A SYSTEM FOR MANAGING RESEARCH DATA AT UNELLEZ-Apure

Gabriel Carrillo1, Yngrid Delgado2

1) Programa de Ciencias Sociales, UNELLEZ, San Fernando, Venezuela; 2) Programa de Educación,
UNELLEZ, San Fernando, Venezuela.

ABSTRACT
The objective of this research is to develop an information system for managing
research data at UNELLEZ Apure. From the methodological point of view, this is a
feasible project that uses the procedures defined in Web Engineering. The
development is based on Web programming with language PHP, XHTML, css, jQuery
and MySQL database. Object Oriented Programming with the pattern Model View
Controller is used. The proposed system has the potential of improving management
since it facilitates information storage, sorting, selection and retrieval, in formats
suitable for its usage. MySQL is used for data storage, and data import / export is
handled in XML format. This information system saves descriptions of researchers,
projects and documents used at the Research Coordination, as well as the
corresponding documents in pdf format. The expected effect is increased productivity
of the staff at the research coordination, since a tool that organizes data and
generates reports in a fast way is available.
Key Words: Tool for managing research data, Web programming, PHP.

INTRODUCTION
The Research Coordination at Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos
Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora (UNELLEZ), campus Apure, is the office in charge of
fostering and managing research at this institution. Routine activities and decision
making require information, but the available information lacks the structure and
organization necessary to perform data search, gathering and presentation in a fast
and effective way. Every time that a report is requested, employees seek folders with
the necessary data and prepare the information. This process is slow and error prone.
The Information Technology offers to people tools and techniques that can be
used to develop information systems. Such systems have the potential of improving
management performance by facilitating information storage, sorting, selection and
retrieval in various formats for its usage. High quality Information available on time
can help improve performance and make better decisions.
 Research Objectives
Main objective
To develop an information system for managing research data at UNELLEZ
Apure.
Specific objectives
- To determine the information requirements of the research Coordination at
UNELLEZ Apure.
- To design an information system for managing research data.
- To build an information system with Web technology for managing research
data.
METHODS
The purpose of this research is to develop an information system for managing
research data. For this reason, Web Engineering is used (Pressman, 2006) and the
following aspects are considered:
 Web applications are frequently delivered incrementally.
 Changes occur frequently.
 Time for making changes is short.
Web Engineering uses the following framework:
Step Activity
Communication with clients Business analysis
Collecting requirements
Planning Definition of tasks
Modeling System analysis
System design
Construction Creation of database
Code generation
Testing
Deployment Configure application
Deliver application to end user
Source: Pressman (2006).

RESULTS
The information system for managing research data has been developed with
a custom PHP framework. A Framework is a set of components that collaborate is to
provide a reusable architecture for a family of related applications (Schmidt, 2004,
p.3). It allows to reuse detailed design and code, and for being a proven solution for a
type of problem, it facilitates the construction of quality software.
The PHP Framework uses a set of elements and principles of Software
Engineering:
‒ Design patterns: Singleton, Chain of responsibility (Eldai, Ali, and Raviraja,
2008).
‒ Architectural pattern: Model View Controller.
‒ Elements are loosely coupled.
‒ Convention over configuration: The path of some files and some names are
preset.
‒ Principles of open / closure: Components are open to extension and closed to
modification.
Architectural pattern
In figure 1 the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern is depicted. In
a Web application, all requests are handled through a controller. This element is in
charge of handling the main logic and control flow of the application. When a
controller requires data or business logic, it invokes a model, and this returns the
necessary data. All database operations must be performed through a model. A
model can be created to provide business functions. The view is part in charge of
displaying information to users, that is, it is the visible part and it allows the interaction
user-system.

Figure 1. Model View Controller.

Directory structure
The directory structure is depicted in figure 2.

Figure 2. Directory structure.

The usage of directories is the following:

‒ gcresearcmanager: The system folder. It contains file index.php and

directories.

‒ asset: It contains files associated to records in tables. Assets files are

uploaded by end users.

‒ controller: It contains controller files.

‒ css: It contains css files.

‒ database: It contains a database backup file in .sql format.

‒ config: It contains files with configuration parameters.

‒ function: It contains user-defined functions.

‒ img: it contains images used in the application layout.

‒ language: It contains multi-language support files.

 ‒ src: Arrays to display list with user data.

‒ js: Javascript files.

‒ lib: Third party libraries.

‒ model: Model files are here.

‒ view: View files.

Control flow
The file index.php is the only Access point to the application. Index.php is in the
application folder (gcresearchmanager in figure 2). The logic of the application is
performed in the controllers, so it is necessary that index.php route every request to
the proper controller. This is accomplished by applying the chain of responsibility
design pattern.

Database
The database design is depicted in figure 3.

Figure 3. Database
The database is made of eight tables, and they storage information about
researcher, projects, documents and PEII calls. The data of each table are the
following:
researcher: Personal and academic data of researcher..
project_type: Project type.
project: Project data. A link to pdf files is included. There are files associated to
project approval.
project_researcher: Researchers associated to a project. A researcher can have
one of two possible roles: author or collaborator.
document: Data identifying documents about events organized or approved by the
host organization. A link to pdf files is included.
document_type: Document type.
document_author: Authors associated to a document. An author can be a
researcher, but not necessarily.
call: Summarized data about researchers participating in PEII calls. There should be
one record per each annual call and the corresponding assessment. PEII is a
program managed by the Venezuelan government to promote research.

Data manipulation is performed with Object-relational Mapping (ORM), which

means, tables are treated as classes, and operations at table level are performed with
methods of a class. A class named modelTablename is created for every table or
business object. For example, table researcher is associated to class
modelResearcher.
Initially, the following basic set of reports has been developed:
‒ List of researchers.
‒ List of projects.
‒ List of documents.
‒ Projects with open status / closed status.
‒ Projects within a period of time.
‒ Researchers and associated projects.
‒ Documents and authors.
This database allows for the creation of other reports, by manipulating the
available data structures. All documents related to records in the database must be
scanned and stored as pdf files. This allows for file retrieval and printing of documents
on demand.
Layout

User interface is the visible part of the application. The following screenshots
show part of the application layout.

Figure 4. Main menu.

The main menu shows the options available to users. In figure 5, a screen for
administering researchers is depicted.

Figure 5. Administer researchers

 The verb administer means in this context, the possibility of inserting, changing
and deliting data. Adicionalmente, se pueden definir otras funciones en administrar.
En la figura 10 se observa la interfaz que se usa para administrar datos de
investigadores, similar a la usada para proyectos, tipos de proyectos, documentos,
tipos de documentos y convocatorias.

Figure 11. Administer projects

DISCUSSION
The tool developed in this paper enables the management of data at the
Research Coordination of UNELLEZ, campus Apure. Data to be registered are
related to: researchers, projects, documents and PEII calls. In order to provide some
flexibility to users, we provide project and document types. This means that the
manager can define a classification of projects and documents according to his/her
needs. Storing important documents in pdf files is an easy way to retrieve and print
any document when necessary.
This information system can import and export data in XML format, which
facilitates data transfer from external sources. All reports are generated in pdf format.
This tools is extensible, that is, others reports and search options can be
included to the basic developed and added to the system functionality. The database
design supports high volumes of data and transactions. An abstraction data layer
provides database manipulation and enables scaling. PDO is used for operation with
tables, which gives better security and performance.

CONCLUSIONS

A Web tool for managing research data at UNELLEZ, campus Apure, has been
developed. A survey determined that information requirements are reports for control
and decision making about: researchers, projects, documents and PEII calls. A
MySQL database gives the support for organizing and retrieving data.
This information system can help improve the management of research data at
UNELLEZ, campus Apure. A asic set of reports provide fast access to information,
and other reports can be developed and included to this system, because it has been
designed with principles that supports extensibility .

REFERENCES

Eldai, O.I., Ali, A. y Raviraja, S. (2008). Towards a New Methodology for Developing
Web-Based Systems. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
46 2008 [On line]. Available: http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v46/v46-
35.pdf.
Pressman, R. (2006). Ingeniería del Software. Un enfoque práctico. México: McGraw
Hill.
Schmidt, D. (2004). Introduction to Patterns and Frameworks. [On line]. Available:
http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/PDF/patterns-intro4.pdf.