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In the beginning of 2000 we started the writing of SAGU, using the same
ER (Entity-Relationship) model used by the old system. From the beginning,
SAGU was conceived to have a web-based (browser) user interface, so the user
would be platform independent - we already had a plan to migrate the user
desktop to Linux. We started the development using the MySQL database server,
and as in that time, MySQL didn't have transaction support, we migrated the
development to PostgreSQL. As we didn't have previous experience with MySQL
or PostgreSQL we decided SAGU should also be database independent, so we created
a structure (actually, a PHP program) called common.php, which would handle
database connections - if we ever needed to change to another database, the
only program we would change was common.php. Later, after a visit by Mr.
Rasmus Lerdorf to our University, we decided we would stick to PostgreSQL
and created a new transactional/presentation base for SAGU and all of our
free software projects, called MIOLO, but this is another article...
SAGU stands for Sistema Aberto de Gestão Unificada, which translates
into English to Open Unified Management System. In a nutshell, SAGU automates
all the relationships between the students and their educational
institution, from the moment the student enrolls for the entrance exam until
after he/she graduates.
SAGU went live on July 2000. The first production version was developed
in less than six months by a group of three developers. SAGU subsystems try
to mimic the functions of the educational institution, so, it has modules
that handle the entrance exam (optical reading of the student answers, classification,
classroom assignment) the enrollment process (which courses the student may
choose for a given term, prerequisites), the academic data (grades, academic
history), financial and accounting data (payments, credits, scholarship, interface
with the banks and other accounting/ERP systems) and reporting tools.
Now, SAGU is being rewritten using Object Orientation techniques, and all
of the database transactions and presentation logic is going to be handled
by MIOLO (MIOLO is the Portuguese word for the inside part of a bread).
More information on SAGU, along with the source code, can be obtained at
http://sagu.codigoaberto.org.br
. Unfortunately, for English readers (most of you, I believe) most of the
information is in Portuguese. There is an effort on porting it to English,
being coordinated by Kaziro in Sweden, in order to have SAGU working for
some schools in South Africa - isn't it the true beauty of Free Software?
Kaziro can be contacted at kaziro@spray.se
.
If you are in the educational area, you may also be interested in knowing
our GNUTECA project, which is being alpha-tested in one of our libraries. GNUTECA
is a free software for library administration, including materials catalog,
loan and collaboration system. It is compatible with library standards (MARC)
and provides a good migration path for users of the CDS/ISIS system to the
free software world. GNUTECA info can be found at
http://gnuteca.codigoaberto.org.br.
Cesar will be giving a talk about SAGU at the Linux Showcase,
5 November 2001, at 1:30pm. At 8pm, he will be hosting a BoF session
on Brazilian free software.
See http://www.linuxshowcase.org/
Cesar Brod got first involved with Linux in 1993 when he needed a "Unix"
that he could use in his computer in order to emulate problems he was having
in a System V based machine. Cesar has been in the computer industry
since 1980, working for companies such as NCR, BASF, Tandem/Compaq and ACI,
most of the time providing software and hardware system support for these
companies' customers and working with pre-sales. In 1998 Cesar decided he
had got enough of big cities and moved with his wife and three daughters
back to a very small city in the south of Brazil, Arroio do Meio, where he
had spent the best of his childhood in the late 60s. In 1999 Cesar proposed
his services to Univates, a University in the neighboring city of Lajeado,
where he is now the IT Manager and coordinates software development. Cesar
is also one of the coordinators of the Free Software Project of the State of
Rio Grande do Sul.
Cesar Brod
Copyright © 2001, Cesar Brod.
Copying license http://www.linuxgazette.net/copying.html
Published in Issue 72 of Linux Gazette, November 2001