Enrolment Input Form and University Interface: PRF vs. SRIS

 (Note: This is a reply to Mr. G.'s thread in USeP-IC Web Forum - Assignment 4: Contrast and discuss the enrolment input form (PRF) with the enrolment university interface.)

This assignment that I am discussing about deals with a very important issue, above all – consistency. This is supposed to be a significant matter especially with regards to input and output user interfaces.

In creating a graphical user interface especially from the manual type and accustomed use to an automated system, the developer has to be particular with the input and output fields. This is because the user(s) may already became familiar to the old format and introducing him or her to the new user interface with a completely new look may lead to confusion which may end up to the uselessness of the system. The user, of course, has developed a habitual inclination in using the old format, especially if he or she has been using it for a long period of time. Beginning to use a brand-new yet same system functionality (although an improved one) with a different although intact input look and form will have a significant effect on the momentum of the work. Worse, the user who can not grasp the functionality at once will find the user interface complicated and most likely refuse to use and learn about it.

The idea led me to examine this aspect of the two important items being deliberated here – the enrolment input form or what is commonly called as the Pre – Registration Form (PRF), and the enrolment university interface or Student Records Information System (SRIS). The PRF is what the students need to secure during the advising part in the enrolment process before the college secretaries and/or administrative staff encode the filled-in entries into the SRIS. Basically, the elements within the Pre - Registration Form are also contained in the Student Records Information System, in which it covers more features and functionality. In simple analogy, the format used in the PRF and the user interface coordinates therefore it is important that it should be parallel since promptness of the processes involving the information matters a lot.

I reviewed the appearance of the PRF and here is how it looks like:



Notice what kinds of information are being asked directly from the student and how each are located in the form.

Now let us check a sample screen shot from the SRIS:




Take a look at the data fields and their placements. The SRIS contains almost all the basic information that is directly written by the student into the PRF. But what is really noticeable, when graphical user interface is being highly dealt with, is that there are some elements that are not parallel in position. The enrolled units table however, is placed in the similar manner, in a way that is easy and convenient to browse, except for the columns that are mismatched from the original (based from paper) position.

In the PRF, I could only say a reasonable explanation why there is an entry field for the Address and Address of Employer if employed. Maybe this is to check whether the students is currently working and studying at the same time – a thing that needs to be checked as far as allowed units are concerned. Instead of asking directly of a choice between ‘working student?’ and not, it is quite straightforward to ask the address of the employer so if the student is validly working, the name and address of the employer would prove it. There is, however, no field for it in the SRIS, which made me think of why such entry is included in the PRF where the most basic information is asked and not in the automated system where a more comprehensive data is stored.

There is no field for Civil Status in the PRF while in the SRIS there is.
There is more than one Section fields in the PRF and none in the SRIS, only Class. I think the Section entry in the upper part of the PRF is the general information about where the student belongs and the fields corresponding to the subjects and/or units enrolled corresponds as to where the students fits in during classes of the subjects. But the student would not know firsthand the section(s) he or she will be unless the professor(s) of the related subject(s) will arrange the schedule and class list.

The separate data fields for Semester and School Year to be enrolled in the PRF is being coupled in a selection dropdown in the SRIS. This data has to be explicitly identified by the student upon filling up the PRF and the encoder will just have to choose from a pre-loaded selection for speedy browsing.

I found the Scholarship field from the PRF missing in the SRIS. I do not know where this part fits in the automated system but the encoder asks the student an approved scholarship card to prove the said information.

Other data in the SRIS such as Contact, Email Address, Parents, and Religion cannot be found in the PRF.Well, this information is not necessarily required for the student to fill in again every enrollment period (PRF filling up process). I understand that the SRIS contains most if not all the records about the student so as expected, it has more data and information.

The noticeable thing here is, the data that is being asked in the PRF do not have close locations in the SRIS. The ID number for example, is being regarded as a main item in the SRIS since it is located above (and being asked first) before the name. It is, however, opposite in the PRF when the name is regarded as a key thing. As an IT student, I am aware of the role of primary keys in various systems, therefore I understand why it is significantly ‘above’ and ‘before’ the Name field in the SRIS.

Another thing that made me raise an eyebrow is the SRIS’ Desired Career data field. If the purpose is to know what the student certainly aspires for, I think this data entry is more appropriate in the Guidance Office system (well, this is just my opinion based on the aforementioned reason).

In my general point of view, the university enrolment interface is a more wide-ranging system which fits to its description – Student Records Information System. Basically, it contains the fundamental information about the student enrolling in the university. It also contains both the data that is asked from the student (those types of data that are, and might be, constantly changing especially every enrollment period – temporary data) and those which are kept for a long time to be modified or permanent data.

Factors that are significantly important when it comes to these things are consistency and parallelism. As what I’ve said in my first statements, the primary users of the (automated) system shall not have a hard time in familiarizing the data input fields from the manual form. This will have impact on the work and response time. Thus, I would like to emphasize the value of parallelism in this case. The position also matters aside from the types of information being asked. This will define the usability of a good user interface.

I would like to recommend this article from a blog I found which talks about the characteristics of successful user interfaces by Dmitry Fadeyev. It contains the basic characteristics that I’ve been looking for in a UI.
http://www.usabilitypost.com/2009/04/15/8-characteristics-of-successful-user-interfaces/



Acknowledgment:

Dmitry Fadeyev, 2009, 8 Characteristics Of Successful User Interfaces, Usability Post

Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries

Credits go to Ms. Joan Rose Dandoy for the image of the SRIS

TEENage Reflection

When all things got loose, I'm just right here.

I'm gonna spend the last few days of my TEENage stage into something remarkable. I'm turning 20 this month and I'm thankful for the years that God has given me so much of what life can be. I've had moments which made me grow into what and who I am today. The past years of existence may not be enough to do all the things that I should,fulfilling the purpose why I am here. Everyday is a gift from Him. And everyday is worth living and thanking Him for all the blessings that He gave - the people who love and care for me and the good things I've learned.

The past nineteen years had been memorable. It may not appear as something as full of fun, vigor, travel, adventure and all that most young people experience. But what I have is something which I can think of as MY life. It was the way I live. It was the way I was brought up, the way I learn, the way I face the challenges, the way I enjoyed my youth - something different yet something unique. I may not have gone to many places and may not tried the things that other young adolescents had but mine is an account of how I became myself - the introvert melancholic nature had shaped in me the personality with an active imagination, deep sense of reflection and gratitude, and a compassion for the significance of one's generation for the better future of humanity. Some ideas left unnoticed, opinions unexpressed, and words are not enough to show how the mind and heart truly thinks and feels. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the gift of life God has given. Soon I'll be spending another chapter - to face another set of challenges to become more mature and fulfill the purpose of living...

Keypoints for Effective Network Environment in the University

(Note: This is a reply to Mr. G.'s thread in USeP-IC Web Forum - Assignment 3: Interview your university network specialist. Ask how various parts of the system communicates with each other throughout the university. (Q) Given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your keypoints for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university.)

 

Regarding the setup of the system components of the university, we asked for an interview schedule to our university specialist, Engr. Ariel Roy Reyes. It was supposed to be a special session with the whole class, since there would be many of us who needs response regarding the topic. Unfortunately, we were not able to have a face - to - face interview since our schedules did not meet. So what we did, was to consolidate the questions and email it to him as suggested by Sir Reyes. I just formulated some questions turned it over to one of my classmates who sent the email together with the other inquiries.

Basically, my questions revolve on these items:

1.In system development, how do various parts of the system communicate with each other throughout the university? In what way?
-regarding system development, Sir Reyes replied that the best persons to ask are our university programmers, Mr. Jappeht Fortich and Dr. Tamara Cher Mercado...

2. What are the components involved in the system(s) in the university? (Hardware, software, technology, etc)
-Sir Reyes admitted that he is not in the right position to discuss the details of the software components used as there are other assigned personnel for such job. However, Sir Reyes shared how he works for the system. As a network administrator, he is entrusted to maintain the university's servers to run 24 hours a day in 7 days a week. We have our current Web Server hosted in our university in the HP ProLiant ML350 Server. This server is already old but a stable one being set up in the Networks Office. The said server has already been active since Engr. VAl A. Quimno was appointed as the Network Administrator when he was not yet the dean of the Institute of Computing.

The said server has the following specification:
1. Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 3.2 GHz, or 3.4 GHz processors (dual processor capability) with 1MB level 2 cache standard. Processors include support for Hyper-Threading and Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)
2. Intel® E7520 chipset
3. 800-MHz Front Side Bus
4. Integrated Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
5. Smart Array 641 Controller (standard in Array Models only)
6. NC7761 PCI Gigabit NIC (embedded)
7. Up to 1 GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM with Advanced ECC capabilities (Expandable to 8 GB)
8. Six expansion slots: one 64-bit/133-MHz PCI-X, two 64-bit/100-MHz PCI-X, one 64-bit/66-MHz PCI-X, one x4 PCI-Express, and one x8 PCI-Express
9. New HP Power Regulator for ProLiant delivering server level, policy based power management with industry leading energy efficiency and savings on system power and cooling costs
10. Three USB ports: 1 front, 1 internal, 1 rear
11. Support for Ultra320 SCSI hard drives (six hot plug or four non-hot plug drives supported standard, model dependent)
12. Internalstorage capacity of up to 1.8TB; 2.4TB with optional 2-bay hot plug SCSI drive
13. 725W Hot-Plug Power Supply (standard, most models); optional 725W Hot-Pluggable Redundant Power Supply (1+1) available. Non hot plug SCSI models include a 460W non-hot plug power supply.
14. Tool-free chassis entry and component access
15. Support for ROM based setup utility (RBSU) and redundant ROM
16. Systems Insight Manager, SmartStart, and Automatic Server Recovery 2 (ASR-2) included
17. Protected by HP Services and a worldwide network of resellers and service providers. Three-year Next Business Day, on-site limited global warranty. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Pre-Failure Notification on processors, memory, and SCSI hard drives.

The university’s mail server is also running under the Compaq Proliant ML330Server which is the olders server hosted in the Networks office. Proxy and enrollment servers on the other hand, run in microcomputers or personal computers but higher specifications to act as servers.

*Typically, the purpose of this question is to know what the things that composed of the system are. I have very little knowledge about the components of how things in the network administration office works and the components that are involved here so I opted to know better what are those. So far, the university has, as mentioned, a server which hosts the university’s current web server. The said specifications are quite technical to me, as such its technicalities were not very much explained. I have little or no knowledge about what are the most important factors to consider in choosing the best performing server for the university yet I have confidence that Sir Reyes and the others who man the networks office know well how to maximize the resources. The only thing I have come to get concerned of (and perhaps the one which I have come to understand) is that it has a global warranty and that if there were hardware setbacks that need repair or service, we can contact HP for assistance or help. Hehe. Anyway, the capabilities of the server sounds good, I guess it is up to its use, but regarding the growing population of the university clients and the increasing need and use of the internet in education and research purposes, network connections necessary for the office functions, the server might not be enough to bear all the requests, thus, intensifying the demand for a more powerful upgraded server.

3. How do these communicate with one another? (Here I meant the aspects of topology, network connectivity, protocols, etc.) -may include data flow or UML diagrams to better explain.
-Sir Reyes said that all servers are connected in a shared medium grouped as one subnetwork. The extended star topology connected to a dual WAN router between our two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is our followed topology. All the other workstations are grouped together into different subnetworks as in star topology branching out from our servers subnetwork as in extended star topology. Currently, we are utilizing class C IP address for private IP address assignments. Laboratories workstations for example, are configured statically while IP assignments in offices are configured dynamically. Proxy servers that do some basic filtering or firewall to control users’ access to the internet aside from router filtering or firewall management connect these workstations. In this case, a workstation has to pass through software and hardware - based firewall whenever it has to connect to the internet.

*From the way I see it, the network system provides ample security in terms of internet access. It is evident in setting up the firewall or filtering every workstation that has to connect to the internet. The extended star topology is also okay, since in this setup, subnetworks communicate in a star-like topology and to further gin access to other workstations which are not part of the subnetwork, they will connect via the WAN router into another subnetwork which follows the star topology pattern.

4. What are the processes involved in the communication (of each system to other systems)?
-As being pointed to by previous statements, all workstations are connected via a proxy server. If ever a workstation is being turned on, it requests for an IP address from the proxy server and connect to the network after the IP address is acquired. This is for dynamically configured IP address. Every system can now communicate and share resources within the same subnetwork and server after the connection is established.

*It is clearly stated that every system which is composed of workstations making up a subnetwork are connected via a proxy server which is their way to communicate to other network. By this setup, the workstation needs to communicate with the proxy server first before directing to other resources in the subnetwork since it has to request an IP address first.

5. How do you go along with the maintenance of the system?
-Since the servers are expected to run 24/7, it is necessary to be in good condition. Sir Reyes has a daily routine of monitoring the servers by checking logs, checking hardware performance, and checking for some problems. Observing the performance involves checking on CPU health and etc. If there are problems detected, remedies are then applied. Regular overall checkup is observed as a preventive maintenance practice at least once a week just to make sure that longer downtime will not be possibly experienced.

*Looking after the system is needed to observe how it works up to its functions. Performance of the servers should be well see to it as it may result in downtime if there are certain bugs left unnoticed. Checking on the logs, I should say, should be done in an everyday basis in that we cannot readily assure if there are other foreign objects sniffing through our system, which may further lead to affect our university’s business. The health and performance of the hardware components are also necessary be monitored more often especially that we now have learned that we have some old servers in our networks office. It is not impossible that time may come that these servers might bog down due to failure in performance especially that we have several systems being developed which require more robust and more powerful database servers.

6. Does the system follow a specific standard? Please explain.
-Different networking standards were already observed as soon as Sir Reyes was appointed Network Administrator. Everything was already in place except for some minor changes. Standards followed include cabling standards, TIA/EIA 568A-B, and different IEEE standards.

*As a university that strives to be a center of excellence in education, it is therefore important for us as an institution to follow standards. Thus, our systems which run the business of the university should conform to its specific standards. It is clearly stated that long before our interviewee was tasked to take care and primarily overlook the networks office, there are already networking standards being conformed to.

7. How is the security of the system? Are there any vulnerabilities? Risks? Corresponding mitigation techniques? Access control?
-There were software and hardware – based filtering and firewall techniques implemented. Risks and/or vulnerabilities and different mitigation methods were considered to increase security in our network. Aside from filtering and firewall, constant monitoring on networks activity also increases the security of the system.

*There were software and hardware-based filtering and firewall implementation to have security over who and which workstation should be given access to the internet. There may be risks and vulnerability in the system and also corresponding mitigation techniques but they were not much elaborated. I, personally would like to know what are those sample risks and vulnerabilities involved in the networking side especially that in the very near future, our system projects that are being developed will be soon integrated into the server. As such, there would be many subsystems that will be connecting to the server and more and more users are expected to gain access to it. This not only adds up to the needed strength boost in performance of the database server but it also counts up to the risks and vulnerability of the system.

8. Are there any interference? During what (most) times do these occur? Explain their effects especially with regards to the business of the university?
-Major interferences are normally encountered as an effect of unforeseen and beyond our control events such as black-outs and the like. The university’s business would of course be affected since this will paralyze the day – to – day activities which rely on electricity. These events might also cause further damages on our network devices which may later be the reasons for downtime. Other problems we encounter are those met by our providers for example, the National or International Gateway connection. This also affects the university’s business especially that we have also correlation with our university business partners within and outside the country.

*So far, the foremost interferences experienced are due to unanticipated events such as black-outs, power interruption, and other similar occurrences which are beyond control. But even as these things happen, the university’s business is very much affected because we are primarily dependent on the electricity to run the systems we are using inside the offices and laboratories. These minor things might also be the causes of big consequences which may later be reasons for downtime.

Like for example, the series of brown-outs and power interruption in the localities just a few months ago really affected a lot of students, faculty, and staff as well, in that its occurrences became more often and computers that are supposed to be used in the daily functions and services were off to rest. I could still remember when we were on the brink of the enrollment period, with most of our classmates have other things to consider like completion of unfinished projects and some other businesses and the expected enrollment duration took longer than usual. The result is that, we, particularly I, as far as I could recall, am lost with the real schedule of the enrollment per year level. Most of us have concerns on financial aspect (tuition and other fees) and the current status we were taking upon the enrollment process matters as to when is the exact time should we process the payments for the cashier, request subjects, home calls for allowances and additional emergency fees, etc, you know, things like that we don’t readily expect and beyond our capacity and control. The sad part there is that, other personal matters of business that each of us has to face for the day are put off because we are still on the enrollment process which have come to pending status due to electrical interruption. Things like encoding, cashiering, registering, and account tracing could not continue, lines by students got mixed up, sweats pouring because of heat since there are no electric fans or aircon, photocopier machines won’t work, computers and printers have stop operating, and of course, evidently, there is no light thus putting every office or room to darkness and high temperature (and high blood pressure not to mention!).

The scenario became a point of caution to all of us, that we always anticipate brown-outs every day and we can almost predict what typical time of the day the power might turn off. Basically, the processes concerning the business of the university are greatly affected (and so other institutions and establishments in the locality), all came to halt and transactions have to stop. I am not pretty sure exactly if the university has a power generator but I guess it has not acquired one as far as I could remember. I have seen some Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) in our computer laboratories but how could it supply needed electricity for longer periods of time? Major systems need enough reserved energy to supplement the power it requires to run and perform its functions.

Concerning the network communication, well, obviously, if computer peripherals and other hardware components cannot operate, then normally, communication is cut off.

Oftentimes, we have problems regarding the internet connection. A lot of times we could only gain access over a slow (turtle-like speed) connection. I am not so sure if the networks office forbids us to have a faster access since there are also times that the speed is faster. National and/or International Gateway connection probably have something to do with this at some point in time. Normally, the offices try to gain access to the internet all at once that during these peak times, connectivity is so slow and hard to establish. And obviously, transactions and business matters concerning our outside clients and partners would have to deal with this.


***As of now, with these facts or matters at hand, I could barely say that the university has an outstanding network communication of systems. The way subnetworks connect could be just appropriate for our needs but I am wondering how this could take time for long especially that there will be more subsystems to be added to the university’s server. I am thinking of how the connectivity would change in case that there would be a gradual change in terms of robustness and performance that the university servers need to gain for the processes to run smoothly according to its functions. If there would be no boost in strength then the server might experience downtime due to the commands and requests that are already becoming beyond its capacity. Normally, connections would not work out smoothly, and communications among subnetworks and other systems might be greatly affected. As of now, I could not give a concrete design as to what the system connectivity setup should be. More details will come up and I would be adding more to this topic. ^^
Acknowledgment:
Microsoft Encarta Dictionaries
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