The Project
The University at Buffalo consists of five departments: Counseling, School and Educational Psychology (CSEP), Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP), Learning and Instruction (LAI), Library and Information Studies (LIS), and Teacher Education Institute (TEI). These administrative offices handle incoming and current students along with alumni. Faculty and staff include deans, professors, secretaries, and work study students. The "business expert" in our group worked as an office assistant for this organization filing incoming documents into students’ folders, manually alphabetizing records, and correcting files that were out of order. The current system in place is completely paper based with each department having their own separate records meaning it can be time consuming to manage files and other inconveniences. Thus, we built a database that includes all the students, advisors, and programs in the Graduate School. The new system comes with enchancements that make it easier for employees to find student files by putting all five department files in one place and eliminating problems such as files being out of order or missing.