Voting System Capstone Project Document

Introduction

A computer-based system plays a major role in facilitating most of the task naturally done by an individual or group. The ability of computers to follow a sequence of operations, called a program, make computer very flexible and useful. No other technology has developed as quick and as effective as computer technology.

The ABC Company is a state owned college that provides higher technology, professional and vocational institution, and training in science, agriculture, and industrial field, and short term vocational courses.

The ABC Company regularly hold programs to enhance their student skills. The events have been organized and supervised by the Supreme Student Government (SSG) and there is Voting System that reduce the time rendered in voting and results.

Since it rendered time in voting and results, we come up with an idea to update the Voting System of this Institution by the previous proponents. We focus in miscalculations of voters every school year who are enrolled. Also to count who voted and not yet voted in every organization. In addition, we update the total number of votes of every candidate, calculated in every total of votes if election is done.

Background of the Study

The former ABC Company –  SSG Voting System is not efficiently working. The total number of votes did not match to the number of voters. This system required network in order to work well. In some cases, the system corrupts because it did not meet the required storage.

We update the voting system of ABC Company –  so we can easily monitor the votes of every voter to avoid bias, last voting system did not have the validation of the students who voted already.

 

Statement of Objectives

This research is aimed to develop an Automated Voting System with the following objectives:

Design an automated system with the following criteria:

1. Effectiveness of the system
2. Efficiency of the system
3. Quality of the system
4. Timeless of the system
5. Productivity of the system

The following are the specific objectives:

1. Secure the result of election.
2. System is accessible through Local Area Network/Wide Area Network.
3. Backup and archiving system
4. Generate complete reports of the election result.

Conceptual Framework

This study aims to improve the voting system of ABC Company –  during election, ABC Company –  SSG Voting System is a local system that can access by the SSG Officer and authorize personnel this system will be used for elections. The following figures shows how it works when it was used by the admin or user.

 

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The coverage of this study can be used in different kind of organization exclusively for ABC Company.

Scope

The study covers ABC Company –  for voting of SSG and organizations officers on selecting new student leaders. It also allows the authorized personnel to printout the result of election. The system runs in a local server network.

Delimitation

This study is limited only for the SSG of ABC Company. Authorized personnel only can access to update the profile of candidates and students. This system can only be used using local server and the admin can edit the profile of the candidate.

Significance of the Study

This study is beneficial to various groups of people, institution and other coming elections.

The Proponents. Created a SSG Voting System to provide an efficient system than the current system. SSG Voting System will help to have a fair and secured election.

The SSG (Supreme Student Government). This study will minimize the effort and work of the SSG officer because this system will automatically get the result of election.

The Institution. This system will provide efficient and secured election of the new student officers of Institution.

Candidates. This system provides security that can assure candidates to have a fair election.

Students (Voters). This system provides accurate and security that can assure they will have a fair and correct result of election.

Candidates. This system provides security that can assure candidates to have a fair election.

 

Definition of Terms

To provide a clear way of communication between the proponents and the readers the following terms are define conceptually and operationally.

 

Local Area Network (LAN) – Conceptually, local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building and has its network equipment and interconnects locally manage.

Operationally, LAN interconnects computers in all laboratories so that the election will be efficient.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network)

 

Prompt- Conceptually, may refer to message or a window that appears, alerting the user or asking for a confirmation.

(https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/prompt.html)

Operationally, is something that causes another event or action to occur.

Proponents – Conceptually, a person who argues for or supports something.  (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/proponent).

Operationally, puts forward a proposition or proposal.

System – Conceptually, a set of detailed methods, procedures and routines created to carry out a specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a problem.

(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/system.html)

Operationally, organization-processing devices that used in business operation.

Review of Related Literature and Systems

This chapter presents different compilation of related topics and studies that are relevant to ABC Company – SSG Voting System.

LOCAL RELATED STUDIES

Automated Scoring System of AMA Computer College

Automated scoring system for AMA Computer College of Sta. Mesa Campus is a computer-based system under the category of scoring system. This system was designed and implemented a LAN based or centralized customizable scoring system for singing, dancing contestants and pageants. This system is developed computerize computation and tabulation of scores of contestants given by the judges and generated contestants results and knew who the leading contestants in the competition are. (Clavel, December 2010).

ABC Company – Events Tabulation System

The ABC Company regularly holds programs to enhance their student’s skills. Since these events have been, organize and supervised by the Supreme Student Government using Electronic Tabulation System in organizing such as, freshmen day, cultural activities and intramurals. Events Tabulation System converts all operation automatically to avoid errors. A more effective and efficient process will surely decrease the amount of constraints.

 

FOREIGN RELATED STUDIES

Sports Voting System U.S. Provisional

          U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/734,974 entitled “Sports Voting System” filed on December 2012, the entire disclosure of which was fully incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. This present invention relates to a system for obtaining a popular vote from fans and spectators of any sporting event who have become members of the system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for allowing the members to provide an opinion vote before, during and after. A boxing mixed martial arts event and any other events without affecting the official results of the event. (Anthony, June 2005).

Related Systems Summary Table

Table 1.0 Shows the comparison between our system features and to the related systems.

Synthesis

Related literature discusses about the schools and universities that have voting system in connection to the proposed system. Voting System will use by the SSG in election. This voting system can be useful to many institutions.

This system developed computerize computation of the votes, voter and the result to avoid bias, this system can lessen the time consumption once you click the button submit your vote will be counted.

The related system also gave related information to this study and serve as a basis in developing the proposed system. The proponents noticed that not all local and foreign have the same features, each voting system has their own uniqueness in terms of the arrangement of the votes, voters and results.

 

 Methodology

This chapter shows the system on how the system worked compared to the current system. The proponents follow the Standard System Development Cycle (SDLC) to describe the present solutions for the problems identified in this study, using the Iterative.

The concept behind iterative is to develop a system through repeated cycles (iterative) and a smaller portion at a time (incremental), allowing software developer to take advantage of what was learned during development of earlier parts or version of the system. Therefore, the proponents found it fit to explain the project in a simpler and easier to understand manner. Basic processes are as follows: Planning, Analysis, Design, Development, Testing, Implementation and Maintenance Phase.

Planning Phase

In this phase, the proponents group their selves’ maximum of five members each group instructed by their capstone instructor, the proponents came up with an idea to name their group Team Kiseki. Their capstone professor instructed them to choose at least five Local Manual Transaction Companies, these are U.S Commercial Hardware      , Gie an Foot Spa, Mamas Milk Chill Resto Bar, Halfcab Pizzaria, and Tiny’s Salon, we proponents gather information about these five companies. So then, the proponents made a presentation regarding to five companies. Among the five companies, the proponents choose the Halfcab Pizzeria Inventory System, but their capstone instructor suggested that instead of Halfcab Pizzeria they rather work their existing SSG Voting System ABC – FT. The proponents plan about the target of the proposed system that can give satisfaction to the benefactors of the system. Lastly, the proponents scheduled to interview SSG Adviser along with the SSG President they present the proposed system and ask information about the previous Voting System and ask them for approval for the propose system.

Analysis Phase

      In this phase, the proponents analyse and studied the previous voting system they gather ideas to give them hint on how to improve their proposed system and they research for its function and they do research about related system to the proposed system that give them idea to develop the proposed system.

Design Phase

In the development phase, the proponents came up with the design that is simple and user friendly so that no user will have difficulties in using it.

Development Phase

In this phase, the proponents wanted to develop a system design that will be use. The proponents wanted to design a user – friendly system for every user of this system.

Testing Phase

In this phase, the proponents developed a code based on the requirements, the proponents test the system first to make sure that the system is working and can address the need of the user.

Implementation Phase

In this phase, the information will be converted from the old system to the new system.

Maintenance Phase

Occurs once the system is operational. It includes implementation of changes that software might undergo over a period of time, or implementation of new requirements after the software is deployed.

User’s Acceptance Survey

The system will undergo user acceptance testing by the users, which include the SSG Officers, which act as the admin and the students taking the role of voters.

 

Requirement Specification

Operational Feasibility

The goal of the system is to develop the following functionalities:

1. The ABC Company – SSG Voting System provide assistance to choose the SSG and Organization Officers.
2. The ABC Company provides assurance to the students that their votes will counted correctly.
3. The system provides organized structure for every candidate.
4. The system provides prompts to the voters if they exceed the maximum number of votes.

Program Environment

Front End

          The front end is a software interface designed to enable user-friendly interaction with computer. In this study, the proponents will use the JavaScript as the main scripting language, while HTML for providing the user interface for the system. As for the design, the proponents use CSS codes.

Back End

     The back end is a server-side scripting language designed for web development. In this study, the proponents will use PHP (Hypertext Pre-processor) for the codes and for the Database is MySQL.

Technical Feasibility

Hardware Specifications (Minimum Requirements)

Client:

1. a) Dual Core Processor
2. b) 2GB RAM

Server:

1. a) Core i5 Processor
2. b) 4GB Internal Storage
3. c) 500GB Hard Drive

Software Specifications (Minimum Requirements)

Client:

1. a) Browser (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome)
2. b) Windows 7 or Higher Operating System

Server:

1. a) Windows Server
2. b) Apache, MySQL, PHP

System Architecture

Figure 3 the structural design of the system where user can access through Local Area Network (LAN) when the admin opens the server through LAN and view the data the users voted and print the result.

Figure 3.0: Gantt Chart

Figure 3 the Gantt chart shows all the activities that displayed and each activity are presented by bar and the bar reflects the star and duration and end date.

Cost Benefit Analysis  

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) estimates and sums up the equivalent money value of the benefits and cost of the system in order to determine its profitable and worth the investment.

Development Cost	Duration	Monthly Cost	Total Amount
Programmer	Per project	Php 10, 000.00	Php 10,000.00
System Analyst	Per project	Php 8,000.00	Php 8,000.00
Project Manager	Per project	Php 7,000.00	Php 7,000.00
Office Supplies	4 months	Php 250.00	Php 1,000.00
Internet Connection (PLDT)	4 months	Php 1,400.00	Php 5,600.00
Electricity	4 months	Php 500.00	Php 2,000.00
			Php 33,600.00

Table 2.0: Developmental Cost

Table 2.0 shows the total developmental cost of the proposed system.

 

Operational Cost	Duration	Monthly Cost	Total Amount
Electricity	10 months	Php  240.00	Php 2,400.00
Maintenance Fee	Per project (once a year)	Php 4,500.00	Php 4,500.00
			Php 6,900.00

Table 2.1: Operational Cost

Table 2.1 above shows the operational cost of the system. It contains the maintenance, cost, and expense in using the system.

			Total Amount
Total Developmental Cost			Php 33,600.00
Total Operational Cost			Php 6,900.00
			Php 40,500.00

Table 2.2: Total Developmental and Operational Cost

Table 2.2 shows the total cost of development and operation of the system.

Benefit of the System	Amount
Work Management	Php 20,000.00
	Php 20,000.00

Table 2.3: Benefit

 

Table 2.4: Cost Benefit Analysis

Table 2.4 shows the cost benefit analysis of the system each figure has corresponding data as shown in the table.

Entity Relationship Diagram

Figure 4.0 Entity Relationship Diagram shows the various entities, their roles, attribute, and relationships.

Data Flow Diagram

Figure 5.0: Data Flow Diagram

Figure 5 shows the activity flow and the processes of the whole system. It shows how it works.

Data Dictionary

Table 3.0: Data Dictionary

DATA DICTIONARY

Data Field	Type	Description
Tbl_candidates
can_id	int(11)(pk)	id of the candidate
position_id	int(25)	candidate’s position
Image	longblob(pk)	candidate’s photo
voter_id	int(11)	voter’s id
election_id org_id	int(11) int(11)	election term they belong candidate’s organization

 

Data Field
Tbl_election
Id election_name	int(11) (pk) varchar(25)	id of the election term name of the election
date_start	Datetime	start of election
date_end	Datetime	End of election

 

Data Field
Tbl_organization
org_id	int(11)(pk)	id of every organization
Name org_description	varchar (25) varchar(100)	name of organization description of organization

 

Data Field
Tbl_position
position_id	int (11)(pk)	id of the position
Position	varchar(25)	candidate’s position
Limit	int(11)	maximum number of candidates

 

 

Data Field
Tbl_user
user_id	int(11)(pk)	id of the user
user_type	varchar(25)	admin/voter
Username	varchar(25)	admin or voter’s username
Password	varchar(25)	admin or voter’s password
voter_id	int(11)	voter

Data Field
Tbl_voter
voter_id	int(11)(pk)	id of the voter
Fname	varchar(25)	first name of voter
Mname	varchar(25)	middle name of voter
Lname	varchar(25)	last name of voter
Organization	int(11)	organization of the voter

Data Field
Tbl_votes
votes_id	int(11)(pk)	id of the votes
voter_id	int(11)	id of the voter
can_id	int(11)	id of the candidate
election_id	int(11)	id of the election

 

Table 3 shows the activity flow and processes of the whole system. It shows how the system works.

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data

    This chapter will exhibit the result of the User’s Survey conducted for the system ABC Company SSG Voting System which will be implemented at the Bachelor of Science in Information System department of ABC-FT.

Presentation

          The proponents demonstrate the system to the randomly selected respondents. The proponents also monitor the subject based on their honesty, interest to the technology and understanding of the system.

Data Analysis

          For the Data Analysis, this is where the analysis of data gathered from the respondents of SSG Officers and students.

Characteristics of Respondents

                    The population where being studied is composed of SSG Officers and students of ABC Company – Fortune Towne. The researchers got sixty from the said school.

This table shows the number of respondents who have answered the User-Acceptability Survey. The researcher got a total of 60 respondents.

Reliability Testing

                    The data collected by the proponents have undertaken reliability testing an acceptable approach through using the Yamane’s Formula in order.

Interpretation of Data

                    The instrument wanted to access the perception of the users in terms of five (5) categories namely: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Quality, Timeliness and Productivity. The first category was composed of four (4) items, the second category was composed of three (3) items and the third, fourth and last categories were composed of four (4) items. The rating scale was 1 to 5 with 1 as very dissatisfied. 2 as dissatisfied, 3 as neutral, 4 as satisfied and 5 very satisfied.

Table 5.0: Rating Scale

Range of Mean                                                                 Verbal Interpretation

                              4.21 – 5.00                                                    Very Satisfied

                              3.41 – 4.20                                                            Satisfied

                              2.61 – 3.40                                                                   Neutral

                              1.81 – 2.60                                                           Dissatisfied

                              1.00 – 1.80                                                         Very Dissatisfied

Table 6.0 shows the range of mean and its verbal interpretation.

Table 6.0: Survey Result for Effectiveness

Question 1  Question 2  Question 3  Question 4                     Total

4.23                   4.28                             4.2                                 4.45                                4.29

 

                    The table shows that effectiveness as a whole has an average weighted mean of ­­­­­­­­4.29. The subcategories of which like Completeness and Accuracy of the System, the ability to provide correct and complete document, (3) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Report Generation, the ability to provide correct and complete document required by the user with minimum idle time, (4) interpreted as Satisfied; Search, Retrieval and Dissemination of required Information, the ability to access, create and disseminate required information, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; and Report Generation Flexibility, the ability to provide printable reports in a format required by the user.

Table 6.1: Survey Result for Efficiency

Question 1                Question 2            Question 3            Total

4.56                 4.52                                            4.47                      4.52

 

                    The table above shows that efficiency as a whole has an average weighted mean of 4.52 interpreted as Very Satisfied. The subcategories of which like Ease of Use, the ability of the user easily perform required task, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Complexity of the Task, the learnability to perform task, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; and Task Accuracy, the ability to perform task without errors, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied.

Table 6.2: Survey Result for Quality

Question 1  Question 2  Question 3  Question 4                     Total

4.33                   4.37                            4.46                      4.36                               4.38

 

                    The table above shows that the user’s survey result for the system quality has a total means of 4.38 which interprets that the users where satisfied with the system’s quality. The subcategories of which like Report Content, the ability to produce accurate documents to users, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Report Flexibility, the ability to produce documents in a format useful to users, (4) interpreted as Satisfied; Report Turnaround Time, the ability to produce reports in time to users, (4) interpreted as Satisfied; and Report Consistency, the ability to produce documents that are consistent with other reports.

 

Table 6.3: Survey Result for Timeliness

Question 1  Question 2  Question 3  Question 4                     Total

4.46                   4.32                            4.32                      4.4                                           4.37

           The table above shows that the user’s survey result for the system timeliness has a total means of 4.37 which interprets that the users where satisfied with the system’s timeliness. The subcategories of which like System Accessibility, the system is accessible to users whenever they use it, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; System Adaptability, the system can easily adapt to new demands, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Data Security, the system allows access to authorized personnel, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; and Achievement of Goals, the system provides the necessary functionality to achieve its purpose in line with the institutional goals.

Table 6.4: Survey Result for Productivity

Question 1  Question 2  Question 3  Question 4                     Total

4.35                   4.43                            4.4                                 4.47                                4.41

 

          The table above shows that the user’s survey result for the system productivity has a total means of 4.41 which interprets that the users where satisfied with the system’s quality. The subcategories of which like User Assistance, provides the user with procedural documentation to minimize operational errors, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Throughput, the ability to provide required documents in the shortest time possible, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied; Decision Support, the ability to provide required information needed for decision making, and Overall, (5) interpreted as Very Satisfied.

Summary of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

              This chapter presents the summary of the research work undertaken, the conclusion drawn and the recommendations made as an outgrowth of this study.

Summary of Findings

This study was conducted for purpose of creating an easier faster and more accessible platform for acquiring of learning material to the user. After analyzing the gathered data and series of survey, we come up the following problem gathering data and technology facilities. SSG Voting System is done to lessen time and effort in voting election and to assured to have a fair and accurate election. This system integrates the use of technology to the usual method of instruction to help the quality of learning.

Conclusion

          This system provides the tools for maintaining voter’s vote to every position and it count the total number of votes of every position. There is a Database, which is maintained by the authorized personnel in which all the names of voter with user name and password is stored.

This system decreases the cost and time of voting process. It is very easy to use and it is very less time consuming and generate complete reports of the election result. It provides fair and efficient election.

Recommendations

Based on the information gathered, the proponents presumed that the system is accessible to use. It is found efficient and consistent in disseminating information to the users.  The system was able to perform the necessary features, which have been stated in the scope and objectives. The proponents recommend that by using this system well surely help the Voter and candidates to be satisfied have a fair election.