Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation

Module Name and Code: Research Methods for Computing and Technology (CT098-3.5-2-RMCT)
Intake Code: UC2F1303IT {NC}
Program Enrolled In: BSc. in Information Technology, with specialism in Network Computing
Title of the Final Year Project: Integrated Offline Text, Voice Communication & Secure File Sharing System
Words Count: 1775 words
Lecturers Name: MUEEN UDDIN
Done By: Shuaib Juma Mohamed - TP027814

CT098-3.5-2-RMCT

Individual Assignment

1. Table of Contents
1.

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................................... II

2.

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................................................... 4

3.

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................. 5

4.

3.1.

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................................5

3.2.

SOLUTION ..................................................................................................................................................................................5

RESEARCH AIMS & OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................... 6

4.1.

RESEARCH AIM ...........................................................................................................................................................................6

4.2.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................................................6

5.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................................................ 6

6.

RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................................................................................................. 6

6.1.

PRIMARY RESEARCH .....................................................................................................................................................................7

6.1.1.

Interviews...........................................................................................................................................................................7

6.1.2.

Surveys ...............................................................................................................................................................................7

7.

PERSONAL REFLECTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 8

8.

REFERENCE LIST ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9

ii

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Individual Assignment

Integrated Offline Text, Voice Communication &

Secure File Sharing System

CT098-3.5-2-RMCT

Individual Assignment

2. Introduction
Integrated Offline Text, Voice Communication & Secure File Sharing System, is basically an integrated offline
software system of an instant Massaging, voice Communication and secure encrypted file sharing between two
or more users. The Integrated Offline Text, Voice Communication & Secure File Sharing System is intended
for employees usage within an organization to enhance communication ways between employees and secure
the shared files among them.
Instant Messaging or IM is one type of communications services that enables and allows two or more users to
communicate via texts in real time between each other. As one of the users types a message, the same message
appears instantly to the intended user at the same time (Rapaport, 2001)
Voice communication is another type of communication between two or more users which happens over the
Internet, by using Voice-Over Internet Protocol [VoIP] (Wisegeek, n.d.). VoIP turns analog audio signal (voice)
into digital data which allows it to be transmitted over the Internet and to anywhere in the world (Roos &
Valdes , n.d.).
The Integrated Offline Text, Voice Communication & Secure File Sharing System will be based on the ClientServer architecture in a Local Area Network (LAN) thus does not require a connection to the Internet for it to
work and makes it immune against cyber-attacks.

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Individual Assignment

3. Problem Statement and Literature Review

3.1. Problem Statement and Literature Review
In any organization, employees communication is vital for the success of the organization. Thus in an active
workplace, the organization tend to make employees communications a priority to achieve organization
missions and goals as well as success (Boggess, 2013). Employees communicate with each other within an
organization through various methods such as Emails, internal letters or memos.
These current methods provide convenient but not truly reliable communication between employees, and it
does not cope with the rapid changing trend of the organization (Beyond, n.d.). Thus organizations started using
other methods for employee communications like Yahoo Messenger, Skype or OOVOO for voice and video
conversations and file sharing to make employees communicate with each other instantly within a workplace
and achieve organizational success.
These methods are being deployed in organizations to enhance employees communications and productivity.
However, the vast majority of these methods used in the organizations requires a constant access to a high end
Internet line which may cost a lot of money due to the total cost of product software or/and hardware with the
total cost of maintenance (Ramey, 2013).
Alongside, these methods are installed and used with no security implementation on the file sharing side and
without the organizations oversight, which leads to exposing organization data and network to theft and damage
which makes the organization vulnerable for a security attack (Ean, 2011).

3.2. Solution
The Researcher is proposing an offline application system for employees communications within an
organization. The proposed application system can offer text and voice communications as well as the ability to
secure files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) before sharing between employees within an
organization.

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Individual Assignment

4. Research Aims & Objectives

4.1. Research Aim
This research proposal aims to develop an offline application system that is based on the Client-Server
Architecture in a LAN which is able to send and receive instant messages, voice communication and securing
files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) before sharing between employees within an organization.

4.2. Research Objectives

The Research objectives are:

To develop an offline application based on the Client-Server Architecture that can offer voice
communication, instant messaging and secure file sharing between enterprise employees.

To secure files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) before sharing between employees within an
organization.

5. Research Questions

What are the impacts of using LAN Based Text & Voice Communication System within an Enterprise?

What are the Advantages of using AES Encryptions?

What are the different types of file encryptions methods?

6. Research Design
Research design descries in details all the data collecting and gathering methods that will be used by the
researcher in order to carry and do the research phase of the proposal.
Data collecting and gathering methods are set of methodologies for gathering, collecting and measuring
information of interest that leads the researcher to answer their research questions, test their hypotheses or
evaluate different outcomes related to the research (The Office Of Research Integrity (ORI), n.d.). Some of
these methods are Interviews, Observation, Self-Administered Surveys and Documents Review. They are
divided into two categories, the Primary Methods and the Secondary Methods. The Primary Methods are any
data collected by the researcher himself or herself such as interviews or observations. While the Secondary
Methods are data which is already exists such as documents or previous research papers (University of Surrey,
n.d.). In this research proposal the data collecting and gathering methods will be carried as following:

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Individual Assignment

6.1. Primary Research

6.1.1. Interviews
A method of collecting data by asking the interviewee orally some set of questions through face to face or over
the phone and record the answer given by the interviewee. Interview are divided into 3 categories, Structure
which means a formal interview, Semi Structure which means moderate level of formality interview and
Unstructured which is none formal, and casual interview (University of Surrey, n.d.).
For this research proposal the researcher will conduct ten face to face semi-structured interviews with
employees from 3 different organizations which are Sapura Group, AirAsia and Digi Telecommunications to
gather relevant information and background about the current methods for employees communications that are
used in their organizations. Some of the questions that would be asked on the participants are:

Would you please state the employees communication methods used by your organizations?

For what purposes the organization employees use these communication methods?

What are the disadvantages of using these communication methods within the organization?

What kind of data is sent, received and shared within employees?

6.1.2. Surveys

Surveys are another data collecting method used in gathering background information about a topic of interest.
They are commonly used to collect self-report data from groups of participants; it aims to collect the opinions
of the survey participants (Cherry, n.d.).
For this research proposal the researcher will create an online survey containing several questions targeting a
sample from the academic and non-academic staff of the Asia Pacific University (APU). The survey will be
send to the targeted individuals by Email asking them kindly to participate in the survey. The survey aims to
gather relevant information and background data about the participants methods used for communications with
other APU staffs within the University. Some of the online survey questions that would be added are:

Are you an Academic or None Academic Staff?

State your job title in APU?

How do you communicate with other APU staff during the duty hours?

What are the disadvantages of using those communication methods within the organization?

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Individual Assignment

7. Personal Reflection
After doing this research, the researcher realized that proceeding with this research to the second step which is
for the Final Year Project (FYP) will be a bit difficult and hard due to some limitation and difficulties that faced
the researcher while doing this research proposal. Nonetheless, with the help of the supervisor and the available
resources in the APU Library the researcher is confident of his ability to proceed with this research and
complete it in time.
However, some of these limitations and difficulties that faced the researcher are, firstly understand how file
encryption and decryption works, and what method of file encryption that can be implemented within the
project. The researcher has no background knowledge of how to code a file encryption application, thus the
researcher will have to refer to websites and APU Library books in order to be able to implement it within the
project.
Secondly, it came to the researcher mind that doing the interview with some employees of Sapura Group,
AirAsia and Digi Telecommunications will be difficult and will take time. Before doing the interview the
researcher must understand who to target in each organization in order to get the best results and information.
As well as the researcher will have to communicate with the organizations formally and setup a research
interview that suits the interviewees. The researcher will have to conduct the interview during the organizations
business hours which will be difficult to manage as the researcher might have classes that will be missed in
order to do the interview.
Thirdly, although the researcher has a very good knowledge in Java programming and a basic knowledge of
java Advance programming, he will face some difficulties working with sockets programming as it is part of
the java Network Computing programming and considered as Advance programming which the researcher will
have to do self-studies on that topic in order to be able to proceed with the project.

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Individual Assignment

8. Reference List
Beyond, n.d. How to Encourage Communication Between Employees. [Online] Available at:
http://www.beyond.com/articles/how-to-encourage-communication-between-employees-12513-article.html
[Accessed 1st November 2013].
Boggess, S., 2013. 15 tips for effective employee communication. [Online] Available at:
http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/15_tips_for_effective_employee_communication_45031.aspx [Accessed
1st November 2013].
Cherry, K., n.d. What Is a Survey? [Online] Available at:
http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/f/survey.htm [Accessed 22nd November 2013].
Ean, L., 2011. Computer-Mediated Communication and Organizational Communication: The Use of New
Communication Technology in the Workplace. The Journal of the South East Asia Research centre for
Communication and Humanities, 3, pp.1-12.
Ramey, K., 2013. The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Technology In The Workplace. [Online] Available at:
http://www.useoftechnology.com/technology-workplace-2/ [Accessed 15th November 2013].
Rapaport, L., 2001. Instant Messaging For Corporate Collaboration. Transform Magazine, pp.1-5.
Roos, D. & Valdes , R., n.d. How VoIP Works. [Online] Available at: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/iptelephony.htm [Accessed 26th October 2013].
The Office Of Research Integrity (ORI), n.d. Data collection. [Online] Available at:
http://ori.dhhs.gov/education/products/n_illinois_u/datamanagement/dctopic.html [Accessed 22nd November
2013].
University of Surrey, n.d. Introduction to Research. [Online] Available at:
http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Introduction%20to%20Research%20and%20Managing%20Information
%20Leicester/page_21.htm [Accessed 22nd November 2013].
Wisegeek, n.d. What Is Voice Chat? [Online] Available at: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-voice-chat.htm
[Accessed 26th October 2013].