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UNIVERTY OF DAR ES SALAAM

RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR THE MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE DEGREE BY THESIS STAGE: I & II 1.0. NAME OF CANDIDATE: LUNGO, JUMA H. Reg.No: HD/TP.1/2000 B.Sc. (Comp.) (Hons.) (DAR) 2.0. NAME OF SUPERVISOR: 1. Dr. S. C. N. Kitinya 2. Dr. H. M. Twaakyondo 3.0. DEPARTMENT AND FACULTY: DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE FACULTY OF SCIENCE. 4.0. PROPOSED DEGREE: M.Sc. (COMPUTER SCIENCE) 5.0. TITLE: Design And Implementation of a Data Warehouse Prototype For The Chief Academic Officer, University Of Dar Es Salaam Within The Context of Relational Online Analytical Processing (Data Analysis).

6.0 INTRODUCTION
6.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION IBM first published a technical article on information warehouse strategy in 1988 (Ballard, Chuck. 1996). This is a strategy for satisfying business needs for complex queries and insightful information with a managed database. In 1990, William Inmon (Inmon, W. H. 1997) coined he phrase Data warehouse. The ultimate goal of data warehousing is the creation of a single, logical view of data, which may reside in many physically disparate databases (Butler Group. 1996). traditional database systems are good at recording and reporting what happened. A data warehouse shows why (Fisher, Lawrence. 1996). Data warehouses represent the latest great paradigm of database management. The earliest data management systems were hierarchical, run on massive mainframes, and were used primarily for archival purposes. The first big change came in the early 1980s, with the adoption of relational database systems, which have primarily operational applications. These systems, typically run on minicomputers, are used for online transaction processing (O.L.T.P.), for example, to operate networks automated teller machine. Now come Data warehouses, commonly run on client/server networks of personal computers and more powerful server machines. These latest systems are used for online analytical processing (O.L.A.P.), an essentially strategic application.

3 Data warehouse organize and store data, from the operational environment, over a long historical time perspective. Consequently, they provide data found in the operational environment. Data warehouse allows user to recognize data they want and, using simple query tools, create their own queries, based on solid repository of integrated, historical data. The concept of data warehouse is that: Its a place where data extracted from production systems in the enterprise is stored (Warner, Tim. 1995). The University of Dar es Salaam as a big organization, there are operational systems like: Admission systems, Accommodation system, Examination record system, Master timetable, etc. all of these systems generate data that are vital to the University decision makers. Data warehouse is required to organize all of these data to be readily accessible and meaningful to the Chief Academic Office to support their decisions making. This study is divided into two main parts. The first part of the study will involve literature study, and documentation of the architecture, planning and designing methods, implementation techniques and laying out options for data ware house. This part of the research will be carried out and documented to enhance future references. The second part of the research will be that of laboratory work. This will involve the real development of the prototype of Data warehouse within the context of Relational Online Analytical Processing (ROLAP).

6.2. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM:

The frustrations of the 1970s are felt more keenly today, because the technology that facilitating sharing of data (network, communication protocols, sophisticated Database Management Systems, Decision support systems, etc.) are freely available, yet organizations still find

4 that data is organized into functional silos, from which it is hard to extricate what you want in other, related function (Jack D. Doyle. 1997). At the University of Dar es Salaam, despite the availability of more and more powerful computers on everyones desk and communication networks, large number of executives and decision makers cant get their hands on critical information that already exist in the University. One of the executives of the University is the Chief Academic officer. As an education institution, the University every day creates data about students, supporting programmes, staff etc, of which are important in supporting the daily works of the Chief Academic office of the University, but for the most part, this data is locked up in a myriad of manual and computer systems and is exceedingly difficult for the chief academic officer to get at. We are intending to conduct a study to analyse, design and implement data warehouse that will enable high improvement of information access for the Chief Academic Office. According to Michael Haisten, 1998 the most powerful justifications for opting Data warehouse investment in the Chief Academic office therefore are: Quality goals, since its typical objective are improving information access, Bringing the user in touch with their data, Enhancing the quality of their decisions and Providing cross-function integration of operation systems within the Organisation.

5 The result obtained will then be useful for future development of successful Data warehouse of the Chief Academic office of the University of Dar es Salaam.

6.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The general aim of the research is to study the architecture, design and implementation of Data warehouses by developing a model for Chief Academic Office Data warehouse. The proposed research objectives, derived from this general aim are: To study and document the architecture of Data warehouse, To determine (identify) aspects, playing key roles in the design and implementation of data warehouse, To develop a University system model (prototype) for Data warehouse, To test (validate) the model in a real life cases.

6.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The result obtained from this research will be used to develop Data warehouse for the Chief Academic Office of the University. Also the documentation (report) of the research will be used as reference for any other study on the topic of Data warehouse especially from the University of Dar es Salaam. This study too will encourage and challenge many organisation to opt for data warehouse investment in order to improve information access within their firms, bringing the user of their information in touch with their data, and providing cross-function integration of operation systems within their organisation. Data warehouse for the Chief Academic Office will enable the decision makers to access data,

6 understood the data and manipulate them while making decisions for the UDSM.

6.5 LITERATURE REVIEW

Data warehouse is defined as a subject oriented, integrated, time variant, non-volatile collection of data in support of managements decision making process (Inmon, W.H. 1996). Subject-Oriented means the data warehouse focuses on the high-level concerns of the business, as in contrary to operational systems, which deals with process, e.g., order processing, Billing system etc. Integrated implies that data being stored in a consistent format. Time variant means each data point is associated with a point in time. And non-volatile means the data does not change once it gets into the warehouse (Jack D. Doyle. 1997). Ken Orr, 1996 stated that Data warehouse is a field that grows out of integration of a number of different technologies and experiences over the last two decades. Data warehouse can be best represented as an enterprise-wide framework for managing informational data within the organization. There are two fundamentally different types of information systems in all organizations namely Information systems and Operation systems. Operational systems are the systems that help us run the enterprise on day to day activities (Ken Orr. 1996). The University of Dar es Salaam has systems like Admission system, examinations record systems, accommodation system, Payroll, Timetable etc. Because of their importance to the University, operational systems were almost always the first to be computerized. Indeed, most large organizations couldnt operate without their operational systems and data that these systems

7 maintain. Other functions within the organization have to do with planning, forecasting and managing the organization. These are the knowledge-based functions, which form the Information system of the organization. Information systems have to do with analyzing data and making decision, often major decisions about how the enterprise will operate, now and in the future. Information data needs often span a number of different areas and needs large amounts of different operational data that are in summary form. Data warehouse provide information to the knowledge-based function (Decision Support Systems) within the organization. The operational systems generate data that have to be put and organized to the data warehouse (Vince Desio). Consider fig.1: below. Fig.1: The concept of data warehouse.

(Source: http://www.datawarehouseconsulting.com/img2.gif) A Data warehouse can be physically centralized, logically centralized but physically distributed, or simply distributed. With todays powerful Local Area Network based Database servers, data warehouse can also take advantage of the benefits of distributed computing.

8 Building a data warehouse is essentially a complex integration effort. Literally hundreds of system components must be brought together to work as an integrated application (Vince Desio. 1998). The graphic on the next page below represents only a high-level view of the basic components that comprise a Data warehouse. Fig.2: Data Warehouse Components ADMINISTRATION

INTERNAL &
EX TER N A L
O P ER A TI O N AL D A TA

W arehouse M et a D at a Syst em of Record M odel s Stew ardshi p

Transf orm at i on M et adat a I nt egrat i on Condi t i oni ng Aggregat i on I ni t i alvs. Change

SOURCING

D A TA W A R EH O U S E R EP O S I TO R Y RDBMS Physical Meta Data Mult- Dimensional

I N FO R M A TI ON A C C ES S
Mi ddl ew are Perf orm ance M anagem ent Abst ract i ons U ser obj ect Preparat i ons

Desktop

Tool s

Load

Q uery O LAP WWW Report G raphi cs Spread Sheet M et a dat a Cat al og

METADATA

DATA WAREHOUSE ARCHITECTURE.

A Data warehouse architecture is a way of representing the overall structure of data communication, processing and presentation that exists for end user computing within the enterprise. The architecture is

9 made up of a number of interconnected parts (The Ken Orr Institute; revised edition, 2000): Operational Data Base / External Data Base Layer Information Access Layer Data Access Layer Data Directory (Metadata) Layer Process Management Layer Application Messaging Layer Data Warehouse Layer Data Staging Layer Operational Data Base / External Data Base Layer The goal of data warehousing is to free the information that is locked up in the operational data bases and to mix it with information from other, often external, sources of data. Increasingly, large organizations are acquiring additional data from outside data bases. This information includes demographic, econometric, competitive and purchasing trends. The so-called "information superhighway" is providing access to more data resources every day. Information Access Layer The Information Access layer of the Data Warehouse Architecture is the layer that the end-user deals with directly. In particular, it represents the tools that the end-user normally uses day to day, e.g. Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, SAS, etc. This layer also includes the hardware and software involved in displaying and printing reports, spreadsheets, graphs and charts for analysis and presentation. Data Access Layer The Data Access layer of the Data Warehouse Architecture is involved with allowing the Information Access layer talk to the Operational Layer. In the network world today, the common data language that has

10 emerged is SQL. The Data Access layer then is responsible for interfacing between Information Access tools and Operational Data Bases. Data Directory (Metadata) Layer In order to provide for universal data access, it is absolutely necessary to maintain some form data directory or repository of meta-data information. Meta-data is the data about data within the enterprise. In order to have a fully functional warehouse, it is necessary to have a variety of meta-data available, data about the end-user views of data and data about the operational data bases. Process Management Layer The Process Management layer is involved in scheduling the various tasks that must be accomplished to build and maintain the data warehouse and data directory information. The Process Management layer can be thought of as the scheduler or the high level job control for the many processes (procedures) that must occur to keep the Data Warehouse up-to-date. Application Messaging Layer The Application Message layer has to do with transporting information around the enterprise-computing network. Data Warehouse (Physical) Layer The (core) Data Warehouse is where the actual data used primarily for informational uses occurs. Data Staging Layer Data staging is also called copy management or replication management, but in fact, it includes all of the processes necessary to select, edit, summarize, combine and load data warehouse and information access data from operation and/or external databases.

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The knowledge of Data warehouse in Tanzania is new. Currently there is no known Data warehouse in Tanzania. This research will then create awareness to the Tanzanian IT professionals and society in general to utilize the power of data warehouse especially at higher learning institutions like in the Universities where all necessary facilities for building Data warehouses are present.

6.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The architecture of the Data warehouse can be studied and documented to become standard and known to every one developing data warehouse. There are key issues playing roles in the design and implementation of data warehouse that need to be determined. The existing expertise and computer facilities at the University can facilitate to develop a data warehouse. The resulting Data warehouse Model could be tested in a real case in order to evaluate its completeness.

7.0 METHODOLOGY 7.1 Study Area

The University of Dar es Salaam was born out of a decision taken on March 25th, 1970, by the East African Authority, to split the then University of East Africa into three independent universities for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The University of Dar es Salaam consists of six faculties, five institutes and two colleges: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Faculty of Commerce and Management; Faculty of Education; Faculty of

12 Engineering; Faculty of Law; Faculty of Science; Institute of

Development Studies; Institute of Kiswahili Research; Institute of Marine Sciences; Institute of Production Innovation; Institute of Resource Assessment; the University College of Lands and Architectural Studies and the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences. The University also operates a Computing Centre, a Library and four bureaus: the Economic Research Bureau in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; the Bureau for Educational Research and Evaluation in the Faculty of Education; the Bureau for Industrial Cooperation in the Faculty of Engineering and the University Consultancy Bureau. The University is situated on the west side of the city of Dar es Salaam, occupying 1,625 acres on Observation Hill, 13 k.m. from the centre of the city of Dar es Salaam. For purposes of maintaining East African inter-university academic cooperation and communication, an Inter-University Council for East Africa was set up in 1970. The Council has established an Inter-University Exchange Programme, through which the University admits students from other East African countries mainly Kenya and Uganda. countries The University also admits students from several other the world-over through established links, exchange

programmes or individual applications. Most of these students receive their bursaries from their respective governments. Students from other countries are considered for admission to both undergraduate and postgraduate studies, subject to the availability of vacancies.

7.2 Methodology

13 A short visit will be made to the Chief Academic Office. This visit is intended to familiarize the researcher and the stakeholders and also will enable an initial study of how information flows in and out of the CACOs office.

7.2 Data Collection techniques

Observation The aim of including this data collection technique is to conduct a detailed notation of behaviors, events and the contexts surrounding the Chief Academic Office. To fulfill this, physical observations of what tools the CACO have that are used to collect analyze and disseminating information will be conducted. Interviews An interview will be held between the researcher and the Chief Academic Office staff. The purpose of interview is to find out what is in or on some elses mind (John W. Best & James V. Kahn. 1993). Questions will be designed in such a way that it will enable us to capture most information we need that will help us in our research. Case Study Case study should help in capturing the knowledge of practitioners and developing theories from it. A case study methodology is well suited to identify key events and actors and to linking them in a casual chain. The case strategy is particularly well suited to IS research because the technology is relatively new and interest has shifted to organizational rather than technical issues. Case study is chosen because of its abilities to:

14 Give the possibility to generate theories from practice (as a preparation stage for developing the model of Data warehouse); Allow to understand the nature and complexity of the processes taking place in Data warehouse; Research an area in which few previous studies have been carries out; Research an area in which it is necessary to measure variables, but there is no a priori knowledge of what the variables of interest will be. In this case the variables are aspects, which are necessary to determine and estimate their role. 7.3 EXPECTED RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

Theoretical Results The main theoretical result of the research will be the model, which supports Design and implementation of Data warehouse. The model should comply with the ongoing Information Plan Policy (IPP) at the University of Dar es Salaam. The model could include methods, techniques and/or instrumentation, which have to be able to support the Design and Implementation of Data warehouses in Tanzania.

Practical results
The main practical result of the research should be the realization of the Design and implementation of Chief Academic office Data warehouse of the University of Dar es Salaam. The success of this part of the research depends on the full support and willingness of the technical staff and management of already installed systems to realize that this research will help in their daily needs of information.

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8.0 REFERENCE/BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1.
Jack D. Doyle.(1997). Informed Decision Making Through Data warehousing.
http://dhrinfo.hr.state.or.us/intranet/tands/Dwpap/DWWHITEP.htm

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Vince Desio. Data warehouse Components. http://www.datawarehouseconsulting.com/page3.html Ken Orr. (1996). Data warehousing Technology. The Ken Orr Institute; revised edition, 2000. Roger Burlton. (1998). Data warehousing in the Knowledge Management Cycle. http//datawarehouse.dci.com/articles.

Ralph Kimball The Data warehouse Life Cycle Toolkit Building the Data warehouse by William H. Inmon Data warehouse Design Solutions by Christopher Adamson, Michael Venerble. SQL Server 7 Data warehousing by Michael Abbey, Ian Abramson, Larry Barner, be Taub, Michael J. Corey.

10. High performance Oracle Data warehousing by Donald

Burleson.

11. Data Preparation for Data Mining by Dorian Pyle 12. Data warehousing: Architecture and Implementataion by
Mark Humphries, Michael w. Hawkins, Michelle C. Dy.

13. Butler Group. 1996. Business Case for Data Warehousing.

Strategies and Technologies. October 1996, Butler Group, UK. http//www.butlergroup.co.uk/manguide/dwuk1096/contents .htm.

14. Fisher, Lawrence. 1996. Along the Infobahn. Data

Warehouses. Third Quarter, 1996. Strategy & Business,

16 BoozAllen & Hamilton Inc. http//www.strategybusiness.com/technology/96308/page1.html

15. Boar, Bernard (Bernie). 1996. Understanding Data

Warehousing Strategically. White paper commissioned by NCR's Communication Industry Line of Business. June 14, 1996. The Data Warehousing Institute, Gaithersburg, MD. http://www.tekptnr.com/tpi/tdwi/review/bboar1.htm.pp.25

16. Imirie, Peggy. 1996. Your Data Warehouse: A Business

Success or Science Project? Lesson from the Experts. 29 December 1996. The Data Warehousing Institute, Gaithersburg, MD. http://www.dwinstitute.com/lessons/sciproj.htm. pp. 2.

17. Ballard, Chuck. 1996. Strategies to make your Data

Warehouse a Success. Lesson from the Experts. December 29,1996. The Data Warehousing Institute, Gaithersburg, MD. http://www.dw-institute.com/lessons/strateg.htm pp.2.

18. Byte. 1997. Architectural Distinctions. June 1997.

http://www.byte.com/art/9706/sec20/art4.htm.

19. Eckerson, Wayne W. 1994. Implementing Access to

Distributed Data Using a Data Warehouse Strategy. Patricia Seybold Group, Distributed Computing Monitor Case Study, September 1994. http://www.psgroup.com/cases/1994/cs994d.htm.

20. Barbara, Gaskin 1998. Realizing the Strategic Value of

Data Warehouses (Decision Support Technology).

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9.0 OTHER INFORMATIONS:

9.1: Financial Requirement: The proposed study is to be financed by the University of Dar es Salaam. The technical assistance and equipment facilities will be provided by the Department of Computer Science. 9.1.1: (a). BUDGET:
YEAR 1 SUBSQUENT YEAR SPONSOR

University costs:
950,000/= 10,000/= 20,000/= 200,000/= 100,000/= 100,000/= 750,000/= 2,130,000/= 950,000/= 200,000/= 100,000/= 100,000/= 1,350,000/= UDSM -do-do-do-do-do-do-do-

DESCRIPTION

Tuition fees Application fee Registration fee Thesis Supervision Medical capitation fee Special Faculty Requirement Research Field Cost TOTAL

(b).

Student costs:
YEAR 1 SUBSQUENT YEAR SPONSOR

DESCRIPTION

Caution money Student Union Books Stationary

2,000/= 1,200/= 300,000/= 50,000/=

1,200/= 300,000/= 50,000/=

UDSM -do-do-do-

18 Thesis Production Stipend (based on 130,000/=per month) TOTAL 1,560,000/= 1,913,200/ = 150,000/= 1,560,000/= 2,061,200/= -do-do-do-

9.1.2: RESEARCH/FIELD AND MATERIAL COSTS (Computer Lab.) Up-keep allowance and transport Processing fee Electrical and electronics components Subtotal 530,000/= 120,000/= 100,000/= 750,000/=

9.1.3: RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRODUCTION: Paper 5rims @ 5,000/= Secretarial services, 30 pages @ 600/= Photocopy, Department level 30 pages @40/=, 20 copies Photocopy, Faculty level 30 pages @40/=, 20 copies Photocopy, Senate level, 30 pages @40/=, 20 copies Subtotal 9.1.4: THESIS PRODUCTION Paper 5rims @ 5,000/= Secretarial services 250 pages @ 600/= Diskettes 3 boxes @ 5,000/= Photocopy, 250 pages @40/=, 4 copies Loose bound 4 copies @ 5,000/= Final binding 4 copies @ 6,000/= Subtotal TOTAL 15,000/= 15,000/= 15,000/= 40,000/= 20,000/= 24,000/= 264,000/= 1,129,000/= 25,000/= 18,000/= 24,000/= 24,000/= 24,000/= 115,000/=

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9.2:

RESEARCH SCHEDULE 2000/2001 2001/2002

Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun Jul. Aug. Sep.

ACTIVITY Nov. Registration, literature review, Research Proposal. Data warehouse planning, Analysis and Design. Data warehouse Implementat ion and Testing. Thesis write-up, production & submission. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar.

Apr.

May

21 9.3: COMMENTS

Date:...............................................................................Signature:........................... Name: 1/2000) (candidate) Supervisor's Comments. ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... ...Date:..............................................................................Signature:......................... ... (Supervisor) Head of Department's Comments ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... ....Date:.........................................................................Signature:............................. .... Name: Dr. H. Twaakyondo The Head, Department of Computer Science. Name: LUNGO, J. H. (Reg.No: HD/TP.