Development of An Alumni Database For A University
Development of An Alumni Database For A University
Development of An Alumni Database For A University
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Development of an Alumni
Database for a University
JONATHAN OLORES ETCUBAN
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8930-6476
joetcuban@gmail.com
University of Cebu
Philippines
DENNIS S. DURANO
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3869-8304
dennisdurano@gmail.com
University of Cebu
Philippines
ABSTRACT
Databases for alumni are vital to every learning institution. The data and
information are needed by the school to communicate, verify, archive and
research the alumni. These are also used to validate the gap between the knowledge
and skills possess by the graduates and the required qualifications needed by
industries. It determined the effectiveness of instructions in the college and
achievement of its graduates. The study aimed to design and develop an alumni
database of the University of Cebu that would provide solutions to problems in
tracing alumni. The proposed system would enable users to register as well as
generate information for the purpose of tracing the whereabouts of the alumni.
The descriptive-developmental method was utilized, and two sets of researchers
made questionnaires were administered to 95 respondents. Percentages, ranks,
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IAMURE International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and weighted means were used in the treatment of the gathered data. The alumni
database was developed based on Commission on Higher Education – Graduate
Tracer Study survey questionnaire and was tested by the users based on user-
friendliness, system security, and accessibility. The study revealed that an alumni
database system is by far a better tool, cost-saving, and time-saving mechanism
than the traditional method of recording data. It will also streamline the
university’s concern for assisting alumni in disseminating relevant developments
to other stakeholders around the globe. The developed alumni database system is
highly recommended for use.
KEYWORDS
INTRODUCTION
Alumni are one of the most important assets of higher educational institutions
(HEIs). They are the product of HEIs’ curriculum, facilities and equipment
that best represent them in the real setting. Data and information of alumni
are significant in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of programs
offered by the HEIs. For these reasons, it should be stored in the repository for
future use.
In the Philippines, the University of Cebu is one of the biggest universities in
terms of students’ population across four campuses. The school holds volumes of
data from students’ records electronically. However, the university does not have
an online alumni database system to hold relevant data from its alumni. With
this discrepancy, generation of reports is cumbersome and timely. The researchers
developed an alumni database system to process large and complex datasets from
alumni that represent valuable raw data. Through the use of the system, these
data are summarized in the usable information needed by stakeholders. Since
the system is online, it has features that connect to Facebook and other social
networking sites for communication.
The goals of this alumni database are to gather data regarding the University
of Cebu graduates such as personal information, educational background,
training, and employment data. The gathered data will be kept in a repository
for the possible generation of relevant reports. These reports contain information
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like most demand jobs, urgent hiring, and the types of HEIs most desired
by industries. The implementation of alumni database system will help build
and sustain a relationship with alumni that encourage them to participate in
University matters thus,
contribute to promote the good name and reputation
of the University of Cebu here and abroad. Likewise, it also encourages them to
participate in homecomings and other university-related activities.
This study is anchored on Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model. This model
theorizes that the developed information system must be acceptable for users.
It suggested that when users are presented with a new technology, a number of
factors influence their decision about how and when they will use it, notably:
perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use.
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FRAMEWORK
In this study, the descriptive method of research was used. It involves the
collection of data through the use of questionnaires, interviews, and content
analysis. The research design used was the triangulation of research and innovation
design of the system.
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The inputs of the study were the problems encountered by the respondents in
tracing alumni, as well as the features of a good alumni database. After identifying
the variables needed in the study, the data were gathered, collected, tabulated,
analyzed, and interpreted using some statistical tools. An alumni database system
was proposed to assist them in tracing alumni.
The study aimed to analyze, design and develop an alumni database for the
University of Cebu. Specifically, this study attempted to: 1) identify the problems
encountered by the faculty members and administrators when tracing status
of graduates; 2) determine the features in a good university alumni database;
3) determine its design and development; and 4) determine the system users’
assessment.
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Data on table 1 indicate that the school lacks the personnel to trace the
whereabouts of their alumni. One of the reasons that contributed to this is that
the faculty members handle as many as fifteen teaching loads every semester
and by adding extra work in tracing their alumni would be a burden for them.
Another problem cited by the respondents is that the school in general and the
Office of the Alumni do not regularly conduct graduate tracer studies. There was
an initial move in the previous years but only limited to some of the colleges
of the university. However university-wide up to the present writing of this
research, the university has not done graduate tracer studies of all colleges across
its campuses. The reason behind would be on the budgetary side that it is very
costly to conduct graduate tracer study (GTS) of the university.
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The table revealed the top three most necessary features of the system. It
should provide a user-friendly interface for ease of use, integrate it with the
registrar’s student database, and allow the users to send messages to alumni and
officers.
Siwabesy (2013) says that the developer of alumni career does have a tool that
enables to discover the alumni’s condition in their jobs. It does not have special
media which enable the alumni to communicate, interact, and network with
each other. An integrated website between career center, alumni community, and
a tracer study is needed. A tracer study is an activity to enable the educational
institutions to track the alumni state. Alumni community website combined with
tracer study and career center will enable the administrators to gain alumni state
in jobs and provide a special media to the alumni to communicate, interact, and
networked each other. Nair et al. (2006) attempted to create a system that adds
the aspect of time into location-based notification systems. It allows a person to
not only experience their surroundings through five senses and three dimensions,
but also to understand the changes the location has undergone over time, by
receiving cues. Hussey (2011) says that based on the overarching principle
that all social media should involve in a two-way communication. It provides
a basic strategy for departments in all colleges and universities – admissions,
media relations, career center, alumni, and more – to act and interact with the
social media to boost school pride, develop relationships, and build brand equity
because social media is an ever-evolving medium.
In this study, the users of the system are the administrators, deans, faculty,
alumni, and officers of the university’s alumni organization.
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Figure 5 shows the UID of the employment information. This screen used to
accept data from the alumni that include the demographic profile, educational
background, and the status of his/her past and present work.
Figure 6 shows the screenshots wherein the alumni will click the buttons to
confirm the entry of its data to the database.
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At the end of the data entry procedures, the alumni will click the Save button
for recording of data into the university repository.
System design is used to interact with other systems, integral to the functioning
of the system that is being designed. This requires identification of dependencies
that are required for interaction with other systems and its users.
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Figure 7 shows the use cases of the GTS administrator, which requires creating
alumni account, validate account information, send notification to alumni,
maintain alumni information, and manage the survey data. In addition, it also
shows the use cases of the alumni, which includes view GTS site, login GTS site
and takes the tracer study.
University of Cebu-Administration
Preconditions Alumni login using the GTS Administrator username and password
Postconditions Alumni Information Table is updated
Flow of Activities Actor System
Alumni opens the UC-GTS website Verify Alumni Information from
the University of Cebu Registrar
Alumni finds the Alumni Informa- Office
tion Hyperlink and Click
2.1 Create, Retrieve, Update or De-
Alumni are presented with a GTS lete a Alumni Information
Alumni Form, if the Alumni has
already a system approved informa-
tion, he/she can see them on the
Form elements, and can opt to up-
date it by pressing the Update But-
ton causing the form to become
Updatable.
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University of Cebu-Administration
Preconditions
Postconditions Alumni Information Table is updated
Flow of Activities Actor Administrator
Alumni opens the UC-GTS web- Verify Alumni Information from the
site University of Cebu Registrar Office
In this study, the integrity control addresses how data are necessary to adhere
the predefined set of rules, and is maintained through the use of error checking
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and validation routines. Enforcing data integrity ensures the quality of data that
will be stored in the database. The accuracy and consistency of stored data are
indicated by the absence of any alteration in data between two updates of a data
record (Data dictionary, 2014). The input data are checked to make sure the
validity and reliability because erroneous data input would lead to erroneous
data output.
PHP, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript including jQuery, which is a JavaScript
library, and Adobe Photoshop were used in the development of the front-end
application. MySQL was used as a database of the application.
The evaluation of the system is often conducted by means of performance
measures developed by the system designers. In this study, the system designers
are the researchers themselves.
The data show that the proportion of the respondents about the friendliness
of the system got an aggregate mean of 4.48, which means Very Friendly. This
rating means that the respondents were satisfied as to how the system was
developed and implemented in an online environment. The users’ evaluation and
acceptance of the system are important since they determine whether the features
of the system passed their standards. Peterson (2007) says that HEIs cannot just
keep up to effectively engage alumni. They must continually explore the edge of
new technology.
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The data indicate that the rate of the faculty members and deans about system
security of the system got an aggregate mean of 4.56, which means Very Secured.
The results imply that the system has implemented the necessary measures to be
secured in the areas of user’s identification, control, and security on the database.
This rating means that the security measures of the system are well addressed
prior to the development and implementation.
In addition, there is a need to address system security since the system will
run in an online environment. Addressing such measure is a good move to trap
possible intruders of the system. Takada and Koike (2002) say that computer
security breaches are already a major problem in using computers. The most
fundamental defense against it is to monitor and audit the computer logs.
Computer logs, however, have an enormous amount of textual data. It is,
therefore, almost impossible to inspect them manually using current systems.
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The data show that the rate of the faculty members and deans’ accessibility
to the system got an aggregate mean of 4.66 (Very Accessible). This rating also
means that the system’s architecture is designed to run in an online environment
and as well as the databases related to alumni tracer.
Baaken and Kliewe (2012) say that the performance of a creativity technique
might change significantly when combining it with an updated online technology.
It does not only allow internationalizing creativity sessions, but it might also
be used to purposely change some performance standards making the creativity
technique more applicable to a particular local environment. While these can
be considered as advantages, it has also to be noted that the online application
of a creativity technique might also have a negative impact on its performance
criteria. Hence, the method of online application should always be evaluated
prior to implementation and investment.
CONCLUSIONS
TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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