Chapter 1

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Education desired

serves

change

in

as

the

society,

means

to

to

develop

bring a

about

generation

the of

virtuous individuals and contribute to the development of good human beings. The fundamental purpose of education is to gain knowledge, inspire the forms of proper conduct and acquire technical competency. Education serves as the means to

develop

oneself

spiritually. manifests youths

The

itself

of

physically,

importance in

society

terms

into

mentally,

of

of

the

mature

socially

education need

to

to

youths

cultivate

individuals.

and

Education

the is

important for the youths. It is the time to develop the principles of life, make career decisions and begin the pursuit of one's goals. To

be

an

educated

person,

one

must

go

in

an

institution where he or she will gain knowledge in order to be

ready

to

face

the

world

and

its

calling.

Education

starts from pre-school, continues to elementary and high school and ends in college. After college a person has a choice whether he or she will go on studying to get a master¶s degree and a doctor¶s degree, but still education does not end there.

With

this in mind, the Queen of Peace School opens its

doors for the researchers to conduct their study in the field of Information Technology. The Queen of Peace School offers a high quality of education to its students not only on intellectual aspects, but also spiritually. The Queen of Peace

School

managed

is

by

a

the

private

school

Congregation

institution

of

the

owned

Blessed

and

Virgin

Missionaries of Carmel (BVMC). The Queen of Peace School seeks for further advancement in their school system where technology

can

help

them

be

more

efficient.

With

this

vision the researchers proposed that they will conduct a study

that

will

automate

the

Queen

of

Peace

School¶s

Enrollment and Students Billing process. The current manual enrollment process usually consumes four days for a parents child to be enrolled and the budget of the school is based on the students payments, once enrolled a student is given dates where he or she is required to pay the school, if the student¶s payment is delayed the schools budget cycle will be

broken

and

because

of

that

the

school

has

monthly

examinations where only students that is paid that month can

only

process

take. will

be

If

the

Enrollment

automated

the

and

school

student will

billing have

improvement in their system in serving their clients.

an

Background of the Study The

Queen

institution

of

Peace

managed

and

School owned

is by

a

private

school

the

Blessed

Virgin

Missionaries of Carmel. Their goal is for the greater glory of

God

under

the

inspiration

of

the

Holy

Spirit

which

encourages the members to follow more closely through the practice of the evangelical counsels. The Queen of Peace School aims to use technology as a tool to improve and enhance the slow or manual system on enrolment and billing which they are currently using. If this processes will be improved by automation, work flow will

be

fast

and

systematic

which

minimal

or

even

zero

error can be achieved. During the enrollment period these are the procedures to be followed: 1. The parent must visit the school and will read and understand the policies of the school. 2. Discussion on school policy and payment system. 3. Schedule an examination for the student, both oral and written. Usually examination is scheduled on the other day in order for the parent to prepare their child.

4.

Results

will

be

automatically

given

after

the

examination. If the student qualifies, the student and

parent

will

be

given

requirements

for

enrollment. 5. Enrollment process and payment. 6. Giving of schedule of classes. During the payment period these are the procedures to be followed: 1. The parent must go to the school. 2. The parent will inquire and pay at the registrar¶s office. 3. The registrar will find the students record. 4.

The registrar will update and give a new student¶s account form to the parent as a copy or basis for the next payment if the parent is not fully paid.

All forms used during this processes is either bought by the school or printed. Statement of the Problem The

researchers

developed

the

enrolment

and

billing

for Queen of Peace School. This

study

is

conducted

to

identify

concerns

and

problems during the enrollment and billing period of the

school.

The

following

are

the

identified

concerns

and

problems: 1. Tiresome procedure in recording and gathering student and parent data and information. 2. Requires a lot of time in searching previous records. 3. Unsafe storage of documents. 4.

Consumes

more

paper

if

there

is

an

error

in

the

student¶s record. 5. Filing cabinets are expensive and consume a lot of office space. 6. Takes a lot of time in solving and updating student accounts and it consumes more paper. 7. Requires a lot of resources in producing enrollment and accounting forms. Assumptions of the Study The following are the assumptions of the study: 1. An automated system that has a database where all user and client data is stored. 2. Minimize

error

since

electronic

data

can

just

be

easily edited. 3. Efficiency records.

in

saving,

updating

and

finding

student

4.

Secured and reliable storage of user and client data and information.

5. The time spent on enrollment and billing process will be reduced. 6. More school resources will be saved. Significance of the Study This study is useful to the following: School

Having

Principal.

the

responsibility

of

managing the school. The principal will have efficiency in the schools system and its employee. Never the less, by means of this system the Queen of Peace School will get a great boost with the help of technology. School

the

need

instead

Teachers.

to

the

ask

The system will help them minimize

the

registrar

students

about

with

help

the

their of

the

information; system

will

print the student¶s information and send it to the teacher in need. Parents.

spending

more

The

parents

time

on

will

the

have

the

enrollment

benefit

process

of

and

not upon

enrolling their child the system will print a receipt with a schedule of payments where they base the dates they will pay their school dues. If their child graduates, it would

be easier for them to get the records on the system. All they have to do is get permission to the principal in order to have a copy of their record. Students.

The students will have the benefit of having

safe and secured records and in the long run the system will give them ease in getting their school records. Researchers. This study challenged the researchers to

push

their

enrollment

selves and

to

student

do

their

billing

best

in

system.

developing The

system

the will

serve as a basis to further enhance their skills and expand more knowledge in areas of research and software design and development. Other Researchers and  Software Developers. Having the

ability and expertise in designing and developing software applications, this study will be a good basis for them to further conduct a study. Scope and Limitation of the Study The researcher¶s intention is to create a system that will improve the enrollment and student billing process of Queen

of

Peace

School.

This

system

will

accommodate

enrollees and enrolled students. This system will be used during the enrollment period of the school in the month of

May

and

onwards.

All

information

gathered

from

the

enrollment period will be saved and will be used if needed all year long. Because this system has a billing feature, the

billing

system

will

be

used

all

year

long.

The

enrollment is done inside the school campus particularly in the

registrar¶s

computer

is

office

has

a

that

user

has

profile

one

(1)

where

computer.

only

the

The

system

administrator can access. Once the computer is opened, the Student Enrollment and Billing System can be now be opened. If the system is running, registered users are required to login

their

user

administrator

account

can

add

and

password.

additional

Only

user

the

with

system

different

privileges. The system administrator privilege can update, delete, save and add records. The teacher privilege can only view client information; the teacher privilege cannot alter or touch data whether it is physical or electronic data. If a teacher needs a printed copy of a client¶s data the

teacher

would

first

ask

permission

to

the

system

administrator to have a copy of the desired information. During monthly exams, the billing system will print examination

permits

when

the

system

administrator

clicks

the specific button. The number of printed permits varies on

the

number

of

students

that

paid

on

that

specific

examination month. Since the school applies a no permit no exam

policy.

If

administrator

will

a

student

just

pays

update

the

late

the

student¶s

system

record

in

order to have a special permit. All records will be saved in the hard disk drive of the computer. The hard disk drive will be portioned into two (2). The first partition (drive c:) is where all the drive where the entire files essential to the computer to function and run is located; while the partitioned drive (drive

d:)

is

where

all

the

records

from

the

Student

Enrollment and Billing System will be located. If the drive (drive d:) will be full, the system administrator can just request for a new

hard disk drive and install it to be

used.

is

Other

option

the

system

administrator

can

use

removable storage devices, a high capacity flash disk drive or

an

external

computer

hard

hardware

in

disk a

drive.

good

To

and

maintain

useful

files

and

condition,

the

system needs an automatic voltage regulator (AVR) and an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). This two (2) devices is essential

to

prevent

data

loss

and

because of power surges and blackout.

hardware

malfunction

Definition of Terms For

better

understanding

of

the

keywords

of

this

study, the following terms are defined as: Computer.

A computer is a programmable machine that

receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format.

(

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer). In this study a computer is an essential component. All data and information will be processed in this machine. Database.

collection

of

A data

database for

one

consists or

more

of

an

uses,

organized

typically

in

digital form. One way of classifying databases involves the type

of

their

contents,

for

example:

bibliographic,

document-text, statistical. Digital databases are managed using

database

contents,

management

allowing

data

systems, creation

which and

store

database

maintenance,

and

search and other access. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database). In this study, all electronically processed data will be encoded and saved to the database.

Backup.

In

information

technology,

a

backup

or

the

process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup). In this study, a backup is needed to secure and eliminate data loss. Hard disk drive. Is a non-volatile storage device for

digital

data.

It

features

one

or

more

rotating

rigid

platters on a motor-driven spindle within a metal case. Data is encoded magnetically by read/write heads that float on a cushion of air above the platters. Password.

characters

A password is a secret word or string of

that

is

used

for

authentication,

to

prove

identity or gain access to a resource (example: an access code is a type of password). The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password). In this study, a password is required per user to gain access and maintain security and data confidentiality.

Privilege. In computing, privilege is defined as the

delegation of authority over a computer system. A privilege is a permission to perform an action. Examples of various privileges

include

the

ability

to

create

a

file

in

a

directory, or to read or delete a file, access a device, or have read or write permission to a socket for communicating over the Internet. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_%28computing%29). In this study, there is a need for user privilege in order to determine who and what the user is capable of doing in the

system.

Privilege

in

this

study

gives

different

restriction to user accounts depending on their accounts whether it an administrator or just a registered user.