CEMS Examination Information System

This is a demonstration system which currently contains the examination schedule from the January, 2005 examination period. Its purpose is to show a three tier application using a MySQL database, PHP scripts and two different modes of interaction: an SMS interface and a text to speech interface. I hope to extend this to support voice input as well.

It also demonstrates the normalisation of a spreadsheet.

Some sample module codes

Here are some valid Module codes to try:

• UFCE4X-10-3
• UFEE7B-20-1
• UFSEHU-15-M
• UFPECG-10-3

Query modes

SMS access

You can access this information by texting EXAM followed by a module code to the CEMS IS school number 0762 480 3759 or you can use this test interface instead.

Voice-enabled browser

You can query the exam timetable and get the reply in both text and speech using this interface . To hear the speech you need to be using a browser which supports the application/xhtml+voice+xml protocol. Opera 8 beta on Windows is one choice.

Implementation

• The QSEE model
• The Conceptual Data model
• The generated SQL DDL for this database.
• The original spreadsheet from which the data for the database was extracted.
• The Script to convert the spreadsheet to the normalised tables. Beware, it is not pretty or very general!
• The script to respond to an incoming SMS message
• The script to query and reply as speech

Questions

• Examine the spreadsheet carefully and consider how you would normalise this data. Are there any oddities which need to be considered?
• Try a full range of inputs - invalid code, valid prefix to multiple codes, a single examination and multiple examinations. What improvements to the interface could you suggest? Are the sentences too long or too complex? How would you express this information yourself?
• There is now a new timetable for the Summer examinations. This format is not the same as the previous format, and it is inevitable that it will be later corrected in minor ways. How would you design the communication between the timetabling system and this query system to reduce the need for changes in programs.