AN AUTOMATED STUDENTS' ATTENDANCE RECORDS

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CASE STUDY: KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY- WC

BY

NAZIW A SHAMIM

BIT/0002/123/DU

A RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELORS

DEGREE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF

IV\MP ALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

AUGUST, 2015
 DECLARATION
Naziwa Sham im declare that the work presented in this project report is mine and has never been
submitted in any university or any other higher institution of learning for any award.

NAZIW A SHAMIM (STUDENT)

Signature:_ _l~~~~~"'~t:'.!1:___ _ _ _ _ date: w.\1 0 \.a..ot5

ii
 APPROVAL
This project proposal has been submitted for examination with the approval of the supervisor.

Mr. ARINAITWE ELIOT

S i g n e d - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

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 Table of contents
DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... ii

APPROVAL ............................................................................................................. iii

Table of contents ................................................................................................... iv

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ viii

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................ 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................ 1

1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE ................................................................................. 2

1.3 .1 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES .......................................................................... 2

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY TO THE MANAGEMENT ................... 2

1) Reduce errors .................................................................................................. 2

2) Increase productivity ...................................................................................... 3

3) Reduced expenses ........................................................................................... 3

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 3

CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................... 4

LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 4

2.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 4

2.1 Records Management Information System ...................................................... 4

2.1.1 Records ....................................................................................................... 4

2.1.2 Information Systems .................................................................................. 4

2.1.3 Records Management.. ............................................................................... 5

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 2.2 Requirements for the design of an automated attendance records System ...... 5

2.3 Designing of an Automated Student Attendance Management System .......... 6

2.4 The Role ofiT in improving management of records ..................................... 6

2.5 Attendance systems .......................................................................................... 7

2.6 The Effect of class attendance on Academic Performance ............................ 7

CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................. IO

METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... I 0

3.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 10

3 .1.1 Area of study ............................................................................................... I 0

3 .1.2 Study population ......................................................................................... I 0

3 .1.3 Sample size .................................................................................................. I 0

3.2 Procedure of data collection ........................................................................... I 0

3.3 Data collection tools ................................................................................... I 0

3.3.1 Interviews ............................................................................................. II

3.3.2 Questionnaires .......................................................................................... 11

3.3 .3 Document Review .................................................................................... 11

3.4 Data analysis .................................................................................................. II

3.5 System analysis ........................................................................................... 12

3.6 System Design ................................................................................................ 12

3 .6.1 Logical design .......................................................................................... 12

3.6.2 Physical design ......................................................................................... 12

3 .6.3 Input ......................................................................................................... 12

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 3.6.4 Output ....................................................................................................... 13

3.7 System Testing ............................................................................................... 13

3.8 System Implementation .................................................................................. 13

CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................... 14

SYSTEM ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION .......................... 14

4.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 14

4.2 ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM ............................................. 14

4.2.1 Weaknesses of the existing system ...................................................... 15

4.3 The designed system ...................................................................................... 15

4.3 .1 User Requirements ............................................................................... 15

4.3 .2 System requirements ................................................................................ 16

4.3.3 Minimum hard ware and software requirements ..................................... 17

4.4 System Design ............................................................................................ 17

4.4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 17

4.3 .2 Design Objectives ................................................................................. 18

4.4.1 Data Dictionary for Tables ....................................................................... 21

CHAPTER FIVE ..................................................................................................... 24

5.0 SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING ........................................ 24

5.1 System Implementation ........................................................................... 24

5.2. System functionality ..................................................................................... 24

5.2.1login page .................................................................................................. 24

CHAPTER SIX ....................................................................................................... 29

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................ 29

6.0 Introduction .................................................................................................... 29

6.1 Problems encountered .................................................................................... 29

6.2 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 29

6.3 Recommendations .......................................................................................... 29

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 ABSTRACT
Automated Attendance system is software tool that captures daily student attendance records in schools
and institutions and facilitates access to the attendance of a particular student in a particular class and help
in generating reports and evaluating the attendance eligibility of a student. Rather than signing an
attendance sheet manually, the attendance records are captured electronically into a database which makes
it easier manageable

The study was conducted in the Directorate of Quality Assurance at Kampala International Universit)
we and resultantly came up with a Students Automated Attendance Records Management system that aid
management in automatic managing students' attendance records.

The major objective of the study was to develop an Automated Students' Attendance Records
Management system for KIU we with that system, the management is able to automatically capture and
compute students' class attendance records.

The specific objectives included investigating the current system, gathering requirements for the new
system, design, implement and test the developed electronic system. Data was gathered using interviews.
observation and questionnaires. The collected data was sorted and analyzed using Microsoft excel
software and it was found out that the current manual system is in efficient, time and space consuming in
addition to being insecure hence judged not good for the management of attendance records.

With the new developed system (SARMS) management is able to electronically capture, store, compute
and generate attendance rep01ts automatically. The very system also allows the backup of data on
movable devices.

viii
 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Automated Attendance system is software tool that captures daily student attendance records in schools
and institutions and facilitates access to the attendance of a particular student in a pm1icular class and help
in generating reports and evaluating the attendance eligibility of a student. Rather than signing an
attendance sheet manually, the attendance records are captured electronically into a database which makes
it easier manageable.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The emergence of electronic paradigm for learning compared to traditional methods and availability of
almost all information on the information superhighway(Internet), nowadays have caused students to be
less motivated to come to the lecture rooms than ever before. Laziness on the part of students.
nonchalance to school work, extra social activities that have no importance in aiding the objectives of the
institution and a lot more, may prevent students from attending lectures. Sequel to these, lecturers and
administrators in most institutions of learning have had to come up with ways to ensure a healthy
participation from students, and make sure that the student-lecturer interactive relationship is kept intact (
Durden G. and Ellis L). This in some cases have come in simple forms like roll calls, while in more
interesting cases, can be formats like surprise quizzes, extra credit in class, etc. These strategies are
however time consuming, stressful and laborious because the valuable lecture time that could otherwise
been used for lectures is dedicated to student attendance taking and sometimes not accurate. There arises
a need for a more efficient and effective method of automating the entire system of student class
attendance (Durden G. and Ellis L).

At Kampala International University we academic policy 2005, a minimum 75% percentage of class
attendance is required by each student in order to sit for final exams. It's the duty of office of quality
assurance to implement that policy but in most cases this policy has not been adhered to, because of the
various challenges the present method of taking attendance presents. The traditional method that involves
the use of sheets of paper or books in taking student attendance allows for impersonation and the
attendance sheet could be stolen or lost. Taking of attendance manually is time consuming, inefficient and
it makes it difficult to asce11ain the number of students that have made the minimum percentage and thus
eligible for exam. Thus, there is a need for a system that would eliminate all of these trouble spots thus:
Automatic Attendance Management System at KIU we was needed to provide the needed solution

1
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
In many institutions, and academic organizations, attendance is a very impo11ant criterion which is used
for various purposes. These purposes include record keeping, assessment of students, and promotion of
optimal and consistent attendance in class. As a policy, At Kampala International University we, a
minimum percentage of class attendance is required by students in order to sit for final exams. In most
cases this policy has not been adhered to, because of the various challenges the present method of taking
attendance presents. The traditional method that involves the use of sheets of paper or books in taking
student attendance allows for impersonation and the attendance sheet could be stolen or lost. Taking
of attendance manually is time consuming and it makes it difficult to ascertain the number of students that
have made the minimum percentage and thus eligible for exam. Thus, there is a need for a system that
would eliminate all of these trouble spots. An Automatic Attendance Management System would provide
the needed solution

1.3 GENERAL OBJECTIVE

To develop an Automated Students' Attendance Records Management system for KIU we that would aid
management to automatically capture and manage students' class attendance records.

1.3.1 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

i) To investigate the effectiveness of the current system of managing class attendance records.

ii) Collect the requirements necessary for designing of an Automated Students' class Attendance
management System.

iii) Design an Automated Students' class Attendance management System.

v) Test and Implement the designed system.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY TO THE MANAGEMENT

1) Reduce errors.

Automated Attendance system reduces the risk of human error and ensures easy, impm1ial, and orderly
approach in addressing specific needs without any confusion. In fact, such systems have been shown to
have an accuracy rate of more than 99% versus manual systems by eliminating errors in data entry and
calculations (Golding, J., 2009).

2
2) Increase productivity.

Productivity increases because the process is seamless and makes day-to-day operations more efficient
and convenient. Eliminating legacy practices frees up employees time, decreases staffing overhead, and
provides supervisors with timely labor data to more effectively manage their operations.(A. Assad, and Z.
Khalil,).

3) Reduced expenses.

Implementing a technology based time and attendance solution will immediately help to reduce labor
costs. Manually collecting, calculating and processing attendance data take a lot of time, but with an
automated time and attendance solution, companies are able to increase efficiency and save money ( A.
Assad. and Z. Khalil).

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study was conducted in the department of Directorate of Quality Assurance at Kampala International
University WC and resultantly came up with a Students Automated Attendance Records Management
system that aid management in automatic managing students' attendance records.

3
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION
This section presents an evaluation of relevant points from studies previously done concerning
development of automatic attendance systems, and the relevance of attendance in the learning process.
There is wide agreement that chronic school absence jeopardizes student performance and predicts
dropout (Neild & Balfanz, 2006; Aliens wmih & Easton, 2007 both cited in Rei West, 2011).Even
thought with the advent of E-learning and widespread of academic resources access, "Professors and
instructors have to come up with ways to ensure a healthy patiicipation from the students, and make sure
that the classic student-lecture interactive relationship is kept intact" (Hornback eta!., 2006, p.2).Stuclies
in this area in general analyze students' attendance and its correlation with academic success.

2.1 Records Management Information System

2.1.1 Records

ISO, 200 I Defines a record as information created, received, and maintained as evidence by an
organization or person, in pursuance oflegal obligations or in the transaction of business".
The International Committee on Archives (CIA) and Electronic Records defines a record as, a specific
piece of recorded information generated, collected or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of
an activity and which comprises sufficient content, context and structure to provide proof or evidence of
that activity.
While the definition of a record is often identified strongly with a document, a record can be either a
tangible object or digital information which has value to an organization. For example, birth certiticates.
medical x-rays, office documents, databases and application data, and e-mail are all examples of records.

2.1.2 lnfot·mation Systems

(O'Brien, 2002) Defines Information System as any organized combination of people, hardware,
software, communication networks and data resources, that control, transform and disseminate
information in an organization. (O'Brien, 2002) Further reveals that the data resources of information

4
systems are typically organized, stored and accessed by a variety of data resource management
technologies into:
I. Databases that hold processed and organized data
2. Knowledge bases that hold knowledge in a variety of forms such as facts, rules, and case examples
about successful business practices.

2.1.3 Records Management

Records Management is the practice of identifying, classifYing, archiving, preserving, and sometimes
destroying records according (ISO, 2001). Records management activities include the creation, receipt,
maintenance, use and disposal of records. In this context, a record is content that documents a business
transaction. Documentation may exist in contracts, memos, paper files, electronic files, reports, emails,
videos, instant message logs or database records. Paper records may be stored in physical boxes on-
premises or at a storage facility. Digital records may be stored on storage media in-house or in the cloud.

Yao, J.F.J. and T.M. Chiang,(2002).The goal of records management is to help an organization keep the
necessary documentation accessible for both business operations and compliance audits. In some small to
mid-sized businesses, spreadsheets are used to track where records are stored, but larger organizations
may find records management software suites that are tied to both a taxonomy and a records retention
schedule to be more useful. Such software suites may be marketed as enterprise information management
(ElM) products that are capable of helping an organization to manage both records and ordinary content.

2.2 Requirements for the design of an automated attendance records System

Broucek, W.G. and W. Bass,( 2001); The process of developing an attendance management plan will help
you identify: any attendance and engagement problems at your school; what you want to achieve
regarding these issues, how you are going to achieve this , who will implement and manage your
attendance management plan, how you will know you have achieved the desired attendance outcomes.
There are several factors you need to consider and build into your attendance management plan.

• self-review

• establishing aims and targets

• analyzing and using data

• Processes for attendance management

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• Roles and responsibilities

• Community engagement

• Useful strategies

• Evaluation.

2.3 Designing of an Automated Student Attendance Management System

Klein, F., V. Filipe, and A. Pereira,(2010) An automated student attendance management system must
meet the following criteria:

The system shall provide complete and accurate attendance data and shall make provision for maintaining
auditable records.

The system shall include a sign-on indicator to assure that attendance is being taken regularly. Daily sign-
ons shall be reported by exceptions; i.e., by who has not signed on each day. An exception rep01i shall be
generated on a regular basis so that the principal or the principal's designee may assure that some positive
action is taken in each course/period.

A daily log shall be generated and maintained that will include sufficient information to ascertain when
and by whom attendance data was entered, changed, or deleted.

2.4 The Role of IT in improving management of t·ecords

(Klein, 2006) states that there is an opportunity to transform records and improve safety by better
leveraging information technology to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness of the system.
However, adoption has been shown and the results have been mixed up. If deployed incorrectly, without
well-conceived process improvements, IT systems can do just the reverse, leading to critical delays or
mistakes.

According to (Cisco, 2005), managmg organizations data today involves a large amount of paper.
Information stored in paper cha1iS is difficult to access, takes up costly space dedicated to chart storage.
and can impact on quality of care. On the other hand, computerization can be beneficial as:
I. Electronic records provide effective distribution of information to care givers at the point of care to
support higher quality of records with increased efficiency.
2. Management can access charts and histories without having to search files or wait for cha1t pulls.

6
3. Connected records applications, including electronic records, that streamline information and
communications at the point of care are critical to organizations under pressure to cut costs, increase
productivity, and improve staff/ employee management, (Cisco, 2005).

2.5 Attendance systems

Ever since computers entered the educational environment, many researchers performed different
researches to simplify the attendance task based on the technology that was available. Mar and Lancaster
(2008) designed and developed abased application to save students' attendance data and generate reports.
In their system, administration should enter the students' information and groups, and then tutors
should print the class list names and tick who is absent and who is not and finally enter the data to the
system. They just focused on developing a system to generate attendance report in their research and did
not try to facilitate the process of entering data.

Kizildag et al.(2000); used barcode to keep track of students 'attendance in seminars. They printed the
students· 10 on their 10 card and scan those by using a barcode reader. Nawaz, Assad, and Khalil
(2005) used image processing technique to read the attendance list data and based on that data generate
the overall attendance of students. In order to implement this system they designed a standard attendance
list and specified a special not repeated number to each student. Lecturers should know that which
number belongs to which student and also he should tick the list properly and obey some rules. The
mentioned systems tried to make the
attendance process easy, but in order to use these, still lecturers shouldspend their time to do that. In the
following author reviewed some attendance systems which are commercially in the market and many
organizations use these, but they have some disadvantages too.

2.6 The Effect of class attendance on Academic Perfm·mance

Attendance was always an impo11ant part of final grade of students from the early days of schools
existence. But what is the reason for taking attendance? Many researchers conducted researches to find
out the relation between students' attendance and result.

Yao and Chiang (2000) conducted a research to find out the relationship between students' class
attendance and their overall grades between students who pm1icipated in computer science classes. The
analysis of their data showed that students who has more class attendance, have higher grades. Also, they
indicated that there is a strong correlation between absence from the first day of class and overall result.
Broucekand Bass (2001); indicated that the GPA is significantly correlated with attendance. Crede, Roch,
and Kieszczynka( 1995); conducted a research to resolve the debate about the importance of attendance

7
and explore the relationship between attendance and students' grade and characteristics. They found out
that there is a strong correlation between attendance and both individual grade and college GPA. Also.
they indicated that the students' characteristics have a small effect on attendance.

Table I shows the correlation values between lecture attendance and academic performance. The
associated p-values were 0.0022 for the correlation between project marks and attendance and less than
0.000 I for attendance and performance in the other assessment pieces, thereby confirming the statistical
significance of all the correlation values in the table.

Table

Exam

TMA2 mark
Project mark 0.460 I

The correlation between lecture attendance and performance varied with the type of assessment in
question. At 0.6884, performance in the exam had the highest correlation with attendance, foiiO\vecl b0
TMA2 at 0.6530, then TMA I at 0.5927 and the project at a correlation value of 0.460 I. Since the
correlation between performance and attendance is positive in all the pieces of assessment it implies that
attendance affects student performance. However, since this correlation is less than one in all types of
assessment it follows that other factors also affect performance as well.

Given these different correlation values between performance in different types of assessment and
attendance, a logical step would be to establish whether these differences are indeed statistically
significant. Using Williams T2 formula (Cramer, 1994 p. 227), performance in each of the three pieces of
coursework was compared to performance in the final examination. As shown in Table 2, the eiTect of
class attendance on exam performance is significantly different from its effect on performance in both the
Project and TMA I but not in TMA2. Hence, on the basis of the data available, it cannot be concluded
\Vith certainty that class attendance affects differently a student's performance in the exam and
coursework.

8
TMAI Yes
TMA2 No
Project Yes

Significantly, this study shows that class attendance still remains a key determinant of academic
performance, even when the students have unfettered access to online lecture notes. Previous research
(Vandehey et al., 2005; Grabe and Christopherson, 2005) has also found that the availability of online
lecture notes does not in itself determine academic performance. Vandehey et al. (2005) observed that,
when assessed by a common set of examinations, there was no significant difference in academic
performance between students who were given complete notes, students who received outline notes and
students who did not get any notes. Also, Grabe and Christopherson (2005) concluded that there was little
ur no correlation between note use and examination performance.

Both studies attribute the poor association between examination performance and access to online notes to
study habits. In the study by Vandehey et al.(2005) at least 30% of the students with access to notes
admitted to not making use of them at all. In the study by Grabe and Christopherson (2005) it \\lb

observed that students with low class attendance tended to use the available online notes only when the;
had to sit the examination. This suggests that class attendance may serve as a proxy for student
engagement with the course module (Marks, 2000; Fredricks et al., 2004), with higher attendance
suggesting higher engagement. Woodfield et al. (2006) have suggested that high absenteeism levels may
be explained by a comparative lack of application on the part of the absentee.

9
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION
This section involves the steps, procedures and techniques that were used to collect, store, analyze and
present information. A formal method of system development; system development life cycle (SDLC).
was used in the design and construction of the system.

3.1.1 Area of study

The study was conducted at Kampala International University WC in the Directorate of qualit)
Assurance.

3.1.2 Study population

The study population comprised of quality assurance staff and the selected students of Kampala
international university.

3.1.3 Sample size

A suitable sample frame from the target population was chosen; a sample size of 30 (5 staff and 25
selected students) were selected and then divided into two (2) non repeating groups (strata) and the
researcher was able to select a sample from each group using a random sampling technique. The
individuals chosen were subjected to data collection tools like questionnaires and interviews.

3.2 Procedure of data collection

Prior to the study, an introductory letter was obtained from the Faculty of science and Technology. This
helped in personal identification to the respondents as a student carrying out a research study which is a
preliquisit for the completion of the course and that is intended to benefit me as a researcher and the
university as well. At the end of data collection, questionnaires, notes taken, and documents collected
were compiled/ put together for data processing.

3.3 Data collection tools

The following tools were employed to gather and collect the necessary datal requirements for the design
of the system.

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3.3.1 Interviews

The researcher conducted face- to- face interviews with the stake holders. An interview schedule was
drawn and guiding questions prepared as tools to collect data. The interviews were conducted on the
strata formed, that is; quality assurance staff and selected students. With this method, the researcher was
able to achieve objective (i) which was to investigate the effectiveness of the current system. The
interview method was chosen because it's reliable, accurate and gives satisfactory results.

3.3.2 Questionnaires

Questionnaires were designed basing on the sample size and then distributed to respective individuals i.e.
in the chosen sample for answering. With the responses made in line with interview the researcher was
able to integrate ideas and help to collect requirements for a new system thus achieving objective (ii)
which was to collect requirements for the design of a new system. This method is chosen because it gives
more detailed and context related information, it permits collection of information on facts and it permits
tests of the reliability of the responses because questions are logically set.

3.3.3 Document Review

A thorough review of the documents was done in the department of quality assurance with the intent to
study how things are done and discover where improvement is necessary. A number of documents were
reviewed including registers for the classes handled. This method was chosen because of its
inexpensiveness because the data is already there, it permits examination of trends over the past and there
are few biases about information.

3.4 Data analysis

After the interviews were carried out together with questionnaires and interview guides, the data collected
from the field was entered in an Analysis tool (excel) and thereafter coding done to represent descriptive
data in terms of numbers. Numbers from 1-5 were used where by I, 2,3,4,5 represented strongly disagree.
average, agree, and strongly agree respectively.

After data was coded and errors corrected, analysis starts. Thereafter, conclusions and system
specifications was made based on the outcome of data analysis.

11
3.5 System analysis

At this stage the researcher employed the following tools to analyze the system. Data Flow Diagrams
(DFDs) were used in modeling of information in the proposed system and showing the movement of
information from one point to another. Additionally under DFDs, the Context Diagram were also used to
show the system under consideration as a single high-level process and then the relationship that the
system has with other extemal entities (systems, organizational groups, external data stores).

Entity Relationship Diagrams (EROs) were used to show the relationships between different entities and
their associated attributes in the system.

3.6 System Design

The system was designed basing on windows environment. Microsoft visual basic 2005 was used to
design the user interfaces (front end) while Microsoft Access as a DBMS was used to design a database
for storing data thereafter a logical connection was established. At the same time test plan were prepared,
test plan describes the various tests which will be carried out on the system after completion of
development thus achieving objective (iii) which is to design a new computerized system. System design
was done in two different levels, that is, logical and physical designs.

3.6.1 Logical design

This pertains to an abstract representation of the data flows; model of the actual system. Under the logical
design, sequence diagrams were used to show the interactions between the users and system.

3.6.2 Physical design

The physical design relates to the actual input and output processes of the system. This is laid clown in
terms of how data is input into the system, how it is verified /authenticated, processed, and how it is
displayed as output.

3.6.3 Input

At this stage, system interface (data entry user input) forms were designed using Microsoft visual studio
2005 while Microsoft access was used to design the database and there after a logical connection made.

12
3.6.4 Output

Systems out puts are in form of structured data like reports that are retrieved from the system database
basing on the criteria set.

3.7 System Testing

Testing was carried out at each phase to identifY errors and keep track of the changes made to the system.
This came after system design. Code generation is conversion of design into machine-readable form.
Software modules are now further divided into units.

3.8 System Implementation

System implementation was achieved using Microsoft access for database design and visual basic 2005
for data entry interfaces. After a successful testing and validation, if the system designed meets the set
requirements then it shall be recommended for implementation.

13
 CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM ANALYSIS, DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis, design and implementation of the new system, data flow, processing

and output in the new computerized management system.

4.2 ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

At KlU WC, every student is expected to sign on attendance sheet every time he I she attends a lecture.
This is usually done in lecture room thereafter those attendance sheets are collected and kept in the office
of directorate of quality assurance. Manual computation is sometimes done to establish the frequency of
attendance but in most case the whole exercise does not hold much bearing on academic performance of
students

Fig 4.4: The data flow diagram of the current manual system.

Students' registration in lecture

rooms.

Attendance forms details

Data storage in form of manual forms

1
Directorate of quality
assurance

Decisions and p Ianning reports fro m faculty I depmtment

University Management
J

14
4.2.1 Weaknesses of the existing system.

• The paper files occupy a lot of space as more of students register, more space becomes required
and searching data from the files is difficult and constant usage of those files wears them out
hence loss of the important data.
• There is much time and labor wasted in recording every individual student particulars
• Generation of the overall reports is tedious because of the information stored in different files. To
visit each individual file, noting down the required information in order to come up with the final
reports is extremely hard.
• The existing manual system is insecure because an unauthorized person may locate a file and
can·yout modification on the data without permission.
• In the current manual system, it is hard to back up copies of data in case of natural hazards like
fire break down, floods, and earthquake. This may result in complete loss of important
information.

4.3 The designed system

The designed system is a computerized system where all information about a particular student lecture
attendance is captured and stored electronically in a computer. It eliminates any paper work, any activity
to be done on the stored information like modification, retrieval and generation of reports is automatically
done.

The main difference between the old system and the new computerized system is that data capturing and
processing is computerized and that computers are used instead of papers and forms. It requires less
storage space. It is also much more efficient since it can generate reports within minimum time and with
minimal errors.

4.3.1 User Requirements

The staffs in charge of students' registration are the primary users of the system. Each user is required to
have the username and password that is verified first before gaining access into the system. Depending on
their level of privileges, they perform different activities as follows:

Administrator users (adds records, views all the information, makes modification, deletes records, and
views all the reports).

Limited users (add records, view some information, and view reports)

15
4.3.2 System requirements

These requirements are classified as functional and non functional requirements.

a) Functional requirements

These are specific functions, tasks or behaviors the system must support. They include the following:-

• The system should allow the management to register and store a particular students' class
attendance details
• It should enable management to view and search a patiicular file within a short time
• It should authenticate users
• Ability for the user to update and save information about the student. Therefore the system shall
have the ability to permanently save data into the database.
• The system shall be able to generate necessaty reports.
b) Non-functional requirement

The system should be able to authenticate user and provide for different levels of access to avoid
unauthorized access.

The system should be able to perform 111 a standard relative to the activities carried out within the
company. In other words it should retrieve information vety fast.

The system should be easy for users to learn and use with dynamic access of information by both skilled
and unskilled users.

The system should be cost effective with more less effect on its implementation and maintenance.

The system should be potiable and light in order not to affect the throughput

16
4.3.3 Minimum hard ware and software requirements

Hard ware requirements

Hard ware Minimum system requirements

Processor Intel Pentium, Cyrix, Intel Celeron

Cycle speed IOOMHZ

Display monitor 700 x 600 pixels

Memory/RAM IGBRAM

Hard Disk space 120GB

UPS, CD-ROM

Software requirements

Software Minimum system requirements

Operating System Windows 2000/XP/NT/7

Database Management System MS access

Firewall/Antivirus Avast, A VG and any other

4.4 System Design

4.4.1 Introduction

System design gives the details of how the system will meet the information requirements determined in
the system analysis. Connolly, et a! ( 1996) defines system design as the process of creating a design for a
database that will support the enterprises operations and objectives. From the system study, it was found
out that its necessary to create a system with a central database that contains information about all
processes of students' records to keep track of activities involved. Two techniques were used to design
the system; logical design and physical design.

17
4.3.2 Design Objectives.

The systems design meets the following objectives:

1. Produces the system that overcomes the inefficiencies identified during the system study and
optimally uses computer resources.
ii. Allows accurate input of correct and valid data in the database.
Fig 4: The context diagram of the new computerized system.

Collections from day's lecture

r:~r.tivitiPS

Computerized
information system
( Processed Database
data administrator

Computed
Details of attendances
records

Director of quality
assurance

Reports and
Management
Forecasts

18
Figure 5: Context Level Diagram.

In this section, each process is explained precisely including inputs, conditions /logic, outputs and data

stores associated with each process. The functionality of the system is built on processes shown bellow.

Attendence details

Lecturers Details
Student

Lecturers
Inquiries
~
Computerized
student
attendance Attendance summary
records System

~ __...../

Student details
Reports Administrator

Lecturer's details
i
Advance details reports
Students attendance records

19
Figure 7: Entity Relationship Diagram

1
Student Does
1
M

M
Lecture Exam
Is Taught
h ..

Course
1
M unit

Lecturer 1
Course unit

1 1

Teaches

Awards

Course unit

M
Marks

20
 Figure S:Entity-Relationship

Entity

<>
One to One Relationship
Relationship

M One to Many Relationships

M M l'v'funy to l'v'funy Relationship

4.4 Table Mapping

The entities in the tables are described as follows.

Student(StdRgNo,SurName,OtherNames,DOB,Nationality,Gender,ContactAddress,HomeAddress)
Lecture(lect.name, title, course unit)
Course( coursecode.coursenameJaculty)
Study session (R_eg!'!_o~_c_9!1[S_e_\!lliLd_'\lt< !ime~J"-<;.t!lc~)

4.4.1 Data Dictionary for Tables

Student's Table

Field Name Data type Size Constraints Description

StdRgNo Text 20 Required Student Registration

Number

Fname Text 20 Not indexed Student's first Name

Other Names Text 50 Not indexed Student's other names

DOB Date/Time 10 Not indexed Student'sDateof Birth

Nationality Text 10 Not indexed Nationality

-

21
 Gender Text 10 Not indexed Sex

Religion Memo 255 Not indexed Religion

Contact address Text 16 Not indexed Student's contact address

Lecture Table

Field Name Data type Size Constraints Description

LectNo Text 20 Required Lectures' Number

-·
Name Text 20 Not indexed Lectures' Name

Title/ designation Text 50 Not indexed Lectures' title

22
Study session Table

Field Name Data type Size Constraints Description

StdRgNo Text 20 Required Student Registration

Number

Program name Text 20 Not indexed Program

DateOfAdmission Text 50 Not indexed Date of admission

Academic Date/Time 10 Not indexed Student's Qualification

Qua Iification

IDNo Text 10 Not indexed Identification number

Session Text !0 Not indexed Student's session

Course Table

Field Name Data type Size Constraints Description

StdRgNo Text 20 Required Student Registration

Number

Program Text 20 Not indexed Program

CoureName Text 50 Not indexed Course Name

CoursCode Date/Time !0 Not indexed Course code

Faculty Text 10 Not indexed Student's faculty

23
 CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING

5.1 System Implementation

The system was designed basing on windows environment. Microsoft vi sual basic 2005 was used to
design the user interfaces (front end) while Microsoft Access as a DBMS was used to design a database
for storing data thereafter a logical connection was established.

5.2. System functionality

5.2.1login page
This is the first form that comes first when the program is lauched. Its mainly meant for secuity and
authentication purposes. Select Attendance Monitor from the list of all programs then the login form
below wil display.

User name

ADMIN

Password

~] Cancel

Fig:5.1 login page

Enter the username together with correct password and then c lick on " login" button to gain access. If the
details supplied are correct, the home page is displayed and if the details are wrong then the user is
denied access and a message "wrong details ;check them and try again" is displayed.

Cl ick on "exit" button if you want to exit the application.

24
5.2.3 Home page

This is the page I window that is displayed after successful login. On it there are different tabs that help
the user to create and update student lists, print lists and attendance lists.

~ ~ I CREATE LIJT l UPOA TE LIJT

~ !;j ~ ~~~ Stunckr.b ·ist
~~ 1 10

~~ PROGRAM CODE. 8/S T SERI£S: 143

~ ~
~ PROCRAMTITLE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~----------------------------·
184010LER>ININFORM4WN.WSTEMS

6~ REGNO SURNAME OTHERNAMES SERIES COMBINAWN

~ ~~ ~ A~ BRYNNNNNNTT 143 NONE

-; I
:r, !J!J!j
"- 8/S/0()02/444/DU FFFOO SDFFC 143 NONE

8/S/OOOJ/444/0U FFOFH XCFOS 143 NONE

-
~

;1 1:
-

'.9
~
1::::
=
8/S/0004/4-14/0U

8/S/0007/444/0U
8/S/0008/444/0U
:HIHD

XGCFC
ASCBO
UL.H
ZXTT
ASOS
()WRR
TTRT
143
143
143
1-13
143
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE

8/S/0()09/444/0U OCHC UYUR 143 NONE

BIS/0010/444/0U XGGHGH I<IOF 143 NONE

SUBJECT TTTLE:

OA TE:
ANATOMY

10/ 2/2015 DT ClA SS t.o

SAVE WT II Prim Urt> ) ..........,.,

25
5.2.4 New students' registration page

This page provides options to the user for registering a new student to a course. It includes sections for
capturing bio data of the student and academic details.

After filling all the fields on the form the user saves the information by pressing the " SAVE" button and
if successful a message is displayed showing "student successfully registered"

REGNO SURNAME OTHERN.

ijijjflji ~ ... BRYNNN.
815/0002/444/DU FFFOO SOFFC
815/0003/444/DU FFOFH XCFDS
BRVNNNNNNTT
815/0004/ 444/DU H/HD UL.H
815/0005/ 444/DU lJIDO ZX TT
MALE
815/0006/444/DU ()SRR ASO.f

UGANDAN 815/0007/ 444/DU XCCFC ()WRR

815/0008/444/DU A .fC80 TTRT

BIS Bl> --·-· ·- ·- - ··

f.JJ
8/.f'ooo: '.J.J.JDUOU

NONE MUG/m<IAAAAAAAAA
BRVNNNNNNTT

26
5.2.5 program registration form

This form is displayed after clicking on program button. On it there are options for entering new
programs into the system.

=...;:;...

PROGRAM PROGRAM TTTLE

BIT BA OIOLER58V 8VFORMA T10N T. ..

riD BAOIOLER58V HVFORMA T10N S. ..

SA <.""HOLERfININFORMA T10N S\'STEUS BAE BAOfEL.OROFARTSNEOUCAn••
BSE BAOIELOR OF 5CENCE fMTH £ ..
CN5 CERTRCA TE 8V NI.JR5/NG 5CENC...
CMW CERTRCA TE 8V MIJWFRY
BBA BAOIELOROFBUSIIVESSAOMIN
BD5 BAOIELOR OFDEVELOPMENTS...
BPAM BAOIELOR OFPf.JBI.ICAOMIN
FACUUTV OF KlfNCf AND TEOftJOL OGV
OPAAI DPLOMA N PUBI.ICADMIN - '

A Oil NEW SA \'l:i UPBATE I DIT

-
"'
5.2.6 Summary of attendance records

DIRECTORATE OF QUALITY ASSURANCE MONITORING OFFICE

STUDENTS ' LECTURE ATTENDANCE SUMMARY RECORDS

CMM 1122 COMMUN ICATION SKILLS

S/N NAMES GENDER NO.LECT NO.ATTD o/oGE

1 B BA/0001 / 153/ DU MUGASHO XXXXXXXXXXXX> MALE 4.00 400 100.00

2 BBA/0002/153/ DU MUJUNI R llllllll MALE 4.00 2.00 50.00

3 BBA/0003/153/DU NAHABWE RITA FEMALE 4.00 4.00 100.00

LCC110P COMPUTER FU ~DERMENTAL S

S/N NAMES GENDER NO.LECT NO.ATTD o/oGE

4 BCS/U001 / 152/DF OKELLO PETER MALE 3.00 2.00 66.67

5 BSOD002/ 152/DU MPUMWIRE WINNIE FEMALE 3.00 3 00 100 .00

BMS 1112 BIOCHEMISTR'

S/N NAMES GENDER NO.LECT N O.ATTD o/oGE

6 81 S/UOO 1/444/D U DU MUGISHAAAAAAAAAA BRY~ MALE 1.00

7 Rl<::lllnn?t.t..t..t.mll FFFnn !':nFFI-: FFMAI F 1 nn

27
 DIRECTORATE OF QUALITY ASSURANCE MONITORING OFFICE
STUDENTS' LECTURE ATTENDANCE SUMMARY RECORDS

BMS 1101 ANATOMY

S/N NAMES GENDER NO.LECT NO.ATTD %GE

1 BIT!U001 /444/DU MUGISHA BRYN MALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

2 BIT/U002/444/DU FFFDD SDFFG FEMALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

3 BIT/UOOJ/444/DU FFDFH XCFDS MALE 1.00 0.00 0.00

4 BIT!U004/444/DU HJHD ULJH FEMALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

5 BIT/U005/444/DU lUI DO ZXTT MALE 1.00 1.00 100 DO

6 BIT!U006/444/DU QSRR ASDS MALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

7 BIT!U007/444/ DU XGGFG QWRR FEMALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

8 BIT/UOOB/444/DU ASCBD TIRT MALE 1.00 1.00 10000

9 BIT/U009/444/DU DGHG UYUR FEMALE 1.00 0.00 0 DO

10 BIT/U010/444/DU XGGHGH KIIDF MALE 1.00 1.00 100.00

28
 CHAPTER SIX

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.0 Introduction
This chapter looks at the summary of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the study on
designing Students' attendance records management system.

6.1 Problems encountered

It was difficult to get information from respondents who were not aware the importance of a system to be
developed.

Resources such as time were not enough since the researcher had to attend other duties assigned to his
such as attending lectures. This could not allow him to fully exhaust the required information for the
research

Some respondents could not release some information that was critical to the design of this system to the
researcher

Financial resources, the researcher being a private student, he could not get enough funds for buying
papers and pens, binding, compact disks and flash disks to facilitate the research work

6.2 Conclusion
The study was undertaken to find ways of improving student attendance records management at KIU \\C.

Basing on the Findings and Analysis, SARMS is a venture worth to invest in. Once taken seriously and
embraced, there are a lot of benefits that can be realized therein. Both the staff and the clients it is serving
"ill benefit from it. For example staff/management will no longer hustle to create reports, search a
particular file thus saving time and easing work.

6.3 Recommendations
A more comprehensive study to exploit the full benefits of the new technology in the education sector is
highly recommended. This may be able to unveil more gaps and therefore improve on the system more
than this study has been able to do. The management of KIU should step in to have all depa1tments
automate their systems by providing the necessary funds for such projects. With several systems made
available to the different depa1tments of the station, operational activities would be made much easier.

29
REFERENCES

A. Assad, and Z. Khalil, (20 I 0), firlly automated attendance record ;ystem using template matching
technique.

Astin, A., L. Hong, andY. Kulkarni. A multimodal biometric systemusingfingerprint, face and

Broucek, W.G. and W. Bass, (200 I); Attendance feedback in an academic setting: Preliminary results.

Caviglia-Harris, J., 2006. Attendance and Achievement in Economics: Investigating the Impact of
Attendance Policies and Absentee Rates on Student Performance.

Durden G. and Ellis L., 1995. The Effects of Attendance on Student Leaming in Principles of Economics

Golding, J., 2009. The Role of Attendance in Lecture Classes:

Hornback G., Babu A., Martin B. et a! 2006. Automatic Attendance System speech. 1999. Washington.
DC. USA.

Furlong. A., et al. 2003; An RFID attendance and monitoring system for university applications

Flandre etal (2007) Chawla, V. and H. Dong Sam, An overview ofpassive RFID.

Kizildag, M. et al, 2000; An automated attendance monitoring and registration system for EMU's SPIKE
seminar series. The 3 day International Conference Integration of Information Technologyin Science
Education. 2007.

Klein, F., V. Filipe, and A. Pereira,(20 I 0) Automatic control of students' allendance in classrooms using
RFID, in lntemational Conference On Systems and Networks Communications

Natalie & Gogliordi,(20 14 ); Course management systems versus learning management systems.

Natalie Gagliordi, 2014 ''U.S universities at greater risk for security hreaches than retail and heultlu..·url!.
llitSight."

Nawaz, T., et al.,(2005), Development of academic attendence monitoring system using fingerprints
Identification.

Yao, J.F.J. and T.M. Chiang, Correlation between class attendance and grade.

30
Vandeley etal, 2005, Student attendance system based onfingerprint recognition and one to m'my
marching, in Computer Science and Engineering

Vandeley, christopherson. (2005); The design of wireless fingerprint allendance system. in International
( 'm?f'erence on Communication Technology (ICCT'06). 2006

31
APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Activity Time

Concept paper writing April2015

Preparing and submission of the research proposal May 2015

Data collection June 2015

Analysis and design June2015

Report writing and submission of final repott July 2015

32
Appendix B

BUDGET
SIN Description of item Unit cost Total

I I computer 700,000= 700,000=

1 Stationary 20,000= 60,000=

'
0 Printing services 100 40,000=

4 Photocopy services 80 30,000=

5 Binding 10,000 40,000

Total cost 870000=

33
APPENDIX.C

QUESTIONNAIRE 1

INTRODUCTION
I Naziwa shamim am doing a research on the current system of student attendance records management in
Kampala international university-we in the department of quality assurance to evaluate it's effectiveness
and efficiency. Am requesting you kindly to answer appropriately as the results will be used to design a
better system that will improve and easy records management system of the student attendance in
Kampala international university-we.

Instructions:
I. Tick where necessary.
2. Fill the space provided where appropriate.

Section A
1.1 STUFF
1.1.1 Bio data
GENDER
Male D Female D
Indicate age

Below 18 D
18-25 D
205-30 D
D
30- 35
D
35-40
D
40-45 D

45and above D

34
Madtal status

Married CJ SiugleCJ Specify others D

EDUCATION LEVEL

PhD D MastersCJ BachelorCJ DiplorD CertifieD

(b) How many years have you been working in this Department of quality assurance?

I - 5c::::J years, 6 - I 0 D years, above I 0 D years

Section B
2.1 Bio data
2.1.1 Students
GENDER
Male D Female D

Indicate age

Below 18 D

18-25 D

205-30 D
D
30- 35
D
35-40
D

40-45 D

45and above D

Education Levels
Ce1tificate CJDiploma c:::::Jle gree c:::::::pth ers c:::::::::J

What system is being used in Kampala international university-we

35
 Manual (files and papers) c:=:pmputerized Q s (please specify)
D
Is the system mentioned above easy to use?
Yes CJNO CJ

If yes, how do you find their system

Very good CJ
Good CJ
Normal
CJ
Bad CJ
Very bad CJ

Is there any need of improving the system?

Yes CJ No CJ

SECTION C

I: Over all am satisfied with how easy it is to use this system? CJ agree CJ disagree

2 Is it simple to use this system? CJ Agree CJ disagree

3: I can effectively complete my work with this system? D agree CJ disagree

4: I can completely finish my work quickly using this system? 0 agree 0 disagree

List the most negative aspect(s):

I.

3.

List the most positive aspect(s):

I.
2.
'
J.

Thank you for your time, God bless you abundantly

36