CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Introduction The software project development that the researchers plan to create & design is an online training course registration system for Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

This software program designed to help the company ALBA to better manage their training courses for their employees and to make them register online. The software runs on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. (the minimum required Windows version is Windows 2000).

The software is developed using Visual Basic 6.0 and Microsoft Access 2010 for the back end database.

Purpose and Description of the project The study is about Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) consistently ranks as one of the largest and most modern aluminium smelters in the world. Known for its technological strength and innovative policies, Alba enforces strict environmental guidelines, maintains high track record for safety, and is widely regarded as one of the top ten performers on a global scale.

It supports numerous community oriented program and social activities that have underlined its status as one of Bahrain's leading industrial organisations that remains committed towards upholding its corporate social responsibilities. Alba's inception marks the beginning of Bahrain's strategy to diversify its economic base and reduce its dependence on oil. The aim was to establish an industry that would provide valuable export earnings, develop the country's resources and create training and employment opportunities for a large number of Bahrainis. Alba was therefore incorporated by Charter in 1968 and officially commenced operations in 1971 as a 120,000 tons per annum smelter. The management of employees skills is critical for organizational success in the information technology era. The overwhelming demand for technological development has caused a shortage of workers with the essential skills to cope with the rapid growth of this information-based economy. This shortage forces companies and organizations to hire and train new employees who lack adequate technology skills, and to accept the chore of constantly retraining their present employees. In addition to teaching technology skills, organizations must train their employees to conform to new regulations and procedures, even learning the new social etiquette associated with information technology. In some cases, training is mandated by external agencies to meet safety and quality standards. To meet these challenges, a system to manage employees training is needed. This research reviews the process of current training course management in different

organization in order to develop online training courses management system that facilitate all process and activities related to training courses. The main purposes of an online training course management system is to provide employees with easy access to training course information, to give them the ability to register online, help them in choosing appropriate courses, ability to evaluate courses online, to give managers access to approve employees registration and suggest new courses and finally, training summary reports will be produced upon request.

Objectives of the study The objective is to design & develop an online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Statement of the problem The study aims to assess the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Specifically this study will answer the following:

1) What is the status of the training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of: a. usability b. registration c. Time consumption 3

d. Selection of courses 2) What is the level of effectiveness of the proposed online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of: a. usability b. registration c. selection of courses d. Time consumption 3) What are the problems encountered by the respondents in the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain? 4) What recommendations should be proposed for the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain 5) What are the features (system requirements) of the proposed system 6) What is the design of the proposed system in terms of: a. Input/output b. Process c. Interface design d. database

Scope & Delimitation Scope. The proposed system will help them employees in finding all information about the training course, schedule, they can register in these courses online, the system help them to find appropriate courses and they can evaluate the courses for 4

further improvement. Moreover, Alba staff will gain benefits from system by automate their work, produce reports, and check the evaluation result online. Employees can communicate with Alba anytime anywhere through website and E-mail. Questionnaire will be submitted to ALBA training managers in order to get their feedback. The respondents of the study will be the training managers in each of these organizations, Department managers and all other employees from different departments. (see appendix A) Delimitation. The proposed system will not have any financial transactions done and it will also not include any financial management Significance of the study The main beneficiaries of this study are Aluminium Bahrain It would benefit the organization in understanding the process of having an effective online system Management The study will showcase the management the advantages of having online training course registration system Employees This study would help the employees of the company to know about software and management Future researchers in understanding the concepts of software and management and its implementation from this study and as well as for their future job prospects

Definitions of Terms Alba. Training Office is the department that handles all training needs for the employees. VB. Visual Basic is a scripting language originally designed for producing dynamic windows. Web server. A computer that runs specific software to serve web pages to the Internet.

Computers. An electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program Computer software. It is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some tasks on a computer system. The term includes application software such as word processors which perform productive tasks for users Data base. It is a structured collection of records or data. A computer database relies upon software to organize the storage of data. The software models the database structure in what are known as database models Management system. It is the framework of processes and procedures used to ensure that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Introduction The basis of this chapter is to provide materials, literature and other various studies which were involved during the research process of this project. Various guidelines, articles, references, and work from international and local theories were researched into, while preparing this project.

Related literature

Local In an article written by Haidar 2008 in an HID INFO line magazine entitled Licensure and Registration System (LRS), it was found out that using computer information and management systems in registration benefit all parties in organization that resulted to less paperwork for the staff will result in more efficient functioning, accurate information storage and retrieval due to automation and statistical information can easily be available. In an article written by Al Ekri 2008 in an HID INFO line magazine entitled Web Development Process-Development Life Cycle, it was stated that website development became much easier because of the evolution in technology development. This technology provides tools that are available online and easy to use by anyone, regardless of the persons knowledge in web development. 7

It was found that to develop an optimized and well designed website, the developer should go through a process called Web Development Life Cycle. This Web Development process can be classified into different development life cycle steps.

According to an article Quick Study: System Development Life Cycle, by Russell Kay (2008), posted on the website www.computerworld.com, stated that:

Once upon a time, software development consisted of a programmer writing code to solve a problem or automate a procedure. Nowadays, systems are so big and complex that teams of architects, analysts, programmers, testers and users must work together to create the millions of lines of custom-written code that drive our enterprises To manage this, a number of system development life cycle (SDLC) models have been created: waterfall, fountain, and spiral build and fix, rapid prototyping, incremental, and synchronize and stabilize. The oldest of these, and the best known, is the waterfall: a sequence of stages in which the output of each stage becomes the input for the next. This water fall method will be explained in the 4th chapter.

According to the book Software systems development by Carol Britton, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.; 3 rev Ed edition, 2007, stated that: Whether a small, medium or large organization, a companys success is directly tied to how well it manages IT assets to increase productivity and maintain business continuity.

Manual processes, spreadsheets or homegrown applications simply do not provide the capability or automation necessary to cost-effectively manage a companys IT requirements. A transition from manual processes to an automated solution is critical to the success of the service desk, the IT department and the overall business. The Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the leading countries in the development of information technology and implementation of IT in all its sectors. A recent article published in the online IT magazine called PSTM (2007), reported by Mr. Edmund Tan stated that:

The Government of Bahrain's Central Informatics Organization (CIO) is to build its national e-government infrastructure on the open standard Linux platform. The move comes as part of a wide-ranging agreement reached between CIO, Gulf Business Machines (GBM) and IBM to supply software, hardware and services to support the transformation of citizen services in the country. Standards based technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for modernizations throughout society in our country. The pioneering vision of the Government of Bahrain is dedicated to ensuring that the Kingdom is at the forefront of developing technology and in driving services for our citizens with flexibility and accessibility to government services, said Sheikh Ahmed Ateyatalla Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of the CIO.

Such development and encouragement by the government in the IT field, boosts the enthusiasm of all people who are interested in the IT sector and want to achieve something special by creating their own software.

The Gulf Business Machines, one of the pioneers in the development of software and hardware technologies (2008) regarding Bahrains keenness in the development of web-based applications to unify the governments information infrastructure
GBM has been working with the CIO to drive the delivery of web-enabled applications that unify the governments information infrastructure and provide powerful services to citizens using secure hardware, network, Internet and software platforms. The project integrates Bahrains back-end systems, such as National Database, Immigration and Central Population Registration (CPR) systems, Decision Support systems and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) will support the introduction of a national smart card system that will give citizens access to information, services and government facilities.

U.A.E is another Gulf country which has made tremendous progress in the field of Information technology. According to an article published PSTM (2008) stated that

"The e-Government services allows Dubai Municipality to bridge a perceived gap by allowing users to request services anytime and anywhere, thus resulting in significant cost and time savings, estimated at over 30 per cent reduction compared to the traditional means of obtaining services." said Hussein Nasser Lootah, Chairman of Dubai Municipality (DM) e-Government Steering Committee. It has been a proven fact that online services are the key to the 21 st century in terms of marketing and delivering the goods. The e-government system implemented by the government of Bahrain & U.A.E shows that there is lot of scope and value for online services. As such talking about not only online system but also computerized system in the work place. Related studies In study conducted by (Al Qahtani, 2007) entitled "Computer-Based Information and Payroll System", he found that by developing a computerized system that will replace

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the legacy manual system, could offer many benefits to any organization such as ability to search information and lookup it in short time, ability to share information, ability to store information, ability to secure information, minimize human error and Improved payroll system. In study conducted by (Al Khater, 2008) entitled "Web-based student performance Monitoring system of AlFalah Private school", She found that by using internet to develop online system will facilitate the communication between all system stakeholders by accessing the website, posting announcement and sending e-mail. E-mail can be used by anyone who has access to the internet, and can be received almost instantly. It is one of the fastest communication tools. Distribution is another advantage of e-mail that is one message can be sent to many people. Finally, you dont have to pay fees for postage like you would if you sent a letter through mail. Assembling Configuration Management Environments (ACME -for software development) by Mr. Brad Appleton, USA on his website www.cmcrossroads.com The purpose of the ACME project is to gather together successfully used "best practices" and "lessons learned" for software configuration management (SCM), as well as other useful information about SCM Effective software configuration management (SCM) strategies promote a healthy, team-oriented culture that produces better software. SCM Patterns alleviates software engineers' most common concerns about software configuration management's perceived rigidity and an overemphasis on process. Through the use of patterns, a properly managed workflow can avert delays, morale problems, and cost overruns. The patterns approach illustrates how SCM can be easily and successfully applied in small- to mid-size organizations. By learning how these patterns relate to each other, readers can avoid common mistakes that too often result in frustrated developers and reduced productivity. 11

According to the book Writing Scientific Software: A Guide to Good Style, David Stewart, Cambridge University Press, 2009, stated that:

The core of scientific computing is designing, writing, testing, debugging and modifying numerical software for application to a vast range of areas: from graphics, meteorology and chemistry to engineering, biology and finance. Scientists, engineers and computer scientists need to write good code, for speed, clarity, flexibility and ease of re-use Stewart's style guide for numerical software points out good practices to follow, and pitfalls to avoid. By following their advice, reasearchers will learn how to write efficient software, and how to test it for bugs, accuracy and performance. Techniques are explained with a variety of programming languages, and illustrated with examples. This manual of scientific computing style will be an essential addition to the bookshelf and lab of everyone who writes numerical software. According to the book Modelling Systems: Practical Tools and Techniques in Software Development, by John Fitzgerald, Cambridge University Press; Bk&CDRom edition, 2008, stated that:

Software is pervasive, error-prone, expensive to develop and, as an engineering medium, extraordinarily seductive. Some of the major challenges in software development lie not so much in the details of design but in gaining confidence that the software under development will actually meet its requirements. This book provides an insight into established techniques which help developers to overcome the complexity of software development by constructing models of software systems in early design stages. The analysis and testing of models allows feedback before an expensive commitment is made to detailed design 12

and coding. Aimed at software developers in industry and university students on software engineering courses, the text provides a remarkable new introduction to modeling using leading technologies.

Synthesis of the study Most of the studies and literature mentioned above, state that training and development is one of the critical success factors for any organization. in the business world, intellectual recourses is one of the most important competitive weapons, as result of this trend, management of employees training has become critically important aspect for any organization. Online system becomes the most powerful system around the world. Many organizations rely on internet to upload their system. There are many benefits from using online system mentioned in the literature and studies such as eliminating traditional paper works, online system can improve communication, eliminate errors and save time and money. In literature, some of new web development methodologies were introduced, which is differ from the traditional software methodology. The development differs in several ways, for example, there is a large gap between traditional software engineering designs and concepts and the low-level implementation model, many of the web based system development activities are business oriented (for example web application are sales-oriented, web application and intranets are content-oriented) and not engineeringoriented. Some studies and literature differ from the proposed system in term of field of implementation, some of them where conducted for Human recourse system and other 13

for one training long course only. Some of the module is offline systems, but researcher wants to enhance these systems by focusing on online course training management system. The study drew evidence from: 1. Conceptual research. This was based on opinion and speculation, and comprised philosophical analysis, and argumentative analysis; 2. Construction. This approach involved the conception, design and creation (or 'prototyping') of an information technology and/or technique. Theoretical Framework The methodology that will be adopted for the development stage of this project is waterfall process. The process shown in figure 3.1 is divided into parts on the basic prototype application, which will be performed .the version of the waterfall process that will be employed for this project was iterative, which means that once a phase has been completed, there is the opportunity to retrieve it later in the development process, so as to incorporate any system changes that occur. Conceptual Framework Conceptual Framework is a relational model built from set of concepts linked to a planned or existing system of method, behaviors, functions, relationships, and objects.(Figure 1.1 ) shows the overview of proposed system . (Conceptual framework,2010)

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PHP +HTM

Web Server

(Apache WWW
Database

PHP +HTM

MySql

Figure 1.1 Overview of the proposed system

Input
Employees information
a- Educational background b- Length of service c- Internet usage

Process
Analysis of existing
system based on:
a- Security and Error handling b- Effectiveness c- Time

Output
A new and fully integrated Online Training Course Manageme nt System

Outcome
Employees can check training courses availability and information about it Employees can register on these courses waiting for approval by managers. System can help employees to choose their appropriate course System will generate statistics and report on courses ,that will help managers in decision making Employees can evaluate the courses for further improvement Managers can suggest new courses It would be accessible via internet and intranet

Development of
based on:
a- Security and Error handling b- Effectiveness c- Time

Courses information

d-User friendliness FEEDBACK

Figure1.2 Conceptual framework of the study

Figure 1.2 shows the conceptual Framework for the study. It consists of four (4) blocks that shows the interrelation of the specified variables, which are (1) independent (input), (2) intervening (process) , and (3) dependent (output) variables of the study.

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The first block represents the independent variable or the input. It serves as a stimulus variable used to determine the relationship to an observed phenomenon. Here, all data are gathered in preparation for the intervening variable. The independent variable in the study is the analysis and evaluation of the existing system and the development of the online system. The second block represents the intervening variable where all data are analyzed, evaluated and processed. The third block represents the dependent variable, which is the system itself "Online training course management system " Overall outcome of the study are the benefits that the system users can get

out of the system.

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CHAPTER III TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Technicality of the project

This study aims to describe the design and development of the Online Training Course Management System for Alba Training Office; it will divided into two phases where the first phases focused on investigating the existing system and establishing need for the proposed system and the evaluation of the present or existing system. The second phases concentrated on the design the system and database, its development, implementation and the post-implementation plans for the proposed system.

The software system is seen as the next generation of business intelligence (BI). It helps businesses make efficient use of their financial, human, material and other resources. For years, owners have sought to drive strategy down and across their organizations, they have struggled to transform strategies into actionable metrics and they have grappled with meaningful analysis to expose the cause-and-effect relationships that, if understood, could give profitable insight to their operational decision makers.

Details of the technologies used

The program requirements necessary for the effective and well-designed implementation of such an application must include the following: 17

a. Front-end, which is the part of a software system that interacts directly with the user in this system? The software will use Visual Basic 6.0 to develop a web page, and Microsoft Access for the database. Also, other programming tools will be used to enhance the system interface such as Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Java Script. b. Back-end, which comprises the components that process the output from the front-end, is designed using Microsoft Access for the database. c. The web server to communicate with a database. The web server communicates with the database and performs read and write operations whenever necessary. For example whenever an employees or managers request any information about courses, the web server retrieves the relative records from database. .

Skilled software engineers use technologies and practices from a variety of fields to improve their productivity in creating software and to improve the quality of the delivered product. All traditional engineering branches use software extensively. Engineers use spreadsheets, more than they ever used calculators. Engineers use custom software tools to design, analyze, and simulate their own projects, like bridges and power lines. These projects resemble software in many respects, because the work exists as electronic documents and goes through analysis, design, implementation, and testing phases. Software tools for engineers use the tenets of computer

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How the project will work

This software program designed to help the company ALBA save time and get the employees register online for the training course. The software runs on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. (the minimum required Windows version is Windows 2000).

Our system is available in standard version. The standard version contains a large number of powerful features designed to meet the needs of almost any organization. For example, the standard version lets you use any of the reports available and also print them to any printer.

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CHAPTER IV METHODOLOGY

Environment

The software project development that the researchers plan to create & design is an online training course registration system for the employees of ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Requirement specifications

Operational feasibility

This system view is essential when software must interface with other system. It provides the software engineer with an indication of the role of software within the context of the system as a whole. The whole process must be well planned.

Here the researchers evaluate the effects of each alternative on the routine operations of the organization. Management has to be heavily involved in this area of the feasibility study because management understands the operations of the organization.

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Fishbone diagram
methods programming

measurement using t-test

materials software tools

Software Product

private company

2 programmers

2 computers

envrionment

manpower

machines

Technical feasibility

The objective of the technical feasibility step is to confirm that the product will perform and to verify that there are no production barriers. The technical feasibility step generates knowledge about the product or process's design, performance, production requirements, and preliminary production costs. Only hardware and software which is compatible and which interfaces with existing computer system should be included in a feasibility study; because only equipment which is compatible is feasible.

21

Schedule feasibility

Details of work

4 Months 1 34 56 2 78 910 3

Weeks Topic approval Gathering information Submission of chap 1,2 & 3 Program planning Coding Software demo Oral defense Final revision Final submission

1- 2

11-12

Economic feasibility

The researcher does most of the work in this area of the feasibility study. The development cost is part of the budgetary feasibility study. A development cost analysis must be undertaken for each alternative. However, many benefits cannot be assigned a direct monetary value and these intangible benefits must be considered.

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This feasibility study is used to determine the financial aspects of the project, which was incurred during the design, planning and development of the software. Since this is a system, designed and developed by using Visual Basic 6.0 and Microsoft Access 2010, the cost incurred for the development and design is very minimal. This company system development at the most requires only 2 web developers for developing and maintenance.

This is the proposed system for an alternative company system, therefore the researchers have established the economic feasibility by conducting the t-test analysis and the software development cost

Cost benefit analysis

Hardware Acquisition Cost 2 -Computer Package Pentium IV 2.0 GHz Intel Motherboard Seagate 20 GB Hard Disk Drive (7200 Rpm) Intel 128 MB SD RAM LG DVD / CDROM LG 17 Monitor Robotics Modem internal DTS Keyboard Sound & Video card Display Adapters 23

BHD 350.000

Network Card Logitech Mouse

Total Hardware Acquisition

BD 700.000

Life Expectancy Development Period

3 years 3 months

Salvage Value = [(Hardware Acquisition Cost/Life Expectancy)*Devt Period] 12

Salvage Value = [(700/3)*3] 12 Salvage Value = 58.333

Annual Depreciation Cost = (Hardware Acquisition Cost Salvage Value) Life Expectancy Annual Depreciation Cost = (700 58.333) 3 Annual Depreciation Cost = 213.889

Monthly Depreciation Cost = Annual Depreciation Cost / 12 Monthly Depreciation Cost = 213.889 / 12 Monthly Depreciation Cost = 17.824

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Hardware Development Cost = Monthly Depreciation Cost * Dev. Period Hardware Development Cost = 17.824 x 3 = 53.472

Hardware Development Cost = 53.472

A. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COST

MS Windows XP

125.000 Adobe Photoshop 45.000

Microsoft FrontPage Software Cost

60.000 BD 230.000

Life Expectancy Development Period

2 years 3 months

Salvage Value = [(Software Cost/Life Expectancy)*Development Period] 12

Salvage Value = [(230/2)*3] 12 Salvage Value = 28.75

Annual Depreciation Cost = (Software Cost Salvage Value) Life Expectancy

25

Annual Depreciation Cost = (230 28.75) 3 Annual Depreciation Cost = 67.10

Monthly Depreciation Cost = Annual Depreciation Cost / 12 Monthly Depreciation Cost = 67.10/12 Monthly Depreciation Cost = 5.60

Software Development Cost = Monthly Depreciation Cost * Dev. Period Software Development Cost = 5.60*3

Software Development Cost = 16.800

B. LABOR COST

Labor Cost = 2 Developers Fee * Development Period Labor Cost = (2 x 250) = 500 * 3

Total Labor Cost = BD 1,500.00

C. MISCELLANEOUS

Epson Ink Bond Paper (1 ream)

30.00 5.00

26

Internet Fee 36.00 CDs and Diskettes Others (Photocopy Copy, Book Bind, Snack) 3.00 90.00

Total Miscellaneous

BD 164.00

D. OVERHEAD COST

1st Month

Computer No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 6 hrs 5 days 120 hrs 250 W

Kwh used of Computer = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Computer = 250 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Computer = 30 kwh

Printer No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month 2 hrs 3 days 24 hrs 27

No. of watts

60 W

Kwh used of Printer = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Printer = 60 W * 24 1000 W Kwh used of Printer = 1.44 kwh

Electric Fan No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 6 hrs 5 days 120 hrs 50 W

Kwh used of Electric Fan = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Electric Fan = 50 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Electric Fan = 6 kwh

Light No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 6 hrs 5 days 120 hrs 40 W

Kwh used of Light = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W 28

Kwh used of Light = 40 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Light = 4.8 kwh

TOTAL KWH USED

42.24 kwh

Basic Charge Energy (kwh) Current Adjustment PPA Power Act Redn 42.24 * 3.5 143.616 * 10.85% 42.24 * 2.9 42.24 * - 0.35 147.84 15.58 122.50 -14.80

Total Charges

BD 271.120

2nd Month

Computer No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 6 hrs 5 days 120 hrs 250 W

Kwh used of Computer = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Computer = 250 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Computer = 30 kwh 29

Printer No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 2 hrs 3 days 24 hrs 60 W

Kwh used of Printer = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Printer = 60 W * 24 1000 W Kwh used of Printer = 1.44 kwh

Electric Fan No. of hours a day No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts 6 hrs 5 days 120 hrs 50 W

Kwh used of Electric Fan = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Electric Fan = 50 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Electric Fan = 6 kwh

Light No. of hours a day 6 hrs

30

No. of days a week No. of hours a month No. of watts

5 days 120 hrs 40 W

Kwh used of Light = No. of watts * No. of hours a month 1000 W Kwh used of Light = 40 W * 120 1000 W Kwh used of Light = 4.8 kwh

TOTAL KWH USED

42.24 kwh

Basic Charge Energy (kwh) Current Adjustment PPA Power Act Redn 42.24 * 3.5 143.616 * 10.06% 42.24 * 2.9 42.24 * - 0.35 147.840 15.58 122.50 -14.80

Total Charges

BD 271.120

Total Overhead Cost

BD 542.240

SUMMARY A. Hardware Development Cost B. Software Development Cost 53.472 16.800

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C. Labor Cost D. Miscellaneous E. Overhead Cost

1,500.000 164.000 542.240

TOTAL DEVELOPMENT COST

BD 2,276.512

Requirements Modeling

. The following are the step in developing the system:

Analysis Design Implementation Testing Maintenance

Figure 3.1 The Waterfall Software Life Cycle

1. Analysis All possible requirements of the system to be developed are captured in this phase. Requirements are set of functionalities and constraints that the end-user

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(who will be using the system) expects from the system. The requirements are gathered from the end-user by consultation, these requirements are analyzed for their validity and the possibility of incorporating the requirements in the system to be development is also studied. Finally, a Requirement Specification document is created which serves the purpose of guideline for the next phase of the model. In this research some data gathering instruments is used to have more accurate Software Requirement Specification document that helped the researcher in building an effective system. 2. Design It determine how best way to construct a prototype that could deliver and fulfill the requirement. Before starting actual coding, it is highly important to understand what we are going to create and what it should look like? The requirement specifications from first phase are studied in this phase and system design is prepared. System Design helps in specifying hardware and system requirements and also helps in defining overall system architecture. The system design specifications serve as input for the next phase of the model. The Researcher used the Entity Relationship Model (ERD) that demonstrate several entities in the system and the relationships between them. Moreover, Dataflow diagrams are used to show how data is processed at different stages in the system.

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3. Implementation The completed design will be translated into Access (Database) and Visual Basic 6.0 (program code). 4. Testing The system will be tested to ensure that it satisfied users requirements accurately and completely. 5. Maintenance this stage will include for completeness, but will not consider in development process, as it is not within the scope of the thesis.

Data flow diagram

1- Level DFD: Main form

3.0 system has course

main form system has 4.0 admin log in system has

5.0 employee log in

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2 Level DFD: Member records

enter id number 3.0 employee 3.1 id number

3.2 enter course

details stored in database 3.4 training date 3.3 course selection

generate reports

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Context diagram

O.O Online Training Registration System

1.O Admin log in

2.O employees log in

3.O training courses

4.O course selection

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Risk Assessment

Software Controls Analysis (SCA) should be implemented as a standard operating procedure within your general business risk assessment procedures. The assessment should be conducted on a scheduled basis. The frequency of the SCA will depend on your business as well as the criticality of the computer programs. The reason for the repeated application of the SCA process is that there is nothing more consistent in business than change - especially when it comes to computer software.

We recommend developing preprinted forms (or a database system) to record all information in the risk assessment process.

An outline of the key steps in a SCA process follows.

I. Starting Software Risk Analysis

1) Inventory all computer systems. This inventory would include key attributes of the programs such as:

a) Purpose

b) Location

c) Responsible Person

d) General importance to the business

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i) High

ii) Medium

iii) Low

2) Prioritize the IT Computer Controls Analyses of the above systems based on the general importance (1d above) of each.

3) Establish one or more teams to perform the SCAs. Ideally, the team members should represent several disciplines within the company, such as software, finance, management and system subject-matter specialist.

Software Risk Management Steps

II. Software Risk Management Steps

1) Identify system output(s).

2) For each output determine the events that could happen to the output or information. Some events to consider are:

a) Long-term unavailability of output

b) Intermediate-term unavailability

c) Short term unavailability - may be seconds or minutes in some cases

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d) Premature dissemination of time-critical information (e.g., web post too early)

e) Dissemination of output to unauthorized individuals (e.g., classified or sensitive information)

f) Missing or lost output (e.g., batch run of retirement checks one check missing)

g) Errors/miscalculations in output

3) For each event in 2 above determine the criticality / importance to the business. The criticality is most often distilled to a dollar amount of loss to the business. This dollar amount may be derived by considering some of the following results stemming from the events:

a) Theft/loss of money

b) Lost lead time for products

c) Loss of information to a competitor

d) Incorrect decisions based on erroneous data

e) Law suit

f) Fire/Flood, or other preventable disaster

4) Determine the probability (high, medium, low) of occurrence of each risk event identified in 2 above. 39

Design Output user interface design

1: Screen form - main form

40

Forms

The forms were created using Visual Basic 6.0 and database using Microsoft Access 2010.

The forms added into the system are:

Admin Login form Employees login form Training course form Course selection form Contact us form

Reports

Course report selection report employee report

System architecture

Security back-up is one of the most essential requirements for any developer. Once the software product is designed and developed, the best practice is to save the

41

whole project on a local hard disk or CD ROMs. This practice can help the researcher with future restorations of the data or to update the proposed system.

Once the system goes on, it will be the responsibility of IT administrator to protect the site from any unauthorized access to the website codes and to prevent from virus attacks.

Development

Hardware Specifications HARDWARE RAM Pentium II or higher Computer any compatible video card at least 32 MB 5 GB 32 MB Video Card 10 GB Pentium IV MINIMUM at least 64 MB RECOMMENDED 128 MB SD RAM

Video Card Hard disk

Monitor

Colored Monitor

Colored Monitor

CD-ROM Drive

CD-ROM Drive 30X or faster any type of keyboard

DVD ROM drive

Keyboard

DTS Keyboard

Mouse

any type of mouse

Logitech Mouse

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Software Specifications SOFTWARE Operating System Design & Development Microsoft Access 2010 Database Microsoft Access 2010 MINIMUM Microsoft Windows 98 or higher Visual Basic 6.0 RECOMMENDED Windows XP Visual Basic 6.0

Test plan

A test plan documents the strategy that will be used to verify and ensure that a product or system meets its design specifications and other requirements. A test plan is usually prepared by or with significant input from Test Engineers.

Depending on the product and the responsibility of the organization to which the test plan applies, a test plan may include one or more of the following:

Design Verification or Compliance test - to be performed during the development or approval stages of the product, typically on a small sample of units.

Manufacturing or Production test - to be performed during preparation or assembly of the product in an ongoing manner for purposes of performance verification and quality control.

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Acceptance or Commissioning test - to be performed at the time of delivery or installation of the product.

Service and Repair test - to be performed as required over the service life of the product.

Regression test - to be performed on an existing operational product, to verify that existing functionality didn't get broken when other aspects of the environment are changed (e.g., upgrading the platform on which an existing application runs).

A complex system may have a high level test plan to address the overall requirements and supporting test plans to address the design details of subsystems and components.

Test plan document formats can be as varied as the products and organizations to which they apply. There are three major elements that should be described in the test plan: Test Coverage, Test Methods, and Test Responsibilities. These are also used in a formal test strategy.

Test coverage in the test plan states what requirements will be verified during what stages of the product life. Test Coverage is derived from design specifications and other requirements, such as safety standards or regulatory codes, where each requirement or specification of the design ideally will have one or more corresponding means of verification. Test coverage for different product life stages may overlap, but will not necessarily be exactly the same for all stages. For example, some requirements may be verified during Design Verification test, but not repeated during Acceptance test. Test

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coverage also feeds back into the design process, since the product may have to be designed to allow test acce

Testing

t-Test. This is probably the most widely used statistical test of all time, and certainly the most widely known. It is simple, straightforward, easy to use, and adaptable to a broad range of situations. The t-test is used to measure the level of importance of the designed system from the existing system. The logic is that if the tcomputed is greater than the t-tabulated, then there is a significant level of difference between the two systems. A t-test is any statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic has a t-distribution if the null hypothesis is true.

If we have two data sets, each characterized by its mean, the standard deviation and the number of data points, we can use some kind of t-test to determine whether the means are distinct, provided that the underlying distributions can be assumed to be normal.

In the case of the designed system and the existing system, the t-test gives the probability that the difference between the two means is caused by chance. It is customary to say that if this probability is less than 0.05, that the difference is 'significant', the difference is not caused by chance. The t-test is basically not valid for testing the difference between two proportions. However, the t-test in proportions has

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been extensively studied, has been found to be robust, and is widely and successfully used in proportional data.

Formula to compute the Mean: 1. Frequency Mean (FM) = f (x1 + x2 +-------Xn) n Where f = frequency of number of times that a given number (x) was chosen by the respondents as rating for a given criterion. x = represents any of the numerical ratings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 representing the evaluators rating options for each given criterion. n = refers to the sample size or the total number of respondents

Formula to compute the weighted Mean: 2. Weighted Mean 9WM) = f (x1 + x2 +---------Xn) n Where f = summation of all frequency means n = total number of criteria

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Formula to compute the t-computed: 3. t = WMd - WMe (Md) + (Me) n (n-1) Where t = test value n = refers to the sample size or the total number of respondents n-1 = degree of freedom, at 0.05 level of significance WMd = weighted mean of the designed system WMe = weighted mean of the existing system (WMd) = summation of mean of the designed system

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. System testing falls within the scope of black box testing, and as such, should require no knowledge of the inner design of the code or logic.

As a rule, system testing takes, as its input, all of the "integrated" software components that have successfully passed integration testing and also the software system itself

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integrated with any applicable hardware system(s). The purpose of integration testing is to detect any inconsistencies between the software units that are integrated together (called assemblages) or between any of the assemblages and the hardware. System testing is a more limited type of testing; it seeks to detect defects both within the "interassemblages" and also within the system as a whole.

System testing is performed on the entire system in the context of a Functional Requirement Specification(s) (FRS) and/or a System Requirement Specification (SRS). System testing tests not only the design, but also the behaviour and even the believed expectations of the customer. It is also intended to test up to and beyond the bounds defined in the software/hardware requirements specification.

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Questionnaire analysis

Table 1 Results of assessment in respect to design

criteria Color used brightness Fonts used Creativity used Pictures used overall existing system mean interpretation 2.81 satisfactory 2.8 satisfactory 2.28 un satisfactory 2.61 satisfactory 2.82 satisfactory 2.664 satisfactory proposed system mean interpretation 3.32 satisfactory 3.3 satisfactory 3.09 satisfactory 3.14 satisfactory 3.18 satisfactory 3.206 satisfactory mean difference 0.51 0.5 0.81 0.48 0.36 0.542

Table 1 gives the presentation of user assessments to both existing system and proposed system with regard to design. Although the existing system is satisfactory overall, its mean is less compared to the proposed system. For the color used the mean is 2.81, whereas for the proposed system the mean is 3.32.

The existing system font is found to be unsatisfactory with a mean of 2.28, whereas the mean of proposed system is 3.09

The overall mean of existing system is 2.664 and the proposed system is 3.206 with a difference of 0.542

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Table 2 Results of assessment in respect to user-friendliness

criteria mean Terminologies used Menus & buttons User interface navigation Ease to use overall 2.80 3.25 2.80 2.40 2.75 2.80 existing system interpretation satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory unsatisfactory satisfactory satisfactory proposed system mean interpretation 2.90 3.35 3.45 3.40 3.40 3.30 satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory mean difference 0.10 0.10 0.65 1.00 0.65 0..50

Table 2 gives the presentation of user assessments to both existing system and proposed system with regard to user friendliness. Although the existing system is satisfactory overall, its mean is less compared to the proposed system. For the terminologies used used the mean is 2.80, whereas for the proposed system the mean is 2.90.

The existing system navigation is found to be unsatisfactory with a mean of 2.40, whereas the mean of proposed system is 3.40

The overall mean of existing system is 2.80 and the proposed system is 3.30 with a difference of 0.50

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Table 3 Results of assessment in respect to performance

criteria mean Application speed System functions Download speed Upload speed Navigation speed overall 2.70 2.00 2.85 2.85 2.75 2.80 existing system interpretation satisfactory unsatisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory proposed system mean interpretation 3.20 2.95 3.45 3.40 3.25 3.30 satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory mean difference 0.10 0.10 0.65 1.00 0.65 0..50

Table 3 gives the presentation of user assessments to both existing system and proposed system with regard to performance. Although the existing system is satisfactory overall, its mean is less compared to the proposed system. For the application used the mean is 2.70, whereas for the proposed system the mean is 3.20.

The existing system functions is found to be unsatisfactory with a mean of 2.00, whereas the mean of proposed system is 2.95

The overall mean of existing system is 2.80 and the proposed system is 3.30 with a difference of 0.50

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Table 4 Results of assessment in respect to trouble shooting

criteria System process System functions Download speed Upload speed Navigation speed overall existing system mean interpretation 2.70 satisfactory 2.00 2.85 2.85 2.75 2.80 unsatisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory proposed system mean interpretation 3.20 satisfactory 2.95 3.45 3.40 3.25 3.30 satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory mean difference 0.10 0.10 0.65 1.00 0.65 0..50

Table 4 gives the presentation of user assessments to both existing system and proposed system with regard to trouble shooting. Although the existing system is satisfactory overall, its mean is less compared to the proposed system. For the system process the mean is 2.70, whereas for the proposed system the mean is 3.20.

The existing system functions is found to be unsatisfactory with a mean of 2.00, whereas the mean of proposed system is 2.95

The overall mean of existing system is 2.80 and the proposed system is 3.30 with a difference of 0.50

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Table 5 Results of assessment in respect to security

criteria Virus attack System protection Unauthorized usage External threats Site pages not cached in browser overall mean 2.70 2.00 2.85 2.85 existing system interpretation satisfactory unsatisfactory satisfactory satisfactory proposed system mean interpretation 3.20 satisfactory 2.95 3.45 3.40 satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory mean difference 0.10 0.10 0.65 1.00

2.75 2.80

satisfactory satisfactory

3.25 3.30

satisfactory satisfactory

0.65 0..50

Table 5 gives the presentation of user assessments to both existing system and proposed system with regard to security. Although the existing system is satisfactory overall, its mean is less compared to the proposed system. For the virus attack the mean is 2.70, whereas for the proposed system the mean is 3.20.

The existing system protection is found to be unsatisfactory with a mean of 2.00, whereas the mean of proposed system is 2.95

The overall mean of existing system is 2.80 and the proposed system is 3.30 with a difference of 0.50

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Table 6

Summarized results of assessment

criteria design user friendliness performance trouble shooting security overall

existing system mean interpretation 2.81 satisfactory 2.8 satisfactory 2.28 un satisfactory 2.61 satisfactory 2.82 satisfactory 2.664 satisfactory

proposed system mean interpretation 3.32 satisfactory 3.3 satisfactory 3.09 satisfactory 3.14 satisfactory 3.18 satisfactory 3.206 satisfactory

mean difference 0.51 0.5 0.81 0.48 0.36 0.542

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CHAPTER V FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Findings

The study aims to assess the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

1) The status of the training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of: a. Usability easy to use b. Registration fast and easy c. Time consumption in very less time, employees are able to access the system and register d. Selection of courses - employees are able to select the courses and register 2) The level of effectiveness of the proposed online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of: a. Usability - easy to use b. Registration fast & easy c. selection of courses - in very less time, employees are able to access the system and register

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d. Time consumption - - employees are able to select the courses and register 3) The problems encountered by the respondents in the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain? a. Official bureaucracy in implementing the system quicker b. Lack of qualified trainers for the system c. Lack of qualified computer engineers to implement the system 4) What recommendations should be proposed for the implementation of online training course registration system for ALBA in the Kingdom of Bahrain The system should have the following type of access: 1. Employees access: the employees should be able to access through the internet/intranet using a username and password on a secure page that provide them with all training course information, 2. They should be able to register on courses, view registration status, ask the system to help them to find appropriate courses and finally fill out an evolution form to evaluate the courses they took. 3. Managers should be able to approve employees registration and they can suggest new training courses. 5) What are the features (system requirements) of the proposed system The main purposes of an online training course management system is to provide employees with easy access to training course information, to give them the ability to register online, help them in choosing appropriate courses, ability to 56

evaluate courses online, to give managers access to approve employees registration and suggest new courses and finally, training summary reports will be produced upon request. The proposed system will help them employees in finding all information about the training course, schedule, they can register in these courses online, the system help them to find appropriate courses and they can evaluate the courses for further improvement. Moreover, Alba staff will gain benefits from system by automate their work, produce reports, and check the evaluation result online. Employees can communicate with Alba anytime anywhere through website and E-mail. 6) What is the design of the proposed system in terms of: a. Input/output simple navigation system b. Process employee log in and registers for the course c. Interface design keeping with ALBAs main corporate website theme d. Database visual basic 6.0 was used

Conclusion

Online Course Registration System is a web-based registration software that helps the company ALBA to accept course registration online. Online Course Registration System is ideal for corporate training programs, and online training programs.

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Online course registration software includes features such as security, email based user accounts, automatic scheduling, registration deadline, and multi-course deadline. Also, Online Course Registration System can be fully customized according to the company specifications.

Web-based systems have become increasingly important due to the fact that the Internet and the World Wide Web have become ubiquitous, surpassing all other technological developments in our history. The Internet and especially organizations websites has rapidly evolved in their scope and extent of use, from being a little more than fixed advertising material, i.e. a "web presences", which had no particular influence for the company's business, to being one of the most essential parts of the company's core business. The management of employees skills is critical for organizational success in the information technology era. The overwhelming demand for technological development has caused a shortage of workers with the essential skills to cope with the rapid growth of this information-based economy. This shortage forces companies and organizations to hire and train new employees who lack adequate technology skills, and to accept the chore of constantly retraining their present employees. In addition to teaching technology skills, organizations must train their employees to conform to new regulations and procedures, even learning the new social etiquette associated with information technology. In some cases, training is mandated by external agencies to meet safety and quality standards.

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Recommendations For an online training registration system, the following guidelines should be followed. The system should have the following type of access: 4. Employees access: the employees should be able to access through the internet/intranet using a username and password on a secure page that provide them with all training course information, 5. They should be able to register on courses, view registration status, ask the system to help them to find appropriate courses and finally fill out an evolution form to evaluate the courses they took. 6. Managers should be able to approve employees registration and they can suggest new training courses. 7. Administrator should be able to add Courses, Employees and new users. They can check the Employees and Courses Evaluation reports approve employees registration and print employees reports and course evaluation reports. Any deletion or modification on data entered needed to be changed through the database, where the admin need to have username and password for the database. Access to the system main program should be limited to employees in the studied organizations and only authorized administrator should have access. Employee cannot access the information once he left the job. The administrator who has the username and password of the database should be the only one who can update, modify, delete

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and access the databases, checking the number of employees registered in one specific training course can only be done through accessing the database.

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Bibliography

Haidar Licensure and Registration System (LRS), HID INFO line magazine, 2008 Al Ekri Web Development Process-Development Life Cycle, HID INFO line magazine, 2008 McNamara, Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits, 2007 Copper The Benefits of Training Courses, 2006 Carol Britton Software systems development, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.; 3 rev Ed edition, 2007 Russell Kay Quick Study: System Development Life Cycle, www.computerworld.com, 2008 David Stewart Writing Scientific Software: A Guide to Good Style, Cambridge University Press, 2009 John Fitzgerald Modelling Systems: Practical Tools and Techniques in Software Development, Cambridge University Press; edition, 2008

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APPENDIX A Name: Organization: Instructions: 1. Please answer the following questions sincerely by rating from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating. 2. Read each characteristic and tick the box that corresponds to your answer

The following factors shall be used to determine the quality of the existing and the designed system: User-friendliness: The users can easily use, navigate and understand the system Efficiency: The ability of the system to produce the desired result in minimum time and effort Accuracy: The system ability to perform correct and precise results Reliability: The ability of the system to be dependable on data accuracy, efficiency and correctness. Conciseness: The ability of the system to provide more information in brief words

Existing System Criteria User-Friendliness Efficiency Accuracy Reliability Conciseness 1 2 3 4 5 1

Designed system 2 3 4 5

Rating: 5 Excellent 4 Very good 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor Comments / Suggestions: Simple and clear

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