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diff --git a/iadocs/crita_planning.tex b/iadocs/crita_planning.tex index e69de29..70c985c 100644 --- a/iadocs/crita_planning.tex +++ b/iadocs/crita_planning.tex @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +\documentclass{scrartcl} + +\subject{IBDP Computer Science Internal Assessment} +\title{Criterion A: Planning} +\author{Runxi Yu} +\date{\today} + +\usepackage{tgtermes} +\usepackage{tgheros} +\usepackage{microtype} + +\begin{document} +\maketitle + +\section{Problems with the existing system} + +There are various issues with Schoolsbuddy, the current system our school uses +for CCA registrations: + +\begin{itemize} + \item There are various race conditions and locking issues that occur when too many + students use the system at the same time. Course member caps are enforced by + kicking random users out of the system while over-filling some courses, + instead of having the course choice fail gracefully. The number of remaining + seats in each course is also not updated live. + \item If a lot of people are trying to load the Schoolsbuddy page, it takes ages. + \item The web interface is extremely bloated and contains more than 10 megabytes of + unnecessary JavaScript. + \item The main interface displays three CCA periods, and inside each CCA period you + can choose between Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. That's a bit + unintuitive. + \item It seems to only support authentication by PowerSchool single sign-on, which + is problematic because PowerSchool only supports a limited number of students + logging on at the same time. + \item The selection system does not enforce CCA hours requirements, and the CCA + office's staff must manually verify that students have completed CCA choices + to the year group's requirements, by literally printing out the spreadsheet + to paper and reading through them. + \item The school has to pay Schoolsbuddy a subscription fee, while something as + simple as CCA selection could be easily accomplished on cheap hardware and + minimal software. +\end{itemize} + +\section{Key questions} + +\begin{itemize} + \item How does the CCA staff enter available courses, teacher information, member + caps, and timing information into the system? Would it be okay if I just + accept a CSV spreadsheet? + Apparently they use the Schoolsbuddy web page to do so. I'd add a CSV upload + as that would be more convenient for most purposes. + \item How do they get student choices out of the system and into PowerSchool? + It looks like they export an Excel sheet. See \texttt{docs/fields.txt}. +\end{itemize} + +\end{document} |