Approaching your IS Project

Kevin MuraniBIF 4 Student

Strathmore University

what, why, how

so, .... what is it exactly?

collecting, filtering & processing datacreate and distribute information

what, why, how

and ... why exactly?

support operations, management and decision making

what, why, how

and ... how again?

system analysis & design, database management, information security

how to start

identify a problem or opportunityunaddressed issue, existing but lacking solution, unidentified

opportunity

get familiar with the background and domainthis is the basis of the proposal. your idea does not exist in a

vacuum

know how far you can gobe ambitious, but back it up.

at the end of the day, you need to pass!!!

what you need to know

Best practice

object oriented concepts OOPrelation database systems RDBMS

know a few design patternspick the right tools and the right methods

this will allow you to design & build your system

always have

a database some level(s) of authenticationadd, edit, delete, list and view

report generation

an efficient solution / clever approach

by example

A local primary school is having a problem generating reports for it's exams. The process is painstakingly slow. Reports are required by the school, the teachers, the students and their parents. The process is manual. It's is slow, error prone and vulnerable to loss of data over time.

How can we help them?

by example

identify the requirements of the systemwhat does the system need to do?

1. allow for the creation of exams2. allow for the entry of marks

3. allow for the viewing of marks4. generate exam reports

by example

identify the actorswho uses the system?

1.an administrator2.a teacher3.a student*

by example

identify the roleswho can do what?

1.an admin can manage different exams2.a teacher can manage different marks

3.a students can view their results

by example

this is obviously too general

1.log in/authentication,2. forms for adding, 3. forms for editing, 4. forms for deleting5.views for listing,

6.views for viewing,7.searching features

by example ... approaching the DB

Assuming you are using OO Concepts (and you should be)

What is a database? collection of tables

What is a table? collection of records

What is a record? collection of attributes

What is a class? state (attributes) + behavior (methods)

how does this work?

by example ... approaching the DB

each table in your database should be represented by a class in your code.

a class is an instance of an object. each record in your table can therefore have an

object

UML unified modeling languageORM object relational mapping

the toolsyour editor

Sublime Text

your design toolsValentina Studio: manage dbs & draw schemasXAMPP, WAMP, etc

other stuffframeworks that leverage MVCtwitter bootstrap (UI purposes)please try and consider UX

and we can't google & stackoverflow

in closing

• it's not all that hard: be willing

• other's have done this before: ask around

• don't complicate things: know whats feasible

I did not go as far as you wanted so, what do you want

to know?

oh, these slides ... ?

i've posted a link on twitter@amurani

also look at these...

Databse Design Classes & Schemeshttp://www.tomjewett.com/dbdesign/dbdesign.php?page

=class.php

Mapping Objects to Realtional Databaseshttp://www.agiledata.org/essays/mappingObjects.html

Desing Patternshttp://code.tutsplus.com/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-

design-patterns--net-12752

Thank you