ABSTRACT
This
project is an enterprise data warehousing system for exams and record unit FCA,
Ishiagu which will help to over-come the undesirable problem associated with
misplacement of student records, student’s grades, slow and strenuous
accessibility of student report and record, inaccurate record keeping and poor
information management within the schools. Here the aims and objectives of the
study will be easily retrieved with increased data security, and there will be
reduction in the amount of resources, which will lower the cost of processing
of student transcript, since information is stored in a database with reduced
data redundancy. This will also prevent over-working of personnel and reduce in
the bulkiness of file and record. This program developed/designed will ensure
easy flow of information in the school
and accurate information management in all school.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Research
has shown that only a small fraction of data in an organization is timely
available to decision makers. A set of
significant new concepts and tools have evolved into new technology that makes
it possible to address the problem by providing all the key people in the
organization with access to whatever level of information needed for the
organization to survive and prosper in an increasingly competitive world.
Data
warehousing technology makes it easier for decision makers to analyze
information in an organization without the help from Information Technology
(IT) people. The main objective of this study was to determine the gaps between
top decision makers and IT personnel in accessing, analyzing and reporting
data. The other objectives were to determine whether there is an easier and
quicker way to analyze data, design, and implement a solution to be used to
turn analysis into a report with little or no help from IT department.
A
data warehouse is a database containing data from multiple operational systems
that has been consolidated, integrated, aggregated and structured so that it
can be used to support the analysis and decision making process of an
organization.
There
has been a growing interest in Business Intelligence (BI) as a solution to
reduced costs, improved service quality, and better decision making processes. Business
intelligence is viewed as sets of powerful tools and approaches to improving
business executive decision-making, business operations, and increasing the
value of the enterprise. BI allows managers to make informed and intelligent
decisions regarding the functioning of their organization. BI is the set of
techniques and tools for the transformation of data into meaningful and useful
information for business analysis purposes. The common functions of business
intelligence technologies are reporting, online analytical processing,
analytics, data mining, process mining, business performance management, text
mining, and predictive analytics.
Over the period, Federal College of Agriculture, has undergone upgrades, from a certificate college to a constituent college of a with an autonomy administration power. The college comprises of several units and departments; the exams and record unit of the college was singled out for the purpose of implementing the result of this study. The College offers various, diplomas and certificates as well as short courses. The exams and record unit of the college is charged with the duty of processing student’s academic performance, awarding certificates, processing of students transcripts, storage and retrieval of student academic assessments and performance data. The unit interacts with various units in executing its duty, sending and receiving files from units such as admission unit; various departments submit and retrieve data from this unit also. Hence there is a lot to do files and data storage and movement in the unit which still depend heavily on manually file storage and retrieval for decision making.
The college uses both operational systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs) to manage its day-to-day operations. These systems include financial management, human resources management, student information, library, examination management, and course management. These applications typically run using manual process of file movements and documentations. The college lacks systems that will foster decision making. The majority of businesses, including educational institutions and government agencies, realize the need for easy and quick access to the right information.
The college needs a data warehouse that can unlock its data in various ERPs and other operational systems; it also needs a different approach or technique to provide a centralized source of information accessible across different academic units. The key stakeholders should quickly analyze and develop satisfactory solutions to their underlying problems as well as making better business decisions based on historical data available in the legacy databases. Research has shown that institutions can improve decision making in various areas using data warehousing and data mining, these includes student academic performance, library management, decision support systems and ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) process, hence the need for this study.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The implementation of an Enterprise Data Warehouse
looks to solve the problem of integrating multiple systems into one common data
source. With the diverse roles that the exam and record unit is charged with
which heavily depends on data and file storage and retrieval.
The
college existing systems do not store data in easily accessible data models
that can be easily transformed into complete, significant information to
sustain sound decision-making. The current user interface does not allow top
management to explore, analyze data, and create reports quickly without the
help from IT. Moreover, reports produced are filled with errors because the
source data contained errors. This study therefore sought to show how business
intelligence (data warehousing) can be the most efficient way to analyze data
quickly and turn analysis into reports with little or no help from IT
department.
1.3 Aims and Objective of the Study
The main objective
of this study is to develop an enterprise data warehousing system for exams and
record department Fca Ishiagu.
Specific Objectives include;
i.
To develop a system that provides total asset visibility.
ii.
To develop a system that allows reduced inventory stocking
levels giving full inventory history.
iii.
To develop a system that reduces lead time, shelf space, and
errors due to damage, fatigue of staff and overall cost of operations.
iv.
To develop a system that provides higher level security as
the system would be pass-worded to prevent unauthorized access.
1.4 Scope of the Study
The
scope of this study covers the Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu Exams
and Record Department as a whole, and its files and interaction between other
departments in the college.
1.5 Significance of the Study
There is a high hope
that this project will solve those problems outlined in the statement of
problem section. The study will be of great importance to exams and record unit
of the school as it helps the management plan, monitor, optimize resources and
ascertain their financial position at any time.
The system will
allow easier storage and retrieval of data providing a considerable level of
security in its operations; this will foster faster operations in the unit, the
system has the capability of boosting the processing time of student academic
performance by making all required data available in easily accessed format.
The study will also
be of great importance to researchers who might want to embark on further
research concerning the topic of this study, it will serve or form part of
their literature review, and give insight on the limitations of the present
study.
Finally the study
will be of great importance to the college as it will boost managerial decision
if adopted by other units.
1.6 Limitations to the Study
A lot of limitations were
encounter during this study. Such limitations are:
1. Finance:
this work is constrained by finance as the college did not collaborate with me
financial sponsorship to enable an in-depth study.
2. Time:
this is another constraint to my undertaking a more comprehensive fact finding,
since the period for this study was very small compared to the actual work.
3. Lack
of textbooks: this is also another major constraint in the course of carrying
out this work. One had to move from one library to another.
4. Protocols:
I encountered series of protocols, often called red tapism before I was granted
interviews.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Business intelligence
is the delivery of accurate, useful
information to the appropriate decision makers with necessary timeframe to support
effective decision-making. Larson (2006)
Data warehouse is a system that
retrieves and consolidates data periodically from the source systems into a
dimensional or normalized data store. It usually keeps years of history and is
queried for business intelligence or other analytical activities. It is
typically updated in batches, not every time a transaction happens in the
source system Rainardi (2008)].
Data Mart is a subset of data
warehouse and is defined as body of historical data in electronic repository
that doest not participate in the daily operations of the organization.
Instead, this data is used to create business intelligence. The data in the
data mart usually applies to a specific area of organization. (Larson, 2006)
Fact Table
is the primary table in a dimensional
model where the numerical performance measurements of the business are stored.
We try to store the measurement data resulting from a business process in a
single data mart.
Online analytic processing (OLAP) database is a technology for
storing, managing, and querying data specifically designed to support business
intelligence uses.
Extract, Transformation, and Load (ETL) system is a set of
processes that clean, transform, combine, de-duplicate, archive, conform, and
structure data for use in the data warehouse. 
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