1

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
The advancements in technology have brought solutions to many problems of
people they face nowadays. People have woven it into their everyday repertoire of
communication and connection tools. Letters, records and other important documents
are essential to many people; these are ways for them to communicate with other
people in a generation where time is so valuable. However, people face many problems
of unauthorized access and changes to it and delay of time delivery. Addressing this
problem is the development of a Local Area Network Based System that offers a new
and convenient way of disseminating and monitoring important documents in a
computer based system. Many institutions have already adopted this change with the
idea that it will give a great benefit for university transactions.
The proposed LAN Based Office Letters and Memorandum Distribution and
Tracking Management System for Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa
Maria Bulacan Campus is a study and system that enables the user to store, retrieve
and manage their important documents. The system can be used to monitor all the
transactions that happened in the documents. This can view who sent and received a
particular document. It provides standard format/template in creating or writing a letter,
memorandum or other documents of the university to avoid confusions, revisions and

errors. It can print out documents whenever it is needed by the user. Finally, the system
offers a full range of features that are designed specifically for the benefit of the Office
Administrator.

Background of the Study

Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria Bulacan Campus is a
very prominent academic institution which provides graduates who are academically
competitive and innovative. With regard to this, as its population increases, the
preservation and retrieval for important documents are needed to have a better
transaction inside the university and to prevent mismanagement and displacement due
to human factors such as negligence and carelessness.
In addition, the target Institution is still using a log book for their manual tracking
and disseminating of documents. The proponents initiated the development of a current
system which will replace the existing/manual style. This will ensure a modern, reliable
and efficient campus document monitoring system brought by the advancement of new
technology.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

The Conceptual Framework presents the possible courses of action for a
preferred approach to an idea or thought. The proponents chose to use the Information
Technology Infrastructure Language to satisfy the needs of the study in order to come
up with the innovation and development of the manual monitoring system.

Incident
1. The current manual
system of distribution
or delivering of letters,
memos and other
important documents
for filing can easily be
misplaced due to
security problem and
mismanagement.

2. Lack of monitoring
for instance, not
checking if the letters,
memos and other
important documents
are properly delivered
and only the
authorized person
received them and
are accessible to
them.

Process

Allocated personnel
for checking,
managing, tracking
and monitoring the
access of letters,
memos and other
important documents
filed inside the offices
to meet the quality
and standards of
auditing and
Institutional quality
management system.

Solution
1. Develop a system
that can help the
entire offices to
manage their work in
filing and distribution
or disseminating of
letters, memos and
other important and
confidential
communication of the
respective offices.

2. Create a system
that can monitor each
individual who prints,
delivers and receives
certain letters, memos
and other important
and confidential
communications.

FEEDBACK

Figure 1 Information Technology Infrastructure Language

Statement of the Problem
Through data gathering and research of the existing manual system, the
proponents formulated and found out that there is a need to extend the proposed
system. The study aims to solve problems such as imprecise recognition of

unauthorized access and retrieval of documents. The existing/manual system process is

also time consuming.
Based on the data gathered made by the proponents, different problems are
encountered by the current monitoring system of the institution.

General Problem
Efficient management of Institutions documents comes with an array of issues,
even before they can look forward for possible solution. The integrity, security, storage
and efficiency would be a dynamic solution while saving company cost, meet customer
satisfaction and compliance to the standard rules and procedures and future audit and
quality system.

Specific Problem
1. Unsecured access and change of documents by unauthorized personnel.
2. Distribution and retrieval of documents are time consuming.
3. Inaccessibility and preservation of documents over a long period of time.
4. Imprecise monitoring of documents filed inside the university.
5. No standard format/template for creating and writing of letters, memorandum and
other documents of the university.
Objective of the Study

General Objectives

The LAN Based Office Letters and Memorandum Distribution and Tracking
Management System for Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria
Bulacan Campus will address the solution to the records of filing management of the
Institution by simplifying the task of employee/campus staff especially the Office
Assistants of different Colleges/Departments and Executive Offices with flexible, reliable
and efficient Information System management strategy with the application of Business
Intelligence and Data Warehousing for the purpose of future audit tracing and
accreditation.

Specific Objectives
1. Secure access and prohibit unauthorized changes and printing on the records,
memos and other documents of the university.
2. Provide a fast and streamlined distribution and retrieval of documents.
3. Offer accessibility and preservation of the documents over a long period of time.
4. Ensure precise monitoring of documents filed inside the university.
5. Introduce a standard format/template for creating and writing of letters,
memorandum and other documents of the university.
6. Give a comprehensive training to individuals which will ensure the effective use
of the proposed system.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The LAN Based Office Letters and Memorandum Distribution and Tracking
Management System for Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria

Bulacan Campus is developed for the purpose of automated distribution and tracking
management of office letters and memorandum for the target Institution. The distribution
and tracking management system will increase production efficiency. It provides
features at each stage of the said documents life cycle, from template creation to
document authoring and destroying or achieving. This system can help organize
document circulation in the university. Institutions and individuals are relying more and
more on automation as they believe that this is a reliable solution in order to keep their
information secured and readily accessible.
The LAN Based Office Letters and Memorandum Distribution and Tracking
Management System for Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria
Bulacan Campus specifies what types of letters and memorandum content can be
created within an organization, where to store the said documents, how to control the
access on it, how to transfer the said documents within organization and what template
to use for each type of letters and memorandum.
The proposed Local Area Network Based System only covers the entire college
departments of Polytechnic University of the Philippines Santa Maria Bulacan
Campus namely: Office of the Administrator (where the server is located), Cashiers
Office, Head of Academic Programs Office, Head of Students Affairs and Services
Office, Office of the Director, Office of the Student Council, Office of the Property
Custodian, Office of the Medical and Dental Clinic, The College Registrars Office,
College Librarians Office and the Colleges namely: College of Accountancy (COA)
Office, College of Business (CB) Office, College of Engineering (CE) Office, College of
Education (COED) Office, College of Computer Management and Information

Technology (CCMIT) Office, College of Tourism and Hotel and Restaurant Management
(CTHRM) Office and College of Technology (CT) Office.
This distribution and tracking management software is used for such operating
systems as Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The proposed system uses
the following softwares to make it more efficient and accurate. These are: MS Office
2007 to read .doc files, Edraw Office Viewer to view the .doc files, 7 zip to compress
the MySQL backup database, Visual Studio 2008 which serves as the front end of the
system, MySQL 5.5 Server which serves as the backend of the system and DevExpress
for other tools. The proposed system works functionally through its given scope and
features. These are: audit trailing or monitoring of documents that has been sent or
received, backup and restore of database that can be burned in CD, it can retrieve
deleted documents but it can only be done by the administrator of the system, can send
documents in multiple users at a time, the password of the user is encrypted (md5 +
sha1 encryption) for further security, electronic signature for signing of the letters,
automatic address book, documents are received with notification, and lastly it is loaded
with different themes. Outside its scope lies the limitation of the system that the
database can only be burned in CD. The use of LAN Based Office Letters and
Memorandum Distribution and Tracking Management System for Polytechnic University
of the Philippines Santa Maria Bulacan Campus will be storage of the said documents
often includes management of those same documents, where they are stored for a
particular length of time and transferring of the documents from storage media to
another. This distribution and tracking management system is important in the
information age for a variety of user applications.

Significance of the Study

Development through the use of modern technology such as computers enables
the service of an educational Institution faster and reliable. The study will be important
for the following people and organization.
The proponents have analyzed the Institutions existing/manual system of
distribution and tracking management so therefore it would be beneficial to the
following:

PUP SMBC Executives, Administrative Offices and Colleges

The implementation of the system leads to the innovation and development stage
for existing/manual style of creating and distributing letters and memorandum of the
university. It also improves the document monitoring and tracking management system
which the campus had used before.

PUP SMBC Administrator/Faculty/Staff/Students

It will give the administrator a convenient way of disseminating memos,
documents and records to their personnel even the faculty, students and staff.

Future Researchers
Future researchers can use this study as foundation for their future activities
such as project thesis particularly if their topic was connected to the process of it. They

can also use this study as basis and source of knowledge presented in this document
when they are dealing with the same thesis or case study.

Definition of Terms
To make the study more understandable the researcher included the operational
definition of terms that would help the reader have clearer understanding of the study.
Automated. It is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the
need for human work in the production of goods and services.
Business Intelligence (BI).

It is the use of computer-based techniques used in

identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products
and/or departments or by associated costs and incomes. Business intelligence aims to
support better business decision-making.
Computer. It is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates
data and provides output in a useful format. The ability to store and execute lists of
instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile, distinguishing them
from calculators.
Computerized. It means enter, process or store (information) in a computer or system
of computers.
Data Warehousing (DW). It is the database use for reporting and analysis.
Database. It consists of an organized collection of data for one or more multiple uses.
Information.

It is the use of sequence of symbols that can be interpreted as a

message. Information can be recorded as signs, or transmitted as signals. Information

is any kind of event that affects the state of a dynamic system.

10

Information Technology (IT).

dissemination

of

vocal,

It is the acquisition, processing, storage and

pictorial,

textual

and

numerical

information

by

microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunication.

Local Area Network (LAN). Is a computer network that interconnects computers in a
limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building using
network media. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to wide area networks
(WANs), include their usually higher data-transfer rates, smaller geographic area, and
lack of a need for leased telecommunication lines.
Software. It is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the
instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it.
Technology.

It is the making, usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts,

systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose.

Visual Basic (VB). Is a third generation event driven programming language and
integrated development (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. VB is
also considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of
its graphical development features.