Application of SDLC in the university...

The University of Southeastern Philippines is known to be the home of the “iskolars ng bayan” according to the teachers and the graduates of the said institution. The primary objective of the university is to provide programs of instruction as well as professional training in the fields of science and technology, especially in the fields where most of the in-demand jobs nowadays are needed by our developing country. The vision of the university in becoming a premier university in the ASEAN region is to be the center of excellence and development, responsive and adaptive to fast-changing environment. By having this vision and objective of the university, most of the Davaoeños tend to be fascinated on the performance of the university and would aim on becoming a part of the institution not only to learn but to acquire the title, “iskolar ng bayan”. The products of the university would base on how the system of the institution handles the education catered to the students. The school is always the foundation of learning when we are outside our home. As for the University of Southeastern Philippines, it is the foundation of globally competitive graduates outside the academic world.

When I was just a first timer in the University of Southeastern Philippines, I said to myself that it would be just like my old high school life but the only difference is that my college world would be bigger than before because it would not just comprise of students from different level but at the same time of different courses. One thing I noticed during the first day of enrollment was the very long queue of the students in every department. When you are to admit yourself in a certain college, you must fall in line because most of the students are waiting for their turn to be entertained. After being entertained, your next destination would probably a queue again and sometimes you would be unfortunate enough to be on the scheduled day of the enrollment because there are cut offs in entertaining students. Despite the experience that I had on the first day of enrollment, I can say that I was guided on where to go next after finishing the first step. It was actually called the Enrollment system in the university.

The Enrollment system is one of the systems that run in the university. It is subject to cater thousands of students in the university during the enrollment periods. In USeP, scheduled dates for enrollment are given to the students ahead of time so that there would probably be less queuing on the different part of the Enrollment system. For the freshmen, they are given two to three days at most to submit their requirements and to have their enrollment followed by the sophomores, juniors and lastly the seniors. But what mostly happens is that they tend to think of enrolling themselves not on the scheduled dates to avoid lengthy queues, that is the most common thinking of the students. And because of that thinking, the Enrollment system would not be productive enough on catering the students especially if it is already near the late enrollment because students think that enrollment schedule before the late enrollment probably has less students in the university. For some students that are sluggish enough when it comes on the enrollment period, they would make each step in every other day because they already thought of not finishing the process because of the queues in every part of the enrollment system. Actually, it is not on the part of the Enrollment system that the university fails to cater the needs of the students during enrollment period. The common mistake is in the part of the students because they are not following the simple dates assigned on each level and certain steps must be followed to finish the enrollment process. But what are most of the students doing during enrolment period, they still have to finish their clearance in order for them to have clear records at the end of the semester and they cannot proceed on the enrollment process when the requirements are lacking like the official receipts, the complete grades from different instructors, and the clearance, of course. Many students say that the system implemented in enrollment is “bulok” because there is no difference in making the enrollment process automated from the previous manual system for the past years. Students should not suffer from any lengthy queues when a system is implemented because the main function of the system is to make the work of the clients easier and efficient. I totally agree that the system is made to make the work of the users efficient, easier, and hassle-free but to say that it is not helpful enough in catering the needs of the students during enrollment period; I consider it as students’ fault on not following the process of enrollment. I have already experienced the enrollment system in the university for three years and same thing goes every year, the first years extends beyond the given schedule on enrolling that is why the second year schedule is also affected and so on for the rest of the levels. As a systems analyst, it is included in the consideration that the students may delay on clearing the requirements needed to be enrolled because all possible factors are needed to be considered in making the system. Knowing the possible problems that may arise in dealing with the system is thoroughly analyzed by the systems analyst because its main goal is to serve the clients with the deployment of system that they created based on the needs of them.

Another system that is present in the university is the Grading system that is implemented to help the instructors in distributing grades of more or less 7000 students in the university. After being enrolled in the university, the next thing to do is to learn the lessons and be productive and at the end of the semester, acquire a grade from your hard work. Grades are normally handed to the students personally because in the event that the student wants to complain about their grade, the instructor is there to explain the matters concerning the failure of grade. In some universities, grades are forwarded automatically to the Registrar’s office and students would not be able to make complains anymore because it was already forwarded by the teachers to the Registrar. Good for those universities that have manual system on giving grades to the students, I can say that they have concerns on the part of the students especially those students that have failing grades. But what if the instructor is not present during the distribution of grades and grades are badly needed especially to those scholars that are requested to pass copy of grades in their good office? It would also cause delay to the upcoming enrollment since grades are not given to the students, the process on advising will not be entertained also. They considered that as a problem in giving grades to the students that is why Grading system was developed. The system was not that recognized enough to the students for it is subject to system checking and testing but based on what we experienced on our other minor subjects, we weren’t able to meet them and get our grades to them but with the use of the online Grading system, we were able to know our grades even if the teachers are not present.

How do we know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university?

The basic thing a systems analyst must do is to analyze what problems might a certain organization have and in order to do that, he must conduct some research and gathering of information. Before putting up a system, the objectives must be stated and the problems must be determined in order to have a specific system to do. As for the system implemented in the university, specifically the Enrollment system and Grading system, they undergone several phases or should I say undergone life cycle before ended up being deployed in the institution. Even if the systems are already revised systems or updated systems, it must always follow the life cycle on making a system since new problems may arise or the needs of the users, especially the students and the university staffs, become more complex that the system deployed cannot support transactions anymore. The system must undergo the basic phases again to modify what should be modified. First thing that a systems analyst must consider is the complexity of the needs of the users. After defining the problems encountered in the system, the systems analyst must have reports on what problems were determined and produce recommendations on what to do to achieve better service through the means of the system. After recommendations have been shared, the process of coding and software development would then follow. Testing of the developed system would be better if the students and staffs are the ones who will check the system. Certain bugs may come along the way and it is not new when testing a systems. Several modifications in the system would probably be of fewer bugs and closely meet the demands of the users.

In the enrollment system, the students have also undergone series of steps or life cycle in order to become an officially enrolled student in the university. First, they must undergo advising. Advising is where the teacher advises the student on how many subjects should he take in a particular semesters and gives guide on what subjects must he take to budget the number of units he has. After being advised, the form known as Pre-Registration Form must be filled up with the basic information of the student and the suggested subjects and schedules he has in order to get the financial statement of the student. Next step would be on the Finance department. In the university, they have been accepting scholarship grants outside the school or the non-academic scholars which are the politic-sponsored scholars. Regular paying students have their different line of paying their schools fees, particularly in the cashier’s office. The scholars have different line also since they don’t include money on paying their school fees, they line on the students account section where the records of scholars are kept. After the students have paid their bills, they are now one step closer to be officially enrolled in the university and that is in the Registrar where all records of the students are kept secured and confidential. After the documents have been cleared in the Registrar, the student is officially enrolled.

In the Grading system, the students can be able to know their grades through the use of the online Grading system. The student may get his grades there and he can verify his grade in the Registrar’s office for validation and after that it will be reflected on the passbook. This method applies when the instructors are not around during the scheduled releasing of grades.

How do we know it meets our needs?

As what I’ve experienced during my high school years, the Enrollment system that we have was just as simple as following steps in cooking a dish. In other words, our Enrollment system before was not integrated with computerized system that is why no problems were raised. But the Enrollment system in college is a lot more different than in high school because all of the works are automated and there are certain steps that we should really consider in dealing with the system. The Enrollment system in the present situation aids not only the students but also the officials using the system. As what I’ve observed, some students have positive reactions on the system that the university has because one of the factors that the student experience problem is the documents needed in order for them to be officially enrolled. The database were all files of the students are kept is centralized and all departments under the institution have access on the database. It is a lot easier for the students to make inquiries, let’s say, on their financial accounts even if they are inside their department. It would reflect on the system the information of the student because departments are interconnected with the database that is part of the system. As for the part of the staffs and officials that are using the system also, it helped them a lot in maintaining the records of each student updated and confidential. It is necessary that the system you are using is capable of updating any modified entry to avoid duplication of file and data confusion.

The main problem when the semester comes to end is that the grades that are needed in order to renew the scholarship that the scholars have. For most, grades are important when enrollment approaches again. Some problems that can be derived are the delay of releasing of grades because of some technical dilemma or worst, the instructor took an early vacation that caused the students not to get their grades. The Grading system caters the need of the students to have an availability of access to their grades based on what was forwarded in the database. It is helpful enough to those students that are in need of their grades right away in order for them to renew their scholarship since most of the students in the university are scholars.

Meeting the needs of the institution could probably difficult to deal because considering lot of factors that may rise when a certain system is established; the users are also one of the factors that can make the system not successful enough in delivering service. I can say that the Enrollment system that was implemented in the university has meet the needs of the students like me because the enrollment process is successful even if it has to deal with a lot of obstacles like delays and most especially if there are technical problems like the computers that would hang up instantly. One of the proofs that the Enrollment system has met the needs of us students is the enrollment process itself. Under the enrollment process includes the advising of students from their respective advisers. After advising, students are requested to fill out the Pre-Registration Form (PRF) wherein subjects, schedules, and the billing are reflected there. Next thing is the encoding of subjects, this time, the process is now automated that the subjects under your name will be stored in the database that can be used in the Finance department and in the Registrar for verification. After encoding, the students may pay their bill, if they are regular students, but if they are scholars, they may update their records in the student accounts. Lastly, the students may have their Certificate of Registration and Billing or the COR in the Registrar’s office. These processes alone suffice the need of the student to be enrolled in the university in order for them to learn and become productive.

To sum it up, the systems being implemented in our university is really of great help in supplementing the needs of the students and the also for the instructors and staffs of the university. The deployed systems followed the same life cycle like the other system to achieve proper service to the user of the system and as long as the users are satisfied with the methods underlying the system.