Developing An Automated Student Academic Record Management With Business Intelligence Approach
Developing An Automated Student Academic Record Management With Business Intelligence Approach
Abstract
Student academic records management and assessment are among the vital processes in any
higher education institution. These processes must be efficient and systematic. The significant
problems of the current system that is holding the student’s academic record have been
observed and identified. Based upon the limitations and the challenges on the existing
procedures of a manual storing and archiving of the students’ academic records, a
centralized students’ academic record management system was proposed. This project
primarily aimed to develop a computerized student academic record management system in
order to help DMC College Foundation Incorporated (DMCCFI) Philippines improve its
performance in the registrar services, specifically in the assessment and evaluation of student
records. The newly developed system is integrated with business intelligence. It offers
modules such as grade submission, assessment, and student kiosk with security feature. The
development model included Rapid Application Development (RAD). The tools used in the
development are Windows Server 2008 R2, DevExpress, Microsoft Visual Studio C#, MSSQL,
and SmartDraw. Based on the system evaluation, the proposed system is very good with an
aggregate mean of 4.55. The result implies that the MIS staff, coordinators and dean strongly
agree that the proposed system is highly acceptable. In terms of usability, the proposed system
is rated with an aggregate mean of 6.43 described as “Strongly Agree.” It was concluded
that the developed system offers the capabilities and functions that can help improve the
performance of the registrar services in DMCCFI and is highly recommended for immediate
utilization by DMCCFI.
Keywords: Business Intelligence, Information System, Management Information Systems,
Student Assessment, Student Self-Assessment, Student Kiosk
1. Introduction
Student academic records refer to the information that relates to a student's admission
and academic performance in a college or a university. These records include the information
that is contained in an original transcript, in electronically stored records, and in the official
student academic record, as it is maintained by the office of the school registrar. An education
record contains information directly related to a student; this means that the record is
personally identifiable with and is maintained in various types of medium including
handwritten or printed documents, microfilm/fiche, a computer’s main memory, magnetic
tape, cassette, and disk or diskette. These records are used to assist offices in support of basic
institutional objectives and to document every student’s progress and achievement in the
academic aspect within the institution.
Records management is defined as a "field of management responsible for the
efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use, and disposition of
records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information
about business activities and transactions in the form of records". The creation, maintenance,
retention, and disposition of academic information are at the core of students’ functions in
higher educational institutions. Student records identify the academic institution's official
student body, document their progress through a course of study, show degrees and
1
College of Computer Studies, DMC College Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte
2
College of Computer Studies, Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
certifications obtained, support applications for other institutions and support job
applications, and are frequently referenced to as historical records. Student records and record
keeping support document all the administrative activities related to the admission,
attendance, advising and counseling of students, completion of coursework and requirements,
graduation, and the attainment of a degree.
One of the best methods in student record administration is the “Automated Student
Records System”. Student records system is a professional and academic discipline
concerned with the strategic, managerial, and operational activities involved in gathering,
processing, storing, distributing, use of information and its associated technologies in society
and organizations. Specifically, this computer-based record system is a complementary
infrastructure of hardware and software that people or organizations use to collect, filter,
process, create, and distribute data. Records systems are implemented within an organization
for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. The
capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work
systems, the people, and its development and implementation methodologies collectively
determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved.
In the United States, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has been using an
automated academic record management system to ensure that the student academic records
at that university meet the established record keeping requirements, protect the university's
liability, provide institutional accountability, and safely guard the academic interests of
students. In the Philippines, the University of the Philippines–Mindanao, University of the
East–Manila Campus, University of San Carlos, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute
of Technology, Silliman University, and Holy Name University are among the few
universities in the country that are already using the automated academic record management
system.
On the other hand, the DMC College Foundation Inc. (DMCCFI) is among the many
colleges in the Philippines that still implements the manual storage of student academic
records. DMCCFI utilizes manual submission of grades using paper and manual student
subject assignment. The manual submission of grades is done through the submission of a
hard copy of the students’ grades by the instructor. It is then signed by the Coordinator, the
Dean of the school or college, the Dean of Instruction and the Vice President for Academic
Affairs. Additionally, the process of the manual student subject assessment involves the
coordinator to look through the student’s submitted credentials. Based on what the
coordinator sees appropriate, he or she will assign the possible subjects that will be taken by
the student for the upcoming semester.
Further, business intelligence (BI) is a general term that refers to the overall
capabilities a company uses to collect and analyze data from a variety of sources to better
understand its operations and make better managerial decisions. BI technologies provided
historical, current, and predictive views of business operations; BI applications also provide
employees and top management with information at whatever time they need it, so they can
make faster and better decisions. These systems allow a company to gather, store, access, and
analyze corporate data that aid in the decision-making process. BI impacts in the areas such
as customer profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product
profitability, statistical analyses, and inventory and distribution analyses.
To maintain a competitive edge, companies today are increasingly turning to
operational business intelligence solutions that support process optimization. This entails
pushing needed data to frontline analysts and managers in real time, thus supporting intra-
day decisions. This can dramatically improve efficiencies and decision-making across all
facets of an enterprise.This paper presents the development of an automated student academic
record management for DMCCFI. Specifically, this paper presents the analysis, design and
implementation of the proposed system with emphasis on the integration of business
intelligence as a tool for decision-making.
3. System scope
This project is a LAN-based desktop application and is primarily focused on the
automation and computerization of student academic records activities in all academic units
of DMCCFI. Specifically, it focused on the development of the proposed system that covered
only the following processes:
Module for Grade Submission. This included the submission and approval of final
grades that came from the different departments; the routing and approval of grades will be
from the instructor, to the coordinator, to the dean, to the dean of instruction, to the VP
Academic Affairs, and lastly to the School Registrar; the processing and approval of change
grade request from the students and instructor.
Module for Assessment. The system provided a tool that is designed to facilitate
student mentoring and advising. It is a comprehensive and integrated set of evaluation
measures that provides information for use in monitoring student performance. This emulated
the process of student assessment by the coordinators. Proposed subjects were the output of
this particular module. It provided a list of possible subjects that a student can enroll in a
semester that is based on the curriculum. It also ranked the possible subjects to be taken by
the student based on subject prioritization.
Module for Student Kiosk. Student Kiosk is a computer terminal containing a
specialized software application that provides access to information for the students. This
module provided the students with an interface to enable them to view their grades in
currently enrolled subjects and for their own self-assessment. There is an already existing
computer kiosk that is located inside the registrar’s office that the students can freely use.
4. Related systems
There are related open-source systems that are most relevant to the proposed
automated student record management system. Although it is open and free, customization
of the system would be difficult considering that DMCCFI operates uniquely. Among these
related systems are the following: Fedena, Pillmex, Scholl ERP, openSIS, and SchoolTool.
Fedena is multi-purpose school management software used by thousands of
educational institutions worldwide for all administration, management, and learning-related
activities. Moreover, Fedena is an open source school management software developed
by Ruby on Rails framework. It is a web 2.0 application that is being developed by Foradian
Technologies. Fedena is used by the Education Department of the Government of Kerala to
automate the system and process over 15,000 schools in the state and later named
as Sampoorna.
Pillarex School ERP has been designed to ensure data maintenance is made simpler
and easier. Various user-friendly interfaces are featured to catalyze the process of reducing
maintenance time, but the strong foundation of ERP data structure ensured the reliability and
completeness of the data. Pillarex School Management software provides enhanced power to
every single stakeholder of the school. Especially designed ERP is capable of managing
different kinds of exceptions occurring in day to day transactions within the confines of
different schools. Centralized system and standardized processes help in bringing uniformity
to the school’s system. Constant monitoring of reports leading to a realization of gaps and
attempts at process re-engineering can lead to the betterment of the school.
The system called openSIS is one of several free and open source student information
systems available for the K-12 curriculum and for higher education institutions. The solution
was on the verge of development for several years, appearing to possess the functionality that
long time commercial versions also have today. This kind of solution is a 100% web-based
application, has a polished look, a great deal of required functionality and appears to be user-
friendly as can be observed on its online demo website. The system is developed and
maintained by Open Solutions for Education; it is written in the PHP programming language
and uses the MySQL database system to store information.
SchoolTool is a GPL licensed, free student information system for schools around
the world. The goals of this project are to create a simple turnkey student information system
that includes demographics, grade book, attendance, calendaring, and reporting for primary
and secondary schools. It has a framework for building customized applications and
configurations for individual schools or states. SchoolTool is built as a free software/open
source software stack licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 2, written
in Python using the Zope 3 framework.
In the same way, the budget preparation and monitoring system by Genove (2011) is
integrated with business intelligence particularly in the query and reporting section [6]. All
the reports are dynamic, and automatically updates in real time, should there be any
transactions done by the system users. Most companies collect a large amount of data from
their business operations. To keep track of that information, a business would need to use a
wide range of software programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Access, and other different
database applications that cater to various departments throughout their organization [7].
Using multiple software programs made it difficult to retrieve information in a timely manner
and to perform analysis of the data. Business intelligence software like Sybase Business
Intelligence Software Solutions, provided radically innovative enterprise analytics and data
warehousing software tools that gave customers the power and speed they need to make
actionable business intelligence a reality even in real time.
methods in a more clear and effective way. The main goal of data visualization is to
communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means. It does not mean
that data visualization needs to look boring to be functional or extremely sophisticated to look
beautiful.
6. The System
A user-interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates
with a program. Screen layout is one of the many attributes of the system when it comes to
its user-friendliness. It should be designed in such a way that the users can navigate through
the system quickly and easily. It should also provide a clear recognition of the task that users
need to perform. The DMC Automated Student Record Management and Assessment screen
layout (Figure 2), shows the main menu and icons in the system. It would be used for grade
submission, assessing students, adding prospectus and subjects, viewing of grades and
currently enrolled subjects. The processing is done by the instructors, the coordinators, and
the deans. The registrar is tasked to handle the processing, and provide services to the patrons.
Figure 2. Main Menu of the Automated Student Academic Record Management and
Assessment.
within a specific semester and school year. Figure 7 presents the comprehensive graphical
representation of the semestral student passing percentage by instructor. Figure 7 presents the
comprehensive graphical representation of the student passing percentage by subject for
every semester. Figure 8 presents a detailed summary of the students who passed and failed
in a particular subject. Figure 9 presents the students QPA by course.
8. System Evaluation
The system usability test was conducted by the researchers in seven
departments/colleges, namely: College of Nursing, School of Criminology, Allied Health
Sciences, College of Computer Studies, School of Education, School of Business
Administration and School of Hotel Restaurant and Institution Management from February
13 – 22, 2014. A summary of the distribution of the respondents shows that of the 271, 243
are DMCCFI students, 24 are DMCCFI faculty, and four are DMCCFI coordinators and
department heads. The IBM Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaire by Lewis (2009)
was the evaluation tool used.
For the computer system usability testing, These were completed by the faculty,
coordinator, dean, dean of instruction, VPAA, registrar, registrar staff, secretary, and some
selected students to make sure that the system conformed to their needs and requirements.
After each testing, an evaluation form was provided for testers in order to rate the
responsiveness, accuracy, and efficiency of the system. The evaluation form consisted of
criteria with relevance to the system. The gathered data were compared and were assessed in
accordance with the projects’ objectives. It was also scaled to check if the system satisfies
the requirements. The comments and suggestions from the users were also gathered for the
purpose of further improvement of the system.
During the actual survey administration of the college students of DMCCFI, a
random selection procedure was utilized. There were two different groups for the
administration. The first group, DMCCFI students (n=243) (Table 2), were randomly selected
during computer laboratory classes for the reason that the demonstration has to be conducted
inside the computer laboratory. The researchers asked for an approval from the dean of
instruction and the instructors in-charge in the laboratory room before the demonstration and
testing process. Some faculty, laboratory assistants and student assistants helped in the
conduct of the system usability evaluation. The researchers demonstrated the system’s
features in detail, viewing of currently enrolled subjects, status of change grade request, and
student self-assessment modules. The respondents also did some hands-on self-assessment
processes. After the hands-on, they answered the same system usability questionnaire.
The second group of system usability testing was also conducted by the researchers
in Computer Laboratory 3 and the respondent’s offices, in order to consider the evaluation
coming from the faculty, coordinators and department heads. This group of respondents did
some hands-on on grade submission, grades approval, adding prospectus, adding subjects on
prospectus, student assessment processes. The researchers asked an approval from the Vice
President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Instruction and College Deans before the
demonstration and testing process. During the demonstration, the automated grade
submission and assessment features were presented in detail. The respondents were asked to
answer the system usability survey questionnaire. A total of 28 respondents of this group
participated during the system usability evaluation, wherein 24 were DMCCFI faculty while
4 were coordinators.
System usability results from the students, faculty and coordinators were computed
through their average weighted mean. According to the students, the average weighted mean
of the system usability is 6.4 with the interpretation of “Strongly Agree”. According to the
faculty, the average weighted mean of the system usability is 6.5 with the interpretation of
“Strongly Agree”. According to the coordinators, the average weighted mean of the system
usability is 6.4 with the interpretation of “Strongly Agree”. This implies that the system is
strongly high in its usability. This result also suggests that the system provides high
satisfaction among the respondents. Likewise it reveals that the system is highly simple and
easy to use, effective, efficient, informative, easy to understand, and clear. Further, this
implies that majority of the respondents strongly agree with the capabilities, functions, and
the ease of use of the proposed system.
9. Conclusion
After a thorough analysis of the problem and design, the proposed automated student
academic record management and assessment of DMCCFI was successfully developed. The
system is usable and acceptable by the users as manisfested in the usability and acceptance
testing. However, there is a need to improve the performance of the manual system
specifically on the need to improve response time of the processes. There is also a need to
improve the manual records management that would provide accurate information and
without capturing the information redundantly. In the same manner, there is also a need to
improve the control and security measures of the manual records management and assessment
of DMCCFI. Moreover, there is a need to improve the registrar’s manual services to its
clientele. Further, problems and challenges of the DMCCFI records management and
assessment services are recurring because of the manual operations that can cause delay in
the processes.
The proposed system can improve the performance, control and security of the
registrar’s services. The proposed system is efficient, effective, and user-friendly. It is very
good in terms of usability and accessibility. The faculty member, coordinators, and students
believe and are confident that the system is very usable. The developed system has functions
and features that are highly-acceptable by the users such as grade submission, assessment,
student kiosk, and security feature/administration. It offers graphical enterprise reporting as
business intelligence technique for decision-support. Furthermore, the proposed system
enables the coordinators and department heads to maintain and organize grade submission
processes and student assessment for better decision-making.
10. Recommendations
Based on the aforementioned conclusions, it is highly recommended that the
proposed system should implemented in DMC College Foundation. For a successful
implementation of the proposed system, the following recommendations should be
considered:
An administrative policy has to be formulated that will include a rigid system
orientation, user awareness and updates in the automated record management and assessment
of the institution;
An intensive hands-on training for the prospective users in order to build awareness
of the system’s capabilities and features;
A parallel run for the implementation of the system, to be conducted in time for 1st
semester, the results of which will be compared to the manual process of the grade submission
and student assessment;
Maintain optimal functioning conditions of the server and create maintenance plan
needed to ensure the system usability that are constantly delivering effective and efficiency
of the system;
The developer, together with all the coordinators and department heads of DMCCFI
should conduct an evaluation of the system per semester for further improvement and
development; and,
11. Acknowledgments
We would like to give thanks to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for
the Faculty Development Program Scholarship and DMC College Foundation for the
endorsement of the Scholarship. Our invaluable gratitude to Dr. Reynaldo Rivera, Engr.
Chuchi S. Montenegro, Dr. Yong Gyun Kim and Mr. Mark Onte for their guidance and for
rendering their professional opinion.We would like also to acknowledge the inputs during
the 12th National Conference in Information Technology Education (NCITE
2014) on October 23 - 25, 2014, Boracay, Aklan, Philippines.
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