BENARD ERNEST: SPECIAL PROJECT PROPOSAL (FINAL YEAR PROJECT)

BENARD ERNEST: SPECIAL PROJECT PROPOSAL (FINAL YEAR PROJECT)

SPECIAL PROJECT PROPOSAL (FINAL YEAR PROJECT)

ABSTRACT

In the institution like SUA, searching for a particular telephone number in the telephone book is hard process, especially when the system used to keep the telephone numbers is paper-based and also if a particular office/person does not have the telephone directory (book).

Generally telephone directory maintains telephone numbers and help to get location for a particular number in the directory. But SUA directory has many numbers, so it is very difficult to find a particular number through paper-based telephone directory. To solve this, there must be an online telephone directory system that enhance easy searching of a particular number online

Therefore, a comprehensive database system should be designed that will store all telephone numbers of SUA offices and other details relating to SUA offices like location of the office. In addition to that a good interface should be designed that will enable users to search for telephone numbers and also for the administrator to update/modify information in the database.

In order to create the interaction between the database the web page (web-based database system), a dynamic web page will be created that will join the database with the web page. But throughout the development of this system different security aspects will be considered that will bring about good system which satisfies user needs and therefore increase user happiness.

Glossary

PHP: (Hypertext Preprocessor) a scripting language widely used to write web applications

MySQL:   An open source relational database management system

HTML: (Hypertext Markup Language) is the language that a web browser such as MS     Internet Explorer or Mozilla understands.

 A JSP web page: is a web page with Java code embedded inside of it

JavaScript: This is a programming language that is used to make web pages interactive. It runs on client computer and so does not require constant downloads from the web site.

Database: This is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated.

Web pages: This is a document or resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a computer screen.

Internet: A worldwide network of networks. It is also the network of networks that connects millions computers (called hosts).

Directory: refers to an approach to organizing information, the most familiar example being a telephone directory. OR on the World Wide Web, a directory is a subject guide, typically organized by major topics and subtopics.

1.      Introduction

Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) is one of the higher learning institutions in Tanzania. It is located in Morogoro 200km West of Dar es Salaam city. This University is among the institutions that offer many agricultural courses in Africa. Currently the University has four faculties and six Directories/Institutes namely: Faculty of science (FOS), Faculty of vertinary Medicine, and Sciences (FVMS), Faculty of Agriculture (FOA), and Faculty of forestry and nature conservation (FFNC); the institute of continuing education (ICE), the development Studies Institute (DSI), and Directorate of Research and Postgraduate Studies (DRPGS). Others are the Computer Centre, Sokoine National Agricultural Library (SNAL), and SUA Centre for sustainable rural development (SCSRD) and SUA Pest Management Centre (SPMC) (Sua, 2010)

In order to make sure that there is good coordination /communication between one faculty and the other in their daily activities and being able to offer good services, SUA has implemented different telephone services like; intra-telephone service where by telephone communication is only within SUA offices and the external telephone services where by telephone communication is within and outside SUA. Up to date the university is still using paper-based telephone directory to keep/store the telephone numbers where by a telephone book is prepared, printed and distributed into some offices at the university. Also to other offices only part of the telephone directory is provided (sheets containing telephone numbers). Staffs and Students suffer a lot in searching a particular number due to the paper-based system which is currently being used where by only Staffs and Students who have access to the telephone book can be able to find a particular telephone number, leaving other staffs and students unable to access a telephone book and therefore unable to find a particular telephone number.

Therefore, in order to alleviate this problem; I intend to develop a web-based database system which will store all telephone numbers and keep track of all details like office location and office name for each telephone number.

Keeping information about telephone numbers and their details in a web-based database is a good idea for the betterment of the university. So with this, the university has to implement web-based database system for the improvement and even modernization of the telephone directory at SUA, where by any person with internet access from anywhere around the world can access the telephone directory easily(user location doesn’t matter).

2.      Problem Statement

As explained in the introduction above, the paper-based telephone directory is prepared and distributed into some offices at SUA where by Students and other persons outside SUA office will not be able to access it.

2.1.   Current Scenario

In order to search a number, a user must first be in the office or at the place where there is a telephone directory book. From that, then a user take a telephone directory book and Go to the content page and write down the page number where a given telephone number is found. Thereafter a user now can go to the specific page and start searching for given number accurately (line-by-line). After a user find a particular number, he/she writes down that number and go to the telephone for communication use (ready for start dialing).

2.2.   Problem in Existing System

With the existing system user (staff, students and other people) get the number late, This means that the time to get a number is long due to the some operations in the existing system as any user who needs a number must first find a telephone directory book which may be distant from user position and start searching.

Also the existing led to cost of travelling from the place where no telephone directory book to the place where telephone directory is found.

In addition to that, the existing system increase time consuming and costs in preparing and printing a paper-based telephone directory, where by a lot of money is used to buy papers, printers and other materials for printing the telephone directory.

Not only that but also the existing system makes the process of updating the telephone directory difficult. Therefore, with the current system there is no possibility of making modification of some information unless you re-print another copy of a book.

3.      Purpose of choosing the project

The purpose of choosing this project and not other projects is to develop a web-based database system for Sokoine University of Agriculture telephone directory that will keep track of all telephone numbers and other details of location and names of office at SUA.

3.1.   Advantages of the proposed System

This system will minimize university costs, since with this system no paper will be used to prepare a telephone directory and also no movement of user from one place to another looking for paper-based book. Therefore, everything will be online.

The increases of people from outside SUA communicate with different offices at SUA and therefore increase/improve service offering through telephone.

In case of updating telephone numbers, it will be very easy since all information will be kept in the comprehensive database.

4.      Objectives

The objective of this proposal is divided into two parts, namely: general objective and specific objectives.

4.1.   General Objective

To develop a web-based system for SUA`s telephone directory.

4.2.   Specific Objectives

• To do feasibility study on the current system
• To develop a comprehensive database that will store all telephone numbers and their details
• To design user interface that will allow users to:

      View telephone numbers

      Search for a particular telephone number by either name or number and

      Modify and update information in the database (only for database administrator)

• To create a system that will provide security and convenience for the telephone directory
• To develop a system that concatenates databases system and user interface

5.      Hypothesis

The implementation and introduction of web-based telephone directory at SUA, is expected to solve the problem of telephone number searching, since all telephone numbers will be online

Also the implementation of this system is expected to simplify the work of updating information in the SUA telephone directory database system

6.      Literature review

The literature review part explains about the working of existing system, Telephone directory database system, database security and dynamic web pages. Apart from that it also explains how the proposed system will work together with its advantages.

6.1.   The existing system/current system

The researcher visited the system that is currently used and observes the following situation:

The existing system is a manual system where by a user (staff, students and other people) searches for a particular number by using a paper-based telephone directory. So if the telephone book is not found in the given office/place then the user has to travel to the office or place where a telephone book is found. For that case one has to spend a long time searching for a particular telephone number.

Also apart from that the paper-based telephone directory is kept at the unsecured environment such that for the case of disaster like fire disaster, a book may be lost, hence no telephone number can be found from the system.

Also manual system (paper based telephone directory) stores the location name and numbers (listings) in the book a manually. Therefore this requires a user to manually update the directory listing if they change. In any given community or organization giving manually system of telephone directory the number of changes in  both residential and business telephone  directory listing can change  quite considerable  during the year (Sussam,1996) .

Therefore, there is a necessity to provide an improved method and apparatus to provide a telephone subscriber (user)  with a person on- line ( downloaded  read-only ) telephone directory database, that is easy to use and  maintain (Sussam ,1996) .

6.2.   Telephone directory database system

This system is effective an electronically stored equivalent of a telephone book. The telephone directory database can for example store local residential directories, local business directories, local and federal government directories and  a user specific, the directory database can be  configured to store other area`s residential and /or business directories and /or local government directories. The only limitation to the number of various directories that can be stored is the limitation of the hardware memory that current and supports (Sussman, 1996).

In any scenario user consult telephone directory database when they are in need of it. And if the user find  that the directory database is  not current  ( not updated)  or does not contain a list for desire  services  number  he / she  will be  frustrated. Likewise the user will become frustrated if the desired listing of number cannot be located quickly. However providing duplicate listings for services which are synonyms with one another will be prohibitively expensive for the publisher of the directory and would result in oversized directory that will be cumbersome for users to use (Rondeau, 1998).

By considering many limitations of available directory services, there exists a need for an on–line directory services which combine the advantages of a printed telephone directory with the advantage of on-line database.

Since the system (telephone directory) is on-line, many users are expected to subscribe on it. Therefore the telephone directory system should be secured from non authorized user. That is database security for telephone directory is to be implemented (Sussman, 1996).

6.3.   Database security

Database security is the system, processes and procedures that protect a database from unintended activity. Unintended activity can be categorized as authenticates misuse, malicious attacks or in advertent mistakes made by authorized individuals or process (Mary et-al, 2001).

As organization increase their reliance on, possibly distributed information for daily business they become more vulnerable to security breaches even as they gain productivity and efficiency advantages. Though a number of techniques, such as encryption and electronic signature, are currently available to protect data when transmitted across sites, a truly comprehensive approach for data protection must also include mechanism for enforcing access control policies. Based on data contents, subjects qualification and characteristics and other relevant contextual information such as time (Bertino and Sandhu, 2005)

Access controls techniques are often implemented to provide aggregate /summary information without disclosing individual data. Although such technique prevent disclosure for some type of queries they don’t guarantee that disclosure will occur for all types of queries (Adam and Wortmann, 1989)

Access control assigns rights to specific objects and uses. For instance, most database system use some forms of authentication such as user name and password to restrict access to the system. Further, most users are authorized or assigned defined privileges to specific resources. Also access to control refines the process by assigning right and privileges to specific data objects and data sets (Murray, 2010).

To implement the access control mechanism the subscribers should be provided with input interface and display interface that give the different user interfaces according to the user privileges and being linked with centralized database by the use of dynamic web page and  provide bidirectional data transfer (Sussam,1996)

6.4.   Dynamic web pages

According to Upson (2010), dynamic web-page is the page that changes based on the users. It responds to the users need and provides relevant information to meet them, by accessing information in a connected database, a dynamic web page allow users to go beyond reading text and looking at graphics. It allow for an interactive experience with the users being in control of the information he/she views. Example of dynamic web pages is E-mail web site, online telephone directory site, banking sites and search engines.

The number of web based software applications that use database queries continuous to grow as more information become available through the internet and World Wide Web (WWW). Example of web-based program using database queries is the online or electronic yellow pages applications (Moore et al, 2002)

The electronic yellow pages are online or web based directory listings are analogues to traditional paper telephone directory listings like white page and yellow pages (Moore et al 2002).Actually the world wide web is essentially a collection of hypertext document or web page is essentially a collection of hypertext documents or web pages that exists across the networks word wide such as the internet (Jois et al, 2000).

In order for client computer to view a web page, a web browser program is used. A web server program running on the server manages the web pages and process the client request to return the appropriate web page to the client (Jois et al ,2000).

While the World Wide Web was originally conceived to be mainly an application for clients to access information on the internet, it’s wide acceptance and adoption has prompted further enhancements. This is the advent of HTML version 2, where by input features have been added that allow a client to modify the field of a data base residing on a web server, one application for this capability is a web search engine which stores an index of web pages on a database such as the transactional database. With this the program queries the database and returns a web page listing the search results. Therefore, this is mainly used on on-line transaction such as online retailing system and online telephone directory (Jois et al, 2000).

In this way a user on a client computer when visiting one or more web pages can send input to modify a database in the server computer. An up-to-date report of the database is always displayed on the client computers screen as one component of a composite web page among a predefined set of such composite web pages (Jois et al, 2000).

According to Sussam (1996), paper based telephone directory store the location name and number (listings) manually and allow users to update/modify the telephone directory manually.  The proposed system is expected to automate the telephone directory to be able to store the listing automatically and allow users to update the directory automatically. That is the with the proposed system, the modification s made to a single telephone directory book will reflect to all  other books containing the same information , in addition to that Sussam(1996), pointed out that there is necessity to provide an improved method and apparatus to provide a telephone  subscribers with a person on-line telephone database. Therefore the proposed system is expected to provide good database that satisfies user needs and increase user happiness

According to Bertino and Saudhu (2005) to secure database system number of techniques such as encryption and electronic signature must be implemented to protect data when transmitted across sites. Apart from that also there must be a mechanism for enforcing access control policies that will divide different users/groups with different privileges. With that remarks, the proposed system is expected to use strong algorithms for securing data and provide a systematic access control mechanism.

 In order for client computer to view a web page Jois et al (2002), pointed out that a web browser program is used. A web server program running on the server manages the web page and process the client request to return the appropriate web page to the client. Therefore the proposed system is expected to provide a good user interface that concatenates to the database system, hence provide easy and enjoyable system of (telephone directory) 

Conclusively the advantages expected from the proposed system are:

• Use short time to get a particular number when searching
• No cost of travelling when searching, as everything will be in the central database
• No cost of preparing and printing a hard copy of a telephone directory as everything will be electronically.

The development of the directory system is sequential, that is; development starts from the planning stage to the last stage (operation and maintenance) and the accomplishment of one stage allows the development of the next stage and do not turn back to the previous stage unless reaches to the last stage (Rondeau, 1998).

Therefore, this inventor used waterfall model approach throughout his development. But the drawback of this model (waterfall model) is the difficulty of accommodating change after the process is underway.

The development of telephone directory system is of divided products and increments, where by each increment delivers part of the telephone directory functionality and the accomplishment one functionality will initialize the other functionalities development (Sussman, 1996).

This inventor used the incremental development approach throughout the development of this telephone directory system. This model has Lower risk of overall project failure, but needs more skilled people to conduct a project by using this kind of approach (model).

With all the reviewed methodologies, the researcher is expecting to use a rapid prototype approach where by the version of the system software will be designed and installed to the server and wait for testing and evaluation just for modification of it. This approach results into good software product, since every stage of development is checked and modified for fulfilling the system functionality.

7.       METHODOLOGY

In the development of this system, the researcher will follow all necessary and accepted steps in developing a system which is known as System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

The development of this software is going to be done by a Rapid Prototype Approach, where by a version of the system software will be designed and installed to the server. The members will use the system to test its usability and collecting any more requirements that will be included in the next version of the system when the proceeding one is not okay, till the users are okay with the system.

7.1.   REQUIREMENTS DETERMINATION

The requirements will be determined through making conversation with the users of the system and identifies all the requirements for the SUA telephone directory that the users need to be met which will be arrived by making priorities among the requirements listed and determine only the requirements with high priorities among the users

7.2.   Requirements specification

The requirements specification will state out all the services or activities that the proposed system will perform and the constraints that will be involved such as the time constraints, human resources and the whole budget according to the user’s needs. This will be done soon after the gathering and analyzing the user’s requirements specifications which will facilitate the system Design and implementation.

7.3.   Design

The Entity Relationship Diagram (ER-Diagram) will be used for design of the database system after the systems specification which shows the conceptual design of the database, the type of information that is to be stored in the database system and how these information associate with each other (that is it shows entities, attributes and relationships). Also the Unified Modelling Language (UML) such as the use case diagram and the class diagram will be used to show how user will interact with the system

7.4.   USER INTERFACE DESIGN

This will show how the user will interact with the system and all aspects of optimizing the interface with the person who must use the system which will specify the logical characteristics of interface between the software product and the user

7.5.   Implementation

The system will be implemented using Java server page (JSP) and Structured Query Language (SQL)/ (MySQL)

7.6.   CODING

The coding will involve the use of Java Server Page (JSP)

7.7.   Testing

The system will be tested by executing the system with the real data to be processed by the system to check if it functions and meet the user requirements. The version of the software system will be tested in different platforms but the most preferable are Windows and Linux.

7.8.   Evaluation

This will compare the stated objectives or the user requirements and the system itself if it has met all the user requirements. The areas of dissatisfaction (if any) will be listed and their reasons, if there has to be any improvements to the system suggestions will be provided.

7.9.   RELIABILITY

This will specify the factors required to establish the required reliability of the software system at time of delivery. 

7.10.                    LATENCY

The data communication between different components will be accommodated efficiently

7.11.                    SCALABILITY

This will specify the maximum number of users of the system who can be handled and the capacity of the system to be expanded

7.12.                    USER INTERFACE

The system interface will be user friendly since the technologies which will be used (HTML and JavaScript) are easy to use and easy to manage and maintain.

7.13.                    SECURITY

This will specify the factors that would protect the software from accidental or malicious access.

TIME LINE  

ACTIVITIES	2010		2011
	NOV	DEC		JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUNE
Decide topic of  interest
Visiting case study area
Writing proposal
Submission of proposal
Requirements collection
Designing database
Implementing database
Designing user interface
System testing and evaluation
Project report writing
Project report presentation
Project report submission

BUDGET AND RESOURCES

S/N	ITEM	QUANTITY	DESCRIPTION	UNIT PRICE (Tshs)	TOTAL (Tshs)
1	Transport costs		Case study survey	45,000	45,000
2	A4 plain papers	2	Rim	7,500*2	15,000
3	Secretarial activities		Typing, printing, photocopy and binding	70,000	70,000
4	Preparation of Research Tools/Equipments/Materials		Analysis, Designing, Modeling and Testing Tools, Maintenance	30,000	30,000
5	Others			20,000	20,000
GRAND TOTAL					180,000

REFERENCES:

Adam, N. R., J. C. Wortmann. (1989). ‘Security control methods for statistical databases: A comparative study’. ACM Comput. Surveys 21(4) 515-556.

Bertino,E,Sandhu,R 2005, ’Database security-concepts, Approaches and Challenges’, IEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure computing. Vol. 2, no 1, pp 2-19.

Jois, S.K, Stankovic, A, Stankovic, W & Dressel, A 2000, System and Method for Dynamic Data interaction in hypertext data processing system, United states patent, Vol. 6112242, no  08/677,855, pp1-6

Mary,A.D. et-al (2001). Oracle9i Database Security for e-business. Oracle corporation publisher. USA

Moore, V.S, Beach, B & Walters, G.R 2002,’Method to demonstrate software they performance        

Database queries’ United States Patent, vol. US6, 338,068B1, No 09/211,778, pp 1-3

Murray, M.C 2010,’database security: What students Need to know’, Journal of information technology Education: Innovation in Practice, Vol. 9 ,pp 62-64.

Upson, M 2010 dynamic web pages, viewed on 23 february 2011, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-dynamic -web-page.html.

Rondeau, D.E 1998,’Systems and Method for providing an online Directory Services’, United States patent, vol. 5850433, no 642,009. pp 1-4.

Sussman, L 1996, ‘Electronic online Subscriber Telephone directory’, United States Patent, vol. 5483, no 276701, pp 1-3.

SUA 2010, ‘Twenty sixth graduation ceremony’, programme and order of proceedings, pp 1