MAKERERE UNIVERSITY
MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL
TOPIC:AN ONLINE APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING SYSTEM FOR CIVIL AVIATION
AUTHORITY
BY
KUTEESA .N. KEVIN 11/U/18506/PS
SUPERVISOR Mr. KASSE JOHN PAUL
A PROJECTREPORT SUBMITTED TO MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL
AS AREQUIREMENT FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF A
BACHELORS DEGREEOF OFFICE AND INFORMATION MANAGMENT OF MAKERERE
UNIVERSITY
APIRL 2014
DECLARATIONI, Kuteesa.N.Kevin, declare that this dissertation is
my original work except where references have been made, and has
never been submitted for a degree award to this university, or any
other university or institution of higher learning that I am
knowledgeable of.
Signed Date....
APPROVALI hereby state and verify by my signature that I have
reviewed this report and therefore I declare that it was written by
the above student in accordance with the rules and regulations
established by Makerere University Business School.Academic
Supervisor: Signed
Date..................................................MR. KASSE
JOHN PAUL
TABLE OF CONTENTSDECLARATIONiAPPROVALiiTable of contentsiiiList
of tablesvList of figuresviAbbreviations and Acronymsvii
CHAPTER
ONE1INTRODUCTION11.1Introduction11.2Background11.3Statement of the
Problem31.4 General objective/purpose of the study31.4.1Specific
objective31.5Study Scope31.5.1Subject Scope31.5.2Geographical
Scope41.5.2Time Scope41.6Significance of the Study4
CHAPTER TWO5LITERATURE REVIEW52.1Internet
Computing52.2Information
Systems52.3Web-BasedInformationSystem62.4Concept of
Scheduling72.5Types of Scheduling72.6Benefits of Online Scheduling
Systems8
CHAPTER THREE11METHODOLOGY111.1Introduction111.2Research
Methodology111.3Data Sources/Data Types111.4Primary
Data111.5Secondary Data111.6Study population121.7Sample size and
sample design121.8Data Collection
Methods121.9Interview121.10Observation121.11Document Review13
CHAPTER FOUR16SYSTEM ANALYSIS174.1Introduction174.2System
Analysis-Current System17
CHAPTER FIVE29SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT295.1Introduction295.2System
Development295.3Results of System Testing295.4System
implementation29
CHAPTER SIX30DISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS316.1Introduction316.2Discussions316.7A Table
Showing the Research Objectives, they level of accomplishment and
how316.4Conclusion326.5Recommendations326.6Limitations of the
study33Reference34
LIST OF TABLESTable1;24Table 225Table 326
LIST OF FIGURESFigure 2: Context Diagram Current System17Figure
3: Level 0 Data Flow Diagram: Current System17Figure 4: Context
diagram: New System19figure 5: Level 0 DFD: New System20Figure 6:
Entity relational Model27
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMSCAA:Civil Aviation AuthorityDFD: Data
Flow DiagramER: Entity RelationshipERD: Entity Relationship
DiagramGB: GigabyteGHZ: GigahertzIS: Information System
34
CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION1.1IntroductionThis chapter covers the
background, problem statement, purpose, objectives, scope and the
significance of the study.1.2BackgroundInformation systems (IS) are
increasingly playing a major role towards enhancing productivity,
output and service delivery of different sectors in the society.
The most fronted reasons for development and use of information
systems are efficiency and quality increase through routine
automation, facilitation of better business processes, superior
service delivery and improved decision making. Laudon and Laudon
(2006) defines an information system as a set of interrelated
components that collect, process, store, and distribute information
to support decision making, coordination and control in an
organization. The researchers state that Information systems are a
foundation for conducting business today to the extent that
survival and the ability to achieve strategic business goals is
difficult without extensive use of computer technologies.
Much as there is an increasing transformation of industrial
economies and business enterprises as well as the emergence of
digital firms which make information systems extremely essential in
business today, some organizations have not moved to adopting the
use of IS in running some of their business processes and a case in
point is Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) is a corporate body established by an Act of Parliament, with
the objective to promote the safe, regular, secure and efficient
use and development of civil aviation inside and outside Uganda.
The mandate of the CAA is to coordinate and oversee Uganda's
aviation industry including licensing, regulation,air search and
rescue missions, air traffic control, ownership of airports and
aerodromes, representing Uganda in an international capacity to the
aviation community and to all other aviation matters. The authority
operates on a highly competitive environment with rapidly changing
clientsneeds. This makes the entire working environment interactive
in that the clients always have to consult with the different
offices about the changing needs and this means
schedulingappointments to effect such consultations.Although CAA is
technologically enabled, when it comes to scheduling appointments
with the different offices or managers, a client is unable to go to
the Web to schedule an appointment hence making the business
process manual. For a client to schedule an appointment with any of
the offices, the client needs to do the following: Physically walk
to offices, register with the receptionist or the Personal
Assistant (PA) of that office, the receptionist or the PA examines
the existing timeslots and then fixes the clients name in a given
timeslot of a particular day and then the client will walk back to
the offices on the day of the appointment to speak to the manager
or the person concerned.
This current paper based approach for scheduling and managing
appointments (paper based & sending electronic documents)
offers some limited help in managing the appointments but does not
address other workday challenges of efficiently managing client
flow. In managing phone calls, the receptionists are flooded with
clients trying to make an appointment, cancel an existing
appointment, rescheduling an appointment as well as sending
reminders to the clients. Once the client arrives, the receptionist
has no way of knowing moment by moment when Staffare available to
take their next appointment. This kind of process expends
considerable time and resources. It also results in a disjointed,
error prone system.
For a corporate company that is trying to advance the use of
technology as a means of improving and streamlining its business
processes, CAA needs to transform the way appointments are managed
such that the clients, assigned staff and management are on the
same page. Clients need to know when to arrive, staff members need
visibility of their booked and open time and management simply
needs visibility into how the overall system is operating. It is
therefore against the above background that the researcher proposes
that an appointment scheduling system to efficiently manage the
appointment made by clients.
1.3Statement of the ProblemThis paper based system used for
scheduling and managing appointments at CAA was tedious, unreliable
and time-consuming thus offering limited help in managing the
appointments.The system was labor intensive in managing phone
calls, the receptionists are flooded with clients trying to make an
appointment, cancel an existing appointment, rescheduling an
appointment as well as sending reminders to the clients making the
entire process tedious. This kind of process expends considerable
time and resources hence making the entire system disjointed and
error prone.
1.4 General objective/purpose of the study The general objective
of the study was to develop an Online Appointment Scheduling System
in order to enable efficient and effective scheduling and
management of client appointments.1.4.1Specific objective To study
the current (manual) Appointment scheduling System that is used by
CAA and identify loopholes or weaknesses in that system. To analyze
the current Appointment Scheduling System so as to establish
requirements for designing the proposed Online Appointment
Scheduling System. To design and develop anOnline Appointment
Scheduling system so as to resolve the loopholes or weaknesses in
the manual Appointment Scheduling System. To test the functionality
of the Online Appointment Scheduling system so as to ascertain
whether it meets the requirements for which it was developed.
1.5Study ScopeSubject ScopeThis study focused on developing an
Online Appointment Scheduling System so as to enable efficient and
effective scheduling and management of client appointments for
Civil Aviation Authority.
Geographical ScopeThis study was conducted at the Civil Aviation
Authority which is located at Entebbe International Airport in
Wakiso district. Time ScopeThis study was conducted within a period
of up to 4 months from December 2013 till April 20141.6Significance
of the Study The study leads to the development of an Online
Appointment Scheduling System for CAA that enables efficient
scheduling and management of appointments. The study contributes to
the existing body of knowledge on information system design,
implementation and management that is vital for other researchers
to use. The study contributes to the partial fulfillment of the
requirements for an award of a degree award in Office and
Information Management of Makerere University.
CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW2.1Internet ComputingThe Internet is
increasingly used as a large interconnection network for deploying
distributed applications to solve challenging problems in diverse
areas. Application areas include Finance and E-business, Government
Services, Scientific Computing and Grids, Bioinformatics, Physics,
Remote Visualization, Remote Collaboration, Multimedia
applications, and File Sharing.Walsh and Godfrey (2000), define the
internet as a vast and burgeoning global web of computer networks
with no central management or ownership. It is a massive network of
networks, a network which any computer can communicate with any
other computer as long as they are both connected to the internet.
Similarly Gartner Group (2012) views the Internet phenomenon as a
loose confederation of independent yet interconnected networks that
share information using a standard set of protocols. Internet
computing involves, basic programming languages are such as Hyper
Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
(XHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript. The internet
is made up of many separate but interconnected networks belonging
to commercial, educational and governmental organizations, and
Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The services offered on the
internet include electronic mail(e-mail), conferencing and chat
services, as well as the ability to access remote computers, and
send and receive files (Connolly and Begg, 2009).2.2Information
SystemsToday it is widely recognized that information systems
knowledge is essential for managers because most organizations need
information systems to survive and prosper. Information systems can
help companies extend their reach to faraway locations, offer new
products and services, reshape jobs and work flows, and perhaps
profoundly change the way they conduct business, (Laudon &
Laudon, 2006).
An information system can be defined technically as a set of
interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store,
and distribute information to support decision making, coordination
and control in an organization. In addition to supporting decision
making, coordination, and control, information systems may also
help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex
subjects, and create new products. Information systems contain
information about significant people, places, and things within the
organization or in the environment surrounding it. By information
we mean data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful
and useful to human beings. Data, in contrast, are streams of raw
facts representing events occurring in organizations or the
physical environment before they have been organized and arranged
into a form that people can understand and use, (Laudon, K.
&Laudon, J., 2006).2.3Web-BasedInformationSystemWIS is an
information system generating hypermedia presentations delivered by
means of the Web to users. Many information systems today use the
Web as a platform. Their remote clients interact with the system
through Web browsers. Increasing demands of E-commerce require
richer functionality of such Web-based Information Systems (WIS).
This rich functionality goes together with richer means of
user-interaction compared to just following links. For the sake of
conciseness in the rest of the paper we call such WIS (though not
completely correct) interactive WIS. WIS accepts a request from the
user, collects necessary data from distributed data sources,
integrates the data, and using a process of data transformations
forms a hypermedia presentation in concrete end format (Trahanias
and Chandrinos,2000)According to Purao (2002) a web-based system
should be an easy-to-use system that provided Web-based access for
all staffs, rules-based, entry of preferences and viewing of data,
credential management, and ability to retrieve information. Peng
and Steve (2005) confirmed that web-based system increased the
convenience and accessibility of Management Information System
services and information about prisoners in order to develop
prisoners details with an Integrated Management Information System.
Users were provided with accessible, relevant information and
quality services that were more expedient than traditional manual
system through integration of an automated system for the
utilization of e-government services citizen trust, innovation and
acceptance factors. Web-based System made work easier for an
organization to produce
presentations,dramaticallyspeedingtimetogettherequiredreports.
2.4Concept of SchedulingScheduling is a problem that is grounded in
many different levels of computer science and computer hardware
engineering. Various scheduling and sequencing problems have been
addressed since the 1950's by researchers in computer science,
operations research and discrete mathematics (Bailey,1952). In a
business-computing context, scheduling implies the automatic
execution of background tasks at pre-set points in time. Three
types of scheduling distinguished are native, basic and advanced
scheduling (Bailey,1954).The author studies the phenomenon of
scheduled patients who are to be treated in a typical healthcare
delivery process. This phenomenon of priorly scheduled arrivals
that are treated by a service provider is often studied as a
queuing system in which jobs arrive following a deterministic
arrival process and receive a service which varies in duration.
After this pioneering work on appointment scheduling the
subjecthasbeenextensivelyresearchedinbothservicesandhealthcare.2.5Types
of SchedulingDynamic versus static scheduling Cayirly and Veral
(2003) give a good overview on the state of the art in appointment
scheduling categorizing appointment scheduling into two categories
with respect to: static and dynamic. In the static environment the
appointment system is completely determined in advance, in other
words offline scheduling. This is in contrast to the dynamic case
in which changes in the schedule are permitted, so called online
scheduling.Information System and Appointment SchedulingAccording
to Manansang and Hein (1996) as IT solutions become more advanced,
scholars have begun to discuss the needs, challenges and
opportunities of online scheduling systems. In an early paper on
online patient scheduling systems, Manansang and Hein suggest that
while online scheduling systems show promise, the efficient
utilization of such systems is a real concern. More recent works
have also questioned the efficiency of online scheduling systems.
In a 2006 study, Kopach et al. (2006) examined open access
scheduling systems, which allow patients to schedule appointments
1-2 days in advance. The authors found that, under the right
conditions, open access systems are actually quite effective in
optimizing the scheduling process, while maintaining an appropriate
continuity of care. Recent studies show promises that online
appointment scheduling holds for improving clinic-patient
relationships. For example, Kirshners 2003 study suggests that
online scheduling tools are part of a suite of IT solutions that
can improve doctor-patient relationships which therefore means that
these can be extended in other
servicesectors(Kirshner,2003).OnlineSchedulingSystemOnline
scheduling system is a Web-based application that allows
individuals to conveniently and securely book their appointments
and reservations online through any Web-connected device, such as a
computer, laptop, smart phone or tablet. They typically access the
online scheduling system through a Book Now button found on a Web
site or page, or from a URL provided to them. Once a date and time
are selected, the system will automatically confirm the booking and
instantly record it within the system, without any staff action
needed. In addition to online scheduling, online scheduling systems
also come equipped with other beneficial features like automated
e-mail and text message reminders, which the system sends out to
clients and booked individuals on a specific date prior to their
scheduled appointment; recording and record-keeping capabilities
that make it quick and simple to access data associated with a
specific appointment; and repeat clients reminders, which the
system sends out automatically when a specified amount of time has
expired between appointments. 2.6Benefits of Online Scheduling
Systems24-Hour ConvenienceScheduling appointments over the phone
usually requires an individual to phone in during office hours, as
few facilities offer round-the-clock phone booking. This is an
inconvenience for most patients, as they too are working at this
time. Additionally, many individuals prefer to schedule their
appointments online rather than over the phone. An online
scheduling system allows for 24-hour scheduling, not just during
normal facility or office hours.
TimesavingsStaff spends less time on the phone booking and
managing appointments, thereby freeing up their schedule for more
important and pressing tasks. Booking individuals also save time,
as they no longer have to commit a part of their busy schedule to
calling their service provider (or remain on hold, which adds
minutes to the scheduling process). Monetary savingsThe time
savings experienced by a facility can translate into monetary
savings, as both staff time and services translate into expenses
and revenue, respectively. As staff resources can now be directed
at other tasks, a scheduling system can eliminate the need for a
staff member to work overtime or for management to hire new staff
members to handle the work overload created by the
appointment-scheduling process. Review of existing Online
Appointment Scheduling systemsAn Online Patient Appointment
Scheduling System Based On Web Services Architecture
The goal of the automated patient appointment scheduling is to
integrate distributed clinical systemsinto a set of consistent and
convenient services accessible via a web browser. With this system
patients can book for appointments from doctors at any time and
from anywhere. This system also enables the doctors to manage their
appointment schedules from anywhere and at any time. This system is
able to send reminder notifications to the patients through emails
hence making the entire process patient-centered.
The researcher bench marked from the above system to develop an
online appointment scheduling system for CAA. However with the
appointments systems for CAA new functionalities are added to the
system for example the system is so responsive in that it can be
accessed on any screen size.
CHAPTER THREEMETHODOLOGY1.1IntroductionThis chapter focused on
the various methods the researcher used to obtain the required
information.
1.2Research MethodologyIn order to achieve the listed research
objectives, this studyused a number of research methods .According
toMingers (2001) using a cross-section of research methods is
better than one because it helps in eliminating the risk of relying
on only one method. Specifically, the study used both quantitative
and qualitative research techniques involving exploratory field
surveys, stakeholder consultations and benchmarking other
organizations with similar systems besides carrying out a thorough
literature review.
1.3Data Sources/Data TypesThe data on the study was gathered
from both primary and secondary sources.Primary DataThis
wasobtained from the staff and management of CAA especially those
involved or in charge of making appointments at CAA (Receptionist)
as well as the clients who interact with the different offices. It
involved observing the way receptionist schedule appointments for
the different clients and also interviewing some of the employees
and clients of the organization on the processes they go through to
schedule any appointment with a particular office.Secondary
DataThis was obtained from secondary sources through reviewing
literature about similar studies. Some of the secondary data was
also obtained from the company journals, magazines as well as
mission and vision statements of the organization. This helped a
lot in understanding the processes involved in appointment
scheduling at CAA.
1.4Study populationA total of 25 participants were involved in
this study. These comprised of CAA employees as well as
clients.1.5Sample size and sample designThe researcher used simple
random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Simple random
was applied when selecting interview respondents for clients while
Purposive sampling was used in selecting other categories of
respondents. To enable diversity of views up to 2 respondent
categories were involved including clients and employees. For
example 12 employees and 13 clients were selected randomly to
participate in the survey.
1.6Data Collection MethodsData was collected through
observations, interviews and document reviews. This led to
collecting reliable and comprehensive data that led to conclusions
and recommendations made by this study.
InterviewAccording to (Brief 17, 2009) an interview is a method
of askingquantitative or qualitative questions orally of key
participants. In this study the researcher interviewed the
employees and clients about how they make and manage their
appointments and what they would need to efficiently improve on the
appointment process and the researcher was able to capture these as
part of the requirements. If you want to get more in-depth
information about perceptions, insights, attitudes, experiences, or
beliefs it issuggested that Interview is the best option for data
collection (Brief 17, 2009).
ObservationThe researcher used Observation as another way of
collecting data for the study. The researcher conducted regular
visits to CAA to study the current Appointments scheduling system
and identified the various weaknesses of the current system.
Document ReviewThe researcher also examined documents, forms,
reports, and files associated with the current system. This was a
good way to gain some understanding of the system, quickly gather
information from the existing documents of the organization, books
from the library, internet, journals and other relevant published
literature to enhance development of an effective online
Appointment Scheduling system.
1.7 REQUIREMENTS SPECFICATIONS The sections covers the user,
functional, non-functional and system requirements for the Online
Appointment Scheduling system to work and run efficiently and
effectively.System RequirementsThese included the hardware and
software that were required and included:Hardware Requirements A
dual core processor with at least 2.8-gigahertz (GHz) 32-bit (x86)
processor, 300 GB hard disk 4GB of and RAM for a fast system. A
laser jet printer was required for printing the reports.
Software Requirements Wamp server 5.0This software help in
creating a database that keeps the information about the different
appointments made by the clients Laraval framework This framework
was used for developing PhP or web based applications BootstrapThis
software was used to enable the responsiveness of the system such
that it can be accessed on any screen size be it of a laptop or a
smart phoneUser Requirements The system should be updated
frequently The system should facilitate the process of scheduling
appointments with the Resources It should be user friendly and easy
to operate.Functional Requirements The Online appointment
scheduling system should be user friendly The system should be
updated frequently The system should provide up-to-date information
regarding clients time availability The system should facilitate
the process of scheduling appointments with the Resources
Non-Functional Requirements The system is able to deny non
authorized users from accessing information through provision of
administrative restrictions like passwords. Manages data over the
Internet and CAA private Networks It should be scalable
System Design The system was designed following the prototype
approach of the system life cycle development. In this approach,
the researcher came up with a model that was given to the users to
try out and later errors were identified and rectified. This was an
iterative process until the final product was delivered.Prototyping
was used because it is relatively inexpensive and quick to build.
The four step model of the prototyping process consists of the
following; Identify users basic requirements, develop a working
prototype, use the prototype, revise enhance the prototype
Identify basic user requirementAt this phase the researcher
identified the basic requirements that the users (clients and
resources) wanted from the system and these were the ones that were
based on to develop a working model of the system. Among the basic
requirements identified was making sure that the users can manage
their appointments from anywhere at any time.
Develop a working prototypeBased on the requirements elicited
from the user, the researcher (system developer) developed a
working prototype. This was developed using the larval framework,
bootstrap and work bench. This was later presented to the users.Use
the PrototypeAfter developing the working model it was presented to
the users who used. As the prototype was used the users were able
to ascertain whether the prototype met the user expectations or
notand on that basis a decision was made whether to operationalize
or revise and hence the prototype.
Revise and enhance the prototypeAfter using the system the users
were able to identify more improvements to be captured in the
prototype and the system developer was able to capture all those
improvements in the prototype.
Operationalize the prototypeThe last phase was to operationalize
the prototype into a complete working system after the users
accepted that the system met all their needs and requirement.Figure
1Process of Developing a PrototypeOperational prototypeIdentify
basic requirementsRevise and enhance the prototype
Use the prototypeDevelop a working prototypeUserSatisfied?
Step 1
Step 2
Step3
YES Step 4Systems TestingThe researcher carried out different
tests which included; unit tests, integration tests, systems test,
quality assurance tests, validation tests. This helped to ascertain
whether the system functionswere as intended.
CHAPTER FOURSYSTEM ANALYSIS4.1IntroductionThis chapter focused
on the analysis of the Online Appointment Scheduling system that
was designed for the Civil Aviation Authority.
4.2System Analysis-Current SystemThe current paper based system
used for scheduling and managing appointments at CAA is so tedious,
unreliable and time-consuming thus offering limited help in
managing the appointments. The system is so labor intensive that in
managing phone calls, the receptionists are flooded with clients
trying to make an appointment, cancel an existing appointment,
rescheduling an appointment as well as sending reminders to the
clients making the entire process tedious. Once the client arrives,
the receptionist has no way of knowingmoment by moment when Staff
are available to take their next appointment. This kind of process
expends considerable time and resources hence making the entire
system disjointed and error prone.
Figure 2: Context Diagram Current SystemThe figure below shows
the interaction between the system and external agents which act as
data sources and data sinks. The context diagram shows the entire
system as a single process, and gives no clues as to its internal
organization.Paper based Appointment Scheduling
SystemClientResource
Schedule AppointmentTime and Date Available
Time and Date of AppointmentClient Information
Figure 3: Level 0 Data Flow Diagram: Current System1.0Call
secretaryClients2.0Sign Name in Appointment Book3.0Go to Office on
schedule day 4.0Meet resource ResourceClients
Schedule Appointment call detailsCall details
Call details
Appointment details Sign in the bookAppointment details
Appointment details
Day & time of appointmentGo toofficeDay of appointment
Day & time of appointmentMeet resourceAdviceAdvice
detailsFigure 4: Context diagram: New SystemClientResourceOnline
Appointment SchedulingSystemSystem Administrator
Schedule appointment Advisor Information
Appointment day & time Reports on appointments
System MonitoringSystem User feedback
sfigure 5: Level 0 DFD: New System1.0Login to Appointment
systemClients2.0View resource appointment day & time3.0view
schedule 4.0Go to office on schedule day 5.0Meet with resource
Resource
View Schedule Appointment schedule
client login Resource Login
AppointmentDetails schedule detailsAppointmentAppointment
detailsdetails
Day of appointment
4.3 Scope The study concentrated on the development of an Online
Appointment Scheduling system for CAA that was to be used to handle
efficient and effective appointment scheduling for both the clients
and employees of CAA.4.4 System Objectives
Performance objectivesThe online appointment scheduling system
is able to improve on the appointment scheduling process between
the company clients and the company in that it will be able to
improve efficiency and client satisfaction.
Cost objectivesThe online appointments scheduling system enables
the company to reduce on the costs of conducting business with its
clients. The clients can be able to make appointments online
without moving to the company premises.
4.5 Feasibility StudyThe researcher carried out a feasibility
study to assess whether the online appointment scheduling system
was viable by the CAA. The feasibility study included the following
dimensions;Technical feasibilityThis described the technical aspect
of the online appointment scheduling system. The researcher
assessed that the technology that was to be used to implement the
system and found out that it was in existence which included
internet technologies.Operational feasibilityThe current
organizational activities and the procedures were adequate to
support the online appointments scheduling system at CAA because
all the employees were educated therefore had the minimum
requirements to operate and use the system when availed with the
system.
Economic feasibilityIt was found that the online appointment
scheduling system was economically viable to take on. After
weighing the cost of taking on the system verses its benefits it
was found that the online appointments scheduling system would
increase productivity and client satisfaction hence the decision to
take it up.
Legal FeasibilityThe online appointment scheduling system was
found to be legally viable. Following a detailed review of the all
the laws in relation to information technology, information usage
and people, there was no trace of the system violating the rights
of the individuals that would use the system. All the information
that the system desires was carefully agreed on by CAA.
4.6 Requirement SpecificationSystem RequirementsThese included
the hardware and software that were required and included:Hardware
A dual core processor with at least 2.8-gigahertz (GHz) 32-bit
(x86) processor, 300 GB hard disk 4GB of and RAM for a fast system.
A laser jet printer was required for printing the reports.
Software Used Wampserver 5.0This software help in creating a
database that keeps the information about the different
appointments made by the clients Laraval framework This framework
was used for developing PhP or web based applications BootstrapThis
software was used to enable the responsiveness of the system such
that it can be accessed on any screen size be it of a laptop or a
smart phone Anti-virus; Norton antivirus was used to prevent
attacks from viruses.
User Requirements The system should be updated frequently The
system should provide up-to-date information regarding clients time
availability The system should facilitate the process of scheduling
appointments with the Resources It should be user friendly and easy
to operate.
Functional Requirements The Online appointment scheduling system
should be user friendly The system should be updated frequently The
system should provide up-to-date information regarding clients time
availability The system should facilitate the process of scheduling
appointments with the Resources The system should be scalable The
system should be easy to manage and update The system administrator
should have full access and privileges to manage the system
including editing resources time availability and adding new
users
Non-Functional Requirements The system is able to deny non
authorized users from accessing information through provision of
administrative restrictions like passwords. Manages data over the
Internet and CAA private Networks It should be scalable
4.7 System DesignConceptual Design of the SystemIt involved
specifying the entities that were used, the corresponding
attributes of the entities, as well as the appropriate data types
of the attributesTable1;clientsData Type
clien id INT
cfnameVARCHAR(25)
clnameVARCHAR(25)
cgenderVARCHAR(6)
cemailVARCHAR(50)
cpassword
VARCHAR(100)
cphoneVARCHAR(15)
caddressTEXT
corgVARCHAR(100)
created_atTIMESTAMP
updated_atTIMESTAMP
Table 2ResourceData Type
id
TINYINT
rname
VARCHAR(50)
rtitle
VARCHAR(10)
rposition
VARCHAR(50)
rgender
VARCHAR(45)
remail
VARCHAR(45)
rpassword
VARCHAR(100)
rphone
VARCHAR(45)
created_atTIMESTAMP
updated_atTIMESTAMP
BookData Type
id
INT
client_id
INT
resource_id
TINYINT
bpref
VARCHAR(10)
bday
DATE
bfrom
TIME
bto
TIME
breason
VARCHAR(50)
binfo
TEXT
bstatus
VARCHAR(10)
bcomment
TEXT
created_at
TIMESTAMP
updated_at
TIMESTAMP
deleted_atTIMESTAMP
Table 3
4.8 Logical Design of the SystemThis involved clearly showing
how the different entities relate with each other.it involved
identifying the primary keys of each of the entities as well as the
foreign keys so as to create the relationships as shown
below.Figure 6: Entity relational Model
Systems TestingThe researcher carried out different tests which
included; unit tests, integration tests, systems test, quality
assurance tests, validation tests. This helped to ascertain whether
the system functions were as intended.Unit TestThese were conducted
on the Login module within the system. This tracked and monitored
the Login attempts that were provided by the user when logging into
the system. This module tracked the attempts and if a user
continued providing a wrong password, the fourth time the system
closed suggesting to the user to seek help from the system
administrator.Systems TestThis testing was conducted on a complete,
integrated system to evaluate the system's compliance with its
specified requirements. The hardware and software were tested upon
passing through the integration tests. This helped to detect
defects both within the "inter-assemblages" and also within the
system as a whole. The system response in relation to the commands
and requests by the users were a success as the users were able to
receive the information without a hitch.Volume TestThis testing was
done to ensure that the system is capable of handling a large
quantity of data since the system was expected to work for a long
period of time and that a large amount of records had to be input
for the long time of operation.User acceptance TestThis was
conducted to check if the requirements of the systems were met.
Users were able to make and cancel appointments.
CHAPTER FIVESYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
5.1IntroductionThis chapter describes how the entire
implementation of the system was done and describes the testing of
the entire project.
5.2System DevelopmentThe system development was done through the
use of Bootstrap, and Wamp server 2.1, work bench as well as larval
framework. With this new system the clients can make or manage
their own appointments from wherever they might be without
necessarily walking to the office premises of CAA because the
system can be accessed from online. The employees can also manage
their own schedules through approving, pending or rejecting
appointments without necessarily using their secretaries .When the
client logins into the system he or she makes an appointment with
the resource. The resource in turn always keeps checking on the
system to either reject, pend or approve the appointment.
5.3Results of System TestingThe system was tested to find out
whether it matches with the objectives and the requirements. Data
was input into the system and the following were observed; The
system is able to keep the unauthorized users from accessing data
through requirement of a username and password. The system is able
to allow clients to make appointments online. The system enables a
resource to manage his or her appointment schedule Therefore, the
system is able to meet the objectives and the requirements as
specified.
5.4System implementationSystem implementation was done by the
use of Work bench which was used for creation of the database. This
was used alongside larval framework which was used to develop the
body of the system. Bootstrap was also integrated in the
development of the system so as to make the system very responsive
to any screen size be it of a laptop or the smallest smart phone.
Wamp server was also used to support the database of the system
CHAPTER SIXDISCUSSIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS6.1IntroductionThis chapter focused on the
discussions, conclusion, recommendations, limitations and the
future work of the system. The following are discussed below;
6.2DiscussionsThe findings of the study that triggered the
design of an Online Appointments Scheduling System indicate that
CAA was using a manual system for scheduling and managing
appointments. This was really so tedious, unreliable and
time-consuming thus offering limited help in managing the
appointments. The system was so labor intensive that in managing
phone calls, the receptionists were flooded with clients trying to
make an appointment, cancel an existing appointment, rescheduling
an appointment as well as sending reminders to the clients making
the entire process tedious. Once the clients arrived, the
receptionist had no way of knowing moment bymomentwhenStaffwere
available to take their next appointment. This kind of process
expended considerable time and resources which made the entire
system disjointed and error prone.The study therefore came up with
an efficient and effective system (Online Appointment Scheduling)
which offers a user friendlyinterface allowing clients and managers
to manage the appointment scheduling process in a more efficient
and effective way. With this new systems the Clients can go online
anytime, review the managers available days andtimeslots, schedule
an appointment, cancel and reschedule appointments. The system
sends an automated email to remindclients of their appointment a
day prior to the scheduled day. On the other hand, the system also
allows managers togo online at any time to check their schedule,
make changes to their available timeslots, or even
cancelappointments. Overall, the system helps provide better
service to clients and managers.
6.7A Table Showing the Research Objectives, they level of
accomplishment and how they were achieved.ObjectivesLevel of
completion
1To study the current (manual) Appointment scheduling System
that is used by CAA so as to identify loopholes or weaknesses in
that system. The objective was highly achieved since loopholes in
the current system were identified.
2To analyze the current Appointment Scheduling System so as to
establish requirements for designing the proposed Online
Appointment Scheduling SystemRequirements were well established for
the new system development
3To design and develop an Online Appointment Scheduling system
so as to resolve the loopholes or weaknesses in the manual
Appointment Scheduling System.A conceptual and technical design for
the system were designed
4To test the functionality of the Online Appointment Scheduling
system so as to ascertain whether it meets the requirements for
which it was developed. An Online Appointment Scheduling system was
designed and tested successfully
6.4ConclusionThe study shows that the development of an online
appointments scheduling system can help to effectively improve
client satisfaction through reducing waiting time. The new system
eliminates the excessive use of paperwork at the same time
streamlining appointment scheduling process at CAA. With the new
system the labor intensive activities are significantly reduced and
the time taken to make an appointment is also tremendously reduced.
This goes a long way in improving efficiency and customer
satisfaction.
6.5RecommendationsTrainingThe researcher recommends adequate and
proper user training to both the staff and the clients of Civil
Aviation Authority so that they can be well conversant with the
usage of the system.
BackupA backup site or replica of the system should be put in
place in case of any break down of the system so that work is not
put to a standstill while working on the system.
System securitySystem security should be enhanced to avoid
hackers and viruses from attacking and tampering with the system.
Security measures should be put in place for example the use of
firewalls, updated antivirus software, passwords.
System MaintenanceJust like any other system, system maintenance
is very vital, if the system is to continue performing according to
users needs, data administration is very crucial so as to maintain
data integrity.
6.6Limitations of the study The researcher was constrained by
inadequate fund as she was not in position to acquire all the
requirements she hoped to use in the design and development of the
online Appointment Scheduling system. The researcher was not able
to integrate all the features in the information system because
there was limited time and yet the project required a lot of
dedication and patience. Training users, people hate change
especially when it comes to changing from the system they are used
to one where they need to be trained. People were hesitant to
switch to the use of the new system.
ReferenceBailey.N.T.J,(1952). A study of queues and appointment
systems in hospital out-patient departments,with special reference
to waiting-times. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series
B (Methodological), 14(2):185Bailey. N.T.J,(1954). Queueing for
medical care. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C
(Applied Statistics), 3(3):137{145.Cayirli.T and Veral.E,(2003).
Outpatient scheduling in health care: a review of literature.
Production and Operations Management Society, 12(4):519{549.
Chandrinos K.V, P.E. TrahaniasP.E(2002) Beyond HTML: Web-Based
Information Systems
Fries.B.E and Marathe.V.P, (1981) Determintaion of optimal
variable-sized multiple-block appointment systems. Operations
Research, 29(2):324{345. Gartner (2012) Magic Quadrant for Secure
Web GatewaysKeith. J (2005) DOM Scripting Web Design with
JavaScript and the Document Object Model
Kirshner M.,(2003). The Role of Information Technology and
Informatics Research in the Dentist-Patient Relationship. Advances
in Dental Research, 17, 77-81
Kopach, R., DeLaurentis, P.-C., Lawley, M., Muthuraman, K.,
Ozsen, L., Rardin, R., Wan, H., (2007). Effects of clinical
characteristics on successful open access scheduling. Health Care
Management Science, 10, 111-124.doi:10.1007/s10729-007-9008-9
Manansang, H., & Heim, J. A. ,(1996). An online,
simulation-based patient scheduling system. Proceedings of the 28th
conference on Winter simulation (pp. 11701175).
Peng and Steve (2005) Practical Information Flow Control in
Web-based Information Systems
Purao.S(2002). Web-Based Interactions. Support for
Information.Designing Information Systems. Volume 5 No 2, 2002.
Reynolds .D (2003) ICT-the hopes and the reality, British
Journal of Educational TechnologyThomas Connolly ,Carolyn Begg.
(2009). Database systems A practical to design, implementation, and
management (5th Edition ed.). (Addison-Wesley, Ed.) Boston:
university of the west of scot land.Walsh, J. and Godfrey, S.
(2000), "The Internet: a new era in customer service",European
Management Journal,Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 85-92.