Client Interaction Report / Due Sep. 21, 2011
Teaem : 04 / Project Name: LEMA School
Q1. List the questions that you asked and were asked by the clients.
D_Q: What kind of program are you using now?
C_A:
They are using two programs currently being used, the first one is SCHOOL MAX which is given to LEMA by the LAUSD and supported by the LAUSD IT Group.Second one is Ez Grade Pro which they purchased by LEMA because SCHOOL MAX did not have the features they wanted.
D_Q: Can you explain what each program is working?
C_A:
SCHOOL MAX is a web-based system. Teachers must input student's information every 5 weeks, however to maintain student's information including grade and attendance on a day to day basis, teachers use EZ Grade Pro. The problem is that EZ Grade Pro is installed on each teacher's computer so teacher's are unable to see other teachers grades or attendance records. Parents and students also have no access to student information in EZ Grade Pro.
D_Q: Can we access SCHOOL MAX to get the data?
C_A : Since SCHOOL MAX is managed by the LAUSD we may not be able to get access.
C_Q: Can you develop a system which can input the data from EZ Grade Pro to SCHOOL MAX?
(this is currently done manually by the teachers)
D_A: No, we can't because we cannot access or change the SCHOOL MAX system.
D_Q: What features do you want the system to have and what is your priority for them?
C_A:
First one is Assembling various information of students. Second one is Notice System for parents to know what their children's statuses are.Notice-Method will be defined by preference of parents among Voice message, Text message, and E-mail .Third one is Accessing system for teachers, parents, School-staffs, and students with the security requirements.Forth one is Reporting system which can send same report to different appropriate people.
D_Q: Who will be the users of the system?
C_A: Teachers, parents, students, other school staff.
D_Q: Who will be the maintainer of the system after it is delivered?
C_A: We don't have one.
D_Q: What is your final goal by using this system?
C_A: To increase students' learning.
D_Q:What's the cost of the current system? I mean both software and hardware.
C_A:
We did buy three systems EZ Grade Pro, School Loop and SCHOOL MAX (from LAUSD). The Grade Max was free.Only software and services were bought by us, no hardware was bought.There is no operational cost beyond the time for the teachers to use the system since the servers are not in the school.
2. Describe the infrastructure currently utilized at the client’s organization
(i.e. hardware, software, network, etc.)
Currently the school has two systems. The first is SCHOOL MAX, this is the system provided by LAUSD and is the system that grades must be input into at the end of each marking period so that student reports are printed. The second system is EZ Grade Pro, this system was bought by LEMA because teachers did not feel SCHOOL MAX had the features they needed. EZ Grade Pro is much better for maintaining a daily account of students attendance and grades and it provides many reports to display information however there are still problems with this system. Teachers must manually take grades from EZ Grade Pro and enter them in SCHOOL MAX every 5 weeks. Each teacher cannot see the attendance or grades of other teachers, so teachers have no way to know if a student only missed their 1st period class or if they missed the entire day. They don't know how students are doing in other classes unless they go to that teacher to talk to them about them. Parents, students, and other school staff also do no have access to any of the grades in EZ Grade Pro. Due to this many parents do not know how their students are doing in school until the end of a marking term, teachers are unable to recognize patterns in a students attendance and grades, and teachers must spent more time working around the system which takes away from their instruction time.
LEMA has also asked for a system to allow teachers an easier way to request support from other school staff and parents. For example if a student has a behavior issue the teacher must contact the parent, a guidance counselor, possibly the principal, and if the students parent's do not speak English an interpreter. There are no forms to help with this process the teacher must speak to each person and request a meeting. Our clients would like an online form where information can be entered and an email sent to everyone at once. This system would already contain the contact information for people the teacher's need to commonly need to contact to save the teacher from having to find the information in another resource.
- Client does not have any resource to maintain the system.
(Server computer or skilled person who can manage server)
- Currently, Client is using personal computer to maintain the information of students.
- Teachers cannot share students' information, because EZ grade which they are using to maintain
students' statuses is notsynchronized among teachers' personal computers.
- There is no system to let parents to know what their children's statuses are.
- Currently, teachers should wait to know students' performance for five weeks; teachers can know
students' statuses byusing SCHOOL MAX.
- Every five week, teachers should input all information of students into SCHOOL MAX.
-If teachers want to discuss with parents about their children's status, teachers has to request 5
people who have differentroles.
3. List all (or as many as you were able to observe) the artifacts used by the system or by the users in operating the system. Provide a brief description about each artifact. For artifacts that have not been shown or given to you but have requested for, specify the planned delivery date for them.
Artifact / Description / Requested/ Shown/ Receive / Planned Delivery DateReports generate by Mydata. / Student information such as state test scores, student grades, attendance, A-G coursework, periodic assessments, English Language Learner data, and more.
However,students are not familiar with the system. Therefore, students cannot be motivated to improve their performance and they cannot recognize what their statuses are. That is why our system is needed. / show / 9/20/2011
SchoolMax / Provides basic information on students and parents (Student Profile; Contact information – phone and address; languages, but not email addresses; Schedule); List by Student Name (alphabetical for students in an individual teacher’s classes); GRADES (Current Grades for specific semester, not cumulative or credits); REPORTS (Pre defined reports of Attendance Detail, Class Lists; GRADES (for specific date parameters for students in a teacher’s class).
However, this system supports information in every 5 weeks. Therefore, teachers and parents cannot recognize what the students' status is simultaneously. / show / 9/20/2011
EZGrade Pro reports / The EZGrade Pro provides standardized reports on missing grades, individual student performance (not attendance) and assignment information.
However, this program is installed in each teachers' personal computer. So, teachers cannot share the information concurrently. / requested / 9/23/2011
4. Sketch the business workflows around the current system.
5. As clients may sometimes leave out critical information when proposing a project, suggest any changes that need to be made to the project description to correctly reflect the project that you are actually implementing (e.g. include technical details).
The client had misunderstood the term of the systems , for example they had told us the ISIS was the current system but in fact the ISIS was the name of a certain organization. So we thought if the clients give us workflows with captured current system, developer can understand more precisely. If clients give us an account of their current system, we can analyze the systems more accurately.