DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ANONLINE STUDENTS’ GRADE POINT (GP)

CALCULATOR.(case study of Imo State Polytechnic,

Umuagwo-Ohaji).

By

HND/CST/2010/43575

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OFCOMPUTER SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY, SCHOOL OFNATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCE, IMO STATE

POLYTECHNIC, UMUAGWO – OHAJI.IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR THE AWARD OF HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA

(HND) IN COMPUTER SCIENCE.

OCTOBER, 2012.

TABLE OF CONTENTSCover PageCertification iDedication iiAcknowledgement iiiAbstract iv

CHAPTER ONE1.0 Introduction 11.1 Background of study 31.2 Statement of problem 51.3 Objective of study 61.4 Scope of study 71.5 Limitation of study 81.6 Significance of the study 91.7 Definition of related terms 10

CHAPTER TWO2.0 Literature review 122.1 Definition of an Online Students’ Grade Point Calculator 152.2 The role of Computers in the design and development of a GP calculator

162.3 Importance of GP calculator 102.4 Database and its history (brief) 182.5 Types of database models 20

CHAPTER THREEResearch design and methodology3.0 Introduction 233.1 Research design 233.2 Sources of data 233.2.1 Primary source 233.2.2 Secondary source 243.3 Analysis of the present system 243.3.1 Problems and weaknesses of the existing system 25

3.3.2 Dataflow Diagram of the existing system 263.4. Analysis of the proposed system 273.4.1 Objectives of the proposed system 273.4.2 Justification for the proposed system 283.5 Methodology 293.3.1 System study 303.5.2 Feasibility study 303.5.3 System analysis 303.5.4 System design 333.5.5 Coding 363.5.6 Testing 363.5.7 Implementation 363.5.8 Maintenance 36

CHAPTER FOURProgram design and implementation4.0 Introduction 374.1 Program design 374.1.1 Specification for program module 384.1.2 Program coding technique 394.1.3 Choice of programming language 404.2 Program Flowchart 414.2.1A Advantages of flowchart 434.2.1B Disadvantages of flowchart 43 4.3 Program formats 444.3.1 Input format 444.3.2 Output format 444.4 Components of the design 504.4.1 Software component 494.4.2 Hardware component 504.5 System installation 504.6 System testing and implementation 514.7 Software testing 524.8 Training of staff 534.9 Changeover procedure 534.9.0 Direct changeover 534.9.1 Parallel changeover 544.9.2 Phase changeover 544.9.3 Pilot changeover 554.10 Program maintenance 55

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Summary 565.2 Conclusion 575.3 Recommendation 57

References 59

Appendix 1 61

Appendix 2 80

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

An online student’s Grade Point Calculator is a

software or system that collects (accepts) as input

student’s biodata and course examination scores,

processes and stores them and then gives room for

effective retrieval of these information at a any

given point in time and location online; and this is

done with the aid of the computer.

It offers a computerised approach to the way and

manner students results are computed by our modern

day institutions of higher learning with a bid to

reducing the massive inconsistency and redundancy

that is associated with the manual system and to

ensure that there is a globalize access to such

information when needed.

Students’ examination records are computed and stored

in an online database. Students whether graduating or

graduated can access these results online having met

some criteria like signing up with the school’s

online database with a valid user identification

number and password and meeting some school’s

requirements such as payment of school fees and other

vital fees.

Grade Point is a mark (score) awarded to a student

which indicate his/her total performance in a course

examination per semester. At the end of every

semester, students’ Continuous Assessment and

examination scores are added up for the total number

of courses offered by the respective department(s)

and will be divided by the total credit course loads

for the semester to obtain the overall Grade Point of

the respective student(s) for the semester.

Most Nigerian tertiary institutions have joined their

counterparts all over the world to implement the

technologized online result system and automation of

their entire procedures to bring their institutions

closer to the watching eyes of the world via internet

and to ease the hurdles of manual result compilation

process bringing to bare a more efficient and

reliable approach to students’ result management.

Computer is the only tool through which this dream

can be achieved as it has proven its ingenuity in all

life endeavours by transforming approaches in

handling procedures in our work places, industries

and individual lives. Since its advent, it has

introduced great many revolutions including Internet

and Information Technology (IT) thus making the world

a small global village.

An efficient online Students’ Grade Point Calculator

has numerous benefits as it ensures efficient and

accurate documentation and management of institutions

examination records, slashing costs and reducing the

rate of loss experienced while using the manual

system.

This research work is primarily aimed at developing

a software the would capture and synthesize students’

Grade Point and to assist management, staff and

students of Imo state Polytechnic carryout their

exercise easily and more accurately and also provide

for easy management and documentation for

administrative motives.

1.0.1 Brief history of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo

– Ohaji

Imo State Polytechnic was established in 1978 as a

Monotechnic, Michael Okpara College of Agriculture

Umuagwo and was later upgraded to the status of

Polytechnic in 2007 to meet the educational needs of

Imolites. Within these periods and henceforth, the

general approach of compiling and documentation of

students’ results and records had been by manual

means which had led to slow pace in carrying out this

onerous task.

There is need to automate the entire process to make

it sound and in line with the current wave of

Information Technology.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Before developing the software, the perspective of a

situation where a student has taken all the necessary

examinations for proper academic evaluation is drawn

which is accompanied by the process of reconciliation

of his/her result to find out the student’s semester

performance. But before the processing of result

commences proper, it is assumed that the student must

have met all the necessary requirements for

eligibility such as:

A.Payment of all outstanding levies being owed to

the institution.

B.Submission of all result sheets (course forms)

for the semester or as the case may be.

Once these requirements have been met by a

student(s), his/her result can be then be processed

and kept ready for collection.

Before the advent of computer technology, the manual

process was quite demanding and cumbersome in nature

as there was always massive paper work to be handled

coupled with high degree of redundancy (error) due to

large filing system. The invention and application of

computer now brought succor to the way and manner

student’s results are being handled and computed.

Here in Imo state Polytechnic, the approach is hectic

as it has been characterized by manual method which

has costed the institution great of mishaps ranging

from delayed result processing to missing or

accidental loss of vital students information due to

bulk file storage system.

To solve these problems, the software was then

proposed and designed. It was designed using Visual

Basic.Net 7.1. Visual Basic.Net is a high level

programming language that was developed and

implemented on the .Net framework (software framework

developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on

Microsoft windows). It is an Object Oriented

Programming (OOP) computer language which was built

from Visual Basic 6.0. it comes in two main editions

either as a commercial software e.g. Microsoft Visual

Studio or as a freeware in the form of Visual Basic

Express edition.

The choice of visual basic.net over all other Object

Oriented programs was because of its ease to

understand, and crop of inbuilt features (functions)

which presents it as a rapid application development

platform especially for building standalone and

online applications.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Capturing and processing of students’ result in most

tertiary institutions especially here in Imo State

Polytechnic, Umuagwo usually undergo delayed process,

and even when the results are ready, students

encounter many ups and downs on trying to access

their results. This could be attributed to the many

apparent problems associated with the old, manual

system which are still practiced in major Nigerian

tertiary institutions. Some of the problems posed by

this system include:

1.Delay in processing of student’s results due to

the large student population and complexity of

their records.

2.Shortage of manpower i.e. staff who should do the

work proper.

3.Work function is dull and tiresome due to large

volume of files to be processed.

4.Time wasted in acquiring the relevant student

documents.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this project work is to

design and develop an Online Students’ Grade Point

calculator that would upon successful completion be

able to achieve the following goals:

1.To create a database that would facilitate quick

access to stored files and student records.

2.To eradicate delay in processing of students’

results in Imo State Polytechnic and any other

tertiary institution that may want to adopt the

system.

3.Easy documentation of the students result.

4.To create a well organized and better working

environment for both the institution and students

to capture and reconcile student’s results.

5.To limit the old, manual system and invent a

faster, more accurate and safer means of

perfuming the reconciliation process.

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This project will produce and automated scalable

Grade Point Calculator system that would handle the

whole course offered by the different departments in

Imo State Polytechnic and have such information

stored in the school database for easy access and

reference sake. It considered the different units

allocated to each course in the various departments

and have such data stored against each of the

registered department into the database for easy

access and retrieval.

Before normal result computation commences, the

reconciling officer (which at this time is the HOD’s

of the various departments) would have to register

his department, the courses offered and the units

allocated to each course as well as the academic

semester into the database. The system will

automatically crate a path for such department in the

database.

This system is ideal for Imo State Polytechnic but

may be vouched for by any other institution.

1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Every successful project must have one limitation or

the other and this one is no exception. To ensure I

achieved the primal objective of my research work, I

took the bull by the horns and dealt with these

limitations in order to obtain maximum results.

Some of the limitations I encountered were:

1.Scarcity of resource materials for research work

as the project is more or less a “Virgin Topic”.

2.Insufficient funds to carry out extensive

research or visiting other institutions that may

have brighter scope or similar system in

operation.

3.Time constraint because of relatively small

amount of time given to develop the project.

4.Lack of cooperation of most staff of the

institution I visited while sourcing for

information to build the project.

5.Insufficient knowledge of the programming

language and the time taken to study the language

and develop the software.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

According to the duality principle, the life we live

has two dimensions – the good and the bad, and every

course in life must have importance attached to it.

The project at hand was envisioned to meet the most

pressing and urgent need of Imo State Polytechnic

which had for long time become boring; which the

institution is no longer condoning due to its

continuous growth in human capacity building and

career development. Some of the significance

includes:

1.To reduce the cost expended on reconciliation of

students’ results in Imopoly.

2.To ensure efficiency and timeliness in processing

of students’ results.

3.To tighten security and reduce the rate of

certificate forgery.

4.To increase the level of accuracy in such

processes with little or no redundancy.

5.To create an online student’s Grade point

Calculator to handle student’s results.

6.To ease the stress students undergo on trying to

access their results through long queue.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.DATA: This refers to raw and unprocessed item of

information. It could be deemed as a descriptive

informational raw material which makes no meaning

to a user.

1.INFORMATION: This is the result obtained from the

processing of data. It is used by managements for

effective decision making.

2.COMPUTATION: This is the use of computers to

perform data processing.

3.COMPUTER: This is an electronic device that

accepts raw facts or data, processes these data

with the aid of coded instructions and generate

useful information for decision making.

4.RESULT: This is the outcome of score finalized in

an examination, awarded to a student who has

taken an examination.

5.RECONCILIATION: This is the process of ensuring

that grades made by a student are properly

recorded or entered for him/her both in the

department and in the Exams and Records Unit for

the purpose of graduation.

6.ONLINE: Any activity whatsoever that is carried

out on the internet.

7.CALCULATOR: A device or program used for making

mathematical calculations, in particular a small

electronic device with a keyboard and a visual

display.

8.AUTOMATE: This means to convert a process so that

it can operate automatically using the computer.

9. GRADE POINT: This is a mark (score) awarded to a

student which indicates his/her total performance

in a course examination per semester.

10. HOD: This is an acronym for Head of

Department. In an academic institution, the HOD

is a person who is assigned with the

responsibility of seeing to the affairs of each

department in an institution or organization.

11. DATABASE: This is the aggregate of similar

records stored logically for easy access and

retrieval. It is a linked list of similar files

logically stored.

12. DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR: This is a highly

skilled professional employed to monitor the

overall performance of a database.

13. SEMESTER: This means a half-year term in a

school or University or Polytechnic.

14. POLYTECHNIC: An institution of higher

learning offering courses at degree level or

below especially in vocational subjects.

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