correspondence archiving & tracking system

FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Correspondence Archiving & Tracking System

By

Ahmed Nazim (TP014166)

UC3F0909CWD

BSc (Hons) in Computing: Web Development

Supervised by WONG CHUNG WEI

By Ahmed Nazim (TP014166) 2

What is Correspondence Management?

• Correspondence management is the process of receiving, recording, processing and responding to the correspondence received to an organization

• A core component of the general process of enterprise content management

START

RECEPTION

RECEIVE CORRESPONDENCE

CEONEED

APPROVAL?YES

NO

DEPARTMENTS

RE-ROUTETO THE

RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS

ISAPPROVED?

YES

NO

END


Problem Background

In any organization, dealing with correspondence can be complex and time consuming

Paper documents are :• Bulky and heavy• Not easily searchable• Difficult to manage• Expensive


Solution

• Digitize paper documents• Make the document searchable • Manage the digital version with database• Allow staff/users to access the documents

without difficulty


Correspondence Archiving & Tracking System (CATS)

• CATS is a computerized system developed to overcome the difficulties in managing the traditional paper documents

• Objectives:» To automate the correspondence management

process» Reduce and minimize the paper work» Track or search documents easily» Enable ubiquitous access to documents


Primary Research

• Interview» Interviewed a senior staff of Maldives Customs

Service

Maldives Customs Service is a large governmental organization employing more than 700 staff across the country. There are more than 20 departments and the organization handles a daily average of 140 incoming and outgoing correspondences


Primary Research

• Interview» Findings:

• Documents should be managed by following a proper folder management standard

• Electronic document approval cannot be implemented with the current legislation

• Providing PDA or mobile accessibility will be convenient• Security and speed should be addressed in developing

the application


Primary Research

• Questionnaire» Targeted to a wide range of staffs who are

currently involved in the correspondence management process

» Information was gathered from more than 30 staff of Maldives Customs Service


Primary Research

• Questionnaire» Findings:

• Frequent users of the system will be junior and middle level staff

• More than 83% users are familiar with web-applications• Firefox and Internet Explorer are mainly used for

browsing• 97% users finds it useful to view documents from their

mobile phone and 60% users prefer desktop browser to access the application


Secondary Research

• According to M. Rozzano (2009), the huge amount of incoming and outgoing documents in the companies has to be managed in a complete way, in order to:» Check the incoming and outgoing documents» Be sure not to lose the documents» Check the internal and external communications

flow» Ensure the documents confidentiality» Perceiving of documents for future readability


Secondary Research

• D. Priestly (2008) and Dirven (2007), states the following reasons to migrate to electronic correspondence

» Gain better control» Cost» Efficiency » Environmental concerns» Increase accuracy» Free up employees to focus on more strategic

tasks


Academic Research

• What programming language can be used?» C# .NET is among the top 5 programming

languages used by developers• Which Database server can handle the

correspondence data?» Microsoft SQL Server 2005

• Which Web server will be compatible with the above database server and programming language?» Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)


Academic Research

• What will be the best electronic document format?» Adobe PDF

• How can the system be interfaced with a scanner?» Using Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) library

• How can we extract document contents?» Using an Optical Character Recognition library

• MODI OCR was the most appropriate library


Academic Research

• How can the system manage FAX?» Using Microsoft Fax Service

• Any compatible FAX modem can be used

• How to provide SMS functionality?» Using a GSM modem or GSM mobile phone


System Architecture


(CATS)

Database

File Server

Web Services

Application Programmer

Interface (API)

PDALaptops

3rd Party Application

Workstations

Internal Module

External Module


(CATS)

Organization A Organization B


Internal Module

• This module will be used within the organization only (Intranet)

Workstations

Internal Module

Windows Application


(CATS)

Web-client Scanner


Internal Module

• 2 Applications were developed for Internal Module:» Windows Application:

• Will be used by Administrators ONLY• Will be interfaced with Scanner• Should be installed to the computer

» Web-based Application:• Will be used by all the Staff (including Administrators)• Can be accessible using any computer within the

network


Windows Application

• Developed using C# .NET• Can communicate with any WIA (Windows

Image Acquisition) compatible scanner• Will scan and process OCR (Optical Character

Recognition) using the client Computer memory

• Will upload scanned documents using FTP (File Transfer Protocol)


Web-based Application

• Developed using C# .NET, JavaScript and XML• Will use web-server’s memory to process OCR• Will upload documents using HTTP• Can be accessed from any kind of browser/OS

platform• Staff will be able to view their own documents

(including documents of their department)


API Module

• API Module will provide functionality for developers to integrate other applications with CATS

Workstations

Internal Module

Windows Application


(CATS)

Web-client Scanner

Web Services

Application Programmer

Interface (API)

PDALaptops

3rd Party Application


API Module

• Written entirely in C# .NET• Programming language independent for

developers• Provide information in the form of XML• Enable to develop gadgets, widgets and

mobile applications


Design Methodology

• Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) with Website Design Method (WSDM) were used

• Reasons to combine both methodologies:» SDLC phases are targeted more on the

development phases, while WSDM is more user-centric and more appropriate for web applications

» WSDM covers audience modeling in a broader way compare to SDLC

» Preliminary phases of SDLC are very important in identifying the problems, opportunities and requirements


Audience Modeling

• Targeted audience will be divided into 3 main categories which are administrators, general staff and senior staff

Provide CorrespondenceInformation

General Staff& Executives

AdministrativeSetup of System

Administrative Staff



• Will be accessible to most the functions of the system, except approving document which is only available for executive staff

View External Documents

View Internal Documents

Send Internal Documents

Send Fax


Send External Documents

Route Documents

Manage

Address Book

Users

Departments

Designation

System Settings


Executive and General Staff

• General staff can be regarded as an audience sub-class of “executive staff”.

• Executive Staff will be able to “approve document”

General StaffView External Documents



Send Fax

Executive StaffView External Documents



Send Fax

ApproveDocument


Database Design


HCI Design

• Design Principles» Visibility

• Simple design; logically organized, well labeled and related item in the interface will be grouped together in a pane

• The screen will not be cluttered and the menus will be placed in highly visible locations

• Colour – simple color scheme used as the background color which should clearly distinguish background with foreground texts. High chrome colors used for important notices to attract attention of the users

• Text – An easy to read font style• Metaphors – icons or small images such as a magnifying

glass to represent the “search” option or a question mark symbol to represent the “help” option.


HCI Design

• Design Principles» Constraints

• Cultural constraints rely on learned conventions (e.g. red colored fonts used to display error messages)

• Restrict possible actions that can be performed by a specific user (eg: general user should not be allowed to “approve” a document)


HCI Design

• Design Principles» Provide Feedback

• Mouse hovered to links should display a different color or hover effect

• Active buttons and tabs could be highlighted to show that the user is viewing the current tab or button’s content


HCI Design

• Design Principles» Mapping

• Main menu will be placed right under the top banner which will be clearly visible to the user.

• The panel for all frequently accessed links will be located on the left hand side of the screen.


Interface Design (Web Application)


Interface Design (Windows Application)


Implementation

• Development Tools and Techniques» Visual Studio 2008» Adobe Dreamweaver CS4» Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) - Scanning» Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) – OCR» PDFsharp and Ghostscript Library» Windows FAX Service» jQuery library


Major Functions & Features

• Password Encryption:» All the passwords will be encrypted using MD5

algorithm

• FAX Management» FAX can be sent and received using the web-based

application



• Receive SMS notification:» Users can subscribe to receive SMS notification to

their mobile phone



• Scanning using the Application:» Windows Application can scan documents without

using a scanning software



• OCR Processing:» Extract contents of the scanned document using

MODI OCR


System Testing

• Following test methods were used to ensure that the application met its expected result as well as overall performance» Deployment Test » Unit Test» Functionality Test» Integration Test» Performance Test» Design and User Acceptance Test» Browser Test


Problems Occurred during testing

• Could not test the actual faxing due to unavailability of fax line

• Could not test on multiple scanners • Web-based OCR processing is slow compare to

Windows based OCR


Degree of Success

• Considering the test results as well as the user acceptance test carried out with sampled users, CATS has been successful especially in the areas of user interaction with the Web based application and the overall visual appeal

• Significant success has also been recorded in the aspect of windows based application and API integration

• OCR processing was the only function which exceeds 1 second of response time


Limitations

• Almost all the requests are based on AJAX calls other than uploading the document.

• There are some difficulties on uploading files via AJAX technique. Due to this limitation, the uploading of documents will refresh the entire client page (traditional post back)

• OCR will be processed only on documents having English characters

• Theme or color scheme cannot be changed by the user


Future Enhancement

• System can be integrated with staff’s email• Enable staff to email to the CATS (eg:

[email protected]) system to register a document on CATS

• Support for multiple language OCR• Integrate system with other in-house software like

pay-slips (salary slip) etc• Enable users to change their interface design by

selecting themes• Current system does not track the location of

hardcopy


Lessons Learned

» Advanced AJAX implementations» OCR Processing» Web-based faxing» C# and JavaScript» JSON, SOAP and XML» Hardware communication» Project Management


Conclusion

• Future enhancement to the correspondence process as a whole, and the developed CATS would definitely bring a much easier, faster, efficient and advanced correspondence management system in a ubiquitous manner

By Ahmed Nazim (TP014166)

THANK YOU

correspondence archiving & tracking system

Documents

major functions

windows image acquisition

correspondence archiving

correspondence management

windows application

based application

send fax

mobile phone