Design And Implementation Of A Web Based Hall Allocation System For Examination

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

This present era has been termed to be an information age. An age where the demand for information dramatically increased. The computer has been the most useful thing for getting or accessing information nowadays.

The unending global and social change that we find ourselves in as a result of rapid transformation from the industrial age to an information age brought about the introduction of computer into the information industry. This introduction (the use of computers) has rapidly affected all areas of life ranging from homes, industries and of course the educational system.

According to a U.S General (Powell, 1995) who stated that “lack of information breeds analysis paralyses”. This goes a long way to point out that without adequate information on any subject matter, it would be difficult to handle. The computer is not just used for getting or accessing information but also for allocating and arranging ideas and information. This has led to the development of several software and applications.

However, with the economic development and advancement in science and technology, adding to the rapid increase in the population of the country (Nigeria), education becomes the dream of every parent for her child, leaving behind the initial philosophy against education. This lead to massive increase of students in schools and there have been a silent cry for an efficient system that will manage students and department numerous files in different universities.

Presently in the university, due to the increasing number of students, hall allocation for both lecturer and examination has become a bone in the neck in the university

However, this created a lot of problems associated with hall allocation and there are no rigid guidelines as to which method should be used. This research work “design and implementation of examination hall allocation system” will consider the allocation of halls only for examination. An efficient utilization of hall allocation for examination requires the combination of timing and capacity of the halls.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In recent time, the quest for allocating halls for examination is not carefully planned. The Problems associated with the current hall allocation for examination system are:

The growing number of students in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka has posed a lot of problems in the allocation of halls for examination especially with departments with large number of students.

Students and lecturers would have to move from one hall to another on examination day due to the large factors, which have to be considered. Very little work has been performed in analyzing the scope of this process or developing a web based system.

Human error such as typography and data redundancy.

During allocation of hall much work is done in retrieving the files and search for records before carrying out allocation.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this project work is to design and implement an automated hall allocation system for examination.

The objectives of this research work includes the following:

The primary objective of this research work is an initial feasibility survey on the complexity and variety of the hall allocation problem within Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Faculty of physical sciences. This is intended to discover whether a generalized system could be created or whether the problem is too varied to make such a system feasible.

The secondary objective is to obtain information regarding the number of student in each level of the department and the capacity of halls to be allocated.

To providing a fast and efficient system of managing halls for examination thereby reducing time wastage, strain and high labour input.

Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hall database which will contain information on all available halls in the institution.

1.4 Significance of Study

This research work will help in tackling this problem experience by the school in providing an effective means of managing hall allocation for examination in our school.

The use of the software in management is relevant in the following ways:

• It will provide an avenue of allocating a hall to the right number of student.
• Enable the management to plan on improving in time frame on examination timetable.
• The designed computer driven hall allocation will help to facilitate timely allocation of hall to students and also have first hand information on the statistics of students to be allocated in a hall.
• Providing an avenue to consider that no students should have two examinations in the same period of time.
• Enabling that the total number of students taking examination must not exceed the capacity of the hall allocated and the same hall should not be scheduled for two examinations at the same time except the size of the hall is large.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This project will be centered on the basic processes in hall allocation management. This includes:

• Building and designing a hall allocation system for examination for faculty of physical sciences.
• Knowing the time frame for each examination.
• The capacity of the hall and the number of students to be accommodated.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

Some of the constraints that may have in one way or the other affect the outcome of this work include

Availability of materials.

Inadequate power supply.

Insufficient funds.

The estimated time for this project deprive it from proffering solution to the inherent problem in the RDBMS tool used.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Database:

This is the interrelated operation of an organized set of data stored in a computer and can be retrieved and accessed anytime.

Allocation:

This is an amount of space that is given to somebody or something for a particular purpose.

Web:

A system for finding information on the internet in which document are connected to other document using hypertext link.

Web-Based:

To be able to connect to and use the internet.

Hall:

A building or large room for public use.

Examination:

A formal test of knowledge or ability