27-08-2014, 11:35 AM
The Student Communication and Tracking System Seminar Report
The Student Communication.doc (Size: 303 KB / Downloads: 12)
Introduction
The purpose of this document is too provide a concise overall description of the functionality and anticipated constraints of The Student Communication and Tracking System, developed for the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. This document will discuss the scope of the project at hand and will further specify the chosen system environment as well as the anticipated user interfaces for the system. Additionally, special considerations regarding the potential evolution of the system as well as both functional and non-functional requirements will be identified and discussed.
The expected audience of this document will be the University of Scranton’s administration, faculty members, classroom instructors and Department of Public Safety officials. It is expected that this document will also serve as a viable reference for the software engineers and computer system specialists that are implementing The Student Communication and Tracking System at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania
Overview of Document
In addition to Chapter 1, there are two other chapters included within this document. The next chapter, Chapter 2, will provide an overall description of the project, including a complete description of the functionality of The Student Communication/Tracking System as well as the context in which it will be used. Chapter 2 was developed to be understandable to the University of Scranton’s administration, classroom instructors, faculty and Department of Public Safety officials.
For readability, Chapter 2 is broken down into 5 sub-sections. The first sub-section is System Environment, which provides an overview of all system interfaces as well as relevant system constraints. The next sub-section is the Functional Requirements Definition, which provides a brief, but complete description of the services that the system will provide.
System Environment
The Student Communication and Tracking System is designed to operate collaboratively with the University of Scranton’s Banner database system, and a global positioning system. It will be a campus wide network that will have capabilities to extend beyond the campus boundaries via the global positioning system that may be used to locate missing student pagers. The system is designed following the basic client-server model with its heart being the Student Communication and Tracking System Server (Communication/Tracking System Server), which is a web server. User access will occur via a remote web connection and remote log in. There are three types of user groups that will interact with the system: instructors (Instructor), students (Student) and Public Safety officials (Public Safety). Since each group of users has different needs regarding the system’s functionality, each group will be provided with its own web-based interface. There will be a single log in where the user declares which group he/she belongs to. For easy integration, the network will exist as a sub-network within the University of Scranton network infrastructure and will utilize the traditional Ethernet protocol for data transmission between the system server and all computers. The system will also incorporate wireless data transmission for performing such tasks as taking attendance, paging a student and signaling the global positioning system. Additionally, since this system is designed to be accessed remotely, all printing and saving of information will happen at the user’s local printer and on the user’s local file system though his/her web browser. All documents will be saved in HTML format.
Brief Description
The opening page of the system is the Log In page. The page requires the user to Log In as Instructor, Public Safety, or Student. Depending on the chosen log in type, the user is sent to the appropriate menu page where he/she will have access to the resources available for that user group. The Banner system must be operating.
Initial Step-By-Step Description
Before the use case can be initiated, the user must have successfully logged in and must have any system page loaded in his/her browser.
1. The user clicks the “Log Out” link on the current page.
2. The system server returns a splash page until the connection is safely terminated.
3. The user is returned to the Communication/Tracking System Log In page.
(For Full Functional Requirements Specification, see 3.2.2.)
2.2.3. Initialize Attendance Database System
Initial Step-By-Step Description
Before this use case can be initiated, the user must have logged in as Instructor and must be registered to teach courses for the upcoming semester. The user must also have the main system page open. The Banner system must be operating.
1. The user clicks the “Activate Attendance Monitor” link on the main system page.
2. The system returns to the user a page containing a list of the courses that he/she is teaching for the upcoming semester in a specified format, with each course title having a corresponding check box labeled “Activate Monitor” printed beneath it.
3. The user checks the activate monitor check box corresponding to the appropriate course(s) to be monitored.
4. The user clicks “Submit.”
5. The user is presented with a form to verify his/her changes.
6. The user clicks “Continue.”
7. The user is returned to the main menu page.
(For Full Functional Requirements Specification, see 3.2.4.)
2.2.5. View/Adjust Course Attendance Log
. Detailed Non-Functional Requirements
This project entails a number of constraints that must exist in order for the system to function properly. The first restriction is the hardware. This project was designed to operate on IBM-Compatible Pentium based personal computers. Secondly, operating systems must be restricted. The system’s servers must be Unix based. Also, the paging/tracking system was designed to function with classroom, lab and Public Safety personal computers with a Windows 2000 platform. End users, such as students locating someone or teachers logging into their account, have no platform requirement, but are required to have access to the Internet to perform the actions and tasks on the pager/tracker system’s server. Thirdly, any Java editor, such as jGrasp, can be used to update or maintain the system’s programs on the computers and servers. Java Runtime software will be necessary to keep the system running. The last main requirement is network connectivity on all classroom, lab and Public Safety computers. All computers that communicate with the servers must be connected to the school’s network in order to send and receive data. Accordingly, all of these requirements must be met in order for the system to function properly.