CHAPTER I

Introduction

Project Context

The rapid change of technology nowadays has a great impact to growing

academic institution. Number of under graduates and post graduates pass out each year

and play their role in different departments of the life i.e. commerce, education and

technology. Maintaining the records of these different students is an important task.

Those students who left the university after completion the master or under graduate

programs are called alumni of the university.

Creating an engaged, supportive alumni network is crucial to an institution’s

success. If communication stops once graduates leave an institution, their understanding

of the university will become stale. Instead, they should be kept informed so they can

remain engaged and keep abreast on the progress of the university.

University of Antique is a growing university and has a commitment to establish a

lifelong relationship with its graduates that brought forth the inception of University of

Antique Sibalom Alumni Association Inc. The office is located at the University of

Antique, Santiago Lotilla St., Sibalom, Antique. Currently, this is led by Professor

Jeselyn O. Gambi as director of Alumni Affairs.

In terms of tracking alumni information, the association is using tracer study

program wherein the alumni can go to the website of the university, look for alumni page

and fill up that tracer study form online and submit it to the university but not all

alumna/alumnus can fill up this form because they are not notified well.

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 The association means of notifying alumni when there is an incoming event like

reunions or alumni homecoming is Facebook or other social media accounts but that is

limited in notifying the graduates because some of them do not use their real name in

their account. The other means is, they just only asked people or students about the

whereabouts of graduates whom they know and ask them to inform alumni in their

places.

Purpose and Description

As a response to this study, the researcher intends to develop a portal for

University of Antique an Alumni Information System that can provides highly significant

medium to get in touch with the growing number of graduates of the university to be

included in the alumni database, to receive regular updates on programs and current

events on the university and expand opportunities for career placement.

General Objectives

The main objective of the study is to design and develop an Alumni Information

System (AIS) Portal for University of Antique to have an easy tracking of its alumni.

Specific Objectives

Specifically, it aims to design and create:

1. An admin module that can add, save, update alumni data and can post

announcement and events of the university.

2. To design and create an alumni Registration Module with the following features:

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 1.1 Pre-registration Module for graduating students that contain:

 Student ID number

 Name

 Password

1.2 Update profile Module for those registered alumni.

3. To develop an Announcement and News Feed module that can disseminate

information and updates on programs and events in the University of Antique.

4. To develop a database system that can keep all the files of the alumni of the

University that will help ease accessing and retrieving data to support the needs of

various programs in the university.

5. To develop an SMS module that can disseminate information on the registered

alumni that can send updates on programs and events in the University.

Scope and Limitation of the Project

Scope

This study focuses on the online tracking of the Alumni of the University of

Antique. This covers the UA Alumni to have a pre-registration for the graduating

students by each college, user account and profile. Each registered alumna/alumnus has

its own user name and password for access and to ensure security. Messages and

notifications can be sent and receive through email or SMS.

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Limitations

This study is only limited for the University of Antique main campus graduates

and designed for those graduates that would like to submit or engage themselves to use

the system. The system limits the access of the Alumni’s account when there is no

internet connectivity.

Significance of the Study

This system is focuses on the creation and development of an Alumni Information

System for University of Antique main campus. It is beneficial to the following:

Alumni Association. The system can provide an alumni database that is complete,

accurate and accessible.

School Administrator. The result of this study will be useful to the school administrators

because they can easily locate and trace the alumni of the school when they are needed,

and the records can be eventually used for accreditation purposes. It will also promote

more effectively the welfare and interests of the school and its alumni.

Alumni. The alumni will be aware of the present condition and status of the school. This

study will also encourage them to maintain links with the school and with other alumni.

Future Researchers. This study will encourage other researchers to conduct further

studies in improving the services rendered by the school to their alumni.

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 Chapter II

Review of Related Literatures, Studies and Systems

The researchers use different reading materials such as thesis and web articles to

have a fully understanding of the study. These materials are really needed to broaden the

knowledge of the researchers and these also a guide to reach their target objectives by

getting some ideas on other related studies and make some improvements as possible.

The information gathered by the researchers focus on the development of an

Information System, particularly to their proposed project, an Alumni Information

System for the University of Antique, its benefits to the university and the alumni and

also the security and measurement on confidentiality of alumni information are obtained.

This chapter presents the related literature, studies and systems after the thorough

and in-depth search done by the researchers. This will enable the researchers to gain

information and references in the present study. They cited an important fact that support

the significance and relevance to the development of University of Antique Alumni

Information System.

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Related Literature

Foreign

Online Alumni Tracking System

An Online Alumni Tracking System is an example of web application which is under the

information systems. It helps an academic institution in tracking its alumni. Also, it helps

the alumni to communicate with the institution through the use of the internet. It also

helps the alumni to get updated with the latest news and upcoming events of the

institution. This application can easily be accessed through the use of the internet which

will be very useful to the alumni because they can keep in touch with the institution even

if they do not visit the school. This application can be very useful especially to those

alumni who are now living abroad because they can still get connected with their

fellowmen and the institution. This application is also useful because it can make

transactions and process paperless.

Nowadays, computers have infiltrated all the aspects of our society. The computer is

most likely one of the great technological mechanism for future change. It can now

simply make our works easier and lighter. With this great thing it won’t be more useful

without the computer’s software. Software is a generic term for organized collections of

computer data and instructions, often broken into two major categories: system software

that provides the basic non-task-specific functions of the computer, and application

software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks.

(http://www.studymode.com/essays/Online-Student-Alumni-System)

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Advantages of Computer-Based Information Systems

According to Josh Wepman in his article, Compute-based information systems

have been in widespread use since the 1990s in industry, non-profit organizations and

government agencies. These systems provide fast, centralized access to databases of

personnel information, reference reading, best practices and on-the-job training, and are

easily customizable to meet an organization's needs. With the Internet and technology

boom of the early 21st century, use of computer-based information networks is growing

faster each year.

The advantages are: Data Centrality which provide a "one-stop" location to find and
access pertinent computer data. Most large-scale businesses and organizations use some
sort of central database to manage user information, manage advertisement lists, store
product information and keep track of orders. Examples of central database solutions are
MySQL, PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL database solutions, coupled with custom
software which provides user interfaces. Information Coverage which provide
organizations with the advantages of having large amounts of data, covering many
different fields, all accessible via a central source. Information coverage is a huge
advantage for any organization, because having vast amounts of useful data from every
different department streamlines access and increases productivity. For users, having
access to a networked information system is analogous to having a digital library of
shared knowledge. Access Efficiency is a crucial advantage to networked information
systems over more traditional information management systems, such as paper
cataloguing and filing. Computer-based information systems catalog and file documents
in a set logical way, making data access very efficient and fast. Data can be manually
categorized, and filters created to automatically file documents that match certain
patterns. This increases employee productivity time by allowing workers to focus more
on the task at hand rather than filing paperwork. Extensibility Computer-based

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information systems are completely extensible and customizable to an organization's
needs. Upon installation, customized computer information systems use configuration
files that are tailor-made to an organization's needs to file and categorize data. Computer
software engineers frequently design custom database interfaces and information
storage/recovery systems for enterprise clients. As a company grows, modifications and
additions to this filing configuration allow easy extensibility. Computer information
systems are not limited in scale or possibility. They are uniquely designed for maximum
organizational benefit for each customer.

(https://www.techwalla.com/articles/advantages-of-computer-based-information-systems)

Review of Related Studies

Foreign

In Gandham (2011) describe Alumni Systems as a web-based information system

which are created by the universities to maintain relations with its students after they

graduate. Universities use the systems to collect alumni information and organize

outreach activities. Typical systems collect information about the current location,

workplace, job information and even hobbies of the alumni.

Tracking information about alumni usually becomes important when relevant

accreditation institutions adopt standards and accreditation criteria that involves alumni in

process of continuous assessment and evaluation of quality of study programmes [1].

The teams proposed project aims to design and develop an alumni information

system portal that can help the University of Antique to bridge the gap between the

university and its graduates.

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The Role and Importance of Alumni Relations

According to CASE (Council for Advancement and Support for Education © 1996-2019)

Alumni relations are an important part of an institution's advancement activities because:

Alumni are an institution's most loyal supporters, they are also a fundraising prospects,

they generate invaluable word-of-mouth marketing among their social and professional

networks. By engaging alumni, an institution can continue to benefit from their skills and

experience. They are the great role models for current students and are often well placed

to offer practical support to students as they start their careers. They are often in the

position to engage the expertise of the institution in their professional lives.

Maintaining a positive relationship with your alumni means that the messages

they share about your institution will also be positive – and current. If the relationship

between your alumni and your institution stalls when they leave campus, their knowledge

of your activities and achievements will no longer evolve. The messages they will share

with people will be out-of-date and could reflect poorly on the progress your institution

has since achieved.

Maintaining communication channels with alumni means you can keep them

informed of your achievements and make them part of your institution's future, not just

its past. Good alumni relations benefits alumni as well as the institution. If you support

your alumni in their professional and personal lives through activities such as the

facilitation of social and professional networks, preferential access to on-campus

expertise and facilities and negotiated benefits with third-party suppliers, they are likely

to be your loyal life-long supporters. Your support may also help your alumni achieve

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positions of success and influence, which will in turn benefit your institution as they

begin to give back.

What is SMS?

SMS stands for short messaging service, a protocol used for sending short messages over

wireless networks (Robert Triggs, 2013). In Joshi and Pathak study, “A Survey of SMS based

Information Systems” Short Message Service (SMS) is understood as one of the

revolutionary development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The increasing data transfer rates of mobile technology has complimented this

development with a great extent. People irrespective of their socio-economic background

use mobiles as information access terminals. It has become the most reachable bridge to

link up the digital divide. The underline power of data exchange using SMS service is

playing a key role to evolve the applicability of mobiles in information systems and

retrieval.

Its popularity has grown because it is less expensive than the airtime used for

voice calls or web access. It is non-intrusive cause messages are received in a discrete

fashion and do not interrupt an individual if they are in the middle of a meeting and it is

integration capabilities because many software programs can be set up to send text alerts

to mobile phones when urgent conditions exist.

The team added SMS as one of the features in their study because SMS is one of

the best ways to connect with the alumni because not all of them have a smartphone

connected to the internet at all times.

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Local

UMT Alumni Information System

The role of information system can’t be ignored doing things faster, doing things

better, and doing thinks smarter these all traits are possible just because of two words,

Information system. Alumni information system is one of the examples of information

system. To get contact with the old students and to provide the assistance to this old

student for their future progress in all field of life and maintain the record of the students.

Following core aims and objective can describe the real need of the AIS. The aims and

objectives of UMT Alumni information system are to encourage alumni to maintain links

with the University and with each other, in order: to promote more effectively the welfare

and interests of the University and its alumni; to support the University’s aims and

objectives and uphold its reputation as an ambassadors of the University; to establish

mutually beneficial relationship between the University and its alumni and to bind the

alumni more closely together; to assist in developing financial and other resources for the

University and the Alumni Association; to develop linkages for mutual benefit (such as

research) with other professional alumni bodies, and to remain the part of the university

even after the study.

(www.scribd.com/doc/14670016/UMT-Alumni-Information-System)

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Related Systems

Foreign

Figure 1. AlmaShines

AlmaShines

AlmaShines is an alumni management software that manages end to end

operations of Alumni Relations, to eliminate all the hassles associated to alumni

management. The software has the admin dashboard that manage and track all the

activities on a single Dashboard and experience the alumni power, it has a self updating

alumni directory that ensures that alumni are never out of touch. AlmaShines has a

secure database. All the Alumni Database stored on their servers is stored in a secure

format, ensuring that the database gets solely used for institute’s interest. With their multi

tier authentication protocols, they ensure that every user becoming a part of an alumni

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community is a genuine member. It has a mobile friendly interface that the platform has

been optimised to perform at its best, whether if it is on laptop or on mobile. It has an on-

mail assistance or email that drives alumni engaged on a platform.

Local

Figure 2. PHINMA-UI Alumni Information System

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PHINMA UI Career and Alumni Centre Information Monitoring System with SMS

notification aims to have an easier way to save alumni information to the database and

secure the information as well. It can also help the administrator of Centre for Career and

Alumni Association Office to find and retrieve alumni information. The system will also

help the administrator to notify the unemployed Alumni via SMS if there is available job

related to their courses.

The proposed system is similar to Phinma UICACIMS. The system can save

alumni information as well as can find and retrieve alumni information. The system can

also notify the alumni regarding the upcoming events of the university or available jobs

that is related to their courses.

Figure 3. UST AIS

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 UST is the catholic university of the Philippines committed to protect the personal

privacy of its stakeholders. They collect relevant information online through the

Thomasian Alumni Information System. They collect the past and present employment

graduate’s degrees, recognitions, awards and other information which allow them to

determine attainment of graduate outcomes after completion of degrees in their

institution.

How they process data, they conduct data analytics of all alumni data. They conduct

predictive and prescriptive analytics for future decision making regarding the program

they are offerings and teaching-learning strategies. In their system, they implement

security safeguards designed to protect their alumni’s data. They regularly monitor their

systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks.

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Table 1. Comparative Table

Comparative Table of the Four System

Announcement
SYSTEM Registration Database
and NewsFeed SMS Module
Module System Module
Module

AlmaShines

PHINMA-UI
Alumni Information
System

UST AIS

UA Alumni

Information System

Synthesis

The existing literature, studies and systems focuses on how to contribute a good

relationship to alumni and its alma mater and it is relevant to the present study. The

researchers believe that the ideas indicate that the use of Alumni Information System will

really have a great help to the university in gathering information of the whereabouts of

their graduates. It also provides career service opportunities to the graduates of the

college.

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 Chapter III

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Hardware

To develop the system, the group will use at least 4GB Random Access Memory

(RAM) for fast developing that avoid problems or less performances for the deployment.

The team requires the client to have a PC with at least 4GB Random Access Memory

(RAM) and Printer for printing of reports. Mobile phone that can be use by the users

since the system can send and receive messages or notification through SMS.

Software

For the development of UA Alumni Information System, the software

development tool that will be use are: Windows 10 Operating System, scripting language

such as PHP that will be utilize as front-end XAMPP application that will use MySQL as

back-end of the system. MySQL is one of the best Relational Database Management

System being used by developing web-based software application, Apache application

that acts as web server and Notepad++ as development platform.

Peopleware

The users of this system are the following: IT capable Alumni Staff as the Admin,

the staff of every colleges as sub-admin, they are some responsible in pre-registration of

the graduating student as well as confirmation or update of the status of the alumni.

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Network ware

The system will be establishing to internet since the project is online. The type of

the network going to use is internetwork. As long as the computer or other devices is

connected to the internet, the graduates can access the system anytime and anywhere and

SMS gateway that is needed to send SMS.

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 CHAPTER IV

METHODOLOGY

Requirements Analysis

Figure 4. Iterative Model

The iterative model is a particular implementation of a software development life

cycle (SDLC) that focuses on an initial, simplified implementation, which then

progressively gains more complexity and a broader feature set until the final system is

complete.

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Planning and Requirements: The team allotted eight days of initial planning to map out

the specification documents. Here, the team organized group, find client, send letter,

prepare questions and conduct an interview.

Analysis and Design Phase: Once, the planning is complete, gathering of data and

analyzing it to identify the problem is what the team performed. It took nine days of

gathering data and five days of identifying the problem.

Implementation Phase: With planning and analysis out the way, the team can now begin

with the actual implementation and coding process. All the planning specification, and

design documents up to this point are coded and implemented into this initial iteration of

the project. It takes the team three months to perform this stage.

Testing Phase: Once this current build iteration has been coded and implemented, the

next step done by the team is to go through a series of testing procedures to identify and

locate any potential bugs or issues that have cropped up.

Evaluation Phase: Once all prior stages have been completed, it is time for a

thorough evaluation of development up to this stage. This allows the team, as well as

clients or other outside parties, to examine where the project is at, where it needs to be,

what can or should change, and so on.

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Requirements Modelling Diagram

Input Process Output

ADMIN ADMIN ADMIN

Administrator’s User Login Homepage

Name and Password
Add, save, edit and Updated Alumni Data
Alumni Data update
View
Create Announcement/ Announcement/Events
Events
Announcement/ Events
Generate Report
Report Printed Report

ALUMNI ALUMNI ALUMNI

User Name and Login Homepage

Password
Alumni Personal
Register Homepage
Information
Personal Details

Performance:

 The Alumni can view the events and announcement.

 The Admin is the one who manage the user account.
 The alumni can update their profile.
 The Admin can create report.
 The Admin can print report.

Figure 5. Process Input Output Control

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Input
The system will allow the Alumni to input their username and password as well as

the admin to access the system Alumni Information System. If the Alumni don’t have an

account yet, they have to create first their account. In creating an account, the system is

requiring the alumni to fill up the registration form by their personal information. After

creating an account successfully, the homepage of the system will display.

Process

The Admin has the authority to manage alumni data. He can add, save, edit and

update that data. He can also update his user name and password. Also the admin is the

one who create an announcement, update it and post it as well as the events of the

university. He is also the one who print the report. The Alumni can view updated events

and announcement and can also update their profile.

Output

After the process of the different modules, the system will show the output done

by the user or the admin. Displaying the updated alumni data and alumni report, updated

announcement and events are all the output.

Performance

Since it is web-based software, the full functionality will rely on good internet

connection. The greater the speed of internet the better accessibility to the system. Same goes

with the RAM installed in their device the higher RAM the better performance in terms saving,

creating, and updating its database for the good performance of the system.

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Control
The Admin, Alumni, and Developer are the users of the system. Alumni is the one who
will initiate all features that can login, register, update profile, view events and announcement and
so on… An Admin can only manage all the alumni’s information like updating alumni data, post
announcement and events and print report. While the Developer is the one who will manage and
secure the database and secure and maintain the system.

Team Organizational Structure

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Figure 6. Team Organizational Structure

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Task definition

Project Manager

The Project Manager Resurrecion Aurelio is the one who is responsible for

delivering the project and has all the authority to plan and run the project on daily basis.

She assigns different task to the team members and check for updates on the status of

each task to the whole team. Overall how the project will shape and reach its desired goal

depends upon the skill-set of project manager and the entire system rely heavily on her

management traits.

Programmer

The Programmer Resurrrecion Aurelio is the one who visualized the interface of

the system and she is knowledgeable in using a computer language in coding the system.

The programmer focuses on creating the program to make the system functional,

understand every language that she uses for the purpose of making a system design that

acceptable for the client.

System Analyst

The System Analyst Cristen Maban is the one who uses analysis and design

techniques to solve the problem based on conducted interview and the brain of a possible

solution on what the client’s need for the improvement of the system. Interacts with the

system to learn and understand the flow of it. Serve as change agents who identify the

organizational improvements needed, design systems to implement those changes, and

train and motivate others to use the systems.

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The Researcher

The researcher Loren Encarnado is responsible for studying user needs, analyzing

the data, and then designing and implementing a program to meet those needs.

Requirements Documentation

Operational Feasibility

Fishbone Diagram

Figure 7. Fishbone Diagram

Functional Decomposition Diagram

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Figure 8. Functional Decomposition Diagram

26
Technical Feasibility

The propose study is technically feasible because the availability of resources are

attainable for the alumni and the alumni association. Nowadays, android mobile phones

are mostly used for communication due to its portability and because of innovation of

technology the mobile device can now access, gather, and search information in the

internet using different search like google search engine.

Compatibility

The Alumni Information System is a web-based information system intended for

the alumni to communicate with its university. It is compatible with windows 10 for

mobile device that support smaller screen, such as tablets and smart phone. Alumni and

admin can use any brand of computer with no windows OS specification or other OS

platform. For the browser it must be the latest version because HTML and CSS syntax

may not work properly in older version of browser. In developing this online alumni

information system, the tools that we’re going use are Notepad++ as IDE, XAMPP

application and Google Chrome, Mozilla or Internet Explorer browser. Then a High level

Language to implement the propose project which are HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL.

Consistency

The team goal is to create a good responsive web designed which is timely and

accurate that every page is fast download and precise GUI with theme. Buttons is

consistent in placement; color schemes are set the same and images are fixed to fit with

the team of concept. This project’s purpose is to develop a sophisticated and original

design of the website for the project. And to meet the user interface requirements for our

27
client to be satisfy. This new portal will surely benefit the alumni association,

administrator, faculty and the alumni. It can be used at home, at any place or anywhere

since it has an SMS feature that can notify the alumni when internet connection is not

accessible. No need to pay because it is free for alumni. And the expected expenses when

deploying the system is the annual hosting fee and a SMS gateway which is not that very

expensive.

Schedule Feasibility

Table 2. Work Breakdown Structure

1. Duration of the Project

Start Date Delivery Date Duration

November 16, 2018 July 15, 2019 242 days

2. Work Breakdown Structure

TASK DATE ALLOTMENT AVERAGE

OPTIMIST NORMAL PESSIMIST DAY
1. PLANNING 1 4 7 7
Organize Group 1 1 1 1
Find Client 1 3 3 3
Send Letter 1 1 1 1
Prepare Question 1 2 2 2
Conduct Interview 1 1 1 1

2. ANALYSIS 8 15 26 26
Data Gathering 10 10 20 20
Identifying Problem 2 4 6 6

3. DESIGN 14 16 30 30
Plan System Design 3 5 8 8
Design Database 6 8 14 14
Design GUI 3 5 8 8

Implementation: 20 40 60 60
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ITERATION 1
Coding and 15 15 30 30
Debugging
Reviewing of codes 10 15 25 25
Testing 2 3 5 5

Implementation : 20 40 60 60
ITERATION 2
Coding and 15 15 30 30
Debugging
Reviewing of codes 10 15 25 25
Testing 2 3 5 5

Implementation : 20 40 60 60
ITERATION 3
Coding and 15 15 30 30
Debugging
Reviewing of codes 10 15 25 25
Testing 2 3 5 5

5. DEPLOYMENT 1 1 2 2
Uploading to the 1 1 1 1
Host
Maintenance 1 1 1 1

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Gantt Chart

Figure 9. Gantt Chart

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References:

Lakshmi Prasanna Gandham. 2011. A Framework for Designing Smart Alumni Systems,

pp. 14

Peter Cich, Pavol Fabik, Jan Garaj, Joseff Hergott, Josef Hopko. 2008. Information

System Alumni. pp. 2-3.

Danijel Mijic and Dragan Jankovic. 2011. Towards Improvement of the Study

Programme Quality: Alumni Tracking Information System.

Manish R. Joshi, Varsha M. Pathak. A survey of SMS based Information Systems. pp. 1.

Tom Cannon. What is SMS and how does it work? https://www.notepage.net/learning-

center/what-is-sms.htm. October 2015.
CASE. The Importance of the Alumni Network.
https://www.redbrickresearch.com/2015/10/29/the-importance-of-the-alumni-network/

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