WEB BASED SYSTEM DESIGN FOR ECE FINAL YEAR PROJECTS MANAGEMENT

A ‘Web Based System Design for ECE Final Year Projects Management’ was created this year. This system aims to make the task of managing the final year ECE projects easier. The motivation for this project came about due to the ECE department’s wish to make improvements on the system that they are currently using. The current system has a lack of security and user feedback features. It also puts a high workload on the course coordinator. The new system caters to three user groups; students, ECE staff members and the project course coordinator. It is based on a 3-tier architecture model. The system consists of three web applications that have been developed using the PHP programming language. These web applications are supported by a MySQL database. It provides all the features of the currently used system and adds additional features to provide more security and user feedback as well as reducing the course coordinator’s workload. In conclusion, the new system has been successfully implemented and meets all the specified requirements. In comparison to the current system, the new system is more secure, flexible, provides more user feedback, reduces the course coordinator’s workload, prevents erroneous data entry and provides more functionality. The tests performed indicate that the system is operating well and is also very user friendly. process. This system has several advantages but it also has some shortcomings. One such shortcoming of the system is its lack of security. No distinction is made between different groups of users which can cause security problems. The system also consists of 2 databases, due to which manual filtering of data is required from one database to another. There is also a lack of user feedback. For e.g. no confirmation page is displayed before the information filled out in a form is submitted to the database. These shortcomings gave rise to the need for a new system and are responsible for providing the motivation for this project. The main aim of the project was to design a system that would provide all the functionality that the current system provides. In addition to this, it had to provide other desired functionality that is not provided in the current system, while also eliminating shortcomings of the current system. The new Final Year Project Management System (FYPMS) caters to the same groups of users as the current system. These users can be divided into 3 groups; Students, Staff, and the Course Coordinator. Separate applications have been designed for different user groups in the FYPMS. These applications have been built using PHP as the programming language and are supported by a database system built using MySQL. PHP is a programming language which is focused on web application development and it supports multiple platforms i.e. various operating systems [2]. MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that offers strong support for PHP and it can also be deployed on multiple platforms [2]. One of the main advantages for using PHP and MySQL was the fact that both are available for free [2]. One of the key features of the FYPMS is that it is much more secure than the current system due to the use of encrypted passwords and distribution of the user applications to secure domains. Some of the other key features consist of providing useful feedback to the users, prevention of erroneous data into the database and providing more flexibility in the system.

1. Introduction
Management of the final year projects is the biggest activity in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). It is a time consuming process which demands a large amount of resources. The long list of activities that comprise this process starts with staff members submitting their project proposals, students selecting project preferences and projects being allocated to the students. It ends with organizing conferences, exhibitions and submission of final reports by the students [1]. The current system used by the ECE department for management of final year projects has so far successfully helped the department in handling this