Web-based handling of the administrative tasks in a master
thesis

Abstract: At the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Luleå
University of Technology, all administrative tasks of master theses are
handled on paper. This is an inefficient and old-fashioned approach, with
much room for improvement. Because of this, there was a desire among the
department staff for a more modern system. This report describes the process
of designing, developing and evaluating such a system.

During this project, common practices of software development have been
used. Starting as a paper prototype, our suggested solution evolved through
two iterations into a system meeting most of the requirements. Limited user
tests were conducted to evaluate the design of the system’s user interface.

The resulting system consists of a user-authenticated web site were users
perform all master thesis related tasks and a MySQL database storing all
information. Important system events are logged and users are notified of
waiting tasks by e-mail.

One conclusions made during the project is that the core functionality
should have been given more time, instead of focusing to much on functions
less important for the system completeness. Also, external systems should
have been examined earlier in the project to take advantage of already
existing information, and thus avoiding redundant implementation of input
forms.