Week 4

· Map the components of the information system as shown in Soergel's Figure 5.6.

· Draw an organization Chart for the Office of the Registrar. (you don't need to include every staff employee). Match the organizational structures of the Office with the information it collects?

· How should the Technical Services organization fit into Soergel's Figure 5.6?

The Technical Services branch of the Office of the Registrar is the Storage line of Soergel’s Figure 5.6. Technical Services enters, indexes and sorts the data/entities used by the Customer Service and Enrollment Branches of the Registrar. The Technical Services branch stores the entities and allows for additions, queries and information retrieval. They must do some Authority Control and create access points for users. The Technical Services branch also creates the user interface, the public access to the Registrar’s “catalog.”

· What are some typical queries that need to be handled by this system? What might be some a-typical queries?

Some typical queries include an email address for a particular student, the names of classes taught by Professor X, GPA of a particular student or the residency classification for a particular student. When a student registers for classes, their eligibility is checked. The class is found and the system queries whether there are seats available. Atypical queries might include admissions information for a student who graduated 20 years ago or the average grade of a student in class X.

· How does information get updated? What kinds of approvals are needed to make sure only authorized changes are allowed.

While I could not see for myself all the means by which information is updated, I made several guesses. Information may be updated through Testudo directly by a student. Registrar staff update information for faculty and staff and for students not using Testudo. I imagine that large numbers of records are input at once, using some sort of tapeload. In terms of approval, when using Testudo, students must enter their University ID and a pin number. Changes made by staff must have password protection and follow some sort of strict guidelines.

· What are some other major University data sets that are related to Student Records?

Data sets that are closely linked to Student Records include Course Offerings, Student Housing, a Careen Services Database, Alumni and programs for Alumni. The Bursar’s office, managing the payments made by students is also closely related. Much of the information used by other University Departments must share parts of their data with the Registrar. Without students and their records, the University would have little functionality.

· In so far as you can tell, what are the main elements of the conceptual schema?

The main elements of the conceptual schema are its entity types: name, SSN, mailing address, email address, phone number, course, semester, grade, student type, parental access, enrollment status, graduation requirements, pin number, residency status, sport, eligibility rules, etc.

Student	has:	Email address Phone number
Student	must have:	SSN/Student ID number Mailing address Enrollment status Pin Number
Course	has:	Professor Prerequisite Course Number # of Seats Semester Section Department Students
Course Number	is	combination of 4 digit departmental code, 3 digit number, period, and 4 digit section.
Student	is enrolled in	Course
Student in Course X	has	Grade
Student	gives	Parental Access
Graduation Requirements	include	Courses Grades GPA

The conceptual schema for the Office of the Registrar must be very large. The Office manages an enormous variety of entities and their complex relationships. While have sketched out a few of these relationships I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I assume that the SSN is the main entry for a particular student and the all other entities are related to the SSN. As for courses, the unique Course Number/Section combination must serve as the main entry. I imagine the the Semester and Year must be labeled in some way so as to differentiate between the LBSC 670.0101 sections in 2001 and 2002. In terms of faculty, the Registrar could use either the SSN or an established version of their name as the main entry with courses, address information and grade related to it.

· Do you see any "economy measures" that could be incorporated into this system. In other words, if much more money were spent could it be improved (Section S.5.2). (e.g., more interactivity, better user interfaces, etc.)

It is hard to answer this question without an inside look into the Registrar's setup of Testudo and the Customer Service and Technical Services branches. While Testudo breaks down queries into many different links it appears that this choice it meant to benefit the user rather then consolidate searching to speed up query time. I doubt that addition funding would change that setup. One thing that might change with addition funding is access to the Limited Access sections of Testudo. With additional funds it may be possible to allow 24 hour access to this area.

· Soergel doesn't mention information security as an integral function of an information system. Clearly that is important for the student records database. Should Figure 5.2 be expanded?

Yes, Figure 5.2 should be expanded to include security in many areas. Security measures are in place for all entry of new information or entities, either by students on Testudo, or by staff the the Office of the Registrar. Security measure ensure the continued functionality of the system. Efficiency, economy and access are best maintained when there is securit governing who can enter and change what information.

Reserve Readings for the Wasserman Library

By comparison, the Reserve Readings at the Circulation Desk of the Wasserman Library has minimal organizational infrastructure. However, its conceptual schema is easy to see.

The access points for the Reserve readings at the Wasserman Library are the professor’s name, course number, and title. Students use the Professor’s name and course number or the reading author to find each item. Once the reading is found in the catalog, title, call number, and physical description are supplied.

The catalog is a divided catalog. One binder uses course number and professor’s name as an access point while the second uses the author of the reading. Within each reading are sorted alphabetically by the author's name, the main access point.

The entities within the conceptual schema are course number, professor’s name, reading title, author, call number, physical description (page #), and notes. The readings are housed in two separate locations, shelves for catalogued books and filing cabinets for photocopies and personal copies.

Professor has Course Number
Course Number has readings
Reading Entry has Author
Reading Entry has Title
Reading Entry has Call Number
Reading Entry has Page #
Reading Entry has Notes
Author has Title
Author has Call #
Author has Course #
Author has Page #
Author has Notes