The main modules of this system are as follows.

• Student Registration  - Mainly data input, modification and validation are done.
• “Combination” Selection – The students should be able to select combinations of subjects using this section. This involved considering the Z-score the student had taken for his G.C.E Advanced Level exam and the priorities he/she had mentioned.
• Course Selection  - The students should be able to select courses from the module.
• Report Generation – Appropriate reports should be generated on demand.
• Administration – Data backup, settings etc are sectioned here.

This project was successfully completed and is now put to operation in Faculty of Science University of Colombo. It runs as an internal web based system only accessible through the LAN. Linux servers based on Fedora and LAMP are used.

The main technologies used in this project are PHP, MySQL and Javascript (Ajax). A lot of experience was gained by this project as it was a real world project based on client requirements defined by a real client.

I was the leader of the group and the Project Manager. The other colleagues who were also involved in this are,

• Shelani Corera
• Chaturika Hashani
• Ravihansa Rajapaksha
• Aravinda Perera

To my opinion, UCSCLodge.lk was a bad project. Although the strategic plan was defined, the low level goals and objectives were not defined clearly as requirements for them to be incorporated to the site. It was clear later that the Student Union themselves had no clear idea of what functionalities the site should offer.

The test development was done by me and Brian, a colleague of mine. It was decided that a CMS should be used (CMS-Content Management System can be described as a ready-made web site package where certain functionality is offered by default. Using CMS for web site development is the most popular method in developing community based sites.).  Drupal CMS was the agreed CMS, and I started developing the site offline since the hosting method was not yet decided. The name “UCSCLodge” was given by me because for me the site meant a common gathering place where people meet and talk. Reminded me of a dining room in a lodge . It was later moved to a web space provided by Maya Creations and development was continued.

I later moved away from development. It was then administrated by some other people. But the lack of clearly defined requirements constantly hindered UCSCLodge’s path. People who joined site administration later also had no idea of what the site was. Some misunderstood it as a blog, some as an open forum. I was later involved in policy making for the site. But development was not of interest to me. It was the first ever major project I was involved in and I learnt a lot of lessons from it.

UCSCLodge.lk is no longer online.