An Information System for a Judicial Court of Law Case Study: The High Court of the Republic of Uganda at Kampala (Registry Section)

ABSTRACT Data storage and retrieval is a big challenge in most organizations, especially in most government institutions and parastatals, but the cost to secure management information systems remains a hurdle. However JURISS LAW SOFTWARE comes into rescue. This document is written for the basic computer user (magistrates, chiefjustice, lawyers, advocates and court clerks) and the system administrators of JURRIS LAW. The study involved the design and implementation of an information system for the High Court of Uganda that will provide easy, accurate and timely retrieval of all case records. The problem was carefully analyzed and steps to solve it were drawn. Various literary works were reviewed, in chapter two of this document. This was done to get an overview of what has been done before concerning the problem. An overview of an information system is given as well as various concepts patterning its implementation. Although not all data storage systems are classified information you do not want data stored on the papers to fed out or be torn due to the documents being torn .The issue of data safety is also addressed. The development methodology and tools have also been discussed in detail in chapter three. This includes, knowledge acquisition and analysis, data collection techniques, development tools and system validation. Details of the new designed system, like system specification, user interfaces and data flow for the new system are discussed in chapter four of this document. System testing, data conversion and loading, approaches of implementation of the new system, user training and manuals system evaluation details are also discussed in chapter five. In chapter six, the limitations of the package, recommendations and areas of futher research are tackled. We hope the reader will have a wider perspective of an information system and how it can be used to securely improve record keeping in many institutions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ii

APPROVAL

DEDICATION iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS vi

ABSTRACT vii

CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem 3

1.3 Objectives 4

1.3.1 General Objectives 4

1.3.2 Specific Objectives 4

6.4 Significance ofthe Study 5

1.5 Scope of the Study 4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 System 6

2.2 Information System 6

2.2.1 Advantages of Information System 7

2.2.2 Components of an Information System 8

2.2.3 Information System Resources 9

2.3 Types of Information System 10

2.5 Software Requirements 17

2.6 Database 18

2.6.1 DBMS 19

CHAPTER THREE : METHODOLOGY...~._.,..,~..25

3.0 Introduction 25

3.1 Knowledge Acquisition and Analysis 25

3.1.1 Research Procedure 25

3.1.2 Target Population 26

3.1.4 Data Collection Techniques 26

3.1.5 Questionnaires 26

3.1.6 Interviews 27

3.1.7 Observation 28

3.3 Sampling Strategies 30

3.4 Analysis 30

3.4.1 Document Analysis 30

3.6 Development methodology and tools 31

3.9 System Validation 33

CHAPTER FOUR: SYSTEM DESIGN , 34

4.1 Introduction 34

4.2 System Specification 34

4.4 User Interface 34

4.5 The New Designed System 35

4.6 Logical Design 36

4.7 Physical Design 38

4.8 Data Flow Diagram for the new system 40

4.9 Flow chart for the new system 42

CHAPTER FIVE: SYSTEM TESTING IMPLEMENTATION AND

EVALUATION...... .. ..,,, . . . . . ,. ,.. . . . .. .,..,, . . ,. .. .44

5.1 System testing 44

5.2 Data Conversion and Loading 45

5.3DataQuery 45

5.3.1 Data manipulation 46

5.4 Data searching......................................................................................................... 46

5.6 Data output 46

5.7 Implementation ofthe new system 46

5.8.1 System implementation approach 46

5.8.2 User training 47

5.8.3 User manual documentation 47

5.9.1 System development 48

5.9.2 System evaluation 66

CHAPTER SIX.:D1SCUSSION RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 67

6.0 Discussion 67

6.2 Conclusion 68

6.3 Recommendations 68

6.3.2 Recommendation for Further Research 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY 70

APPENDIX: A SAMPLE QUESTIONAIRE 72

APPENDIX: B: PROGRAM CODE FOR THE SOFTWARE 74