The Digitalization of the Valparaiso University Residential Hall Check-In Process
Faculty Sponsor
Nicholas Rosasco
College
Arts and Sciences
Discipline(s)
Computing and Information Sciences
ORCID Identifier(s)
0000-0001-7487-936X; 0000-0002-2331-5422; 0000-0002-1754-2848
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 5-3-2019
Abstract
Valparaiso University housing facilities support hundreds of students each year in a variety of campus residence halls. A primary function for security and general operations is tracking students and guests who enter and exit these facilities. To support that need, the school employs Desk Attendants who maintain paper rosters that support three tasks: student verification and check-in, guest check-in, and item check-out. This project intends to provide a digital replacement for this system in order to enable added speed and ease of use. The software will built on the Python-based Flask web framework joined to MySQL databases. The system will allow desk attendants and higher-access-level staff to sign into their respective residential hall and access a variety of information linked to each service area. Additionally, the aggregated electronic logs and other accumulated information will enable larger scale analysis of patterns and routines as desired.
Recommended Citation
Morrison, Adam; Rookstool, Sam; and Cole, Alec, "The Digitalization of the Valparaiso University Residential Hall Check-In Process" (2019). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 780.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/780
Poster Presentation
Biographical Information about Author(s)
Alec Cole and Adam Morrison are both senior Computer Engineering majors. Samuel Rookstool is also a senior and a Computer Science major. All three authors are passionate about technology, writing code, and working with computers on a daily basis. In addition, each author utilized the residence halls at Valparaiso University for both living and visiting friends. Thus, each author understands the benefit to the halls that digitalizing the check-in process would provide. As a Resident Assistant for 2 years, Adam Morrison even had deeper knowledge of residential hall life from a staff perspective and used that information to help inform the team of decisions when creating the software. Using knowledge of residential hall life, garnered software knowledge and skills, information learned from collegiate courses, as well as communication skills, the authors worked toward solving the problem of digitalizing the residential hall check-in process.