jelle@westc.uucp (Jelle van Zeijl) (10/06/90)
I'm posting this request for a friend of mine who doesn't have access to the net. Please mail any response you have directly to him; his e-mail address is included below. Thanks a lot, Jelle =============================== 8< =========================================== This is a request about a shift-reservation system. I am particularly addressing this request to educational institutes, since they are the most likely to have (or to have had) a similar problem as is described below. The HIO is a kind of a polytechnic that provides a four year course in information technology. The complete course is divided into modules that consist of one-semester courses in a single subject. These modules can be taken in a flexible way, like a university. One type of module is formed by the practical work, and there are several of these practical modules in the complete course. In our current system, a student can only do his/her practical work on specific hours. If a student wants to log in at any other hour, he is automatically denied access by our current shift-system. The problem with the current system is that it is not flexible. The hours reserved for the practical work may coincide with other other courses. What we are looking for is an automated system that enables a student to reserve a computer system. The shift-system should conform to a number of conditions, of which I'll only mention a few to give you a slight idea of the problem. The first constraint is that we have a multi-vendor environment, students may work on a vax750, on sun3/50 or on dec3100 machines. Not all students have access to all kinds of machines, this depends on the practical module. Some modules only allow access to, say, a vax750, other allow access to more than one type. Because our employees also need resources for research and development, and for system maintenance, the number of available machines for reservation may vary for every shift (employees will not be a part of the reservation system). A second constraint is that a student can only reserve a computer or terminal for a limited number of shifts per week, depending on the practical course he is taking. Some of these reservations may be made permanent, which means that he has a reservation for a particular type of machine on the same time every week. If a student has not used a permanent reservation for two consecutive weeks, the permanent reservation must be cancelled automatically. We have some ideas on how to tackle the problem, but there are a number of alternatives, each of which we do not know the consequences of (students are very good at finding and (mis)using weaknesses in a system). Is there anybody who has ever heard of an existing system that implements a reservation system as proposed? Or is there anybody who has got any experience with, or ideas about a similar problem? Marcel Teeuwen Please do not post your reply to the net, but mail it to me directly (our budget does not allow direct access to USENET). ================================================================== Hogeschool Enschede, Alias: HIO Enschede. Dept. Software Engineering, Phone: +31-53 871307 or 871300 PostBox 1326, Email: teeuwen@hio.hen.nl 7500 BH Enschede, UUCP: ...!hp4nl!honhio!teeuwen the Netherlands. Fax: +31-53 339666 ================================================================== -- -- Jelle van Zeijl jelle@westc.uucp OR mcsun!hp4nl!westc!jelle -- West Consulting bv, Phoenixstraat 49, 2611 AL Delft, The Netherlands -- P.O. Box 3318, 2601 DH Delft -- Tel: +31-15-123190, Fax: +31-15-147889