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A distributed system for payroll queries within a large

1. 4 2 Payroll Personnel The Payroll Personnel interface is the more complex of the three including the majority of the system functionality A number of scripts are implemented as part of this interface Whereas the Manager inter face only allows the manager to view their own queries the Payroll Personnel interface allows payroll personnel to view all queries submitted A separate window is opened for each query like that shown in figure 4 2 The window which executes a number of implemented scripts allowing the payroll personnel to View and Reply View and reply to the query When replying the cause must be selected View history View history of the query to see which other payroll personnel have viewed the query and 31 added comments View and Add Comments View comments added to the query as well as add their own comments to the query Ref 13 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 15 02 26 Manager Bell James Employee Sixsmith Joan 467125 Payroll Month 5 2004 Nature Maternity Pay When does Joan start her maternity Cause Query Only Manager Payroll Personnel Reply Monday 25 04 0 Submit Reply Figure 4 2 p_p var php 4 3 Payroll Manager The Payroll Manager interface is the less interactive of the three Composed of a number of scripts using SQL queries to query the MySQL database presenting the results in both tabular and chart form Defaulting to the current week the interface allows the pay
2. JSP has the advantage that it can use the large collection of libraries as Java is a more advance language than VB 13 ASP and JSP due to syntax are a lot harder to learn than PHP 3 2 3 PERL PERL used to be the most widely used server scripting language before being taken over by PHP It has many libraries for database connectivity but it s not as easy to learn as PHP due to its strong syntax rules It is often necessary to write complex and tortured code to maintain state in Perl scripts which is not necessary in other scripting languages 13 Another disadvantage of PERL is that it does not allow HTML to be embedded in the script It also does not support multi threading or sophisticated memory data exchange 13 26 3 2 4 Appropriate Scripting Language As apache is the most widely used HTTP web server using ASP that is only supported by MS Internet Information Server would be a big mistake as it could restrict the usage of the solution in many organi sations Although PERL has many libraries for database connectivity which is essential for this project it is harder to learn may involve writing tortured code and as it does not allow HTML to be embedded in the script it is not the most appropriate tool for this project ASP and PHP are very similar in terms of features although PHP popularity ease of learning and fast integration with MySQL makes it a more appropriate tool for the server side scripting in this project 3 3 S
3. mid day a maximum of seven of us could be resolving queries at any one time Payroll Manager Jacqueline Buckley 1 How long have you been in this role Over five years 2 How do you currently submit payroll queries e manually count all the queries both email and paper forms that are due to an error caused by either the managers or each of the payroll personnel to compile my error report 61 e I keep my eye on the amount of queries throughout the day and allocate more payroll per sonnel to resolve queries if the numbers are high 3 How effective do you find this system It works but drastically need improving to reduce the time spent on manual tasks 4 What do you like about this system Nothing really except it works and has been used for a number of years 5 What do you not like about this system e There is no way of making sure the queries are resolved in the same order as they were received Ifa query is not resolved within two days of receipt the department is breaking its service level agreement SLA to the company e Hard to track which payroll personnel have completed which queries and produce reports containing information such as the number of queries resolved by each payroll personnel in order to measure their performance e Two storage solutions email folder and paper based forms make it hard to count queries quickly e A lot of time is wasted manually counting queries for each person s error
4. time available This would be one of the more challenging functionality to develop in the future 49 Bibliography 1 2 3 4 5 6 x 7 _ 8 9 10 11 12 C Avgerou and T Cornford Developing information systems MacMillan Basingstoke 1993 pp 166 181 D Avison and G Fitzgerald Information systems development methodologies techniques and tools McGraw Hill London 2003 pp 89 94 379 387 D E Avison and G Fitzgerald Information systems development methodologies techniques and tools McGraw Hill London 1995 pp 20 35 418 424 S Bennet S McRobb and R Farmer Object oriented systems analysis and design using UML McGraw Hill 2002 pp 96 105 J Cato User centered web design Addison Wesley London 2001 pp 1 173 C J Date and H Darwen A guide to the SQL standard Addison Wesley 1997 pp 3 26 A Dix J Finlay G Abowd and R Beale Human Computer Interaction Prentice Hall London 1993 pp 363 397 B Jepson PostgreSQL vs MySQL building better databases http www webtechniques com archives 2001 09 jepson November 2004 K C Laudon and J P Laudon Management Information systems Prentice Hall New Jersey 2002 pp 320 324 J C Meloni PHP fast and easy web development Premier Press 2002 C Ritchie Relational Database Principles YHT Limited London 2002 pp 41 89 I Sommerville Software Engineering Addison Wesley London 1992 pp 5
5. 3 2 2 Submitting a new query 4 2 3 Your pendine queries 2 sic ae bebe Ames o BA a fe ee Bed do be ee ne 6 23 VIEWS ne ART pure av pes Sk ER o See Eee H 6 24 Your resolved queries sw axis dae po me a ind ben et af 8 DAN VIEWS mere dt da ee 8 3 Payroll Personnel 10 Sel ASTUCIA A A hy aS A ta aoe Hs 10 3 2 NEW QUeTIES x o Go Ba Ares Ge eS Ra ee ead Gee od Sn ee 11 2 2 NIE WING obs eae AEs eas GEM wae hak Bete Os de rat nue te a 11 3 2 2 Viewing history cerda a eel a Wk ee ae al a 12 3 2 3 Viewingcomments 13 3 2 4 Adding comments 14 S255 RESOIVING au 8 hes eh Pd ar RE ELA le Droit a ds Dirt s 17 3 3 Pending qu ri s oea ceecee 4424 eee eh e a dd 18 33 1 A din Ble ee Ae af on ee ae ed 18 3 3 2 Viewing history 44 in du Le ue Les van eue 18 3 3 3 Viewing comments 19 3 3 4 Adding comments 19 3 3 9 RESOIVIMEE ED ut are Ak M Mu We edt AE En Lau og 19 34 Resolved queries 24058 A a eed ee es A TL See 23 SAL WIC WANG fe au Sk Bese A a LN ee Eloge oP Ak di ilar 23 34 2 Viewing history nei Siren dae aha a a aw we a Oo ae a ee 24 3 4 3 Viewing comments 24 3 4 4 Adding comments 24 4 Payroll Manager 25 4 1 Changing the week a a a a ee 25 402 SUMMA
6. Ee ee 33 45 TOO a A ue mon Le So A A lw 35 4 6 Instruction Manual 36 5 Evaluation S L ACE Usabality viano 2 10 i ape ea tn ea A Je 2 te a ee al 4 5 1 1 Questionnaire 9 1 2 CONCIUSIONS s tr dls ee 5 2 System Requirements 5 2 1 Satisfied Requirements 5 2 2 Partially Satisfied Requirements 5 2 3 Un Satisfied Requirements 5 3 Achievement of Project Requirements 5 4 Comparison to Other Solutions 5 5 Future Development Bibliography Appendix A Personal Reflection Appendix B Instruction Manual Appendix C Payroll Query Process Activity Diagram Appendix D Gannt Chart Appendix E Interview Notes Appendix F Individual Use Case Diagrams Appendix G Table Design SQL statements Appendix H Usability Evaluation Questionnaire 50 51 54 55 57 59 63 65 68 Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter forms an Introduction to the project The problem domain is specified by the author using his own observation The author s experience of working in the payroll department of a large organ isation is extremely useful in providing a good background to the problem The problem domain is accompanied by an activity diagram explaining the payroll query process which can be found i
7. I found a genuine problem in the organisation in which I work Although I was a little disappointed that it was not developed within the organisation encouragement from my colleges made me feel that it has been a success Keeping the stakeholders informed as to the progress I was making made them feel valued and wanting to help me during the analysis and evaluation phases of the project The input from others during these phases was extremely valuable enabling me to produce a better quality solution and evaluation Involving others in the project brings new ideas and 52 ensures that more angles to the problem are covered When considering which server side scripting language to use during the implementation phase I was slightly apprehensive about choosing one I had never used before As I was slightly ahead of schedule after researching the most appropriate language I set myself a couple of weeks to learn PHP and built prototypes of the system I found learning a new language rewarding and feel that my confidence about expanding my computing knowledge in the future has increased Following the advice of my supervisor I started writing up the project report very early which left me plenty of time to concentrate on the later stages without worrying too much After reading several past projects I was convinced that Latex was the way forward Being aware of the learning difficulties as sociated with it I decided to give it a go myself I set
8. advantages over other solutions The other main solutions which were discussed in chapter two analysis phase are email telephone and the window approach A major problem experienced with email was that queries are received without containing the minimum information needed to process them The new system avoids this problem by validating the query before submission ensuring none of the details are left uncompleted The absence of folders within the new 47 system ensures that queries can not accidentally be misplaced or deleted which was also a concern using email A lot of time was wasted by the payroll manager using the other solutions due to the lack of structure and centralisation The payroll manager would have to manually count all queries matching their crite ria wasting valuable time The new system has a payroll manager interface which contains a number of statistics pages and has been created with the intension of future development and customisation Another advantage of the new system is that it allows payroll personnel to manage payroll queries and efficiently liaise with other payroll personnel through history tracking and comment functionality This functionality should reduce the time taken to resolve queries and is not offered by any of the other solu tions The new system provides a single centralised solution combating the problems experienced in other solutions If deployed within a large organisation the syst
9. at the problem domain and discussing the problems of the existing solutions with the three main users and getting them to specify what functionality the new system should have This chapter concludes by formalising the requirements of the proposed system 11 2 1 Existing Solutions There are three main existing solutions used for processing payroll queries within a large organisation These are email telephone and the window approach Email The majority of queries are processed using email This solution works and to a certain extent meets some of the requirements that need to be addressed in the problem domain A manager sends an email containing the query to a central address that can be accessed by all payroll personnel The payroll per sonnel then check the central folder for emails and reply using their own email account before putting the query in a sub folder of the central folder known as resolved A major problem experienced with this system is that queries are received without containing the min imum required information needed to process it which means that the payroll personnel would then have to reply asking for that information Also queries are often accidentally misplaced into different folders or deleted both before and after being resolved by payroll personnel There is no structured way of storing the queries making it difficult to retrieve a particular query without reading each one A lot of valuable time is wa
10. designed 28 GUI enabling each user to use the system productively Memorability ease to remember how to use the system Making the system easy to learn will also make the system easy to remember how to use If the navigation structure and page layout is logical it 1s a lot easier for the user to picture it in their mind and therefore remember it Errors amount of errors that occur during use Using java script client side scripting language the system will validate any data during input reducing the amount of errors that may occur The use of user friendly error messages will enable users to recover from any error message easily making them feel that they are making positive progress Satisfaction degree to which the users like using the system Pleasant colours and a logical design should ensure that the user is satisfied using the system Having a system that uses dull colours and is hard to navigate is likely to reduce user satisfaction Control amount of control users feel they have over the system Users like to feel that they are the ones in control Making sure that the system only does what the user request is essential when designing the GUL Skills degree to which users feel they can utilise their skills when using the system The system should be professional in the way it interacts with users as it could be used in many large organisations It should support and enhance the skills of the users and make them fe
11. gain the information required The functionality is specified through use case diagrams and points are clarified between the interviewer and interviewee After the interview the interviewee is thanked for their time An additional interview is not necessary as the system requirements are agreed on in the interview There are three main users in this project the manager the payroll personnel and the payroll manager through interviewing e The manager Basharat Hussain is able to specify how he would like to submit and view replies to the queries e The payroll personnel Hilary Rudd is able specify what such a system needs e The payroll manager Jacqueline Buckley is able to give me an insight into how she managed the payroll queries and the sort of reports she produces from them The interview notes can be found in appendix E 15 2 2 2 Use Cases Use cases are descriptions of the functionality of the system from the users perspective 4 As it is important that the user requirements are correct at the early stages due to the sequential nature of the SDLC methodology after analysing the interviews with the users a use case diagram is produced and agreed with each user to show what functionality they require from the system this can be found in appendix F After the individual use case diagrams are agreed with the users they are combined to produce the use case diagram shown in figure 2 1 which shows the funct
12. in order to compile the error report 6 How would you improve the current system What functionality would you like to see in a new system e A means of ensuring queries are resolved on a first come first served basis to ensure the department meets its SLA e Only one structured storage solution for all previously resolved queries which will automat ically count the queries matching report criteria e way of extracting information relating to the performance of each payroll personnel 7 How many people carry out you role There is just me 62 Appendix F Individual Use Case Diagrams J0 P ii Queries Manager Hen Replies View Quenes J 63 View E PLN to Queries LE Comments Personnel View Replies View History View Comments LT corp Report Payroll Manager Monitor Performance Appendix G Table Design SQL statements Create table if not exists manager username CHAR 6 NOT NULL password VARCHAR 10 NOT NULL f_ name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL 1_name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY username i Create table if not exists payroll_personnel username CHAR 6 NOT NULL password VARCHAR 10 NOT NULL f_ name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL 1_name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY username i Create table if not exists query 65 ref INT 5 NOT NULL auto_increment f_name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL 1_name VARCHAR 20 NOT NULL payroll_no INT 6 NULL query TEXT NOT NUL
13. it will be necessary to change the week for which the statistics relate To change the week 1 Select the desired week from the drop down box as shown in figure 4 1 2 Select the desired year from the drop down box to the right of the week 3 Left click on Change Week 23 Change week Figure 4 1 4 2 Summary Queries summary shows the amount of queries processed by the payroll department The amount of queries received is broken down into unresolved queries carried over from the previous week and new queries received during the specified week The bar chart shows the percentage of queries which were resolved and unresolved during that week 26 PAYROLL MANAGER Logout 8 M 2005 Change Week J submitted Se Au Carried over from last Week Recieved Resolved Unresolved carry over to next Week 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Resolved Un Resolved Figure 4 2 Queries summary can be viewed by left clicking on Summary located towards the left side of the browser 27 4 3 Queries submitted Queries Submitted shows the number of queries submitted by each manager during the specified week The bar chart shows the percentage of total queries submitted by each manager during that week Submitted lois Joe Thomson o Mark Brown 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Joe Thomson Adam Brown James Bell Andrew Johnson Ted Smith Alan Ward Richard Adams Norman Craig Craig Holland M
14. of the experts enjoyed using the system The simplicity and ease of use made using the system an enjoyable experience The colours and aesthetics of the system were easy on the eyes The colours were found to be modern and clear A couple of the experts pointed out that the yellow on mouse over for the navigation bar is not the best choice of colour and may not be suitable for the visually im paired This could be changed with very little work Control The experts generally felt that they were in control of the system at all times One expert expressed concern regarding the movement of queries from new to pending without asking the user this is related more to the payroll query process as opposed to the usability of the system The password system could be improved to provide more feedback as to unathorised access at present if the username and pass word are invalid the system denies access without providing any feedback as to why Again this could be added to the system with a small amount of work Skills The system was found to be professional by the experts the standardised layout and familiar navigation are the main reasons for this The payroll experts found that the system either did enhance their skills or would given time One expert commented that he felt the efficiency of his role would be increased by the system which could impact on his skills The personalisation features of the system makes the users feel more valued and appr
15. satisfied requirements show areas where the solution could be extended 5 2 1 Satisfied Requirements Functional Requirements 1 The system shall allow managers to submit payroll queries This requirement is satisfied using a HTML form managernew php as part of the manager interface which posts data to submit_query php submit query php then executes stor ing the query in the database 2 The system shall ensure that all the required details needed to resolve the query are present before submission This requirement is satisfied using javascript submit_query js to validate the form input data before being posted to submit_query php The user is informed if data is missing or of incorrect type 3 The system shall allow managers to view replies to their queries This requirement is satisfied by allowing the user to click on any query listed on the resolved page which opens a new window containing the query and a reply 43 10 11 The system shall allow managers to view their previously resolved queries This requirement is satisfied by the same means as requirement 3 The database stores previously submitted queries indefinatley The system shall allow payroll personnel to view payroll queries This requirement is satisfied by allowing the user to click on any query listed on the new pending or resolved page which opens a new window containing the query The system shall store p
16. they will be processed On the proviso of improved validation query records should also be fairly accurate BH Unkown MM As far as I know JA Fully 74
17. would in time MB Although I don t believe I could honestly say my skills have been enhanced I feel the system has helped increase my productivity BH I didn t need any computer skills to use it MM Yes JA Would need to use it more to enhance my skills Did you feel valued whilst using the system TA The personalised greeting make it feel that the system is providing a service to you RB Yes everything was personalised by using system logins AD Yes seemed to appreciate the role played 73 JB Yes because it is user friendly MB Receiving responses from HR staff in a timely fashion I did feel valued whilst using the system BH Yes MM Yes JA Yes Privacy 16 How confident did you feel that the system complied with the data protection legislation practiced in your role TA This would depend on where the system was installed If it was installed within a secure internal network I would be happy RB The system conforms to the DPA by protecting user informationa and not passing it on to third parties AD Fairly system seemed secure to the user with password system etc JB Very confident information given is covered by the DPA MB To my knowledge the system did seem to conform to the DPA legislation whilst performing various tasks Notably only storing disputes for a certain period after being resolved ensures data is not kept for longer than is necessary The details in the form are appropriate to the nature for which
18. 1 Functional Requirements 2 3 2 Non functional Requirements 111 opa VD VW 0 0 0 ON A A A U Un 2 4 Proposed System 18 3 Design 19 Sal Database Po a een a ae a ae RUN gee ae ee a A RE 19 3 1 1 Database Management System 19 SMALL MYSQL a een eee A Re dr de a 20 311 2 POstoreSQL 4 442 ey a des ns we ot a te nue 20 3 1 1 3 MS SQL Server ii se ho due one at d la 20 SLA MS ACCESS fre ihe e Se A A A ee AI ee 20 3 1 1 5 Appropriate DBMS 21 3 1 2 ER modelling 2 5 4 422420 ec ee ee a ge ue a 21 3 1 3 Deriving table design 24 3 14 Normalisation ra res Les pare A Moon gr RUE D eut 25 3 2 Scripting Language 24 se dt UE us ae 25 SA PHP e aeea a i e a a a te a Ae AO a ee A A 26 3 22 AS Pand ISP ecg a hie AA Sg ae AS ag 26 9 29 PERE a AE Rec geen es foes RE RS RE ae EN os 26 3 2 4 Appropriate Scripting Language 27 3 3 System Architecture 4 con ee haa ee le a ae ta 27 3 3 1 Two tiered architecture 27 3 3 2 Three tiered architecture 28 3 41 HCL Usability too a a a A Ur 28 4 Implementation 30 AM Managers irc da aa 30 4 2 Payroll Personnel 23 4 s aie it AA A ae rot 31 4 3 PayrollMadaget coco ro a a Yee aL ih 32 FA r SECUTI ia A A Red ee OR A Me LE agp
19. 13 Java script has been used as the client side scripting language as it is the one most widely used and the one with which the author has the most experience It is important that a server side scripting language is found that meets the requirements of the system 25 yet is easy to learn and develop in the time available for this project There are a number of server side scripting languages used in web based systems the most widely used ones include Hypertext Pre Processor PHP Active Server Pages ASP Java Server Pages JSP and Practical Extraction and Report Language PERL They all differ in structure and ease of development 3 2 1 PHP PHP is the most popular server side scripting language because it is easy to develop applications through its large range of libraries and as a result quick to learn PHP usage has exploded as an enterprise application development solution it s not just for home pages and small projects any more 10 As well as being freeware and platform independent PHP allows fast integration with MySQL and Apache HTTP Server PHP creates HTML from the script allowing dynamically created web pages 3 2 2 ASP and JSP Working on similar principles to PHP ASP and JSP are different company s solutions ASP is a MS product built on Visual Basic VB and as a result is platform dependent only working on MS Internet Information Server Where as JSP has been developed by Sun Microsystems and is built on Java
20. 71 587 50 13 N Sundarapperuma Creating dynamic web pages using JSP http www cs umd edu users walid fall2003 cmsc424 0101 pr0 resources CreatingJSP pdf November 2004 14 AS Tanenbaum and M Steen Distributed systems principles and paradigms Prentice Hall New Jersey 2002 pp 42 54 51 Appendix Personal Reflection One of the first problems I encountered a few weeks into the project was that of ownership Although the company I work for on a part time basis liked the initial project idea when we looked into devel oping the solution on their systems problems started to arise The security implications and the impact that such a system if implemented incorrectly could have on the business was one problem The second problem was that all systems development and access to servers was completed at head office which would have meant a great deal of travelling and expense during the implementation phase This meant that the business would not be able to support the project making the analysis and evaluation phases harder than anticipated I was very fortunate that my work colleagues were willing to give up some of their own time allowing me to interview them during the analysis phase and complete the usability eval uation questionnaire I would recommend that students intending to do external projects in the future consider implementation problems that could occur before starting the project I am happy with my solution to what
21. A distributed system for payroll queries within a large organisation John David Bates BSc Computing 2004 2005 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is their own and the appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others I understand that failure to attribute material which is obtained from another source may be considered as plagiarism Signature of student Summary The aim of this project is to create a distributed system to provide a structured method of submitting and managing payroll queries within a large organisation The system will enable management from across a number of different sites to submit queries in a structured way to a centralised payroll department Payroll personnel will be able to use the system to retrieve and manage the queries that will be stored in the database The payroll manager will be able to query the database to produce weekly statistics for their reports A web based solution will ensure that management with intranet access will be able to use the system without installing additional software and having to update that software when system changes are made Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Kristina Vuskovic for the excellent report writing advice sugges tions and general encouragement throughout the project Thanks are owed to those people who gave up their time to be interviewed as part of the analysis phase and also th
22. A o AS a ME AR at ee aM 26 Que ies SubMiti ds cia A EA a hee ES Ae de 28 Queries Tesolved lt a ni eB is Bd ak PY Rp Se A E Eo 29 Cause of QU TIES asgo i a a Gs SU Lee do ee OE ae a ne 30 Natur of queries sario waren GEM dan ds DAME ms Leh Be uen eas 33 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 Overview This manual describes how to use all areas of Payroll Query It is divided into four chapters The first being this chapter which should be read by all users before proceeding it covers how to login and logout of Payroll Query The following three chapters cover each of the three different types of user Chapter two explains how to use the system as a Manager Chapter three explains how to use the system as a Payroll Personnel Chapter four explains how to use the system as a Payroll Manager You should refer to the chapter that is relevant to your role once you have logged in to the system you will be directed to the interface that matches your role 1 2 Logging in The login window is shown in figure 1 1 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Eile Edit View Go Bookmarks Tools Help GS D S A LI http fjwdew compleeds ac uk fjhs2jdb welcome html E O el Getting Started El Latest Headlines PAYROLE QUERY Username Password Login Figure 1 1 To login 1 Enter your username into Username field 2 Enter your password into Password field 3 Left click on Login If your passw
23. Did you find the system easy to remember how to use TA Yes because all the functionality is placed in view and consistently between pages RB The system is simplistic and easy to remember AD Yes its clarity allowed this JB Yes only took a few minutes MB Keeping the front end uncluttered and using an intuitive template made the website very simple to learn and recall on subsequent visits BH Yes no problems MM Yes JA Yes it was very logical 7 Did you find the navigational structure and page layout supported this TA Yes RB Yes I did AD Yes JB Yes MB Setting links out in a manner by which a user expects to perform tasks assists in being able to form spatial cognitive representations In knowing the normal order of the tasks I was soon 70 able to subconsciously recall the layout of the front end BH Page layout was easy to use by a relatively clear screen with easily recognisable and usable menu style MM Very clear good page layout JA Yes the navigational structure made the system easy to use Errors 8 Did any errors occur whilst using the system What was the nature of those errors TA One error mine which was I forgot to fill in the month field in the query form RB Yes incomplete fields AD No JB No errors MB The form for entering new queries seems to have no validation on the First Name and Last Name fields This could be a problem if for example a payroll number is accidentally copied fro
24. L date_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL manager_username CHAR 6 NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY ref FOREIGN KEY manager_username references manager username Create table if not exists reply date_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL query_ref INT 5 NOT NULL payroll_personnel_username CHAR 6 NOT NULL reply TEXT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY date_time query_ref payroll_personnel_username FOREIGN KEY query_ref references query ref FOREIGN KEY payroll_personnel_username references payroll_personnel username Create table if not exists comment date_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL query_ref INT 5 NOT NULL payroll_personnel_username CHAR 6 NOT NULL comment TEXT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY date_time query_ref payroll_personnel_username FOREIGN KEY query_ref references query ref FOREIGN KEY payroll_personnel_username references payroll_personnel username 66 Create table if not exists view date_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL query_ref INT 5 NOT NULL payroll_personnel_username CHAR 6 NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY date_time query_ref payroll_personnel_username FOREIGN KEY query_ref references query ref FOREIGN KEY payroll_personnel_username references payroll_personnel username 67 Appendix H Usability Evaluation Questionnaire The usability evaluation questionnaire was completed by eight experts who are as follows Thomas Ande
25. Norman Craig Craig Holland Michael Buckley Tom Anderson Mark Brown Figure 4 6 The third breaking down the queries that were caused by the Payroll Personnel showing the number of queries caused by each Payroll Personnel for the specified week 31 By Payroll Personnel PAYROLL PERSONNEL e Robert Drake John Steele 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Robert Drake Nigel Bloggs Hilary Lucas Christine Street Noel Williams Margaret Gregorary John Steele Figure 4 7 Cause of Resolved Queries can be viewed by left clicking on Cause located towards the left side of the browser 32 4 6 Nature of queries Nature of queries shows the number of queries of each nature for the specified week The bar chart shows the percentage of total queries of each nature during that week METIA cin Annual Bonus Trade Union o 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Annual Bonus Charity Donation Court Order Deductions Holiday Pay Maternity Pay Missing Wageslip Pay Review Pension Scheme Salary Sickness Pay aan Figure 4 8 Nature of Queries can be viewed by left clicking on Nature located towards the left side of the browser 33 Appendix C Payroll Query Process Activity Diagram 55 Submit Query Add to Statistics View Reply Query Answered O 56 Appendix D Gannt Chart 57 eunpeea forem EUUNS ei Sn sseiBold amp UO S JIN EUI XZ Coe BUS ET RON ines uds eee cela
26. ONNEL Logout Statistics Resolved Good afternoon Hilary Figure 3 1 10 3 2 New queries New queries are those that have not been opened by one of the Payroll Personnel Left click on New located towards the left side of the browser The date time of submission the manager who submitted the query the reference number assigned employee s details and the part of the query are displayed for the new queries shown in figure 3 2 Statistics 3 2 1 Viewing To view a new query PAYROLL PERSONNEL Logout DATE TIME MANAGER REF EMPLOYEE QUERY Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Ward Alan 15 Wilkes Guy 54 Guy s wage slip was accidently Mon 21 02 05 15 03 54 Ward Alan 14 Washington Sha Sharon s wage slip has not arr Mon 21 02 05 15 02 26 Bell James 13 Sixsmith Joan When does Joan start her mater Mon 21 02 05 14 30 13 Adams Richard 10 Buckley Wesley Wesley joined the pension sche Figure 3 2 1 Move your mouse pointer over the query you wish to view 2 You will notice that it is highlighted shown in figure 3 3 3 Left click on the highlighted query Statistics PAYROLL PERSONNEL Logout DATE TIME MANAGER REF EMPLOYEE QUERY Mon 21 02 05 15 03 54 Ward Alan 14 Washington Sha Sharon s wage slip has not arr Mon 21 02 05 15 02 26 Bell James 13 Sixsmith Joan When does Joan start her mater Mon 21 02 05 14 30 13 Adams Richard 10 Buckley Wesley Wesley joined the pension sche Fig
27. PostgreSQL MS SQL Server MS Access Oracle and DB2 All except 19 Oracle and DB2 use a Structured Query Language SQL The primary function of the SOL language is to support the definition manipulation and control of data in SOL databases 6 Due to the time available for this project only the DBMS that support SQL are considered Although MySQL Post greSQL MS SQL Server and MS Access use SQL and can be used with most applications the DBMS themselves differ making 1t important that the most appropriate one is used in this project 3 1 1 1 MySQL MySQL is open source and as a result has been developed over time making it a very robust and fast DBMS It is available at no cost which would reduce the cost of the solution if it was used in a com mercial environment Although MySQL is very robust 1t lacks some advanced features of SQL such as Triggers Because of its limited feature set MySQL is very fast 8 3 1 1 2 PostgreSQL PostgreSQL is very similar to MySQL they are both open source available freely and are not platform dependent PostgreSQL on the other hand provides more features than MySOL 8S The main dif ference between the two is that PostgreSQL has been designed to handle large Databases and therefore implements some advanced features of SQL such as Triggers Another advantage of PostgreSQL is that 1t allows you to implement business logic on the database server which is useful for developing applic
28. SYSEL Jewa xy amp aU0JSaIIN Zo ona ysel G0 0 2z PEM _ Skep 0 podey joolold euly EE e soeo soent skepoe Sup Hod y E 2 SO Zo LZ uns s ep 4 uonenjeag E o Go zo EL ung s ep z Bunse E s soLoezuns eskep 4 uopejueuue duu El zueo voru60 nur SA po Hoday 98 0414 PIN E e voriirizuns skep zz ubissg E z v0 0L pz uns s ep zz sis jeuy Bal 1 ez o1 60 ES a gt t 0 82 bz v1 20 ojez iz pt Z0 be v2 Zt 0b 60 Zz oz er 90 oz ze S 20 10 sz et tt yo zz yes uopeng ALIEN YSEL e a Go co Jdy coJey Go G24 So uer 0 980 YO AON 70 PO 58 Appendix E Interview Notes Manager Basharat Hussain 1 How long have you been in this role About three years now 2 How do you currently submit payroll queries I usually send an email to the payroll department containing my query and await a reply If it is really urgent I will ring or visit the payroll department 3 How effective do you find this system Reasonably effective 4 What do you like about this system Easy to use 5 What do you not like about this system e It can often be a while before I receive a reply from the payroll department e If I forget to include some details relating to the query I have to send them another email delaying it being resolved e It is hard to keep track of repli
29. ability 6 Did you find the system easy to remember how to use 7 Did you find the navigational structure and page layout supported this Errors 8 Did any errors occur whilst using the system What was the nature of those errors 9 Were the error messages friendly and did they help you resolve the problem Satisfaction 10 Did you enjoy using the system 11 How did you find the colours and aesthetics of the system Control 12 Were there any occasions when you felt you were not in control of the system If yes what happened on these occasions Skills 13 How professional did you find the system 14 Did you find it enhanced your skills 15 Did you feel valued whilst using the system Privacy 16 How confident did you feel that the system complied with the data protection legislation practiced in your role 5 1 2 Conclusions The answers to the questions posed in the usability evaluation questionnaire can be found in appendix H Overall the experts found the system to be fairly usable The conclusions that are derived from the answers under each of the different usability areas are as follows 40 Learnability The experts found the system very easy to learn the system is uncluttered and that information is easy to find minimalist approach makes the system clear and easy to navigate It seemed that the majority of the experts did not feel the need to refer to the Instruction manual as the system is self explanatory Those that
30. ageslip Guy s wage slip was accidently shredded by machinery Please can we have a re print Cause Query Only JavaScript Application O Manager i Are you sure you want to Submit D It will be sen next couple of Submit Reply Figure 3 16 22 3 4 Resolved queries Resolved queries are those that have been resolved by one or more of the Payroll Personnel Left click on Resolved located towards the left side of the browser The date time of submission the manager who submitted the query the reference number assigned employee s details and the part of the query are displayed for the resolved queries shown in figure 3 17 PAYROLL PERSONNEL Logout DATE TIME MANAGER REF EMPLOYEE QUERY Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Ward Alan 15 Wilkes Guy 54 Guy s wage slip was accidently Mon 21 02 05 14 31 56 Adams Richard 11 Cartwright Mar Mark is going on holiday to te Mon 21 02 05 14 28 44 Adams Richard 9 Henderson Thom Thomas has not recieved his an Figure 3 17 3 4 1 Viewing To view a resolved query 1 Move your mouse pointer over the query you wish to view 2 You will notice that 1t is highlighted shown in figure 3 18 3 Left click on the highlighted query DATE TIME MANAGER REF EMPLOYEE Mon 21 02 05 14 31 56 Adams Richard 11 Cartwright Mar Mark is going on holiday to te Mon 21 02 05 14 28 44 Adams Richard 9 Henderson Thom Thomas has not recieved his an Fi
31. al e Each query will eventually have a reply part optional One query can have many replies optional One reply can only belong to one query mandatory Many to Many relationships e Payroll personnel view the payroll queries part optional One query can be viewed by many payroll personnel mandatory One payroll personnel may view many queries optional 22 All entities have attributes that describe them The values of the attributes describe the properties of an instance of the entity 11 The attributes of the entities in the problem domain are as follows Manager username password fname l_name Payroll Personnel username password fname l_name Query ref fname l_name payroll_no query date_time Reply reply date_time Comment comment date_time Cam Ge cer lt gt DA username comment Figure 3 1 Final ER diagram Figure 3 1 shows the final ER diagram which is derieved from the entities relationships between the enities cardinalities of the relationships and the attributes of the entities 23 3 1 3 Deriving table design The following stages described in 11 define the conversion process between the ER diagram and table design 1 Entity tables create a table for every entity 2 Relationships create new tables or amend those created in step 1 Entity tables Attributes of an entity are converted to column attributes of the table One or more co
32. ated with a query and retrieve previously resolved queries at the touch of a button knowing only one of the attributes of it e g the employees name The GUI will have additional features allowing the payroll manager to query the database to produce reports The new system incorporating the above features and the system requirements will save the payroll department a lot of time making it more efficient and reducing costs 18 Chapter 3 Design This chapter starts by exploring a selection of database management systems DBMS which are appro priate for use in this project As efficiency is an important aspect of the proposed system ER modelling table design and normalisation is carried out number of scripts that run on the web server are needed these are used by the GUI one of their purposes is to interact with the DBMS and send data to the GUI As a result a justification of the choice of scripting language and system architecture is included The chapter concludes by looking at the HCI issues that need to be considered when implementing the system 3 1 Database The solution to the problem will require a Database Management System DB MS as a database will be used to store the originally submitted query any replies history of the query and data needed for query management 3 1 1 Database Management System There are a number of Database Management Systems DBMS available some of the most widely used ones include MySQL
33. ations that have highly complex business rules 8 As a result performance is affected making it slower than MySQL 3 1 1 3 MS SQL Server MS SQL Server is designed for very large databases it can handle a large number of users at any one time and is very easy to maintain through its GUI Unfortunately it is not freeware and is expensive to purchase As it is a Microsoft MS product it is also platform dependent 3 1 1 4 MS Access MS Access has some similarities to MS SQL Server they are both platform dependent and are easy to maintain through their GUI MS Access is designed for much smaller databases and desktop applications and as a result do not handle multiple users very well Another disadvantage of MS Access is that it does not allow remote maintenance 20 3 1 1 5 Appropriate DBMS MS SQL Server could be used as it can handle very large databases and multiple users but due to its expense and platform dependency it is not appropriate for this project as it is important the system could be deployed on any platform Although MS Access is much cheaper than MS SQL Server as it does not handle multiple users very well it would not be suitable for this project as it is important that a large number of users can use the system at any one time Both MySQL and PostgreSQL can handle a large number of users making it hard to choose between them Although MySQL does not implement some advanced features of SQL such as triggers it is faster t
34. authoriselogin php 34 4 5 Testing The system is developed on wwwdev Apache webserver and csdbdev MySQL database server A num ber of users are set up representing one of the three different types of users for testing The system functionality is tested throughly after each prototype had been approved by the user The database cur rently contains a small set of fictional data that was used during testing and the demonstration welcome html shown in figure 4 5 system login page can be accessed by entering the following address into the browser http wwwdev comp leeds ac uk jhs2jdb from any computer on the school network Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox File Edit View Go Bookmarks Tools Help ds gt amp ES A LI httpiffummidev comp leeds ac uk fjhs2jdb welcome html Getting Started E Latest Headlines Username Password Figure 4 5 welcome html Fictional users which can be used to test the system are as follows 35 Payroll Personnel Hilary Lucas 1234 Payroll Manager John Steele 1234 Please see the instruction manual section 4 6 for more information on how to login and use the system 4 6 Instruction Manual The instruction manual which can be found in appendix B is created as a step by step guide on how to use the system The manual is divided into four chapters the first being an introduction covering how to login and logout of the system The remaining three chapter
35. ayroll personnel This requirement is partially satisfied the number of queries resolved by each payroll personnel statistics page exist within the payroll manager interface Additional statistics could be added showing the performance of each payroll personnel with minimum effort required eg the average time taken for each payroll personnel to resolve queries Non functional Requirements 2 The system shall allow only payroll personnel and payroll manager to reply to queries view history and comments of a query and view all previously submitted queries This requirement is partially satisfied only payroll personnel currently have access to the payroll personnel interface which contains that functionality Additional functionality could easily be added to allow the payroll manager to login to the payroll personnel interface as opposed to just the payroll manager interface allowing them to carry out such functionality 5 2 3 Un Satisfied Requirements Functional Requirements 12 The system shall ensure the queries are resolved in order of submission This requirement is not satisfied no functionality currently exists to implement this requirement 46 number of client side and server side scripts would be needed to implement this requirement Queries would have to be allocated to payroll personnel allowing others to resolved the next query The time taken to implement and test this requirement throughly was not availible in this pro
36. ayroll personnel interaction with a query to its history This requirement is satisfied by two PHP scipts p4p vqr php records when the user views a query and submit_comment php records comments added to the query The system shall allow payroll personnel to add comments to a query This requirement is satisfied by a HTML form p_p add comment php within the window for the relevant query which posts data to submit_comment php submit comment php then executes storing the query in the database The system shall allow payroll personnel to view the history of a query This requirement is satisfied by p p history php which uses SOL to query both the view and comment tables and generates a HTML page within the query window displaying a list of history of the query The system shall allow payroll personnel to view the comments of a query This requirement is satisfied by p p comment s php that uses SOL to query the comment table and generates a HTML page within the query window displaying a list of comments added to the query The system shall store all payroll queries and replies This requirement is satisfied by the use of a number of HTML forms and PHP scripts using SOL storing data in a MySQL database The system shall allow payroll personnel to reply to queries This requirement is satisfied by allowing the user to click on any query listed on the resolved page which opens a new window containing the quer
37. did found it useful in explaining more of the payroll query process as oppose to the system itself The navigation bar on the left made navigation of the system very easy Efficiency It appears that the system is very efficient with only one noted delay from an expert On this occasion it was the external connection to the schools server that crashed and not the system itself This should not be a problem when implemented in a large organisation as opposed to externally The experts found that the page layout and tabulated format supported the completion of tasks Memorability Clarity and a logical structure made the system easy to remember Functionality consistently located between pages made the system fairly intuitive The navigational structure and page layout allowed the experts to build a spatial representation of system making it easier to remember The familiar menu style also helped the experts recall how to use the system Errors Although validation exists on the submit query form to ensure that all details are present before allowing the user to submit the query there is nothing to ensure that the first and last name fields do not contain numeric data More validation could be added to the submit query form to ensure data integrity The experts found that highlighting of incomplete fields is good at alerting the user to missing data although a more desriptive error message may be useful 41 Satisfaction The majority
38. difficult to find queries that have been resolved in the past Window approach Although the majority of queries are processed either using email or the telephone there are still some that are dealt with using the window approach The window approach is the more traditional one where the manager would come to the window in the payroll office This approach is often taken by the Manager when they feel the query is either urgent as it can sometimes take a few hours for the pay roll personnel to resolve queries which are received via email or too complex to be dealt with over the telephone or email A manager would come to the payroll department and speak to one of the payroll personnel face to face who would resolve the query instantly and manually record the details of the query on a paper form for statistical purposes The window approach suffers from the same problems as the telephone Valuable time is wasted by the payroll personnel manually recording the query information on a paper form and the payroll man ager manually reading the forms to gather the necessary information for their reports Window queries also distract payroll personnel who may be engaged in other activities reducing the efficiency of the department The Window approach can only be used by Managers who are based at the same site as the centralised payroll department putting managers at other sites at a disadvantage A single solution is to be found to combat the p
39. e of user and storing this informa tion in a session variable which is used by the browser until either the user logs out or closes the browser The session variable is then used by all the other scripts to ensure that the user is authorised to view the information they request 33 SO o NAH BR WN eH Cm IDA BF W D Bw Y UY Y WwW Y Y Y Y Y D D RYN YN R D WD S J A D D S 1 AAR D HE lt If username and password have not been provided send back if _POST username _POST password header Location welcome html exit Connect to DB include lib db_connect php Check whether password is valid and a manager sql SELECT FROM manager WHERE username S _POST username AND password S _POST password result mysql_query sql connection or die mysql_error manager mysql_num_rows result Check whether password is valid and a payroll_personnel Invalid user if manager 0 amp amp p_p 0 header Location welcome html exit else Start session session_start session_register username session_register type Store username _SESSION username _POST username Manager if manager 0 Store type _SESSION type manager Send header header Location manager manager_main php exit Payroll_personnel Payroll_manager Figure 4 4
40. e project schedule e g Prototypes are completed during the design phase and the implemented database and graphical user interface are completed during the implementation phase Start Date Task Deliverable 24 10 2004 Analysis 21 11 2004 Design Mid Project Report 23 01 2005 Implementation 13 02 2005 Testing 27 02 2005 Evaluation 08 03 2005 Report Writing Final Project Report The project plan is mainly adhered to The only minor revision is the Analysis phase which is completed a little earlier than scheduled This allows more time in the design phase to learn a new scripting language 10 Chapter 2 Analysis As described in 3 it is important to establish the requirements of the existing solutions and the prob lems experienced with them in the Systems investigation stage of the SDLC Identifying what a system should be able to do is one of the first steps in its development 4 This chapter goes through the pro cess of requirements gathering As SDLC is a sequential methodology which does not allow developers to re do previous phases should the requirements be wrong it is important that the user requirements are correct before being frozen at the analysis stage This chapter starts by looking at the existing solutions and their problems It then proceeds to look at requirements gathering techniques and focuses on interviewing The aim of the interviews was to gather the requirements of the system by looking
41. eciate the role played within the department Privacy Unawareness of the data protection act DPA with some of the experts made feedback in this area less reliable than others The experts did feel confident that the system complied with the DPA providing the system was deployed within a secure internal network This would most likely be the case within most large organisations Extra functionality would need to be added in the long term to delete queries after 42 a certain period to comply fully with the DPA 5 2 System Requirements This section evaluates the funtional and non functional requirements derieved in the analysis phase of the SDLC methodoloy which can be found in chapter 2 After the implementation phase each re quirement can be classified as either satisfied partially satisfied or un satisfied All requirements being satisfied would in the users view be a complete solution to the problem but due to the time available was not possible This section is broken down into the three different classifications listing the requirements that fall into each Satisfied requirements include an explanation of how they are satisified Partially satisfied requirements include an explanation detailing the extent to which they are satisfied and what needs to be done to make them completely satisfied Un satisfied requirements include an explanation detailing what needs to be done to make them completely satisfied Partially satisfied and un
42. el valued when using it Privacy amount of protection of information belonging to the user or their clients To enable the sys tem to be efficient allowing payroll personnel to add comments to payroll queries is essential For the payroll personnel to use this function they have to be confident that managers will not be able to access these comments and that the information is private After a prototype was produced the system was rated against each of the above characteristics The prototype was then improved using the user comments on the characteristics where the prototype scored low 29 Chapter 4 Implementation This chapter covers the implementation phase of the SDLC methodology chosen in chapter 1 The database design covered in chapter 4 is inplemented and PHP server side scripts written to create the three tier client server architecture No new hardware or software is purchased or installed as the so lution is developed on the school s systems Due to limited space in this report this chapter takes a brief look at some of the functionality implemented for the three users manager payroll personnel and payroll manager Documentation covering all the functionality implemented in the form of a instruction manual is written as part of this phase and the guidelines followed included in this chapter The security features implemented and implementation testing are also covered 4 1 Manager The Manager interface allows a ma
43. em should improve efficiency of the payroll department 5 5 Future Development The solution to the problem has a number of areas that could be developed in the future Development of the system could improve the functionality and customise it to the requirements of the organisation in which it is deployed Discussed in the previous sections partially satisfied and un satisfied require ments the main areas for future development are as follows e The submission validation could be enhanced to not only prevent the form being submitted with out all details being present but to ensure that all details were of the correct data type An extension to the existing java script would make this an easy modification e Additional statistics pages could be added to the payroll manager interface allowing them to obtain payroll query information that suits their needs An example which was suggested during the progress meeting would be time taken to resolve queries e more intelligent performance monitoring package could be added to the payroll manager inter 48 face Performance monitoring would allow the payroll manager to take full advantage of infor mation systems when managing payroll personnel freeing up time for the more skilled tasks e Rules could be implemented to ensure the queries are resolved in order of submission The time available and complexity of this additional requirement meant that it could not be fulfilled in the
44. es listing the queries update every 10 seconds This time could of course increase slightly as the number of simultaneous users increases but should still be lower than 30 seconds 6 The system shall be designed in such a way to allow future development This requirement is satisfied using well laid out and commented scripts 7 The system shall support a maximum of 75 simultaneous users 67 managers 7 payroll personnel and 1 payroll manager This requirement is satisfied although not explicitly tested There is no evidence to suggest that Apache webserver and MySQL database server should not be able to handle 75 simultaneous 45 users This of course depends on the hardware capacity of the organisation in which the system the system is deployed 5 2 2 Partially Satisfied Requirements Functional Requirements 14 The system shall count the number of queries matching the criteria stated by the payroll manager to compile her report This requirement is partially satisfied a number of statistics pages exist within the payroll man ager interface The statstics required by the payroll manager may differ from one organisation to another and it would be impossible to include all possible statistics in all possible forms in the time availible for this project The interface is designed in such a way that additional statistics pages could easily be added 15 The system will allow the payroll manager to view the performance of each p
45. es to previous queries should the employee re query it 59 6 How would you improve the current system What functionality would you like to see in a new system e Having a way of making sure all required details for the query are present before submitting the query e Structured storage for all previously resolved queries for future reference 7 How many people carry out you role About fifty on this site and probably about the same on the other three sites 8 How many people carrying out your role would use the system simultaneously Bearing in mind we have three separate shifts so only a third of us will be on site at any one time It would be a third if we were all submitting queries at once however it is unlikely but possible after the payroll has just been run and the employees get their wage slip Payroll Personnel Hilary Rudd 1 How long have you been in this role Over five years 2 How do you currently submit payroll queries e After receiving the query email from the manager we resolve the query and send an email reply back to the manager e We complete paper query forms when completing more urgent queries over the telephone and window giving the reply verbally 3 How effective do you find this system Not very effective 4 What do you like about this system Easy to use 5 What do you not like about this system e No means of making sure the queries are resolved in the same order as they
46. essed The role of evaluation is to test our systems to ensure that they actually behave as we expect and meet the requirements of the user 7 Evaluation is carried out throughout the design phase using prototyping and the implementation phase by testing the functionality of the system This allowed any problems to be solved quickly before progressing on to the next phase of the methology 7 The sequential nature of the SDLC methodology and time available for this project made continuous eval uation essential An heuristic evaluation has been performed assessing system usability accompanied by a statement of satisfaction of functional and non functional requirements This chapter concludes by comparing the system with other solutions and looking at future development 5 1 HCI Usability HCI principles should be taken into account when designing any system It is important that the system is usable and that the potential users want to use the system as oppose to having to use it 5 Heuristic evaluation involves experts assessing the design against known usability criteria 7 The usability criteria that the implementation phase of the SDLC methodology should have taken into con 38 sideration were defined in the design phase Heuristic evaluation is used to assess whether the specified usability criteria are successfully applied to the system 5 1 1 Questionnaire Questionnaires are used to query the experts and obtain their vi
47. ew Buttons and links were consistently placed RB Yes with ease AD Yes JB Yes MB A single layer vertical navigation bar made for effective browsing further supporting the minimalist approach The form was laid out in a familiar manner i e appropriate use of different form components such as combo boxes and radio buttons BH Yes the bars on the left of the screen eg Summary or Submitted etc made navigation very easy and were in bold MM Yes JA Yes Efficiency 4 Did you experience any noticeable delays when using the system TA No the system was very quick No delays at all RB Minor restrictions one to connections No system hangs or crashes AD No the system was very efficient JB No MB No delays experienced in any tasks carried out thus far BH No it was very fast on the computer used MM No was quick 69 JA It was very fast with no delays 5 Did you find the page layout supported the order of completing tasks TA Yes RB There was a linear flow to links which allowed tasks to be completed in order AD Yes definitely JB It left nothing to chance all details asked for were relevant MB The order of the links on the navigation bar did follow a logical sequence of the order in which I would have expected tasks to be performed BH Yes the data in tabulated form was clear and easy to follow with more details available if needed after the quick search MM Yes easy to follow JA Yes Memorability 6
48. ews on the usability of the system Al though questionnaires are not as flexible as interviews due to their highly structured nature they take a lot less time to administer 7 With time available for this project being scarce using questionnaires is the more appropriate solution The experts who completed the questionnaire are from either a com puting or payroll background A balance of both looks at both aspects of usability a computing expert with their knowledge of other usable systems and a payroll expert based on how usable they find the system The heuristics used in the questionnaire are taken directly from the usability criteria specified in chapter four design phase The questionnaire aims to assess the eight different areas of usability and asks the expert to answer questions on each area The areas are as follows learnability efficiency memorability errors satisfaction control skills and privacy The questions under the different areas included in the questionnaire are as follows Learnability 1 How easy did you find the system was to learn 2 Did you feel the need to refer to the Instruction Manual If yes how often and did it resolve any problems you were experiencing 3 Did you find the navigational structure and page layout was easy to follow Efficiency 4 Did you experience any noticeable delays when using the system 5 Did you find the page layout supported the order of completing tasks 39 Memor
49. f development which could hinder the success of the system 1f the requirements are wrong Prototyping allows user involvement from early phases but as prototyping does not include the essential phases of the development process the methodology on its own may not be appropriate as it is equally important that the structure of the system is adequate Methodology Engineering ME is the process of merging two or more methodologies together to sup port information systems development 3 The advantage of ME is that you can capture best practice by including techniques in other methodologies or take into account newly proposed ones 2 Therefore using Methodology Engineering to merge Prototyping with SDLC would seem the most ap propriate choice to achieve the best results Although SDLC methodology will be used for the devel opment process prototyping will be used for parts of the system that will interact with the user e g graphical user interface GUD Based on the phases of the SDLC the development process will be structured as follows with appropiate chapter of this report shown in brackets 1 Feasibility study and System investigation Introduction 2 System analysis Analysis 3 Systems design including prototyping Design 4 Implementation Implementation 5 Systems testing Implementation 6 Evaluation Evaluation A decision is made to combine the feasibility study and system investigation stages of
50. f working in the payroll de partment of a large organisation is extremely useful in providing a good background to the problem It could be argued that the author may have a biased opinion making it necessary to include the views of others within the requirements gathering process Interviewing is used as the main method for requirement gathering as it is seen as one of the best tech niques for establishing and verifying the requirements 3 and is most appropriate due to the small num 14 ber of system users available Interviewing allows questions to be followed up where as questionnaires would not 2 2 1 Interviewing 4 states conducting an interview requires good planning good interpersonal skills and an alert and responsive frame of mind Bearing this in mind the following guidelines described in 4 are adhered to Before the interview an appointment is made with the users at the same time they are told the approx imate duration and content of the interview As only one of each type of user is available it is not necessary to create an interview schedule Relevant questions are then planned and are shown in ap pendix E At the start of the interview an introduction is made and purpose of interview stated Permission is granted by the users for notes to be taken during the interview During the interview the semi structured agenda is stuck to and direction controlled A wide variety of question types are used to
51. gure 3 18 4 A new window should open like that in figure 3 19 5 The window will contain the information submitted by the manager in the query along with the reply submitted by the payroll personnel 23 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 15 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Manager Ward Alan Employee Wilkes Guy 547965 Payroll Month 12 2004 Nature Missing Wageslip Guy s wage slip was accidently shredded by machinery Please can we have a re print Resolved Mon 21 02 05 15 43 25 By Hilary Lucas Payroll Department It will be sent via internal mail you should recieve it in the next couple of days Figure 3 19 3 4 2 Viewing history To view the history of the query see section 3 2 2 this describes how to view the history of the query 3 4 3 Viewing comments To view the comments added to the query see section 3 2 3 this describes how to view the comments added to the query 3 4 4 Adding comments To add comments to the query see section 3 2 4 this describes how to add comments to the query 24 Chapter 4 Payroll Manager The payroll manager interface allows you to view statistics calculated from the payroll query database on a weekly basis After logging in the statistics shown will be for the current week If you wish to view statistics for previous weeks see section 5 1 which describes how to change the week 4 1 Changing the week If you are compiling a report for a previous week
52. h they are broken down and modelled 4 Using UML diagrams will be particularly useful when carrying out the systems analysis phase of the SDLC methodology to help break down and model the system 1 4 Main Objectives The objectives of this project are as follows 1 2 1 5 Investigate the problem and existing solutions Gather the user requirements Select an appropriate methodology and tools to produce a solution Create prototypes of the Graphical User interfaces GUI before producing the solution to ensure 1t meets the user requirements Implement a Database and scripts to support the GUI Test and evaluate the solution Minimum Requirements The minimum requirements are as follows 1 2 3 4 1 6 A web based system for payroll queries The system will allow managers to submit and retrieve replies to structured payroll queries The system will allow payroll personnel to view and reply to payroll queries in a structured format The system should have a well presented Instruction Manual Additional Requirements In addition to the minimum requirements for the solution to address all areas of the problem domain and user requirements it should include some of the additional requirements stated below 1 The system shall keep a history of payroll personnel interaction with a query which can be viewed by any payroll personnel and the payroll manager 2 A feature allowing pay
53. han PostgreSQL As these advanced features are not required for this system and speed is important in this system to improve efficiency of the payroll queries MySQL has been chosen over PostgreSQL 3 1 2 ER modelling ER modelling is one of the most common techniques used in database design The main objective being to help in understanding the nature and relationships that exist within the data of the system 11 The ER diagrams can then be used by the designer to derive a logical table schema 11 The first stage before any ER diagram is drawn is to understand the problem domain 11 The problem domain for the payroll system is as follows Managers submit payroll queries Payroll personnel view the payroll queries each viewing being recorded A query can have comments Payroll personnel may add comments Each query will eventu ally have a reply a reply is sent by one of the payroll personnel Entities are any real thing or abstract notion that we wish to recognise as a separate object within the domain 11 Taken from the problem domain the entities for the system are as follows Manager Payroll Personnel Query Reply Comment A weak entity is one which cannot exist without the existence of some other entity 11 Taken from the problem domain the weak entities for the system are as follows Reply as a reply is to a query a reply can not exist without a query Comment as a comment is on a query a comment can no
54. ichael Buckley Tom Anderson Mark Brown Figure 4 3 Queries Submitted can be viewed by left clicking on Submitted located towards the left side of the browser 28 4 4 Queries resolved Queries Resolved shows the number of queries resolved by each payroll personnel during the specified week The bar chart shows the percentage of total queries resolved by each payroll personnel during that week Queries Resolved PAYROLL PERSONNEL Robert Drake John Steele 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Robert Drake Nigel Bloggs Hilary Lucas Christine Street Noel Williams Margaret Gregorary John Steele Figure 4 4 Queries Resolved can be viewed by left clicking on Resolved located towards the left side of the browser 29 4 5 Cause of queries Cause of Resolved Queries is composed of three sections The first being a summary showing the cause of the queries that were resolved during the specified week Summary Cause Of Resolved Queries Payroll Personnel Fault 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Query Only Managers Fault Payroll Personnel Fault Figure 4 5 The second breaking down the queries that were caused by the Managers showing the number of queries caused by each manager for the specified week 30 By Manager MANAGER Joe Thomson o Mark Brown 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Joe Thomson Adam Brown James Bell Andrew Johnson Ted Smith Alan Ward Richard Adams
55. ionality that the three users require from the system It also highlights functionality what is required by more than one user e g both the payroll personnel and the manager use the system to view replies to the queries O C gt Reply to Queries Submit ns j a ne j A es pe View Queries ee Manager gal pe 3 Ns gt lt View Replies Payroll AO Mi y ss CD Compile Report 2 x pf N xeda Comments ee Payroll Manager AE Monitor Performance View Comments View History Figure 2 1 Final use case diagram 2 3 System Requirements The system requirements are divided into two lists functional requirements and non functional re quirements Functional requirements are what a system does or is expected to do 4 whereas non functional requirements are those that describe aspects of the system that are concerned with how well it provides the functional requirements 4 16 2 3 1 Functional Requirements 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 The system shall allow managers to submit payroll queries The system shall ensure that all the required details needed to resolve the query are present before submission The system shall allow managers to view replies to their queries The system shall allow managers to view their previously resolved queries The system shall allow payroll personnel to view payroll queries The system shall store payroll
56. ject 5 3 Achievement of Project Requirements The minimum requirements of the project are exceeded A usable web based system for payroll queries has been created allowing managers to submit and retrieve replies in a structured way The system not only allows payroll personnel to view and reply to queries in a structured format extra functionality has been added to allow them to liaise with other payroll personnel to resolve queries more efficiently A well presented structured and coherent Instruction Manual can be found in appendix B A number of the additional requirements implemented address as much of the problem domain as pos sible in the time allowed for the project The system contains functionality that allows payroll personnel to view the history of interaction with a query as well as allowing them to add comments Validation exists to ensure that all the required details needed to resolve the query are present before the manager is allowed to submit a query A payroll manager interface allows customisation and compilation of weekly reports accompanied by security measures preventing any user other than payroll personnel and payroll manager to view and reply to queries Further information regarding the Implementation of the project requirements can be found in the chap ter four implementation phase and earlier in this chapter satisfaction of system requirements 5 4 Comparison to Other Solutions The new system has a number of
57. keys which are column attributes of the other two tables usually their primary keys Affected tables with primary keys in bold and foreign keys in italics are shown below View date_time Query ref Payroll_Personnel username The SQL statements used to create the tables can be found in appendix G 3 1 4 Normalisation Normalisation is used when designing relational database tables to ensure that the tables do not contain any anomolies 11 Following the guidelines described in 11 all tables with the exception of Query table are in Boyce Codd normal form BCNF It could be argued that Query table would experience the delete anomaly as once a query is deleted information stored about the employee on which the query was based will be lost In order to make the Query table comply with BCNF it would be necessary to create a seperate table Employee to store information about the employee As payroll_no field is not mandatory and details regarding employees do not need to be stored for any reason other than the query to which they relate Query table is left in 2NF 3 2 Scripting Language There are two types of scripts used in web based systems a client side script which executes on the client and is used for setting cookies and validating data before it is sent to the web server and server side scripts which execute on the web server interact with the database and collect data from the forms and dynamically build Web pages in response
58. located towards the left side of the browser The date time of submission the manager who submitted the query the reference number assigned employee s details and the part of the query are displayed for the pending queries shown in figure 3 10 PAYROLL PERSONNEL Logout Statistics DATE TIME MANAGER REF EMPLOYEE QUERY New Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Ward Alan 15 Wilkes Guy 54 Guy s wage slip was accidently Pending Figure 3 10 3 3 1 Viewing To view a pending query see section 3 2 1 this describes how to view a new query 3 3 2 Viewing history To view the history of the query see section 3 2 2 this describes how to view the history of the query The history of a pending query may look more like the one shown in figure 3 11 18 3 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox DATE TIME NAME DESCRIPTION Mon 21 02 05 15 33 34 Lucas Hilary Viewed Query Mon 21 02 05 15 28 50 Bloggs Nigel Viewed Query Mon 21 02 05 15 26 26 Drake Robert Viewed Query Mon 21 02 05 15 22 20 Lucas Hilary Added Comment Mon 21 02 05 15 15 41 Lucas Hilary Viewed Query Figure 3 11 3 3 3 Viewing comments To view the comments added to the query see section 3 2 3 this describes how to view the comments added to the query 3 3 4 Adding comments To add comments to the query see section 3 2 4 this describes how to add comments to the query 3 3 5 Resolving To resolve a query 1 Left click on Query at the top of the ne
59. low future development 7 The system shall support a maximum of 75 simultaneous users 67 managers 7 payroll personnel and 1 payroll manager 2 4 Proposed System The solution to the problem will use a database to store the originally submitted query any replies history of the query and data needed for query management The database will provide central storage for all payroll queries for within the organisation and should reduce time wasted by manually searching for queries using the existing solutions The new system should provide the managers with an easy to use graphical user interface GUI at which they can submit and view replies to payroll queries for their employees Existing solutions email do not ensure that the manager provides the payroll department with all the necessary information in order to resolve the query whereas the new system should include rules to prevent this and once this infor mation has been stored it will not need to be duplicated for any other purpose The managers should be able to receive faster replies to their queries providing the personnel staff use the system effectively as the system will ensure queries are resolved in order of submission The new system will provide the payroll personnel with a different GUI that will enable them to view reply and manage the payroll queries The GUI interface and database will allow payroll personnel to view the history of any query add and view comments associ
60. lumn attributes are chosen as a primary key the primary key must be unique for each row in the table Affected tables with primary keys in bold are shown below Manager username password f_name l_name Payroll_Personnel username password f_name l_name Query ref f name l_name payroll_no query date_time Reply date_time reply Comment date_time comment Relationships One to One relationships There are no relationships in this problem domain with a one to one cardinality One to Many relationships One to Many relationships is normally represented just using two tables one table representing each of the entity sets One of the unique attributes of table one many end usually the primary key becomes an additional column attribute in table two one end known as a foreign key The foreign key could form or form part of table two primary key if it helps make a row unique Affected tables with primary keys in bold and foreign keys in italics are shown below Query ref f name l_name payroll_no query date_time Managerusername 24 Reply date_time Query ref Payroll_Personnel username reply Comment date_time Query ref Payroll_Personnel username comment Many to Many relationships Many to Many relationships are represented using three tables one table representing each of the entity sets and a third table that links rows of the two tables together The third table primary key is composed of foreign
61. m an external source and pasted into a wrong field e g the name fields BH No MM No JA No errors 9 Were the error messages friendly and did they help you resolve the problem TA Yes the field that I forgot to fill in was highlighted and a message box appeared inform me RB Yes they highlighted where the error was AD NA JB Yes made deliberate mistake to see MB The error message belonging to the form for entering two queries does not give an idea as to the nature of the problem Although the fields with which either no data or wrongly formatted data has been entered are visibly highlighted no clue is given in the error message as to what is wrong for each identified field The user must guess through a trial and error approach BH NA MM NA JA See above Satisfaction 71 10 Did you enjoy using the system TA Yes RB Yes AD Yes quite cheerful JB Yes please implement in Littlewoods MB Apart from the minor problem with the validation the system was fuss free and its simplicity made for an amiable experience BH Yes MM Yes JA Yes 11 How did you find the colours and aesthetics of the system TA Good apart from the yellow on the menu mouse over maybe something that provided a better contrast with the lettering RB The colour was easy on the eyes AD Appropriate no focus distracted off the menus JB Pleasing and easy to read MB The overall colour scheme using mainly primary colours helps in making clear distincti
62. mitted in the query along with the reply from the Payroll Personnel highlighted in pink Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 9 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 14 28 44 Employee Henderson Thomas 221365 Payroll Week 10 2004 Nature Annual Bonus Thomas has not recieved his annual bonus for this year Please can you look into this for me Resolved Mon 21 02 05 14 38 37 By Hilary Lucas Payroll Department We do appologise he must have been missed off the payroll We shall put it in next months pay Figure 2 10 Once you have opened the resolved query it will no longer be highlighted in green as shown in fig ure 2 11 DATE TIME REF EMPLOYEE QUERY Mon 21 02 05 14 31 56 11 Cartwright Mar Mark is going on holiday to te Mon 21 02 05 14 28 44 9 Henderson Thom Thomas has not recieved his an Figure 2 11 Chapter 3 Payroll Personnel 3 1 Statistics Statistics provides information regarding the queries the Payroll department have received e Total Queries is a count of all queries received e New is a count of all queries received that have not been opened by one of the Payroll Personnel e Pending is a count of all queries received that have been opened by one of the Payroll Personnel e Resolved is a count of all queries that have been resolved by one of the Payroll Personnel Statistics can be viewed by left clicking on Statistics located towards the left side of the browser PAYROLL PERS
63. myself a day to get to grips with Latex finding Andrew Roberts s tutorial and the newsgroup very helpful I am pleased with the results and would recommend it to anyone writing such a report Setting myself a realistic project schedule at the early stages allowed me to balance the work flow with other modules I found that I was able to adhere to this schedule slightly reducing the pressure of final year studies I would recommend that all future students plan their time realistically as project manage ment is equally important as the solution itself I would love to see my solution implemented across large organisations in the future the analysis and evaluation indicate the advantages that it would bring The design of the system would allow it to be adapted to suit the needs of an individual business The project is really only a start showing the impact that Information Technology could have on the payroll department The system could be further developed to cater for the needs of other or changing processes 53 Appendix B Instruction Manual 54 A Distributed System for payroll queries within a large organisation User Manual John David Bates 2005 02 10 Contents 1 Introduction 1 Ted LOVELVIEN niara a Be BE a ar AT RS Re de O EE OR 1 12 Logging i ie is hak AT ae Boe oa ETE Ae Bas AA RES EE ees Bed 1 13 Togo QUE 2 tox Pe A ee BAe et AA 2 2 Manager 3 2A Your statistics 2 6 fob ea a Oe lue ete B nee
64. n Comments at the top of the new window 2 You will see a list showing date time name of the Payroll Personnel and a commented they added to the query as shown in figure 3 6 13 gt PayrollQuery Mozilla Firefox Add Comment Figure 3 6 3 2 4 Adding comments To add a comment to the query 1 Left click on Add Comment shown in figure 3 6 2 A text box should appear like that in figure 3 7 3 Type your comment into the text box 4 Left click on Submit Comment 14 gt Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox We can t process this query untill our wage slip printer is fixed Submit Cormment Figure 3 7 5 You should see the box shown in figure 3 8 6 Left click on OK if you are sure you want to submit or Cancel if you don t 15 3 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ve can t process this query untill our wage slip printer is fixed JavaScript Application 4 Are you sure you want to Submit Figure 3 8 7 You should see your comment along with any previously added comments as shown in figure 3 0 16 3 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Query History Comments Figure 3 9 3 2 5 Resolving To resolve a query see section 3 3 5 this describes how to resolve a pending query 17 3 3 Pending queries Pending queries are those that have been viewed by one or more of the Payroll Personnel and may have several comments added Left click on Pending
65. n ap pendix C A brief section covering the background research that took place in this project is also part of this chapter The most appropaite software development methodology is selected The project objectives along with the minimum and additional requirements are also been derived This chapter concludes with a list of deliverables accompanied by the project schedule 1 1 Problem Domain The centralised payroll department of a large organisation spread across a number of sites processes the salary of thousands of employees who receive their wage on a weekly or monthly basis If an employee feels that their wage is wrong they will report this to their manager who will then submit a query to the payroll department and await a reply In order for the payroll department to process the query they need a number of details relating to it a system that ensures that all the required information to process a query exists is needed All managers should be able to submit and retrieve replies to their queries Also should a manager submit another query relating to one previously submitted or an employee re queries an issue it is essential that their previous submitted queries can be quickly retrieved by the payroll department The payroll department aim to resolve all queries within two days of receiving them under their service level agreement therefore an efficient automated system would make sure this is met Payroll personnel need to be able to
66. n s wage slip has not arrived this month it there a problem with printing JavaScript Application AN Please complete all fields Submit Query Clear Form Figure 2 4 2 3 Your pending queries Pending queries are those that you have submitted but have not yet been resolved by the Payroll Person nel Left click on Pending located towards the left side of the browser The date time of submission the reference number assigned employees details the status of query and part of the query are displayed for your queries that are pending There are two possible statuses for pending queries shown in figure 2 5 e Queued indicates the query is waiting in a queue and not yet been looked at by the Payroll Personnel e Processing indicates the query is being looked at and processed by the Payroll Personnel MANAGER Statistics DATE TIME REF EMPLOYEE QUERY STATUS e Mon 21 02 05 14 30 13 10 Buckley Wesley Wesley joined the pension sche Queued Mon 21 02 05 14 34 06 12 Bevan James 5 James is being deducted money Processing Figure 2 5 2 3 1 Viewing To view a pending query 1 Move your mouse pointer over the query you wish to view 2 You will notice that it is highlighted shown in figure 2 6 3 Left click on the highlighted query DATE TIME REF EMPLOYEE QUERY STATUS Mon 21 02 05 14 34 06 12 Bevan James 5 James is being deducted money Processing Figure 2 6 4 A new wind
67. nager working from any pc with a browser and intranet access to submit monitor progress and view replies to payroll queries for their employees The web based so lution will enable the large organisation to maintain the system centrally without having to update the software on individual pcs across a number of sites The most significant scripts implemented as part of the Manager interface are manager new php 30 submit query php and submit quer y js manager_new php shown in figure 4 1 generates the HTML form used by the manager to enter all the query information submit query js validates the form input ensuring that all information required to resolve the query is present submit query php processes the form input storing the data in the MySQL database E MANAGER Logout Statistics Ne First Name Tim Last Name Smith Payroll No 123456 Payroll Weekly OMonthly Period ay 2005 Nature Holiday Pay Explanation of Query Annual Bonus Resolved Charity Donation Tim has not recieved any holiday pay Is there a reason for this Court Order Deductions Matemity Pay Missing Wageslip Pay Review Pension Scheme Salary Sickness Pay SSP Tax Code Tax Credit Tex Deduction Tax Rebate Trade Union Figure 4 1 manager new php A number of other scipts have been implemented allowing the manager to view statistics regarding the status of their queries and view replies to their submitted queries
68. nt process As outlined in 2 RAD comprises of the following four phases 1 Requirements planning 2 User design 3 Construction 4 Cutover RAD can use third party software and software tools to create working systems in a short period of time It is important to remember that While systems can be built very quickly with RAD tools and methods system builders will still need careful requirements planning and modelling to ensure that the systems deliver long term benefits 9 RAD aims to complete implementation of a system within a 90 day period 2 1 3 4 Prototyping Prototyping is a methodology in which the developers create a mock up of the system very early in the process It is based upon the belief that by interacting with the prototype users can get a better idea of their requirement 9 klentify basic requirements Vv Develop a working prototype Use the prototype satisfied NO i y Operational Revise and Prototype enhance prototype Figure 1 1 9 Figure 1 1 shows the four phases involved in the Prototyping model The prototype is modified until the user is completely satisfied Unless the process is managed too much time could be spent on prototyping 2 Prototyping does not include essential phases of the development process making it inappropriate for highly structured projects 1 3 5 Appropriate methodology SSADM is not really suitable as its str
69. ntation phase makes heavy use of a script ing language reference book and documentation guidelines Finally the evaluation phase is based on researched heuristic evaluation 1 3 Methodologies A methodology can be defined as a recommended series of steps and procedures to be followed in the course of developing an information system 3 which should provide structure to the project A fur ther purpose of methodologies is to build confidence that the information system will lead to desirable results 1 Therefore an appropriate software development methodology is required to ensure that the project is well structured and to increase the probability of being successful There are many different software development methodologies available each one varying in structure and flexibility some focusing on technical issues where as others are centred around user involvement This section evaluates four of the main methodologies used in software development today before de ciding upon the most appropriate methodology to be used in this project 1 3 1 Structured Systems and Design Methodology SSADM SSADM is known as a hard methodology which provides developers with strict guidelines to work with It is well known for its use in civil service projects and widely used by many organisations Its compatibility with PRINCE 2 project management methodology makes SSADM preferable over other methodologies The five phases of SSADM as o
70. ons between areas of a web page A slight concern should be noted that the use of yellow for rollover links is questionable given both the background colour of the system and the writing within the links are white I believe the closeness in luminance could be a problem for the visually impaired BH Very bright modern and clear MM Pleasing on the eye JA Yes the colours helped to give the system a good image Control 12 Were there any occasions when you felt you were not in control of the system If yes what happened on these occasions TA No RB Yes the system moved new queries to pending when they had been viewed without asking the user AD No 72 Skills 13 14 15 JB Password system does not provide feedback on errors MB No I did feel in control in all tasks performed using this system BH No MM No JA No How professional did you find the system TA Very professional no problems using the system RB The construction of the system seemed professional AD Very appeared professional JB Excellent MB The layout has the standardised look and feel of both other payroll query software and also of email clients The layout colours and fonts chosen all add to the professionalism of the system BH Very modern and accessible MM Very good JA It was more professional than most systems I use at work Did you find it enhanced your skills TA NA RB NA AD Yes showed me new methods JB Yes it
71. ord and username do not match those stored in the database or you do not supply a user name and password you will not be granted access to the system 1 3 Logging out To logout left click on Logout which is located at the top right of the browser similar to that shown in figure 1 2 You will be re directed back to the login screen where it is safe to shut down the browser if you so wish Logout Figure 1 2 Chapter 2 Manager The Manager interface allows you to view statistics regarding the queries you have submitted submit new queries monitor the progress of those queries and view the replies to them 2 1 Your statistics MANAGER Statistics Good afternoon Richard Pending Pending Resolved Resolved Figure 2 1 Statistics shown in figure 2 1 provides information regarding the queries you have submitted e Your Queries is a count of all queries you have submitted e Pending is a count of all queries you have submitted that haven t yet been resolved e New Resolved is a count of all queries you have submitted that have been resolved but not yet read by yourself e Resolved is a count of all queries you have submitted that have been resolved including those not yet read by yourself Statistics can be viewed by left clicking on Statistics located towards the left side of the browser 2 2 Submitting a new query To submit a new query 1 Left click on New located towards the left side of the bro
72. ose who completed the usability evaluation questionnaire Their input to the project is valu able and much appreciated Thomas Anderson and Mark Brown deserve a mention for their PHP and MySQL advice over those refectory lunches Finally I would like to thank the support team for their speedy response after my request for space on school s systems Contents 1 Introduction 2 LA Problem Domain mor ee a it nee Age WE AY ae a aes 1 2 Background Reading 1 3 Methodologies es ir D ni d en ee A A a 1 3 1 Structured Systems and Design Methodology SSADM 1 3 2 Systems Development Life Cycle SDLC 1 3 3 Rapid Application Development RAD 1134 Prototyping eo de 84 da A a Ge Ro os a 1 3 5 Appropriate methodology IA Mal Objectives 5 tia aaa a ed wi he ae Ad 1 5 Minimum Requirements 1 6 Additional Requirements 1 7 D liv rabl s res pa ben da as ieee ae Pe ae Les ald 1 8 Project Schedule aoea eta Bae A MA BE ALAN AE RAS AO ne UE hh Analysis 2 1 Existing Solutions 2 2 Requirements Gathering 2 2 1 Interviewing 2224 USE CASES Ge oi Bay a ue ay ye OE Sy Re EE a Sy 2 3 System Requirements 2 3
73. ow should open like that in figure 2 7 5 The window will contain the information you submitted in the query Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 10 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 14 30 13 Employee Buckley Wesley 457812 Payroll Month 8 2008 Nature Pension Scheme Wesley joined the pension scheme in Month 8 when will he start contributing Figure 2 7 2 4 Your resolved queries Resolved queries are those that you have submitted and have been resolved by the payroll personnel Left click on Resolved located towards the left side of the browser The date time of submission the reference number assigned employee s details and the part of the query are displayed for your queries that are resolved The resolved queries which you have not read are highlighted in green as shown in figure 2 8 MANAGER Logout Statistics DATE TIME REF EMPLOYEE QUERY Pending Mon 21 02 05 14 31 56 11 Cartwright Mar Mark is going on holiday to te Resolved Figure 2 8 2 4 1 Viewing To view a resolved query 1 Move your mouse pointer over the query you wish to view 2 You will notice that it is highlighted shown in figure 2 9 3 Left click on the highlighted query DATE TIME REF EMPLOYEE QUERY STATUS Mon 21 02 05 14 34 06 12 Bevan James 5 James is being deducted money Processing Figure 2 9 4 A new window should open like that in figure 2 10 5 The window will contain the information you sub
74. personnel interaction with a query to its history The system shall allow payroll personnel to add comments to a query The system shall allow payroll personnel to view the history of a query The system shall allow payroll personnel to view the comments of a query The system shall store all payroll queries and replies The system shall allow payroll personnel to reply to queries The system shall ensure the queries are resolved in order of submission The system shall allow the payroll personnel to view payroll queries previously resolved The system shall count the number of queries matching the criteria stated by the payroll manager to compile her report The system will allow the payroll manager to view the performance of each payroll personnel 2 3 2 Non functional Requirements 1 2 The system shall allow managers to submit and view replies to queries from any computer with intranet access without having to install additional software The system shall allow only payroll personnel and payroll manager to reply to queries view history and comments of a query and view all previously submitted queries 17 3 The system shall allow only payroll manager to view the performance of each of the payroll personnel 4 The system must be easy to use by having a well designed graphical user interface 5 The system shall retrieve queries and replies within 30 seconds 6 The system shall be designed in such a way to al
75. roblems experienced in the existing solutions and to make sure that there is only one system for processing payroll queries The solution should improve efficiency within the payroll department and ensure all management have the same opportunities to submit and retrieve replies to queries 13 2 2 Requirements Gathering 3 outlines several requirement gathering techniques which are as follows Questionnaires Searching records and documentation Sampling Observation Interviewing Questionnaires are not used in the requirements gathering as Questionnaires are usually used where similar types of information need to be obtained from a large number of respondents or from remote locations 3 Unfortunately due to the nature of this project it will not be possible to use a large number of respondents and as they are not at remote locations interviewing has been considered more appropriate Searching records and documentation is not really appropriate for this project as the problem domain is specified using observation techniques Sampling again is not really appropriate for this project as statistical analysis would not really help in specifying the system requirements and would require a large sample of data which is not available in this project Observation is used by the author on two occasions during this project Observation is used to specify the problem domain and the existing solutions The author s experience o
76. roll manager to change the week on which they require statistics The statistics implemented include Summary The amount of queries processed by the payroll department shown in figure 4 3 Submitted The amount of queries submitted by each manager Resolved The amount of queries resolved by each payroll personnel 32 Cause Cause of resolved queries split into three sections a summary by manager and by payroll personnel Nature Nature of queries submitted Queries Summary Carried over from last Week Recieved Resolved Unresolved carry over to next Week Resolved Un Resolved Figure 4 3 pmmain php Additional statistics could easily be added to meet the needs of the organisation in which the system is implemented 4 4 Security The new system has a number of security features implemented to ensure that unathorised personnel can not easily view or tamper with what may be confidential data The new system only allows payroll personnel to reply to queries view history and comments of a query and view all previously submitted queries The new system also only allows the payroll manager to view the performance of each of the payroll personnel The use of a system login page welcome htm1 which executes the PHP script authorise _login php shown in figure 4 4 enables the system to control access The authorisation script validates the username and password entered into the system login page establishing the typ
77. roll personnel to add comments to a query and view comment associated with a query 3 Validation ensuring that all the required details needed to resolve the query are present before the manager is allowed to submit a query 4 Rules implemented to ensure the queries are resolved in order of submission 5 A Graphical User Interface allowing the payroll manager to count the number of queries matching the criteria stated to compile their report and to view the performance of each payroll personnel 6 Security measures preventing any user other than payroll personnel and payroll manager to view and reply to queries 1 7 Deliverables The following deliverables are derived from both the minimum and additional requirements some of the deliverables may include more than one of the requirements 1 Software 2 Instruction Manual 3 Final Report 1 8 Project Schedule After choosing the appropriate methodology for this project SDLC with prototyping it is important that the project is completed on time and that the deliverables are produced Accompanied by the Gantt chart in appendix D the table below shows the proposed schedule for com pleting the phases in the software development methodology used in this project as well as the major deliverables that are not included in the methodology The other deliverables form part of the different phases of the software development methodology and are therefore not stated in th
78. rson TA Richard Bevan RB Andrew Durrans AD Jacqueline Buckley JB Mark Brown MB Basharat Hussain BH Mohammed Mustafa MM and James Alexander JA Learnability 1 How easy did you find the system was to learn TA Very easy to learn simple uncluttered layout clear description of buttons and forms RB The system is very easy to follow and information is easily found AD Simple to use menu screens clear JB Extremely easy MB The minimalist design made for ease of navigability Prior experience in related payroll software was transferable to reduce the overall learning curve BH Very easy MM Easy JA Very easy 2 Did you feel the need to refer to the Instruction Manual If yes how often and did it resolve any problems you were experiencing TA Yes I consulted the instruction manual at the start I did not need to consult it again 68 RB I felt that the system allowed me to navigate without using the instruction manual AD No fairly self explanatory JB Never needed to refer to manual MB The instruction manual provided a useful guide to clarifying some of the features which were not clear e g the interaction between when and how the query state changes from pending to resolved BH No didn t need it It was already explained in much detail MM No Very well explained JA No I did not need it 3 Did you find the navigational structure and page layout was easy to follow TA Yes all the functionality was availible in vi
79. rtically It is achieved by placing logically different components on different machines 14 client machine presentation layer web browser application server application layer PHP scripts and database server data layer MySQL server As the processing is divided over two machines the application server and data server and not just left to one machine as in the two tiered architecture the three tiered architecture is a lot more scalable The three tiered architecture can handle more con current users without affecting performance making it more suitable for this system as there could be up to 200 people using the system at any one time 3 4 HCI Usability As the proposed system aims to improve efficiency of payroll queries within large organisations it is important that the system is usable Usability is being able to do the things you want to not the things you have to 5 The following characteristics used to measure usability outlined in 5 are considered during the design of the system Learnability ease the system is to learn to use Although accompanied by a well presented instruction manual the system should be easy to learn This could be achieved using a logical navigation structure and page layout Efficiency productiveness of using the system As well as the three tiered client server architecture that should enable the system to handle many concurrent users the system should have a logically
80. s cover each of the different types of users The manual is written following the document quality guidelines described in 12 Document structure 1 The Manual contains a cover page which identifies the project the document the author and the date of production 2 The Manual is divided into chapters structured into sections and sub sections using a consistent numbering scheme and page numbers 3 The Manual contains a contents page which allows information to be found easily 4 A glossary is not included in this manual as no abbreviations or technical terms have been used It has been written for the more novice user Writing style 1 Active rather than passive tense is used Eg You will notice that it has been highlighted 2 The manual is checked both automatically and by human readers that it contains grammatically correct constructs and correct spelling 3 Short sentences and numbered lists are used to break down instructions 4 Paragraphs are kept short to aid memory 36 All descriptions are short and not verbose All terms are defined and well explained No information is referred to by reference number alone an explanation of what the reference covers is given Eg see section 3 2 4 this describes how to view the comments added to the query 37 Chapter 5 Evaluation This chapter covers the final stage of the SDLC methodology evaluation Evaluation allows the solution to be ass
81. sted by the payroll manager who has to manually count queries for each of their statistics on the reports Although the system orders the emails by arrival time 1t does not make sure that this order is taken when resolving them The email system does not provide a way of tracking history of a query and seeing who is dealing with it Telephone Although the majority of queries are processed using email there are still some that are dealt with over the telephone This approach is often taken by the Manager when they feel the query is urgent as it can sometimes take a few hours for the payroll personnel to resolve queries that are received via email A manager telephones the payroll department and speaks to one of the payroll personnel who would resolve the query instantly and manually record the details of the query on a paper form for statistical purposes 12 Although this approach ensures the payroll department has the necessary details to process the query they have to waste valuable time manually recording this information on a paper form Again this means that the payroll manager would have to manually read the forms to gather the necessary information for their reports Telephone calls often distract payroll personnel who might have already been trying to resolve queries received via email having an impact on the time taken for queries to be resolved Tele phone queries mean that they have two separate storage solutions for queries making it
82. t exist without a query 21 Relationships are associations that exist between these entities 11 A relationship has a cardinality that specifies for one member of first entity set the possible number of members it can be related to in the second entity set 11 The three possible types of cardinality are listed below along with the relationships that have a cardinality of that type A relationship also has optionality A relationship can be optional part optional or mandatory The optionality of a relationship shown below in parenthesis determines whether or not a column attribute can be null affecting the table design One to One relationships There are no relationships in this problem domain with a one to one cardinality One to Many relationships e Managers submit payroll queries part optional One manager may submit many payroll queries optional One payroll query can only be submitted by one manager mandatory e A query can have comments part optional One query can have many comments optional One comment can only belong to one query mandatory e Payroll personnel may add comments part optional One payroll personnel can add many comments optional One comment can only be added by one payroll personnel mandatory e A reply is sent by one of payroll personnel part optional One reply can only be sent by one payroll personnel mandatory One payroll personnel may send many replies option
83. the SDLC model into one stage as they are very closely linked for the purpose of this project The last phase of the SDLC model is review and maintenance Maintenance is required to make sure that any necessary changes are implemented should the requirements have been wrong 3 Since prototyping is used at the early stages of the process to make sure the user requirements are correct this aspect of the last phase of SDLC will not be required and not possible in the time allocated for this project As maintenance is not necessary it just leaves review in the last phase of SDLC model a decision has been made to re name this evaluation as it is more appropriate for this project In order to successfully evaluate the solution it is important that the system is tested against the system requirements systems testing has been added to the SDLC model before the evaluation phase for this purpose Prototyping has been added to the systems design phase After a working prototype has been developed 1f the user is not completely satisfied the requirements can be changed by going back to the Systems analysis phase As well as using SDLC methodology with prototyping this report will use parts of the Unified Mod elling Language UML Although UML is known for its use in object orientated system development it can be used with any systems development methodology In UML there are a number of concepts that are used to describe systems and the ways in whic
84. uctured nature lacks flexibility which is needed to complete this project in the time available It also does not include the implementation testing and evaluation phases of the process which is needed to complete this project Although SSADM is compatible with PRINCE project management methodology which would make it ideal for large projects it is not necessary for a project of this size RAD could be used in the development of this project as it has a high level of user involvement at the early phases of the process The recommended time period for a project using RAD is much less than time available for this project and as a result the quality of the solution could be affected as not enough time is spent gathering the user requirements Also RAD does not include all the phases from analysis to evaluation of the development process making it inappropriate for this project SDLC seems to be the most appropriate methodology for this project as it includes all the phases from analysis to evaluation of the development process and is a well tested methodology Although SDLC does not allow the developer to re do previous phases in the development process should the require ments change which does not affect this project as the time available will not allow that anyway As the system is to replace existing non user friendly solutions getting the user requirements right for this project is essential SDLC does not involve the user until the later phases o
85. ure 3 3 4 A new window should open like that in figure 3 4 5 The window will contain the information submitted by the manager in the query along with a reply box 11 3 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 15 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Manager Ward Alan Employee Wilkes Guy 547965 Payroll Month 12 2004 Nature Missing Wageslip Guy s wage slip was accidently shredded by machinery Please can we have a re print Cause O Query Only O Manager RobertDrake Y O Payroll Personnel Reply Submit Reply Figure 3 4 3 2 2 Viewing history New queries will only show your name in the history as they would be pending if someone else had viewed the query previously See section 3 3 for further information on pending queries To view the history of the query 1 Left click on History at the top of the new window shown in figure 3 4 2 You will see a list showing date time name of the Payroll Personnel and a description of what they did with the query as shown in figure 3 5 12 gt Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox DATE TIME NAME DESCRIPTION Mon 21 02 05 15 15 41 Lucas Hilary Viewed Query Figure 3 5 3 2 3 Viewing comments New queries will not have any existing comments as they would be pending 1f someone else had viewed and added comments to the query See section 3 3 for further information on pending queries To view the comments added to the query 1 Left click o
86. utlined in 2 are as follows 1 Feasibility study 2 Requirements analysis 3 Requirements specification 4 Logical system specification 5 Physical design Although SSADM is well structured and documented it does not include the later phases of software development implementation testing and evaluation 1 3 2 Systems Development Life Cycle SDLC SDLC is one of the oldest software development methodologies and is also known as the waterfall model comprising of the following phases 3 1 Feasibility study 2 System investigation 3 Systems analysis 4 Systems design 5 Implementation 6 Review and maintenance SDLC is a sequential methodology which does not allow developers to re do previous phases should they feel that the requirements have changed as it alms to complete the projects on time SDLC assumes that the development life cycle is short enough to allow another project to start its feasibility study while current project is near finishing phases SDLC can be very expensive as it involves repeating of the above phases as the methodology encourages freezing of requirements at the beginning of the life cycle discouraging change 9 1 3 3 Rapid Application Development RAD RAD was developed as the need occurred to develop information systems speedily to support contin uously changing businesses It has many similarities with the prototyping approach involving users at early phases in the developme
87. view the history of a particular query and add comments to it to make sure they are not wasting time resolving queries already being dealt with and to hand queries over to a new person A solution must be found that ensures queries are not lost and are resolved in order of arrival to make sure the department meets its service level agreement The payroll manager uses the queries to provide statistics e g the number of queries in the last week which were caused by the employee s manager and those that were caused by the payroll department in the form of reports to the sites which take a considerable amount of time to compile this means that all queries must be stored for this purpose The payroll manager would also like to monitor the performance of the payroll personnel who resolve the queries e g amount of queries resolved on a particular day and average time taken to resolve a query 1 2 Background Reading This report is based on background reading carried out in several different areas Background read ing adds structure and confidence to the processes followed in the project Research into appropriate software development methodologies database management systems DBMS scripting languages and system architectures is completed before justifying the ones choosen The analysis phase makes use of requirements gathering techniques and UML Whilst the design phase is based on ER modelling normalisation and HCI usability processes The impleme
88. w window 2 Select the cause of the query If no one is to blame for the query select Query Only as shown in figure 3 12 If the query was caused by the manager select Manager as shown in figure 3 13 If the query was caused by one of the Payroll Personnel select Payroll Personnel a drop down box will appear as shown in figure 3 14 Select the name of the Payroll Personnel from the drop down box 19 Figure 3 12 Submit Pepy J Figure 3 13 ake Nigel Bloggs Hilary Lucas Ch Street Noel William Margaret Gregorary John Steele Figure 3 14 3 Type the reply to the query into the text box as shown in figure 3 15 20 gt Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 15 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Manager Ward Alan Employee VWilkes Guy 547965 Payroll Month 12 2004 Nature Missing Wageslip Guy s wage slip was accidently shredded by machinery Please can we have a re print Cause Query Only OManager O Payroll Personnel Reply It will be sent via internal mail you should recieve it in the next couple of days Submit Repl Figure 3 15 4 You should see a dialogue box as shown in figure 3 16 5 Left click on OK if you are sure you want to submit or Cancel if you don t 21 3 Payroll Query Mozilla Firefox Ref 15 Submitted Mon 21 02 05 15 05 20 Manager Ward Alan Employee Wilkes Guy 547965 Payroll Month 12 2004 Nature Missing W
89. were received causing delays in some queries being resolved 60 e Hard to track whether or not someone else is dealing with a particular query wasting payroll personnel time and again causing delays in some queries being resolved e No way for payroll personnel to add comments to queries e Two storage solutions email folder and paper based forms make it hard to find previously resolved queries quickly e Managers can submit queries that don t contain the minimum details for us to resolve it wasting time replying asking for those details 6 How would you improve the current system What functionality would you like to see in a new system e Having a way of making sure all required details for the query are present before the man ager is allowed to submit the query e Only one structured storage solution for all previously resolved queries for future reference getting rid of paper based forms e A History showing who has viewed and replied to each query e A comments section for each query allowing payroll personnel to remind themselves and others what stage the query is at and how it was resolved in terms of payroll jargon 7 How many people carry out you role There are seventeen payroll personnel in our office and we do the payroll for all sites 8 How many people carrying out your role would use the system simultaneously Although we have a variation in hours in which some of us work At the peak time of the day
90. wser 2 You should see the form shown in figure 2 2 MANAGER Statistics i FirstName John LastName Bates Payroll No 123456 QU j i Payroll OWeeky Monthy Period 11 m 2004 Nature Pending r Explanation of Query Resolved John s wage slip has not arrived this month it there a problem with printing Figure 2 2 3 Complete the employee s First Name Last Name and Payroll No fields 4 Select the payroll which is applicable to the employee e g Weekly or Monthly 5 Select the period which the query relates to from the left drop down box in the Period field 6 Select the year which the query relates to from the right drop down box in the Period field 7 Select the nature of the query from the drop down box in the Nature field 8 Type the query into Explanation of Query box 9 Left click on Submit Query 10 You should see the box in figure 2 3 11 Left click on OK if you are sure you want to submit or Cancel if you don t JavaScript Application i Are you sure you want to Submit Figure 2 3 If you have not completed all the fields or the Payroll No field contains anything other than numbers those fields will be highlighted and the error message shown in figure 2 4 will be displayed First Name John Last Name Bates Payroll No 123456 Payroll OWeekly Monthly Period 11 2004 Nature gt Explanation of Query Joh
91. y and a reply 44 13 The system shall allow the payroll personnel to view payroll queries previously resolved This requirement is satisfied by the same means as requirement 11 The database stores previously submitted queries indefinatley Non functional Requirements 1 The system shall allow managers to submit and view replies to queries from any computer with intranet access without having to install additional software This requirement is satisfied using a web based solution that requires only a browser to be in stalled on the client machine The advantage of using a web based solution is that the system is easier to maintain as updates only need to be made on the server and not on hundreds of client machines across several sites 3 The system shall allow only payroll manager to view the performance of each of the payroll personnel This requirement is satisfied using a system login page welcome html and session variables The login page executes authorise_login php which validates the username and password restricting the user to the interface that matches their role only allowing the payroll manager access to the payroll manager interface 4 The system must be easy to use by having a well designed graphical user interface See section 5 1 HCI Usability evaluation 5 The system shall retrieve queries and replies within 30 seconds This requirement is satisfied queries and replies can be retrieved straight away The pag
92. ystem Architecture The system will comprise of three different layers presentation layer GUD application layer PHP scripts and the data layer MySQL server These three layers can be spread across several machines described using a Client Server architecture The two main types of Client Server architecture used are as follows 3 3 1 Two tiered architecture The two tiered architecture consists of two types of machine clients and servers 14 The three layers can be divided across the two machines in different ways as shown in figure 3 2 User interface ser interface User interface User interface Apolication Apolication y Database User interface A 2 al Y Application Application Database Figure 3 2 14 One of the requirements of the system is The system shall allow managers to submit and view replies to queries from any computer with internet access without having to install additional software This 27 would mean that system would be limited to using the first two tiered architecture organisation only the presentation layer web browser on the client leaving the server with both the application and data layer As the server would have to do most of the processing a large number of con current users would affect performance making the two tiered architecture unsuitable for this project 3 3 2 Three tiered architecture The three tiered architecture consists of three types of machine organised ve

A distributed system for payroll queries within a large

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