Ii) Investigation and Analysis

Investigation:

To obtain information on the current system, how it works data inputs and outputs as well as knowing what the new system will need to do it was decided that key members of the staff who work with the system. Interviews will be conducted in order to obtain this information and discuss directly with them what it is they want the new system to do. Questions on the how the system works will be asked, what the system needs to do any current problems, the data used and any useful information relative to the system.

The first interview planned was to interview the head of the school's P.E department Mr F...

Below are the details of the interview - the questions asked and Mr F…'s responses.

Question 1: So as you know every year there is the sportsday event and you are in charge of the event?

Yes I am currently in charge of that sporting event as well as the current system used to record the scores of the events.

Question 2: The following questions will relate to the system's use before the actual event. Where is all the data, such as the students’ names, forms and houses are stored? Where does all this data come from?

The data is stored in a spreadsheet on my laptop. All of this data actually comes from the school's database which keeps records of all the student's details. A copy of the database is then taken and the data is then extracted into the spreadsheet.

Question 3: Who is in charge of entering the data into the database and then transferring it into the spreadsheet?

The school's secretary is in charge of entering the data into the school database and I am the one who extracts the data from the schools database into the spreadsheet.

Question 4: What validations and verifications are used?

Once the data has been transferred from the database to the spreadsheet I look through the spreadsheet, I generally know which students are in which class, I also check that there isn't any missing information such as name or gender and check that the student is in the correct house.

Question 5: Where is the database stored?

The database is stored on the school server.

Question 6: How often is the database updated?

The database is updated at the start of every year and straight away when a new student joins. In October when the lists are given out so that the students can select what events they do then the members of staff quickly realize that a student is missing.

Question 7: What security methods are used?

I cannot tell you about the security used for the database, but for the spreadsheets which are on my laptop computer and is protected by a username and password which I or carry or lock away. Security isn't a concern - the students know the names of other students and the details are not of sensitive nature.

Question 8: Before sports day sheets of paper are printed so that the students can choose what event they do. Who is in charge of printing these and where are they kept after they have been filled in by the students?

I am in charge of printing out a sheet for each house, then all of the students are grouped in their houses and fill on the sheet the events they want to do. Once they have been filled in I keep them in the RE office in the sportsday folder.

Question 9: Is there any backup of this data made?

There is no copy of the paperwork (the sheets filled in by the student) but there are backups of the spreadsheets used

Question 10: During the event - How are the results recorded?

For the track field events it's fairly simple. For the throwing events the length is simply measured and then written down same for the jumps. For the track events a machine is used to time all of the students -then the teachers in charge of the results allocate the points.

Question 11: To whom does the information (number of points) go to?

The information is collected and then taken to the desk where 2 teachers fill in the results into a large grid and allocate the points to the different houses. At the end of the day the points are added to find the total for each house and the winner is announced the next day.

Question 12: What would you say are the main problems with the current system?

Well it takes time to accumulate the results, as well as checking any calculation errors in the addition of the points. Also since all of the results are kept on a large sheet of paper which is hard to store and it is difficult to find any individual results that need to be looked at.

Question 13: So what do you think the best thing to do to improve the system would be? Improving the manual system, a computerized or partially computerized system?

I believe that a partially computerized system would be the best option for this. Computerizing the whole system would be too expensive and not necessarily more efficient. The data will still be collected manually (events) but during the event the data will be directly recorded on a computer so that all of the addition of points is done automatically and it is a lot easier to find individual records as well as storing it.

Question 14: Off the shelf software is software that you can buy directly in a shop, have you looked if there is any software that could do that?

Yes I have looked into that, but there isn't any software that can provide exactly what we require so we need custom written software for this.

Question 15: Is there anyone else you would recommend me to talk to?

Yes I think you should talk to one of the 2 teachers who are in charge of recording the results and allocating the points to discuss with them what the problems are and the requirements that a computerized system would need to have to be the most effective. You might as well want to talk to one of the teachers who does the direct recording of the results at an event to see the problems there.

Below are copies of the event selection sheet and the result sheet

This is one of the sheets used to record the results and the number of points at sportsday.

Interview 2 Mrs M…

Question 1: Can you please tell me what you do

I record the position of the students during the track events and sometimes record the time.

Question 2: So is there a teacher assigned to each position?

Well not really, there are usually 3 teachers that just take down the name of the student, position and his house. Each teacher is in charge of 2 or 3 lanes and records the name of the student, his position and house.

Question 3: So who does the timing?

Well Mr G… is in charge of the actual timing He uses a machine and clocks in all of the runners so he simply clocks in the times but not the positions. The machine then prints out a sheet with the times.

Question 4: What do you then do with those times?

I then with the help of another teacher assign the times to the position house and names so that we end up with a sheet for each age ground and gender.

Question 5: And what happens to the data?

The data is then taken to the desk where Mrs K… fills in the results onto a large sheet of paper (1 per age group and gender). She fills in the results and then adds up the number of points for each house, and writes down the number of points for each house in that age group on a separate piece of paper. She also checks if no new records have been broken and writes down any new records.

Question 6: What are the main issues with filling in the results and allocating the points?

Well there really only is one problem consists in finding the 6 fastest times since there can be a lot of students taking part in an event. Another problem can be when the timing machine doesn't work where the teachers have to time the students. The rest is fairly easy and straightforward.

Question 7: If we were to partially computerize the system, what would need to be entered into the system for the results?

Well the interface must allow the input of everything required to enter the results. So that would be the Student ID, the position of the student in his event, the number of points scored and the time or length he or she achieved.

Analysis:

Flow chart showing the steps of the system:

Data flow diagram: