Chapter 1:

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

University life is so busy both for faculties and students and good online scheduling system can become a great
relief for everybody. Handling applicant interviews, meeting with students, event management and examination
timetabling are hectic jobs for university management people. With so many university activities, it is important for
students to know when they can discuss their academic paper, thesis or other things. As a staff, you may need to let your
students obtain your calendar and book an appointment with you so as to avoid constant calls, emails and making notes.

In line with this, the researcher wants to study the classic appointment scheduling problem that the CAE
faculties encounter in the process of service. In such, setting an appointment refers to an epoch that sets the moment of
the client’s or the student’s arrival in time. In regards with the problem, the researchers want to find a way to minimize
the idle time of the faculty in providing services to clients or students. Effectively and efficiently maximizing the time
allotment for every student or client can provide high quality service.

CAE Online Appointment System dramatically simplifies all kinds of scheduling tasks. By providing the staff and
students with sturdy yet easy to use web scheduling tools, it eliminates many phone calls otherwise needed to register
students for tests, interviews, counselor sessions, workshops, and classes. It is a secure browser-based online scheduling
application. It can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet, both off-campus and on-campus. It is fast,
reliable, and available to you and your students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It is also a free online scheduling which can be used as an internal system, allowing only the authorized staff
members to access schedules, registrations and students record or it can be opened up for students, so that they can
self-register for certain academic tasks, such as exams or seminars. Better yet, pick time can be used in two ways. One to
provide restricted access to professor schedules only for professors themselves and second to make the exam and test
registrations available for students, professors, and administrative staff.

Background of the Study

As technologies continue to advance, computer becomes much closer to everyday life. Computers are already
seen anywhere at work, offices, schools and at home. Daily activities involve the use of information from computers.
This maybe because computers are used in almost every field of profession like education and office works to perform
large amount of computer related work. Computerization is a control system that manages processes in industrial
workplace. It reduces human errors and processing time; thus it can boost productivity that results into high quality of
product or service.
The young generation use those technological advances at incredibly faster and more successful rate than the
previous generations. One of the main reasons is that they were born in the present world where the world’s vastest
information library is available for free anywhere any time. We call it the internet. The internet is not just the web.
The problem is, universities are still using the old manual way of scheduling their clients that takes days, weeks
or even months to finish. With the help of free internet and cheaper computers, the researchers decided to develop a
system that will aid the CAE department to transition into a more advanced computerized scheduling system.

Theoretical Framework
The use of manual system in administering companies has dominated the industry world even before
technologies came. But it was not enough, especially for those huge companies that process large amount of data on a
daily basis. Management constraints have been the issue of early users of manual system; thus, preventing them to
utilize their maximum potential administrations. The innovation of technologies resolved the need for automated
processing systems.
Early researchers proposed theories regarding processing systems that have withstood the test of time, and
remained useful in the present days. One of which is the queuing theory as used in the “analysis of appointment system
to reduce outpatient waiting time at Indonesia’s public hospital” by Fatma Poni Mardiah and Mursyid Hasan Basri, the
researchers.
Queuing is an event where people or goods will undergo a process from the arrival queue; enter the queue,
waiting, until the last service. Limits the length of the queue can be limited (limited) can also (unlimited), depending on
the number of existing units in the system. Waiting line or queuing system is an items or people in a line awaiting
service. The parts of a waiting line are: (a) Arrivals or inputs to the system: these have characteristic such as population
size, behavior, and statistical distribution. (b) Queuing discipline or waiting line itself: Characteristic of the queue include
whether it is limited or unlimited in length and the discipline of people or items in it, for example FIFO. (c) The service
facility: its characteristic includes its design and the statistical distribution of service time.
In this study, queuing theory will be propounded because the researchers of this study believe that time is also a
factor to be considered. In lined with the theory, the development of the CAE appointment system is a demand from the
users in addressing their unsettled issues to the CAE faculties. In doing so, online reservations via web-based system
became a necessity in answering the user’s concerns.
Another theory that was formulated is the daily scheduling theory the focuses on three topics – access rules,
encounter start times, and approaches for handling differences between the scheduled and the realized supply/demand
as the day unfolds. Access rules help sort patients into different priority classes, specify access targets and the amount of
reserved capacity for each class, and guide managers’ response to the variation between realized and scheduled demand
and supply. Encounter start times specify the date and time when service providers and patients are expected to be
ready for the examination or procedure. Differences between scheduled and actual demand/supply are common. They
can arise as a result of longer than expected service times, provider/patient tardiness, late cancelations and no-shows,
and unanticipated urgent/emergency demand.
The researchers of this study also believe that this theory is important because it priorities inquiries that are
urgent by the use of access rules, specifies time and date for the availability of both users and faculties, and determines
reasons between what was scheduled and the actual performance of users and faculties. It will be a building block of the
systems for it operates 24/7 in accepting inquiries from users.

Conceptual Framework

Inputs Process Outputs

•Reservations • Sorts urgent appointments • Attend the reserved
•Inquiries •Transmits inquiries to the appointments
•Appointments CAE aculties • Answers inquiries
• Checks the availability of •Discuss the matters to the
the CAE faculties users

Figure 1.1 Simplified conceptual framework for developed system

The researchers developed a simplified conceptual framework for the proposed web-based system. Figure 1.1
shows the functionalities of the developed system in terms of: (a) Inputting reservations, addressing inquiries, and
making appointments to the CAE faculties, (b) Process these generated date from the developed system and transmit it
to the directly to the CAE faculties, (c) Providing an output information needed by the users to settles all inquiries,
concerns that have been addressed to the CAE faculties.

Statement of the Problem

The problem studied in this thesis is related to online appointment scheduling in CAE faculty for both professor
and students. Thus, a hybrid approach is considered that accommodates both professors and students in an open access
scheduling. Advance scheduling is applied to the students in a proposed transaction with the professor appointed, while
same-day scheduling is allowed to the students in a regular transaction with appointed professor.
General problem:
1. What is the significant of CAE appointment system in the faculty?
Specific problems:
1. The CAE appointment system can accommodate both transitional and open access scheduling.
 2. The CAE appointment system needs queuing principle of first come first serve and patience preference.

Assumptions and Hypotheses

It is assumed that the daily request of all client followed by a poison distribution. The mean request rate of
regular appointment student is 17 per day, while the mean request rate of special appointment student is 3 per day. It is
assumed that the total capacity of the faculty is 20 for each day. A certain amount of capacity for regular appointment
student is reserved, so initially the scheduled capacity of regular appointment student is 17 and capacity of special
appointment student is 3. The faculty assigns students base on the queuing principle of first come and first served and
students preference. The open appointment period ranged from 1 week to 2 months. Thus we assume that 2-week is the
open appointment period here. For some professors, when students request appointment through online CAE
appointment system, they can choose the combination of preferred dates, time, slots and professor. However, in some
faculty, especially to small faculty cannot choose those in request form, which affect the student’s satisfaction. In this
thesis the students allowed to choose their preferred dates. In addition, since it is assumed that the faculty has
undifferentiated professor and time slots, students are served by any available Professors and time slots. The approach
of CAE APPOINTMENT SYSTEM is to extend for more refined scheduling. For example, instead of daily time buckets, our
approach would apply to any division of time.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This research study entitled, “CAE Appointment System: Responsive Website” was conducted to prepare a
systematic schedule of appointment between the CAE professor and student. The user/student can reserve for his
preferred date, time and professor (but depending on the professor’s time availability). The appointment will surely help
the student to address his academics concerns, problems, inquiries or issues to a chosen professor. Of course, the user
must need an account to use the website. This study is limited to Universidad de Manila, College of Accountancy and
Economics department only. This is valid only until the end of the second semester, school year 2018-2019. The website
is accessible only via Wi-Fi or Mobile Data.

Significance and Importance of the Study

The researchers aim to develop a system that will aid the College of Accountancy and Economics department to
transform into a more advanced computerized scheduling system. The researchers want to find a way on how to
minimize the idle time of the professors/faculties in providing services to their students, yet effectively and efficiently
maximizing the quality of service the professors can provide to their students’ problems. This online appointment system
is accessible from any computer connected to the Internet, both off-campus and on-campus. It is fast, reliable and
available for 24 hours. The contributions of this research would be a benefit to both professors/faculties and students of
College of Accountancy and Economics. The Universidad de Manila would also have a benefit if this study will become
successful in the future.

Definitions of Terms
For the better understanding of the readers about this study, here are the following terms mentioned in this
research:
Appointment - an arrangement to meet someone at a particular time and place.

Computerized scheduling systems - are method to help multiple people manage appointments and meetings, they tend
to be more efficient than manual scheduling.

Hybrid approach – makes the planning and project estimation a lot more accurate.

Online appointment system – is a web-based application that allows individuals to conveniently and securely book their
appointments and reservations online through any web-connected device.

Manual scheduling system - is the old way of scheduling appointments for a workgroup, in which all scheduling is
funneled through an appointments secretary with a central calendar.

Poisson distribution – a discrete frequency distribution that gives the probability of a number of independent events
occurring in a fixed time.

Queuing theory – is the study of contention for the use of a shared, but limited, resource.

Systematic - done according to a fixed plan, in a thorough and efficient way.

Technological advancement - is the generation of information or the discovery of knowledge that advances the
understanding of technology.

Web-based information system - are usually provided by a third-party service provider that offers appointment
scheduling tools and features as a hosted software solution, usually provided via a web browser.