER VII

PROJECT CONCLUSION
7.1

Observation on Weakness and
Strength

7.2

Proposition for Improvement

7.3

Contribution

7.4

Conclusion

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

TITLE

Comparison between PKK, GaSchedule and USTSS
Data Requirements for the Lecturer
Input Type and Validation of Logon Page
Data before Normalization
Course-Subject Table
Course Table
Subject Table
Course-Subject Table
Logon Pseudo Code
Implementation Progress of USTSS
Test Organization for USTSS
Hardware Specifications for Test Environment
Soffware Specifications for Test Environment
Test Schedule for USTSS
Test Cases and Expected Result for Module Login
Test Data for Login Module
Test Results for the Login Module

PAGE

LIST OF FIGURES

DIAGRAM TITLE

Database Life Cycle (DBLC)
Flow Chart of the Current System
Context Diagram of USTSS
Data Flow Diagram for USTSS -Level 0
DFD Level 1- Process 2.0 Generate Timetable
System Architecture of USTSS
Navigation Diagram for USTSS
Input Design for Login Page
Output Design for Staccess Message
Output Design for Failure Message
Output Design for Report Produced
Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)for USTSS
Sample Screen of Logon
User-Level for USTSS
Two-tier Architecture of USTSS
Oracle Listener Configuration file
Oracle tnsnames Configuration Files
Code Version of USTSS
Development Codes

PAGE

xii

LIST OF APPENDIXS

APPENDIX

TITLE

Interfaces of Existing System
Gantt Chart
Data Requirements
Input Type and Validation
Data Dictionary
Pseudo Code of Modules
Data Definition Language Statements
Oracle Listener Configuration
Local Net Service Name Configuration
Test Cases and Expected Result
Test Data
Test Results

PAGE

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background
The system developed is UTeM's Student Timetable Scheduling System
(USTSS) for the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM).USTSS can be used for
student timetable scheduling and administrative task by using user-friendly interfaces.
Currently the timetable scheduling is done manually. This manual scheduling
consumes a lot of time and man power. USTSS will generate automatically the student
timetable where this will reduce the difficulty faced in scheduling student timetable. The
administrative tasks such as user multi-level user controls, backup and recovery,
dynamic database creation can be done using the interfaces in USTSS.

1.2 Problem Statement
Currently, the process of scheduling timetable for the student is done manually.
The process of scheduling timetable was found to be time consuming and frustrating
especially for the person responsible in doing the time scheduling. Plenty of steps
needed to be followed in order to schedule student timetable. First of d l the Bahagian
Pengurusan Akadernik @PA) will send a letter to each faculty for latest list of subjects
that will be offered by the faculty for the coming semester.
After all the faculties have submitted the subject list for each course, a meeting
among representatives fkom the faculties will be held in order to determine the time and
day for the classes according to subjects and courses. This is the most crucial part of
timetable scheduling because unanimous agreement must be achieved in determining the
courses that will accommodate the period of time in the timetable.
The timetable scheduling will not just end here. The next process will be the
analysis of the timetable by each faculty through "burden" meeting.

Through this

meeting, the timetables are finalized and the lecturers are assigned to the subjects and
courses. The assignment of lecturers will base on their "burden". Then the timetable
scheduling is considered complete.
Manual process of timetable scheduling require a delicate work so that any
redundancy or loss of data will not occur although sometimes mistakes might occur due
to large number of paperwork.

1.3 Objective
The objectives of UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling are as follows:

1.

To provide a computerized system to ease the task of scheduling timetable
Timetable scheduling can be done using a computerized system that will auto

generate timetable when suEcient information provided. This will reduce the man
power and the time slice used in determining the timetable for the student.

2.

To provide interfaces for the administration purposes
By providing adrnin interfaces, the administrative tasks can be done through the

interfaces rather than doing the tasks in conventional ways by tying the SQL commands
manually. This wiH simplifl the administrative task.

3.

To produce reports dyuamialty
Dynamic reports are different from static reports whereby dynamic reports give

the users control to choose the content of the report which is not able to be done in static
reports. Dynamic reports are important in order to provide user the information they
desire.

4.

To control multi-level user
Multi-level user control is important in order to restrict the modules that can be

accessed by users. Restrictions on modules are done in order to protect the confidential
information and avoid alteration of data by unauthorized users.

5.

To perform backup and recovery
Backup involves making copy of database to be recovered in case of the

hardware failure, program bug or system crash. This is important in order to ensure the
availability and reliability of data in the system. The database backup and recovery are
done using GUI of the system.

6.

To manage transaction logging
Transaction logging is a part of the database security features. All transactions

done in the system can be kept track by transaction logging. Any data tempering can be
detected by going through the transaction log. This method allows tracing any changes

made by unauthorized user and preserve data confidentiality.

1.4 Scope
The scope of the USTSS system can be divided into two. The target users and the
modules created in the system.

Target users are users that are allowed to use the system. In the USTSS system
the target user will be the student, staff and the database administrator.

1.4.2 Modules
The modules included in USTSS are:

1.

Timetable Scheduling Module
Student timetable scheduling is done in this module. This module will be used by

the staff. The time table will be automatically generated.

2.

Timetable Alteration Module
Any changes in the generated modules and insertion of missed out classes during

timetable generation will be done in this module.

3.

Dynamic Database Module
The database administrator will be able to create table, users dynamically by

using this module. Which means the database administrator only have to enter the table
name, column name and choose the data type only. Complete SQL statement does not
have to be entered.

4.

User Control/ Grant Privileges Module
By using this module the user access of the system can be controlled by granting

and revoking the privileges of the user. This will restrict the modules that can be
accessed by the user and provide confidentiality and security of data.

5.

Backup and Recovery Module
The database administrator can perform database backup and recovery using this

module. In this module the user only have to specifj the location of the backup and the
name of the backup before pressing the button. Backup will be created.

6.

Dynamic Report Module
In the USTSS system the dynamic report module allow users to choose required

information in generating reports. This will help in decision making.

1.5 Project Significance

The system will benefit UTeM staff that involved in student timetable scheduling.
The USTSS will replace the manual method of timetable scheduling.
The main function of the USTSS system is auto generation of timetable after certain
condition achieved and data is obtained. This hnction is very beneficial for the
timetable scheduling. The time and man power will be reduced.
USTSS system will also provide administratiodmaintenance interfaces for the
administrative tasks. Burden of administration task can be reduced by these interfaces
because no complex SQL statements need to be written.

1.6 Expected Output
The expected output of this project is UTeM Student Timetable Scheduling System
(USTSS). This system will be used by the staffs of UTeM in scheduling student
timetable.
The authorized user can access the modules in the system as their privileges and
roles. The staff in charge of scheduling can auto generate the student timetable besides
editing the processed timetable.
Administration tasks can also be done using the USTSS system by the administrator.
The administrative tasks include create table, create user, grant and revoke privileges,
backup and recovery and transaction log view.

1.7 Conclusion
USTSS is developed in order to reduce the difficulty faced in scheduling student
timetable every semester by UteM. Faster timetable scheduling can be achieved by using

USTSS. The objectives and the scope for developing USTSS are stated.
The information from this chapter will be used as a guide in completing the next
chapter. The next chapter will be Literature Review and Project Methodology. In that
chapter, project methodology, requirements and schedule will be discussed.