Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The innovation of technology has been playing huge part in our society. The world is in

our hands with the use of computer and internet connection. These technologies are the solution

to business problems. One good example of business problem is the bulky stack of papers that

may lead in losing documents, longer searching for the documents and processing of papers.

Storing papers in file cabinets is also occupying a lot of physical space. The current situation is

very evident in the Office of Student Affairs of. Wherein, potential or misfiled request forms of

students. Stacks of papers are high that prolongs the release of referral letter and create an

overload of unsorted papers that will result to inconvenience to not just the students but as well

as to the staff. The Office of Student Assistance of Pace University in New York is implementing

and currently in the process of making many forms as paperless as they can in effort to reduce

the papers and increase efficiency in the department and to save the students time. Proponents

came up with a proposal of Implementation of the paperless students portal for monitoring

student records and referral of OJT request forms in the Office of Student Affairs as perceived by

the selected graduating student in. This could help the Office Student Affairs to minimize the

paper works and saves time to

accommodate more students for better service resulting to a higher satisfactory and convenience

to both parties. However, this requires IT personnel that will help in monitoring the system and

maintaining tight security for keeping the integrity and confidentiality of information. Student

Affairs to minimize the paper works and saves time to accommodate more students for better

service resulting to a higher satisfactory and convenience to both parties. However, this requires

IT personnel that will help in monitoring the system and maintaining tight security for keeping

the integrity and confidentiality of information.

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A web portal is most often one specially designed web site that brings information

together from diverse sources in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its

dedicated area on the page for displaying information. Often, the user can configure which ones

to display. Variants of portals include mashups and intranet for executives and managers. The

extent to which content is displayed in a uniform way may depend on the intended user and the

intended purpose, as well as the diversity of the content. Very often design emphasis is on a

certain metaphor for configuring and customizing the presentation of the content and the chosen

implementation framework and/or code libraries. In addition, the role of the user in an

organization may determine which content can be added to the portal or deleted from the portal

configuration. Web portals are sites on the World Wide Web that typically provide personalized

capabilities to their visitors. They are designed to use distributed applications; different numbers

and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources. In

addition, business portals are designed to share collaboration in workplaces. A further business-

driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as

personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cell phones.

Commonly known simply as portal, a portal is a web service that offers a broad array of

resources and services such as e-mail, forums, search engines, and online shopping malls. The

first Web portals were online services, such as AOL, that provided access to the Web, but by now

most of the traditional search engines have transformed themselves into Web portals to attract

and keep a larger audience. A portal provides Internet users with a single, customized entry point

to network-based campus. In the higher-education context, the portals of most interest are

horizontal, that is, they are designed to offer access to almost everything that an individual user
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associated with the campus needs to manage his or her relationship with the University. These

users can include students, faculty, staff, parents, prospective students, alumni, and members of

the community at large.

This study is necessary to be conducted because it will help the Office of Student Affairs

to reduce the amount of paper and time consumed in collecting the data of the students and

provide consistency on the data collected which will improve the efficiency of the department

and also promote a greener environment and preserve wildlife habitats.

Project Context

This undergraduate thesis focuses on the problem encountered by the Office of the

Student Affairs (OSA) of regarding the management of Student Information, On-the-job training

(OJT). This problem causes the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) department to have difficulties

in searching the information of an individual student and storing all those huge sum of file

documents of each and every student they have. This problem causes also delays for the approval

of the request letter of the students and produce inconsistency in data and lose of data due to its

nature of how the information being stored.

As a students of the proponent suggested this study is necessary to be conducted because

it help the Office of Student Affairs to reduce the amount of paper and time consumed in

collecting and retrieving the data of the students and provide consistency on the data collected
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which will improve the efficiency of the department and also promote a greener environment and

preserve wildlife habitat

Purpose and Description

The purpose of this study is to develop a system that is designed specifically for the needs

of the Office of the Student Affairs of Campus in making the forms for OJT in digital form that is

accessible by the student online. It will be convenient to students because they dont have to

come over to school just to fill up the forms. The system shall aid the Office of Student Affairs:

to reduce the papers that consumed by the department because it will lessen the forms that will

be printed; to avoid losing of documents or misplace the request form that prolongs the release of

the OJT Referral letter because the system will list if theres a new request for a recommendation

letter; to store the student information. Storing the data in a database will ensure the accuracy

and consistency of students information. It will also make the retrieval of student data faster and

saves the time of staff to accommodate more students for better service that gives them higher

satisfactory. Not only the students and Office of the Student Affairs will benefit from this but it

will also benefit the proponent to enhance the skills in developing and designing a website and

improves their research skills.

Objectives

The objectives of this study is to develop a Paperless students Portal for the Office of

Student Affairs (OSA) to help them manage the records of the graduating students who are

currently taking up Practicum which is comprises of 60 students in total, 29 students from

College of Computer Studies (20 Males and 9 Females, Ages from 19 - 21 years old and above),
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26 students from College of Tourism and Hospitality Management (9 Males and 17 Females,

Ages from 19 - 21 years old and above) and 5 students from College of Business Administration

(3 Males and 2 Females, Ages from 19 -21 years and above). The system will aid the Office of

Student Affairs (OSA) in the following areas to improve the overall performance in managing

OJT Requests : (1) Filling out Forms based on the forms used by the Office of Student Affairs

(OSA) the system will provide a ready to fill-in form online for those students who requesting

for a recommendation letter and at the same time reduces the amount of printout forms needed,

(2) Storing of Information/Data the system will aid the OSA to reduce the amount of space

used in storing OJT forms by saving the information through a database, (3) Approval/Receiving

and Pending Requests the system will aid in the overall processing to reduce the time needed

for approving, receiving and pending OJT Requests by saving the information to the database

making the retrieval and sending of data much faster and accurate, (4) System Efficiency the

system will reduce the cost needed in handling OJT requests for Recommendation Letter and (5)

User Experience the system is user friendly and can be manage easily by anyone.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The system that the proponents proposed for the Office of Student Affairs for managing

the records of the 60 graduating students in the College of Computer Studies, College of Tourism

and Hospitality Management and College of Business Administration that are currently taking

practicum supports the following:

1. Filling out forms.

2. Storing of Information/Data.
3. Approval/Receiving and Pending Requests.
4. System Efficiency.
5. User Experience.
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The system proposed by the proponents doesnt support the following:

1. Cannot produce hardcopy for the staff and students

2. Cannot send or email a copy of approved recommendation letter.
3. Its use is only limited for the graduating students who are currently taking

practicum.
4. Cannot have more than one (1) administrator.