CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Caritas University, Amorji Nike, Enugu, is a
private University approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria on December 16
2004. It was officially opened on January 21, 2005 by the Federal Ministry for
Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji. The formal opening was on January 31, 2005. The
pioneer students of 250 matriculated on May 28, 2005 in beautiful ceremony that
attracted dignitaries both church and state. It is the second Catholic
University in Nigeria founded by Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel Paul Mathew EdehCssp,
OFR. Although he founded the school, the proprietor of the University is the
Congregation of Sisters the Saviour, a religious Congregation of Nuns founded
by him.
The vision of Caritas University is to rescue
some of our wandering and teaming youths from further slide into academic and
moral decay, and development and transformation of our society through sound
and adulterated education. Its mission is to discover, sanctify and apply the
knowledge of science, environmental and engineering for human well-being and
sound development of man for better society.
Caritas University’s goal is to give efficacy
to the University’s motto and to its philosophy of education. We embrace not
only sound education for professional skills and competency in various fields;
but also maintain strict discipline. We train the mind, body, soul and spirit
in the exercise of obedience and self control. The students must not only be
intellectually and professionally prepared for different tasks and roles in the
world, they must also be morally equipped to face the world itself with all its
tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions. We achieve this with the
help of God Almighty who is with us always.
The philosophy is to promote sound education
for professional skills and competencies in various fields with strict
discipline. By discipline the University meant the training of the mind, body
and soul and spirit to obedience and self control. Also to prepare the students
to be intellectually and professionally sound for different tasks and roles in
the word with its tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions.
The University operates faculty system.
Presently, the University operates six faculties: Education and Arts,
Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Management, Social Sciences and Natural
Sciences.
1.2 DEFINITION
A Computer-Based Result Management
Information System (CBRMIS) is a set of software programs that is designed to
control the institution’s (practically using CARITAS
UNIVERSITY), storage, management, and retrieval of data (RESULT) in a database. CBRMISs are categorized according to their data structures or
types. The CBRMIS accepts requests for data from an application program and
instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data.
The queries and responses must be submitted and received according to a
format that conforms to one or more applicable protocols. When a CBRMIS is
used, information systems can be changed much more easily
as the organization's information requirements change. Use of manual imputation
of result is discarded and new categories of data can be added to the database
so easily without disruption to the existing system.
A database management system
provides the ability for many different users to share data and process
resources. But as there can be many different users, there are many different
database needs. The question now is: How can a single, unified database meet
the differing requirement of so many users?
As this study entails using a different form
of database management in connection with organizational result computation and
assessment. This brings about the use of computer-based result management
information system (CBRMIS).
Before the database management approach, the
institution relied on the manual method of data processing and storage. Each
file was specialized to be used with a specific application. Needless to say,
file processing was bulky, costly and nonflexible when it came to supplying
needed data accurately and promptly.
This study therefore, examines clearly the
effect of the computer-based result management information system (CBRMIS)
towards the development of CARITAS UNIVERSITY.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Since this study is specifically to use the
physical view to make efficient use of
storage and processing resources, therefore, the objective of this study
includes the following;
1. To help in facilitating generation of ad hoc
query.
2. To ensure reliability and transparency in the
creation and computation of results
3. To present a platform for assessment of the
performance of the students and workers in other to help develop enabling
policy for academic quality and standard.
4. To prevent unauthorized access or mutilation
of the results of the students thereby maintaining data integrity.
5. To help the users of the result database
software (RDS) to manage the overall database environment by providing
facilities for backup and recovery, security management, query optimization,
concurrency control, and change management.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance of this study is to examine
closely the advantage of this result application to the benefit of Caritas University
and the entire community.
1. It will serve as a reference material to those
who use this project material.
2. It is a contribution to knowledge
3. It will provide information to other
researchers/developers on how best and beneficial the use of a management
information system can be in providing accurate information for an
organization’s decision making.
4. It will ensure high level quality service
development of the management which will ensure that students are not subjected
to undue suffering in collection of their transcript or clearance prior to the
deployment for youth service.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study is an integrated study
on the use of a Computer-based Result Management Information System (CBRMIS) a
case of Caritas University.
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Realizing the financial and time constraints
usually associated with students in project of this nature, there is no
research carried out that does not experience some difficulties. This work is
no exception; the following factors posed serious limitations to the research
work.
Financial
constraints: a study
like this nature is expected to be carried out on a broader base but because of
lack of funds required, some function and programs could not be applied.
Time
constraint: in the
course of the study, time posed a serious problem in carrying out the test. The
duration given for the conduct of this study was short.
Non-availability
of materials: during
the course of this research, there were non-availability of some critical
documents and materials which were classified as confidential.
Non-availability
of Exit: because of the
nature of the school as a private university, Permission to go out was not
always granted and this posed a serious problem towards the actualization of
this goal.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS/VARIABLES
Management: Management is a human action, including
design, to facilitate
The production of useful outcomes from a
system.
Processing: To deal with somebody or something according
to an established
Procedure.
System: a set of computer components i.e. in assembly
of Computer hardware,
Software
and peripherals functioning together.
Automation: the replacement of human workers by
technology; a system in
which a workplace or processes has been
converted to one that replaced or ministries human labour with electronic or
mechanical equipment.
Information:
Data that has been worked upon and processed.
Database: a systematically
arranged collection of data, designed so
that it can be automatically
retrieved or manipulated
easily by authorized users.
Database
servers: Database servers are computers that hold the actual
databases and run only the DBMS and related
software.
Data
structure:Data structures (fields, records, files and objects)
optimized to deal with very large amounts of
data stored on a permanentdata storage device (which implies relatively slow access compared to volatile main memory).
Data
security:Data security prevents unauthorized users from viewing or
updating the database by the use of passwords.
Data
consistency: Data
consistency ensures a consistent view of data to
every user.
Password: this is a secret code that a user must type
into a computer to enable
He/she access it or its applications. This is
made up of numbers, letters, characters or contribution of any of the above
categories.
PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor (the name is a recursive acronym) This is a
Programming language known as a server-side scripting language. It was used in the developing of
this software.
Query language: A
database query
language and report writer
allows users
to interactively interrogate the database,
analyze its data and update it according to the user’s privileges on data. It also controls the security of the database.
Software:
a software is a collection of written programs
which directs the
computer
on what to do.
Querying: Querying is the process of requesting
attribute information from
various
perspectives and combinations of factors.
Modules:
this is an independent/self- contained
program.
SQL:
Structured Query Language, it is a code used
to query or insert records in a
Database.