Me Diagrams - Assignment # 8

USeP Pre-enrollment Activity Diagram

Fully Developed Use Case Diagrams

One Step Closer (to be a USePian) - Assignment # 7

Consider USEP's pre-enrollment system, develop a use case diagram and write a brief use case description.

                To be a student at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) is not that easy. At the very first phases of the admission process at the university the aspiring applicant should have knowledge and enough perseverance. The very first step is also the very first test if the student is worthy to be called USePian. Those steps are listed in a use case diagram below.

USeP Pre-enrollment Use Case Diagram:

Use Case: Register Online

Actor: Student Applicant

Scenario: The applicant will fill-up the online pre-registration form found in the USeP’s website before the applicant will be given POS (Payment Order Slip).

Use Case: Issue POS

Actor: Student Applicant, UGTO

Scenario: The person in-charge of releasing the POS at the UGTO (University Guidance and Testing Office) will check if the applicant has already registered online before the person in-charge will issue POS.

Use Case: Present POS

Actor: Student Applicant, Cashier

Scenario: The student applicant submits the POS to the cashier together with the amount stated at the POS and the student applicant will be given a receipt.

Use Case: Get Testing Schedule

Actor: Student Applicant, UGTO

Scenario: The person in-charge at the UGTO will look at the receipt and will give the student applicant its examination schedule.

Use Case: Take USePat Exam

Actor: Student Applicant, UGTO Examination In-charge

Scenario: The student applicant shows the POS together with the receipt and the schedule given by the UGTO to the examination in-charge and then takes the admission test.

Use Case: Get Results

Actor: Student Applicant, UGTO

Scenario: The student applicant shows the POS to the one in-charge of releasing the USePat results then the one in-charge will issue the results of the admission test to the student applicant.

Use Case: (If advised by the UGTO) Enroll to EBP

Actor: Student Applicant, Institute of Languages EBP Enrollment In-charge

Scenario: The student will be given POS for EBP by the one in-charge of the EBP enrollment.

Use Case: (If enrolled to EBP) Pay EBP Fee

Actor: Student Applicant, Cashier

Scenario: The student applicant submits the POS issued by the EBP enrollment in-charge together with the amount stated at the POS and the student applicant will be given a receipt.

Use Case: (If enrolled to EBP) Undergo EBP

Actor: Student Applicant, EBP Teacher

Scenario: The student applicant will be given a module which is included on the POS and will undergo classes in English and will be given a certificate after the student applicant finishes the program.

Use Case: Undergo Medical Examination

Actor: Student Applicant, Doctor

Scenario: The student applicant will undergo medical examination and will be given a medical certificate after.

Use Case: Undergo Dental Examination

Actor: Student Applicant, Dentist

Scenario: The student applicant will undergo dental examination and will be given a dental certificate after.

Use Case: Undergo Interview

Actor: Student Applicant, College Interview In-charge

Scenario: The student applicant will be asked some questions by the interview in-charge which may include, “Why you choose to enroll at USeP?” and questions that are related to the course of choice of the student applicant. After the interview, the college will post the interview results near the faculty office.

What I want, what you want – John Juan and Peter Pedro’s Point of view based on Experience - Assignment # 6

What I want, what you want – John Juan and Peter Pedro’s Point of View based on Experience

Consider the following dialogue between a systems professional, John Juan, and a manager of a department targeted for a new information system, Peter Pedro:

Juan: The way to go about the analysis is to first examine the old system, such as reviewing key documents and observing the workers perform their tasks. Then we can determine which aspects are working well and which should be preserved.

Pedro: We have been through these types of projects before and what always ends up happening is that we do not get the new system we are promised; we get a modified version of the old system.

Juan: Well, I can assure you that will not happen this time. We just want a thorough understanding of what is working well and what isn’t.

Pedro: I would feel much more comfortable if we first started with a list of our requirements. We should spend some time up-front determining exactly what we want the system to do for my department. Then you systems people can come in and determine what portions to salvage if you wish. Just don’t constrain us to the old system.

As what I’ve notice on their conversion, the department that Peter Pedro manage has its existing system already but it somehow not good enough to provide the department a solution to its problem. Now John Juan here has an idea on how they will conduct the analysis phase but also, Peter Pedro has its on idea with regards on how should be the analysis phase is done on the propose system. They both have an idea on how do they conduct the analysis phase and they both have their point. John Juan wants that they should include the existing system and its environment in the analysis phase while Peter Pedro just wants that the analysis should be done within the requirements given. In my own perspective, this ideas that John Juan and Peter Pedro shares with each other are based on their field experiences. John Juan thinks of the possibilities way beyond the project requirements while Peter Pedro only thinks of an immediate solution to the department’s problem. This will dictate the process and the time the system should take through its development.

For me, I will take John Juan’s idea on how they will conduct the analysis phase of the project. Why? Because by taking into account those factors as to what John Juan have mention (the existing system, the workers and key documents) in the analysis phase will help the system development team (John Juan’s part) to formulate and design the system that will not only provide solution to the problem but also fit’s in the working environment in which the system will be deployed. This approach in the analysis phase falls into the predictive way of analysis, so the development team should be able to define and determine those aspects that should be dealt and should have enough details to that part of the system. Also, the predictive approach provides lesser technical risk on the system developed therefore it lessens the redundancy of the process within the system’s development.

The analysis on the existing system on why it is not successful will help the development team on pin pointing the faults and lapses on the existing system and provide guidelines when (if it is required) creating a new system for the department for example or making revisions of the existing system. Faults on the system itself like poor structural design, loose programming functions and weak data security and distribution. Faults on the end user side like irresponsive to the changes required by the system to its users and failure to report found bugs on the system. So by knowing these, it would be much convenient for the system development team in the way that the team will not start its system development from zero. Also, by analyzing the existing system, the development team could get an idea how did the existing system tries to solve the problem and where did it fail.

The analysis on the person’s performance involved in the system is also important because they are the ones who will use the system. Also people, in my opinion, are an unstable factor that needs to be handled on the system development for they are critical to changes. How could I say? Well the changes in the system affect their work performance especially if they are not familiar to it. For an example if the company is still doing manual in issuing receipts and wants it to be automated, the people who are working on that section should know at least how to use a computer. So for those who are not familiar to computer would find the system troublesome because for them to use the system they still need to know how to use a computer then they should know how to use the system which is time-consuming and a headache especially to those people who needs to “scroll down a combobox in just to select their year of birth” and by that they would rather prefer the casual way of issuing receipts which is “nakasanayan”. The worker’s performance dictate’s if the system is a success or a failure in general. If the worker’s becomes more productive on his or her work then the system is good or else it is bad. Also, the proposed system should be easy and user friendly. For example, the graphical user interface of the system should be clean and all of its buttons, fields and menus should be clearly placed and displayed on the GUI.

Another factor that was mentioned by John Juan is the key documents. Key documents could be the existing system’s analysis results, information on the department where the existing system is being deployed or the requirements that the existing system should meet. The existing system’s analysis result serves as one of the references which the development team should look up in order to have an idea on what are the previous methodologies that are used to come up with the existing system and why it was not a success. Also, the development team could get some idea on the existing analysis result to produce a better analysis result that will serves as a pillar to establish the new system and for it to solve the problem efficiently. The development team should also know what is the nature of work that the department undergone, what are the documents that goes in and out of the department for example. And lastly are the requirements that the existing document should meet. The system sole existence is to provide solution to the problem in which the department or company deals with. So the requirements that were provided by the department or company should be take into account through the development of the system intended for the department or company. The requirements set the road on which the development team should follow in designing and building the system.

Unlike to Peter Pedro’s idea on how the development team should conduct the analysis phase which is just to know what are the requirements set by the department of company and then just work with the part that needs to improve. The way that John Juan wants to take in the analysis phase of the project would take some time. Why? Because the development team will still conduct an observation during the actual working hours to see how the system works through the working process undertaken by the department and how workers would interacts with the system but the time it could consume will be reduced dahil narin sa results that was generated on existing system.  Also, the development team will review all the documents including the existing system analysis result and the requirements of the existing system before to come up with a method on dealing the problem. This approach that John Juan suggests follows the waterfall model of the system development life cycle. Thorough analysis is conducted on different aspects that would affect the system before proceeding into the next phase of the system development. Whereas to Peter Pedro idea was just provide what is required on its department and then later improve other components of the system. Peter Pedro’s idea was okay due to the system was new to the department and developed in a short period of time.

                Both have made their point it both makes sense only that they don’t agree with each other because their idea doesn’t coincide with each other in some aspects but both of them wants the same thing after the system development process which is a system that would address to the problem in Peter Pedro’s department. In my idea, I would propose that different aspects that affects the system should be analyze first before proceeding on the other phases on the system development, taking into recognition to what was John Juan said and not just ask for the requirements for the system. For it will create less risk due to that every detail on the system development should be taken up and discuss through the group and then come up with methods through collaborated ideas from the developing team and to avoid uncertain changes on the existing system which has done its part efficiently. I could suggest also that if the existing system is still good but with just small errors and lapses, it does not necessary that it should be replace with a new system developed. Peter Pedro may not take notice this but if he insists on what he wants, the new system that will be developed will cause its department to spend more and on the side of John Juan is that the development team will go back to zero and repeat the same analysis conducted on the existing system previously upon its development process whereas if the developing team will just update and fix the existing system, the time on the analysis phase will be shorten and it will cost less for the company.

                I would also suggest that they follow the modified waterfall model because in this model phases could overlap with each other. This will answer to what Peter Pedro wants during the analysis phase which is there should be enough time to determine what they want the system should be for their department but this model does not apply it only to the analysis phase of the system development but all throughout the other phases. The development team should always think ahead what will happen next to the current phase they are working with to adjust or reformulate their approach to the problem on the latter part of the development process. Also, it is a good thing that the requirements are presented and available together with other documents which I could say that it can be produce at the same time because the existing system have already its analysis results and the only thing is that they will gonna do is to integrate the data that was collected and if any requirement that was not tackled in the analysis document of the existing system then that will be the time to conduct other analysis but only to the specify requirement that was lacking on the analysis document of the existing document.

Conclusion

                Peter Pedro and John Juan have different jobs, John Juan was a systems professional while Peter Pedro was a manager. Upon observing their conversation, they based their suggestion with regards to the nature of their jobs. On John Juan side as a system professional, it should be more specific with the details of the project for it is very important in the sense that details serves as the blueprint of the propose system and should be sufficient enough to meet the needs and provides solution to the problems stated. John Juan’s decision is based on what was presented to him and to what he thinks would be better for the proposed system will be. While Peter Pedro as a manager, he is more specific on what he sees and what is needed on the present and sticks to what was planned. There is nothing bad on this, but it is pretty had to deal with this kind of clients. For some times, it would be an experience of a lifetime as a system professional to have clients like this. For this client will surely shape up the very professional of you by having to provide what is on the agreement and to be formal as a professional. I my opinion, Peter Pedro will be a good client because he has sense of responsibility over its workmates and dedicated to what is committed.

                In this case, Peter Pedro would understand that it is not always be that a new system is the solution if John Juan could defend and state its opinion with regards to the kind of analysis they should implement. And if ever a new system will be implemented even though it meets with the requirement set by the department or company, it will create a negative impact to the workers on the department or company for the people on the company or department will adjust to the new system that was being implemented. Otherwise if the existing system is still be in use but with some modifications and upgrade made, it will not take for the workers to greatly adjust to the system because they are already familiar to the system already. They will just inform with the changes so that they workers will be updated and be able to adjust to its operations. And as long as possible, the solution on the problem should not be a new system for the sake of time, money and resources. Also, it should be clear to the client where in this example the client is Peter Pedro every step that the system will undergo for it maybe he could contribute important information that will fasten the development time of the system.

Peter Pedro was discouraged by the outcome of those previous systems that his department have. Kahit sino man ang pinangakuan ng isang bagay pero ng dumating na ay hindi iyon ang bagay na pinangako ay magagalit o maiinis – “tuga-tuga ra”. But it should not be the basis Peter Pedro should set
upon system’s development. Since I propose that John Juan’s idea will be followed on the analysis phase of the project, it was also clear to me what are the sentiments of Peter Pedro with regards to the system development analysis phase. Peter Pedro doesn’t tell exactly that those previous system was not good, the only thing is that the developer proposed a NEW system and so Peter Pedro expected that the solution would be a new system. I think that there is just some communication gap between Peter Pedro and to the developer team, maybe the agreement was a new system for the department but along the way, the developers would found out that it would be better if they will just modify the existing system but they failed to acknowledge Peter Pedro about the changes. I should advise to the both party that the communication should be constant not all the time but only when it is needed. Also if possible, the development team should meet the requirements that were client has given and meant what he or she has proposed.

In this scenario, Peter Pedro is the client and John Juan is the system professional but it does not tell that the client as the customer is always right especially in this scenario. It is a good thing that the client suggests what he thinks that would be the best for its department. It is not the fact that his idea will be rejected but instead it will be taken into consideration for he is still the client and John Juan should satisfy Peter Pedro’s wants on the system for his department. Also, John Juan should be also open to what Peter Pedro’s sentiments and should not let that Peter Pedro feels that his idea is disregarded. The very common and should be establish first aside from formal parts on the system development, both Peter Pedro and John Juan should develop good client-developer relationship for in which this one is put up, it makes the conversation which regards to system development and its other component much easier because both are open to with each other. Also, both should be friends so that it could cut the formalities especially when having short meetings which could not be a formal one, so instead of going to the company and set on the both edge of the conference hall table and discuss boringly what should be done, how about going out just like going for a brewed coffee on a café then have some good time while actually both of you are working.

To sum it up, it still depends on the current situation of the department of the company in which the kind of analysis should be taken into action. In the department that Peter Pedro handles, it has experienced not good no the system the previously implement and maybe affects the productivity of it so Peter Pedro takes an action and makes it clear to John Juan that the system that should be developed with strict compliance to the requirements set by himself. This is not just to insure that the system will provide the solution to the problem on the company but also to improve the department also. On John Juan’s part, he has to follow the model which he thinks that would be the best for the department’s system. We could not blame John Juan on how he sees the propose system. John Juan’s judgment on what approach to take on the system development particularly on the analysis phase is based on the details and component that will contribute and affects the system upon its implementation.

Univ Specs - Assignment # 5

Consider your school, how do you know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university. How do we know it meets our needs?

               

In the University of Southeastern Philippines, there are plenty of strategies that was been implemented to aid the needs of its students, faculty and staff on its daily or timed routines. Routines can be considered as transactions which anyone deals with it, a step by step process just like making deposits on the bank, software installation and etc.

In the University of Southeastern Philippines, I could mention two transactions that has big impact to students, professors and staffs of the university, first is the online grade enquiry which enables the student to view its grades from its subjects taken from the previous semesters via online. The second is the enrollment system of the university which every student should deal every semester for the whole student’s residence in the university. Since these two systems that were implemented in the university made great impact especially on the students of the university so I will stick on these two systems.

So how do we know that these systems meet the needs of the university especially to us, the students of one of the prestige universities in the here in the Philippines?

Before I will try to answer that, let us try to know why there are systems like online grade enquiry and our enrollment system present in our university. Systems in information technology based on my own understanding, is the one of the output solutions for the problems that exist which can be solved through the use of technology for technology itself makes our life easier. Also, systems only exist if there are problems based on what I have learned from our previous assignments. The system aids the processes on the life cycle through its operation by faster data redistribution, consistent data storing, up-to-date information feeds.

As to what I have notice and in my opinion, the online grade enquiry was developed to help students in the way that the student could view their grades on their subjects online aside on what was written on their passbooks and in order to be sure that the student has their grades on the registrar whether the student passed or failed its subject. Based on my friend’s experience named Erwin Adesna which is also a student in USEP taking up IT, “kamuntik na siyang di ga-graduate ngayong darating na marso dahil mayroon siyang asignatora na bagsak ang nakalagay sa kanyang record sa registrar na na pansin lamang niya nung magcomply na siya ng mga papeles para sa graduation pero pasado naman ang nakalagay sa kanyang passbook at ang nakasama pa nun ay tapos na ang adding at dropping, so d na niya maa-add ang asignatora pero buti nalang pinayagan pa siya ng registrar”. Putting yourself in the scenario, you’re about to graduate especially in the Institute of Computing and it will be postponed just because of one of your subjects, isn’t it troublesome? You will spend at least another 6 months of residence in the university  in order to take and pass the subject, another 6 months of seeing sir randy’s face but at least compared to the first this one could be better.

The system helps improved the cycle of enquiring grades in USEP as it should be in my opinion. By having the enquiring of grades online, it creates a new and more convenient way of accessing the student’s grades. It cuts the hassle and expense of the student on acquiring their grades. Before, in order for the student to know their grades on all of the subjects they have taken, they will ask for a certificate of grades in which the student will have to pay for it and wait for at least two weeks before the student can get it and if the student will just want to review its grades and nothing less to do with the certificate of grades, it will be a waste of money and time. So with the system implemented, it reduces the hassle and expense especially when the student would frequently online, the student will just access the site then enters the student’s information and in just few minutes the system will display the student’s grades. Also USEP is a state university, students in this university are “skolar ng bayan” – mahihirap pero matatalino. Most of the students have their allowance good enough to eat 3 times a day, 7 times a week. So let’s do arithmetic, if the student has an allowance of 100 pesos per day then we divide it by 3 equals 33.33 which is its budget for every meal good for 1 day but the student needs to know all of its grades, so he or she will pay for not less than 50 pesos for the certificate plus 20 pesos for the mail stamp, in result he or she will have to sacrifice 2 meals just to have its list of grades or just used the free internet in the university and browse its grades online which is convenient in terms of time and money, his or her allowance for food will not be sacrifices.

This system fits on to the university because as to what I have notice, the final grades that was passed by the professors to the registrar was not distributed every end of the semester to the students. Maybe in my opinion, in the sense that the students will go to their the professors in order to get their grades on the subject the professor have handled and write it on the student’s passbook, their it will be no means for sending the final record of grades to the student because it will be redundant. But this method creates problems when it comes to the reliability of the grades that are in the passbook because just like on Erwin’s case, his grade in his philosophy subject was marked as passed but in the registrars records is failed and the registrar’s record will be followed and not on what was written on the student’s passbook for it may be tampered or falsified. Also, the hard thing that happens is that his professor on that subject has already retired, so he cannot appeal his case to his professor.

It is undeniable that some but not all professors in USEP especially during the end of the semester are very hard to find in their office, maybe because the students were after them to submit their late projects or ask for their grades or  to make “pakiusap” – alam na kung anu ang ipapakiusap (HeHeHe). In relation to the scholarship renewal of some scholarship grants on the university, one the requirements is that there will be no “BAGSAK” on the subjects that the student took during the current semester so the list of grades is needed as proof. So instead of hunting for their professors to get their grades, if the professors have submitted all of its student’s grades to the registrar since the system were integrated to the database used by the registrar, the student can now create a printable file and have it verified. These was been told by my board mate which is a nograles scholar when he was to renew his scholarship.

                So how do we know that it meets our needs as students in USEP? Well, new cycle that was created with the use of the grade enquiring system serves as an intermediate solution to the current grade enquiry process in the university. It reduces the effort in both the students the staff on the registrar during enquiring and providing list of grades. It is our need to know our grades and the new cycle overrides the old cycle of acquiring student grades by providing that needs of us in much faster and convenient way with the use of internet.

               

                The second one is enrollment system of the University of Southeastern Philippines. This meets the needs of everyone (basically) that wants to have quality education, to be passed on the admission test set by the university and to be enrolled in the university. And to be able to be officially enrolled in USEP one must have unwavering patients and perseverance or else one cannot be officially enrolled. So let’s trace up what are the processes one should take. First, before the official enrollment schedule arrives the university posts its information materials about the enrollment process in order for those who are new in the university to know. The need to know. Hmm, checked! It is a good thing that information should be delivered ahead of time for everyone to know and to be prepared – requirements. When we talk about requirements, if the student is not new in the university, the student should secure student clearance which is a requirement for getting Pre-Registration Form aside from other miscellaneous receipts. No fuss if the student has no balance on its tuition fee and if the student’s library card was validated, its clearance will be signed immediately. After the student has its clearance cleared and has the other requirements, he or she will be given the PRF to write his or her subjects to be enrolled. Also, advising in Institute of Computing was separated by year level and has its schedule and assigned professor to conduct advising. By processing the advising in this way, it reduces the waiting time for every student and to distribute the work load the faculty evenly. During the enrollment period on USEP, time is the most critical aspect of it, so in every step throughout the enrollment, the student should utilize each time he or she has in order to be officially enrolled. Actually there are no problems with regards to the processes on the college offices, only when it comes to the payments and the submission of the requirements on the registrar. The queuing system that was implemented on the cashier and to the registrar was specific to USEP – worst. Even though different strategies that were implemented on the previous part of the enrollment process on USEP, the latter part (on the cashier and on the registrar) makes it all useless. Actually, the registrar tries the queuing system that every student that has transaction on the registrar will be given priority number but that never went well and only makes the transaction processes in the registrar difficult due to those will rush into the window because their number is up yet they are not around and then ask to be entertained. But despite of that, I appreciate the system that was implemented because there are no repetitions on every transactions phase – straight forward, di bali nalang kung tatatanga-tanga ang studyante like his or her temporary enrollment form doesn’t have the encoders signature on it. Before the cashier or the bookkeeper would accept the temporary enrollment form he or she should go back to his or her college to affix the encoder’s signature on the temporary enrollment form. This life cycle that was on the enrollment system in USEP is the same as the waterfall model in system development. Each process throughout the life cycle should be done sequentially in order to proceed to the next step because for every step produce results that are needed to the next step.

Conclusion

                Different problems require specific solutions. We could say that cycles or processes are especially developed for the university if there are problems that are unique and not related to each other and are dealt accordingly though the cycle which a solution could be an automation of certain transactions like in the enrollment process on the university like propagation of enrollment forms through electronic media which happens after encoding of the students subjects on the college office. In this way, the students don’t have to carry extra sheets of paper to the cashier of to the registrar. Or it could be still manual like by assigning every college into a designated window in order focus the personnel on the specific college and be able to advice the student or the group if there are possible problems on their enrollment transactions. For example, a group of 1^st year computer science students would want to open the subject programming 1 on the second semester of this school year but they still don’t have a professor, so the registrar could ask those who fall in line in his or her window who are those students that are included on the reopened subject and could tell them at once that they still don’t have a professor so they should provide it first. Or a major subject on that course was already closed, the window attendant could ask for those students that fall in line in his or her window who are those students that will enroll that subject and tell them at once that the subject was already close. The life cycle of the enrollment system on USEP in general works okay if we will just stick on it main objective – to conduct the enrollment process and to produce results, but through the process there are aspects (human) that would cause problem’s which are not predicted during its analysis and design phase. Like attitude on the students, even to yourself you cannot keep your patients if you are falling on line that reaches to the second floor.

On the grade enquiry cycle, the one that is implemented on USEP specifies on the necessity of the USEPians to access his or her grades anytime especially during the end of the semester unlike to other schools in which their grades are sent in their home address via letter. Also, the parents of those students that was on the province could access the site since it is a web-base and then verify any time if ever their son or daughter is really goes to school by checking theirs son or daughter’s grade and the last time their son or daughter have enrolled because once my board mate told me that his classmate’s board mate doesn’t go to school for almost 3 years but still pretends to his family that he went here in Davao to study provided with tuition and monthly allowance. With this system implemented, it would be beneficial not only to the students but also to the parents as well.

               

In the sense that through the development of the system and other components that it supports or supports it has undergone, if it is properly planned and analyze, there is no way for the system and its components not able to meet the needs of the end users. Just like an ice cube, it won’t formed into a circle after the water is purred into the “humalhan” that is cube shaped. Eventually, the system and its processes should fit as to what is designed for and will meet the requirements set by the problem sets and the end users or else it would be useless and instead of providing help to the end users thus it will result into much greater problem than the establishment had before.