University of Guyana

Faculty of Natural Sciences

Department of Computer Science

Course Project

Group name: Unlimited

Name of Group members:

- Domein Paul (1033653) [Leader]

- Felicia Goveia (1016218)
- Marissa Lowe (1034023)
- Adalia Culpepper (1034526)
- Dinesh Braaham (1034719)

Course: CSE2102- Database Management Systems

Lecture: Rayad Lackhan

Date: 3rd January, 2021

PROBLEM DEFINITION
In the 21st century teachers are incorporating Information Communications Technology
(ICT) into the delivery of education, which makes the teaching and learning process fun
and effective. Unfortunately, the employment of modern technology is practically
nonexistent in other aspects of the job.
All schools are required to have their own management system as records relating to
teachers, Students, Parent Profile and Student Exam Results and inventory are of utmost
importance. The management system currently utilized by South Ruimveldt Secondary
School (SRSS) can be defined as old generation management system and is becoming
increasing difficult to satisfy the user needs.

Like most educational institutions in Guyana, teachers of the South Ruimveldt Secondary
School have had to manage a manual/paper-based document management system. Over
the years this old- fashion system has increasingly been plagued with problems. With the
vast growth of the school’s population and changes within the administration of the school,
challenges in storing and managing data relating to students, teachers, departmental and
whole school records have heightened.

The abrupt closure of schools due to the Global Pandemic, COVID-19 highlighted the need
for an electronic system that could be accessed remotely. The commencement of online
teaching meant that teachers would have to risk their safety to retrieve student’s data and
other record keeping documents from the school. Further, retrieving this data proved how
flawed the record keeping system was.

Some of the problems encountered over the years include but are not limited to:

Students’ results are recorded on paper making it harder for teachers to gauge
improvements or decline in the performance of students both individually and collectively
as there is no graphical representation of the data collected.
Inconsistencies in recorded data- for example, the admission/enrollment of a new student
can be done by any teacher. This registration is copied into a Child Development Index
Card (CDIC) card the admissions register, the teacher’s class log and finally part of the data
collected is recorded into an end of term schedule and the student’s report booklet. In
many cases registration numbers are duplicated or carry the incorrect number of digits.
The date of birth may also be record incorrectly because there is no structured format for
the recording process (dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy). Additionally, there are many instances
of incomplete records, as students move from grade-to-grade teachers may fault in
updating students’ records; should a student request a transfer there are bit and pieces of
information where a complete record should be. Similarly, the lack of a dedicated facility
for temporary and archived records is nonexistent, records tend to become misplaced and
a new record is created on demand once the original record surfaces teachers must deal
with both incomplete and duplicated records. Moreover, Security of records is limited to
physical control as current and archived records are stored in a multipurpose storage
facility where additional items such as cleaning solutions, old costumes and textbooks
among other things are housed. Many persons including ancillary staff and students have
access to this room. This storage facility is also from time to time prone to leaks (from the
roof) and termites etc. Most troublesome is the time it takes to retrieve a single record.
 The Ideal solution

The intention of this project is to create a Database Management System (DBMS) for a
secondary school (South Ruimveldt Secondary)- “School Management System”. The DBMS
will enhance the accuracy and efficiency in the management of all school records. This
DBMS will allow teachers to create, read, update, and delete data relating to the entire
school. The product will offer a simplified way to manage records for the individual teacher
and department as each department of the school is required maintain records which form
part of the monthly reports/records requested by the Department of Education. At the
administration level a DBMS would be used to track attendance, and academic (internal
and external) statistics, staffing, financial records, whole school inventory (text and
exercise books, furniture, equipment etc.), current and archived records especially relating
to students, teacher’s appraisal, etc. In essence, the aim of the proposed system is to
provide for quick and efficient retrieval of information. Any type of information would be
available whenever the user requires.

Below are some problems which was highlighted in problem definition with examples that
the users/teachers are having with the current system along with appropriate solutions.

Inconsistencies in recorded data

Example

The admission/enrollment of a new student can be done by any teacher. This registration
is copied into a Child Development Index Card (CDIC) card the admissions register, the
teacher’s class log and finally part of the data collected is recorded into an end of term
schedule and the student’s report booklet. In many cases registration numbers are
duplicated or carry the incorrect number of digits. The date of birth may also be record
incorrectly because there is no structured format for the recording process (dd/mm/yy or
mm/dd/yy).
Solution to the problem

A primary key is used as a unique identifier to quickly parse data within the table
(“Rabelo,” n.d.). Since, a table cannot have more than one primary key, in order to prevent
incorrect and duplication in a student’s registration number, a primary key would be
assigned to each student upon enrolment. Coincidently, two students can have the same
first and last name or even similarly spelt name(s) so with the use of primary key each
student will have a unique identifier.

Incomplete records

Example

There are many instances of incomplete records, as students move from grade-to-grade
teachers may fault in updating students’ records; should a student request a transfer there
are bit and pieces of information where a complete record should be.

Solution

The integrity of all student data is critical and should be up to date at all time. In this new
system a greater emphasis will be placed on data validation. With the in cooperation of
schedule reminders (temporal events) the teaches or anyone who is managing the system
will be reminded periodically of any student whose data is not up to date or any other
incomplete record within the system.
Security and lack of a dedicated facility for temporary and archived records

Solution

After careful observation of the old system, it was recognized that there was no proper
facility for storing records and while there is a small storage present for archiving, it was
not secure. With regards to security, the DBMS will be properly configured to take
advantage of security features and limit privileged access that can cause a misconfiguration
of security settings.

The security measure will include authentication, this is the process of verifying if user’s
credential corresponds with those stored in the database and permit only authenticated
user access to data. There will also levels of authentication access, this aspect of security
will limit users based upon their role and administrative privileges.

Since, the new system will be electronic all of the records will be store on a server
computer that will be in a secure location which will be accessed remotely. This system is
also projected to be on cloud server as well.