Component-based software engineering approach to development of a university e-administration system

Component-based software engineering (CBSE) has elicited research interests in recent times in different industrial sectors, including the educational domain because of its perceived advantage over traditional development approaches. However, there is need to empirically justify this claim through case study reports from several industrial domains. A university as a complex enterprise needs an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to automate its complex operational and administrative procedures for efficiency and effectiveness. However, the peculiarity of each university makes it difficult to obtain commercial off-the-shelf ERPS that perfectly suits their requirements. This paper, reports the application of the CBSE paradigm for the development of a university ERP - specifically an e-Administration System. The research provides a basis to empirically compare the merits of CBSE and traditional development approaches. The result of the case study yielded a usable ERP for a Nigerian university, and concrete empirical data that confirmed the superiority of CBSE over traditional software development.