Design and Implementation of Integrated Mobile Responsive Student Enrolment System

European Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology
Vol.6, No.1, pp.1-9, February 2018

___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org)
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED MOBILE RESPONSIVE
STUDENT ENROLMENT SYSTEM
Fordjour K. A. and Afriyie K. R.
Department of Information and Communication Technology, School of Applied Science and
Technology, Wa Polytechnic, Post Office Box 553, Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana
ABSTRACT: The integrated online student enrolment and information management system
enables applicants to apply and enroll into programmes of their preferred choices in Wa
Polytechnic prior to the commencement of the academic year and semester. The activities
involved in the implementation of the system were requirements gathering, specification
analysis, system design, end user training and post implementation review. A prototype of
requirement specifications was developed, tested, reviewed and approved by the user. The
successful implementation of the student information management system was based on the
involvement of the stakeholders working in higher institution of learning. The system allows
students to enroll through the Internet without traveling to the campus. It incorporates school
management rules and processes which include enrolment, registration and grading. The
system design and development was modeled to allow mobile device accessibility and
responsiveness. Students receive notices of their application outcome, admission and
examination results on their global system for mobile telecommunication (GSM) mobile
phones, emails and school website. The mobile responsiveness and user friendliness of the
application provide high user experience satisfaction. Since Wa Polytechnic does not have
online library system, the system should be scaled up to allow lecturers to upload course
materials for students to access.
KEYWORDS: Enrolment, Information Management System, Internet, GSM Mobile Phones,
Mobile Responsiveness
INTRODUCTION
The rapid growth of web technology allows the use of various techniques to surf the web. Some
of the many different devices used for accessing the web include desktop computers with a
wide range of screen dimensions, tablets, mobile phones and television. It is reported thatnext
billion new phone users will use primarily mobiles (ITU, 2003). Ericsson Company predicts
that people accessing the web using mobile phones in 2018 will be around 9 billion
(Vanguardngr, 2014). Therefore, any application that intends to succeed must make effective
use of responsive web procedures in both design and implementation. In the view of (Karolić,
2013.), the main idea behind the principles of responsive web design is to make the Web for
All and Web on Everything. The essence of this idea is to enable access to the web content
using all opportunities existing with regard to media screens.
Google reports that over 50% of Google Search is done with mobile devices worldwide (Search
Engine land, 2016). However, a mobile device responsive test conducted by Google provides
conclusive evidence that majority of local websites are mobile user unfriendly. Further,
Dowuna reports that tests on responsiveness of Ghanaian-based websites on mobile devices
showed that more than 90% of government and public institutions’ websites are very mobile
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ISSN 2054-0957 (Print), ISSN 2054-0965 (Online)
unfriendly (Dowuna, 2015). The main challenges identified with the websites include poor user
experience, navigability on mobile devices, small texts on the websites, and forced horizontal
scrolling. Therefore, designing and implementing a system with high mobile user friendliness,
user acceptability and responsiveness is timely. Introducing mobile responsive website
especially in the higher learning of institutions in Ghana as part of the Information and
Communication Technology integration strategy and provision of access to education in higher
learning institutions where users mostly use mobile devices in searching for relevant
information from academia has far-reaching benefits. These include ease of use and retrieval
of information with convenience.
Against this background, Wa Polytechnic as a higher learning institution with the mandate to
train middle and top level manpower for national development (Wa Polytechnic ICT Policy &
Plan, 2008), aims at providing opportunity to qualified applicants within and outside Ghana.
Consequently, the admission processes of the institution which were, until recently,
predominantly paper-based are now modernised by employing innovative way of advertising
admission opportunities using the Internet in order to provide access to interested and qualified
applicants.
Problem Analysis
The decline in enrolment at Wa Polytechnic was worrisome to management, academic staff,
students and other stakeholders. A number of reasons were speculated to that development.
Prominent among them was the unfriendly nature of the admission processes and procedures,
authentication and registration. The hitherto student enrolment process ran manually with
extensive human intervention. Paper based forms were used to capture prospective applicant’s
enrolment information. Every potential applicant seeking to enroll in Wa Polytechnic had to
travel to the school or to prearranged places to buy the form. Applicants waited till they
received admission letterswhich sometimes got stuck at the Post Office resulting in their late
delivery. It is reported that at the end of the 2008/2009 academic year, five students were
withdrawn due to poor academic performance which was attributed to late receipt of admission
letters (Adjei et.al, 2010). Students’ assessment and grading was paper based with inadequate
security, which rendered the grading system vulnerable. Further, there was no standard format
for the institution and therefore the design and format of transcripts were driven by the
discretion of the Heads of Departments and Examination Officers. The integrated online
enrolment and students information management system seeks to provide solution to all these
challenges in Wa Polytechnic.
DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY
System Development Processes
The design and development of the system went through prototyping phases. The prototyping
model is presented in Figure 1. User needs were elicited and critically analysed in order to
design and implement a system of high reliability and correctness. A prototype was prepared
based on the user requirements. This facilitated a better understanding of the desired system
development which actively involved the users. In this process, the users were interviewed to
know the requirements of the system. A prototype of requirement specifications was
developed, tested, reviewed and approved by the user.
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Start
Requirement Quick Design Building Prototype
gathering and Analysis
Stop
Product Engineering Refining Prototype User Evaluation
Figure 1: Prototyping Model

The prototype design formed the foundation for the development of the system. In the system
design process we used three distinct aspects: conceptual, logical and physical designs.
The conceptual design process helped to acquire, evaluate, document and validate the user
requirements which led to a solution from a user perspective. Because the study aimed at
solving higher school management problems, specifically Wa Polytechnic, at any point in the
design process, the current state of the design was directly traceable to a problem and
requirements within higher institution of learning.
The logical design was derived from the usage scenarios. The logical view was used as a basis
to evaluate different physical options. The boundaries and the objectives of the system were
defined. Further, the interfaces between the system and external entities, such as users and other
systems were established. Among the key considerations in this component were Input/Output
specifications, file specifications and processing specifications.
The logical design was translated into implementable solution according to user requirements.
The physical design was tied to chosen set of technologies such as the hardware and software
on which the application runs. The deliverables at the physical design were the design
responsiveness to the physical media, specify input/output media, design of the database and
specify backup procedures as well as the design of the physical information flow through the
system. The final design of the system, development, testing, deployment and system
administration were done as illustrated in Figure 2.
System Design
System System System

Development System Testing Deployment Administration
(Realization)
Figure 2: System development procedure
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SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
System Architecture
In order to enhance data security, operational management, communication and scalability, a
3-tier system was used in an efficient and well-structured client/server model design as
illustrated in Figure 3. The client/server model was categorized into user process components,
business components, data component services and sources. A well designed client/server
model enabled us to have clearly defined web data sources and services such that a new user
interface could easily be designed without having to modify server side application logic.
MySQL was used to build the database with PHP, WordPress and SQL providing programming
interface for all server side codes. The client side interface was programmed with JavaScript
and jQuery and formatted with HTML and CSS.
Figure 3: Three-Layered Services Application
System Administration
Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the major activities of the system administrator. The system
basically starts by displaying the homepage. Thereafter, username and password are requested
from the administrator. The system administrator validates his or her credentials in order to
proceed. The administrator invites every user into the system. Other major activities of the
administrator are admission and registration of students, deletion of a student from the system.
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Figure 4: Flowchart showing the major activities of the system administrator

Applicant/Student User
The qualified applicant uses the system to apply online. The system allows the applicant to
visit the site from time to time to check his or her admission status till admission is offered
otherwise the applicant will have to reapply.
The flowchart in Figure 5 shows the activities of an applicant/student. A student is granted
access only through the username and passwords created from first visit to the online system
when applying at the web portal in order to utilise the features available to applicant or student
from a remote location. The system is used to capture applicant’s information related to
applying for enrolment, providing personal data, guardian information, academic
qualifications, programme to enroll in, and sponsorship. The student also has to his/her
examination results, which are not editable.
5
Figure 5: Flowchart showing the activities of a student user

Lecturer user
A lecturer user accesses the system by providing username and password. His/her credentials
are authenticated in other to access the lecturer web page. When access is granted, the lecturer
will then register his/her course based on the semester. The system permits a lecturer to release
a course whenever there are changes in course allocation. Further, the lecturer is allowed to
grade the system within a stipulated time. Figure 6 shows the activities of a lecturer user.
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Figure 6: Flowchart showing the activities of a lecturer
Mobile Responsiveness Test of the application

With the web being accessed more on mobile devices currently (Search engine land, 216), a
mobile responsive test was conducted to ascertain the user mobile friendliness of the system.
This test was done using:
https://search.google.com/search-console/mobilefriendly?id=Bhtk2YZ_nv6g8nVCfMjxaQ,
a portal provided by Google for testing the mobile user friendliness of sites. The result reveals
that the system is mobile friendly. The interfaces/screens displayed on different mobile devices
are captured in Figures 8, 9 and 10.
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CONCLUSION
The implementation of student record management system in Wa Polytechnic enables
prospective applicants to electronically enroll into the institution without necessarily having to
travel to campus to buy application forms. Applicants are able to conveniently access the
application through all forms of devices used to surf the net. Admitted applicants just download
their admission letters online at any convenient time. Grading of students is done online with
enhanced security. Students are able to electronically access their semester results and
transcripts electronically. Transcripts for all programs maintain the same format and security
features. Every student is able to receive his/her results on a mobile phone and email. The
notification mechanism of the system makes it highly automated and interactive. This
interaction is made simpler with SMS, email and webpage. The successful implementation of
the system increased enrolment from 137 students in the 2016/17 academic year to 346 students
in the 2017/18 academic year. Therefore, the application contributed immensely to an increase
in the enrolment of the institution. Since Wa Polytechnic currently has no online library system,
scaling up this enrolment system to enable lecturers to upload course materials and receive
feedback from students will enhance innovation in the teaching and learning process in the
institution.
REFERNCES
Adjei E., Amoah S., Antwi M., Pokua-Nyarko, E. and Sanche, N. (2010). Impact of
information and Communication technology on secretarial practice, the case of Wa
Polytechnic. Wa Polytechnic Library.
Dowuna, S. (2015). “Government, NCA, 2 Telecos websites mobile unfriendly: Google test
revealed.” The Technology.
International Telecommunication Union. (2007). Mobile overtakes fixed: Implications for
policy regulation. International Telecommunication Union, 2003.
8
Karolić, B. (2013). “Increasing the availability of information using modern technologies of
the open Web to build user interfaces for mobile devices”. Online Journal of Applied
Knowledge Management, Volume 1, Issue 2.
Search Engine land. (2016). Nearly 60 percent of searches now from mobile devices.
Avalaible at: www. Google.com.gh/amp/searchengineland.com/report-mobile devices-
255025/amp. Accessed: 05/09/2017
Vanguardngr, G. (2014). Telecom analysts. Retrieved December, 6, 2017 from
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/mobile-subscriber-population-to-exceed-9-bn-
by-2018/
Wa Polytechnic. (2008). Information and communication technology: ICT policy and plan.
Wa Polytechnic ICT Directorate.
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European Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology

Vol.6, No.1, pp.1-9, February 2018

Product Engineering Refining Prototype User Evaluation

Figure 1: Prototyping Model

System System System

Figure 2: System development procedure

Figure 3: Three-Layered Services Application

Figure 4: Flowchart showing the major activities of the system administrator

Figure 5: Flowchart showing the activities of a student user

Figure 6: Flowchart showing the activities of a lecturer

Mobile Responsiveness Test of the application

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