History
of the Computer Centre
The Computer Centre started with I.B.M. 1620 transferred from Delhi University during September, 1973 in the Post Graduate Department of Physics. Since it was not meeting the required demand on computations at this University, it was replaced by IBM 360/44 from Physical Research Laboratory. A new building was constructed by the donation from the Philanthropist late Shri Gordhanbhai Hathibhai Patel. However, IBM 360/44 did not give satisfactory performance because of the high down time and unavailability of spare parts and unreliable performance. Also, it was not meeting the increased demand of research work and training. 80386 based Mini Computer supporting 16 Terminals under Unix V.3 and to support Distributed processing, LAN of 24 nodes was installed in January/February, 1988. Meanwhile, many new PC’s, PC/XT’s and PC/AT’s (around 30 in number) were procured by the Computer Centre.
During the inception of Computer Centre, the Physics Department was authorized to install IBM 1620 and co-ordinate its activities. Dr. A. R. Patel, Professor and Head, Department of Physics was in-charge of Computer Centre. In 1980, a separate Computer Centre was established which was headed by Dr. P. Thrimurthy. Dr. P.V. Patel became the Director of Computer Centre the year 1996. Since 1998 Mrs. Jyoti Tiwari is looking after the Computer Centre with additional charge of I/C Director.
Up to the year 1997 the main functions of the Computer Centre were :
· To impart practical training to the students of MCA and DCA
· To train the internal staff of the University
· To conduct practical training for refresher courses and Teachers training programme participants.
· To assist the research students
· To assist in computerization in different departments, sections, University Library and University Press
· To conduct Computer awareness programme for society which included students at all level,
· Administration -: Payroll, Examination, Accounting, etc.
After 1997, a separate Computer laboratory was established for the students of MCA and DCA in the new building of P.G. Department of Computer Science. Now the computer laboratory at the Computer Centre was used for short term course in Data Entry and training the internal staff of the University. Regular training programmes were conducted on current trends for the staff of the University. It was used by other departments for imparting training for the participants of various courses.
Infrastructure and Learning resources
Existing
Physical Facilities
|
1 |
Administrative Office :
A. Director’s Room B. Clerk office |
1 1 |
|
2 |
Xerox Room |
1 |
|
3 |
Computer Laboratory |
1 |
|
4 |
MIS Room |
1 |
|
5 |
Programmer’s Room |
1 |
|
6 |
Internet Room |
1 |
|
7 |
Class Room |
1 |
Hardware
Facilities :
* The configuration of the servers & desktops is shown in
Appendix-B.
|
Sr. No. |
Item |
Quantity |
||
|
Servers |
||||
|
1. |
Compaq ML 330e |
One |
||
|
2. |
IBM (Nodal) |
One |
||
|
3. |
IBM e Server X Series 225 |
Four |
||
|
Desktops |
||||
|
1. |
Pentium II |
One |
||
|
2. |
Compaq DeskPro |
Two |
||
|
3. |
Pentium 100 Mhz. |
Thirty Five |
||
|
4 |
Pentium IV |
Thirty |
||
|
Printers |
||||
|
1. |
Epson DFX-8000/8500 Printer |
Three |
||
|
2. |
HP LaserJet 4250 dtn |
Two |
||
|
3. |
HP Laser jet 2200D |
One |
||
|
4. |
HP Color Laser jet 3500 |
One |
||
|
5. |
HP Laser 1000 |
One |
||
|
6. |
HP Laser 1200 |
One |
||
|
7. |
HP 5 MP |
One |
||
|
Scanners |
||||
|
1. |
HP Scanjet 4c |
One |
||
|
2. |
HP Scanjet 7450 |
Two |
||
|
Multimedia Projector |
||||
|
1 |
Philips (bSure SV2) LC3132 |
Two |
||
|
Digital Camera |
||||
|
1 |
HP
Photosmart M407 |
One |
||
|
UPS |
||||
|
1 |
5
Kva online UPS, APC Make |
Two |
||
|
2 |
1 KVA
UPS, APC Make |
|
||
|
3 |
500 VA
UPS |
|
||
Present activities at the Computer Centre
Internet facility at the University
The UGC sanctioned grant for Internet connectivity in the University through ERNET India. The Computer Centre was assigned the task of giving internet connections to the departments within the University campus and satellite campuses also. There was no connectivity between the satellite campuses (MBA, MCA and Economics Departments) and some of the departments within the campus. The Computer Centre with the help of the Computer Centre identified the network to be established in the University. A private party was entrusted for fiber optic connectivity between various departments. The network diagram is shown in Appendix-C. The VSAT is installed at the Computer Centre. The connections are given through a Proxy server and mailing facilities are provided through the mail server. Around 125 connections are given to various departments. The management and maintenance of Internet connections are carried out by the staff of the Computer Centre. The computer Centre staff with their ad-hoc staff manages trouble-shooting of Internet related problems. Apart from this the staff manages to maintain the Computers wherever possible in the entire campus. A bandwidth management software is purchased to monitor the users on the usage of the Internet in the University and for the proper distribution of the bandwidth. A mail server software is also installed which takes care of different e-mail Ids of the University employees. Both these software are managed at the Computer Centre.
Various training programmes were conducted at the Computer Centre to train the faculty on e-journals accessing under UGC-Infonet programme. The programmes were conducted in collaboration with the INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad. To apprise the faculty with the concept of E-journals some private parties were also invited for their presentations.
Development of software for Automation of University Administration
Presently, various activities are automated in the University sections and the departments. But there was a need of an integrated MIS system. Hence a software was needed to cater to the needs of the University Administration. Rates from the private software firms were invited but due to the exorbitant prices, the university decided to develop the software in-house with help of the Computer Centre and Computer Science Department staff. The vision of Sardar Patel University is to create a completely user-friendly and automated University administration by the Golden Jubilee year, i.e. 2005. To realize this vision of the University, the Vice Chancellor Dr. P. J. Patel has formed an IT Roadmap team comprising of 16 core members from university administration, IT experts, and Management experts. The team felt the need for a software which could be a web-enabled information system to automate the entire operations of the University.
The benefits of the system would be:
Faster and easier access to electronic data, User friendly, sophisticated and efficient user interface, Workflow enabled, multilevel security, a single, central and linked system that works for everybody, on-line help and paper-less environment.
This core team prepared a strategy under the guidance of Ms. Jyoti Tiwari, I/c Director of the Computer Centre to proceed for the automation of the University Administration. Computerization of the activities of Account Section, Examination Section, Academic Section and Establishment Section were planned. A team of fresh MCA students of Sardar Patel University was identified for this project. The project commenced from July 2003. In the first phase, systems investigation was undertaken which was followed by a feasibility study of the existing system. A project plan was prepared with the approval of the IT Roadmap Team. The second phase started with Systems Analysis to analyze in detail, the information needs of end users, the organizational environment and the system presently used. A report prepared for each section was approved by the IT Roadmap Team.
The system is developed using three-tier architecture. With the advent of the open source and excessive price of the branded software, it was decided to develop the system under Linux operating system, application server JBoss, Database server as MySQL. The development technology used is J2EE and the tools used are Dream Weaver MX, ECLIPSE.
It is envisioned that the UMIS will shape up as a backbone for all the back office operations of the University.
A major portion of the system is already tested and implemented. The main task that is presently being executed at the Computer Centre is digitizing the student records for the purpose of assigning ID numbers to each of the student of the University. With this information, the university will be able to supply online information of each student on the internet as well as intranet. The task includes scanning of photographs and entry of the information of each student. Simultaneously, the computer centre staff is also supervising the entry of employee records.
Hardware
The main server is an IBM dual processor with Linux platform located at G H Patel Computer Centre. The clients are installed at different sections viz. Examination, Academic, Accounts, Establishment etc through Fiber Network. The network diagram is shown in the Appendix-D.
Website maintenance
The University is having its own website http://www.spuvvn.edu. It was designed and developed by a private party 5 years ago. Now the Computer Centre is maintaining the site themselves.
NODAL Centre
In the year 2001-2002, the Computer Centre received a grant of Rs. 7.00 lacs (letter no. F.No.4-8/2001(comp.), dated 22 March 2002) for introduction of Computer Applications paper in Statistics, Bio Sciences, Home Science, Psychology and Physics at the P. G. Level. The list of equipment purchased under this grant is shown in the Appendix-E.
A Separate space in the Computer Laboratory is provided for the students who have opted for Computer Applications paper. Regular practical training is imparted to these students.
Establishment Section
Software developed, maintained and documented in-house for :
·
Recruitment
·
Leave
·
Insurance
·
Payroll,
Provident Fund, CTD calculation
·
Income
Tax calculation and printing of related forms
·
Service
book
·
Automation
of Fixation and calculation of arrears
·
Human
resource Information
Examination Section
Since last year 2002-2003 the University has started printing of Hall-tickets and mark sheets with photograph of the students. The aim was to give mark sheets with security features so that duplication of any mark sheets cannot be done. As it was for the first time, the task was outsourced. Meanwhile, the Centre procured the required equipment and printed some mark sheets on trial basis. Seeing the sensitivity of data and expenditure in outsourcing, the university has decided to print the mark sheets in-house from April-2005.
The University believes in clean and transparent examination system. For this reason, the examination reforms unit of the University has taken several corrective measures:
· The answer sheets (with sealed examination numbers) of various examinations are assessed centrally.
· The examiners do not prepare the mark lists. The marks from the answer sheets are directly entered at the Computer Centre.
Software developed, maintained
and documented in-house using
for:
·
Pre
Examination Work
·
Examination
Schedule
·
Appointment
of Examiners/Panel
·
Student
record preparation
·
Hall
Ticket preparation and printing
·
On
Examination Work
·
Marks
entry
·
Result
Processing
·
Preparation
of Mark sheets (pre, post printed)
·
Post
Examination Work
·
Statistical
analysis for decision making
·
Merit
List
·
Convocation
and provisional degree
Account Section
In the new integrated system the entire Accounting
module is developed in-house which is in the testing phase and likely to be
implemented by the start of the financial year April 2005. The main modules of
the system include:
·
Bill
Section
·
Cash
Section
·
General
Section
Presently,
the following activities are taken care by the Computer Centre.
·
Budget
Preparation
·
Annual
account preparation
·
Establishment
schedule preparation
Software developed, maintained and documented in-house for :
·
Examination
remuneration processing
·
Cash
& Bank book generation, trial balance generation etc.
Academic
Section
Software is prepared in-house for:
·
Admission
procedure
·
Registration
·
Board
of Studies
·
Migration
·
Transfer
Certificate
·
Provisional
eligibility certificate and Final eligibility certificate
·
Automation
of admission procedures in various departments
·
Merit
list preparation
·
College
record
·
Other
reports
Library
·
The
Computer laboratory at the Library was established under the assistance of the
Computer Centre. Since its inception, the Computer Centre is helping the
library in procuring and maintaining the Computers and related items.
·
Initially
Data was entered at the Computer Centre and then after training the Library
Staff and by deputing one staff member of the Computer Centre the data is now entered
at the Library.
·
The
University Library has purchased SOUL software for automating the library
activities. The Computer Centre staff assists the library professionals by
training and trouble shooting the problems related to the software.
·
Data
entry of records of students & staff
·
Automation
of stock taking procedure
·
Complete
Library automation is intended and likely to be computerized in the near future
under the supervision of the Computer Centre.
University Press
·
A
well-equipped Computer lab is established at the University Press under the
assistance of the Computer Centre.
·
Computer
Centre Staff plays an important role
during examination time. The examination papers are typed using the
Computers. The data entry operators and the
I/C Director, Computer Centre along with other University and Press
staff helps in printing the papers. Please note that this activity takes place
at the unorthodox time.
Xerox Facilities
Xerox machines are provided at the computer centre which cater to the needs of all the departments and sections of the University.
Others
·
B.Ed.
Admission
The admission procedure for B.Ed. is
centralized. Every year, we receive and average of 10,000 forms. The following
activities are associated with this task :
·
Entry
of the forms
·
Printing
of various checklists.
·
For
B.Ed.(English) students an entrance test is conducted. It is the responsibility
of the Computer Centre to print the test paper and evaluate. A software is
prepared for evaluation.
·
Merit
List Preparation
·
The
computer centre staff solves minor hardware problems at the computer centre and
other departments and administrative sections.
·
Computer
Centre staff helps in teaching at MCA, MBA and other courses where Computer
courses are taught.
·
Center
for DOEACC examination
Note: (Above
training programmes were conducted in association with the Computer Science
Department)
•
Establishing
networks
• Trouble shooting hardware and software related problems.
• Development of Software
• Preparation of syllabi for computer related courses
• Teaching & Training
The University has the central purchase system for buying computers, peripherals and related items for all Departments and Administrative Sections. Every two months the university floats tenders to the registered parties. The Computer Centre plays an important role in proposing