Wednesday, June 20, 2001

 

POSITIVE ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS

 

 

 

EXISTING SYSTEM:

 

The program in existence is a web-based application.  After each student logs in to the network as part of their login script they are required to follow four (4) interactive steps.

 

1.        Upon the appearance of the screen launched by Active Server Page program (student-query.asp), students are required to enter their student number and click on a task bar to proceed to the next step.

 

2.        The next screen displays the student number and student name to give the student the choice to confirm the validity of the data.

 

3.        Upon confirming the information provided in step 2, a form provides a list of eligible Positive Attendance classes.  The student is requested to select his/her choice and click on the task bar to start the time-keeping feature.

 

4.        Lab start time is written to a database to develop a log for the accumulated time spent in lab exercise for that Positive Attendance class

 

5.        The student is required to go back and click on the existing task bar to exit the program.  The program writes a stop time and terminates the time keeping feature.

 

 

PROPOSED SYSTEM:

 

The changes to develop the conceptual view of the proposed system is as follows:

 

1.        The present system is a two-step process that allows the student to use the Windows close button to terminate the process.  Therefore, a one step function to collect the data is preferable.  If the student has only one section for logging lab time, the default should be to write the start time using the single class selection.  Otherwise a selection list should be presented for viewing the class list to enable the student to make a section choice for writing the start time

 

2.        When there are no class sections for lab time assignment, an error message should display that situation to inform the student that the lab requires a section to be able to continue the lab session. 

 

3.        Develop a process to prompt the student for checking that he/she is the same student and whether to continue this session or terminate the present lab session to write a stop time.  If the student terminates the lab session, a Windows Logout is forced.

 

4.        Student checkout process needs to be available so that another class selection can be clicked to continue another lab session assigning the start time for the new class section.

 

5.        Continue with the prompt and selection process until the student closes the computer usage with Windows/NT logout.  The logout should trigger a check for whether a start and stop time is written for the existing session or if it is necessary to write a stop time for the existing session.  Computer lab sessions need to be checked for a start and stop time to keep session data accurate.  Consideration toward writing a stop time without checking the database with a flag or cookie is a quicker process. 

 

6.        Performance issues are quite noticeable on the client side of the present application.  Information Technology tests do not have this issue when testing the system.  Explore the possible direct access of the database.