Design and Development of a Web-Based Research Information Management System for Student Research in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Science

Abstract

This work presents the design, development, and evaluation of the Research Information Management System (RIMS), a web-based platform for managing student research in the Artificial Intelligence and Computational Science program at Chiang Rai Rajabhat University (CRRU), covering bachelor’s to doctoral levels. Previously, research was tracked with spreadsheets, e-mail, and paper-based feedback, which scattered submission versions and gave executives no program-wide view of progress. Key features include role-based access for five user groups, step-wise document submission, two-way advisor feedback, a seven-state research status workflow with full history, publication approval, email notifications, an executive dashboard, and a public research catalogue. A review of five university research-tracking systems and three general-purpose tools was conducted to identify gaps and guide the design. Development followed the ISO/IEC 29110 Basic Profile with three iterations, producing 33 use cases and 318 traceable software requirements. The system passed all 792 test cases and 927 automated tests, served up to 200 simulated concurrent users in a local test environment without failed requests, and achieved an overall user satisfaction of 4.51 out of 5 (SD = 0.68) from 32 evaluators. The results show that the proposed system centralizes research data, keeps every submission version in one place, and gives executives and administrators a transparent, auditable view of research progress.