METHODIST CENTRE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Transcription

1 METHODIST CENTRE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM NGO KER NEE This project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Education with Honours (Information Technology) Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology March 2005

2 ABSTRACT Nowadays, almost all the churches are employing a system to operate in assisting the church management. Development of Methodist Centre Management System (MCMS) is anticipated to bring benefits to Samarahan Methodist Centre in managing their memberships and regular events as well as to reduce the redundant work carried out by the pastor and church committee members. This Final Year Project report describes the background of study, research on literature review, methodology, system analysis, system design, system development, system implementation, testing and evaluation as well as its accomplishments, limitations and future enhancements of this system. This system is developed using Visual Basic with Microsoft Access for data storage. The modules included are User Login, Manage Member Data, View Pastor Data, Generate Report. Review Job Responsibility and Event Maintenance. This study generally signifies the importance of MCMS in its effectiveness and efficiency in better managing the data and information of members and regular events for Samarahan Methodist Centre. I

3 ABSTRAK Dewasa ini, Sistem Pengurusan Gereja telah digunakan secara meluas di kalangan pengurusan gereja. Adalah diharapkan dengan pembangunan MCMS (Methodist Centre Management System), Gereja Methodist Samarahan mendapat manfaat dalam pengurusan keahlian dan aktiviti serta meringankan bebanan kerja pastor dan ahli-ahii jawantankuasa gereja. Laporan Projek Tahun Akhir ini menerangkan latar helakang kajian, kajian penulisan, methodologi, analisa sistem, rekabentuk sistem, pembangunan sistem, implementasi sistem, pengujian dan penilaian serta pencapaian, limitasi dan menamhahbaik masa depan MCMS. Sistem ini dibangunkan dengan menggunakan Visual Basic dan Microsoft Access untuk pangkalan data. Sistem tersehut adalah dibangunkan mengikut modul-modul herikut; User Login, Manage Member Data, View Pastor Data, Generate Report, Review Job Responsibility dan Event Maintenance. Keseluruhan kqjian ini menunjukkan kepentingan MCMS dari segi keherkesanan dan keefisienan dalam mengurus data dan informasi ahli dan aktiviti untuk Gereja Methodist. Samarahan. III

4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have assisted me throughout the process of developing Methodist Centre Management System as well as their contributions. First of all, I would like to dedicate this project to my God for giving me the chance to further my studies in Unimas, my parents and siblings for their confidence and support, Pastor Ling Man Hsi and church family for their prayer support, love and encouraging words, and the strength and knowledge to complete this project. I am indeed grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Alvin Yeo Wee, as this final year project and report could not have been produced and completed without his encouragement and support. He has been so patiently guiding and motivating me throughout the developing of MCMS. I convey my sincere thanks and deepest appreciation for his insights, guidance, advice and encouragement as well as his good humor that enlighten my spirit very much. Special thanks to Brother Wong Ting Kiong on his knowledge, comments, encouragement and support particularly during my tough time in developing stage as well as the time shared with me throughout this project. I also like to thank Mr. Javed Anjum for his comments, ideas and time spared to proofread the interim report for me. Thanks to my Aunt Siew Hie and Jenny Ling who willingly proofread my entire report for my final year project as well as their comments on my writing. Lastly, I also want to thank my study group pals for their caring words, the knowledge sharing moments and the time of reflection we spent together on the difficulties faced in completing this final year project. V

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ii ABSTRAK DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES iii IV V VI XI X111 CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Problem Statement I I 1.3 Proposed Solution 1.4 Objectives Scope and Limitations 1.6 Significance of Outcome Project Plan Outline of Project Report 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction Review on Existing Church Management Systems Almega ChurchOffice Church Community Builder Church Management System Creative Church Information System Membership Information System Comparison of Reviewed Systems Comparison on Features Comparison on Technology of Reviewed Systems Summary 22 vi

6 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Identifying Problems, Opportunities, and Objectives Determine Information Requirements Analyzing System Needs Designing the Recommended System Developing and Documenting Software Testing and Maintaining the System Implementing and Evaluating the System Summary 28 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Analysis of Current System Membership Information Management Centre Information Management Problems of Current System Requirement Analysis Background User Requirements System Specification Software Requirements Hardware Requirements Summary 36 CHAPTER 5: DESIGN 5.1 Introduction Proposed System System Architecture Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Context Diagram of DFD 41 vii

7 Level-0 Diagram of DFD Level-I Diagram of DFD User Login Process Manage Member Data Process View Pastor Data Process Generate Report Process Review Job Responsibility Process Maintain Event Process Decomposition Diagram Database Design Entity Relationship Diagram Relational Schema Data Description Data Dictionary Structured English Storyboard User Interface User Login Module Interface Manage Member Data Module Interface View Pastor Data Module Interface Generate Report Module Interface Review Job Responsibility Module Interface Maintain Event Module Interface Summary 62 CHAPTER 6: IMPLEMENTATION 6.1 Introduction Implementation of MCMS System Module User Login Module Manage Member Data Module View Pastor Data Module Generate Report Module 67 viii

8 6.2.5 Review Job Responsibility Module Maintain Event Module Summary 72 CHAPTER 7: TESTING AND EVALUATION 7.1 Introduction Objectives System Testing Testing report Usability Evaluation Evaluation Report System Limitations Summary 79 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK 8.1 Introduction Problems Faced Objectives' Achievements Future Enhancements Addition of Features Produce Report Based on Specific Data Range Chinese Language Option Auto Extract Information from I. C. Number MCMS. net with Lounge High Flexibility in Information Searching Inserting Photograph Better Integration in View Member Data Module Backup System for MCMS Summary 84 REFERENCE 85 ix

9 APPENDICES 89 Appendix A Project Schedule 90 Appendix B Membership Form 91 Appendix C Attendance Record Form 92 Appendix D Library Membership Form 93 Appendix E Baptism Form 95 Appendix F Enrollment Form 96 Appendix G Interview Question 97 Appendix H Questionnaire 98 Appendix I Interview Result 99 Appendix J Questionnaire Responses 102 Appendix K Data Dictionary 113 Appendix L Structured English for MCMS 117 Appendix M Storyboard of MCMS 120 Appendix N System Testing for Methodist Centre Management 122 System Appendix 0 System Testing Result 127 Appendix P Usability Testing for Methodist Centre Management 134 System Appendix Q Usability Evaluation Result 136 X

10 LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1.1 Number of Members in the Year Figure 2.1 Main Interface of Almega ChurchOffice 9 Figure 2.2 Screen of Member Module 10 Figure 2.3 Index Page of Demo Church of CCB 12 Figure 2.4 Main Interface of CMS Family Module 15 Figure 2.5 Membership Information Tab of CCIS it urc rror Message of (: (.'IS to Ackno ledge the laser 17 Figure 2.7: Initial Screen (Main Interface) of Meminfo 18 Figure 2.8 Interface of Family Module 18 Figure 3.1 Seven Phases of System Development Life Cycle 23 Figure 4.1 Context Diagram of Current System 29 Figure 4.2 Level-0 Data Flow Diagram of Current System 30 Figure 5.1 Context Diagram of Proposed System 38 Figure 5.2 Level-0 Data Flow Diagram of Proposed System 39 Figure 5.3 User Login Process for MCMS 42 Figure 5.4 Manage Member Data Process for MCMS 42 Figure 5.5 View Pastor Data Process for MCMS 43 Figure 5.6 Generate Report Process for MCMS 44 Figure 5.7 Review Job Responsibility Process for MCMS 45 Figure 5.8 Maintain Event Process for MCMS 46 Figure 5.9 Decomposition Diagram for MCMS 47 Figure 5.10 Entity Relationship Diagram for MCMS. 49 Figure 5.11 Relational Schema of MCMS 50 Figure 5.12a Data Normalization of MCMS in Third Normal Form 51 Figure 5.12b Data Normalization of MCMS in Third Normal Form 52 Figure 5.13 User Login Module Interface (The Main Interface) 56 Figure 5.14 Manage Member Data Module Interface 57 Figure 5.15 General Member Data Interface 58 Figure 5.16 Religious Detail Interface 58 Figure 5.17 View Pastor Data Module Interface 59 XI

11 Figure 5.18 Generate Report Module Interface 59 Figure 5.19 Review Job Responsibility Module Interface 60 Figure 5.20 Maintain Event Module Interface 61 Figure 6.1 User Login Module 64 Figure 6.2 Example of Error Message 64 Figure 6.3 Interface of Change Password 65 Figure 6.4 "General" Section of Manage Member Data Module 66 Figure 6.5 "Student" Section of Manage Member Data Module 66 Figure 6.6 "Working Member" Section of Manage Member Data 67 Module Figure 6.7 View Pastor Data Module 68 Figure 6.8 Generate Report Module 68 Figure 6.9 Review Job Responsibility Module 69 Figure 6.10 "Sunday Worship" Section of Maintain Event Module 70 Figure 6.11 "Prayer Meeting" Section of Maintain Event Module 71 Figure 6.12 "Occasional" Section of Maintain Event Module 71 Figure 7. I Result of First Impression of MCMS 77 XII

12 LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 2.1 Price of Almega ChurchOff ice II Table 2.2 Price of Meminfo 19 Table 2.3 Comparison on Features of Different Systems 20 Table 2.4 Comparison on Technology Used By Different Systems 21 Table 4.1 Information of the Data Store of Current System 3I Table 5.1 Information of the Data Store of Proposed System 40 Table 5.2 Example of Data Dictionary for MCMS 53 Table 5.3 Example of Structured English of User Login Module for 54 MCMS Table 5.4 Field Description of User Login Module 56 Table 5.5 Field Description of Manage Member Data Module 57 Table 5.6 Field Description of View Pastor Data Module 59 Table 5.7 Field Description of Generate Report Module 60 Table 5.8 Field Description of Review Job Responsibility Module 60 Table 5.9 Field Description of Maintain Event Module 61 Table 7.1 Example of System Testing 74 Table 7.2 Example of Usability Testing 76 Table 7.3 Example of Usability Testing Questions 76 Table 7.4 Result of Evaluation on Learnability of MCMS 77 Table 7.5 Result of Evaluation on Efficiency of MCMS 78 Table 8.1 MCMS Achievements 81 xiii

13 CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction Over the past two decades computer technology has revolutionalised in the way that it improved the management and maintenance of data or information tremendously. This enables the computer technology to meet the users' demand for reliable, quick accessibility and retrieval of data or information. Thus, the computer has become indispensable throughout society in general and organization in particular. As a result, handling, managing and storing of data or information is made easier by computer-based system as human errors are greatly reduced. The great contributions and conveniences offered by the computer also enabled churches to improve and upgrade their routine operations especially in the management of information of its members and centre activities. Moreover, the book of Acts in the Bible outlines that the purpose of the church is to focus attention on the ministry of the word of God, not on the management of daily operations. Therefore, the pastor and the committee members of Samarahan Methodist Centre perceive the needs to acquire a computer-based system customized to their requirements to replace the paper-based manual system to better their management. 1.2 Problem Statement A committee of around 20 persons formed Samarahan Methodist Centre on I September Ever since then, the number of members is increasing annually as shown in Figure 1.1, and resulted an increase in workload of committee members in managing the member information which is currently a manual system. i

14 Membership Year Figure 1.1: Number of Members in the Year *Numbers of persons for is estimated based on the growth of membership. The major problems faced by the current manual system of Samarahan Methodist Centre are as follows: Misplaced and loss of documents frequently occur. Tedious and time consuming for the members to fill forms frequently for similar information. " The information of the members is not updated, and hence the information is not accurate. Difficulty in sorting and searching information which caused the members having to fill forms frequently in order to provide the required information. High levels of redundant work as members have to provide the same information on request through filling forms. Insufficient physical space to keep all the documents. It takes a lot of time to search for the required information as the documents are not categorized systematically. Lack of manpower in handling and managing all the files, records and documents. 2

15 Difficult to scrutinize the numbers of job assignment to the members as improper keeping of information. 1.3 Proposed Solution In order to solve the problems faced, a systematic, well-organized and affordable system in handling and managing all the data or information of members for Samarahan Methodist Centre is necessary. This project is aimed to solve the above-mentioned problems so that members of the centre do not have to fill forms frequently for similar information. Thus, redundant work is reduced and less physical space is required to keep all the documents. As a result, this proposed system enables Samarahan Methodist Centre to save time, cost and resources in their routine operations. The replacement of the currently manual system by this proposed system is to lessen the workload of the pastor and the committee members in handling and managing the members' information confidentially. As Church Central. com pointed out that a church computer system must be able to assist in achieving the goal of the church in ministry and growth instead of concentrating in managing information (Church Central. com, 2004). Thus, the pastor can spend more time in ministry work and less time on paper work. Basically, this proposed system which is named Methodist Centre Management System (MCMS) consists of a database that keeps information about the members, pastor and weekly events of the centre as well as the members' job/responsibility assignment. 3

16 1.4 Objectives The main objective of this proposed system is to assist the pastor and centre committee members in better managing and keeping the data or information of the centre. Low level of learnability is needed in operating this proposed system, and hence it is easier for the targeted users to learn how to use it in a faster pace. Besides, it will be beneficial to the centre as less manpower is employed in categorizing the information as well as less physical space is required for storage. This system assists the pastor and the president of the centre in assigning the job/responsibility to members. Besides that, accessing and retrieval of information is made easier, it also ensures that the confidentiality of information is maintained. Therefore, a database management system for Samarahan Methodist Centre is developed with the following objectives: To study and analyze the user requirements in developing required features of the proposed system. To replace the paper-based manual system in keeping and managing information about members and events of the centre in order to reduce the redundancy of requesting members to fill forms frequently in getting similar information. Assist the pastor and president of the centre in assigning job/responsibility to members based on their experiences. Examine and monitor the numbers of job/responsibility carried out by the members so that they are not overburdened with too much work. 4

17 1.5 Scope and Limitations This proposed system is customized for the use of Samarahan Methodist Centre to handle, manage and store the information of its members and the regularly conducted events of the centre. These events are Sunday Worship and Prayer Meeting. Therefore, managing and keeping the information of tithe offertory, inventory, financial position, planner, Sunday School, library and members' attendance of the centre are beyond the scope of this project. 1.6 Significance of Outcome MCMS is expected to bring the benefits of shorter time taken in accessing and retrieving information, less physical storage space is required, reducing cost and resources as well as lightening the workload of the pastor in overcoming the major problems faced by Samarahan Methodist Centre as mentioned above. Thus, this is a functioning and usable computer-based system customized to the centre for better management. 1.7 Project Plan This project began with identifying of the problems faced by Samarahan Methodist Centre to the evaluation from the expected users on the developed system. Refer Appendix A for further information on the schedule. 5

18 1.8 Outline of Project Report Chapter 1 This chapter shows an overview of the proposed system named Methodist Centre Management System. It defines the problems of the current system, the project's objectives, scope, contributions and the project plan. Chapter 2 In this chapter, literature review is done on the five current available systems to study and review their features and functionalities. Comparison on the five systems and the development tools are also carried out. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 outlines the methodology employed for this software development in which the details are included for each phase. Chapter 4 This chapter identifies the problems of current system, user requirements and system specifications. The data collection method is also introduced. Chapter 5 This chapter will outline the system design. It includes the architecture of this system; entity relationship diagram, data normalization, data flow diagram, data dictionary, the storyboard for MCMS and the design of the interfaces. 6

19 Chapter 6 Chapter 6 will concentrate on the system implementation of MCMS. Chapter 7 This chapter will focus on system testing to detect errors of the system and usability testing to evaluate the system. Chapter 8 Chapter 8 will conclude with problems faced, evaluating the actualization of objectives and future enhancement to the system. 7

20 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction According to Salkind (2003), literature review is an extensive and complete review of the literature that gives us the vital perspective to observe what has been done and where is our direction. Therefore, currently existing church management systems that are available in the market and could be an alternative for the centre in overcoming their problems are reviewed It is essential to review the existing systems in order to have insights and knowledge regarding the proposed systems. For this reason, the design of the interfaces and the functions of the existing systems available are to be studied. This is to ensure that they are pertaining to the suitability of the proposed system. 2.2 Review on Existing Church Management Systems The existing systems found on the Internet through search engines such as yahoo and google that exhibited similar functionality to the proposed system are studied. There are Almega ChurchOffice, Church Community Builder, Church Management System, Creative Church Information System and Membership Information System. Methodist churches in Sarawak currently use Almega ChurchOffice, and the others are used mostly by the churches in United States of America Almega ChurchOffice Currently, almost all Methodist churches under Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference are using Almega ChurchOffice Level 2 produced by Almega System Analysts Limited, Hong Kong. This application is specially developed for Chinese Churches in which it has ten 8

21 modules categorized into different levels, and the level comprises four modules: Members. Groups, Offering and Attendance is used by the Methodist churches at present. According to Almega System Analysts Limited, this system is an infrastructure for effective church management at present. It has the advantages of modernized information management that it integrates different departments and groups in a church. It can assist the churches in assigning the usages of resources as well as storing and managing the attendance of members which is a time consuming tasks. Figure 2.1: Main Interface of Almega ChurchOffice The logo, time and date are displayed on the main interface and the access verification with choice of English or Chinese Language. The Member Module stores all the necessary member information. This module also has the user-defined field for members to add additional information that is not defined in this application. Personal profile report can be printed. 9

22 The Groups Module allows the viewing of the organization charts on various groups of a church. It also enables the searching of information pertaining to any group in bulk form. till al9lcl 490 tll R3/v1... W9M lhi es LWI ägit (5) -ti 1 4[IkiK }SYf #'N3 I t9f 3 ýý 'ý; "` Jf@9P, MOW* 1ý=: I%IalEl6ýal%1='1 ý, Jlvi 19 _ ta izi _ta1 xl m i 125 D n= i L xt r, a il! il )m163-t2 svtmrýt tsluiaw ilanarý fbilü, MAP ý. 2>'fi I ---K ff-f,. r.. I fn; tt(: I 1fdlk I CAT ý ft mx rýsx; ý ilý. fi U ý. ': ý... 1 la ý. -v. 3U Lt TL i, -Lk P "i äf ý%ý MýiH h-[iijh ýý ý ýfw ýyg.... IIN7-4',. MAU ýý{}pý, _l F -- [I -- twg7'd_e}7'fta)lik gas1+n JL ir <Ft SF4 : 266( tý.. ýý zfg F---] -Xfp- I yuepfwýa, nf----a. yknpmyacnuchullýce-fý ýi_]dooýmen, lmc, oadlwmcý,j, "ýý 14 L++s? q iimý i Li tqy*- ieeg [1 bo7 i6ý1ý i MAM Figure 2.2: Screen of Member Module The Offering Module enables the sorting of data by date and by name of members. Reports on offering can be printed in various formats. The Attendance Module allows the church committee members to arrange the person who serves as liturgist on Sunday Worship and the arranging of regular meetings only. The system requirements of Almega ChurchOffice are as follows: i /Celeron/Pentium Processor or above ii. MS Windows Chinese version 3.1/95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP iii. 8 MB RAM but preferable 16 MB iv. 20 MB hard disk drive space v. EGA, VGA, SVGA or Windows support graphic card. 10

23 The price depends on the levels that are purchased (Almega System Analysts Limited, Price list, 2004). Level Price Member's Price US$ US$ ) US$ US$ US$ US$ US$ I US$ Table 2.1: Price of Almega ChurchOffice However, this application is not easy to learn how to use. The option of English Language is not fully functional and this is confusing for the users who cannot comprehend Chinese Language. Furthermore, many functions are unusable for small churches such as Samarahan Methodist Centre, and some features are not appropriate for churches in Sarawak due to differences in culture Church Community Builder According to Church Community Builder, Inc, Church Community Builder (CCB) is the technological backbone and central nervous system for a church (Church Community Builder, 2004). CCB is an online web-based database management system for churches. It comprises Church Management System, Private Member Community and Public Website Content Management. Based on the Demo Church by Church Community Builder (CCB), the interface comprises Contact Information, Weekly Schedule and Event Calendar. They are arranged in such a way that it is intuitive to users. 11

24 L. tw N- EMt {AWav M. rqrecbma Bbb S-h Ab. Aft Mon s.. HOT DOG! DFCCI Welcome to the Demo Church! /"", \Dems ýýy Cht A6a9 a. r. nr.. NEWII We hope as you browse our pages that you It find something that meets your needs. Whal? s contained herein Is by no means comprehensive his simple designed to wý»r 910 you an (310)Sß-0115 Inibal took and feel of our church family.a familywe wouldlike toshare wdh youl Emere While you are visiting our websile we frill Introduce you to who we are at Mahn Covenant Church. SmdEmmY Leeetlore 1ý Penn Church our mission, what we behave about God and the Bible, and what we orterthose waning to ttao weer Cultivate Their spiritual loumeywit Jesus Christ. Wewould like you to meet out staff team Asti. Rewm um BeeM, G we have posted heshy updated information for Upcoming events that might sudyour Interests or ý'"-- (9m) those oryourramily ---- L- gin Vs.. wu tl, ogmý About The Website Everycustomor ofccb gets a web site as apart otatelr service Tire web site you are looking at requires no experience whatsoever wmn HTML or special cooing languages just plain simple) Adding pictures to your site is as simple as chelang a button and picking one from Your hard drive or a picture CD M-iArl, su"w 900" ra3hp St 300 AM Ranöalsr Stll 1300MIA R wym ft MoM ly ROOM Ma1MYa M Tu»My Figure 2.3: Index Page of Demo Church of CCB This system has four main application suites; Groups, Event Calendar, Giving and Tasks and nine functions that enable its members to have sharing online, keep track of its members and visitors, manage the resources and produce report as well as to customize the setting of the website page level and structures for the church easily. The most fascinating function of this system is its event calendar that shows all the events in monthly format. The members can view the details by clicking on the hyperlink as well as making selection based on the month. This system claimed that they are the leader in the web-based church software as inexperienced personals can customize the web page and upload the articles and news easily. It includes online discussion and forum for the members to participate as well as functionality. 12