web-based unit and instructor evaluation system...

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WEB-BASED UNIT AND INSTRUCTOR EVALUATION SYSTEM (UIES)

CHOON KWAI MUI

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the

requirement for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Information Technology - Management)

FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & INFORMATION SYSTEMS

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

NOVEMBER 2005

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude especially to my project

supervisors Prof. Zamri bin Mohamed and Y M Raja Baharuddin bin Anom for their

invaluable supervision, advice, guidance and encouragement throughout the course

of the project. I also would like to thank all the staff in Universiti Teknologi

Malaysia (UTM).

I would like to thank Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) academic staffs

and administrative staffs who participated in my project, as well as the many students

who gave their suggestions and cooperation.

I have gained immeasurable amount of knowledge, skills and techniques by

interacting closely with people mentioned above. I realized that, the project would

not be able to achieve its intended target if it is being analyzed, designed, developed

and implemented in isolation.

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ABSTRACT

The aim of this project is to develop performance evaluation system to

achieve TARC business strategy which is to provide quality education and training

and maintain high academic standards in all education programs offered in the

college. This Web-Based Unit & Instructor Evaluation System (UIES) is an

automated system designed to replace the current paper-based evaluation system. By

using this web-based system, TARC can conduct unit evaluation via an online system

that can lower costs, increase timelines of feedback, and make the record keeping and

analysis easier. Literature review was conducted to understand the current state of

knowledge and practice within the project topic - Web-based Unit and Instructor

Evaluation System. The UIES system was developed based on Object Oriented

System Analysis and Design (OOSAD). The framework of the system is based on

Apache Web Server + PHP + MySQL.

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ABSTRAK

Tujuan project ini adalah untuk membangunkan sistem penilaian bagi

mencapai strategi perniagaan yang diinginkan oleh TARC. Iaitu mamberi pendidikan

dan latihan yang berkualiti untuk semua program pendidikan yang ditawarkan. Web-

Based Unit And Instructor Evaluation System (UIES) adalah sistem rekaan yang

dicipta untuk menggantikan soal selidik yang menggunakan kertas. Dengan

mengunakan UIES, pihak kolej akan dapat menggunakan soal selidik ini bagi

mangurangkan kos, mempercepatkan proses tindakbalas dan menolong pihak kolej

menyimpan rekod dan analisis dengan mudah. Kajian Literatur adalah berfungsi

untuk memahami ilmu tentang masa terkini dan berlatih dengan projek tajuk ini ,

iaitu “Web-based Unit and Insturtor Evaluation System ”. Sistem ini mengunakan

metodologi ‘Object Oriented System Analysis and Design (OOSAD). ‘Web Server +

PHP + MySQL’ digunakan untuk membina system ini.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE 1 Project Overview

1.1. Introduction 1

1.2. Background of problem 2

1.3. Statement of the problem 4

1.4. Project objective 5

1.5. Project Scope 6

1.6. Importance of project 13

1.7. Chapter Summary 14

2 Literature Review

2.1. Introduction 15

2.2. Literature review framework 15

2.3. Definition of web based performance

evaluation system

18

2.4. Performance evaluation background 18

2.5. Performance evaluation approach 22

2.6. Characteristic of web based performance

evaluation system

24

2.7

Case studies of web-based performance

evaluation system

25

2.8 Chapter Summary 26

3 Methodology


5

3.2. Research operational framework 28

3.3. Project methodology 30

3.3.1.Management and planning 31

3.3.2.Analysis 32

3.2.3.Design 33

3.2.4.Implementation & operations 33

3.4. System development methodology -

unified software development process

34

3.5 Project schedule 38

3.6 Chapter Summary 39

4 System Analysis and Design


4.2. Organization analysis 41

4.2.1.Organization background and core

business

41

4.2.2.Organization structure 42

4.2.3.Existing IS/IT systems 43

4.2.4.Problem statement in the

organization context

43

4.2.5. As-Is process and data model 45

4.2.5.1.As-Is process 45

4.2.5.2.As Is data model 46

4.3. User requirement 53

4.3.1. SWOT analysis of UIES implementation

54

4.3.2. Functional Requirements 55

4.3.3. Non-Functional Requirements

56

4.3.4. Performance measurement 57

4.3.5. Formula to calculate the evaluation result

58

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4.4. Conceptual Design 59

4.4.1. To-be process and data model 59

4.4.1.1. Use-case diagram for UIES 59

4.4.1.2. Class diagram for UIES 59

4.4.2. System Architecture (Conceptual

Design)

67

4.5. Physical Design 67

4.5.1. Database Design 68

4.5.2. Program Chart 70

4.5.2.1.Overall 70

4.5.3. Interface Chart 76

4.5.3.1.User interface chart 76

4.5.3.2.Main Function Offer By The

UIES User Interface

78

4.5.3.3.User Interface Design 78

4.5.4. Detail Module/ Features 82

4.5.5. System Architecture (Physical

Design)

83

4.6. Hardware Requirements 85

4.7. Test Plan 85


5 Design Implementation And Testing


5.2. Coding approach 88

5.3. Test Result /System Evaluation 96

5.3.1. Major constraints 96

5.3.2. Test Procedures 97

5.4. User Manual for Administrator 103

5.4.1. Hardware and Software

Installation

103


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6 Organization Strategy


6.2. Roll-Out Strategy 108

6.3. Change management 109

6.4. Business Continuity Plan (BCP) 110

6.5. Expected Organizational Benefits 111


7 Discussion & Conclusion

7.1. Achievement 112

7.2. Constraints and Challenges 113

7.3. Aspirations 115


Reference 117

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO TITLE PAGE 1 Project Overview

1.1. Message flow in the three tier

client/server architecture

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2 Literature Review

2.1. Conceptual framework for analyzing

web-based performance evaluation

system for unit and instructor

16

2.2. Overview of performance evaluation 19

2.3. Performance management process Vis-

à-vis business strategies

20

2.4. Kathleen Guinn performance

management model

21

2.5. Student rating of instruction (SRI)

model

23

3 Methodology

3.1. Research operational framework 28

3.2 The phases involved in the unified

software development process.

36

3.3. The relationship between unified

software development process and

object oriented system analysis and

design

37

3.4. Gantt Chart for Project 1 38

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3.5. Gantt Chart for Project 2 39

4 Initial finding

4.1. Organization chart for Johor branch

campus

42

4.2. Current evaluation process use case

diagram

46

4.3. Class diagram for current evaluation

system

52

4.4. To-Be system use case diagram 59

4.5. Class diagram for UIES 66

4.6 The conceptual design of system architecture for UIES.

67

4.7. The overall program chart for UIES 70

4.8 The student user interface chart 76

4.9 The system administrator user interface

chart

77

4.10 The TARC staff user interface chart

(academic staff and admin staff)

77

4.11 The system architecture (physical

design) for UIES

84

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

NO TITLE PAGE

3.1. Comparison of software development methodologies 35

4.1. SWOT Analysis Table 54

4.2. Criteria for evaluation of teaching performance 57

4.3 Summarizes the functions offered by UIES user interface 78

4.4. The summary of UIES features with user requirement. 82

4.5. CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) matrix extract showing functions and objects

83

4.6. Hardware requirements for the system 85

5.1. Test Log 100

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LIST OF APPENDIXS APPENDIEX TITLE PAGE

A Project Management

Team structure and organization 118

Work break down of activities in sequence 119

Project Charter 121

Projected Cost & Benefit 123

B Sequence Diagram, Activity Diagram and

State Diagram

Sequence Diagram 124

Activity Diagram 127

State Diagram 130

C Related Forms / Survey

Questionnaire 131

Evaluation Form and summary report for current

system

134

D User Guide 139

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CHAPTER 1

PROJECT OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction

One of the Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) goals is to provide quality

education and training, and maintain high academic standards in all education

programs offered in the college. In order to achieve this purpose, the linkage of

performance evaluation reporting with college strategic planning and objectives is

necessary to ensure that the college and evaluation system performance improves in

the chosen target areas to move the organization strategically in the desired direction.

An education industry provides quality education is central to its ability to

gain competitive advantage. High quality education will attract more students’ study

in TARC. Critical mass of students is needed for a college to survive. Unit and

instructor evaluation should be a small but significant part of the larger strategy for

college improvement.

The aim of this project is to develop performance evaluation system to

achieve the above goal and overcome traditional performance evaluation weaknesses.

Student evaluation data is a valuable source for the evaluation and improvement of

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instructor, also a source of data for faculty performance evaluation. In order to

provide comprehensive and trustworthy evidence for employee development and

organizational improvement, appropriate data collection method need to be taken to

ensure that useful data are gathered and thoughtful student feedback is facilitated.

With the current Information Technology (IT) trends, college can implement

course evaluation via an online format for courses in order to lower costs, increase

timeliness of feedback, and assist with ease of record-keeping and analysis. This

Web-Based Unit and Instructor Evaluation System (UIES) is an automated system

to replace the traditional paper evaluation system. This web-based system collects

teaching evaluation data for summative and formative purposes.

1.2 Background Of Problem

Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) was established on 1969 under the

leadership of Malaysian Chinese Association. The college is one of the country’s

major institutions of higher learning and has established an international reputation

for the high quality and wide range of courses offered.

In order to develop a powerful work team and improve the quality of

education, unit and instructor performance evaluation are implemented in TARC

every semester. Current evaluation system creates a lot of administrative workload

and the results are kept within individual campus. The administrators are using the

same evaluation forms for all faculties.

The current manual system requires an administrator to attend to every class

during lecture or tutorial hours to carry out the evaluation process. Before

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administering an evaluation, administrator needs to print large quantity of evaluation

forms and schedule time for evaluation. Before the start of evaluation of a particular

subject, the administrator will inform the instructor for that particular unit that fifteen

minutes of class time will be used for the evaluation. Students will fill out the

evaluation form for the unit and instructor performance evaluation within that short

period of time. The administrator collects all the returned forms and later enters all

data into the current system for further processing. A simple summary information

can be shown in Microsoft Excel format.

The administrator will print out the unit review for unit leader to help in

planning for the next year’s delivery of the unit and produce instructor’s performance

report for the Human Resource Department. The purpose is to assist academic

administrators in counseling instructors about their teaching and they are carefully

weighed as a factor in judging the teaching component for promotion and salary

determinations.

Through observation, I found that current evaluation system has a lot of

limitations and does not achieve the goals for which it was supposed to. I am going

to develop Web Based Unit and Instructor Evaluation System (UIES) because it

provides the best solution to the problematic situation in which the power of the web

comes through hyperlinking information posting, authoring and interactively. The

UIES is a flexible, anonymous, secure, efficient and adaptable means for students to

provide their feedback on their units and instructors.

With UIES, administrator can reduce the administrative burden by

eliminating the need to physically collect evaluation forms. Data processing is more

reliable and confidential. The administrator is able to obtain regular feedback on

instructor’s performance and faculty teaching much faster with an online system.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

Current system requires more human effort and time to produce simple

evaluation report. The users are divided into four groups which are students, system

administrator, academic and administrative staff. The time taken by the users to

perform their tasks is time consuming because of the following reasons:

- An administrator is required to go to every class during lecture or tutorial hours to

carry out the evaluation process. The tedious process of distributing and

collecting the evaluation forms consumes valuable class hours. In addition, it

requires three weeks to complete the evaluation for all the units and instructors.

- Summarizing the evaluation data takes another three weeks because it is being

performed manually and the administrator also needs to summarize the comments

given by students. The summarized results therefore are subjected to human

errors.

- It takes one and a half month to complete the evaluation process, which is

inefficient and time consuming. Evaluation reports produced lack the ability to

compare the performance of an instructor over the past and present semesters.

- The results of the current evaluation system are kept within individual campuses.

Therefore, the performance of two instructors from different campuses teaching

the same unit cannot be compared.

- Students have only 5 to 10 minutes to fill out the evaluation form during class

hours. Many students would simply fill up the forms without having sufficient

time to make an accurate evaluation. Furthermore, due to the poor command in

English, some students do not understand certain words in the evaluation forms.

The results of the evaluation is therefore inaccurate and do not reflect the ability

of an instructor.

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- The existing evaluation system involves printing a large quantity of evaluation

form which may not be cost effective.

1.4 Project Objective

The objectives for implementing a web-based evaluation system are:

- To study how to implement the evaluation system in an on-line

environment that would make the evaluation process easier and more

efficient.

- To identify the problem and weaknesses of current evaluation system.

- To provide semester-end report for management to evaluate the

performance of instructors and schools.

- To standardize and integrate the evaluation system among all the college

branches. Presently this project will be localized and upon completion and

testing, integration with other branches will be considered.

- To formulate strategy by implementing web-based system into academic

system.

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1.5 Project Scope

Project scope is define as the boundary of the project in term of the

functionality of system, input data, software and hardware platform, features of the

system, users and type of testing implement in system development. This project will

focus on performance management -- performance evaluation. This project will be

tested and implemented in TARC Johor branches campus.

1.5.1. The Functionality Of System

The system to be developed will be a web-based system. The system will

allow administrator to add, remove and edit questions that will appear on all

evaluation forms used at the school level. Question editing is provided through a

straightforward web interface that allows two question types: Likert -style question

and open-end questions. Administrator needs to set the survey parameters such as

instructor name, course and access dates to complete the survey for each unit.

With a web-based system, students will receive an email when a unit opens

for evaluation. The email will include instructions regarding the unit(s) to evaluate,

how to evaluate and when the evaluation terminates. Email also consists of a unique

username and password to access to the UIES. If the student is found in the

enrollment data table, a list of the units offered by the school in which they are

enrolled will be shown on the screen. Those units that have not yet been evaluated

can be selected using a button, but those units that have been evaluated are simply

listed and cannot be selected (thus preventing multiple entries from the same student).

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During evaluation, student completes the electronic form by clicking on

guided answers for Likert-style question and type in responses to open-ended

questions. Once completed, student submits the anonymous evaluation form. The

responses are added to the appropriate table in the database. The system summarizes

all the evaluation scores automatically and a statistical report will be generated

automatically which the user can view on the web or print out.

1.5.2. Data

UIES is developed for collecting teaching evaluation data from students.

Students need to fill out electronic survey form. TARC used Student Rating of

Instruction (SRI). The SRI form formats include Likert-style questions (strongly

agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree) and optional open-end questions

to capture student’s opinion or suggestion for improving particular unit or instructor’s

performance.

Similar with the current paper survey form, the electronic survey form is

divided into two parts. The first part is unit review section, which evaluates the

unit/subject. Second part is evaluation of lecturer section used for evaluation of the

instructor. The sample form and summary report for current evaluation system are

attached, Appendix A of this document.

1.5.3. Software/ Hardware/ Platform

Software and hardware requirements should be provided to ensure the

continuous, robust, straightforward execution of web-based system. These

requirements might be classified as below:

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1.5.3.1.Three Tier Client Server Architecture

UIES is support three (3) tier architecture (Browser + Apache web server /

PHP + MySQL). This architecture is appropriate for more complicated web

interaction which requiring services of database program. The basic structure of a

three-tier application: -

a) Client tier

Users interact with application through user interface. Client need

interacts with middle tier to make requests and to retrieve data from

information tier. The client then displays data retrieved from middle tier to

the user. Examples are Internet Explorer & Netscape browser.

b) Middle tier

This Tier is a business logic and data processing layer. It acts as intermediary

between data in information tier and application client. A web server is a

middle-tier application. UIES used Apache as the Web server. PHP is

scripting language supported by Apache. PHP is needed to generate web

pages dynamically.

c) Information tier

This tier is the back end for data item storage and management. UIES use

MySQL as the database.

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Figure 1.1. Message flow in the three-tier client/ server architecture

1.5.3.2.Software Requirement

PHP (hypertext preprocessor)

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for the web. The

goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages

quickly. Strengths for PHP when compare with main competitors such as PERL,

ASP, JSP is that it can interface to many different database system that provides an

open database connectivity standard (ODBC) such as MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft

products and others. Other advantages are low cost and availability of source code.

PHP is portable across multiple platforms. PHP was created as an open-source

technology based on C, Perl, and Java that can run on multiple operating systems and

multiple web servers. PHP performs very well and is nearly as fast as ASP, but it’s

still held back by its lack of good development tools.

MySQL

Is very fast, robust and scalable relational database management system. My

SQL is a true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL (structured programming language)

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database server. As with PHP, web developer can obtain and modify the source code

for MySQL.

Apache web server

The apache web server is the software that responds to client requests by

providing resources, such as XHTML documents. Based on the following diagram,

Apache is a popular web server and holds under 60% of the web server market.

Microsoft Visio professional 2003 is a software for creating the UML diagram,

organization chart and project schedule.

Microsoft office 2000 is a software package for preparing the documentation

software to assist us in project planning, estimating, scheduling, monitoring and

reporting.

1.5.3.3.Hardware Requirement

- Servers

Pentium-based server or equivalent

Network interface card

Hub/ switch

- Client

Pentium-based pc or equivalent

Network interface card

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1.5.4. Features

The UIES supports access control. Users need to use their username and

password to login. In order to protect student confidentiality, his/ her identity is

separated from the evaluation he/ she submits. The content of the evaluation is saved

into a separate table that does not include the student’s identity. The student identity

will be saved in another table. This table can be used to tell the system whether the

student has completed the evaluation for a particular unit. Both tables cannot be

linked.

UIES also provide email services. Email will be sent to students when a unit

opens for evaluation. Students also will receive reminder email every week follow

this initial email until the unit (s) have either been evaluated or the evaluation period

has ended.

The system provide online help guide to users who need to obtain detail

information about the system and guideline to using the system.

System administrator needs to set the survey parameters such as instructor

name, course and access dates in order to complete the evaluation form for each unit.

Administrator can modify evaluation questions when requested by top management.

Web-based evaluation form can be designed to include a wide variety of response

options (e.g. check boxes, Likert scales, pull-down menus).

UIES reporting system can produce statistic report based on unit, instructor,

course or campus.

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1.5.5. User

The school offices, human resource department and the management level

staffs will use this system. Users are divided into several groups. Each group can

access specific functions of the system depending on their needs and responsibilities:

- Student can logging into system by entering their user name and password.

Student needs to complete all the unit he/she has enrolled.

- Instructor can view their own teaching evaluation statistic report.

- The human resource department and management level staffs such as the head

of department, head of branch or head of school have access to the web-based

evaluation system, where they can view the summary of evaluation results and do

some analysis of the instructors performance based on some reports that compare

the evaluation score over several semester and different campuses.

- System administrator will take full control over the system, manages system

resources such as user accounts, assigns permissions, create evaluation forms and

access reports for specific unit or instructor and define setting for the system.

1.5.6. Type Of Testing

The UIES uses Unified Software Development Process as the system

development methodology. This unified process proposes an iterative approach,

which means that test is conducted throughout the project. This allows defect be

detected as early as possible.

The purpose of system testing is to verify that the system satisfies user

requirements. Thus, testing activities must be planned. Test plan guide us go through

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the test lifecycle of planning, analysis, design, implementation and operation. During

analysis, an overall test plan is developed. Unit test plan, an integration test plan and

a system test plan are developed during design phase. During implementation, these

various plans are put into effect and the actual testing is performed.

1.6 Importance of Project

The primary goal of a performance evaluation system is to provide an

equitable measurement of an employee’s contribution to the workforce, produce

accurate evaluation documentation to protect both the employee and employer, and

obtain a high level of quality and quantity in the work produced.

Education evaluation is a vital part of the process in maintaining and

improving the instructor performance and faculty teaching quality. With the unit

evaluation report, unit leader can plan better unit content for next time delivery of the

unit.

With the instructor performance evaluation report, academic administrators

will be able to counsel instructors about their teaching when they fail to meet the

performance expectation. The evaluation report is important in judging the teaching

component in promotion and salary determinations.

Instructors can improve their teaching skill with student feedback. This

information can assist instructor to organize, plan, implement, and assess this

teaching that will be beneficial to both students and them selves.

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1.7 Chapter Summary

As a conclusion, this chapter describes the background of the project and the

background of problem faced by students and academic administrators in TARC.

This chapter also illustrates the importance of having a web based evaluation system

to address the problems and constraint faced as mentioned above. By developing this

system, the problems will be eliminated and the daily task can be carried out

smoothly.

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Reference:

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human resource management, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia institute of management.

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Lingnam College 30th Anniversary Conference on “ New Challenges &

Innovations in Teaching & Training into 21st Century”, May, 1998. Hong Kong.

3. Zuraidah Omar (2001). Managing performance in Malaysia organizations.

Malaysia. Mcgraw hill. Page 51- 66

4. Adelina Aleksieva, Larissa Vladinova, Trayan Iliev. (2002). ARCADE--Software

Architecture For Web-Based Education. International workshop NGNT.

5. Craig Larman. (2002). An Introduction To Object-Oriented Analysis And Design

And The Unified Process. Pearson hill.

6. Stephen R.Schach (2002), Object-Oriented & Classical Software Engineering.

Mc Graw Hill.

7. Yao, Yuankun, Weissinger, Ellen, Marilyn Grady (2003). Faculty use of student

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8. George. Batra. Valacich. Hoffer. (2004). Object-Oriented Systems Analysis And

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10. Kevin Yan (2003).Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP &

MySQL. Sitepoint

11. University of Massachusetts. Business Continuity Planning Guidelines.

http://www.umassp.edu/policy/data/busines.html

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PHP 4.0. New Rider Publishing

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http://www.umassp.edu/policy/data/busines.html

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