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
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.
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.
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ABSTRAK DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Proposed Solution 1.4 Objectives1.5 Scope and Limitations
1.6 Significance of Outcome 1.7 Project Plan
1.8
Outline of Project Report
PAGE ii iii IV V VI XI X111 I I
3
45
5 56
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 Review on Existing Church Management Systems 8
2.2.1 Almega ChurchOffice 8
2.2.2 Church Community Builder 11
2.2.3 Church Management System 13
2.2.4 Creative Church Information System 15
2.2.5 Membership Information System 17
2.3 Comparison of Reviewed Systems 20
2.3.1 Comparison on Features 20
2.3.2 Comparison on Technology of Reviewed Systems 21
2.4 Summary 22
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 23
3.2 System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) 23
3.2.1 Identifying Problems, Opportunities, and Objectives 24 3.2.2 Determine Information Requirements 24
3.2.3 Analyzing System Needs 25
3.2.4 Designing the Recommended System 26
3.2.5 Developing and Documenting Software 26 3.2.6 Testing and Maintaining the System 27 3.2.7 Implementing and Evaluating the System 27
3.3 Summary 28
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction
4.2 Analysis of Current System
4.2.1 Membership Information Management 4.2.2 Centre Information Management
4.3 Problems of Current System 4.4 Requirement Analysis
4.4.1 Background
4.4.2 User Requirements 4.5 System Specification 4.5.1 Software Requirements 4.5.2 Hardware Requirements 4.6 Summary CHAPTER 5: DESIGN 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Proposed System 5.3 System Architecture5.3.1 Data Flow Diagram (DFD)
5.3.1.1 Context Diagram of DFD 29 29 31 31 32 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 37 37 40 41 41 vii
5.3.1.2 Level-0 Diagram of DFD 41
5.3.1.3 Level-I Diagram of DFD 41
5.3.1.3.1 User Login Process 42
5.3.1.3.2 Manage Member Data Process 42 5.3.1.3.3 View Pastor Data Process 43 5.3.1.3.4 Generate Report Process 44 5.3.1.3.5 Review Job Responsibility Process 44
5.3.1.3.6 Maintain Event Process 45
5.3.1.4 Decomposition Diagram 46
5.3.2 Database Design 48
5.3.2.1 Entity Relationship Diagram 48
5.3.2.2 Relational Schema 49 5.3.3 Data Description 53 5.3.3.1 Data Dictionary 53 5.3.3.2 Structured English 53 5.4 Storyboard 54 5.5 User Interface 55
5.5.1 User Login Module Interface 55
5.5.2 Manage Member Data Module Interface 56 5.5.3 View Pastor Data Module Interface 59
5.5.4 Generate Report Module Interface 59
5.5.5 Review Job Responsibility Module Interface 60
5.5.6 Maintain Event Module Interface 61
5.6
Summary
62
CHAPTER 6: IMPLEMENTATION 6.1 Introduction
6.2 Implementation of MCMS System Module 6.2.1 User Login Module
6.2.2 Manage Member Data Module 6.2.3 View Pastor Data Module
6.2.4 Generate Report Module
63 63 64 65 67 67 viii
6.2.5 Review Job Responsibility Module 69
6.2.6 Maintain Event Module 70
6.3
Summary
72
CHAPTER 7: TESTING AND EVALUATION
7.1 Introduction 73 7.2 Objectives 73 7.3 System Testing 74 7.3.1 Testing report 75 7.4 Usability Evaluation 75 7.4.1 Evaluation Report 76 7.5 System Limitations 78 7.6 Summary 79
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
8.1 Introduction 80
8.2 Problems Faced 80
8.3 Objectives' Achievements 81
8.4 Future Enhancements 82
8.4.1 Addition of Features 82
8.4.2 Produce Report Based on Specific Data Range 82
8.4.3 Chinese Language Option 82
8.4.4 Auto Extract Information from I. C. Number 83
8.4.5 MCMS. net with Lounge 83
8.4.6 High Flexibility in Information Searching 83
8.4.7 Inserting Photograph 83
8.4.8 Better Integration in View Member Data Module 84
8.4.9 Backup System for MCMS 84
8.5 Summary 84
REFERENCE
85
APPENDICES Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Appendix G Appendix H Appendix I Appendix J Appendix K Appendix L Appendix M Appendix N Appendix 0 Appendix P
Appendix Q
Project Schedule Membership FormAttendance Record Form Library Membership Form Baptism Form Enrollment Form Interview Question Questionnaire Interview Result Questionnaire Responses Data Dictionary
Structured English for MCMS Storyboard of MCMS
System Testing for Methodist Centre Management System
System Testing Result
Usability Testing for Methodist Centre Management System
Usability Evaluation Result
89 90 91 92 93 95 96 97 98 99 102 113 117 120 122 127 134
136
XLIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3 Figure 2.4 Figure 2.5 1. it urc 2.6 Figure 2.7: Figure 2.8 Figure 3.1 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Figure 5.4 Figure 5.5 Figure 5.6 Figure 5.7 Figure 5.8 Figure 5.9 Figure 5.10 Figure 5.11 Figure 5.12a Figure 5.12b Figure 5.13 Figure 5.14 Figure 5.15 Figure 5.16 Figure 5.17Number of Members in the Year 2002 - 2005 Main Interface of Almega ChurchOffice
Screen of Member Module
Index Page of Demo Church of CCB
Main Interface of CMS Family Module Membership Information Tab of CCIS
11rror Message of (: (. 'IS to Ackno ledge the laser Initial Screen (Main Interface) of Meminfo
Interface of Family Module
Seven Phases of System Development Life Cycle Context Diagram of Current System
Level-0 Data Flow Diagram of Current System Context Diagram of Proposed System
Level-0 Data Flow Diagram of Proposed System User Login Process for MCMS
Manage Member Data Process for MCMS View Pastor Data Process for MCMS
Generate Report Process for MCMS
Review Job Responsibility Process for MCMS Maintain Event Process for MCMS
Decomposition Diagram for MCMS
Entity Relationship Diagram for MCMS. Relational Schema of MCMS
Data Normalization of MCMS in Third Normal Form Data Normalization of MCMS in Third Normal Form User Login Module Interface (The Main Interface)
Manage Member Data Module Interface General Member Data Interface
Religious Detail Interface
View Pastor Data Module Interface
PAGE 2 9 10 12 15 16 17 18 18 23 29 30 38 39 42 42 43 44 45 46 47 49 50 51 52 56 57 58 58 59 XI
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
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
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 2002. 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.
Membership 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 31 2002 70 2003 Year 110 2004 150 2005
Figure 1.1: Number of Members in the Year 2002 - 2005
*Numbers of persons for 01.09.2005 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2.2.1 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
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.
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.
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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. 80486/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.
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The price depends on the levels that are purchased (Almega System Analysts Limited, Price
list, 2004).
Level
1)
3
Price
US$256.41
US$512.82
US$897.44
US$1089.74
Member's Price
US$230.77
US$461.54
US$717.95
US$871.79
I
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.
2.2.2 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.
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