Design And Development of a Data Warehouse for School Information System Case Study of Heritage International School

ABSTRACT 

Data warehousing and business intelligence are key enablers in the drive to harness management information and improve decision-making. They underpin the recent wave of interest in data mining and customer relationship management and create opportunities for performance improvements based on quantitative analysis at every level in an organization. Data warehousing is a relatively new field in information technology, and current research centers primarily on data warehousing in business environments. As new as the field is in these environments, only recently have educational institutions begun to embark on data warehousing projects, and little research has been done regarding the special considerations and characteristics of School Information System and the complexity of analyzing such data. Educational institutions measure success very differently from business-oriented organi7ations and the analyses that are meaningful in such environments pose unique and intricate problems in data warehousing. Heritage International School maintains database comprising of a number of files of school data. This is international school that has. links to other international schools in the same category. There is need to design and develop school database that should accommodate past data as well as capture present data in order to build data warehouse. According to the school administrator, the present school Data Warehouse is not sufficient , well structured to handle data, it gives poor quality information, lacks consistency, and above all it is not easy to access. This research describes the process of developing a data warehouse for Heritage International School, focusing on issues specific to School Information system and the general objective of this study is to examine the factors in the development and design of a Data Warehouse for a school Information System. Interviews, questionnaires and observations will be used to collect the required information for the Data Warehouse.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page

Approval

Declaration jj~

Dedication iv

List of figures

List of tables vi

Acronyms

CHAPTER ONE

1.1.0 ‘Background 2

.1.1 Problem statement 4

1.1.2 General Objective 4

1.1.3 Specific Objectives 4

1.1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.1.5 Scopeofthestudy 4

CHAPTER TWO

Literature Review 5

2.0 What is a Data Warehouse 5

2.1 .1 Advantages and disadvantages to using a Data Warehouse 9

2.1.2 How to manage current and historical information within your Data Warehouse 11

2.1.3 Understanding the challenges of using Data Warehouses 11

2.1.4 Data Warehouse (DW) Database and Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) 12

2.1.5 How to protect your Data Warehouse 13

2.1.6 Objectives of a Data warehouse and Data flow 15

2. 1. 7 Modeling Multidimensionality 16

2.1.8 School Information System 17

2.1.9 Why need 5J59 19

2.2.0 More information on school. Information system 19

2.1.1 Data Warehousing Integrates School Information Systems 20

2.1.2 Data Models for Data Warehouse 20

2.1.4 The Methods for designing Data Warehouse Architecture 21

2.2.5 The Bottom-Up Approach 22

2,2.6 The Top-Down Approach 23

CHAPTER THREE

Research Methodology 20

3.1.0 Research Instruments 25

3.1.2 Developing a Survey 25

3.1.2 Study area 26

3.1.3 Procedure of the study 26

3.1.4 Data collection methods 26

CHAPTER FOUR

System Analysis and Design 27

4.1.0 Description of the Current System 27

4.1.2 Strengths of the current system .27

4.1.3 Weakness of the current system 2

4.1.4 Possible solutions to the problems of the current system 2$

4.1.5 The proposed system 2$

4.1.6 Requirements of the proposed system 29

4.1 .7 System Design 2q

4.1.8 Physical design 31

4.1.9 Database 33

4.2.0 An entity—relationship (ER) diagram 35

4.2.1 Designing the Star Schema 37

CHAPTER FIVE

System Implementation and evaluation 40

5.1.0 Program Implementation 40

5.1.2 Features of the new system 40

5.1. 3 Program Testing 41

5.1.4 Sample Testing for SIS 1 42

5.1.5 Program Flow Chart 42

5.1.6 Implementation 44

5.1.7 Change over methods 44

5.1.8 User Manual 44

5.1.9 System Evaluation 45

5.2.0 Security requirements 45

CHAPTER SIX

Discussion. Conclusions and Recommendation 46

6.1.0 Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Method 46

6.. 1 .1 School Information System-Specific Issues 4~

6.1. 2 Lessons Learned 4~

6.1.3 Future Recommendation .48

6.13 Future Recommendation 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY 49

APPENDIIES 51

Appendix A: questionnaire 54

Appendix B: Data Warehouse Evaluation Questionnaire 54

Appendix C: script to determine the records of the table 56