PROJECT PROPOSAL TAPIWANASHE CHIPENDEMBE

COMPUTER LAB MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Problem Definition
St John’s High School Chikwaka Computer Lab Management System. Is a system being used at St John’s
High School Chikwaka. The school is about 50km away from Harare along Mutoko road in Mashonaland
East. Then 5km away from Bhora Growth Point. It was established in 2011 and has been working up to
this present day. The system is being used two departments namely, the Admin Department and the ICT
department. The School has been using this system for a long period of time and there are some areas in
which the system is manual based. The system is becoming inefficient due to the resources needed for
operating the manual based areas. This is now expensive due to the demand of resources in order for the
system to function. The computer laboratory management system has now become inconvenient.

Investigation of the current system

This involves analysing the current system with the aim of trying to understand the current operations of
the system

Research Instruments
These are tools that we use during the investigation

Interview
An interview is a conversation for gathering information. A research interview involves an interviewer,
who coordinates the process of the conversation and asks questions, and an interviewee, who responds to
those questions

Interview Questions to the school’s resource manager who works as part of the Admin department
 What do you use the system for in your department?
 How often do you use the system?
 How many bond papers do you need per operation?
 Is the system efficient to you?
 In case of data loss what do you do?

Observation
Observation is a systematic data collection approach. Researchers use all of their senses to examine
people in natural settings or naturally occurring situations.
(See Appendix…….)
Broad Description of the current system.
The admin department uses the system to keep records of purchases e.g. new computers and any other
new electronic gadgets needed in the computer laboratory. They have their database which is kept in a
counter book. All the records are in the book and a backup copy is kept in a file in the reception and it is a
photocopy of the original handwritten. They manage all the purchases made at the school and each of the
departments has its own book. Concerning the ICT department, it is now inconvenient to keep their
records in a book. The ICT department uses the manual based system to make records of purchased
gadgets and also making records of malfunctioning gadgets and broken gadgets. The student’s Computer
registration is also operated manually. This is a process whereby students studying computer science as a
subject and any other subjects that requires electronic gadgets register their gadgets in the system’s
registration database. This is done so as to retrieve them if lost and to manage the abuse of electronic
gadgets in the school premises. These records are filed and kept in the computer lab where they are safe
from unauthorized people who might tend to change these records.

Aims
 To reduce the strain of resources.
 Computerizing the system as we are moving forward with the modern technology
 A computer-based system is cheaper because it does not require much paper and ink work.

Objectives
 To capture all the data in each of the departments for a particular operation.
 To provide a full range of reports that will satisfy informational requirements at a more improved
speed
 To ensure that the database can be retrieved from internet drive in case of data loss