This research work deals with the problems of managing and allocating hostels and to avoid the problems which occur when carried out manually. The objective of this research work “A web based Student Hostel Allocation System” is to develop a web based system with a central database that will automatically allocate rooms to students, manage records related to the hostel, the system designed will keep track of all the available hostels. Information for this research work was collected from two forms of data which are primary and secondary data. These are done by semi structured interviews and exploitation of the services of the library from textbooks, journals, internet and other materials for purpose of better understanding. The methodology used is an object oriented methodology (OOM); this method develops a computer system on component basis which enables the effective re-use of software component and facilitates the sharing of its component. The new system was implemented using PHP and MySQL. The result of the research is a Web based Student Hostel Allocation System, a system that facilitate timely allocation of hostel rooms to students and keep hostel occupancy record and report for easy retrieval.

Table of Contents

CERTIFICATION i

APPROVAL ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.0 Background of Study 1

1.1 Statement of the Problem 3

1.2 Objectives 3

1.3 Significance of the Project 4

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.0 Introduction 5

2.1 Theoreticalbackground 6

2.2 Review of Related Literature 7

2.2.1 Historical Development of Hostel 9

2.2.2 Student Housing In Nigeria Tertiary Institutions 10

Chapter 3: SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 13

3.0 Introduction 13

3.0.1 Research approach and design 15

3.1 Description of Existing System 15

3.2 Analysis of Proposed System 16

3.2.1 Requirement Analysis 17

3.2.2 Feasibility Study 20

3.3 Design of Proposed System 21

3.3.1 Database Design 22

3.3.2 Modular design 25

3.4 System Design and Specification 26

3.4.1 Dataflow Diagram 26

3.4.2 Entity Relationship Model 31

3.4.3 Use Case Model 33

Chapter 4: SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION 35

4.0 Introduction 35

4.1 Choice of Development Environment 35

4.2 Implementation Architecture 36

4.3 Software Testing 38

4.4 Documentation 40

Chapter 5: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 45

5.1 Conclusion 45

5.2 Recommendation 45

REFERENCE 46

APPENDIES 48

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of Study

Hostel is an establishment which provides cheap food and lodging for specific group of people, it is also seen as a home for students when staying away from their home. It has large well ventilated dormitories and single rooms and is situated in the school premises. Providing clean and calm hostel accommodation is one of the key responsible of school management.

To manage the hostel facilities, a lot of data need to be maintained such as number of student hostel can accommodate, hostel rules and regulation, hostel fee, hostel in and out of student, guest and visitor record and so on. So, this needs the system which has an ability to capture all kind of data and information and analyze it properly for smooth functioning of the hostel. Hostel warden can easily maintain the data.

Hostel Allocation in schools often involves administering of all activities of students. All these still remain difficult and require some job for the school management. Hostel Allocation functions and responsibilities in modern day schools have always been a problem in managing, because of the manual system method of tools they use. Hostel Allocation System is well designed specially to meet challenges of administrative set up of any school.

Hostel Allocation System can be used to assist in student’s allocation, setup hostel information, hostel application. In short, this system will assist the staff in managing some of the hostel activities. In 1912, in Altena Castle in Germany, [6]RichardSchirrmann created the first permanent "Youth Hostel". These first Youth Hostels were an exponent of the ideology of the German Youth Movement to let poor city youngsters breathe fresh air outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible, doing chores to keep the costs down and build character as well as being physically active outdoors. Because of this, many Youth Hostels closed during the middle part of the day.

There are several differences between hostels and hotels, including:

Hostels tend to be budget-oriented; rates are considerably lower, and many hostels have programs to share books, DVDs and other items on the other hand hotel rates are not lower, many hotels are built with the intention of making the customer spend exorbitantly.
For those who prefer an informal environment, hostels do not usually have the same level of formality as hotels.
For those who prefer to socialize with their fellow guests, hostels usually have more common areas and opportunities to socialize. The dormitory aspect of hostels also increases the social factor. Hotels also have common areas but not for socializing as such but for more serious business.
Hostels are cheaper to cut costs, hostels forgo many of the usual room amenities that non-business travellers rarely use anyway but payment may not be as convenient in hotels because it has all the usual room amenities.
You Can Negotiate in some hostels since they cater to backpackers who only stay a couple of nights at a time, you may be able to negotiate a better rate if you’ll be staying a week or longer. But hotels have a fixed rate which is non-negotiable.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

This study will be concerned with the problems posed by poor hostel allocation, as it affects the quality of education in higher institute with particular reference to Godfrey Okoye University and these are as follows:

At Godfrey Okoye University, the whole process of hostel allocation and management is done manually.
Statistics of the number of rooms required to match the growing number of students are far-fetched.
Most often, the overall process is time consuming and requires a lot of effort.
student’s information retrieval is difficult and records are unsecured due to manual method of storage.

1.2 Aim of study

The aim of the research work is to develop Hostel Allocation software that will manage the hostel activities of Godfrey Okoye University, Ugwuonu-Nike, Enugu.

The main objectives of the project include:

Identify and model the requirements to develop the system.
Provide online student application for students to apply for hostel.
Upgrade from manual means of student’s hostel allocation.
Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hostel database, which will contain information on all the available rooms in the hostels.
Design a computer – driven hostel allocation system for allocating hostel rooms to students.
Generate reports on hostel occupancy.

1.3 Significance of the Project

This project will affect student and staff of the university in the sense that it will change the system of hostel allocation from manual to automated, facilitates timely allocation of hostel rooms to student.

The project will provide a first-hand information on the statistics of student in the hostel and enable management to plan on improving hostel living condition

The cost effectiveness affects the overall administration by reducing the problem with bureaucracy in hostel allocation. c