TLR Example
Contents
Executive Summary I
Introduction 2
Customer Profile 3
Scope 3
System Definition 4
Database 4
Interface 6
Security 6
System Objects 7
Student Advising Object 7
Course 8
Student 8
Grade 8
Graduation Requirements 8
Roles and Responsibilities 9
Deliverables 10
Appendix A 11
Advanced Graduation Analysis Module 11
Appendix B 13
Course Planning Module 13
Appendix C 15
Security Module 15
Glossary of Terms 17
Executive Summary
The Top Level Requirements (TLR) document is a high level analysis and design overview of the Systematic Tracking of Academic Records (STAR) system. The TLR is not intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of the system but instead summarizes the system functionality. In contrast, the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document provides the detailed description of the system requirements. STAR is an automated interface to the mainframe based Student Information System (SIS) at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). STAR will provide the ETSU Computer and Information Science (CSCI) Department with the ability to review student information off line from the mainframe system. The goal of STAR is to provide the ETSU CSCI department with an automated tool that will assist faculty advisors and CSCI students in course selection and planning.
The STAR database will contain student personal data and course history. In addition, the database will contain information regarding courses offered at ETSU. STAR will display the student's personal data such as name and address. STAR will also display the student's course history. The course history will include: course identification, course tide, number of credit hours, student's grade and term.
STAR will only allow authorized users access to the system An authorized user will be able to display student information based on the student's identification number The user will be able to view the student information using various sorting criteria The system will display the education requirements for graduation that have been completed by the student. In addition, the system will also show the graduation requirements which have not been completed by the student.
STAR will display student information in a clear and understandable manner The system will provide the CSCI faculty advisor with the capability to review a student's course history and performance. As a result, the advisor will be better equipped to assist students in planning their course selection.
STAR is designed to be an integrated system consisting of a core functional module with additional functionality to be provided as needed. The main body of this document describes the core functionality of the STAR system. The additional functionality is described in the appendix. Each additional module will be analyzed and designed prior to integration with the core system. The developers and ETSU must agree on the analysis and design of each additional module before the implementation of any of the additional functionality will begin.
Introduction
The Top Level Requirements Specification is an overview of the software system. This document is not designed to be a comprehensive description of the system, but a high level discussion of the requirements and design. The comprehensive description of the system is contained in the Software Requirements Specification.
STAR is designed to be an integrated system consisting of a core functional module with additional functionality to be provided as needed. The main body of this document presents the core functionality of the STAR system with additional functionality described in the appendix. Each additional module must be analyzed and designed prior to integration with the core system. The developers and ETSU must agree on the analysis and design of each additional module before beginning the implementation of any of additional functionality.
The ETSU Computer and Information Science Department is responsible for the advising of students majoring in computer science. The faculty advisor assists the student in the planning and scheduling of courses which will meet the matriculation requirements for both the Computer and Information Science Department and the university. The current mainframe based Student Information System (SIS) contains the student academic records including transcript information. CSCI faculty use the information provided by 515 to advise students.
The existing mainframe based Student Information System requires a terminal style interface which has certain limitations. For example, the navigation format uses a prompt style interface which requires the user to enter a code number for a specific screen. In addition, the user can only page forward through a multiple page display. In order to review a page which has already been viewed, the user must either page forward through the multiple page display until returning to the previously viewed page or enter a specific page number. STAR will provide a graphical user interface which will provide an easier to use interface. In addition, STAR will include graphical displays of student progress as well as textual reporting capability.
STAR will store the academic records of students majoring in computer science. These records will include the student's undergraduate record, the student's academic record at ETSU, the student's concentration, and any transfer information from other colleges or universities. This information will be used by ETSU faculty to assist students in the planning and scheduling of courses in order to complete their graduation requirements.
Student information is confidential and must be kept secure. STAR will only operate on Microsoft Windows NT workstations. NT provides C2 level security at the operating system which only allows authorized users access into the system. Therefore, STAR will use the NT security system as its primary security mechanism. In addition, STAR will provide a mechanism to distinguish between faculty and student users of the system.
Customer Profile
ETSU Computer and Information Science Department faculty advisors are the principal customers for STAR. The faculty advisors are responsible for assisting students in the planning and scheduling of their courses for the current semester. In addition, STAR will be made available for students to review their own academic record. The faculty will have the ability to review any student's academic record whereas students will only be able to review their own record. The users want to be able to review the information in both an overview format and a detailed format. The display of data includes textual reports and graphical displays.
Scope
STAR will store student academic information for retrieval and display. The data for STAR will be provided by the mainframe based SIS program. The student academic records are stored and maintained on a VAX mainframe at ETSU. Ml of the data for STAR will be imported into the system from an ASCII file downloaded from the mainframe system. The information within STAR will be updated from the mainframe system on a semester basis. The users will be able to display various reports and graphs regarding a student's academic progress. The system will provide specified queries for the display of student information.
STAR data will consist of the student's academic record. This information will come from the student's transcript record as provided by the mainframe SIS. The transcript record includes the student's academic history at ETSU and any other university the student may have attended. STAR will provide a means to evaluate a student's academic progress towards completion of graduation requirements. For example, STAR will provide a check list format which will provide a detailed display of the student's completion of required courses. In addition, STAR may provide a graphical display of the student's academic progress.
System Definition
STAR will maintain student academic records downloaded from the existing mainframe system.
STAR will provide a graphical user interface by which the user can choose various views of the data.
Student academic information can be displayed on the screen or sent to a printer. Figure 1 illustrates
the relationships between the mainframe system (i.e., SIS), STAR, and the users.
Figure 1 STAR Top Level Diagram
STAR will be deployed on Windows NT workstations at ETSU. The system will be developed using
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 and Microsoft Access 7.0. STAR will be developed at Oak Ridge and
Knoxville locations using PCs running Microsoft Windows 95. It is the responsibility of the
developers to ensure that STAR will operate correctly on the NT workstations.
Database
The PC system database stores and maintains information provided by the mainframe SIS. The information is downloaded from the mainframe system and imported into the PC system. ETSU will provide an initial file of current student academic information in ASCII format. Additional student information in ASCII format will be incorporated into the database each semester.
The system will store course information in the database such as department name, course title, and credit hours. Tables I to 4 illustrate possible data items which may be stored within the system database. These tables are the product of the initial data analysis and as such are subject to change as a result of future analysis. The data model will be developed in conjunction with the SRS. It is expected that the data model will also be modified as a result of the information acquired during the system development process.
Table I Course Information Data Items
Item / Description /Department Name / The name of the department (e.g., Computer and Information Science)
Department Code / The department acronym (e.g., CSCI)
Course Number / The catalog number assigned to the course
Course ID / Department Code + Course Number
Course Title / The tide of the course
Credit hours / The number of credit hours assigned to the course
The system will also maintain student personal information within the database. Student personal information could consist of the student's address and contact information. Table 2 shows some of the information which may be maintained for each student.
Table 2 Student Personal information Data Items
Item / DescriptionStudent ID / The student identification number
Student Name / The name of the student
Address / The student's street address
City / The name of the city where the student resides
State / The name of the state where the student resides
zip code / The zip code for the student's address
Home Telephone / The student's home telephone number
Work Telephone / The student's work telephone number
FAX / The student's FAX number
Email / The student's email address
Major / The student's major program
Concentration / The student's concentration within a major program
Notes / Any notes about the student
The system must retain the student's grades for every course completed by the studenL This information will be updated from the mainframe system each semester. Student course grade information is represented in Table 3.
Table 3 Student Course Grade Information Data Items
Item / DescriptionStudent ID / The student identification number
Course ID / Department Code + Course Number
Semester Code / The code for the semester the course is offered
Grade / The student's grade in the class
Notes / Any notes about the student for this class
In addition, the system must supply Grade Point Average (GPA) information to the faculty advisor and the student. This information could be supplied from the mainframe system and retained in STAR. However, STAR will compute GPA information from the student's course history automatically instead of storing the data within the database. The GPA data items are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Student Grade Point Average (GPA) Data Items
Item / DescriptionSemester GPA / The student's GPA for me semester (Calculated value)
Overall GPA / The student's overall GPA (Calculated value)
Interface
The customers consider the existing Student Information System difficult to use. Therefore, the STAR interface will be designed for ease of use by the users. In addition, STAR will present the student academic information in a format approved by the customer and designed in association with the customer. The detailed design phase will rely heavily on the expected users of the system to provide feedback regarding the user interface. The interface will be developed using a prototyping methodology in order to solicit the maximum amount of information from the customer.
The system interface allows the user to interact with the data stored in the database. The users will display the data using various report formats and in graphical displays. The interface will be composed of various screens, pull down menus, and text, The STAR user interface will be consistent with the NT 4.0 and Windows 95 interface.
Security
STAR will only allow authorized users access to the student information database. All users will be required to provide a valid access code in order to use STAR. The system will distinguish between user groups based on specific user characteristics. The system will define three classes of users: super user, ETSU faculty, and ETSU students. The super user account will have full access to all of the system features. In addition, the super user account will have the authority to edit authorized user list. The system will provide the user with a mechanism for adding, deleting, and updating the list of authorized users. ETSU faculty will be able to review any student's academic record but will not be able to access any system administrator functions. ETSU students will only be able to view their own academic record. Students will not be able to view any other student's records or access the system administrator functions.
It will be the responsibility of ETSU to maintain the security of the student information database. The system will distinguish between user groups (i.e., super user, faculty, and students) but it is the customer's responsibility to enforce security. The customer will assume responsibility for any and all actions that may arise due to privacy concerns or confidentiality issues.
System Objects (Not Necessary)
This section provides the descriptions of the high level objects identified for STAR. Figure 2 shows the primary function of STAR which is Student Advising. ETSU Computer and Information Science faculty are responsible for the advising of students. The faculty must review the student's academic record and suggest courses which lead to the student's graduation. Each faculty member must be familiar with the student's graduation requirements both within the department and within the university. The faculty advisor will be able to use STAR to easily review the student's record. STAR will provide a mechanism which will identify the graduation requirements completed by the student.