Development of an academic information system for effective education management

Abstract

This paper presents the development of an Academic Information System (AIS) and its deployment for effective education management. The objectives of AIS include providing detailed analysis and summarised information to academic managers to enable them to make appropriate decisions. The need to develop such decision support systems indigenously, depending on specific institutional requirements, is emphasised. Several common aspects of typical university functional environments ? the nature of diversified data items, continuous growth of data, different categories of users, demand for access, user expectations and huge quantities of information, etc. ? are considered for the design and development process. The importance of using standard database products is discussed. The advantages of using licence-free technologies are also presented. The approach suggested in this paper combines the strengths of a commercial database product and open licence technologies. The role and the end use of AIS in the automation of education management processes are illustrated.