CHAPTER-3
METHODS OF RESEARCH
There are different methods/ tools used for research, some of these methods are as follows:
· Observation,
· Documents,
· Interviews,
· Questionnaires,
· Experience,
· Research.
The methods which I used for the research of data are interviews, discussions, observational research, and through documents.
3.1 OBSERVATION
Observation plays a central role in requirements analysis. The analyst can observe workers performing their jobs with the current system. This can help the analyst verify the existence (and extent) of expressed shortcomings of the existing system and may help him or her uncover other, possibly unvoiced, problems.
The value of observational visits by analyst can by great. Often, what the analyst hears from managers or reads in documents about the system is different from what he or she observes when watching people at work. Such a visit often helps the analyst get a clear picture of the user environment and why a request for a new system was submitted.
I observed the existing manual system of the SRSP that how they enter the data in their registers. How much time consumes during the entries and searching of data.
3.2 DOCUMENTS
Documents include manuals, input forms, output forms, diagrams of how the current system works (including data flow diagrams, etc), job descriptions for the people who currently work with the current system, procedure manuals, program code for the applications associated with the current system, and so on.
Documents are especially good source of information about user needs and current system because they are generally easy to collect, and convey a lot of helpful information, and provide relatively objective data.
The staff of the SRSP is cooperative, so I felt no difficulty in collecting the data. Especially MANAGER cooperated me very much in research of data and the cooperation of all other members is also appreciable. I was provided with the documents that I needed during my research and analysis phase by the department.
3.4 INTERVIEWS
Interviews are designed to capture data from the users, in depth. The data gathered in this way provides us with a fuller picture of the problems and opportunities. Interviews also give us the opportunity to note user reactions firsthand and to probe for further information.
Because interviews are time consuming and take users away from their work, an analyst should coordinate interview schedules with the managers of the workers that he or she wants to interview. This helps managers develop work schedules that accommodate the time needed to complete the interviews and helps to minimize potential disruptions to normal work routines.
During the research I held detailed interviews/ discussions with the personnel who have to use the recommended software. I also held interviews with PROJECT MANAGER for whom the software is created.
3.5 CURRENT ISSUES:
The SRSP consist of following Departments:
- Social Mobilization
- Gender & Development
- Human Resource Section
- PI&WES
- Microfinance
- Micro-Enterprise Development
- Social Sector
- Monitoring Evaluation & Research
All the above Sections are working in their specified field in the organization. Our project is related to the Human Resource Section so, we will like to explain its functionality and working.
3.6 HUMAN RESOURCE SECTION
The Human Resource section in the SRSP Mansehra Region is controlled and operated by the Human Resource Officer .The main responsibilities of the HR Officer are as below.
- Hiring of new employee’s for the organization.
- Firing of the people from the organization.
- Advertising the new vacancies in the organization.
- Conducting the interviews by making the panels of different persons for the interviewing of the candidates.
- Maintaining the employee’s Information.
- Maintaining the Attendance report of the employee’s from all the different SRSP’s sub offices located at the Shinkiari, Battagram, Battal, Allai and Balakot.
- Providing a communication link b/w the SRSP office and the other organizations.
- Conducting the Trainings as required for the staff with the passage of time.
- Co-Ordinating all the sections of the office.
3.7 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN THE EXISTING SYSTEM
- Redundancy Of Data
- Inflexible Data
- Inaccurate Data
- Delayed Information
- Waste Of Time
- Chances Of Inaccurate Calculation
- Lack Of Standards
- Stationary Usage
- No Data Security
10 Difficult to use Data Entry
11 Not Properly Formatted Reports
12 Lower Response Time To User Queries
14 There is replication of data
15 There is no User Friendly Interface
18 Very Difficult in Data Retrieval
3.8 CAUSES OF ANALYSIS
No doubt that technology is developing leaps and bounds day by day. And due to the advanced technologies the fast changes are being experienced in each and every area. That is, it is area of production, financial resources, expense, human resource development, or some other activities in the organization. Technology has brought changes in all the areas. No organization relies on the old systems and neither it can compete in its market without adopting the new technologies/new system.
3.9 IMPROVED CREDIBILITY
The new technology/new system can improve the credibility of many areas, that is, production, financial resources, expense, human resource development, or many other activities in the organization. It provides increased productions, it has cut off the costs, it saves a lot of time, and it provides security, and many other advantages to the users.
3.10 FINANCIAL RESOURCES:
Although this software is not directly related with income it give information about the expense to the management.
In this way their expense does not exceed the given budget. Reduce the logged of the items and improve the efficiency of the user.
3.11 REPLACEMENT OF MANUAL SYSTEM:
So in order to improve the credibility of the Information Technology Department of the organization it was necessary for the department to make use of the computerized system instead of the manual system. Now, as stated above, after the analysis I accepted to develop a computer based system (software) for the department during my training period.
3.12 EFFECTS
After the preliminary analysis I proposed a small system for the SRSP. The management satisfied with this analysis and asked me for further proceedings. As all the organizations are going to automate their current systems so my recommendation impacted the members of the department positively. So they agreed to provide every type of data and equipment in order to complete my project.
The project that I accepted to accomplish for SRSP is the HR department manual system. After accepting the responsibility I started my preliminary analysis. The effects of my analysis are discussed briefly in the following discussion.
The SRSP, for every type of cooperation, welcomed me. After these analyses and my recommendations the management of the SRSP was pleased and it accepted my recommendation gladly. The SRSP also promised every type of cooperation, which I would need for the accomplishment of my project.
3.13 PROBLEM ANALYSIS
While analyzing the problems the major factors that are taken into account are time and costs. Except these there are other factors like political, reforms by government, change in policy, global challenges etc. as concerned to political analysis it is applicable when the problems are analyzed at higher level. Now as concerned to my case, here there is no political involvement, so the political analysis is being skipped.
3.14 REFORMS BY GOVERNMENT
As concerned to the reforms by the Government, when government makes reforms these are of higher level. But except the reforms by the government the organizations are ambitious to make advances in their activities and current systems. As concerned to my project it is approved by the organization by itself. There is no such reform that the government has ordered.
3. 15 CHANGE IN POLICY
As concerned to change in policy, there is no major change in policy by the organization/ department, as almost all the departments are already using Personal Computers for writing letters, storing data in excel documents, etc. and similarly, it also has such staff that is also computer literate. Now for the purpose of using software the major requirements are the equipment and the staff that can use it. And the department already fulfills these requirements so it needs no major change in policy.
3.16 TIME FRAME ANALYSIS
The time frame analysis helps us in completion of any activity or project, as some time is specified for each activity and thus one has to complete that activity in that time. When an objective is set, it is then focused upon and easily achieved.
The time frame, which I developed for the completion of my project, is as follows:
Preliminary Investigation ———— one week
Requirement Analysis ———— two weeks
System Design ———— two weeks
System Development ———— two weeks
System Implementation ———— one week
System Evaluation ———— one week
With the grace of AI-Mighty Allah I achieved my objective within the specified time, that is, two and a half months. There is no accomplishment of mine, but all is the donation of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate.
3.17 RESULT
All the activities that I have done are the part of my training, that is, in order to make the practical use of the studies, which I did during my study period. It is also partial requirement of the MBA degree.
I found my this period and my all the activities performed by me very much beneficial. During this period one gets opportunity to apply his knowledge practically. Almost all the study, which I did in the college during the semesters, all, was concerned with the reading of books and concepts. But there no one gets opportunity to make practical use of his/ her knowledge.
The internship is beneficial for both the student and the organization. The student gets the professional environment to work in and gain experience in that environment. On the other hand the organization also benefits from these trainees by getting accomplished tasks/ assignments by them. Similarly, the most organizations pay low wages to the trainees and the tasks that are given to them are almost equal or more than those who are regular employees.
3.18. SOLUTION CRITERIA
There are many ways to resolve the problem, that is, there are many choices to replace the manual system with [he computerized system. There are many applications and similarly a number of programming languages, which can be used. Following are given some alternatives, which can be used to resolve the problem. There are some whose use is very simple, and they can also resolve the problem to some extent. In the following discussion each one is described:
3.19 USING MS EXCEL
Just keeping the whole record simply in the tables, using the MS Excel application can solve the above stated problem. But, the table will have too many columns, which will create data redundancy and hence there will still persist the problem to some extent.
3.20 USING MS ACCESS
Similarly, using MS Access application with no front-end can also solves the problem but still the problem will not be completely resolved. As it will have problems as with the MS Excel application. That is, the data stored in the tables can be sorted out and then can be searched out. But, the exact solution cannot be achieved.
3.21 CREATING DATABASE
Now another way that can solve the problem is that to create a database after proper analysis. Find out the entities (the items/ things about which the department wants to store data), their relationships. Make the entity relationship diagrams. Normalize them properly, so there may not remain any type of data redundancy. Create the tables (relations) and insert the required queries. When the database is complete create front-end by using any language like Visual Basic, Oracle, etc.
Except these there can be many other criteria for the solution of this problem. But, the criterion that I recommended for the solution of the problem is the last one. That is, creation of a database using MS Access on the back-end and developing Front-end using the language Visual Basic. The purpose of developing front-end is to make the system user-friendly.
3.22 USER-FRIENDLY
The recommended system will provide the user-friendly interlace to the end user. As there are different buttons on the entry forms, with which a user can execute the desired command with a single click. The system will provide iconic approach to the end user, which will be user friendly.
3.23 EASY AND EFFICIENT RECORD KEEPING
The recommended system will provide easy and efficient record keeping of products. Such as their locations, purchase information etc.
3.24 DATA INTEGRITY
The recommended system will also provide data integrity as it enforces the validation cheeks through different procedure and events. It will also provide alert messages to the end users, to compel him to do correct entry.
The recommended system will also provide the tool tips to help users, though the current recommended system is PC based but it can support multi-user “environment” in case of need.
3.25. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
Before designing (he system a complete study of the present system was conducted in order to identify the problem and to define the objectives of the recommended system. Alternate solutions were considered to solve different problems and the most feasible solutions are selected.
The possible solutions/recommendations for the SRSP are as follows:
1. The new system should be more efficient.
2. The new system should be friendly and provide help to user for convenience, where required.
3. It should be error free and reliable.
4. It should helpful for decision-making.
5. It should provide accurate information.
6. It should be flexible to coup with changes.
7. Redundancy of data should be minimum.
8. Data independence should be achieved.
9. It should be easily maintainable within the available resources and be feasible technically; and
10. Should be cost beneficial in comparison with the present system.
11. It should ensure safe and sound storage of all the data at a single site.
12. It should be able to accommodate immediately all changes made in the record.
The recommended system will be very easily adoptable for the SRSP, as no new equipment is needed for the recommended system. It would be implemented easily just by the installation of some required software in the existing equipment already in use of the organization. Hence, the recommended system will not put any financial burden on the organization for the implementation of the recommended system. Instead it will use the technology already present in the SRSP.
Similarly the organizations are cutting their costs by using the novel technologies and downsizing. By using the computerized system the work of many people can be accomplished by an individual. Similarly, the computerized system eliminates the huge use of stationery, which also provides the financial benefits to the organization.
3.26 THE MOST USEFUL SOLUTION
The most useful solution that is required by the SRSP is to get such a system that can provide it with the timely data as the whole decision-making depends upon the timely data. It can make easy searches for its products. As the members of the department are always in need of the information about its items. How many products it has and what is their status or these in stocks or delivered. If delivered where it is located. The SRSP member that they want at their fingertips needs all this information.
So the solution that is recommended for this problem is the creation of database with a user-friendly front end, which can provide the department the desired system.
3.27. BENEFITS
The benefits that the recommendation will render to the existing system are as follows:
Elimination of Duplication:
Duplication of work will be eliminated due to computerized system. Instead of writing into files, the data will be directly entered in a single place and stored in the database. Elimination of duplication means that no redundant data exists, as each type of redundancy is eliminated during normalization, while in manual system same data has to be entered in many files in different departments. Using the computerized system the staff will get rid of laborious work.
Error rectification:
Error rectification will be available and data reported to computer will be almost error-free. As there exist validation checks for each and every entry, hence there is little chance of error. If the user commits any error by inserting text instead of integers or integers instead of text, he is warned. Thus the user is compelled to make right entry. Similarly, if the columns of the fields are left blank, which do not allow null value; the entry can't be saved until the value is given in the required field. Hence the computerized system rectifies such errors that are usually committed in the manual system.
Little storage space:
In the Paper work large storage space is required and a lot of stationery is consumed. The users have to maintain a number of files for record keeping. While using the computerized system the storage space is very less. The single PC is used for the storage of lot of data. And it is also very easily retrieved.
Increased Efficiency:
The proposed system will be more efficient, as the user will able to create reports and other documents more rapidly and in a little time. The user will also able to provide timely data and information to his super ordinates.
Easy Report-generation:
In the computerized system the generation of reports is very much easy, as the reports are automatically generated when the entries are made into the database. After completing the entries the user can view the reports in the soft form and can get its hard copies just giving the command of print. Chances of rejection of entries due to miss reporting will be minimized. The Oracle also generates reports.
Error-free calculations:
The computer will make all the calculations and all the logical decisions, so there will be minimal chance of any type of mistake. Which ever the language is used for the generation of the software, for the calculations of different types the formulae are given at the time of coding, so which ever the command is given once in the formula the computer makes the given calculation each and every time when the command is run.
Hence we can say that the calculations made by the computers are error-free if the entries are right. For example, if the formula of sum is given for particular fields, the sum of those fields will be calculated automatically each time when the entries are made and the command is given.
Increased Security:
It will ensure availability of full and accurate particulars of all the products and there locations. The computerized system provides increased security to the data and information. As in the computerized system the keeping of the backups is easy as compared to the manual system. The backups can be kept on the secondary storage devices like CDs, floppy disks, flash drives, etc.
Similarly, the data can be protected from the external users by inserting passwords on the private data.
Easy Search:
It will ensure the immediate availability of the exact location and all the necessary information of any product asked for. The computerized system makes it easy to search for the data. Sometimes there is large data present in the databases. But the required data can be searched very easily, while if [he data of the same amount is stored in the files the search will be difficult.
In the computerized system the data can be searched by only a few number of clicks. In the recommended system the search forms/ windows are made separately for the convenience of the user, using these the user will be able to search data from the database.
3.28. WEAKNESSES/FLAWS
- Redundancy Of Data
- Inflexible Data
- Inaccurate Data
- Delayed Information
- Waste Of Time
- Chances Of Inaccurate Calculation
- Lack Of Standards
- Stationary Usage
- No Data Security
- Difficult to use Data Entry
- Not Properly Formatted Reports
- Lower Response Time To User Queries
- There is replication of data
- There is no User Friendly Interface
- Very Difficult in Data Retrieval
Manual System For Maintaining Staff Information:
| Sr# | Basic Information | SRSP Joining Date | Location | Official Status and Location | |||||
| Name | Father Name | Position | Present Salary | Revised Salary | Project Allowance | Total | |||
| 1 | Shakeel Ahmed | Ghulam Sarwar | 22/3/2004 | Regional Office | RPM | 40,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| 2 | Sohail Babar | Ghulam Nabi | 25/3/2004 | Operation Section | Manager Operations | 35,000 | 35,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 |
| 3 | Shahzada Jawad | S.Ahmed Jan | 10/11/1998 | Hr Officer | 17,000 | 17,000 | 8,000 | 25,000 | |
| 4 | Yasir Bilal | Ghulam Mustafa | 30/5/2005 | IT Officer | 18,000 | 18,000 | | 18,000, | |
| 5 | Shahzad Ali Shah | Nawab Shah | 12/6/2004 | Admin Stores | 18,000 | 18,000 | | 18,000 | |
| 6 | Abdul Basit | Muhammad Arif | 10/11/2005 | Accounts Section | Reg Accts Office | 25,000 | 25,000 | | 25,000 |
| 7 | Muhammad Yasir | Khan Muhammad | 15/2/2006 | CPI Section | Field Engineer | 35,000 | 35,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 |
| 8 | Shakeel Ahmed | | 6/6/2005 | Training Section | Training Co-ordinator | Nil | 20,000 | | 20,000 |
| 9 | Maria Shahnaz | Ibad Muhammad | 15/5/2002 | District Mansehra | Dist Rehabilitation Coordinator | Nil | 20,000 | | 20,000 |
.Basic information of the Employee including Date of joining, Designation, Salary.
MONTHLY TIME SHEET OF THE EMPLOYEE’S:
The Organization is using the Manual system(Spread Sheets etc) for the storing of following data;
1.Monthly Time Sheet for the attendance purpose.
| Sr# | Name | Location | Position | Status | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | W.P | CL | EL | SL |
| 1 | Mohammad Qazafi | RRU Allai | ARC | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 2 | Zahid Ali Shah | Admin | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 3 | Assad Ullah | MER | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 4 | Mehtardead | SO I | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 5 | Zaffar Ali | SO | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 6 | Alia Jameel | FSOI | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 7 | Jihad Ali | Eng | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 8 | Zahoor Khan | Eng | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 9 | Tariq Khan | Eng | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 10 | Abdul Khaliq | RPM | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 11 | Yousaf Ali | FSO | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | | |
| 12 | Muhammad Arshad | Battal | KPO | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 13 | sman Khatak | Battal | MER | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 14 | Shahid Raza | Battal | So | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 15 | Mudassar Anwar | Balakot | Eng | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 16 | Ehsan ul Haq | Man | KPO | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 17 | Mohammad Tahir | Man | SO | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
| 18 | Ghulam Mustafa | Man | TL, | Temp | P | H | H | P | H | P | P | P | H | | | | |
MANUALLY MAINTAINED LEAVE RECORD:
| Name | Desgn | Date Of Joining | Open Balan ce | | Total Leaves Avail Till March 2007 | | | | | Clo Sing Bala nce | | | Avl Lea ves | | |
| | | | E/L | S/L | E | S | C | M | W | E/L | S/L | C/L | E/L | S/L | C/L |
| Abdul Rasheed | SMO | January 12,2004 | 13 | 34 | - | - | - | - | - | 23 | 38 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Abid Mehmood | DRIVER | July 16,2004 | 22 | 17 | 12 | - | - | - | - | 20 | 21 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Abid Shah | DRIVER | October 16,2006 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Abid Shah Gul | Credit Officer | September 20,2006 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 13 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Ahmad Amin | Peon | January 12,2004 | 50 | 72 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 57 | 76 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Akmal Shafiq | Driver | October 16,2006 | 0 | 10 | 4 | - | 2 | - | 2 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Ali Kamran | FSO | October 16,2006 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Alia Jamil | Driver | October 16,2006 | 7 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | 17 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Asad Ali | Driver | October 16,2006 | 10 | 12 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 17 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Ayesha Sadiq | Engineer | October 16,2006 | 0 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 |
3.29 CONCLUSION
I am grateful to the Al-Mighty Allah by the grace of whom I become able to accomplish my task within the time specified. As nothing can take place, but with the grace and order of the God of the Universe.
After the accomplishment of the software, it was implemented after testing it with the dummy data. After the implementation training was given to the end users. And then the entries were made with the actual data, during the training. Thus the project started by me met the accomplishment in two and a half months period.
On the successful completion of the project and its implementation, the Project Manager of SRSP appreciated the task. Now the department is using the software implemented, and thus the department got rid from the manual system.
I am thankful to all those who helped me in the duration of my training session, especially to Project manager in SRSP Mansehra.
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