Essay: Intelligent Examination Management System

1. INTRODUCTION
This project is entitled as ‘Intelligent Examination Management System’ is developing using VB.NET as front end and SQL Server as backend.This examination management system is developed for the department of CSA & SS. Examination management system helps to maintain the details of the Hall, staff, student and their mark in a effective manner. This project is developed for the automation of hall allotment process, report generation and conveying the result to the student and their parents through mail.
1.1 PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project is to develop a windows based application for the hall allotment process and conveying the marks to the student and parents through mail.Maintaining and processing the hall, student and staff details in real time is a difficult task. The difficulty in managing the details is it requires a lot of time and paperwork and hallallotment is also a tedious work. This Examination management system helps to manage the details of theStaffs, Student details and their marks in a very efficient manner and the hall allotment is also done automatically. The Intelligent examination management system is developed for the purpose of maintaining the details of the student and marks for the internal exam. After the assessment of marks of the student the result is conveyed to the student and their parents through mail. The most important feature of Examination Management system is report generation. Hall allotment report, Staff hall allotment report and Absentees report is automatically generated. All the pages in project are interconnected so that data can be easily passed between modules. The data in each page are displayed through a data grid table and the report generated after processing the data are displayed using the crystal report. The reports generated are conveyed to the student using the mail system.
1.2PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Intelligent Examination Management System Staff login has six modules they are
‘ Staff Login
o Register
‘ View allotment
‘ Student details
o Manual
o Import
‘ Mark entry
o Manual
o Import
‘ Exam Status
‘ Send result
STAFF LOGIN
The Staff Login page is designed for multiple staff login. Every staff has a individual login and the username and password of the staffs are stored in the database. New registration of the staff is also possible here. The new staff has to enter some detailssuch as Id, name, gender, Qualification, Date of Joining, User name, Password, Mail-Id, user name and passwordto register. After completing the registration staffs can easily login using user name and password.
VIEW ALLOTMENT
The view allotment page is used to view hall allotment made to the staff. All the staffs are allotted a hall for supervision by the exam coordinator. The Allotment made by Exam coordinator to the staff can be viewed here. The allotment for the staff is displayed through a data grid table. No changes could be made to the allotment. The hall allotment for the individual staff can also be viewed.
STUDENT DETAILS
The student detail page is used to enter the personal details of the student. The details of the students are stored in the database for the record purpose. The details of the students can be stored in two different ways. The student details can be entered directly in the form manually. The details to be filled in the form are Name, Roll no, class, Department, Batch from, Batch to, Contact number. The details of the student can also be directly imported from the excel sheet and stored in the database. While importing all the details in excel sheet are copied and placed in the respective database column.
MARK DETAILS
The mark details page is used to store the mark details of the student. The mark details of students can be entered in two different ways. The details can be entered in the form manually. The total and average can be easily calculated in the form. Another way to record the mark details is by importing the details from the excel sheet but the calculation should be done manually and then it should be entered in the database.The details to be entered in the form are name, Roll no, five subjects mark after entering the marks the total and average is calculated.
EXAM STATUS
The exam status page is used to enter the absentee’s details of the student. The staffs are allotted as the supervisor of the hall, after the completion of exam the absentees details are entered by the staff. The details to be filled in the form are staff id, Staff name, Hall name, class name, year, and Absentee roll no is entered here.
SEND RESULT
The Send result page is used to convey the result to student. The send result page helps to send the result to students and their parents through their Email so that the internal marks can be easily conveyed to the parents. The drawback of this method is conveying the result through email. The future enhancement is to convey the result through message.
2.ORGANIZATION PROFILE
Sri Krishna Arts and Science College, also known as the SKASC Coimbatore was established by the V.L.B. Trust in 1997 Situated in Sugunapuram, Kuniyamuthur next to the National Highway No. 47, the campus covers 15 acres. It is an ISO certified co-educational institution.Its mission is ‘To prepare both boys and girls for the pressing demands of tomorrow keeping in mind the need to shape and mold a generation of young men and women with knowledge, character, true and genuinely cultivated spirit of service and far-reaching imagination’.SKASC has 24-hour internet access. It has science labs equipped with IBM servers. The campus library covers 30,000 sq. ft. with reference sections, group study cells, video conference rooms and a research scholars’ room.SKASC provides a 24/7 e-Learning facility. This virtual classroom can be accessed by students and staff any time anywhere.After assessing the quality of education and infrastructure of the college. NAAC has awarded ‘A’ Grade in the year 2009.All activities and processes of college are standardized and systemized as per ISO 9001:2008 Standards and certified by TUV SUD who conducts the external audit once a year for continual improvement of quality systems in the college.The College has enabled e-learning and m-learning facilities for students. E-learning is the computer and network enabled learning to transfer the skills and knowledge to the students. E-learning applications and processes include web-based learning, virtual classroom and digital collaboration. The subject contents are delivered via the internet and intranet. It is a self-based instructor-led learning which includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio. Students can log on to virtual classroom (myklassroom.com) and learn their subjects 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
They can also interact with faculty and fellow class students,Submit assignments and attend on-line tests. The e-learning platform is merged with social networking to enable the students to listen to lectures of scholarly professors from other universities both in India and abroad. It also enables students to learn beyond curriculum and advanced learning in the subjects of their liking.
3. SYSTEM STUDY AND ANALYSIS
The first phase of the systems development life cycle is preliminary investigation. Due to limited resources an organization can undertake only those projects that are critical to its mission, goals, and objectives. Therefore, the goal of preliminary investigation is simply to identify and select a project for development from among all the projects that are under consideration. Organizations may differ in how they identify and select projects for development. Some organizations have a formal planning process that is carried out by a steering committee or a task force made up of senior managers. Such a committee or task force identifies and assesses possible computer information systems projects that the organization should consider for development. Other organizations operate in an ad hoc fashion to identify and select potential projects. Regardless of the method used and after all potential projects have been identified, only those projects with the greatest promise for the well-being of the organization, given available resources, are selected for development.
The preliminary-investigation phase sets the stage for gathering information about the current problem and the existing information system. This information is then used in studying the feasibility of possible information systems solutions.It is important to note that the source of the project has a great deal to do with its scope and content. For example, a project that is proposed by top management usually has a broad strategic focus. A steering committee proposal might have a focus that covers a cross-function of the organization.
A variety of criteria can be used within an organization for classifying and ranking potential projects. For planning purposes, the systems analyst’with the assistance of the stakeholders of the proposed project’collects information about the project. This information has a broad range and focuses on understanding the project size, costs, and potential benefits.
3.1 EXISTING SYSTEM
Existing System is very slow and inefficient. Maintaining the details of hall, Staff, Student Details is a difficult task.The hall allotment is difficult task which requires a lot of manual work the hall capacity and the strength of the student should also be considered before the hall allocation. Report Generation is also not an easy task in the current situation. No proper maintenance of data leads a huge problem for this system because almost all the data is maintained as paper work. This System has a lot of manual work and more energy and time wasted to allocate the seating arrangement. Report generation and delivering the report is also a tedious task.
DISADVANTAGES OF EXISTING SYSTEM
‘ Time Consuming
‘ Less Efficient
‘ More manual Work Required
‘ Less Accurate
‘ Not User Friendly
‘ Difficult in hall ticket generation
3.2PROPOSED SYSTEM
The aim of the proposed system is to completely automate the examination hall allotment, maintain details and report generation process using the windows application.
‘ USER FRIENDLY
This system is user friendly for the retrieval and storing of data. It is Fast to store and easy to maintain the data efficiently. The graphical user Interface makes it more efficient than the existing system.
‘ REPORTS ARE EASILY GENERATED
Reports like seating arrangement can be easily generated in the proposed system as per the requirement and delivering of report to the student and their parents are done efficiently through this system. The student mark report and the exam absentees report can also be generated easily in the crystal report.
‘ VERY LESS PAPER WORK
The proposed system requires very less paper work. All the details are entered and stored in the database and generation of report can be done with the help of computers. If required the reports can taken print out using crystal report.
‘ COMPUTER OPERATOR CONTROL
Computer operator control is available so rate of errors will be less. Storing and retrieving of information is simple. So work can be done correct time and also good in speed
3.3FEASIBILITY STUDY
The Feasibility of the project is analyzed in this phase and the business proposal is put forth with a general plan for the project and some cost estimates. During system analysis the feasibility study of the proposed system is to be carried out. This is to ensure that the proposed system is not a burden to the company. For feasibility analysis,some understanding of major requirement for the system is essential.Three key consideration involved in feasibility analysis are
‘ Economic Feasibility
‘ Technical Feasibility
‘ Social Feasibility
Economic Feasibility
This study is carried out to check the economic impact that the system will have on the organization. The amount of fund that the company can pour into the research and development of the system is limited.The expenditure must be justified. Thus the developed system as well within the budget and this was achieved because most of the technologies used are freely available. Only the customized product had to be purchased
This project does not require huge investment and can be done in the minimum budget.
Technical Feasibility
This study is carried out to check the technical feasibility, that is, the technical requirement of the system. Any system developed must not have a high demand on available technical resources.This will lead to high demand on the available technical resources. This will lead to high demand being placed on client. The developed system must have a modest requirement, as only minimal or null changes are required for implementing this system. The project does not require any special technology for the execution. The System requirements are minimum and the software used are visual studio and SQL server 2008 which is easily available.
Social Feasibility
The aspect of study is to check the level of acceptance of the system by the user. This includes the process of training the user to use the system efficiently. The user must not feel threatened by the system, instead must accept it as necessity. The level of acceptance by the users solely depends on the methods that are employed to educate the user about the system and to make him familiar with it. His level of confidence must be raised so that he also able to make some constructive criticism, which is welcomed, as he is the final user of the system.
4. SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
4.1 HARDWARE REQUIREMENT
PROCESSOR : Intel Core i3 2430 Mhz
MOTHERBOARD : Intel 915GVSR chipset board
RAM : 2 GB DDR3 RAM
HARD DISK DRIVE : 500 GB
4.2SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION
FRONTEND : Visual Studio 2010
CODING LANGUAGE : VB .NET
BACK END : SQL SERVER 2008
OPERATING SYSTEMS : Microsoft windows 7
4.3 SOFTWARE FEATURES
VISUAL STUDIO 2010
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs for Microsoft Windows, as well as web sites, web applications and web services. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such as Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Store and Microsoft Silverlight. It can produce both native code and managed code.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense (the code completion component) as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level’including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming languages and allows the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C,[5] C++ and C++/CLI (via Visual C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010[6]). Support for other languages such as M, Python, and Ruby among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML/XSLT, HTML/XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Java (and J#) were supported in the past.
VISUAL BASIC.NET
The system is developed using Visual Basic. NET, which is a very popular Microsoft Product developed by Microsoft Corporation. This is one of the improved languages from basic language. Visual basic. NET includes a variety of open active controls for user interfaces to design application form
OVER VIEW OF .NET FRAMEWORK
The .NET framework is a new computing platform that simplifies application development in the highly distributed environment of the internet.
The .NET framework is designed to fulfill the following objectives. To provide a consistent object ‘oriented programming environment whether object code is stored and executed locally, but internet-distributed, or executed remotely.
‘ To provide a code execution environment that minimizes software deployment and versioning conflict.
‘ To provide a code execution environment that guarantees safe execution of code, including code created by an unknown or semi trusted third party.
‘ To provide a code-execution environment that eliminates the performance problems of scripted or interpreted environments.
‘ To make the developer experience consist ant across widely varying types of applications, such as windows-based applications and web-based applications.
‘ To build all communication on industry standards to ensure that code based on the .NET framework can integrate with any other code.
The .NET framework has two main components
‘ Common Language Runtime (CLR).
‘ NET framework class library.
Common Language Runtime (CLR)
The common language runtime is the foundation of the .NET framework .you can think of the runtime as an agent that manages code at execution time, providing core services such as memory management and thread management while also enforcing strict type safety and other forms of code accuracy that ensure security and robustness.
In fact, the concept of code management is a fundamental principal of the runtime .Code that targets the runtime is known as managed code, while code that dose not target the runtime is known as unmanaged code.
The .NET framework can be hosted by unmanaged components that load the common language runtime into their processes and initiate the execution of managed code, thereby creating a software environment that can explicit both managed and unmanaged features. The .NET framework not only provides several runtime hosts, but also supports the development of third-party runtime hosts.
Internet explore is an example of an unmanaged application that runtime (in the form of a mime type extension).Using internet explorer to host the runtime enables you to embed managed components or windows from controls in the HTML document. The Components Of CLR are
‘ CTS =>Common Type System.
‘ CLS =>Common Language Specification
‘ CLS =>Common Language Specification
‘ CIL =>Common Intermediate Language
‘ JIT =>Just In Time Compiler
‘ VES =>Virtual Execution System
CTS ‘Common Type System
This is the range of types that the .NET runtime understands, and therefore that .NET application can use. The common type system supports both object oriented programming like java as well as procedural languages like ‘c’ .It deals with two kinds of entities such objects and values.
CLS-Common Language Specification
This is a subset of the CTS that all .NET languages are expected to support. The idea is the any program that uses CLS-compliant types can interoperate with any .NET program written in any language. If a component written in one language (say c#) is to be used from another language (say VB.NET) then the component writer must adhere to type and structures defined by CLS.
CIL-Common Intermediate Language
All compilers complying with CLR must generate an intermediate language representation called common intermediate language (CIL). The CIL uses this intermediate language to either generate native code or use just in compiler (JIT) complication to execute the intermediate code on the fly.
JIT-Just In Time Compiler
The JIT or just in time compiler is the part of the runtime execution environment, which is used to convert the intermediate language contained in the execution file, called assemblies , into native executable code. The security policy settings are referred at this to decide if code being compiled needs to be type safe.
VES-Virtual Execution System
Virtual execution system (VES) is more or less equivalent to the JVM (Java Virtual Machine).VES loads, links and runs the programs written for common language infrastructure contained in portable executable (PE) files. VES fulfill its loader function by using information contained in the metadata and uses late binding (or linking) to integrate modules compiled separately, which may even be written in different languages
NET Framework Class Library
The .NET framework library is a collection of reused types that tightly with the common language runtime (CLR). The class library is object oriented, providing type from which your own managed code can derive functionality. Managed codes are intermediate language codes along with metadata contained in portable executable (PE) files. This not only makes the .NET framework type easy to use, but also reduces the associated with learning new features of the .NET framework.
In addition, third ‘party components can integrate seamlessly with classes in the .NET framework .for example ,the .NET framework collection classes implement a set of interfaces that you can use to develop you r own collection classes .your collection classes will blend seamlessly with the classes in the .NET frame work.One can use the .NET framework to develop the following types of application and services.
‘ Console application
‘ Scripted and hosted application
‘ Windows GUI application (windows forms)
‘ VB.NET application
‘ XML web services
Visual Basic .Net
Visual basic .NET preserves VB’s general approach to programming with a SDK development environment and click through forms to get at the underlying code. The Visual Basic IDE is made up of a number of components given below
‘ Forms
‘ Toolbox
‘ Tabs
‘ Properties windows
‘ Solution explorer
‘ Output windows
Forms
A form is one of the most basic objects in which the application code and acts as a container for the controls placed on it thus providing a visual interface. VB.NET initially includes a default form.
Toolbox
The toolbox is an important window, which contains a set of controls. It contains the controls to create our forms non-graphical components such as database connections and code fragments that can be dragged directly from the toolbox into the code window.
Tabs
Different tabs are organized in the toolbox. Some of the tabs are
‘ Data: Contains components that access to data and data sources.
‘ Components: Contains various components such as Reporting, message queuing etc.
‘ Clipboard ring: Contains a list of the last few items that is copied to the system clipboard.
‘ General: Empty by default, this is a place for us to store general controls, components, and code fragments.
‘ Win forms: Containing windows form controls is automatically available when windows project is included in the project.
‘ Web forms: Contains server side web form controls that are used to create web pages.
‘ HTML tab: Contains controls that correspond to the standard HTML tags.
Properties Window
The properties window appears beneath the solution explorer on the right-hand of the VS.NET main window. It displays the properties for the currently selected object in the main window. Pressing key F4 also displays the properties window for the selected object.
Solution Explorer
Solution explorer window is similar to the project explorer window in the Bathe solution explorer is a bit more advanced, since it allows us to construct solutions out of several different projects ‘ including those written in different languages.
Class View
The class view window is somewhat similar to the solution explorer, in the it provides a view into our solution and project. A view of classes, methods and properties rather than a view of files are provided by the class view in the world of object-oriented world of .NET.
Server Explorer
Server explorer is an exciting new feature of VS.NET as it allows us to explore and access server components in nice graphical environments. The server explorer lists the data connections and the servers that are available to the user. It can be used to examine and manipulate servers and the databases they contain in the server explorer.
Output Window
The output window is similar to the immediate window available in the previous version of visual basic. The immediate window is used to view debug output from the application, and to interact with the environment by entering bits of code or even calling procedures within the user’s code.
Task List Window
Task list window is a feature that is used to provide a quick list of all the current build and syntax errors in our application. The main advantage of using the task list is that by double-clicking on an error listed in the window will take us right to the troublesome point in our code.
SQL SERVER
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications which may run either on the same computer or on another computer across a network (including the Internet).Microsoft markets at least a dozen different editions of Microsoft SQL Server, aimed at different audiences and for workloads ranging from small single-machine applications to large Internet-facing applications with many concurrent users.SQL Server uses as its primary query languages T-SQL and ANSI SQL
SQL Server 2008 (formerly codenamed “Katmai”)was released on August 6, 2008, announced to the SQL Server Special Interest Group at the ESRI 2008 User’s Conference on August 6, 2008 by Ed Katibah (Spatial Program Manager at Microsoft), and aims to make data management self-tuning, self organizing, and self maintaining with the development of SQL Server Always On technologies, to provide near-zero downtime. SQL Server 2008 also includes support for structured and semi-structured data, including digital media formats for pictures, audio, video and other multimedia data. In current versions, such multimedia data can be stored as BLOBs (binary large objects), but they are generic bitstreams. Intrinsic awareness of multimedia data will allow specialized functions to be performed on them. According to Paul Flessner, senior Vice President of Server Applications at Microsoft, SQL Server 2008 can be a data storage backend for different varieties of data: XML, email, time/calendar, file, document, spatial, etc. as well as perform search, query, analysis, sharing, and synchronization across all data types.
Other new data types include specialized date and time types and a Spatial data type for location-dependent data. Better support for unstructured and semi-structured data is provided using the new FILESTREAM data type, which can be used to reference any file stored on the file system. Structured data and metadata about the file is stored in SQL Server database, whereas the unstructured component is stored in the file system. Such files can be accessed both via Win32 file handling APIs as well as via SQL Server using T-SQL; doing the latter accesses the file data as a BLOB. Backing up and restoring the database backs up or restores the referenced files as well. SQL Server 2008 also natively supports hierarchical data, and includes T-SQL constructs to directly deal with them, without using recursive queries.
The full-text search functionality has been integrated with the database engine. According to a Microsoft technical article, this simplifies management and improves performance.Spatial data will be stored in two types. A “Flat Earth” (GEOMETRY or planar) data type represents geospatial data which has been projected from its native, spherical, coordinate system into a plane. A “Round Earth” data type (GEOGRAPHY) uses an ellipsoidal model in which the Earth is defined as a single continuous entity which does not suffer from the singularities such as the international dateline, poles, or map projection zone “edges”. Approximately 70 methods are available to represent spatial operations for the Open Geospatial Consortium Simple Features for SQL, Version 1.1.
SQL Server includes better compression features, which also helps in improving scalability. It enhanced the indexing algorithms and introduced the notion of filtered indexes. It also includes Resource Governor that allows reserving resources for certain users or workflows. It also includes capabilities for transparent encryption of data (TDE) as well as compression of backups. SQL Server 2008 supports the ADO.NET Entity Framework and the reporting tools, replication, and data definition will be built around the Entity Data Model. SQL Server Reporting Services will gain charting capabilities from the integration of the data visualization products from Dundas Data Visualization, Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft. On the management side, SQL Server 2008 includes the Declarative Management Framework which allows configuring policies and constraints, on the entire database or certain tables, declaratively. The version of SQL Server Management Studio included with SQL Server 2008 supports IntelliSense for SQL queries against a SQL Server 2008 Database Engine. SQL Server 2008 also makes the databases available via Windows PowerShell providers and management functionality available as Cmdlets, so that the server and all the running instances can be managed from Windows PowerShell.
5.SYSTEM DESIGN
System design is the process of defining the elements of a system such as the architecture, modules and components, the different interfaces of those components and the data that goes through that system. It is meant to satisfy specific needs and requirements of a business or organization through the engineering of a coherent and well-running system.
5.1 DATA FLOW DIAGRAM
A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the “flow” of data through an information system, modeling its process aspects. A DFD is often used as a preliminary step to create an overview of the system, which can later be elaborated. DFDs can also be used for the visualization of data processing (structured design). A DFD shows what kind of information will be input to and output from the system, where the data will come from and go to, and where the data will be stored
The DFD is also called as bubble chart. It is a simple graphical formalism that can be used to represent a system in terms of the input data to the system, various processing carried out on these data, and the output data is generated by the system.
Components of DFD:
The basic components of DFD are following
5.3 DATABASE DESIGN
Database design is the process of producing a detailed data model of a database. This logical data model contains all the needed logical and physical design choices and physical storage parameters needed to generate a design in a data definition language, which can then be used to create a database. A fully attributed data model contains detailed attributes for each entity.
The term database design can be used to describe many different parts of the design of an overall database system. Principally, and most correctly, it can be thought of as the logical design of the base data structures used to store the data. In the relational model these are the tables and views. In an object database the entities and relationships map directly to object classes and named relationships. However, the term database design could also be used to apply to the overall process of designing, not just the base data structures, but also the forms and queries used as part of the overall database application within the database management system (DBMS).
The process of doing database design generally consists of a number of steps which will be carried out by the database designer. Usually, the designer must:
‘ Determine the relationships between the different data elements.
‘ Superimpose a logical structure upon the data on the basis of these relationships
NORMALIZATION
Normalization is the term obtained from the Latin word ‘NORMA’ which means that square used by the carpenter. Normalization is the process of simplifying the relationship between data elements in a record. Through normalization a collection of data in a record structure is replaced by successive record structures that are simpler and can be managed efficiently. While designing the data base, we have to implement the concept of normalization to avoid redundancy in database.
Normalization is being carried out for four reasons
‘ To structure the data so that any pertinent relationship between entities can be represented.
‘ To permit simple retrieval of data in response to query and reports required.
‘ To simplify data maintenance procedure such as insertion, deletion and updating.
‘ To reduce the need to be structured or recognized data with new application requirements arise.
The major normalization strategies are:
‘ First Normal Form
‘ Second Normal Form
‘ Third Normal Form
FIRST NORMAL FORM (1NF)
First Normal Form is achieved when all repeating groups in a record are removed, so that record is of fixed length. A repeating group, reoccurrence of a data item or group of data item within a record indicates another relation.
‘ There are no repeating or duplicate fields.
‘ Each cell contains only a single value.
‘ Each record is unique.
‘ Identified by primary key.
SECOND NORMAL FORM (2NF)
It is achieved when a record is in first normal form and each item in the record is functionally dependency.
A data item is functionally dependent of its value is uniquely associated with a specific item. To achieve second normal form every column in a table that is not dependent on the primary key of the record should be removed and used to form a separate relation.
‘ All non-key fields depend on all components of the primary key.
‘ Guaranteed when primary key is a single field.
THIRD NORMAL FORM (3NF)
Third Normal Form is achieved when all transitive dependencies are removed from a record. That is, if A is functionally dependent on B and B is functionally dependent on C, then A is functionally dependent on C.
‘ No non-key field depends upon another.
‘ All non-key fields depend only on the primary key.
5.4INPUT DESIGN
Input design is the process of converting the user-oriented. Input to a computer based format. The goal of the input design is to make the data entry easier, logical and free error. Errors in the input data are controlled by the input design. The quality of the input determines the quality of the system output.
The entire data entry screen is interactive in nature, so that the user can directly enter into data according to the prompted messages. The user is also can directly enter into data according to the prompted messages. The users are also provided with option of selecting an appropriate input from a list of values. This will reduce the number of error, which are otherwise likely to arise if they were to be entered by the user itself.
Input design is one of the most important phases of the system design. Input design is the process where the input received in the system are planned and designed, so as to get necessary information from the user, eliminating the information that is not required. The aim of the input design is to ensure the maximum possible levels of accuracy and also ensures that the input is accessible that understood by the user.
The input design is the part of overall system design, which requires very careful attention. If the data going into the system is incorrect then the processing and output will magnify the errors.
If the user enters invalid data, appropriate messages are displayed. Input design includes some if all at the following:
‘ Data verification
‘ Data correction
‘ Data control
‘ Data conversion
‘ Data transmission
‘ Data Validation
‘ The input design of this form is four text box and three combo box. The three text box name, Register no, class, are varchar data type and it is designed to accept both numbers and characters and the contact number text box accepts only numbers. The three combo box accepts only the pre defined data from class details table.
‘ 5.5 OUTPUT DESIGN
‘ Output design is very important concept in the computerized system, without reliable output the user may feel the entire system is unnecessary and avoids using it. The proper output design is important in any system and facilitates effective decision-making. The output design of this system includes various reports.
‘ Computer output is the most important and direct source of information the user. Efficient, intelligible output design should improve the system’s relationships with the user and help in decision making. A major form of output is the hardcopy from the printer.
‘ Output requirements are designed during system analysis. A good starting point for the output design is the data flow diagram. Human factors reduce issues for design involved addressing internal controls to ensure readability.
‘ An application is successful only when it can provide efficient and effective reports. Reports are actually presentable form of the data. The report generation should be useful to the management for future reference. The report is the main source of information for user’s operators and management. Report generated are a permanent record of the transaction occurred. After any valid transactions; have commenced the report of the same is generation and: filed for future reference. Great care has been taken when designation the report as it plays an important role in decision-marking
‘ The output design used in this form are displayed using the data grid view detailsThe data are represented in the grid view for immediately viewing the changes.
The output design of this page is displayed through data grid view table. The advantage of using the data grid view is that you can easily view any manipulation of data immediately. Another advantage of using the data grid view is changes can be done through this table other than using text box and buttons.
6. SYSTEM TESTING
System testing is the process of exercising software with the intent of finding and ultimately correcting errors. This fundamental philosophy does not change for web applications, because Web-based systems and application reside on a network and interoperate with many different operating system, browsers, hardware platforms, and communication protocols; the search for errors represents a significant challenge for web application.
Usually software is only one element of a larger computer based system. Ultimately, software is interfaced with other software/hardware systems. System testing is actually a series of different tests whose sole purpose is to exercise the full computer based system.
System testing falls under the black box testing category of software testing. White box testing is the testing of the internal workings or code of a software application. In contrast, black box or system testing is the opposite.System testing involves the external workings of the software from the user’s perspective.
The distributed nature of client/server environments, the performance issues associated with transaction processing, the potential presence of a number of different hardware platforms, the complexities of network communication, the need to serve multiple clients from a centralized database and the requirements imposed on the server all combine to make testing of client\server architectures.
TESTING ISSUES
‘ Client GUI considerations
‘ Target environment and platform diversity considerations
‘ Distributed database considerations
‘ Distributed processing considerations
Testing Methodologies:
System testing is the state of implementation, which is aimed at ensuring that the system works accurately and efficiently as expect before live operation commences. It certifies that the whole set of programs hang together. System testing requires a test plan that consists of several key activities and steps for run program, string, system and user acceptance testing. The implementation of newly designed package is important in adopting a successful new system. Testing is an important stage in software development. Thesystemtest in implementation stage in software development. The system test in implementation should be confirmation that all is correct and an opportunity to show the users that the system works as expected. It accounts the largest percentage of technical effort in the software development process.
Testing phase in the development cycle validates the code against the functional specification. Testing is vital to the achievement of the system goals. The objective of testing is to discover errors. To fulfill this objective a series of test step unit, integration, validations and system tests were planned and executed.
Testing Objectives:
Testing is a process of executing a program with the intent of finding an error.A good test case is one that has a high probability of finding on as yet undiscovered error.
A successful test is one that uncovers on as yet undiscovered error.The above objectives imply a change in view. They move counter to the commonly held view that a successful list is one in which no errors are found. Any engineered product can be listed in one of two ways
1. Knowing the specified function that a product has been designed to perform tests can be conducted to demonstrate each function is fully operational.
2. Knowing the internal workings of a product, tests can be conducted to ensure that ‘all gear mesh’ that is, the internal operation of the product performs according to specification and all internal components have been adequately exercised.
Types of testing
1. Unit Testing
2. Integration Testing
3. Validation Testing
4. Output Testing
5. User acceptance Testing
6. System Testing
(i) Unit Testing
All modules were tested and individually as soon as they were completed were checked for their correct functionality. Unit testing is carried out by verify and recover errors within the boundary of the smallest unit or a module. In this testing step, each module was found to be working satisfactory per the expected output of the module. In the package development, each module is tested separately after it has been completed and checked with valid data.
All the six modules and the sub modules used in this project are tested individually for processing the details and retrieving and storing the details in the database.
(ii) Integration Testing
The entire project was split into small programs; each of these single programs gives a frame as an output. These programs were tested individually; at last all these programs where combined together by creating another program where all these constructions were used. It give a lot of problem by not functioning in an integrated manner. The user interface testing is important since the user has to declare that the
Arrangements made in the frames are convenient and it is satisfied. When the frames are the test, the end user gave suggestion. Since they where much exposed to do the work manually.
The modules after developed individually all the modules used in the project are integrated because the information added in a page must be passed to the other pages for integration and integration of the modules are tested.
(iii) Validation Testing
At the culmination of the black box testing software is completely assembled as a package. Interfacing errors have been uncovered and corrected and a final series of test i.e., validation succeeds when the software functions in a manner that can be reasonably accepted by the customer. Validation Testing ensures that the product actually meets the client’s needs. It can also be defined as to demonstrate that the product fulfills its intended use when deployed on appropriate environment.
All the form used in the software should be validated before deployed because the form should be capable of not accepting the invalid values. All the forms in the modules are validated before integration.
(iv) Output Testing
After performing the validation testing the next step is output testing of the proposed system. Since the system cannot be useful if it does not produce the required output. Asking the users about the format in which the system is required tests the output displayed or generated by the system under consideration. Here the output format is considered in two ways. One is on screen and another one is printed format. The output format on the screen is found to be corrected as the format was designed in the system phase according to the user needs. And for the hardcopy the output comes according to the specifications requested by the user. Here the output testing does not result in any correction in the system.
The output of all the forms in the software are tested because the output should be that of expected. The output of the each form is displayed in the form of data grid. The report of the software is displayed using crystal report.
(v) User Acceptance Testing
User acceptance testing of the system is the key factor the success of any system. The system under consideration is tested for user acceptance by constantly keeping in touch with prospective system at the time of development and making change whenever required. This is done with regard to the input screen design and output screen design.User acceptance testing (UAT) is the last phase of the softwaretesting process. During UAT, actual software users test the software to make sure it can handle required tasks in real-world scenarios, according to specifications.
The Intelligent Examination management system has been successfully tested for the user acceptance in the department and executed successfully without any bugs or error.
(vi) System Testing
System testing of software or hardware is testing conducted on a complete, integrated system to evaluate the system’s compliance with its specified requirements. This is to verify that all the system elements have been properly integrated and perform allocated functions. Testing is executing a program to test the logic changes made in it and with intention of finding errors. Tests are also conducted to find discrepancies between system and its original objective, current specification and documents
The Intelligent examination management system has been successfully integrated and tested completely and executed without any errors.
7. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation phase is less creative than system design. A system project may be dropped at any time prior to implementation, although it becomes more difficult when it goes to the design phase.
The final report to the implementation phase includes procedural flowcharts, record layouts, report layouts, and a workable plan for implementing the candidate system design into an operational one. Conversion is one aspect of implementation.
Several procedures of documents are unique to the conversion phase. They include the following,
‘ The conversion portion of the implementation plan is finalized and approved.
‘ Files are converted.
‘ Parallel processing between the existing and the new system are logged on a special form.
‘ Assuming no problems, parallel processing is discontinued. Implementation results are documented for reference.
User Training
User Training is designed to prepare the user for testing & converting the system. There are several ways to train the user. They are
1) User Manual.
2) Help Screens.
3) Training Demonstration
1) User Manual
The summary of important functions about the system and software can be provided as a document to the user.
2) Help Screens
This features now available in every software package, especially when it is used with a menu. The user selects the ‘Help’ option from the menu. The system accesses the necessary description or information for user reference.
3) Training Demonstration
Another User Training element is a Training Demonstration. Live demonstrations with personal contact are extremely effective for Training Users.
Operational Documentation
Documentation means of communication; it establishes design and performance criteria for phases of the project. Documentation is descriptive information that portrays the use and / or operation of the system.
(i) Documentation Tools
Document production and desktop publishing tool support nearly every aspect of software developers. Most software development organizations spend a substantial amount of time developing documents, and in many cases the documentation process itself is quite inefficient. It is not use unusual for a software development effort on documentation. For this reason, documentation tools provide an important opportunity to improve productivity.
(ii) Document Restructuring
Creating document is far too time consuming. If the system works, we’ll live with what we have. In some cases, this is the correct approach. It is not possible to recreate document for hundreds of computer programs.Documentation must be updated, but we have limited resources. It may not be necessary to fully redocument an application. Rather, those portions of the system that are currently undergoing change are fully documented.The system is business critical and must be fully redocumented. Even in this case, an intelligent approach is to pare documentation to an essential minimum.
8. CONCLUSION
This project is done according to the committed concepts. And followed all the valid implementation methods and testing methods. Our mission in this project is to develop a highly deliverable output. This is an ideal implementation of the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP). Furthermore, by careful application of abstractions can reduce dependency on concrete classes and increase the expansibility and reliability of our windows applications. Thus this project was successfully completed and satisfied all the needs from the requirement. And output had shown in the efficient manner.
9. SCOPE OF FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
The Intelligent examination management system is developed for the purpose of managing the data of hall, staff, student and their marks and to automate the tedious process of hall allotment. Assessing the result and conveying the result to students and their parents through mail. Though the system has helped to automate some process this system could be further more enhanced.
This system coveys the result to both the students and their parents through electronic mail. As student access the smart learning sites and social networking sites through mail id it is easy to convey the result to students through mail. But conveying result to parents through mail may sometimes become ineffective. The chance of every parent having a mail id or a smart device is relatively low. So this system future enhancement for improvising is conveying the result of the student to their parent through message. This would be of great help and the result can be viewed by the parent without any complexity.