A Project Proposal of Students Data Management System Software

For

NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School

Getachew Gemechu 9/20/2011 E/621/03

Preface
This is a project proposal of Students Data Management System for NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School. The proposal provides the scope and context of the project to be undertaken. It details the intended user group and the value that the system will have to them. It also provides a schedule for the completion of the project, including a list of all the deliverables and presentations required. The intended audiences of this document are the managing directors of New Vision Academy Primary School and it is expected this proposal will be presented to them before the project is formally started. Therefore, they can determine whether the project should be approved as proposed, approved with modifications, or not approved as per their intended interest of application.

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Table of Contents
A Project Proposal of Students Data Management System Software ........................................................ i Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... i 1.Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose, Scope and Objectives ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................................... 2 2. Approaches and Phases ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Approaches How to implement the project .................................................................................. 3 2.2 Project Phases ............................................................................................................................. 6 3. 4. 5. Project risks ............................................................................................................................... 8 Project Deliverables .................................................................................................................. 9 Schedule and budget summary ............................................................................................. 10 5.1 Schedule .................................................................................................................................. 10 5.2 Budget ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 11 References............................................................................................................................................. 12 Definitions ............................................................................................................................................ 12

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1. Overview
1.1 Purpose, Scope and Objectives
New Vision Academy Primary School has found in 1999 E.C by ten friends who are legal owners of the school today and it is operating until now in good progress. The school is located in Dire Dawa city, Legehare, kebele 08. Currently more than 400 students are learning in the School; 14 Teachers and four administrative staff are employed. The purpose this project is to introduce an automated Students Data Management software, for NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School that enables the school to manipulate its students data in a fast and reliable way. For the intended project, the current manual data management system is studied and evaluated. Based on the results of this investigation on the current manual system, some modifications on this system can be availed and automated data management software will be provided. This software is expected to simplify most operations, processes related to students data such as data recording, and management, report generation, student payment control and certificate preparation. It also minimizes paper costs and other stationary costs, and enables the school to utilize its resource (saving labor and physical money out lays) efficiently and effectively. After developing this data management software, the developer provides training to the users of the system. Ultimately, this project results with a user-friendly software that runs on a standalone computer.
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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

1.2 Statement of the problem

According to the preliminary investigation held by interviewing, one of the stakeholders of the school, and observing the input process and output of the current manual Students data processing system, its viable that the schools data management methodology is very sluggish and tiresome. Recording and keeping tracks of all the registration, examination, and payment data of 400 students makes the schools work cumbersome and time consuming. For instance when a new student is registered the employee that registers students records the students full name, address, age and other information on a paper and files it according to the students grade. When the same student made payments for monthly tuition fee the cashier receives the cash, gives a receipt to the student and records payment on a logbook. Then when the school wants to know the list of students, which does not pay the monthly tuition fee the cashier checks the logbook and compares it to the file of registered students. This results in inconsistent financial statements, a delay in generation of reports of the schools activity and failure in keeping tracks of the long lasted student information. In addition, compiled paper works of the school data creates a space overcrowd and unnecessary budget allotment for paper and other stationary purchase. Due to those problems of the current manual system, the school is not using its resources, work force, and time properly.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

2. Approaches and Phases

2.1 Approaches How to implement the project
As stated above in the statements of the problem section, some preliminary investigations were done to suggest the importance of this software for the school. Preliminary investigations are not enough to decide what the new system looks like. Therefore, it will be necessary to follow the fundamental frameworks of a software project management. The development of a software project consists of many activities spread across multiple phases. Dividing a software project into multiple phases helps the project team in managing the complexities and uncertainties involved in the software project. Each phase represents, the development of either a part of the software product; or something associated with the software project, such as user manual or testing. Each phase is composed of various activities. A phase is named according to the primary deliverable set that is achieved at the end of that phase. For example if the requirements document is required as the output, the phase is called the requirements phase. Similarly most software projects have phases for analysis, design, construction, implementation and testing.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal A typical software project includes the following phases;  Software requirement gathering phase;  Software design phase;  Software planning phase;  Software construction phase;  Software testing phase;  Software acceptance and maintenance phase. Process models define how a software lifecycle actually works. They provide a framework to plane and execute the various phases in the project. There are few standard software process models. To see the process models briefly: The waterfall process model: This is a traditional life cycle model. It assumes that all phases in a software project are carried out sequentially and that each phase is completed before the next phase is taken up. The proto typing model: A model that works on an iterative cycle of gathering customer requirements, producing a prototype based on the requirement specification, and getting the prototype validated by the customer. Each iteration of life cycle builds on the prototype produced in the iteration. The incremental model: This is an example of evolutionary life cycle model. It combines the linear nature of the waterfall model and iterative nature of the prototyping model. The incremental model divides the development life cycle into multiple linear sequences, each of which produces an increment of the final software product. In this model the software product is developed in builds. A build is defined as a self-contained unit of the
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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal development activity. The entire development cycle is planned for a specific number of logical builds, each having a specific set of feature. The spiral model: Is another evolutionary lifecycle model that combines the linear nature of the waterfall model and iterative nature of the prototyping model. The project life cycle is divided into phases, and each phase is executed in all the iterations of the spiral model. The waterfall model property is a dominating one in the other properties. Both incremental and spiral models have the nature of waterfall model. New vision school work process are very limited ones and their nature is not that much difficult to gather requirements exhaustively. Therefore, because of these two reasons this project uses the waterfall standard software process model. The waterfall model is based on the following assumptions: Each phase is explicitly complete with specific baselines, All the preceding phases of a project life cycle are complete before moving on to the next phase. y All uncertainties and requirements are determined at the beginning of a project.

y y

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

2.2 Project Phases

The phases, in the waterfall model, are linearly sequenced. Therefore, a phase does not begin unless its proceeding phase is complete. This helps track the beginning and the end of every phase. The typical phases in the waterfall model are analysis, development or coding, testing, and implementation and maintenance.

Analysis Phase

Design phase

Coding Phase

Testing Phase

Implementations and Maintenance Phase

Fig 1: Phases of development in the waterfall model

In Analysis phase, we will analyze the schools activities using observation, questionnaires, and interviews. In the software requirements specification (SRS) document, the client requirements

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal are documented. This document is prepared after interacting with employee of the school that work with data management activities. We will also have a series of meetings and discussions. A feasibility study of the entire project is conducted before the commencement of the project. This is performed to estimate the need for the prospective software product after its completion. The top-level plans for the project are also conveyed to the client and will be approved. The output product in this stage includes a software requirement specification document and feasibility report or a cost and benefit analysis report. In addition quality review check lists and standards, a personnel skill matrix, a decomposition diagram of all the prospective phases, and a list of other deliverables in the subsequent phases are also prepared and finalized. As the second phase of waterfall model indicates the next phase is the design phase. This phase divided into two phases:  High-level design;  Detailed design; In the high-level design phase, the models, the subsystems in the project SDLC, and their relationship will be determined. We will use the context analysis diagrams (CADS) to represent the various main systems and different modules within them. The output of this phase will be an outline design document (ODD). In the detailed design phase, the subsystems of the models defined in the high level design are designed. The output of this phase is the detailed design document (DDD).

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal The third phase of the waterfall model is coding. In this phase, we will code and test the coded components for their functionality. This is the stage in which we actually developing the software. Code will be generated mechanically if the design phase has been completed. The fourth phase in the model we have choose is the testing phase. During testing phase the components and models are brought together to form a complete system. The testing activity is planned for each module as well as for the entire system. The final phase of our project will be implementation and maintenance. Implementation is a onetime activity, although maintenance activities are performed on an ongoing basis. After our software product is implemented at the client site. Maintenance will be an additional activity according to the user compliant.

3. Project risks
Any project can encounter uncertainties in the form of increased costs, Schedule delays, and diminished qualities. Unless tackled, these uncertainties can lead to major project disasters. The uncertainties encountered during project executions are the potential risks. Risk is not a bad thing. Risk is bad only when it results in loss for an organization. Unless there is a potential for loss, there is no risk. Project risks can be broadly categorized into development process risks and product risks. Those are also the potential risks of this project .

Development process risks are risks that encounter during product development. These comprise developer errors, natural disasters, disgruntled employees, and poor management objectives. In

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal this project scope those risks have insignificant effect. Risks that arise from developer error will be handled by testing and retesting the software before implementing it.

Product risks crop up in the form of changing requirements during development. Incomplete and unclear requirements are risks to the product during development. This project will minimize this type of risk by working hard to meet all the client requirements exhaustively in the requirements analysis phase.

Even though we assume the impact of those risks as insignificant, risk management process will be one part of the project. So we will identify analyze and mitigate risks during project execution.

4. Project Deliverables
Deliverables of this project include

y y y y y

ODD document and DDD document SRS document Progress report at mid-project (revised SPMP) Exposition Final Students data management Software

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

5. Schedule and budget summary 5.1 Schedule

Item
Project Proposal Proposal Presentation Software Project Management Plan Client questionnaire meeting and system observation ODD document DDD document SRS document First Progress Report Software Testing Software Implementation

Date
September 25, 2011 October 5 -10, 2011 October 20, 2011 October 25 December 15 December 25, 2011 December 30, 2011 January 14, 2012 January 20,2012 February 20,2012 March 1,2012

5.2 Budget
This project uses our own or department resources, so we can conclude the budget part as no budget required.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

Conclusion
Small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers and suppliers are increasingly savvy, with high expectations for immediate and personalized service and support. Expectations are rising and yet SMBs are also under pressure to do more with the same or fewer resources. "The pace of competition is accelerating and SMBs must compete with larger, better-funded businesses while keeping ahead of smaller, leaner competitors," says Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB research for International Data Corporation (IDC) the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. The solution is to find new ways to optimize operational efficiency in order to improve productivity and reduce costs. So, the aim of this proposal is to provide a new automated data management system for one of the SMB that is New Vision Academy Primary School. Hence, New Vision Academy Primary School Should work for the practicality of this project and implement new automated system for its business processes. The resultant benefit of the automation system is accruing on its operational profits and modernization of its process.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal

6. References
http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/assure/agbsec3.txt http:// www.cmtoday.com/yp/papers.html http://www.cs.qub.ac.uk/~J.Campbell/myweb/msid/node2.html Pressman, Roger S., Software Engineering: A practitioner s Approach, 5th ed., McGrawHill, 2001  Basics of Software Project management NIIT Ltd.,2004 ., Prentice Hall of India.    

Definitions
Module: a single block of code that can be invoked in the way that procedure, function or method is invoked.
ODD document:

For a design document to be comprehensive, and to actually meet the needs of the project rather than just being a piece of paper written to meet a statutory process need such as ISO and CMM, the design document needs to have a correct format, and be well understood by the team members who are going to be writing it as well as the team members who are going to be using it. So ODD is a design document that presents the basic points that need to be filled.

DDD document: A detailed design document / high-level design/ provides an overview of a solution, platform, system, product, service, or process.

Such an overview is important in a multi-project development to make sure that each supporting component design will be compatible with its neighbouring designs and with the big picture.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal The highest level solution design should briefly describe all platforms, systems, products, services and processes that it depends upon and include any important changes that need to be made to them.

A high-level design document will usually include a high-level architecture diagram depicting the components, interfaces and networks that need to be further specified or developed.

The document may also depict or otherwise refer to work flows and/or data flows between component systems.

SDLC: The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), or Software Development Life Cycle: In systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, is a process of creating or altering information systems, and the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems.

In software engineering the SDLC concept underpins many kinds of software development methodologies. These methodologies form the framework for planning and controlling the creation of an information system: the software development process.

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NEW VISION ACADAMY Primary School Students Data Management System Software Project Proposal CAD (Context Analysis Diagram): Is a diagram that shows the system under consideration as a single high-level process and then shows the relationship that the system has with other external entities (systems, organizational groups, external data stores, etc.)

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