During my final year, my group members and I must develop an information system on both bases. One is web-based, and the other is mobile-based. For this post, I will share with you our web version of it.
Programming Languange Used: PHP, HTML, CSS, JSON, JavaScript The system that we have developed is called Fakulti Kejuruteraan Awam Lab Inventory System (FKALIS). It is designed for users in the Faculty of Civil Engineering in UiTM Pahang, Campus Jengka that stores, retrieves and updates the data of instruments, staff, laboratories, companies involved, lab instruments maintenance and calibration records.
It requires login and allows users to insert, update data and display details of information from the database based on their respected role as a user.
The old method of storing, inserting, updating, and retrieving data faces many problems:-
- Data redundancy is possible, leading to false information or data anomaly.
- It is cumbersome to insert, update and retrieve the data of instruments, staff, companies involved, maintenance and calibration. - It is not secured in terms of security.
- The risk of the owner or creator of the google drive account disappearing is likely that it would make the loss of the data of instruments, staff, companies involved, maintenance and calibration inside the file.
Based on the problems above, we ultimately overcame them after developing the lab inventory system.
The system scope consists of 4 users: Developer, System Administrator, Moderator and Lab Assistants. Furthermore, each user has its functionality, as stated in the table diagram, and we need to follow and meet their functions based on it.
The database has 18 tables or entities that are involved in the lab inventory system based on our Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). In addition, 15 processes can be done by the system based on our Data Flow Diagram (DFD). Diagram-0 will show you the in-depth version of the system's processes with the respected type of user, while the Context Diagram shows you the summarized version.
From our self-reflection, there are many improvements that can be made to the lab inventory system that we have developed:-
- Change PHP to PHP PDO. The main reason is that it can harden the system security even more and has more extensions than the existing PHP.
- Touch up some HTML and CSS elements that could be unaligned.
- Develop a booking or reservation section for students when they borrow lab instruments. This way, other users can track down the lab instruments, such as the reservation status and the lab instrument's latest condition.
There could be more improvements that can be made, but those are one of the things that we have in mind. How about my fellow programmers out there? What recommendations that you could share with us to improve even more?