HOSTEL ALLOCATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

Hostels provide budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, although private rooms may also be available. Hostels are generally cheaper for students but most often, hostel management and allocation is a problem to university administration. They often create management loop holes as they are unable to allocate hostel rooms to students on time. Payment for the hostel allocation by students are not properly accounted for. Students are sometimes allocated to the same room with out checking the number limit for that particular room. In this research work “Hostel allocation system”, a system will be design to manage a database for allocating hostel to students. The system designed will keep track of all the available hostel rooms, their occupants and fund generated from hostel fee. The new system will be implemented using Visual basic 6.0 and access database.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1            Background of the Study In 1912, in Altena Castle in Germany, Richard Schirrmann created the first permanent Jugendherberge or “Youth Hostel”. These first Youth Hostels were an exponent of the ideology of the German Youth Movement to let poor city youngsters breathe fresh air outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible, doing chores to keep the costs down and build character as well as being physically active outdoors. Because of this, many Youth Hostels closed during the middle part of the day. Very few hostels still require chores beyond washing up after self-catered meals or have a “lockout”. There are several differences between hostels and hotels, including:

• Hostels tend to be budget-oriented; rates are considerably lower, and many hostels have programs to share books, DVDs and other items.
• For those who prefer an informal environment, hostels do not usually have the same level of formality as hotels.
• For those who prefer to socialize with their fellow guests, hostels usually have more common areas and opportunities to socialize. The dormitory aspect of hostels also increases the social factor

Hostels are generally self-catering. There is less privacy in a hostel than in a hotel. Sharing sleeping accommodation in a dormitory is very different from staying in a private room in a hotel or bed and breakfast, and might not be comfortable for those requiring more privacy. The lessened privacy is also an advantage in some ways, because it encourages more social interaction between guests. Theft can be a problem, since guests may share a common living space, but this can be avoided by securing guests’ belongings. Most hostels offer some sort of system for safely storing valuables, and an increasing number of hostels offer private lockers. Noise can make sleeping difficult on occasions, whether from snoring, sexual activity, someone either returning late or leaving early or the proximity of so many people. This can be mitigated by carrying earplugs.     1.2     Statement of the Problem The growing number of students in higher institutions all over the world has posed a lot of accommodation problem on the part of students and school management. Students at the beginning of each session waste half of the semester looking for accommodation. The few hostels that exist in the universities are not properly managed. Infrastructural decay, dirty environment and lack of basic amenities are some of the numerous problems encountered almost in every hostel at the university. Statistics of the number of rooms required to match the growing number of students are far fetched. Most often, students pay for hostel fee and end up not getting one due to lack of bed space. Hostel administrators can not give accurate information of the occupancy of a particular room. This and many more forms the statement of the problem that necessitated for this research work.           1.3     Objectives of the Study The project is designed to help in the management of hostel allocation in the university. The main objective of the new system includes: 1)                Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hostel database, which will contain information on all the available rooms in the hostels. 2)                Design a computer – driven hostel allocation system for allocating hostel rooms to students. 3)                To generate reports on hostel occupancy and financial reports.   1.4     Scope of the Study The research work is will cover among other things:

1. Hostel allocation
2. Hostel fee payment
3. Hostel rooms registration
4. Financial reports.

The research will be carried out using Federal University of Technology Owerri.     1.5      Limitations Some of the constraints encountered during this project design include the following:

• Financial Constraints: The design was achieved but not without some financial involvements. One had to pay for the computer time. Also the typing and planning of the work has its own financial involvements.
• High programming Technique: The programming aspect of this project posed a lot of problematic bugs that took me some days to solve. Problems such database connections using visual basic and access database posed a lot of challenges.
• Few Literature Sources: The topic though seems to be a common term; it is not a popular topic to surf from the Internet. It had fewer literature sources.

1.6     Significance of the Study   The new system designed for computer driven student’s hostel allocation will among other things:

1. Facilitate timely allocation of hostel rooms to students
2. Check the hostel occupancy at any time for information management
3. Sum up the total amount realized from hostel fee each session
4. Enable management to plan on improving hostel living condition.
5. have first hand information on the statistics of students in the hostel

1.7     Definition of Terms

Hostel: A hostel or youth hostel is essentially a form of accommodation that offers reasonably priced, shared accommodation to travellers in either private or dormitory rooms.   A management information system (MIS): is a system that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively.   Independent hostels: are not necessarily affiliated with one of the national bodies of Hostelling International, Youth Hostel Association or any other licensing body.   Databases:  A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.   Computer Program: This is a set of instruction that guides the computer on the action to perform.   Flowchart:  This is graphical representation of step by step by which computer can follow to execute a task.