public User validateUser(String userId) {
		User user = null;
		Connection connection = (new DbConnection()).getConnection();
		try {
			Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
			String sql = IS_USER_EXISTS + userId + "'";
			ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery(sql);
			if (resultSet.next()) {
				user = new User();
				String password = resultSet.getString("password");
				int department = resultSet.getInt("departmentId");
				user.setUserId(userId);
				user.setPassword(password);
				user.setDepartment(department);
			}
		} catch (SQLException e) {
			m_logger.error(e.getMessage(), e);
		}
		return user;
	}