Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) Management and Control System (UPEMCS)

I. Background of UPE.

Computing Sciences is a relatively young discipline. Yet despite its comparative youth, Computing Science has had an unparalleled effect on almost every aspect of contemporary life. Indeed it is difficult to predict the ultimate place of the computer in our world. It is the express purpose of Upsilon Pi Epsilon to promote the Computing Sciences and to encourage its contribution to the enhancement of knowledge. UPE was first organized at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, in 1967. The international organization now consists of chapters in various colleges and universities in North America and overseas. The mission of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the Computing and Information Disciplines. UPE is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS). UPE is the first and only existing international honor society in the Computing and Information Disciplines. It has received endorsements from the two largest computer organizations in the world, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS).

II. Reference to UPE: http ://www.acm.org/upe

III. Activities / needs of various stakeholders in the UPEMCS

A. UPE International Secretary:

Has relationships with: Institutions having UPE chapters Institutions desiring UPE chapters All members of Executive Council All contacts with ascending institutions and chapter advisors All contacts with investments / accounts, etc. Represents UPE as primary contact for ACHS

Among many duties are included: Responsibility for printing individual UPE member certificates signed by International President; International Secretary Initial sending to ascending institution Resend when necessary (errors in caligraphy, etc.) Certificates are mailed directly to institution once names are emailed to International Secretary.

Ensuring UPE memorabilia are available Establishes contacts, financial solvency, inventory and mailing to all chapters and UPE members desirous of memorabilia. (More ahead) See web page for pictures and descriptions and costs.

Requires a mini inventory system to track memorabilia: such a system needs to include item name, item description, quantity on hand, reorder point, UPE cost, unit cost (to student), supplier and supplier contact information, General comments section (free text) – comments on supplier...

Print Charter signed by International President; International Secretary Must be mailed to President, who forwards charter to specific executive council representation who will represent UPE at the charter ceremony.

Mail large key to institutions together with all UPE memorabilia.

Handle all postage for everything (tall order - given the diversity of items sent).

Collect funds and deposit to UPE active account $750 for each new chapter - one time fee. $35 one time fee for a member Inactive chapter - restart fee??

Input new chapter and chapter identification into database advisor location information

Input all new members into member database new member location information - name and code. Year 1-4 month 5-6 sequence number 7-10 chapter code 11-15 e.g.: 20030503444UNoFL

Receive mailing addresses from ACM and enter into database Handles all correspondence with institutions Email or snail mail Distributes hard copy applications to all exec council members. Sends congratulatory letters or rejection letters.

If approved, (and with approval of executive council member) transmit executive council member=s email address to institution so they can set up a mutually-acceptable induction date.

Distribute all chapter applications to Executive Council members for their evaluation and recommendation for membership in UPE. Get responses from Council members re: applications.

Prepare summer meeting agenda bring materials (scholarship materials; recent applications, etc.) send deposits to hotels send travel advances to exec council members

Prepare ICPC agenda send deposits to hotels send travel advances to exec council members reimburse exec council members for expenses on presentation of receipts Prepare gift bags - including certificates, t-shirts, memorabilia, registration forms, etc. to be used for ICPC Registration.

Create Newsletter

Contact all Council members and solicit inputs to the biannual UPE Newsletter.

Get AGreeting@ article from International President for each Newsletter

Get pictures of newly-inducted chapter=s officers w/short bio on school.

Get list of scholarship winners to include in Newsletter

Announce scholarship application dates in Newsletter

Maintain contact with Newsletter editor for control

Work with webmaster on matters related to postings on the UPE web. Scholarship applications.

Get all scholarship applications on-line, be able to index these by date of arrival and by category (graduate/undergraduate)

Reproduce and mail scholarship applications to Council Members (Applicants are supposed to include six copies of application)

Provide a list of ACM scholarship winners to the ACM. Provide a list of Microsoft scholarship winners to Microsoft.

Designate special awards: ABACUS award Jim Nolen award

Maintain the Fiscal Solvency of UPE

Collect, deposit and disburse funds to members of UPE chapters, scholarship winners, teams in the Intercollegiate Programming Contest,

Reimbursement for Council members for expenses incurred in chartering UPE chapters, and expenses incurred for the summer meeting and the ICPC meeting (the later of which is in conjunction with the Intercollegiate Programming Contest).

Disburse monies to programming contest participant teams

Get complete listing of participating colleges/universities in World Finals from ACM and prepare certificates, checks, cash, etc to present. UPE schools = $500; others = $200.

Disburse funds to scholarship recipients Disburse funds to ACM scholarship recipients Disburse funds to Microsoft scholarship recipients Disburse funds / plaques, etc. for special award recipients. Disburse funds to UPE – IEEE-CS scholarship recipients.

Accept monies from Microsoft for scholarship

Send thank-you letters to IBM

Balance the checkbooks and maintain a watchful eye on the bank accounts and investment portfolios

Suggest investment strategies for discussion during summer meeting

Twice each year, send all account papers to auditor – UPE president, etc. B. Chapter Advisor: (for all ceremonies) and Student Members Initialize Application Process (see web page) If ABET/CAC accredited: process only requires bylaws... If not accredited: email UPE headquarters if question Get student - key person Create constitution / bylaws Provide information on program; faculty; equipment Convenes initial meeting(s). Together with officers (later) schedule periodic induction ceremonies

Details for Members The Chapter Advisor at a college/university must perform the following activities:

. Submit student names, to UPE headquarters

. Ensure students respond to message from ACM for personal information once

new UPE members sign onto the ACM homepage Upon initiation as a UPE member, each member will be provided with a 15-character identifier which is sent by UPE along with initial certificates. IT is the student’s responsibility to use this code with communicating with

the ACM web site in order to receive the free year of membership, access to the digital library, and more. At that time, the ACM will solicit a student’s personal information (permanent address, etc.) which will ultimately be transmitted back (periodically) to UPE headquarters where it will be

entered into the UPE database.

. Submit request for memorabilia to UPE headquarters (Form has unit cost, jpeg, extensions; final cost at end of form)

. Control the local UPE checking account, if any, for local activities.

. Ensure initiation fee ($750) is submitted. . Ensure student fees are submitted. . Ensure memorabilia fees are submitted and received. A list of memorabilia may be submitted at any time to the International Secretary. Specific prices are on the UPE web page. An email list of items, the college, and a check from the college should be sent to the International Secretary to start the mailing process.

Scholarship applications in the Spring Spearhead this activity...Run listing of students ‘by grade point average.’ Circulate list among UPE members and, perhaps, faculty. Select one student per program (B.S. and M.S.) as ‘that’ institution’s nominee(s). Refer to UPE web page for procedures on scholarship application

submission.

C. UPE Executive Council Members:

The UPE Council members must perform the following activities:

. Evaluate chapter applications and forward evaluation to Secretary.

. Get responses back to Secretary on new chapter applications as well as to other Council members.

. Contact (email or telephone) if they would like to perform initial induction - once new approval is granted .. special considerations (alma mater, etc.) . Receive scholarship applications and provide comments/ votes back to secretary and/or create a summary evaluation of each application (w/hardcopy)

. Perform chapter inductions. . Attend summer meeting . Attend spring meeting and participate in the ICPC. . Be conversant with the UPE constitution and bylaws and all traditions associated with UPE – its mission, goals, history and recognition by professional societies.

D. UPE International President

. Write Greeting for each Newsletter

. Work with International Secretary on Association of College Honor Society issues

. Sign all certificates for student inductions and forward onto Council member performing the initial induction

. Sign chapter charters and forward on to Council member performing initial induction

. Preside over Spring (ICPC) Convention . Preside over summer meeting

. Work with International Secretary in other matters as appropriate .. work with Secretary on Strategic Planning document and the strategizing future endeavors.

. Review UPE accounts twice each year. Supporting Information and Background

During the annual Worlds Finals, UPE awards cash to participating teams: $200 to college/universities that do not have UPE chapters and $500 to those colleges and universities that do have UPE chapters.

The International Secretary needs: . A list of teams and team members (provided by ACM) Correct spelling of university and individual team / advisors is essential. . Also require each team member=s email address

. An indication if this team is a member of UPE

. An indication as to whether this team will be able to cash an American check in their homeland or whether it is required to receive cash at the contest.

Overview / Vision

I envision: an n-tier, client server architecture such that each executive council member and secretary has their own password and that, upon application, the international secretary can assign a password (changeable) to an institution. (implies an authentication subsystem)

Passwords are not encrypted and can be resent to an institution if forgotten - by the international secretary.

Provide for an institutional account for an institution’s chapter advisor (or otherwise) member.

Memorabilia: Chapter advisor (or his/her designee) can enter an order for memorabilia, etc. via forms presented on a standard browser (Netscape and Internet Explorer) and this should be sent to UPE with cost plus a cost for shipping as well. TBD ALL correspondence is to include the ‘required item’ email address. Accept no correspondence without an email application.

Perhaps we should have a FAQ page. Some of the history can be included or else links (don’t short change this) to parts of the UPE web page.

Envision the entire institution’s chapter application process done electronically.  Sample, modifiable UPE constitution can be modified and submitted as an attachment.  Same for Bylaws  Perhaps excerpts from institution catalog can be attached to application  Perhaps faculty resume=s can be attached.  Would need a check list up front to ensure all items are included...  If application incomplete, prevent transmission of documents.  International secretary can forward this initial orrespondence with attachments to executive council members for review and comment.  International Secretary may look over application and Reply in case something ‘else’ is missing or he/she needs additional information.  A form accompanies the application to each executive council member for his/her filling out and replying to International Secretary. (I will supply the required information for the form)

Possible Functional Breakdown

Membership Subsystem - definitely must be implemented

Table of members - Many attributes of each member – TBD

Member code, returned information from ACM headquarters…

University Subsystem - definitely must be implemented..

Table of universities, addresses, primary contacts, email address of primary contact, active/inactive indicator, sorted in a number of ways, year of initial induction, etc.

Will want to retrieve ‘by state’ and within state, ‘by institution’ and perhaps ‘by individual’ Memorabilia Subsystem - definitely must be implemented

Data Base: table of: item numbers, cost, availability, ...supplier, quantity on hand, reorder point, lead time, supplier=s information, etc. History of orders for a supplier...date ordered, received, payment disbursed, ...See elsewhere for additional information. Also, see UPE webpage for descriptions, etc.

Financial Subsystem(would really like parts of this implemented) Be creative! Can be simple, yet quite functional.

journal of transactions

Costs of goods purchased

Memorabilia items - tie to memorabilia subsystem

tie to university

Costs of postage - by date, by institution, by amount, by source or mode (UPS, FedEx, ground)

Costs of travel for

Events: (chapter inductions, spring meeting, summer meeting, ACHS, others.)

By executive council member

By lodging

By travel

By food

By incidentals

primarily our 'checking account' - from which we do most of our business... Need to track when monies are received and when goods are sent out... When monies are received - track it. When goods are shipped - need audit trail

Investment Data Base

Not this implementation.

Correspondence Data Base

log of correspondence? emails? formal correspondence? ....

May be simple as setting up folders per institution and dragging all correspondence into this folder with links / comments to snail mail correspondence and other communications.

Inquiry Subsystem - definitely must be implemented - or at least parts of it. (parts are redundant with other requirements)

In general, the International Secretary (and executive council members via password) need to be able to make general inquiries on the UPE database.

General features to retrieve by institution (various parameters) and by student (various parameters) needs to be implemented. Upon activating this component, a list of parameters can be presented to the executive council member that can be Anded or Ord as appropriate to support the retrieval. All I/O is to be on-line, but printed output needs to be an option in case hardcopy is required.

Design and Implementation Constraints

Database would include several tables and should be implemented in Oracle or MySQL. Other RDBMSs will be considered, but prior approval must be obtained..

Application server may be programmed using jsp or php (not asp).

There are several other practical constraints, such as learning System Architect, php or jsp, how to communicate between logically separate computing nodes, etc. Thus there is much risk to what you are doing. Be certain to assess each other’s expertise and in which areas this expertise (or desire) lies. Clearly, the team members are quite dependent upon other team member’s contributions for a successful project.

You should make every effort to establish a firm plan on your meeting schedule. I have supplied you with forms from the Personal Software Process (see web page) that need to be used for management of your meetings and personal involvement with the project. Secondly, Microsoft Project (or similar tool) needs to be used for task assignment and controlling individual responsibilities.