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Student Attendance System. Design Document Group #1. Background. Customer: Miami Dade College 6 Campuses and Multiple outreach centers Largest College in the US (> 160,000 Students per year) Problem: New Federal Government regulations regarding the disbursement of Financial Aid funds.
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Student Attendance System Design Document Group #1
Background Customer: • Miami Dade College • 6 Campuses and Multiple outreach centers • Largest College in the US (> 160,000 Students per year) Problem: • New Federal Government regulations regarding the disbursement of Financial Aid funds
Objectives • Provide a system that allows the college to meet federal financial aid requirements • Allow for the electronic collection of student attendance data without direct instructor intervention • Make the collected data available to both Staff and Students • Leverage the College’s existing technology investments
Target Technology Environment • Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 Platform • .NET Framework • Internet Information Server (IIS) (ASP.NET) • Web interface for students / faculty • College ID Card (Magstripe) • Ethernet & TCP/IP for connectivity
Hardware Selection • Approx 800 Classrooms (some with 2 readers) • Total 1,000 Check-In Terminals • Very small off-the-shelf market • Closest Vertical Market is Employee Time & Attendance • T&A has several key differences
Hardware Selection • Typical hardware architecture found in T&A was 1 of 2 types. • Network Attached Smart Devices (~$1000/unit) • Network Attached Smart Controllers (~$12,000/20 units = $600/unit) • Price point of both approaches was very high.
Hardware Selection • Existing solutions would cost between $1,000,000 - $600,000 for hardware alone. • Needed to reduce hardware cost. • Build on success of smart controllers and consolidate processing. • Selected “dumb” Readers ($100) and Network attached Terminal Servers ($1200/32 readers) = $140/Unit = $140,000
Hardware Selection • Digi PortServer TS • IBC SmartMag J
Software Design Considerations • High Data Volume / Data-Driven Application • Performance Expectations/Requirements and Scalability • Interaction with existing systems at the database level • Initial Attempts at a Pure OO design were inefficient and offered sub-optimal performance • Final design focuses on a three-tier approach allowing data-tier to be implemented by off-the-shelf components. • New model offers needed performance at the expense of OO model at the data layer
Data Layer • PersistentDataStore • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 • ADO.Net • DirectorySecurity • Microsoft Active Directory 2003 • ADSI / System.DirectoryServices
Business Layer • Divided into three subsystems by functionality • CollegeData • Responsible for providing read-only access to required College data. • AttendanceData • Responsible for the management of attendance data collected by the system • ReaderConfiguration • Responsible for the management of
User Web Portals • The Student Attendance System provides users access via four role focused portals: • Student Portal • Faculty Portal • Financial Aid Administrative Portal • Administrative Portal • Each portal is focused on the needs of the particular user
Student Attendance System Thank You