Chapter One

1. Introduction
Clearance is a status granted to individuals typically students allowing them access to
information. The term clearance is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a
formal process to check the employee’s information. A clearance by itself is normally not
sufficient to gain access the organization must determine the cleared individual has need to know
the information.

Clearance is the process of determining and negotiating any permission that are needed to
use of someone else’s intellectual property creative project. Part of that process includes: -

 Determining the owner(s) of the intellectual property.

 Contacting the owners and negotiating on agreement.
 Administering written contracts.
 Handling other issues related to the use and licensing of intellectual property.

No one is supposed to be granted access to classified information solely because of rank or

position, but once a clearance is obtained access to certain information or gain of freedom will be
granted.

The proposed system over comes one problem done by manual system. To reduce misuse of
manpower, avoiding errors, to save time, to provide comfort clearance process for the students
and to provide insurance for the organization especially for workers who play role in the
clearance processing system.

This system works for students of Bulehora University. The online clearance processing system
allows the students to register for the membership to access the service of the system.
2 Background of the organization
Bule Hora University, established in 2003 E.C, is one of the new higher learning institutions in
Ethiopia. A new chapter in history of the institution was registered in .(2003) as this was the time
when the institution started to offer undergraduate degree programs in the fields of Crop
Production, Animal production, Applied Chemistry and Applied Biology. In the meantime, the
college was affiliated of Jimma University by the name Jimma University BuleHoraCollege. In
the following years, the College showed remarkable growth both in intake capacity and the
number of programs it offers. Subsequently by 2009, the college opened 5undergraduate
programs in various fields of natural and social sciences.

Presently the University runs nine graduate and eighteen undergraduate programs which are
divided into eight faculties and thirty academic departments. In the years to come, the
university has the vision of becoming one of the most prestigious universities in the country
excelling in academics, research and community service giving its at most attention to quality
education. Offering relevant, quality education and training, conducting demand driven research
and rendering accessible community services. The University show a great change in this 5 years
and the student numbers is increased.

2.1 Vision
BuleHoraUniversity aspires to be a leading university in Ethiopia, a centre of excellence in the
field of all departments in east Africa competitive in 2020.

2.2 Mission
BuleHoraUniversity has a mission of offering relevant and quality education and training,
conducting demand driven research and rendering accessible community services.

3 Background of the project

BuleHoraUniversity student’s clearance processing system is one of the processes that will be
done to be cleared the students from the campus. The manual clearance system starts the process
as BuleHoraUniversity was established in 2003E.C.

The system gives its function to many users of the University. The numbers of students grow
from year to year in many numbers. Now a day, there are many users of the clearance processing
system. But the project gives a service only the students. The students get one copies of
clearance sheet from department and get signature and stamp from around eight offices. These
are Advisor, Bookstore, Library, Health and physical Education, Student’s Proctor, Student
Service, and Institute Registrar. After they finished all necessary requirements, finally the
students take copies of sheet that has all signature and stamp from all offices. This processing
makes the students bulky because they go to about eight offices.

4 Statement of the problem

The process of clearing students of a named institution BULE HORA UNIVERSITY after
the end of academic year requires that the students must be cleared in their various departments.
This clearance processing system service currently uses manual system which creates the
following major problems.

 Data recording system is not centralized or not in the modern system which is difficult to
search.
 Data redundancy &loss of data.
 Consumes more resources to complete the process which is of high cost such as:-
 Stationary material.
 Printers and computers.
 Need more manpower to process the clearance in the respective offices.
 Error is happened during process the clearance System.
 The process is very offensive for students when there is a harsh atmosphere like rain.
 To process the clearance is lot of queue because of the number of users.
 Employees involved in the clearance process are not available 24 hours of the day.

Hence, it became imperative for computer software based online clearance system to
eliminate the shortcoming of the manual system in place as above listed problem.

5. Proposed system
The new system is designed to solve problems affecting the manual system in use. It is design to
be used online thereby relieving both the students and the offices workers from much stress as
experienced in the manual system.
This system will do the analysing and storing of information either automatically or interactively.
It will make use of online access to Internet. The proposed system will also have some other
features like:-

 Login system must be present and secured by password and logout after cover.
 Accuracy in the handling of data.
 Fast rate of operation and excellent response time.
 The system is flexible i.e. it can be accessed at any time.
 Easy way of back up or duplicating data in diskettes in case of data loss.
 Better storage and faster retrieval system.
 Accessibility from anywhere.

6. Objective of the project

6.1 General Objective
The main objective of this project is to change the manual clearance processing system to web
based system and solve the above stated problems.

6.2 Specific Object

The specific objective of this project includes:-

 Able to register students.

 clearance approval
 sending clearance form
 property controlling
 user management
 Check students from the data base.
 Fast searching and data processing..

7. Significance of the project

The project work will help in a good way to ease the queuing system in the university as the
online clearance system will help students to achieve whatever they want without coming to the
various offices for clearance personally such as dormitory, bookstore, registrar, sport, library and
student service.

Online student clearance system allows the users to check their clearance status as whether they
are in any way obligated to the university, fill and submit their clearance form, and obtain their
clearance letter. There are many other advantage of student’s online clearance system. Some of
them are listed below:-

 It saves a time.
 It is very convenient to use it right from the dormitories, office or anywhere in the
campus or in the world.
 Information processing is very fast and delays can be minimized.
 Help the University in reducing cost such as labour and stationary.
 Process clearance effectively and efficiently.
 Provides a reliable and transparent clearance processing system.
 It provides borderless access.
 It provides a reliable and transparent system devoid of person interest and inclination.
 The system removes the problems of stress, travelling to different office and queuing up
of students during processing of the clearance.

8. Beneficiaries of the system

This project provides many benefits for:-

1. Students: - by providing fast access to the clearance system by reducing time like
waiting in the queue and going to different offices. The students access the system
anywhere and anytime when they need the clearance. It improves the tiredness of student
by avoiding to going to different offices to get the clearance system.
2. University: - in manual system there is loss of materials like time, paper, pen which is
cost and more manpower, the system reduces loss of costly materials and manpower.
3. Developers of the project: - it increase our knowledge and we get moral satisfaction
from the project we developed.
9. Scope of the project
This project is limited only for BuleHora University students. Currently the university performs
clearance system manually or paper based processing system. Generally the scope of this project
includes:-

 Our system used for BHU students only.

 The System contains all the recorded information that can be handled by the
registrar and other offices.
 The proposed system is accessed by English language.

10. Limitation of the project

Defines what the proposed system is not going to perform or what is not including in the
proposed system. This project covers some of the aspects of computer software based online
clearance processing system using BuleHora University as case study. However the following
are the constraints:-

Time constraints: - Due to time constrain the web page covers only clearance for various
departments by the students.

Financial constraints: - Due financial constraints people cannot afford this kind of process
online especially towards the cost of accessing the internet. Therefore, it would cost a lot to
develop a full web based clearance processing system. Generally, the limitation of this project
includes: -

 This project done only for Bulehora University students.

 The system couldn’t give service to academic staff and administrative staff i.e. limited
only for students.
 If the students lost/damage the university property, he/she couldn’t gain clearance, until
the students pay the cash personally to finance.
 The proposed system cannot access with their local language.

11. Methodology for the project

11.1 Data source
Is the way or mechanism in which we gather information to develop the system.
We have used the following methods: -

 By seeing the forms that the existing system uses how students clear and take out their
property from the campus.
 Interviewing the heads of the office and the clerk (asking open and closed question)
 Observing different files and reporting documents.
 Collecting information from different references, projects and web sites
 By discussing and analysing the problems with project team.

11.2 Fact Finding Techniques

Practical Observation: - we observed physically the current existing system which is done by
manually. We referred different forms and documents in the department, registrar and some
other offices.

Document Analysis: - For more information about the existing system we refer relevant
documents, others reading materials and some forms in different offices.

Interview: - To get the basic information and background information about the existing system
structure, we ask different question from different persons who provide clearance system.

11.3 System Analysis and Design

In this project the team used Object Oriented System Analysis and Development methodology
(OOSAD). This has two phases.

Object Oriented Analysis (OOA):- During this phase the team used to model the functions of
the system (use case modelling), find and identify the business objects, organize the objects and
identify the relationship between them and finally model the behaviour of the object.

Object Oriented Design (OOD):- During this phase the team used to refine the use case model
to reflect the implementation environment, model object interactions and behaviours that support
the use case scenario, and finally update object model.

11.4 Development Tools

Software: - This project uses the following system development tools for different activities.
Tools Activities
Notepad++ For editing code
CSS For attractive layout
PHP Back end (Server side coding)
HTML Client side coding
MYSQL Back end(data base)
Apache Server As server
Mozilla Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, Browsers
Opera
Ms office word 2013 For Documentation
Ms office PowerPoint 2013 For Presentation
Ms office Visio 2007 To draw UML Diagram and for designs
Adobe Photo Shop CS5 To design back ground images
Table 1.4 Development Tools
Hardware

 Hard Disk
 CD-ROM 700MB
 Flash Disk 8GB
 Printer

11.5 Testing Procedures

We use the above listed software development tools to design or implement the proposed system,
because the tools are compatible to develop the proposed system. We will also perform different
testing for checking functionality of our proposed system.

1. Unit testing: - First we will test each unit at each system. So, if a problem is
encountered it will immediately maintain at which the problem is occurred.
2. Integration Testing: - After we test each unit of the proposed system we will perform
an integration test to check whether the system meets all the functional requirements.
 When a number of components are complete, it will test to ensure that they integrate well
with each other like operating system, and other components.
3. System Testing: - After all of the above testing are checked we will test our system by
other peoples and we will conduct some comments how they get our system.

11.6 Implementation
The current student clearance processing system is still works. Since we cannot change it directly
or partially we choose to develop the proposed system parallel to the existing system. We are
going to change the manual clearance Processing system after the user is familiar with the
proposed system, until that the users and the university uses parallel with the manual clearance
processing system.

12. Feasibility Analysis

Feasibility analysis enables the system to determine ether or not the project can be developed,
evaluates and identifies the newly developed system. Therefore, the feasibility analysis of
proposed system involves the following feasibility:

12.1 Operational Feasibility

The proposed system will solve the business and time problem for the organization.Therefore,
the campus administration and other users providing effective processing system, which satisfies
their needs.

 The proposed system offers greater level of user-friendliness.

 The proposed system produces best results and gives high performance.
 The proposed system can solve the existing system problem and challenge.

12.2 Technical Feasibility

The system developers (we) understand the scope, objectives including specific objectives and
limitations of the proposed system well and the users have technical capability/ability to use this
system. As a result we will develop the system for Bulehora University successfully within
proposed resources (budget, time, etc.). This also deals with the hardware as well as software
requirements. We have to find out whether the necessary technology and the proposed equipment
have the capacity to hold the data used in the project. The technical feasibility issues usually
raised during the stage of fact finding includes the following:-

 This software is running in windows and Linux operating system.

 The system can be expanded in any system platforms.

12.3 Economic Feasibility

When the team can be analyses the system by comparing the cost with the benefit (the enterprise
can get by using the proposed system), surely the benefit out weight the cost. The cost of
developing a full system, including software and hardware cost for the class of application being
considered should be evaluated. So, the benefit that obtain by using the proposed system can be
categorized as tangible and in tangible.

Tangible benefits are:

 Using less man power than the existing system.

 Increase speed of activities and competence.
 Reduce cost.

Intangible benefits are:

 Knowledge required by project developer.

 Facilitating information processing.
 Updating information.
 Increasing the competitiveness of the individual.
 Improved productivity.
 Improving the morale of our team.
 Facilitating information processing of our team

Therefore, the team decided the proposed project is economically feasible.

12.4 Organizational Feasibility

Behavioural feasibility is the measure that how users use the system effectively. The proposed
system should be easy to operate, convenient in maintenance and effective in its working. Thus
behavioural feasibility is very important factor to be considered for effective working of the
system. Behavioural feasibility is dependent on human resources available for the project and
involves projecting whether the system will operate and be used when it is functionally
operating. The system is behaviourally feasible because of the following: -

 The proposed system is easy to operate.

 Retrieval of information is easy, accurate and fast.

Since developing this new system will be solving the clearance system problems, the users will
undoubtedly have positive attitude towards the system and the system is politically feasible and
free from any legal claims.

12.5 Ethical Feasibility

Since developing this new system will be solving the clearance system problems, the users will
undoubtedly have positive attitude towards the system and the system is politically feasible and
free from any legal claims.
13Activity plan
Bulehora University Student’s Online Clearance System

W S Tasks Duratio Predecesso Responsible

N n r
O 1 Project initiation and Planning 1 weak All
R  Gathering information
2 Description of the project 2 weak 1 Meliha
K Introduction:
B  Back ground information
R  Statement of the problem
 Objective of the problem
E  Scope and limitation of the
A project
 Methodology
K  Feasibility study
3 Current system 1 weak 1,2 AlemsegedKahsay
 Description of current system
D  Players in the existing system Efetu
O  Business Rules
 Bottlenecks of the existing
W system
N 4 Proposed System 3 weak 1,2,3 Alemsegedkahsay
 Functional Requirement
 Non Functional Requirements
S  User interface
 Hardware or software
T requirements
R  Security and safety procedure
5 System Modelling 1 weak 4 Dawitshumiye
U
C  Use case diagram and their Kagela
description
T  Object Model
U  Dynamic Model
6 Implementation 12 weak 3,4 All
R  Design
E  Coding
 Testing
S  Documentation
Advisor ins.kelemu.
Submission Date

Work breakdown structure for the project

Table 1.1 Work break down structure
13.1 Team composition
We have organized our self (team member) in a decentralized way that every team member
communicates to each other and diagrammatically.

ALEMSEGED

KAJELA

MELIHA

DAWIT EFTU

Fig 1.1 Team composition

13.2Time table(ganet chart )

Project Schedule
Dec 2016 Jan 2017 Feb 2017 Mar 2017 Apr 2017
ID Task Name Start Finish Duration
18/12 25/12 1/1 8/1 15/1 22/1 29/1 5/2 12/2 19/2 26/2 5/3 12/3 19/3 26/3 2/4 9/4 16/4 23/4

1 Project Proposal 12/14/2016 12/20/2016 1w

Requirement Analysis
2 1/2/2017 1/10/2017 1.4w

3 System Analysis and Design 1/16/2017 1/30/2017 2.2w

4 Implementation and Coding 2/6/2017 3/20/2017 6.2w

5 Tasting and Installation 4/3/2017 4/12/2017 1.6w

6 Documentation and Project Submission 4/20/2017 4/26/2017 1w

14 Cost breakdown
1) Cost of the project
A. Hardware Requirements cost

No Materials Required Amount Price Per Unit Total Cost

1 Toshiba Computer 2 12000 24000
2 Pen 10 4 40
3 A4 Size Paper 1 Destin 110 110
4 Print 100 1 100
5 Flash Disk 1(8G) 120 120
6 CD-ROM 2 7 14
Total 24384

Table 1.2 Hardware Requirement Cost

 B. Software
No Materials Required Price Per Unit
Requirements Cost Table
1 Microsoft Word 2013 Free
1.3 Software Requirement
2 Notepad++ Free
Cost
3 Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Free
4 SQL Server 120
5 Mozilla Firefox Free
Total 120

2. Cost break down

A. One time cost: - are costs incurred at the time of developing our project.
B. Recurring costs: -are costs those incurred to maintain our project once
developed.