Heres what I'm doing... setting up a CMS type script for schools to use. basically, students can login to check their grades and attendance, and can message teachers.... same for the parents....
teachers can login and post new assignments, update grades, and post attendance each day there is school (basic CRUD functions)... and as well they can message parents and students...
administrators can login and make reports from such information, and change settings.....
what would be a proper mysql structure for such a web application using mysql???
keep in mind I need a login table as well as the ability to do the above?
ALL help will be highly appreciated ... THANKS!!!
database structure for school management type script??????
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Re: database structure for school management type script??????
I would expect that the database structure will be the least of your challenges, although I agree completely that it is a fundamental prerequisite. Your security and permissions control will be far more complex than the database structure.syntax24 wrote:Heres what I'm doing... setting up a CMS type script for schools to use. basically, students can login to check their grades and attendance, and can message teachers.... same for the parents....
teachers can login and post new assignments, update grades, and post attendance each day there is school (basic CRUD functions)... and as well they can message parents and students...
administrators can login and make reports from such information, and change settings.....
what would be a proper mysql structure for such a web application using mysql???
keep in mind I need a login table as well as the ability to do the above?
ALL help will be highly appreciated ... THANKS!!!
That said, and following standard relational database design principles, I would envision the following entities will be required:
Users, including admins, teachers and students, with a column for which of these each one is. This could perhaps be 3 tables, instead, but having them in one table will make authentication simpler.
Classes
Attendance (a many-to-many link table, linking to Classes and Users tables, one entry for each day a student attends a class).
Grades (another many-to-many link table, linking to Classes and Users tables, one entry for each grade for a student in a class).
Your user authentication doesn't require a separate table, the data can be stored in the Users table. That's all I can think of at the moment.
I would advise you to think through the effort required by teachers/admins to maintain the database. Although it may require less effort, at least in theory, than traditional attendance sheets, it has been my experience as a college instructor that many, if not most teachers may resist maintaining the attendance data, some on the grounds that it's not practical for them to do this during class, requiring that they maintain duplicate systems, manual and database. Some may be just reacting to making any change in their habits. It's worth thinking about, though. One of the most discouraging things I can think of is if you put a great deal of effort into developing a technically sound system, only to have it essentially boycotted by those who must maintain the data input. It can happen.
Re: database structure for school management type script??????
soo.... flip of a switch to completely disable the attendance system? I know the grading will be used... but I can see how attendance might not be. At my high school however, they use a webware app like this and utilize both grading and attendance due to convenience.
Re: database structure for school management type script??????
Not necessarily. I don't want to scare you off entirely. I just wanted to make sure you have given thought to the potential issues. It sounds like your faculty are already accustomed to such systems, which is a really good situation. I've been retired from teaching for at least six years, and these days, such things can change rapidly. My suggestion would be to have discussions with a representative group of teachers/administrators, to see what they would like to have and would support. In all applications development it is really important to survey the working environment to understand the sometimes hidden aspects that can potentially turn a technically sound project into a disaster. This can be the achilles heel of any developer.syntax24 wrote:soo.... flip of a switch to completely disable the attendance system? I know the grading will be used... but I can see how attendance might not be. At my high school however, they use a webware app like this and utilize both grading and attendance due to convenience.