ONLINE REGISTRATION SYSTEM

BY
LWANGA ISAAC 13/2/306/E/026
MUTAGAYWA AGGREY 13/2/314/E/095
SEBALAMU SEDRICK 13/2/314/E/143

FACULTY OF BASIC SCIENCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF BASIC SCIENCE AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE STUDY LEADING TO A PROJECT IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
OF NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

SUPERVISOR
MRS SIMBWA N BRENDA
FACULTY OF BASIC SCIENCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,
NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

JUNE, 2016

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Declaration

Lwanga Isaac, Mutagaywa Aggrey and Sebalamu Sedrick do hereby declare that this Project
Report is original and has not been published or submitted for any other degree award to any
other University before.

LWANGA ISAAC

Signed: .......................................................... Date: ...........................................

MUTAGAYWA AGGREY

Signed: .......................................................... Date: ...........................................

SEBALAMU SEDRICK

Signed: .......................................................... Date: ...........................................

i
Approval

This is to certify that Lwanga Isaac, Mutagaywa Aggrey and Sebalamu Sedrick presented the
Online Registration System as their final year project .This is a true document of the work they
did under our supervision and it is ready for the submission to Ndejje University for examination
with our approval.

Simbwa N Brenda

Faculty of Basic Sciences and

Information Technology

Department of Computing and IT

Signature: …………………………..

Date: ……………………………….

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Dedication

We would like to dedicate this report to our beloved parents and the rest of our family members.

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Acknowledgement

We wish to express our thanks to Mrs Simbwa N Brenda for her excellent supervisory skills and
whose guidance has enabled us to bring this project to what we believe is a satisfactory
completion .We want to acknowledge our indebtedness to our many friends who did so much to
assist us in preparing this material. We are also grateful to our family members for their many
helpful suggestions and most of all for the encouragement which they extended to us to complete
this work and to thank God who has seen us through this project.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
Declaration....................................................................................................................................i
Approval......................................................................................................................................ii
Dedication..................................................................................................................................iii
Acknowledgement......................................................................................................................iv
List of Tables............................................................................................................................viii
List of Figures.............................................................................................................................ix
List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................................x
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................xi

Chapter 1........................................................................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................2
1.2 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................3
1.3 Objectives..............................................................................................................................3
1.3.1 Main Objective...................................................................................................................3
1.3.2 Specific Objectives.............................................................................................................3
1.4 Scope......................................................................................................................................3
1.5 Significance...........................................................................................................................4

Chapter 2........................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review..........................................................................................................................5
2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................5
2.1 The concept of an Online Application System......................................................................5
2.2 Related Online Systems.........................................................................................................5
2.2.1 Case study: The University of Maryland (college park)-...................................................5
2.2.1.1 Challenges of the University of Maryland.......................................................................6
2.2.2 Ohio State University.........................................................................................................6
2.2.3 University of Central Lancashire........................................................................................6

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 2.2.3.1 Challenges of University of Central Lancashire..............................................................7

Chapter 3........................................................................................................................................9
Methodology...................................................................................................................................9
3.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................9
3.1 Data Collection Techniques...................................................................................................9
3.1.2 Questionnaires....................................................................................................................9
3.1.3 Interviews.........................................................................................................................10
3.1.4 Sampling...........................................................................................................................10
3.2 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................10
3.3 System Design.....................................................................................................................11
3.4 Implementation....................................................................................................................11
3.5 Testing.................................................................................................................................11

Chapter 4......................................................................................................................................12
System Design and Implementation...........................................................................................12
4.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................12
4.1. The proposed system..........................................................................................................12
4.2 System Analysis...................................................................................................................12
4.2.1 User requirements.............................................................................................................12
4.2.2 Functional Requirements..................................................................................................13
4.2.3 Non Functional Requirements..........................................................................................13
4.2.4 System Requirements.......................................................................................................14
4.2.5 Security Requirements......................................................................................................15
4.3 System Architecture.............................................................................................................15
4.4 System Design.....................................................................................................................16
4.4.1Conceptual Design.............................................................................................................16
4.5 Logical Design.....................................................................................................................18
4.3.2 System Features................................................................................................................19
4.4 Implementation....................................................................................................................19
4.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................21

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Chapter 5......................................................................................................................................22
Presentation of Results................................................................................................................22
5.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................22
5.1 Discussions and Findings....................................................................................................22
5.2 Problems faced during data collection, system design and implementation.......................22
5.3 Benefits of the System.........................................................................................................23
5.4 Limitations of the developed System..................................................................................23
5.5 Screenshots of the new System............................................................................................23

Chapter 6......................................................................................................................................27
Conclusions And Recommendatiions ........................................................................................27
6.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................27
6.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................27
6.2.1 Challenges.........................................................................................................................27
6.2.2 Achievements...................................................................................................................27
6.3 Recommendations................................................................................................................29
6.4 Future work..........................................................................................................................29
Bibliography..............................................................................................................................30
References..................................................................................................................................31

APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................32
Appendix A: Questionnaire...........................................................................................................32

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List of Tables

Table 1: Hardware requirements

Table 2: Software requirements

viii
List of Figures

Figure 4.1: System architecture of the registration system

Figure 4.2: Context Diagram

Figure 4.3: Data flow diagrams

Figure 4.4: Entity Relationship diagram

Figure 4.5: Flowchart diagram of the system

Figure 5.1: Shows the profile of the student with his or her current status.

Figure 5.2 Shows how to enter your bank code to register for the semester

Figure 5.3 shows the registration form to be filled in by students.

Figure 5.4 shows how to print off or save the student’s registration form.

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List of Abbreviations

ICT Information and Communications Technology

IT Information Technology

HTML Hypertext Mark-up Language

PHP Hypertext Pre-processor (Personal Home Page)

CSS Cascading Style Sheets

JQuery JavaScript Query

MySQL My Sequential Query Language

ATM Automated Teller Machine

E-SERVQUAL Electronic Service Quality

DFD Data Flow Diagrams

ERD Entity Relationship Diagrams

DOB Date of Birth

GB Giga Byte

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group

TV Television

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Abstract
Online registration system is an electronically web based system which was aimed to design an
online based students’ registration for the faculty of Information Technology and Basic Sciences
of Ndejje University. It is an ICT based system which electronically captures students`
credentials such as Names, Registration number, email, marital status among others. The
problem statement towards the designing of this project was based on the bureaucracy involved
in the current registration system at the University hence the research was to seek to design an
online registration system to solve that problem. The main objective of was to simplify the
registration process for both students and administrators of the Faculty of Basic Sciences and
Information Technology, Ndejje University. The specific objectives were to collect data for
developing the system with the help of data collection techniques, design and develop a data
model for the system, implement the proposed system and finally to test and validate the
performance of the proposed system. The methodology employed towards data collection
included the use of questionnaires, both mailed and collective questionnaires, interviews and this
was based on open-ended questions and also sampling a specific number of students from the
faculty of IT.The system was designed to be a web based service that is hosted on a web server.
It was designed around a relational database management system (MySQL). The system user
interface and business logic was coded using HTML, PHP, CSS, JQuery and JavaScript. Being
web based, the system was deployed on a web server with MySQL and PHP capabilities. The
study has revealed that there are large hindrances and bureaucracy in the current system,
however there is a lot of fear of electronic record management because of costs and expertise
however most of the fear is due to a lack of trying as opposed to the facts because much of the
network infrastructure in form of internet services are widely available and also widely used by
most of the people. Implementing a solution which therefore exploits such infrastructure should
make the deployment and use of online registration systems cheaper and easier.

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Chapter 1

Introduction
1.0 Introduction
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems have taken a vigorous trend
especially in schools, institutions, businesses; health centres such as hospitals as a standard for
solving issues more effectively and efficiently that are done by humans for example issues to do
with loads of paper work and others. ICT systems have successfully been used in schools
especially in universities in the accounting departments in order to track the financial statuses of
students, amounts paid, balances and other dues from the university. In schools and institutions,
ICT systems are time saving for example during admission, they can enable a huge amount of
students to register online at the same time without any interferences. They have enabled to
reduce human errors since they always operate as they were programmed depending on the duty
which was assigned to them.

Several registration systems are used in universities and colleges, some of them support the
online registration features and some do not. Some of these systems were purchased by local or
international software companies each in the relevant university or college. ( (Al-Shaikh, 2013)

Today’s business environment is very dynamic and undergoes rapid changes as a result of
technological innovation, increased awareness and demands from customers. Business
organizations, especially the banking industry operates in a complex and competitive
environment characterized by these changing conditions and highly unpredictable economic
climate. ICT is at the centre of this global change curve. (Laudon, 1991).

The widespread use of ICT has permeated almost all aspects of life including the health sector.
Health Information systems frequently refer to the interaction between people , processes and
technology to support operations , management in delivering essential information in order to
improve the quality of health care .(Mohd Nabil Almunawar ,2011). They have equally been
adapted in hospitals to keep track of patients` health records and progress, determine number of
in-patients and out-patients. The increased use of ICTs in health care is promoted by such

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projects such as the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure Project which have
seen countries connect districts and government institutions with high speed internet connectivity
(NITA, 2014). But e-Health even though an approach that is widely used in the developing
world, the increased complexity of such systems poses a major challenge. Issues with
interoperability, integration of information systems and information privacy still remains a huge
task that needs to be tackled (Labrooy, 2013). Lack of adequate manpower and low ICT literacy
skills coupled with high initial investment costs is slowing the adoption of e-Health in many
African countries even though the potential exists to improve health care (Zakaria, Affendi, &
Zakaria, 2010).

1.1 Background
The faculty of Information Technology comprises of students who are engaged in Computer
Science and Information Technology. The procedure for registration of both new students and
continuing students has been bureaucratic, hectic and time consuming as a result of the manual
method of registering students that was being used. As a result of this, a lot more time has been
consumed by students making queues at the dean of faculty office in order to obtain registration
forms which have to be handed back to the dean which eventually causes a workload to the staff
in charge of collecting those forms and keeping the records intact.

With an automated registration system this will enable both the new and continuing students of
the faculty of Information Technology at Ndejje University to register their personal information
as required by the University, register the course units they are offering during that particular
semester, retakes where necessary, check the semester’s timetable, check for results and all this
has to be done under the condition that a student has cleared 60% of that semester`s dues.

At Yale University, the frenzy of the last-minute rush in residential college deans’ offices may
suggest otherwise, most students have had a relatively easy shopping period because of online
registration. (Brian Lee, 2012). As a result of this , there is a reduced bulk of the number of
students flooding at the deans` offices hence a reduced workload from the staff in charge and this
has equally enabled the University to save the finances that would have been used to fund the
manual labour to do the registration.

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At the University of Cambridge, all students are required to complete student registration on an
annual basis. This is to make sure that the information held on your student record is correct. A
student is required an email to login into his/ her Self-Service account and complete the Student
Registration process. He / she must complete the student registration by the deadline given in the
email and advised to undertake this as soon as possible. (Cambridge University, 2016).
Similarly automated systems are equally used in other departments at the University for example
in libraries to record the number of books present in the shelves and also to keep track of which
books are borrowed and returned by the students hence improving the efficiency and customer
care in that department and equally saving time in the process.

1.2 Problem Statement

Bureaucracy involved in the current registration system at the institution where students are
required to physically line up at the Dean’s office to pick forms, fill them up, attach passport
photos, make a copy or two of the filled in form, again line up to submit them back to the Dean`s
office involves a lot of time which also directly leads to a high workload for the staff hence
exhaustion. This research was to seek to design an online registration system to solve the above
problem.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 Main Objective

The main purpose was to simplify the registration process for both students and administrators of
the IT faculty, Ndejje University by developing an online registration system.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

I. To collect data for developing the system with the help of data collection techniques.
II. To design and develop a data model for the system
III. To implement the proposed system
IV. To test and validate the performance of the proposed system

1.4 Scope
The system was designed for Faculty of IT, Ndejje University to register both new and
continuing students because of time limitations.

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1.5 Significance
The system developed was intended to assist the academic institutions in easy management of
the registration system, reduce on the workload for the staff in the overall registration process
and to help on the reduction of extra costs incurred by the applicants such as transport costs.

Chapter 2
Literature Review

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2.0 Introduction
The chapter looks at some of the publications that other accredited scholars and researchers had
published in relation to registration systems and the goes on to look at then need for academic
registration systems and their challenges.

2.1 The concept of an Online Application System

Registration process at colleges is a critical process. Each person choosing to take a course
ultimately uses the system. The process of registering represents a transaction between the
student and the college. “Transactions occur when individuals come into contact with
organizations and something is exchanged” (Oberg, 1995). Customers are demanding better
service and competition for students has led to educational institutions paying greater attention to
customer demands. Registration systems are key to providing good customer service. “The
evaluation system uses perceptions of faculty, students, administrators, and student affairs
practitioners to provide data concerning the state of major campus student service functions”.
(Tullar, 1999). Questionnaires and interviews were used to identify concerns related to the
registration process at Western New England College. It has registration systems for different
systems for different types of students and their evaluation of the registration process led to
several changes for example improved customer care and time saved on the manual registration
procedures. A non-paper-based system shall help increase organizational efficiency and cut
expensive printing costs (Conn et al., 1995)

2.2 Related Online Systems

2.2.1 Case study: The University of Maryland (college park)-
Undergraduate application for admission
The University of Maryland educates the most talented students from Maryland and beyond. Its
ranked 11th among all public United States universities and 37 th worldwide in a recent
international survey, and it was named one of the top 15 green universities in the country.
University of Maryland students always win prestigious awards for their academic achievements
and civic engagement, and graduates enjoy successful careers to their chosen fields
(collegeportraits.org, 2010).

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The University of Maryland has an electronic undergraduate admission application system.
Students applying to the institution have to complete the information requested. To facilitate this
process of application, a student is issued a Ticket Number which becomes students’ unique
identification to the electronic application the online application of The University of Maryland
expires if not completed in 30 days or else the applicant will have to re-enter the data all over
again (apply.usmd.edu, 2008).

2.2.1.1 Challenges of the University of Maryland

The process of completing the requested information can be time consuming and the application
has been designed in such a way that a student can process his/her information in segments.

2.2.2 Ohio State University

The Ohio University online application system, like the Maryland University online application
system requires an applicant to create an account before they apply.

The information is automatically entered into each “Apply Web” (the name of the application
form). The applicant uses a “legal name” that is assigned to them as a unique key. The name you
enter as the “legal name” cannot be changed. However, the applicant should be keen to check
spellings and use of upper and lower case letters since the online system specifies and provides
limitations for fields within the online form (Ohio.edu/entrance, 2008).
Audrey Martinko, a fresh student at Ohio State University, and winner of several scholarships
that she applied for online argued that “it was a lot more convenient” she further argues that “the
problem with paper is that you have to mail it. Things get lost. Sending it online was more
secure”.

2.2.3 University of Central Lancashire

The University’s online application system allows applicants to apply for a number of courses
(programmes of study) offered at the university (my.uclan.ac.uk/online, 2008).
Once the applicant has logged in to the online application system, he/she is guided through a
checklist to complete the application. The applicant can save his/her application at any point up
to submission and return to it at a later date.
By submitting the application, the applicant is agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions.

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2.2.3.1 Challenges of University of Central Lancashire
Full time undergraduates cannot apply online rather they have to apply through the Universities
and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS).
Research Students apply using the application form available at the Research Students website.

Furthermore the systems have been widely used to assess the performance of various service
organizations including banks (Newman, Cowling and Leigh, 1998). Joseph McClure
investigated the influence of technology, such as the ATM, telephone, and internet on the
delivery of banking service. Their study identified six underlying dimensions of electronic
banking service quality. These dimensions are convenience / accuracy, feedback / complaint
management, efficiency, queue management, accessibility and customization.

Bahia and Nantel (2000) also proposed an alternative measure of perceived service quality in
retail banking that comprises thirty one items with six underlying key dimensions. These
dimensions are effectiveness and assurance, access, price, tangibles, service portfolio and
reliability. Jun and Cai (2001) also suggested that both internet-only banks and traditional banks
offering internet banking services should focus more on the following important dimensions :
responsiveness , reliability and access.

Zeithaml (2009) developed e-SERVQUAL for measuring e-service quality. Through the focus
group interview they have identified eleven dimensions of online service quality : access, easy
for navigation , efficiency , flexibility , reliability ,personalization , security , responsiveness,
trust, site aesthetics and price knowledge. Yang and Fang (2004), have noted that traditional
service dimensions, such as competence, courtesy, cleanliness, comfort, friendliness, are not
relevant to online retailing, whereas other factors, such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance
and access are critical to both traditional service and e-service quality.

Internet Banking customers want to use a variety of financial transaction including paying their
bills electronically and automatically, viewing their monthly bank statement and purchasing
stocks and insurance.

ICTs are increasingly being used in health care in what is termed as e-Health whereby all aspects
of healthcare are monitored and run with the aid of ICTs (Gund, Lindecrantz, Schaufelberger,
Patel, & Sjoqvist, 2012). ICTs are increasingly being used in communication between health care

7
providers and also with patients especially in data transfer (Lindberg, Nilsson, Zotterman,
Soderberg, & Skar, 2013).

ICT plays a very important role in health care provision in a lot of ways that range from health
care management support to knowledge based support. In health care, the roles the ICT plays can
be grouped into three broad categories i.e. scanning, life support and computer controlled
equipment, Medical database and Expert systems. A lot of the complex equipment found in
hospitals today ranging from scanners, monitoring and life support system are computer
controlled. The use of more accurate scanners has been enabled through breakthroughs in ICT.
This equipment range from large scanners in hospitals to smart phone applications that a user can
easily download and utilize. Health care as a whole involves the generation of large amounts of
data in the form of patient medical history. The accurate storage of this data is only made
possible by the use of ICTs to manage medical databases thereby giving medical personnel and
organized and readily accessible information whenever required. Examples of such systems
include electronic patient record keeping, blood bar coding and tracking systems, distributed
medical databases etc.

The use of ICT based systems remains low in developing countries and yet there is an acute lack
of facilities. The use of innovations therefore provides a quicker solution to the lack of facilities
however there is a need to increase its use because the infrastructure practically exists and the
opportunity exists for further expansion.

Chapter 3
Methodology

3.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the description of the selected methodology for the study. It shows the
step-by-step methods we used in order to achieve the user requirements of the study. This section
is also comprised of data collection tools and techniques, data analysis, data design,
implementation, testing and validation.

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3.1Data Collection Techniques
During this process the raw facts or evidence were gathered about online registration system in a
systematic way, in order for easy answering of the stated research questions and evaluate
outcomes. Various data collection techniques were used in order to make the proposed system as
nearly perfect as possible. This was a result of minimizing errors and making the system more
user friendly and easy to access to the intended users at any time, hence during this process we
made use of both secondary and primary data

3.1.2 Questionnaires
A written list of questions and the answers to which were recorded by respondents. In this
method, respondents read the question, interpret what was expected and write down the answers.
Both mailed and collective questionnaires were used. For the case of mailed questionnaires,
emails were sent to the concerned respondents approach and that was a result of capturing their
email addresses and answering the respective questions forwarded to them. On the other hand,
collective questionnaires were largely used so as to obtain a captive audience such as students in
the faculty of IT, number of course units offered by the students, amount of tuition paid by each
student during the semester. This ensured a high response rate because very few people refused
to participate in the study. Such a method enabled gathering of information from a bigger sample
and also offered greater anonymity. In the question formats, both closed ended and open ended
questions were applied.

3.1.3 Interviews
During this process, the views, experiences and beliefs of individuals on specific matters were
captured. The interviewed individuals ranged from students to deans to heads of the faculty and
other concerned selected people from the faculty of IT. Open-ended questions were generally
used because they are neutral, sensitive and understandable to almost anyone. This easily
allowed the team to establish if the schedule is clear, understandable and capable of answering
the research questions. The length of the interview varied on the topic and the participant for
example different time intervals varied from students to staff members depending on the
sensitivity of the respective topic. Before the interview takes place, the respondents were
informed about the study details and given assurance about ethical principles such as anonymity
and confidentiality. This gave the informants to respond in any manner they see fit.
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3.1.4 Sampling
The students of the faculty of Information Technology and Basic Sciences were selected and it
was to be amongst these students from which a few students were selected to provide the
necessary information that was directly of great importance to the proper functioning of the
system for example the problems and hindrances they were currently facing with the current
manual system among others. From the selected students, a specific number of students were
selected randomly in order to increase the urgency and collect data within the shortest time
possible because not all students in the faculty were easily traced and allowed to participate in
the study. The simple random sampling technique was used in this case because it was unbiased,
straight forward and easy to understand

3.2 Data Analysis

Data analysis involves analyzing data collected from the different sources including the stake
holders and the students regarding the current manual system, leading to specifications of a new
system. Data was collected on the available literature and transactions handled by the proposed
system. According to the existing system, gathering students’ records is a manual process which
is time consuming.

3.3 System Design

The system was designed basing on the user requirements and detailed analysis of existing
systems. The data models to be used in this system are;

Entity Relation Diagrams: This was the main tool for data modelling. It shows relationships
between entities involved in the system together with their attributes and indicate the number of
occurrences and the relationships of the related entity.

Data Flow Diagrams: They were used for process modelling. Data Flow diagrams were used to
show how data moves and changes through an information system by giving a graphical
representation of system components, processes and how they interface with each other.

3.4 Implementation
A combination of programming technologies such as PHP a scripting language which will
perform operations to our database like adding information about the registrant to the MySQLi

10
database, HTML5 language was used to come up with the interactive interfaces of the proposed
system, MySQLi is a database platform that was used to store information of the applicant,
JQuery is a lightweight scripting language that helped us to build interactivity in the HTML5
pages the best way possible and Bootstrap.

3.5 Testing
Testing: Unit testing was used to test individual components and sample data entered into the
proposed system to give expected results.

User testing: A random sample number of potential system users were selected to test the
interface and comment on its usability and suitability thereby leaving the system free of bugs or
usability issues.

Chapter 4
System Design and Implementation

4.0 Introduction
This chapter provides a discussion of how data was collected using different techniques analyzed
with the help of DFDs, ERDs and used up with the User, Functional and Non-functional
requirements. It also involves modelling of the system.

4.1. The proposed system

The proposed system is taking into account the user, functional, non-functional and system
requirement is able to counter the problems identified with other existing online application
systems namely:

Expenses for the system will depend on very minimal, cheap to purchase and maintenance
requirement in terms of hardware and software.

Compatibility of the system is developed based on the current educational setting of Uganda in
terms of appropriate and user friendly platforms on which the system is run.

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Simplicity of system development languages; the system is developed in PHP, MySQLi,
HTML5, and JQuery environments which are easy to learn and user friendly. The proposed
system will comprise of the following components

4.2 System Analysis

System Analysis focuses on the Functional, Non-functional, User and System requirements that
were realized after analyzing the collected data using the various data collection techniques as
shown above. Collected data was analyzed to rigorously specify System processes. By
summarizing the results from data collected, the researchers obtained the various requirements.

4.2.1 User requirements

Students and administrators of Ndejje University were approached during the interviews and
were asked what they would like by the improved application system to be able to do. The
requirements include the following;

Administrators;

 User friendly

 Should allow addition of students

 Should allow input of raw data, for example updating fees payments of students.

 Should enable viewing student’s data input

Students;

 Minimize time spent travelling to and from the university to collect and return the
registration forms.

 Keep information input safe from unauthorized access.

 Allow collecting of mistakes during data entry.

4.2.2 Functional Requirements

These are requirements that specify the functionality of the system, that is, what the system does,
and these include the following;
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Checking to make sure all input fields are filled in.

Avail presence of registration form anywhere at any time given an internet connection.

The system can be used by administrators and academic registrars in decision making through
reports that the system can generate.

Security- the system allows users to access the same registration material with restrictions on
logging out/ terminating sessions. Once logged out, a student’s account cannot be tampered with
due to password restrictions that come into effect at the end of every session.

4.2.3 Non Functional Requirements

These are restrictions on the type of solutions that will meet the functional requirements. They
include the following;

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Availability

Students can access the online application system form from anywhere, at any time as long as
there is availability of internet.

Integrity

The registration system should be consistent and also should be standardized to match moral
principles of all the users

4.2.4 System Requirements

Hardware (Requirements)

Hard disk (50GB and above)

Memory (1GB and above)

Processor(Pentium 4 and above)

Processor speed (2.0 GHZ and above)

Table 1: Hardware requirements

Software(Requirements)

Operating system forexample windows 7, 8,

10, 12, Vista

Database Management System (MySQL

Server)

Development environment (PHP, HTML5,

JQuery)

Table 2: Software requirements

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4.2.5 Security Requirements
Before a user can be presented the registration form, they have to have an account with the
system with a unique password. Until then they can only access limited sections of the system
such as links among others.

The system particularly does not accept blank field or invalid inputs. The system has a unique
login section for the admin who can view and carry out a series of selection statements. Users
can logout at any time they fill like since there is no provision for such on any authorized page.

4.3 System Architecture

This details the architectural design of the developed registration system showing how the
system users interact with the graphical user interface and how the interface goes ahead to
interact with the database.

Administrator Students
Update university information Provide information for
View number of students registration
based on chosen selected View registration details
criteria

Graphical user interface

Viewing of information
User authentication interfaces
Application interfaces

appss

Database
Stores information about students
Stores metadata

Figure 4.1: System architecture of the registration system

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4.4 System Design
To design the system components and functionalities. The following diagrams were used
throughout the system;

The data flow diagrams- showed how the data is captured, processed an outputted.

The enhanced entity relationship diagrams- showed the different entities and attributes in the
system plus their relationship and their cardinalities.

4.4.1Conceptual Design
KEY

Data Flow

Entity

Process

Context Diagram
The context Diagram below is an overview of the system showing boundaries, external
entities interacting with the system and the major information flows between the entities and
the system

Registers Insert the bank code

Administrator
Student Updates /retrieves data
Registration system
Registration requirements
Updates profile

Figure 4.2: Context Diagram

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Data flow diagrams

The dataflow diagram shown below gives a detailed description of the processes that are found
in this system as it relates with the external entities, such as student. The diagram shows the data
is captured, processed and outputted.

Student’s data student information Administrator

Admission form
Unregistered
Student
Adds
Unregistered
Student

Student inserts
Fills registration Bank code Database
Registration form
Registered forms

Student

Figure 4.3: Data flow diagrams

Enhanced entity relationship diagram

The Enhanced Entity Relationship Diagram Shows the different entities and the attributes in
the system plus their relationships and their cardinalities.

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 Stu_info
Admin Adds
Stu_id
Admin_id
Fname
Username
Lname
password
Password
Nationality
DOB
Gender
Updates status Course
Course_code
Year
Reg_no
Bankcode
Pays 60% Offers

Course
Aregistered_student Course_no.
Reg_id Course_name
Reg_no Course_code
Study_study
Academic_year
Semester
Names

Figure 4.4: Entity Relationship diagram

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4.5 Logical Design
The logical model was used to translate the conceptual representation into entities/ relations and
their associated relationships.

Identification of entities and their attributes

Student (Stu_id, fName, lName,Password, Nationality, DOB, Gender, Course, course_code,

year, Reg_no, Bankcode)

Course (course_no, courseName, course_code)

Admin (admin_id, username, password)

Registered student (reg_id, Reg_No, Study_study, Academic_year, semester, Names)

4.3.2 System Features

The proposed system was designed to be a web based service that is hosted on a web server. It
was designed around a relational database management system (MySQL). The system user
interface and business logic was coded using HTML, PHP, CSS, JQuery and JavaScript. This
means that access to the system is via any appropriate web browser. Data access will be limited
by user privilege levels set up during the registration of users and finally for security purposes,
all users will be required to log into the system using a username and password that will be set
up on registration.Being web based, the system will be deployed on a web server with MySQL
and PHP capabilities. Client usage will therefore require internet access.

4.4 Implementation
The system was developed and implemented successfully resulting in the following set of web
pages; noting that what's listed below is a brief of the entire solution, in the same time they
provide full functionality of the overall system.

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 Start

Admin adds student to

the Faculty

Pay for the semester

Unregistered Student
Login

Register for semester

NO

Is he below or
above 60%?

YES

Get Registration form

Fill in form

Submit form

Stop

Figure 4.5: Flowchart diagram of the system

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4.5 Conclusion
By using the system, most problems used to be faced by Ndejje University’s administration were
now eliminated. This is done by the means of the Online Registration system, which allows
students to enter to the system immediately once they fill the required application form.

Now, there's no need for the coordinator to make long calls to get the number of students
currently below or above the required registration percentage set by the university plus,
monitoring the instantaneous insert/update/delete operations done by the system. Ndejje
University's administration can detect any type of errors that may enter the database immediately
once they occur. Finally, using paper correspondence has been deducted by 100%. Thanks for
theonline registration system which allows System Administrator to upload the necessary files
immediately to the system and students can save or print off their registration forms after
registering successfully.

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Chapter 5
Presentation of Results

5.0 Introduction
This chapter consists of results and findings of the system model developed. The results were
presented basing on the research of the proposed system.

5.1 Discussions and Findings

Registration of new and continuing students at Ndejje University is done manually and records
kept in files and physical stores. For the university once registration is made, the student’s form
is kept in files waiting for processing. The processing is then done manually by first capturing
the students’ details into the computerized database. This process consumes a lot of time and also
causes the university to incur costs in hiring people to enter these student’s details in the system.

The processing system is deployed to do the computation of the student’s details depending on
the information presented by the students and the different criteria used by the University. In
case a student does not register successfully that implies that he or she is below 60%.When the
processing of the registration is completed students are there after registered for that semester.

5.2 Problems faced during data collection, system design and

implementation
Several problems were encountered in the initial stages of the project which in system design and
implementation and they include the following;

The inconveniences caused by some administration officials who failed us on different

appointments.

Financial hardships were faced since as a group we had to pay money for the software, hardware
and the printing of information obtained regarding our project.

Scarcity of resources; Lack of enough computers in the computer labs at the faculty delayed us
from doing many things and the few existing ones at times lacked connectivity to the Internet.

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The time design for the project was also very limited due to the fact that a lot of time was used in
the data collection phase. Therefore some functionalities were left out which would have in turn
magnified the usefulness of the system.

Some of the members were not well versed with the knowledge of using the software
applications took a lot of time of how to adjust and learn them.

5.3 Benefits of the System

This includes the services that the developed system should offer which include the following

The system will ensure that the maximum limited time is used during the entire exercise of
registration of students.

The users are able to input data where the system captures processes and produces output as
required. It will then store the details directly into the automated system hence eliminating the
manual based system hence easier retrieval for any information from the database

5.4 Limitations of the developed System

The system does not support the registration of students from other faculties of Ndejje
University.

5.5 Screenshots of the new System

These are sample screenshots from the actual system including the user interfaces. The screen
shots give an overview of the different functionalities and a step by step display of how the
system works

Login Screen
Figure 5.1 shows the login screen. As shown in the figure, the user must enter a valid Username
and a Password; once they are matched the user can enter the system.

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The Profile Page

Figure 5.1: Shows the profile of the student with his or her current status.

Register With Bank Code

Figure 5.2 Shows how to enter your bank code to register for the semester

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Registration Form

Figure 5.3 shows the registration form to be filled in by students.

Print or Download the Registration Form

25
Figure 5.4 shows how to print off or save the student’s registration form.

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Chapter 6

Conclusions and Recommendations

6.1 Conclusion
This project is purely an academic exercise and we strongly believe that it is a useful starting
point to manage registration procedures at the university. Due to time limitations a
comprehensive research and analysis of issues have been exclusively done. The program design
and the codes are purely academic but if recommendations made are all implemented then all the
functionalities of the system would be achieved.

6.2 Summary
The present way of life dictates the use of advanced technological methods and process handling
to various aspects of life. The ever rising demand for higher education has led to the persistent
inefficiency of the existing paper-based registration system. This inefficiency is mainly in terms
of time spent collecting and returning registration forms to the university as well as the recurring
paper and administration costs associated with the system.

6.2.1 Challenges
We missed the termfield in the payments table initially and had to add the field later to keep
track of the payments information for previous semesters..
We had to have an ADMIN login to perform some administrative tasks. We thought it would be
very practical to have this option. For example, when you are logged in as an admin you can edit
the payments field for a student.

6.2.2 Achievements
Functionalities a student can perform in the system
Can edit his profile data that is address, email id information and update.
Register the course units he or she is doing during that semester, maximum course units
registered in the semester and in our system it is six.

27
28
Functionalities an administrator can implement in the system:
Can view / edit profile information and also update
Can add new course units to the database under his profile and department
Can update tuition payments for both and continuing students

6.3 Recommendations
We recommend that Ndejje University adopt this online system for processing the registration of
students. This will help save time and costs incurred by both the University and the students.
Students will provide necessary information required while registration avoiding simple mistakes
that fail them from registering.

There should be a sensitization of users on the existence of the registration system through
newspapers, university websites journals, TVs, radios and details on how to use the system
provided.

University staff should be trained on the use and functionality of the system should also be
carried out.

6.4 Future work

Additional functionalities should be made to the system to cater for the registration of students
from other faculties at Ndejje University.

More research should be done in order to come up with functionality that will ensure the
university realizes its dream that is becoming the Harvard of Africa.

29
Bibliography

Glashow, S. (2011). Partial Symmetries of weak interactions.

Goossens, M., Frank, M., & Alexander, S. The LaTex Companion. Addison-Wesley.

J, A. M. (2006, January 10). CTAN. The Comprehensive Tex Archive. Retrieved April 17th,
2016, from http://www.ctan.org

Knuth, D. E. (2012). computers & typesetting.

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References
1.

Al-Shaikh, A. M. (2013). Focus on Business. ICT in the Business wolrd .

2.College Park College Portraits: University of Maryland-Undergraduate Application for
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3.Gund, A., Lindecrantz, K., Schaufelberger, M., Patel, H., & Sjoqvist, B. A. (2012). Attitudes
among healthcare professionals towards ICT and home follow-up in chronic heart failure care.
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making .

4.Labrooy, M. (2013, March 26). Examining eHealth in Africa. Retrieved from eLearning
Africa: http://www.ela-newsportal.com/examining-ehealth-in-africa/

5.Lindberg, B., Nilsson, C., Zotterman, D., Soderberg, S., & Skar, L. (2013). Using Information
and Communication Technology in Home Care for Communication between Patients, Family
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6.Newman Cowling, L. (1998). London.

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 APPENDICES

Appendix A: Questionnaire

ONLINE REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

Introduction

We students of the Faculty of Basic and Sciences and Information Technology atNdejje
University are conducting a study on an online registration for Ndejje University. The aim of the
study is to develop an online registration system to reduce on the time, costs and workload
during the process of registering new and continuing students under the Faculty of Basic
Sciences and Information Technology. For this, we promise to put up maximum confidentiality
for all the data collected.

1. What is your gender?

Male Female
2. What is your age group?

Below 24 34 – 44
24 – 34 44 and above
3. Which region in Uganda have you come from to register to the university?

Central Northern
Western Southern
Eastern Others specify.....................
4. How do you find the current registration process at Ndejje University?
Excellent Very good

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 Good
Bad
5. How long did it take to complete the registration process to the university?

Day Week
Month Others specify __________________
6. Which problems (if any) did you encounter during the registration process?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
7. What changes (if any) would you want to be made on the current registration system?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
8. What is your view on online registration? Would it solve the problem you encountered while
registering?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

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