project-proposal-2025

[ProEduFlow]

Abstract

University life is often hailed as one of the most memorable and fulfilling experiences. However, for many, this journey is also marked by stress and moments of overwhelm. These challenges are attributed to suboptimal time management. Students juggle a complex mix of academics, extracurricular activities, internships, job hunting, sports and networking—just to name a few. Timetables/planners help, but they fall short when it comes to managing the dynamic nature of student life. In the professional world, organizations leverage project management tools like Jira to efficiently track workflows, collaborate, and meet deadlines while maximizing human resource output. Wait, isn’t university life a large and complex project, with collaborations and constantly changing tasks? Enter ProEduFlow—an innovative workflow management platform designed specifically for university students. ProEduFlow adapts the principles of modern business project management and applies them to the unique challenges of student life, helping students better organize, prioritize tasks, and create a more balanced, enjoyable university experience.

ProEduFlow is always available, reliable, and secure. We will be a constant companion, no mistakes will be made in your task allocations, and users control their privacy settings while safely collaborating with others.

Author

Name: Arsh Upadhyaya

Student number: 47539934

Functionality

Accounts:

• User registration and authentication.
• User profile customization (privacy settings, integrations).
• Join groups or collaborate with friends through email invitations.

  Task Management System:

• Users can create, categorize, and prioritize tasks.
• Tasks have deadlines, estimated time required, reminders, and recurrence settings.
• Task progress tracking and completion status updates.
• User can create notes associated to each task.

  Timetabling System:

• Provides a visual timetable with daily, weekly, and monthly views.
• Users can manually add tasks or automate timetable creation.
• Detects overlapping tasks and prevents double-booking of time slots.
• Users have ability to split large tasks into multiple time blocks (customizable by user).

  Collaboration:

• Users can share tasks and timetables with another user.
• Group workspaces to keep track of group-based tasks and finding common availability.

  Integrations:

• Syncs with Xero to track expenses and manage budget.
• Google drive enables direct attachment of documents (lecture slides) to tasks.

Scope

The MVP must have the following features

• Accounts: Users can sign up using an email and password. Sessions will be managed using JWT (JSON Web Tokens) or session-based authentication. Account has customizable privacy option.
• Task Management System: Most of the features in corresponding functionality section should be completed. 3 levels of task priority. Notes have a small word limit to be readable on timetable. Reminders should be sent in different frequencies as per task priority. Must have full CRUD functionality.
• Timetabling System: Having weekly/monthly views with a total duration of 4 months is sufficient. Tasks will have to be manually added to timetable (no automation) and easily editable using drag and drop. Task conflicts must be detected, and splitting of tasks can be done in set intervals instead of being customizable.
• Collaboration: Necessary for a user to be able to create a shared task with at least one more user (both users should be able to edit task features). Will be done through email-based task invite. Users can share their availability with others based on custom privacy settings (i.e. with a close friend share entire timetable, with an acquaintance only times available).

Quality Attributes

Reliability

Reliability is the most important quality attribute, as accurate information is essential for effective task management. Ensuring that all task-related data—such as deadlines, estimated time, and priority—remains accurate as per what user created is non-negotiable. The platform must validate task inputs to prevent conflicts, such as overlapping deadlines or time slots. Additionally, the CRUD functionality must be thoroughly tested to prevent any loss or manipulation of user data. Latency during adding created tasks to timetable, especially in collaborative scenarios, should be minimized to ensure a seamless experience.

Security

In addition to securing each user account with authentication, the MVP will implement end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for all collaborative features to ensure that sensitive data, like shared tasks and timetables, is transmitted securely. At the MVP stage, security is a slightly less important quality attribute to reliability due to lack of highly sensitive information. However, in future if large groups and integrations with budgeting software are carried out, security may become the most important.

Availability

ProEduFlow is a software that aims to be a “constant companion” in the life of a university student. Hence, it is crucial for it to have minimal downtime and always accessible to the student. Due to the collaborative nature of student life, this quality attribute goes a level deeper. If one student experiences significant downtime while collaborating with another, it could negatively impact both, as delays in accessing information will slow progress. While still a core quality attribute, availability is slightly less important than reliability and security, as delays, though disruptive, are less harmful than inaccuracies or security breaches.

Scalability

A scalable design is important for a work management software. Examination periods and project submissions may see a significant increase in user usage. A provision like a load balancer should be made when designing the architecture. Scalability has the lowest importance.

Evaluation

Reliability

• A comprehensive set of Automated Test Cases will ensure the following:
  • Check all endpoints meet expected CRUD functionality, including edge cases.
  • Verify that task-related data (deadlines, estimated time, priority) is accurately retained in the timetable view.
  • Task input validation prevents task conflicts.
  • Ensure privacy settings are enforced.
• Latency Testing:
  • Measure response time and latency when adding tasks to the timetable, both individually and in collaborative scenarios.
  • Ensure that task updates and additions happen within 2 seconds.
• Database Backup:
  • Set up database instances to ensure backup copies of tasks and timetables are stored, enabling recovery in the event of a server crash.
  • Automate using Percona XtraBackup.

    Security

• Automated Test Cases for Authentication: To verify authentication mechanisms (JWT or session-based) correctly reject invalid login attempts and expire session.
• End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) Testing: Test E2EE using AES-256 encryption to ensure data is transmitted securely. Assess encryption by attempting to intercept data in transit, verifying that it is properly encrypted and cannot be decrypted without the proper key.
• Vulnerability Testing: Conduct automated security scans using ZAP to identify vulnerabilities. Manual penetration testing to assess additional weaknesses.

  Availability

  The system will undergo continuous uptime monitoring using UptimeRobot to ensure that it maintains a near 100% uptime over a period of 1 week. Stress testing for computationally heavier endpoints will be done to assess breaking point and potential vulnerabilities. Any failure to maintain availability will be documented, and steps will be taken to optimize performance by assessing error rates and response times.

  Scalability

  The system will undergo load testing using tools like Apache JMeter/k6 to simulate heavy traffic. Response time should be less than 5 seconds for 1000 concurrent users. Additionally, the presence of a load balancer will be tested by simulating high demand on specific server instances to verify system can scale horizontally.