ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

AND
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

M.Sc. in Health Informatics Program

Designing a Web-Based Blood Bank Information Management

System for the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia

Gadisa Kebede

June/2016
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE
AND
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
M.Sc. in Health Informatics Program

Designing a Web-Based Blood Bank Information Management

System for the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia

A Project Submitted to the School of Information Science and

Public Health of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirement for Degree of Master of Science in Health
Informatics

Gadisa Kebede

June/2016
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

i
 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE
AND
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Designing a Web-Based Blood Bank Information Management

System for the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia

Gadisa Kebede

Name and Signature of Members of the Examining Board

__________________________________________________________

________________________ _____________________ __________________

Examiner Signature Date

________________________ _____________________ __________________

Examiner Signature Date

________________________ _____________________ __________________

Advisor Signature Date

________________________ _____________________ __________________

Advisor Signature Date

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to thank God for his help and guidance throughout my life.
I would like to express my special thanks to my advisors, Ato Ermias Abebe and Dr. Mulugeta
Betre, for their helpful guidance, ongoing support and invaluable contributions during my project
work. Their academic advice, patience and kindness provided me with support and
encouragement during all phases of the project.
I would also like to express my greatest gratitude to Ms Meseret Ayano, for her critical
coordination and kindness throughout this field of study.

I am also thankful to the staff of the National Blood Bank Center specially Mr. Abraham Zeleke
and Mr. Tazebachew Tsige for their cooperation and contribution on providing me the necessary
information

My sincere gratitude is also extended to my family and friends who have encouraged and
supported me throughout this field of study.
Last but not least, my deepest love and appreciation go to my dear mom Damenech Yada who
provided me with a continuous source of inspiration and joy. “Dama, you are the reason for the
person I have become today!”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................... viii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background ................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2. Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................................. 3

1.3. Objective of the Project................................................................................................................. 4

1.3.1. General Objective ................................................................................................................. 4

1.3.2. Specific Objectives ............................................................................................................... 4

1.4. Significance of the Project ............................................................................................................ 4

1.5. Scope of the Project ...................................................................................................................... 6

1.6. Organization of the Document ...................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER TWO
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 7
2.1. General Literature ......................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1. Blood Bank and Blood Bank Information Management System .......................................... 7

2.1.2. Information System Development ........................................................................................ 7

2.1.3. Contemporary Modeling Approaches ................................................................................... 8

2.1.4. Modeling Techniques ............................................................................................................ 8

2.1.5. Modeling Procedure ............................................................................................................ 11

2.1.6. System Architecture ............................................................................................................ 12

iv
 2.1.7. Application Types ............................................................................................................... 15

2.2. Related Project Works to Blood Bank Information Management System.................................. 16

2.2.1. Blood Donation Management System ................................................................................ 16

2.2.2. Blood Donation System Based on Mobile Cloud Computing ............................................ 16

2.2.3. KBase Life .......................................................................................................................... 17

2.2.4. Punjab Online Blood Bank Management System ............................................................... 17

2.2.5. Blood Bank India ................................................................................................................ 17

2.2.6. A Knowledge Based System for Blood Transfusion .......................................................... 18

CHAPTER THREE
3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 19
3.1. The Case...................................................................................................................................... 19

3.2. The Method ................................................................................................................................. 19

3.3. The Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 20

3.4. The Techniques ........................................................................................................................... 20

3.4.1. In-depth interview ............................................................................................................... 20

3.4.2. Document review ................................................................................................................ 21

3.4.3. Modeling Technique ........................................................................................................... 21

3.5. Tools ........................................................................................................................................... 21

3.6. Evaluation of the Project ............................................................................................................. 21

3.7. Method of Dissemination of Results ........................................................................................... 22

3.8. Operational Definitions ............................................................................................................... 22

3.9. Ethical Clearance ........................................................................................................................ 22

CHAPTER FOUR
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ......................................................................................... 24
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 24

4.2. The Existing System ................................................................................................................... 24

4.3. Proposed System ......................................................................................................................... 30

4.3.1. Context Diagram of the New BBIMS ................................................................................. 30

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 4.3.2. Stakeholders ........................................................................................................................ 32

4.4. Analysis Models.......................................................................................................................... 33

4.4.1. Use Case Diagram............................................................................................................... 33

4.4.2. Use Case Narrations ............................................................................................................ 35

4.4.3. Activity Diagram Modeling ................................................................................................ 36

4.4.4. User Interface Prototype ..................................................................................................... 37

4.5. System Requirements.................................................................................................................. 38

4.5.1. Functional Requirements .................................................................................................... 38

4.5.2. Non-functional Requirements ............................................................................................. 40

4.6. System Design Models ............................................................................................................... 41

4.6.1. System Class Diagram ........................................................................................................ 41

4.6.2. System Architecture ............................................................................................................ 42

4.7. Prototype Implementation ........................................................................................................... 44

4.7.1. Flowchart Diagram ............................................................................................................. 44

4.7.2. Presentation Layer............................................................................................................... 47

4.7.3. Database Layer.................................................................................................................... 47

4.7.4. Middle Layer ....................................................................................................................... 48

4.7.5. Discussion of results (the system) ....................................................................................... 49

CHAPTER FIVE
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 51
5.1. Summary and Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 51

5.2. Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 52

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 53
Appendix A: Software Requirement Specification Document .................................................... 57
Appendix B: Hardware Inventory................................................................................................ 93
Appendix C: Requirements Collection Checklist ........................................................................ 96
Appendix D: User Test Checklist .............................................................................................. 101
Appendix E: Donor Enrollment and Report Formats ................................................................ 102

vi
LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: List of stakeholders and their responsibilities for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa, 2016........................................................................................................................ 32
Table 4.2: Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016............................................................................................................................................... 39
Table 4.3: Non-Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016............................................................................................................................................... 40
Table 4.4: User test result for the prototype of web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016............................................................................................................................................... 50

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Server-Based Architecture ......................................................................................... 13
Figure 2.2: Client-Based Architecture .......................................................................................... 13
Figure 2.3: Two-Tiered Client–Server Architecture .................................................................... 14
Figure 2.4: Three-Tiered Client–Server Architecture ................................................................... 15
Figure 4.1: The Organizational Structure of National Blood Bank Center, Ethiopia, May 2016. 29
Figure 4.2: Context Diagram of the Blood Bank Management System ....................................... 31
Figure 4.3: System use case diagram for blood bank information management
System. ....................................................................................................................... 34
Figure 4.4: The activity diagram for donation time slot reservation process ............................... 37
Figure 4.5: Donor Registry User Interface Prototype ................................................................... 38
Figure 4.6: Class Diagram for Blood Bank Information Management System ............................ 41
Figure 4.7: Blood Bank Information Management System Architecture ..................................... 43
Figure 4.8: Flow chart diagram to represent basic function of the BBIMS system……………...46
Figure 4.9: Donor Registry Form................................................................................................. 47
Figure 4.10: Database table and their relationships. ..................................................................... 48
Figure 4.11: Sample php codes. .................................................................................................... 49

vii
LIST OF ACRONYMS

AAU Addis Ababa University

ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
BBIMS Blood Bank Information Management System
BDS Blood Donation System
BTS Blood Transfusion Services
CC Cloud Computing
CSS Cascading Style Sheets
FMoH Federal Ministry of Health
HBV Hepatitis B Virus
HCV Hepatitis C Virus
HIV Human Immune Virus
HTML Hyper-Text Markup Language
HTTP Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol
MC Mobile Computing
MySQL My Structured Query Language
NBTS National Blood Transfusion Services
OO Object Oriented
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
RBBSSD Regional Blood Bank Support and Supervision Department
SDLC System Development Life Cycle
TTI Transfusion-Transmissible Infection
UC Use Case
UI User Interface
UI User Interface Prototype
UML Unified Modeling Language
WHO World Health Organization

viii
ABSTRACT
Background: Many medical advances that have improved the treatment of serious illness and
injuries have increased the need for blood transfusion for patients‟ survival to support them
through recovery or to maintain their health. Demand for blood is driven by an array of factors
that include obstetric hemorrhage, road traffic accidents, armed conflict, sickle cell disease and
childhood anemia, malnutrition, Human Immune Virus (HIV), malaria, and parasitic infections.
Blood bank is a place where blood is collected from donors, typed and separated into
components, stored, and prepared for transfusion to recipients. The blood bank information
management system is used to control and manage the overall activities performed in the blood
bank centers.
Objective: The main objective of this project is to design a web-based blood bank information
management system for the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia.
Methodology: This project is carried out at National Blood Bank Center, Addis Ababa. The
project follows a design science methodology and an object oriented system analysis and design
approach to analyze and design the system. In-depth interview, document review and inventory
were done to analyze the existing situation. To model the analysis and design of the proposed
system Unified Modeling Language (UML) modeling techniques is used and both Hyper-Text
Transfer Protocol (HTML) and Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is used to develop the system
prototype. And My Structured Query Language (MySQL) database management system is used
to design the prototype database.
Results: All the system‟s processes and its boundary were identified and described by using use
case diagram. Eight processes with their corresponding actors were identified for the system. The
flow of the process were presented using activity diagrams. The object model were described by
using class diagram. And finally, the system prototype was developed for the user interface
testing. The results of the user interface testing shows that User test for the system prototype was
done and it shows that 75% of the participants in the evaluation and testing has shown positive
attitude and response for the system usability.
Conclusion: This project shows only the system prototype of the blood bank information
management system. The prototype can be developed through iterative process along with users‟
feedback. From the user test for the system prototype it is identified that some parts need to be
improved.
Recommendation: It is recommended for future researchers to implement the complete web-
based blood bank information management system by enriching it with additional functionalities.
Such functionality may include: integration with Smart Care, adding a knowledge based
component, Short Message Service (SMS) based promotion.

ix
 CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Blood supplies all nutrients and oxygen in the body. It has been medically proven that no human
being can survive without blood (1).

Many medical advances that have improved the treatment of serious illness and injuries have
increased the need for blood transfusion for patients‟ survival, to support them through recovery
or to maintain their health (2). Demand for blood is driven by an array of factors that include
obstetric hemorrhage, road traffic accidents, armed conflict, sickle cell disease and childhood
anemia, malnutrition, HIV, malaria, and parasitic infections (3).
Blood bank is a place where blood is collected from donors, typed, separated into components,
stored, and prepared for transfusion to recipients. A blood bank may be a separate free-standing
facility or part of a larger laboratory in a hospital.

Globally, over 81 million donations of blood are collected annually, but only 45% of these are
donated in developing and transitional countries, where 81% of the world‟s populations live (2).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 8,000 blood centers in 159 countries
report on their collections shows, the average annual collection per blood center is 30,000 in
high-income countries, 7,500 in middle-income countries and 3,700 in low-income countries,
demonstrating wide differences in the efficiency of blood collection across countries and income
groups (4).

Approximately 8 million unit of blood are currently needed to meet transfusion demand for a
population of nearly 800 million in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
guidelines of 10 unit per 1000 population. However, only 3 million unit of blood are collected
annually, satisfying a mere 40% of this estimated need (3).

As the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia disclosed in 20151, some 87,000 units of blood were
donated for transfusion in Ethiopia, although the country needs 200,000 units of blood annually
(5).

Blood services are essential part of any health-care delivery system. Every government has a
responsibility to ensure the availability, accessibility, adequacy and safety of blood supply for its
people (6).

1
Note: The years indicated in this project report are all in Gregorian calendar unless it is
indicated otherwise.
1
However, maintaining a safe and sufficient supply of blood remains a major challenge in many
developing countries. Two key problems are the gap between the supply and demand of a safe
blood supply, and the serious safety concerns associated with inadequately screened blood. A
major constraint to solving these problems is the lack of strong infrastructure and systems to
support the management of blood programmes (6).

Management of blood and blood transfusion services in Ethiopia is carried out by the National
Blood Bank, which is nonprofit governmental organization established with core functions of
community mobilization & education on voluntary blood donation, blood collection, laboratory
processing, testing & production of blood, distribution to health facilities, promotion of
appropriate clinical use of blood, and research & capacity building in blood transfusion services
(BTS).

The Ethiopian National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) was established in 1969 by the
Ethiopian Red Cross Society. Since 2012 it has been transferred to the Federal Ministry of
Health and entrusted with the responsibility of managing the blood donors, collection, testing
and transfusion of blood and blood products. Its main center is located in Addis Ababa and it has
also the responsibility to oversee, support and monitor the activities of regional blood banks in
the country which are administratively under their respective regional health bureaus (7).

Placing the Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) under the mainstream health care delivery system
has improved efficiency of managing the blood banks to ensure the whole population has access
to safe blood supply (6).
Twenty-five blood banks were functional in Ethiopia in 2014; 24 regional blood banks are
serving eight to 12 hospitals each in a radius of about 100km. Thirty mobile blood collection
teams are working throughout the country with five fully functional teams in Addis Ababa alone.
The proportion of blood collected from voluntary blood donors has increased from 10% in 2012
to 98% in 2014. The Addis Ababa center alone collects over 40,000 units from 100% voluntary
blood donations and for a population of 2.5 million, achieves the self-sufficiency target of 10
units/1000 of the population (8).

Therefore, this project is executed with the aim of improving the inventory management system
of the blood bank, the gap that exists between the supply and demand of a safe blood supply, and
donor/donation management.

2
 1.2. Statement of the Problem
One case study on Blood Bank information management system which was conducted in Kenya
stated that as “the cost of creation, processing and distribution of information continues to
decrease, there has been increased penetration of technology based applications in the various
sectors of the economy and the health sector has not been left behind” (9).

Without an automated management system, there are problems in keeping track of the actual
amount of each and every blood type in the blood bank, which blood group is going to finish,
etc. In addition, there is also no alert mechanism available when the blood quantity is below its
par level or when the blood in the bank has expired. Further, there is no automated way of
reminding donors when the next donation time is expected (10).

Human error, leading to potential or actual mistakes, in blood administration can occur at any
step in the blood bank service process. Error reductions are most likely to be obtained by a
systems approach having the goals of reducing incomplete or erroneous identification of patients
or blood products, simplifying processes. Systems that reduce reliance on human data entry and
human double-checking through increased use of computer technology for these functions have
the potential to substantially increase productivity and accuracy (11).

Currently in the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia, there is no centralized database that stores
donors‟ records in one place. Rather, each blood bank center has its own records. Therefore, it is
difficult to trace donors who already registered and donated on different blood bank centers and
can be considered as a new donor.

In addition, blood donation events are publicized through radio, newspaper or television
advertisements. There is no information regarding the blood donation programs which is
disseminated through any web portal. Moreover, for those who want to make blood donation,
they cannot make early reservation or booking online.
To the knowledge of this researcher, there is no project work done to address the need for a web-
based blood bank information management system in Ethiopia. One related project, which was
done by Guesh Dagnew on “a knowledge based system for blood transfusion” which aimed to
acquire knowledge necessary in blood transfusion and designing a knowledge base system that
can provide advice to experts involved in blood transfusion (12).

So that, due to the absence of a web based blood bank information management system there are
many gaps, such as a problem of registering a single donor in multiple places which creates data
redundancy, problems on proper management of stock, inability to send directed promotion
automatically and long queue that donors should wait to donate blood even if it can be solved by
reserving blood donation time slot online.

3
The aim of this project is therefore, to design a web-based blood bank information management
system that will carry out the above activities in easy and quick manner, which is not possible
with the current system.

1.3. Objective of the Project

1.3.1. General Objective

The aim of this project is to design a web-based blood bank information management
system for the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia.

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

The specific objectives are to:

 Identify user and system requirements of the blood bank information management
system;

 Analyze and design system model of the blood bank information management
system;

 Design high level system architecture of the blood bank information management
system;

 Design the user interface prototype and develop a prototype of the blood bank
information management system;

 Test User Interface prototype model of the system.

1.4. Significance of the Project

The proposed Blood Bank Information Management System is envisaged to provide
different benefits for the different stakeholders.

Health Professionals
 The system will simplify the process of searching for blood in case of emergency and
let the health professionals to efficiently use their time on giving a care.

Donors
 Since the system supports online reservation, it will simplify the donation process for
the donor and increase motivation among the donors.

 It lets the donors to know the blood donation campaign being organized at different
places.

4
Blood Bank Centers
 For the employees of the blood bank center this system will reduce the work load.

 The blood bank center‟s manager can easily control the stock.

 Wastage of blood will decrease.

Researchers
 It provides complete and aggregate information for those researchers who conduct
research on blood and blood transfusion areas.

 It can be used for implementing the system in the future.

Federal Ministry of Health and Policy Makers

 Since the National Blood Bank in one of the mainstream health care delivery system
of the FMOH, the system can help the ministry to monitor and control the whole
blood transfusion service throughout the country.

 The policy maker can use the reports generated from the system to conduct evidence
based planning and decision making.

Regional bureaus
 It provides information about the blood transfusion service of the specific region and
helps identify and fill the gaps.

 It provides summary performance reports on each blood bank center in the regions.

Funding agencies
 It provides an aggregate information to monitor the activities of the particular blood
bank center to which the fund is granted.

Knowledge base
 It helps as a way for acquiring a good practical knowledge for software development
in general and for health informatics professions in particular.

5
1.5. Scope of the Project
This Web-Based Blood Bank Information Management System Project is limited to the
design of the system and development of a prototype. That means the project does not
proceed to the implementation, testing and deployment of the whole system.

The project will be implemented on the National Blood Bank main center and as it is a
web-based it can be accessed anywhere.

The project will be executed from November 2015 up to May, 2015/16.

For analyzing and designing the system the project will use an object oriented
methodology approach with iterative process modeling. Unified Modeling Language
(UML) modeling will be used as a technique. For user interface prototype Visio and
white star tools will be used. For the implementation of the system prototype both Hyper-
Text Markup Language (HTML) and Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) programming
languages will be used for client-side and server-side respectively and also My-
Structured Query Language (MySQL) database management system will be used to
design the database of the system prototype.

1.6. Organization of the Document

Chapter one is the introduction part and it covers the background, the statement of the
problem, objectives of the project, significance of the project and scope of the project.
Chapter two is the literature review; it gives related information with this project work.
Chapter three is about methodology used to develop this project. Chapter four is the
system analysis and modeling; which talked about the existing system and operation of
the proposed system. Chapter five is conclusion and recommendation.

6
 CHAPTER TWO
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. General Literature

2.1.1. Blood Bank and Blood Bank Information Management System

Blood banking refers to the process of collecting, testing, preparing, and storing whole
blood and blood components intended primarily for transfusion (14). Blood bank center
entails the rigorous controlling, monitoring and the complete documentation of the whole
procedure from blood collection to blood infusion (15).

Blood Bank Information Management System is an information system which helps to

manage the records of donors and patient at a blood bank. It is mainly designed to store,
process, retrieve and analyze information concerned with the administrative and
inventory management within a blood bank (16). Such kind of system will allow the
authorized blood bank officer to login using a secret password and easily manage the
records of the blood donors and the patients in need of blood. In addition, the blood bank
information management system is not obsolete to the professionals; rather it plays a
great role in attracting the donors and other stakeholders due to its simplicity in the
reservation, and notification of donation time to the needy. On top of this any stakeholder
and/or regional blood banks in need of blood can easily access to the type and quantity of
blood available in any blood bank center.

2.1.2. Information System Development

An Information system consists of input messages, message processing and output
messages. It have also processing rules which control the execution of the Information
system. If the processing rules are formalized we can have computer based Information
systems. But if the processing rules need a lot of personal knowledge, judgment and
Intuition, the information systems a manual. A purposeful Information system shall help
users to make good decisions and support their actions (17).
Information systems, like other products, are going through a life cycle. Such as
Information Systems Development, Information Systems in Use (Operation), Information
Systems Maintenance Management and Information Systems Withdrawal.
An information system development is the process of defining, designing, testing, and
implementing a new software application or program (18). The system developer uses
different tools, techniques, procedure, method and philosophy to implement the
information system development.

7
2.1.3. Contemporary Modeling Approaches
Modeling is a central part of all the activities that lead up to the deployment of good
software. It is used to communicate the desired structure and behavior of a system. In
addition, models build to visualize and control the system's architecture and to better
understand the system we are building, often exposing opportunities for simplification,
reuse and manage risks (19).
A Model provides the blueprints of a system and help the users visualize the final product
(19).
Different modeling approaches such as, structured and object-oriented, can be used in
information system development.

2.1.3.1. Structured System Analysis and Design Approach

It is the traditional view of software development. In this approach, the main building
block of all software is the procedure or function. This view leads developers to focus on
issues of control and the decomposition of larger algorithms into smaller ones. Such an
approach tends to yield brittle systems. As requirements change and the system grows,
systems built with an algorithmic focus turn out to be very hard to maintain (19).

2.1.3.2. Object-Oriented (OO) System Analysis and Design Approach

The object-oriented paradigm is currently the most popular way of analyzing, designing
and developing application systems, especially large ones. In this paradigm the elements
of a given situation is viewed by decomposing them into objects and object relationships
(20).

Systems developed with the OO approach are more flexible. These systems can be
modified and enhanced easily, by changing some types of objects or by adding new types
(20).

2.1.4. Modeling Techniques

Unified Modeling Language (UML)
Notations enable to articulate complex ideas briefly and precisely. In projects involving
many participants, often of different technical and cultural backgrounds, accuracy and
clarity are critical as the cost of miscommunication increases rapidly (21). In the OO
world UML is the industry-standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing,
and documenting the artefacts of software systems (22). UML use different diagraming
model to show the analysis and design of a system. There are nine artifacts defined in the
UML modeling which mainly categorized under two different views of a system model.

8
i. Static (or Structural) View
This view emphasizes the static structure of the system using objects, attributes,
operations, and relationships. These static parts are represents by, use case, class,
package, component, and deployment diagram (22).

Use Case Diagram

The use case diagram is concerned with the interaction between the system and actors
(objects outside the system that interact directly with it). It presents a collection of use
cases and their corresponding external actors. A use case is a generic description of an
entire transaction involving several objects of the system. Use cases are represented as
ellipses, and actors are depicted as icons connected with solid lines to the use cases they
interact with.

A use case diagram is helpful in visualizing the context of a system and the boundaries of
the system‟s behavior. Each use cases in the use case diagram can also be described using
a narrative form (23).

Class Diagram
The class diagram represents the static structure of the system. It identifies all the classes
for a proposed system and specifies for each class its attributes, operations, and
relationships to other classes. Relationships include inheritance, association, and
aggregation (23).

Component Diagram
A component diagram provides a physical view of the system. Its purpose is to show the
dependencies that the software has on the other software components in the system (24).
It is built as part of architectural specification and developed by architects and
programmers.

Deployment Diagram
The deployment diagram shows how a system will be physically deployed in the
hardware environment. Its purpose is to show where the different components of the
system will physically run and how they will communicate with each other. It is used to
identify performance bottlenecks, and is developed by architects, networking engineers,
and system engineers (24).

Package Diagram
Package diagram shows how the various classes are grouped into packages. Packages are
UML constructs that enable you to organize model elements into groups. It makes your
UML diagrams simpler and easier to understand (25).
9
ii. Dynamic(or Behavioral ) view
Behavioral diagrams basically capture the dynamic aspect of the system by showing
collaborations among objects and changes to the internal states of objects. Dynamic
aspect can be further described as the changing or moving parts of a system. These
dynamic parts are represented by sequence, collaboration, state chart, and activity
diagram (22).

Activity Diagram
Active diagrams are used to model the flow of an object as it moves from state to state at
different points in the flow of control. It is essentially a flow chart that emphasize the
activity that takes place over time.

Activity diagrams can be used to model higher-level business process at the business unit
level, or to model low-level internal class actions. It is "Less technical" in appearance,
compared to sequence diagrams, and business-minded people tend to understand them
more quickly (24).
Sequence Diagram

A sequence diagram shows interaction among a set of objects in temporal order, which is
good for understanding timing issues. It show a detailed flow for a specific use case or
even just part of a specific use case (24).
A sequence diagram deals with the sequence of messages flowing from one object to
another. It is mainly used to visualize the sequence of calls in a system to perform a
specific functionality.
Collaboration Diagram

Collaboration diagram is used to explore the dynamic nature of the software.

Collaboration diagrams show the message flow between objects in an object-oriented
application, and also imply the basic associations (relationships) between classes (25).
The purpose of collaboration diagram is similar to sequence diagram. But the specific
purpose of collaboration diagram is to visualize the organization of objects and their
interaction.
State Chart Diagram

The state chart diagram models the different states that a class can be in and how that
class transitions from state to state. Every class has a state (which is a situation during the

10
 life of an object, which satisfies some condition, performs some activity or waits from
some event), but that every class shouldn't have a state chart diagram (24).
The state chart diagrams are used to capture event-oriented dynamic behavior, model
objec

While the UML provides nine artifacts to model the system, it is not important to use all
as each of them provide a different perspective of the same system.

2.1.5. Modeling Procedure

Procedure models are fixed sequences of activity to implement projects. There are various
modeling procedures which have been widely in use to develop software products. While
there are many flavors, the two most common models are the Waterfall and
Iterative/Incremental approaches.

2.1.5.1. The Waterfall Model

The Waterfall Model is the oldest and the most well-known SDLC model. This model is
widely used in government projects. The special feature of this model is its sequential steps.
It goes downward through the phases of requirements analysis, design, coding, testing, and
maintenance (26). Stages that construct this model are not overlapping stages, which means
that the waterfall model begins and ends one stage before starting the next one. This kind of
approach is slow to response to change (27).
This model works well for projects in which quality control is a major concern because of its
intensive documentation and planning (28).
The following steps briefly describe the waterfall process.
i. Requirement Analysis:
It is a description of a system behavior to be developed. Usually, it is the information
provided by clients. Hence, it establishes the agreement between the clients and the
developers for the software specifications and features. In short, requirements are
gathered, analyzed and then proper documentation is prepared, which helps further in the
development process.
ii. Design
The gathered information from the analysis phase is evaluated and a proper
implementation is formulated. It is the process of planning and problem solving for a
software solution. It deals with choosing the appropriate algorithm design, software
architecture design, database conceptual schema, logical diagram design, and data
structure definition (29).
iii.Implementation
In this phase the whole requirements will be converted to the production environment and
implements the detailed design specification. Coding of the software is done at the
implementation phase.

11
iv. Testing
Real testing and checking of the software solutions that have been developed to meet the
original requirements and finds any errors present in the code.
v. Maintenance
After the software is already released, it may need some modifications, improvements,
errors correction, and refinement accordingly. Thus, this phase addresses problems and
enhancement requests after the software releases.

2.1.5.2. Iterative Model

Collecting all the requirements from the user at the beginning of project development is
very difficult. Users typically have difficulty explaining what they need, and the
problems increase when developers fail to translate requirements into working software.

The idea behind iterative approach is to develop a software system incrementally. It start
with a simple implementation of a subset of the software requirements and iteratively
enhance the evolving sequence of versions until the full system is implemented. The
basic requirements are addressed in the first increment, and it is the core product,
however, many supplementary features (some known, others unknown) remain
undeliverable at this increment. At each iteration, design modifications are made along
with adding new functional capabilities. This kind of approach allows the developer to
take advantage of what was being learned during the development of earlier, incremental,
deliverable versions of the system (30).
This model works well on a project with new technology, allowing the user to adjust to
the system in smaller incremental steps rather than leaping to a major new product and
when it is high risky to develop the whole system at once (26).

2.1.6. System Architecture

The system architecture describes the system‟s hardware, software, and network
environment, which is the plan for how the information system components will be
distributed across multiple computers and what hardware operating system software, and
application software will be used in each computer. The deliverables include the
architecture design and the hardware and software specification (31).
Different system developers used different types of architecture in certain situations.

Server-Based Architectures
The server (usually, a central mainframe computer) performs all four application
functions i.e. presentation logic, application logic, data access logic, and data storage.
The clients (usually, terminals) enabled users to send and receive messages to and from
the server computer (31).

12
 Figure 2.1: Server-Based Architecture

Client-Based Architectures
With client-based architectures, the clients are micro-computers on a local area network,
and the server is a server computer on the same network. The application software on the
client computers is responsible for the presentation logic, the application logic, and the
data access logic. The server simply provides storage for the data (31).

Figure 2.2: Client-Based Architecture

Client-Server Architectures
The most common architecture used today, which attempt to balance the processing
between client devices and one or more server devices. In these architectures the client is
13
responsible for the presentation logic, whereas the server is responsible for the data
access logic and the data storage. The application logic may reside on the client, reside on
the server, or be split between both. This architectures are scalable and can support many
different types of clients and servers (31). There are many ways in which the application
logic can be partitioned between the client and the server. The common configuration
includes:

i. Two-Tiered Architecture
In this case, the server is responsible for the data and the client is responsible for
the application and presentation.

Figure 2.3: Two-Tiered Client–Server Architecture

ii. Three-Tiered Architecture

In this case, the software on the client computer is responsible for presentation
logic, an application server(s) is responsible for the application logic, and a
separate database server(s) is responsible for the data access logic and data
storage. Typically, the user interface runs on a desktop PC or workstation and
uses a standard graphical user interface. The application logic may consist of one
or more separate modules running on a workstation or application server. Finally,
a relational DBMS running on a database server contains the data access logic and
data storage.

14
 Figure 2.4: Three-Tiered Client–Server Architecture

2.1.7. Application Types

Desktop Based Application
It is a native application that executes on a user's local machine. In most cases these
application software could be used by single person only. Desktop applications have
traditionally been limited by the hardware on which they are run. They must be
developed for and installed on a particular operating system, and may have strict
hardware requirements that must be met to ensure that they function correctly. Updates to
the applications must be applied by the user directly to their installation, and may require
hardware upgrades or other changes in order to work (32).

Mobile Based Application

An application built to run natively on a mobile device. Mobile devices often include
applications that invoke services over the telephone network or the Internet via a web
browser and affect data and displays on the device (33).

Web-based System Development

It is an information system development that can be accessed through the world-wide-
web and works with resources available over the internet, including storage and CPU
processing power (34). The World Wide Web provides a new medium for storing,
presenting, gathering, sharing, processing, and using information (35). Additionally, the
use of existing web browsers and their multimedia capabilities has allowed developers to
create more interactive, media-rich user interfaces. A web based system is easy to be
scalable, troubleshooting and it can be run in different platforms.

15
2.2. Related Project Works to Blood Bank Information Management System
While many articles, books and other materials have been reviewed as part of the project,
in this section a presentation of only a few of the most related works is presented.

2.2.1. Blood Donation Management System

Blood Donation Management System is a web application with supporting mobile
application aimed to serve as a communication tool between patients (who need blood)
and blood donor. The system was designed at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh (36).

The objective of this system was to present an online edge for bringing mutually giving
blood donors and patients (blood requesters) who need blood creating an interactive
blood donors, blood requesters and blood bank clinics To become members of the
system, donors need to create their profiles by providing fundamental information like
name, blood group, email address, password, and exact location from “Google Map”. In
order to find out the exact location of a donor, Google Map is integrated with this
application (36).

The mobile application always updates the location of a donor. As a result, the system
can automatically find a registered donor wherever he/she goes. Visitors can search blood
donors from the home page by blood group and the place where blood is needed. The
system shows the available donors along with their phone number, email address and
mailing address through arranging them by the nearest place and blood donation expiry
date (36). The project was able to execute the objective of the investigators even though,
they are yet to develop the mobile application which will provide the users (with
multimedia cell phones) the service of finding a blood donor with map interface.

2.2.2. Blood Donation System Based on Mobile Cloud Computing

The Blood Donation System (BDS) is designed as a framework and planned to be
developed and implemented for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The system is comprised
of two main components, which are the Cloud Computing (CC) component and the
Mobile Computing (MC) component (37).

The main aim of this work was to design a framework for blood donation system using
cloud computing and mobile computing technology. The Blood Donation System (BDS)
is an information system that deploys mobile computing empowered by cloud computing
to provide efficient blood donation services. This system is developed to facilitate
communication between blood donors and blood donation centers and integrates the
blood information dispersed among different blood donation centers and health
organizations. Stakeholders used the blood donation system as an application installed on

16
 their smartphones to help them complete the blood donation process. The application
helps the people receive notifications on urgent blood donation calls, know their
eligibility to give blood, search for the nearest blood center, and reserve a convenient
appointment using temporal and/or spatial information (37). The result show that the
investigators finally designed a framework that contains cloud computing component
which represent the cloud with all its service models and it provides stakeholders in the
mobile computing environment with all blood donation services and the mobile
computing component which represents the mobile environments where the blood
donation stakeholders interact and request services from the cloud component.

2.2.3. KBase Life

KBase Life is a knowledge base‟s blood bank information system. It is a web based
system to manage, control and monitor each and every aspect of a blood bank. It helps in
managing and tracking information right from donor recruitment to the components final
transfusion, including all production steps, latest lab activities. In addition to the core
blood bank activities, it manages inventory to laboratories/clinical tests, back office
application like HR, Finance and billing and health education as well. This system is
deployed at the Malaysia National Blood Bank (38).

2.2.4. Punjab Online Blood Bank Management System

This system is a web based blood bank management system that is designed to store,
process, retrieve and analyze information concerned with the administrative and
inventory management within a blood bank (39).

The Punjab online blood bank management system provides different functionality like
blood donation camp and camp organizer management, donor management, inventory
management, blood requisition and issuance of blood, online transfer of blood from one
blood bank to another, discarding of expired and unsuitable blood, etc. (39)

A user can check the availability of blood based on both district as well as blood group
wise. The system also generates different reports (39).

2.2.5. Blood Bank India

This is a web based blood bank system which provides the functionality of online blood
donor registration, city wise and blood group wise search of the blood (a person who
needs blood). A person or a hospital can request the blood from the blood bank when
they need and it also gives information on the importance of blood donation, the
requirements to become a donor and so on (40).

17
2.2.6. A Knowledge Based System for Blood Transfusion
This system was designed for the national blood bank center of Ethiopia. The aims of the
system was to acquire knowledge necessary in blood transfusion and designing a
knowledge based system that can provide advice to experts involved in blood transfusion.
The system cross matches the compatibility of the patient‟s blood and the blood going to
transfuse. The researcher used a rule based knowledge representation method to represent
the relationship between facts and rules. The result shows that the system registers 83.3%
complete knowledge of blood transfusion task. This system can be integrated as one
module in the whole blood bank information management system (12).

18
 CHAPTER THREE
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. The Case
The project is carried out at the national blood bank center, Addis Ababa. The National
Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) was established in 1969 by the Ethiopian Red Cross
society. Since 2012, the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia is overseeing the national
blood bank entrusting with the responsibility of community mobilization & education on
voluntary blood donation, managing of blood donors, collection, testing and transfusion
of blood and blood products in Ethiopia, promotion of appropriate clinical use of blood,
research and capacity building in BTS. The national blood bank has a total of 282
employees with various qualifications including health professionals, IT experts, and
administrative staffs. Its main center is located in Addis Ababa and it has also the
responsibility to oversee, support and monitor the activities of nine regional and two city
administrative blood banks in the country which are administratively under their
respective regional health bureaus.

3.2. The Method

Information systems are implemented within an organization for the purpose of
improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. The utility of the
information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people,
and its development and implementation methodologies together determine the extent to
which that purpose is achieved (41).
In information system discipline, there are two complementary but distinct paradigms,
natural (or behavioral) science and design science. The behavioral science paradigm
seeks to develop and justify theories (i.e., principles and laws) that explain or predict
organizational and human phenomena surrounding the analysis, design, implementation,
and use of information systems. Such theories ultimately inform researchers and
practitioners of the interactions among people, technology, and organizations that must
be managed if an information system is to achieve its stated purpose, namely improving
the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization. The design science paradigm is
fundamentally a problem solving paradigm. It seeks to create innovations that define the
ideas, practices, technical capabilities, and products through which the analysis, design,
implementation, management, and use of information systems can be effectively and
efficiently accomplished (41). The Design Science process includes six steps: problem
identification and motivation, definition of the objectives for a solution, design and
development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication (42).
This project, therefore, follows the design science methodology, which is a paradigm that
seeks to extend the boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new
and innovative artifacts (41).
19
 Object-Oriented methodology approach is used for analyzing and designing the system.
As it is discussed in section 2.1.3.2, this approach is selected because it has an advantage
of modularity, extensibility, reusability as well as maintainability and also the
investigator has a better knowledge on Object-Oriented approach.

3.3. The Procedure

As discussed in section 2.1.5, the Object-Oriented approach, which is supported by an
iterative procedure, is used. This helps to improve the system step by step in a cyclical
way until it satisfies the users need. It starts with a simple implementation of a subset of
the software requirements and iteratively enhance the evolving sequence of versions until
the full system is implemented. At each iteration, design modifications are made along
with adding new functional capabilities.
The iterative process model is selected because, collection of all the requirements from
the user at the beginning of project development is very difficult.

3.4. The Techniques

To obtain all the required information for the system development there are different
kinds of requirement elicitation techniques. The techniques which are used to identify
both the user and system requirements in this project are presented below.

3.4.1. In-depth interview

The in-depth interview is selected because it helps the investigator to get the information
required in detail, and some information is better described in interview rather than other
data collection techniques. The interview is made with the manager, two laboratory
technologist and IT expert who work at the national blood bank. The reason only four
individuals are selected in this project is that, for one reason it is qualitative study so that
we don‟t have to bother for the number of sample size to be included though some
qualitative studies recommend some level of sample size, The other reason is that it is
these individuals are the only people currently working as a team leader on the specific
area the project is trying to address in its objective. All the respondents have first degree
and above qualification and they are selected purposively. The investigator asked the
stakeholders about any system currently they use, their potential needs, and
organizational management in general. The in-depth interview is conducted in a private
room so as to ensure the privacy of the respondents. The recorded audio of respondents
were transcribed in a way it do not miss a single point raised by the respondents in to
written format and then content analysis was done for each response the study
participants gave. The interviewer used an interview guide which is attached in appendix
C.

20
 3.4.2. Document review
In addition to the interview, document review is applied to collect the forms and
documents used in the center. In the process of reviewing the document the investigator
find out the types of documents exist in the National Blood Bank Center and determine
the specific documents those are important for BBIMS. The document review was
included in the project with regard to routine data recording, compilation, processing and
reporting such as donor registration form, blood distribution form, blood discard form
and etc. A document like blood discarded form need special permission to access, so that
the investigator get permission from the concerning body before reviewing.

3.4.3. Modeling Technique

To model the analysis and design of the system UML modeling technique is used. For the
analysis parts Use Case diagram and narrate Use Cases to identify the boundary of the
system and also Activity diagram, which is used to model the flow of an object as it
moves from state to state at different points in the flow of control, is used for the analysis
part of the system model. Class diagram, which identifies all the classes for a proposed
system and specifies for each class its attributes, operations, and relationships to other
classes, is used to model the design part of the system. The UML technique is selected
because it is supported by the object oriented approach as well as the investigator have a
better knowledge on it.

3.5. Tools
To collect the requirement in-depth interview and document review guides are used,
which is a self-designed semi-structured questionnaire.
For the development of the information management system for the national blood bank,
Microsoft Visio and White Star are used as tools to model the user interface prototype.
For the implementation of the system prototype, both HTML and PHP programming
languages are used for client-side and server-side respectively. The MySQL database
management system is used to design the database of the system prototype.
The main reason for using the aforementioned tools is because they are open source. This
means, these tools and servers are freely available on the web. Developers can freely
download these tools and servers from their websites. In addition to this the investigator
has a good experience on using the above mentioned tools.

3.6. Evaluation of the Project

After designing the system, prototype was developed and then its system performance is
evaluated to see the functionalities of the system followed by user acceptance test so as to
evaluate the usability of the system. For this process user test checklist is used.

21
3.7. Method of Dissemination of Results
Being an academic project, at the end of the project the principal investigator will deliver
the already developed system prototype and the documentation to AAU as partial
fulfillment of MSc in health informatics. Furthermore the result of this project will be
disseminated to Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and National Blood Bank Center.

3.8. Operational Definitions

Software Design
Software design refers to all the activities involved in conceptualizing, framing,
implementing, commissioning, and ultimately modifying complex systems" or "the
activity following requirements specification and before programming (43).

Web-based Application
A Web-based application refers to any program that is accessed over a network
connection using HTTP, rather than existing within a device‟s memory. Web-based
applications often run inside a Web browser. However, Web-based applications also may
be client-based, where a small part of the program is downloaded to a user‟s desktop, but
processing is done over the Internet on an external server.

Management Information System

Information systems that provide information for users with similar needs. The main
purpose of Management Information Systems is to provide managers with the
information they need to take decisions and solve problems. Management Information
Systems are supported by corporate databases, which include data generated by
transaction processing (44).

System Requirements
A requirement is simply a statement of what the system must do or what characteristics it
needs to have. During a systems development project, requirements will be created that
describe what the business needs (business requirements); what the users need to do (user
requirements); what the software should do (functional requirements); characteristics the
system should have (nonfunctional requirements); and how the system should be built
(system requirements) (31).

3.9. Ethical Clearance

The project is carried out after obtained ethical clearance letter from Institutional Review
Board (IRB) of College of Health Sciences of Addis Ababa University. In addition,
concerned bodies in the National Blood Bank Center were informed about the project
during data collection, The project participants were informed that they have a right to
22
withdraw anytime from the interview should they need it. The potential benefit of the
project execution after its implementation is told to the respondents prior to data
collection. The study participants were interviewed in private room in the national blood
bank so that their privacy should be kept. The confidentiality of the questionnaires/ in-
depth interview of study participants were kept by allowing only the principal
investigator to access the questionnaire throughout the duration of the project and
thereafter. Study participants were informed the potential benefit of the project for them
and the country as well, and also they are informed there is no any physical and
psychological harm poses to them by solely participating in the study. The consent form
used is attached in the appendix C.

23
 CHAPTER FOUR
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1. Introduction
As mentioned in chapter three, an object oriented modeling methodology with an iterative
process model is used to analyze, design and implement the project. To obtain all the required
information for the system development, in-depth interview, document review and inventory
were conducted. In addition, the UML modeling technique was used to model the analysis and
design of the system. In this chapter the key findings, the requirement analysis and design of the
system are discussed.

4.2. The Existing System

The in-depth interview and the documents reviews done at the center helped the investigator to
acquire the required information for the BBIMS. The key findings both from the in-depth
interview and document review are described in the following sub sections and the sub-headings
are organized based on the in-depth interview and document review guides.

4.2.1. In-depth Interview

The interview was conducted with manager, health professionals and IT expert who works in the
National Blood Bank Center on issues ranging from blood donation processes, information
management system, and management issues. For the simplicity of the presentation of the report,
here under the results of in-depth interview is presented in a sequence of health professionals, IT
expert and manager.

Health Professionals in-depth interview result:

According to the result of the interview with the professionals, currently the center collects blood
from donors using various approaches and areas. It collects blood at the main office of the blood
bank and at different mobile case teams which are responsible for conducting blood collection
sessions outside the premises of the central blood bank. The entire process of blood collection
from registration to refreshments takes approximately 45 minutes. The details of the processes
followed during blood collection, according to the interview, are presented as follows:

i. Blood Donor Reception and Registration

In the reception area, general information (name, address, etc.) is recorded. In order to maintain
accurate records, all donors are asked to present their proper identification. On this stage
potential donors will be given proper pre donation information by receptionist nurse and through
different leaflets. Here also voluntary donors are given donor questionnaire to fill which is
helpful to check eligibility for donation.

24
 ii. Pre Donation Counseling and Medical Interview
The nurse takes medical history, gives pre donation counseling and undertakes mini-physical
checkup. During the checkup, the potential donor‟s weight and blood pressure will be checked.
Then a drop of blood will be taken from the donor‟s finger and tested to make sure the donor has
enough iron-carrying red blood cells to safely donate blood. Then the donor will be asked to sign
on the donor questionnaire and confirm whether the donor agreed to post donation counseling
and result notification.
iii. Donation
The donor will be taken to the actual donation area, where a phlebotomist will sterilize the area
of the donor arm from which the blood will be drawn. The actual donation takes less than ten
minutes as approximately as one pint of blood is collected. All materials used during the
donation are pre-packaged, sterile and disposable. They are used only once and then discarded.
At this step the phlebotomy nurse will give the donor on donation counseling.
iv. Refreshments and Relaxation
After the donation, the donor will be directed to the canteen area, where he/she will rest while
enjoying light refreshments. After 15 minutes, donor will be permitted to leave the canteen area
and resume his/her daily routine activities.
v. Post Donation Counseling
All donated blood should be screened for markers of Transfusion-Transmissible Infection (TTI)
to ensure the microbial safety of the blood supply and verify that the donation is safe to be used
for therapeutic purposes. The assays used for blood screening usually have high sensitivity;
however, there are some trade-offs on their specificity and false-reactive results sometimes may
occur. In the case of reactive screening results, confirmatory testing should be performed to
identify truly infected donors or donors with nonspecific reactivity or inconclusive results; this
should be done before the donors are informed, notified and counseled about their infectivity
status. Counseling donors who have unusual or abnormal TTI test results is an essential part of
quality donor service and care.

 Donors confirmed to be infected should be notified of their infection status,

counseled, deferred from blood donation and referred for treatment, care and
support.
 Donors showing repeated reactive results on screening and negative results on
confirmatory testing should be informed, reassured, counseled and
temporarily deferred until they are non-reactive in a screening assay. Once
this becomes negative, they can be accepted again as blood donors.
 Donors with unclear confirmatory testing results, where infection cannot be
ruled out at that point in time, should be informed, counseled and deferred
temporarily, usually for up to six months. If screen non-reactive and
confirmed negative on follow-up, they can be accepted as blood donors in the
future.

25
On top of this, the result of in-depth interview with professionals on the current software
application shows that there is a database application in which the laboratory technologist used to
record discarded blood information.

IT-expert in-depth interview result:

The interview conducted with the IT expert who works as a data manager at the national blood
bank center was addressed on existing software application, hardware, network infrastructure
and reporting procedures of the organization. The interview results were presented under the
following sub headings.

Software
Currently, the center uses a database application which is developed using MS-SQL database
management system. The center uses the database for the recording of donors‟ profile, blood
distribution to health facilities, screening information and discarded bloods information. In
addition, the center generate reports using the information recorded in the database.

As the data manager explained, the database does not have a front end, which could have made it
easy to learn and operate. In addition, the center does not have a web portal, which is essential to
promote voluntary blood donation in the country and to announce different campaign activities.

Hardware
There are different computer related hardware devices in various departments of the National
Blood Bank Center. As the center did not have hardware inventory data, the investigator
undertook an inventory of the existing hardware devices together with the data manager. The
inventory process was performed in each case team of the center and it is mainly focused on
computer and network hardware devices.

Accordingly, 30% of the computer hardware are relatively old and has limited capacity in RAM,
Hard Disk and Processor type and speed. In addition, the center uses Compaq desktop computer
having 160GB Hard Disk and 512MB RAM capacity as a server, which apparently is old and
very low in capacity to manage and respond to different client requests. (See Appendix B for
complete inventory list).

Network Infrastructure
The National Blood Bank Center currently has a relatively small network, which connects the
data center with different departments with a maximum of 15 users. The center uses plug and
play switches (not configurable). So, it is not well structured and controlled that enables users to
better use and manage the resources.

26
Regarding to the internet usage the data manager says “The center uses an ADSL broadband
internet connection with a bandwidth of 3MB.”

Manager in-depth interview results:

The interview demonstrate that, the National Blood Bank administer directly its main center and
oversee and give support for the remaining twenty four blood bank center throughout the
country. The National Blood Bank Center performs core functions including blood collection,
laboratory processing, testing & production of blood and distribution to health facilities. The
center collects different reports from the various centers and it uses them and disseminate to
relevant stakeholders.
Concerning the reservation system, asked the manager, if the blood bank is currently using any
mechanism through which donors reserve prior to visiting the bank before blood donation in
person, he said that there is no any mechanism for reserving time for donors and they are in need
of web based reservation system so that it can easily help donors reserve and visit the bank
whenever they need.
Regarding to the National Blood Bank plan towards meeting its goal using different means like
using software applications, the manager said that “we have a plan to get a software application
that helps us on the management of the blood bank inventory as well as to achieve our goals on
community mobilization & education on voluntary blood donation”.

In the National Blood Bank Center, the manager claims that, there are a total of 282 employees
(including laboratory technologists, nurses, IT experts and administrative staffs) that work in the
various teams and departments. The organizational structure (figure 4.1) presents the
organizational context as represented by the various departments and services. Here under, the
information technology and laboratory and medical services directorate activities are presented,
as they are mainly the areas the project has given due attention.

Information Technology
In the National Blood Bank Center under information technology team, there is one data
manager and five data encoders. They are responsible for recording of donor information and all
the information that result during the collection processing and distribution of blood and blood
products. They also work closely with all departments to ensure all donor related information are
recorded and handled properly. This unit prepares weekly, monthly and annual performance
reports of the national blood transfusion service. In addition, under the reception room there is
one receptionist who receives donors and registers and checks whether they are able to donate a
blood or not.
Laboratory and Medical Service Directorate
Under this directorate, there are two departments namely, laboratory service department and
medical service department. Under the laboratory service department there are a total of 31

27
employees. They are responsible for screening the collected blood for transfusion transmissible
infections (HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis), carry out blood typing, prepare blood components
(concentrated red cells, fresh frozen plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate) and distribute safe
blood for health institutions. The laboratory department has ABO, infectious screening and
component preparation case teams.

28
Organizational Structure

Figure 4.1: The Organizational Structure of National Blood Bank Center, Ethiopia, May 2016.

29
Vision of the National Blood Bank Center
 To be center of excellence in the discipline of blood transfusion (7).
Mission of the National Blood Bank Center
 To provide safe and adequate blood and blood products to all in need of blood transfusion as
part of their treatment (7).

4.2.2. Document Review

The investigator reviewed different types of documents. This review helped the investigator
know exactly what this documents are for about, what specific information they include and
what they lack (for example, the problem of not having a separate donor registration form and
blood registry form; the reporting format lacking blood specific (O,A,B,AB) output). Those
forms currently used in the bank includes donor registration, blood distribution, blood discard
and reporting formats. Readers may find the forms currently the bank uses at the end of this
document under appendix E.

4.3. Proposed System

The new proposed system is applicable for all blood bank centers in the country. The blood bank
management system is used for online reservation, donor management, stock inventory
management and report generating system.

4.3.1. Context Diagram of the New BBIMS

Figure 4.2 show the context diagram of the new proposed system, which represents all external
entities that may interact with the system. Such a diagram pictures the system at the center, with
no details of its interior structure, surrounded by all its interacting systems, environments and
activities. It also shows the system‟s boundaries and scope.

30
 System
Receptionist Nurse Administrator

Donor
Reserve Blood Donor
Register Blood Donor Generate Report

Update Portal
Reserve for Donation Maintain Account
Data Enter Blood Information Record
Encoder
Create Setup
Blood Bank
Management
Blood Bank Retrieve Report System Discard Blood Information Record
Manager
Lab Technician

Figure 4.2: Context Diagram of the Blood Bank Management System

31
4.3.2. Stakeholders
Stockholders are a person, group, or organization that is actively involved in a project and is
affected by its outcome, or can influence its outcome. Table 4.1 below presents the stakeholders
identified from the existing system.

Table 4.1: List of stakeholders and their responsibilities for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa, 2016.

S_No. Stakeholders Role and Responsibility

 Responsible for maintaining accounts.
 Responsible for creating organizational setup.
 Responsible for updating the portal.
 Responsible for generating different reports.
 Responsible for managing and controlling the
accuracy of data entry.
 Responsible for conducting training for data encoders
1. System Administrator and provide supportive supervision and feedbacks.
 Responsible for registering discarded blood
information.
 Responsible for generating report and use the reports
2. Laboratory Technician for the improvement of service provision.

3. Donor  Responsible for reserving blood donation time slot.

 Responsible for registering blood donor.
 Responsible for giving proper pre donation information
4. Receptionist Nurse to donor.
 Responsible for generating reports and disseminating
5. Blood Bank Manager the report for decision makers.
 Responsible for recording Screening information,
7. Data Encoder blood distribution information and donor details.
 Responsible for requesting blood from blood banks
8. Health Institution  Responsible for give blood for patients.
 Responsible for using the reports for planning and
9. FMoH decision making.
 Responsible for the preparation of promotional and
educational materials to promote voluntary blood
10. Marketing and Communication donation in the country.
Note: The Marketing and Communication stakeholder is outside of the scope, but the
materials used for the promotional purpose is prepared by them.

32
4.4. Analysis Models

4.4.1. Use Case Diagram

The use case diagram shows the boundary of the system and it is a representation of a user`s
interaction with the system and depicting the specification of a use case.
Based on the existing system assessment findings, the system process is modeled. As part of the
analysis, the investigator identified the use cases and the primary and secondary actors and relate
them with the corresponding use cases. Figure 4.3 shows the use cases identified for the BBIMS
process and also shows the actors of the system
Use Cases:
Use case represent functionality provided by a system unit and expressed by sequence of
message exchange by the system unit and one or more actors of the system. The following use
cases have been identified for the proposed system specification.
1. Login
2. Create Setup
3. Reserve Donation
4. Register Donor
5. Store Blood
6. Discard Blood
7. Check Availability
8. Generate Report
ACTORS:
An actor represent roles played by human users, external hardware, or other subjects interacting
with the system and each actor can participate in one or more use cases. The actors that will
participate in the system are:
1. System Administrator
2. Receptionist Nurse
3. Donor
4. Data Encoder
5. Lab Technician
6. Laboratory Head
7. Blood Bank Manager

33
Figure 4.3: System use case diagram for blood bank information management
System.

34
4.4.2. Use Case Narrations
Use case narration is a textual representation of the course of events encountered when an actor
is interacting with the system. Use case narrations help clear possible misunderstandings during
the early stages of development (45). The sample of the use case narration is presented below
and the complete document is available in appendix A.

Use Case ID UC-03

Use Case Name Reserve Donation
Description Describes how a donor reserve donation time slot.
Actor Donor
Pre-Conditions The donor access the blood bank portal by entering the URL.
Post-Conditions The system reserve donation time slot for the donor.
1. The donor opens the blood bank information
management system portal;
2. The donor selects individual reservation option;
3. The system displays individual reservation form;
4. The donor enters the necessary information such as,
Name, Gender, Donation Date, Email etc..;
5. The donor clicks “Reserve” button;
6. The system sends confirmation number to the donor‟s
email.
7. The system lets the donor to enter confirmation number;
8. The donor enters confirmation number;
Main-Success 9. The donor clicks “Submit” button;
Scenario 10. The system reserve donation time slot.
2.1 If the donor selects group reservation option;
3.a The system displays group reservation form;
4.a The donor enters the necessary information such as,
Company Name, Number of Donors, Donation Date,
Company Email etc..;
Alternative 5.a The donor clicks “Reserve” button;
Scenario 6.a The system sends confirmation number to the

35
 company‟s email.
7.a The system lets the donor to enter confirmation
number;
8.a The donor enters confirmation number;
9.a The donor clicks “Submit” button;
10.a The system reserve donation time slot.
The system allows three attempts maximum for the donor to
Rules enter confirmation number.

4.4.3. Activity Diagram Modeling

The activity diagrams are used to model the flow of an object as it moves from state to state at
different points in the flow of control (19). Figure 4.4 shows the activity diagram of donation
reservation process and the complete document is attached in appendix A.

36
 Figure 4.4: The activity diagram for donation time slot reservation process

4.4.4. User Interface Prototype

User interface prototyping is an iterative analysis technique in which users are actively involved
in the mocking-up of the UI for a system. It uses as an analysis artifact that enables developers to
explore the problem space with the stakeholders. And also used as a design artifact that enables
system developer to explore the solution space of the system. The user interface prototype helps
the user to test the system at early stage of the system development. It can be developed using

37
hand drawing or using tools like Visio. The figure 4.5 show the user interface prototype
developed using Visio, the complete document is attached in appendix A.

Figure 4.5: Donor Registry User Interface Prototype

4.5. System Requirements

Requirement is a careful assessment of the needs that a system is to fulfill and which constitute a
specification for the new system (31). The requirements are identified from the process of the
new system and the information gathered during the interview with the stakeholders.

4.5.1. Functional Requirements

The functional requirements describes the processing (functions) to be supported by the new
system, which includes inputs into the system, output of the system and the data that must be
managed by the system (46). The high level functional requirements identified in the system are
presented in table 4.2.

38
 Table 4.2: Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016.

Ranking
Req. Requirement
ID Requirement Description Source Mandatory Optional

The system should enable authenticated


1 user to login into the application UC-01

The system should enable the administrator


2 to create, delete, and update user setup UC-02

The system should enable the administrator


3 to create, delete, and update center setup UC-02

The system should enable the blood donor


4 to reserve donation time slot UC-03

The system should enable the user to


5 register blood donor‟s profile UC-04

The system should enable the user to store


6 blood details UC-05

The system should enable the user to record


7 discarded blood details UC-06

The system should be protected from Login (Figure


8 unauthorized users and access. 4.18)

The system should allow a health institution


9 to check availability of blood at the center UC-07

The system should allow a health institution to


10 send blood request UC-08

11 The system should generate standard reports UC-09 

12 The system should generate ad-hoc reports UC-09 

39
 4.5.2. Non-functional Requirements
The non-functional requirements describe how well the system supports the functional
requirements (46). The non-functional requirements in the new system are presented in table 4.3.

Table 4.3: Non-Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016.

Ranking
Req. Requirement
ID Requirement Description Source Mandatory Optional

The system should provide appropriate error

message when the user enters unexpected/ 
1 wrong data.

The system should be available for 24 hours


2 a day and 7 days a week. Interview(1,2)

The system should at least use English All user


3 language for all interfaces. interface

The system should use Amharic language


4 for all interfaces.

The system should have a very simple and

user friendly interfaces for everyone to 
4 understand the functionalities easily.

The system should use client-server Reference No.


5 architecture. 31

40
4.6. System Design Models

4.6.1. System Class Diagram

To model the design of the system, the investigator used class diagram from the UML. The
class diagram identifies all the classes for BBIMS and specifies for each class its attributes,
operations, and relationships to other classes. The classes identified were, „UserAccount‟
class, which is inherited by „User‟ and „Administrator‟ class. „Donor‟ and „Center‟ classes
are managed by the administrator. The „Registration‟ class capture information about „Blood‟
and „user‟. The „Report‟ class is manipulated by the user. Based on the document review, the
attributes and the types are identified. Figure 4.6 shows the class diagram for blood bank
information management system.

Figure 4.6: Class Diagram for Blood Bank Information Management System
41
4.6.2. System Architecture
The system architecture describes the system‟s hardware, software, and network
environment. The BBIMS is designed to have a three-tier client-server architecture. The
client server architecture is the most common architecture used today, which attempt to
balance the processing between client devices and one or more server devices. In a three-
tier the software on the client computer is responsible for presentation logic, an
application server(s) is responsible for the application logic, and a separate database
server(s) is responsible for the data access logic and data storage (31). Since this
architectures are scalable and can support many different types of clients and servers, the
investigator proposed for this project. Figure 4.7 shows the client/server system
architecture design for the blood bank information management system.

42
 Login

Setups Creating Pages

Reservation Page

User Interface Donor Registration Page

Donated Blood Recording Page

Blood Distribution Recording Page

Discarded Blood Recording Page

Presentation Layer
Reporting Page

Record Inserting Process

Logic Access Record Retrieving Process

Application Layer Report Generating Process

Donor Registry

Reservation Record

Donated Blood Record

Database Center Record

User Account Record

Server Discarded Blood Record

Distribution Blood Record

Figure 4.7: Blood Bank Information Management System Architecture

43
4.7. Prototype Implementation
The implementation of BBIMS prototype is done in three different parts. The user interface
is implemented using HTML and CSS. The MySQL database management system is used to
develop the database and php code is used as a middleware to connect the user interface and
database.

4.7.1. Flowchart Diagram

Flowchart is a visual representation of program flow. A flow chart normally uses a
combination of blocks and arrows to represent actions and sequence. Blocks typically
represent actions. The order in which actions occur is shown using arrows that point from
statement to statement (47). Figure 4.8 shows the flowchart that represent basic function of
the BBIMS system.

44
 Start

Donor Yes Reservation

No
No
Registered Registration
User
Yes

Login

No

Is Valid
User No No
Lab Manager
Yes E
Technician
No
Check Blood
Admin No Receptionis Yes Availability Yes View Report
t Nurse
Yes
Record Donated
Yes Create Setup Blood
D
Yes Yes Register Donor Yes Record
View Report
45
Discarded Blood

B
A C
 A B C D E

Logout

End

Figure 4.8: Flow chart diagram to represent basic function of the BBIMS system.

46
4.7.2. Presentation Layer

4.7.2.1. Donors Registry Form

Donor registry allows the user to register new potential donor‟s profile into the system. To open
the donor registry form, the user selects donor registration button on admin page. The form
contains every details profile about a single potential donor. Figure 4.9 shows the sample of the
form. All the forms are appended in appendix A.

Figure 4.9: Donor Registry Form

4.7.3. Database Layer

4.7.3.1. Database Model

The results of the data model mapping phase is a set of relational schemas. The bases of these
relational schemas are the class diagram. The relational schemas are the bases for the table
definition. The data storage is created using tables in the database. All fields in the tables are
identified and the corresponding primary keys, which is used to identify each instances in the
table uniquely, are assigned. To eliminate data redundancy in the database, normalization
47
process is applied in the tables. After applying the normalization process relational database
modeling is used to model the database. To create a relationship between tables a foreign key is
used. A foreign key is a primary key in one table and become a field in another table in the
database. The storage tables includes Donor, Reservation, Blood, BloodDistribution,
BloodDiscard, Center and UserAccount.

Donates
Donor Blood

Makes

Reservation Stores

BloodDistribution Makes Center Makes BloodDiscard

Has

UserAccount
Figure 4.10: Database table and their relationships.

4.7.4. Middle Layer

Php codes are used as a middleware to connect the user interface and database. Figure 4.11 is the
sample php code to register a donor.

48
 Figure 4.11: Sample php codes.

4.7.5. Discussion of results (the system)

Ethiopian national blood bank has no centralized web based blood bank information
management system. This project has tried to design this centralized web based BBIMS based on
the requirement gathered from the study participants. The designed system has a capability to
reserve a time slot for donating a blood and records all information regarding donors, donated
blood, distribution of blood to health facility and discarded blood. It also performs stock
management for the blood bank. In addition the system generates different standard reports for
the stakeholders.

49
On the other hand, the system is also helpful in serving as a promotional page in relation to the
blood donation and other activities should the blood bank needed it. The investigator has also
undertaken the user test and evaluation concerning the designed web based BBIMS. Here under
it is presented in the following subtitle.
User Test
User testing is a technique for ensuring that the intended users of a system can carry out the
intended tasks efficiently, effectively and satisfactorily. For this particular project user test was
done for the developed prototype which is used to address any significant issues identified. Four
users are participated in the testing process and are presented with eight different questions that
the investigator believes will address the user requirement using Likert scale evaluation methods.

Table 4.4: User test result for the prototype of web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016.

S. Strongly Strongly
no Test Questions Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Agree
1 The interfaces are attractive 1 2 1
I like the font and the color of
2 the interfaces 3 1
There is consistency in the
3 system interface 1 1 2
I thought the system is easy to
4 use 1 3
I found the interfaces are not
5 cumbersome to use 1 3
All-important contents are
6 addressed well 2 2
I need less time to learn the user
7 interface 1 3
There is no unnecessary content
8 available in the interface 2 1 1
Average result in percentage 9% 16% 36% 39%

Based on the finding of the result of the user test questions presented to the respondents, 75% of
the participants in the evaluation and testing has shown positive attitude and response (either
agreed or strongly agreed to) for the system attractiveness of the interface, color of the interfaces,
consistency of the system interface, easy usability, low cumbersomeness, addressed essential
contents, length of time to learn the system, and presence of unnecessary content in the system
in general.

50
 CHAPTER FIVE
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Summary and Conclusions
The Web-Based Blood Bank Information Management System is used to control and
manage the overall activities performed in the blood bank centers. The system reserves a
time slot for donating a blood and records all information regarding donors, donated
blood, distribution of blood to health facility and discarded blood. In addition the system
generates different standard reports for the stockholders.
In the developing the system prototype, requirements were acquired by using in-depth
interview and document review. The collected requirements were analyzed and designed
using UML and during that it is identified there is an internet connection in the center
even if it needs to be upgraded to a high speed connection. The security issue were not
addressed in this project.
User test for the system prototype was done and it shows that 75% of the participants in
the evaluation and testing has shown positive attitude and response for the system
usability.
Generally, this project develop only the prototype of the blood bank information
management system. Since the project follows an iterative process model it can be
developed until it satisfies the end user needs.

51
 5.2. Recommendations
Based on the results of the project, the following recommendations are forwarded to the
concerning bodies.
National Blood Bank

The National Blood Bank should provide sustainable budget for the implementation of
BBIMS. In addition to that, I recommend the National Blood Bank to upgrade the hardware
and network infrastructure of the main center in order for the system to work well.

Regional Health Bureaus

The regional health bureaus should support their respective blood bank centers with
necessary hardware, network infrastructure for the web based BBIMS. In addition, for the
sustainability of the system in the region the bureau should give guarantee by assigning
sufficient budget and manpower.
Other Researchers
It is recommended for future researchers to implement the complete web-based blood bank
information management system by enriching it with additional functionalities. Such
functionality may include: integration with Smart Care, adding a knowledge based
component, adding SMS based promotion component.

52
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Interview
1. With Mr. Abraham Zeleke, National Blood Bank Service Deputy Director, March 2016,
at National Blood Bank Center.

2. With Mr. Tazebachew Tsige, National Blood Bank Center Data Manager, March 2016, at
National Blood Bank Center.

3. With Eden Kahassay, National Blood Bank Center Medical Laboratory Technologist,
March 2016, at National Blood Bank Center.

4. Yabekal Daniel, National Blood Bank Center Medical Laboratory Technologist, March
2016, at National Blood Bank Center.

56
 Appendix A

Software Requirement Specification Document

For
Web Based Blood Bank Information Management
System

57
 CHAPTER ONE

1.1. Introduction

Many medical advances that have improved the treatment of serious illness and injuries have
increased the need for blood transfusion for patients‟ survival, to support them through recovery
or to maintain their health (2). Demand for blood is driven by an array of factors that include
obstetric hemorrhage, road traffic accidents, armed conflict, sickle cell disease and childhood
anemia, malnutrition, HIV, malaria, and parasitic infections (3).
Blood bank is a place where blood is collected from donors, typed, separated into components,
stored, and prepared for transfusion to recipients. A blood bank may be a separate free-standing
facility or part of a larger laboratory in a hospital.
Approximately 8 million unit of blood are currently needed to meet transfusion demand for a
population of nearly 800 million in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
guidelines of 10 unit per 1000 population. However, only 3 million unit of blood are collected
annually, satisfying a mere 40% of this estimated need (3). As the National Blood Bank of
Ethiopia disclosed in 2015, some 87,000 units of blood are donated for transfusion in Ethiopia,
although the country needs 200,000 units of blood annually (5).

Management of blood and blood transfusion services in Ethiopia is carried out by the National
Blood Bank Services Office, which is the nonprofit governmental organization established with
core functions of community mobilization & education on voluntary blood donation, blood
collection, laboratory processing, testing & production of blood, distribution to health facilities,
promotion of appropriate clinical use of blood, and research & capacity building in blood
transfusion services (BTS). Twenty-five blood banks were functional in Ethiopia in 2014; 24
regional blood banks are serving eight to 12 hospitals each in a radius of about 100km increasing
the number of hospitals accessing a safe blood supply to about 90%. Thirty mobile blood
collection teams are working throughout the country with five fully functional teams in Addis
Ababa alone. The proportion of blood collected from voluntary blood donors has increased from
10% in 2012 to 98% in 2014. The Addis Ababa center alone collects over 40,000 units from
100% voluntary blood donations and for a population of 2.5 million, achieves the self-
sufficiency target of 10 units/1000 of the population (7).
The Blood Bank Information Management System is used to automate the inventory
management system of the national blood bank, which is the gap existing between the supply and
demand of a safe blood supply, and donor/donation management.

1.2. Objective

The aim of this project is to design a web-based blood bank information management system for
the national blood bank of Ethiopia.
58
1.3. Purpose

The Blood Bank Information Management System provides different benefits for different
stakeholders. Since it support online reservation, it simplify the donation process for the donor
and increase motivation among the donors. In addition it lets the donors to know the blood
donation campaign organizing at different places. For the user of the system it reduce the work
load and helps the blood bank center‟s manager to control the stock easily. The policy maker use
the reports generated from the system to conduct evidence based planning and decision making.
For the regional health bureaus it provides information about the blood transfusion service of the
specific region and helps identify and fill the gaps.

1.4. Scope

This web-based blood bank information management system project is limited to the design of
the system and development of a prototype. That means the project does not proceed to the
implementation, testing and deployment of the whole system. The project will be implemented
on the national blood bank main center and as it is a web-based it can be accessed anywhere. For
analyzing and designing the system the project uses an object oriented methodology approach
with iterative process modeling. UML modeling will be used as a technique. For user interface
prototype Visio and white star tools will be used. For the implementation of the system prototype
both HTML and PHP programming languages will be used for client-side and server-side
respectively and also MySQL database management system will be used to design the database
of the system prototype.

59
 CHAPTER TWO

2. Functional Requirements

Requirement is a careful assessment of the needs that a system is to fulfill and which constitute a
specification for the new system (31).
The functional requirements describes the processing (functions) to be supported by the new
system, which includes inputs into the system, output of the system and the data that must be
managed by the system (46). The high level functional requirements identified in the system are
presented in table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016.

Ranking
Req. Requirement
ID Requirement Description Source Mandatory Optional

The system should enable authenticated


1 user to login into the application UC-01

The system should enable the administrator


2 to create, delete, and update user setup UC-02

The system should enable the administrator


3 to create, delete, and update center setup UC-02

The system should enable the blood donor


4 to reserve donation time slot UC-03

The system should enable the user to


5 register blood donor‟s profile UC-04

The system should enable the user to store


6 blood details UC-05

The system should enable the user to record


7 discarded blood details UC-06

60
 The system should be protected from Login (Figure

8 unauthorized users and access. 4.18)

The system should allow a health institution


9 to check availability of blood at the center UC-07

The system should allow a health institution


10 to send blood request UC-08

11 The system should generate standard reports UC-09 

12 The system should generate ad-hoc reports UC-09 

61
 CHAPTER THREE

3. Non-Functional Requirements

The non-functional requirements describe how well the system supports the functional
requirements (46). The non-functional requirements in the new system are presented in table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Non-Functional requirement list for the web based BBIMS of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa,
2016.

Ranking
Req. Requirement
ID Requirement Description Source Mandatory Optional

The system should provide appropriate error

message when the user enters unexpected/ 
1 wrong data.

The system should be available for 24 hours


2 a day and 7 days a week. Interview(1,2)

The system should at least use English All user


3 language for all interfaces. interface

The system should have a very simple and

user friendly interfaces for everyone to 
4 understand the functionalities easily.

The system should use client-server Reference No.


5 architecture. 31

62
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. SYSTEM MODELING

4.1. Analysis Models

4.1.1. Use Case Diagram Presentation

Figure 4.1. System Use Case Diagram for Blood Bank Information Management System.
63
4.1.2. Use Case Narration and Activity Diagram Presentation

Use Case ID
UC-01
Use Case Name Login
Description Describes how the user is authenticated by the system.
Actor Receptionist Nurse, System Administrator, Lab Technician.
Pre-Conditions The user has authorized user name and password.
The user logs into the system and the system displays system
Post-Conditions main page.
1. The user opens the blood bank information
management system;
2. The user clicks login button;
3. The system displays login form;
4. The user enters user name and password and press
login button;
Main-Success 5. The system displays main page based on the user
Scenario privilege.
4.1 If the user enters wrong user name and password
5.a The system notifies the user that he/she entered
Alternative wrong user name and password;
Scenario 5.b The system let the user to try again.
The system allows three attempts maximum for the user to
Rules access the system.

64
Figure 4.2: The activity diagram for login process

65
Use Case ID
UC-02
Use Case Name Create Setup
Description Describes the processes of creating user and center setup
Actor System Administrator
The administrator is logged into the system using administrator
Pre-Conditions account
Post-Conditions The system setup User and Center.
1. The system displays administrator screen with sub
menu;
2. The administrator selects User setup option;
3. The system displays User setup form;
4. The administrator enters the new user information and
Main-Success clicks save button;
Scenario 5. The system setup new user account.
2.1 If the administrator selects center setup option
3.a The system displays center setup form;
4.a The administrator enters new center information
Alternative and clicks save button;
Scenario 5.a The system create new center setup.
Rules

66
Figure 4.3: The activity diagram for administration process

67
Use Case ID
UC-03
Use Case Name Reserve Donation
Description Describes how a donor reserve donation time slot.
Actor Donor
Pre-Conditions The donor access the blood bank portal by entering the URL.
Post-Conditions The system reserve donation time slot for the donor.
1. The donor opens the blood bank information
management system portal;
2. The donor selects individual reservation option;
3. The system displays individual reservation form;
4. The donor enters the necessary information such as,
Name, Gender, Donation Date, Email etc..;
5. The donor clicks “Reserve” button;
6. The system sends confirmation number to the donor‟s
email.
7. The system lets the donor to enter confirmation number;
8. The donor enters confirmation number;
Main-Success 9. The donor clicks “Submit” button;
Scenario 10. The system reserve donation time slot.
2.1 If the donor selects group reservation option;
3.a The system displays group reservation form;
4.a The donor enters the necessary information such as,
Company Name, Number of Donors, Donation Date,
Company Email etc..;
5.a The donor clicks “Reserve” button;
6.a The system sends confirmation number to the
company‟s email.
Alternative 7.a The system lets the donor to enter confirmation
Scenario number;

68
 8.a The donor enters confirmation number;
9.a The donor clicks “Submit” button;
10.a The system reserve donation time slot.
The system allows three attempts maximum for the donor to
Rules enter confirmation number.

69
Figure 4.4: The activity diagram for donation time slot reservation process

70
Use Case ID
UC-04
Use Case Name Register Donor
Description Describes the process of registering donor information
Actor Receptionist Nurse
Pre-Conditions The user is logged into the system
Post-Conditions Donor detail is recorded in the system database
1. The user select donor registration button;
2. The system displays donor registration form;
3. The user enters donor profile;
4. The user click save button;
Main-Success 5. The system save donor details on the database and
Scenario make the form ready for the next donor.
4.1 If the user click on cancel button
6.a The system returns to main menu
Alternative 4.2 If the user click on reset button
Scenario 6.b The system clear the input box
Rules

71
Figure 4.5: The activity diagram for blood donor registration process

72
Use Case ID
UC-05
Use Case Name Store Blood
Description Describes the process of storing blood information
Actor Data Encoder
Pre-Conditions The user is logged into the system
Post-Conditions Donated blood information is recorded in the system database
1. The user select blood storage option;
2. The system displays blood storage form;
3. The user enters donated blood details;
4. The user click save button;
Main-Success 5. The system save blood information on the database and
Scenario make the form ready for the next blood information.
4.1 If the user click on cancel button
5.a The system returns to main menu
Alternative 4.2 If the user click on reset button
Scenario 5.b The system clear the input box
Rules

73
Figure 4.6: The activity diagram for storing blood process

74
Use Case ID
UC-06
Use Case Name Discard Blood
Describes the process of registering discarded blood
Description information
Actor Lab Technician
Pre-Conditions The user is logged into the system
Discarded blood information is recorded in the system
Post-Conditions database
1. The user select discard blood button;
2. The system displays discarded blood registration form;
3. The user enters discarded blood details;
4. The user click save button;
Main-Success 5. The system save discarded blood details on the
Scenario database and make the form ready for the next record.
4.1 If the user click on cancel button
5.a The system returns to main menu
Alternative 4.2 If the user click on reset button
Scenario 5.b The system clear the input box
Rules

75
Figure 4.7: The activity diagram for blood discarding process

76
Use Case ID
UC-07
Use Case Name Check Blood Availability
Describes how health institution checks availability of blood at
Description blood bank center.
Actor Health institution.
Pre-Conditions The user is logged into the system.
Post-Conditions The system displays blood availability.
1. The user selects blood availability button;
2. The system displays blood availability check form;
3. The user selects blood type information in the
searching field;
4. The user click check availability button;
Main-Success 5. The system displays amount of blood and the center
Scenario where it is available.
3.1 If the user selects center wise information
Alternative 5.a The system displays specific center blood
Scenario availability information.
Rules

77
Figure 4.8: The activity diagram for checking blood availability process

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Use Case ID
UC-08
Use Case Name Generate Report
Description Describes the process of generating different reports
Actor System administrator, blood bank manager, lab head
Pre-Conditions The user is logged into the system
Post-Conditions The system generate reports
1. The user select report menu;
2. The system displays report option;
3. The user selects option of the report to be generated
Main-Success and click on generate report button;
Scenario 4. The system generates report from the database.
3.1 If the user click on export button;
4.a The system export the report in different format.
3.2 If the user click on print button;
4.b The system print out the report
Alternative 3.3 If the system click on cancel button;
Scenario 4.c The system return to the main menu
Rules

79
Figure 4.9: The activity diagram for generating report process

80
4.1.3. User Interface Prototype Presentation
User interface prototyping is an iterative analysis technique in which users are actively involved
in the mocking-up of the UI for a system. It uses as an analysis artifact that enables developers to
explore the problem space with the stakeholders. And also used as a design artifact that enables
system developer to explore the solution space of the system. The user interface prototype helps
the user to test the system at early stage of the system development. It can be developed using
hand drawing or using tools like Visio. The following diagrams show the user interface prototype
developed using Visio.
Login User Interface

Figure 4.10: Login User Interface Prototype

Blood Donation Reservation

Figure 4.11: Donation Reservation User Interface Prototype

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Donor Registry User Interface

Figure 4.12: Donor Registry User Interface Prototype

82
Blood Registry User Interface

Figure 4.13: Blood Registry User Interface Prototype

Blood Distribution Registry User Interface

Figure 4.14: Blood Distribution Registry User Interface Prototype

83
Discarded Blood Registry User Interface

Figure 4.15: Discarded Blood Registry User Interface Prototype

84
Blood Collection Report User Interface

Figure 4.16: Blood Collection Report User Interface Prototype

85
4.2. Design Model
The system design model is presented using class diagram.

Figure 4.17: Class Diagram for Blood Bank Information Management System

86
4.3. System Prototype Presentation
Login Form
Login page allows authenticated user to enter into the system. The user accesses the login page
by selecting “Login” button from the home page and its needs to enter a valid user name and
password to login into the system.

Figure 4.18: Login Form

87
Blood Donation Reservation Form
“Blood Donation Reservation” helps a potential donor or group of donors to make early
reservation or booking of donation time slot online. The donor accesses the reservation page by
selecting “Reservation” button on the main page. While the donor clicks “Reserve” button after
entering the details, the system sends a confirmation code to the donor‟s email. The user needs to
enter the confirmation code for the system to reserve a time slot.

Figure 4.19: Donation Reservation Form

88
Donors Registry Form
“Donor Registry” allows the user to register new potential donor‟s profile into the system. To
open the donor registry form, the user selects “Donor Registration” button on admin page. The
form captures the profile of a single potential donor.

Figure 4.20: Donor Registry Form

89
Blood Registry Form
“Blood Registry” is the form used to record donated blood. The user selects “Donation” button
to open the blood registry form on the admin page. The form captures detailed information about
blood registry.

Figure 4.21: Blood Registry Form

90
Blood Distribution Registry Form
“Blood Distribution Registry” form helps the user to capture distribution of bloods to a health
institution. The form captures detailed information about blood and health institution. The user
access the form by selecting “Distribution” button on the admin page.

Figure 4.22: Blood Distribution Registry Form

91
Discarded Blood Registry Form
“Discarded Blood Registry” form is used to record bloods that are discarded for different
reasons. The user access the form by selecting the “Discard” button on the admin page.

Figure 4.23: Blood Discard Registry Form

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 Appendix B
Hardware Inventory

Table 1: Hardware inventory of the existing system of the National Blood Bank of Ethiopia,
2016

Capacity
S.
No. Department Quantity Type/ Specification Hard Disk RAM Remark

1 Compaq 150 GB 512 MB Server

1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 760 250 GB 2 GB
1 Dell 280 80 GB 512 MB
Data Management Case
1 Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Bar Code
2 Mobile Case Team 1 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
3 Mobile Case Team 2 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
4 Mobile Case Team 3 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
5 Mobile Case Team 4 1 Dell 755 150 GB 1 GB
6 Mobile Case Team 5 1 Dell 620 40 GB 256 MB
7 Mobile Case Team 6 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
8 Component Case Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Bar Code
1 Dell 755 160 GB 1 GB
9 Distribution Case Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Bar Code
10 Store 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Office Use
11 ABO Case Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Bar Code
12 Counseling Case Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB

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 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
13 Record 1 Dell 745 160 GB 512 MB
1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB For Bar Code
14 Infectious Case Team 1 Dell 760 250 GB 2 GB
1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 620 150 GB 1 GB
1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
Quality and Safety
15 Case Team 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
16 Laboratory Head 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
17 HRM 2 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB Office Use
2 Dell 780 320 GB 2 GB Office Use
18 General Director 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
19 Finance 5 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB Office Use
1 Dell 755 150 GB 1 GB
Donor Service Team
20 Leader 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
21 Auditing 1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
Regional Support Case
22 Team 1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
1 Dell 3020 500 GB 4 GB
Communication Case
23 Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 1 GB
Medical Service Case
24 Team 1 Dell 780 320 GB 4 GB
25 Planning 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
26 Logistic 1 HP Laptop 320 GB 2 GB
NETWORK DEVICE
27 1 D - Link Switch 24 Port
28 1 3 Com Switch 32 Port
94
29 1 3 Com Switch 8 Port
24 Port For Bar
30 1 TP Link Switch Code
31 1 D - Link Switch 32 Port
32 1 Cisco Router 1941
33 1 ADSL Modem
34 1 Access Point

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 Appendix C

Requirements Collection Checklist

Addis Ababa University

School of Information Science and School of Public Health
MSc.in Health Informatics Program
Consent Form
The interview is designed as part of my MSc. Project. It intends to the “Design of a Web-Based
Blood Bank Information Management System” for the National Blood Bank.
Dear Respondents,
The result of this interview will be utilized for project purpose only. Your contribution will help
the outcome and it‟s expected that the result of this project work will contribute on the
improvement of blood bank information management. Therefore, you are kindly asked to
provide genuine to the questions that follow.
I am grateful for your time and effort in completing the interview.

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In-Depth Interview Guide
Process
1. What does the blood donation process look like?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. How do you control the blood inventory process?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Is there any mechanism by which donors reserve before visiting the blood bank in person?
Yes________________ No_____________
4. If No to Q3 above, what kind of reservation system/mechanism do you want to have?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Is there any problem on the blood bank management system?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Management
6. What does the organizational structure of the National Blood Bank look like?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
People
7. How many professionals are there in the center?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
97
 8. How many professionals are involved in the blood bank management information system?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Computer Software
9. Is there any software application in use in the center?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10. What functions should the software provide?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
11. Does the National Blood Bank have a plan to develop blood bank information
management system?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
12. What is the data format you use?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Computer Hardware
13. What kind of computer related hardware devices are being used in the center?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
14. To what extent is the center ready to fulfill hardware requirements of the blood bank
information management system?
98
 __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Network
15. Does the center have any network infrastructure?
__________________________________________________________________
16. What kind of network does the center have?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
17. What is the bandwidth of internet connection the center currently has?
__________________________________________________________________
18. How many number of users does the network support?
__________________________________________________________________
19. How many departments in the center are connected to the network?
__________________________________________________________________
20. What kind of network hardware devices are being used in the center?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Report
21. What kind of report do you produce?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
22. How do you produce a report and how often?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
99
 __________________________________________________________________
23. How and for whom do you generate the reports?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Document Review Guide

1. What kind of forms do you use to record blood inventory management?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. What information does the forms include?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. Is there any important information missed in the form? What are they?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
4. What is your report formats look like?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

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 Appendix D
User Test Checklist

Table 1: User test checklist for the BBIMS,2016

S. Strongly Strongly
no Test Questions Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Agree
1 The interfaces are attractive
I like the font and the color of
2 the interfaces
There is consistency in the
3 system interface
I thought the system is easy to
4 use
I found the interfaces are not
5 cumbersome to use
All-important contents are
6 addressed well
I need less time to learn the user
7 interface
There is no unnecessary content
8 available in the interface

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 Appendix E
Donor Enrollment and Report Formats

102
 DECLARATION
I declare that this project is my original work and has not been presented for degree in any other
university, and that all sources of materials used for the project have been acknowledged.

Gadisa Kebede

This project has been submitted for examination with our approval as university advisors.

________________________ ______________________
Ato Ermias Abebe Dr. Mulugeta Betre

Place and Date of submission: Addis Ababa, June 2016

103