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Development of centralized Parish Record and Information Management System

Conference Paper · April 2020

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Abstract— Parishes, being a community service organization placed in cupboards for filing. This, at times, results to
provides a wide range of transactions and activities to problems such as spending much time searching for
accommodate the needs of the congregation (both in terms of information and generating reports, and loss of valuable
ecclesiastical and financial aspects) thus, Parishes ought to records through destruction or neglect. On the other hand,
have a plan with systematic strategies in order to serve their
there are parishes that use automated system that improve
people more accurately and efficiently. The study aims to
support the Strategic Information Systems Plan (SISP) of the the process but are entreated to solve the lack of connection
Diocese of Cubao through the design and development of a with other parishes or no centralization resulting of such
centralized Information System for its parishes to address the data not integrated and dispersed in the respective parishes.
issues on their traditional system such as spending much time The study emphasizes the strategic alignment of the
searching for information, generating reports, and loss of current systems in the Diocese’s plans which are shown in
valuable records. The researchers validated those issues Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows the three (3) prioritized
through conducting interviews and observations. By organizational and technical goals in which the top two
implementing iterative approach in system development, a priorities: (1) ensure effective and efficient documentation
prototype named “Centralized Parish Record and Information
management/upkeep of records and (2) conceptualize and
Management System”, has been developed and simulated.
implement a communication/ info dissemination system to
Keywords- SISP, Information System, parishes guarantee effective transfer of information will be
addressed by the system developed/proposed as shown in
I. INTRODUCTION
Table 2.

The use of modern technologies in the management of TABLE I. INFORMATION SYSTEM GOALS FROM DIOCESE OF CUBAO’S
STRATEGIC PLAN
organization will only be successful if the information
system development is aligned with the organization’s Strategic Plan Technology Related Goal Priority
strategies. This is called Strategic Information Systems Ensure effective and Develop and implement a
Planning (SISP). efficient documentation, records management
1
management/upkeep of system
SISP is an important activity for helping organization to records/files in the district
identify strategic applications and/or effective information Conceptualize and Develop and implement
systems that will significantly impact their strategies and implement a information dissemination
objectives. It likewise provides guidance on how the communication/information system through a
2
information systems infrastructure of the organization dissemination system to computerized system
guarantee effective transfer/
should be developed over time, and how to better use the cascade of information
information systems resources [1]. Maximize the utilization of Develop human and
The study covers the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao. the material resources in the material resources
It is a Roman rite diocese of the Latin Catholic Parish in the district to ensure effective database through a
3
implmentation of plans and computerized systen
Philippines. It was created by Pope John Paul II on June 28, programs
2003 and by the virtue of Papal Bull Quo Satius
Provideretur. It was canonically erected on August 28, 2003 TABLE II. GOAL VS. EXISING AND PROPOSED
from the Archdiocese of Manila. The diocese previously Technology Related Goal Existing Proposed
existed as the Ecclesiastical District of Quezon-City South, Develop and implement a 85% of the Parishes use
which was later renamed as the Diocese of Cubao in 2002 records management Record Management Development
[2]. It is composed of 44 full-fledged parishes (three of system Systems (bought in of Centralized
2013), while 15% still Parish Record
which are national shrines), two quasi-parishes, and one use Manual Systems and
non-parochial diocesan shrine, as subdivided into six Develop and implement Information
vicariates, which were not yet fully equipped with info dissemination 100% Manual Systems – Management
technology. Hence, this makes their management of records system through a (i.e., bulletin boards, etc. ) System
computerized system
slow and inefficient—there are parishes that still use the
The researchers developed a centralized “Parish Record
traditional manual system where records are written and
and Information Management System” that aims to
improve the current processes and resolve current issues of Additionally, it involves the example signatures of all the
the Diocese of Cubao. city and municipal registrars, together with the CRS-
licensed signatories [8].
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The related studies were indeed significant for the
Creation and management of records are integral to any researchers to supply a long-term vital plan for Philippine
organization’s activities, processes and systems. They Catholic Churches that aims to improve their operation,
enable business efficiency, accountability, risk management processes, and transactions by having a “while-you-wait"
and business continuity. Therefore, records management handling of demands. Fast dealing with processing of
provides a methodology for ensuring that authoritative and demands in this overhauled public service results in shorter
reliable information about, and evidence of, business lines at the application and payment counters. This likewise
activities is created, managed and made accessible to those improves facilities for the comfort of the public.
who need it for as long as required [3].
Electronic Document and Records Management III. METHODOLOGY
(EDRM) is purposely focused to manage these records that
A. Determining System Requirements
are now called electronic document. It is specific with
paper capture that specializes in imaging technology and The researchers conducted (1) face-to-face interviews
document management system [4]. It was also proposed to with the corresponding personnel such as parish secretaries,
help in the utilization of management, storage, and disposal priests, catholic devotees, and other individuals who have
of information. ongoing transaction to fully understand their experiences;
(2) observation, to gather accurate information about how
Electronic Records Management System (ERMS)
the system actually operates, particularly about processes. It
provides various benefits per user as the results of the study
was also important to systematically watch and record the
conducted by Demirtel in 2014. For the personal benefits, behaviors and characteristics of operations and processes at
easy access to the document when needed, better, faster and the parish hall; and (3) document review, a thorough review
easier processing of documents, encountering less of the documents used in the church such as the forms and
complaints and conflicts and finding precise evidence about certificates with the intent to study how things are done and
the documents are given. For institutional benefits, these discover areas where improvement is necessary. These
include: getting the documentary easier, completing the activities were done to three (3) parishes of suggested and
tasks easier, completing a duty with less effort, increasing endorsed by the diocese; namely, Our Lady of Mount
the quality of the business process and decision, getting Carmel Parish, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, and Parish of
register system healthy, getting easier the task requires the Lord Divine Mercy.
coordination, getting easier to track the pending tasks and
B. SWOT Analysis
bringing prestige to the institution. Moreover, producing
more qualified outputs that the institution and other Table 3 shows that the current situation of the diocese of
stakeholders can access, the flexible formats of the Cubao was analyzed through SWOT analysis that involves
documents and registers with historical values being four (4) areas: ‘Strengths’, ‘Weaknesses’, ‘Opportunities’,
accessible and safe are some of the social benefits the and ‘Threats’. SWOT Analysis is a simple but powerful
ERMS can provide [5]. tool for sizing up an organization’s resource capabilities
In the Philippines, National Archives and Records and deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external
Management Information System (NAMRIS) threats to its future [9]. In addition, strategies per areas are
acknowledges and handles demands with the combined plotted and considered by the proponents.
system of managing records and reports despite the TABLE III. SWOT ANALYSIS
information that was enlisted. Also, it can improve the Strengths Weakness
administration of computerized records of establishments (S1) Has direct services to people (W1) Mostly fund-driven projects
and other organizations. The automation it proposes can (S2) Has "Space” to develop (W2) Not integrated parishes and
lead to a simple interface for end-users and comfort to automation records (Parishes practically
(S3) "Normally equipped” offices independent of each other)
clients with a secure and reliable framework [6].
(S4) Shared commitment/ (W3) Overlapping/overwork/confu
Relatable frameworks such as Parish Information Conviction sion over tasks (Cases of
Management Systems, a computer framework which (S5) Acceptance of weaknesses; Parish staff burn out)
commonly aims to enable churches to manage, openness to change (W4) Unstable/inadequate
(S6) Apparent sense of history. operational resources
computerize, and organize their day-by-day operations [7].
(Continuing diocese over 60
It can be an on-preface framework or an online cloud-based years)
stage. Another relatable framework is the NSO/PSA Civil (S7) Meaningful work and
Registry System, which is the computerization of the civil interpersonal relationships
within parish staffs
registry operations of NSO and could be a multi-stage
computerization venture. It uses imaging innovation to Opportunities Threats
(O1) Presence of many people in (T1) Proliferation of
store, gather, and oversee civil registry records.
 the area dehumanizing products of As can be seen in Fig. 1, PRIMS is a web-based
(O2) Growing openness to science and technology application where Database and Graphical User Interface
ecclesiastical services (T2) Security risks
(O3) Increasing sources of (T3) Environmental calamity (GUI) are designed on Windows platform through Apache
financial support risks server.
(O4) System development & (T4) Decreasing sources of MySQL, the most widely used open source database
implementation financial support/Gradual that provides different kinds of storage engine was used by
depletion of resources
(T5) Lack of knowledge to the the proponents for database designing because of its
new system “ubiquity across heterogeneous platforms and application
stacks and for its well-known performance, reliability and
1) SO Strategies ease of use” [10].
 Provide adequate opportunities for integrating PHP, an open source scripting language embedded in
parishes and its transactions/processes (S1, S2, HTML was chosen for website development and
S3, O3, and O4). framework analysis. If PHP is like a paint brush, then
 Improve/automate processes to accommodate JavaScript is a paint color. With this, JavaScript that allows
large number of people availing ecclesiastical less server traffic and load on server was chosen as client-
services (S1, S2, S5, O1, O2, O3, and O4) side scripting language.
 Strengthen relationship with other parishes (S4, Third party codes were also invoked through APIs,
S5, S6, S7, and O4). such as Twilio's REST API for SMS messaging and JSON,
2) WO Strategies which is easy for computers to use and parse because of its
 Ensure system development costs are within the schema less data format [12] for data centralization. jQuery,
budget/financial limitations (W1, W3, W4, and bootstrap4, carousel, and PHPmailer were likewise used
O4). accordingly.
As part of the centralization, the following features
 Integrate parish relationships through system
created by the proponents are flexible and can be used by
centralization and ensure faster transactions with
all of the parishes in the Diocese: (1) Records Management,
parishioners (W2, O1, O2, and O4).
which allows managing of sacramental-related transactions
 Automate processes for faster and easy
and certification requests; (2) Reports Management, which
management of workloads (W3, O3, and O4)
allows generation of necessary reports like summary counts
3) ST Strategies and notices that are later submitted to Vatican City, Rome,
 Ensure use of latest technology and availability of Italy; (3) Schedule Management, which allows scheduling
upgrade (S1, S3, S5, and T1) of internal events, meetings, ceremonies, or events; (4)
 Create backup systems and perform backup Inquiry Management, which allows sending of inquiries
operations at regular intervals (S2, S4, S5, T2, T3, online as well as replying and viewing; (5) Staff
and T4). Management, which allows managing of staff and sending
 Conduct training and seminars for employees messages to them or their family; (6) Collection
about the new system and/or upgrades (S4, S5, Management, which allows freewill collections be managed
S7, and T5) and exported in Excel file for further use; and (7) Website
4) WT Strategies Management, which allows all information such as church
 Automate processes that will be considered safe history, ministries, priests and bishops, gospels, events,
and secure through backup systems within the announcements, mass schedule, bulletin, and sacramental
budget /financial limitations (W2, W3, T2, T3, forms from the website be updated and/or managed. Some
and T4) can also be downloaded like bulletin and sacramental
 Ensure system is easy to learn and use (W3, and forms.
T5) Accounting and different monetary functions were not
included in the system because it involves different
C. Proposed System (PRIMS) Design
procedures that can take a great deal of time. Also, the
requirements and process for applying of sacramental
services shall be in person and done at the parish office to
ensure the genuineness of the specified documents and
integrity of the process.
D. System Modules and User Interfaces
1) Website - Allows either a parishioner or non-parishioner
to view information such as announcements, sermons, mass
Figure 1. System Architecture schedules, and upcoming events. All information can be managed
by the secretaries in the admin side.
 considering the privacy of the parishes to each other. The parish
secretaries, can only see the data of their respective parish. This
lessens the reconstruction works as well as improve the processing
of documents.

Figure 5. Records
5) Reports (Admin) - For more accurate reports to be
submitted to the Vatican City in Rome, Italy, this allows to
generate reports in list or count form filtered by the requirement
needed. This eliminates the need to do the reports using MS Excel
or pen and paper by some parishes.

Figure 2. Website
2) Dashboard (Admin) - Allows data in the system such as
freewill collections, gender, and sacramental analytics be
presented through graphs. A filtering functionality was added for
more customized viewing.
Figure 6. Reports
6) Staff (Admin) - Allows maintenance of information
about the staff through searching, encoding, updating, and deleting
functionalities. SMS messaging is also added to enable cascading
of information more efficiently.

Figure 3. Dashboard
3) Mailbox (Admin) - Acts as repository for mails/inquiries
sent through the website. Composing replies, deleting mails, and
Figure 7. Staff
viewing sent mails are also incorporated.
7) Schedule/Calendar (Admin) - Allows scheduling of
ecclesiastical services. This includes viewing, adding, updating,
and deleting of schedules. This is the recourse for manual
scheduling using pen and paper by the secretaries which involves
an amount of time to be managed.

Figure 4. Mailbox
4) Records (Admin) - Allows ecclesiastical records to be
searched, encoded, updated, deleted, and generated. To solve the
problem about an individual not knowing the exact parish where
he/she availed of an ecclesiastical service, the system allows the
diocesan secretaries to view all the data from all other parishes yet
Figure 8. Schedule/Calendar
 8) Parishes (Admin) – Allows creation of login credentials Rating
and authentication codes for parishes to gain their access to the Criteria Strongly Strongly
system. Module is shown only in diocesan admin side Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied
Satisfied Dissatisfied
(2 out of 8) (6 out of 8)
Overall 33% 67 % - - -

V. CONCLUSION
The development of a centralized Parish Records
Information Management System will resolve the issues on
records management and reports generation since records
Figure 9. Parishes Authentication Codes Generation will now be stored electronically and are safer. Moreover,
9) Web Contents (Admin) – Allows management of there is right information at the point of care and retrieval
information that can be seen on the website (e.g.,history, of information can be very quick as one searches on the
ministries, priest and bishops, images, mass schedule,etc.) screen compared to the old system which involved paper
Solution for effective cascading of information about the files. Reports generation is more accurate and quicker and
parish/diocese.
errors will be prevented. The system also becomes a tool
in information dissemination which supports the second
priority organizational goal in Table 1 (conceptualize and
implement a communication/ info dissemination system to
guarantee effective transfer of information).
REFERENCES
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Figure 10. Website Management 2014, San Francisco, USA
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