Full Project – Design and implementation of web-based timetable system for computer studies department

Click here to Get this Complete Project Chapter 1-5

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Timetabling concerns all activities with regard to producing a schedule that must be subjective to different constraints. Timetable can be defined as the optimization of given activities, actions or events to a set of objects in space-time matrix to satisfy a set of desirable constraints. A key factor in running an educational center or basically an academic environment is the need for a well-planned, well-throughout and clash-free timetable. Back in the days when technology was not in wide use, (lecture) timetables were manually created by the academic institution. Every school year, tertiary institutions are faced with the tedious task of drawing up academic timetables that satisfies the various courses and the respective examination being offered by the different departments. Timetable development process starts when each Head of Department provide the following information to be used for timetable scheduling. The information provides the modules with dates, time and venues suitable in a particular semester:

Examinable courses in a particular semester.
Dates for lectures to be held (Lectures can be scheduled between Monday and Friday).
Specified time for lectures ( i.e. Between 8am and 4pm)
The venue of the scheduled lectures.

A timetabling problem consists of four (4) parameters and they are: T (set of time), R (set of available resources), M (set of scheduled contacts) and C (set of constraints). This problem assigns time and resources to the contacts on such a way that the constraints will be satisfied. In various timetabling problems, educational timetabling has been generally examined from practical standpoint. Academic timetable is very crucial but it consumes time due to its frequent occurrences and usage among higher institution of learning. Another reason for the difficulty is because of the great complexity of the construction of size of lectures and examinations, due to the scheduling size of the lectures and examinations periods and high number of constraints and criteria of allocation which is usually circumvented with the use of little strict heuristics, based on solutions from previous year (Jose, 2008). The quality of the timetable determines the quality of time dedicated by lecturers, students and administrators to academic activities. Various academic timetabling includes:

School timetable
Lecture timetable

Examination timetable

Assignment timetable

This academic timetable must meet a number of requirements and should satisfy the desires of all entities involved simultaneously as possible. The timings of events must be such that nobody has more than one event at the same time.

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The Department of Computer Science, The Polytechnic Ibadan has been facing a rigorous and strenuous situation when it comes to the issues of creating a timetable that will benefit both the lectures and students as well. The problem of also distributing and communication of the timetable to each student is also worth nothing. The current method of timetable is not internet based which increases the stress on the part of the student who has to keep moving from one office to another. Due to the various offices /department a student has to go to, the need for a web based timetable system for students is inevitable to save time and the cost of transportation from one location to another

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Most educational institutions have resorted to manual generation of their timetables which according to statistics takes much time to get completed and optimal. Even at the optimal stage of the manually generated timetable, there are still a few clashes and it is the lecturer that takes a clashing course that works out the logistics of the course so as to avoid the clash. The available system currently builds or generate a set of timetables, but most times have issues with generating a clash-free and complete timetable.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this work is to generate a timetable while demonstrating the possibility of building the schedules automatically through the use of computers in a way that they are optimal and complete with little or no redundancy. The objectives of this work are as follows :

To be able to optimize the algorithm used in today’s timetable systems to generate the best of timetabling data with fewer or no clashes.
To bring approved timetable closer to users especially to those who use android phones, tablet and laptops.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Online Timetable system is basically designed to save users information, facilitate the manipulation of data in a faster rate, provide concurrent access. (access to many users at the same time) to authorize users, and also ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information system stored by the authorized users. This project work will help ease the queuing system in the university as the online Timetable system will help student to achieve whatever they want to achieve without coming to the various offices for Timetable.

There are several other advantages of online Timetable system and they are listed below:

It saves a lot of time.
It is very convenient to use it right from the comfort of your bedroom, office or anywhere at all in the world.
It is inexpensive to both the student and the school management.
It also helps the school in reducing cost such as labor and stationery.

SCOPE OF STUDY

Timetable scheduling is a complex and time consuming process. Generating timetable for all levels in a university system will definitely take a lot time.

For the purpose of this work, time able creation will be based on degree program only with focus on ND1 and ND2 level courses, this will be an effective way to start the process of time table creation. Also, the work will be made to run on the internet backbone this will make the application distributed and network based.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The proposed development is a time consuming process to this end the project will be streamline to ND1 and ND2 degree programme due to time limitation. Another problem is the inadequate research materials on the subject of timetable scheduling and creation. This project work made use of little available materials.

PROBLEM DEFINITION

The scheduling problem can be defined a problem of finding the optimal sequence for evaluating a finite set of operation (task or job) under a certain set of constraints that must be satisfied. Most educational institutions have resorted to manual generation of their timetables which according to statistics takes much time to get completed and optimal. Even at the optimal stage of the manually generated timetable, there are still a few clashes and it is the lecturer that takes a clashing course that works out the logistics of the course sp as to avoid the clash. A typical example of scheduling problem is timetable scheduling. The problems to be solved by the timetable scheduling are mapped out below:

Maximize individual in timetable scheduling or other resources.
Minimize time required to complete the entire process for timetable scheduling.

Production of timetable and of conflict interest , place, etc.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

It has been established that the physical and manual method of scheduling courses for student are not always helpful, a much better alternative is to use digital and automated process of scheduling. This implies that the implementation of a web based time table is much more convenient and forthcoming as to the current method utilized. The level of success achieved in caring out this research is owed to the methodology adopted. A research methodology is a systematical programming approach of a well-defined procedure that should be followed in caring out a thorough research work.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Timetable: This is the certification of blamelessness, trustworthiness, faithfulness or suitability. This is also a table of events arranged according to the time when they take place.
Computer Network: This is a system that connects two or more computers together using a communication links.

Database: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated.

Android: This is a mobile operating system based on the linux Kernel and currently developed by Google.
Hyperlink: Hyperlinks are highlighted words and phrase you find on web documents that you can click on as to jump to some other documents or internet services.
Backend Application: Serves indirectly in support of front-end services, usually by being closer to the required resource or having the capability to communicate with the required resource.

Frontend Application: This is an application that users interact with directly.
Hypertext Preprocessor: PHP is a server-side scripting language used in building dynamic content for the web.

Get the Complete Project

This is a premium project material and the complete research project plus questionnaires and references can be gotten at an affordable rate of N3,000 for Nigerian clients and $8 for international clients.

Click here to Get this Complete Project Chapter 1-5

You can also check other Research Project here: