DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTERIZED STAFF RECORD

DEPARTMENT (CASE STUDY OF CALEB UNIVERSITY)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
Employee records are created in a variety of forms, usually a paper file and
computerized record but may also include e-mail, electronic documents,
photographs, plans, film, sound recording, publication, or other textual, audio-
visual or computerized digital information. Staff records are primarily stored
within the Human Resources Unit but may be duplicated if necessary (e.g work
plans and reviews) by supervisors or managers in the work area. The original of
any document must be forwarded to the Human Resources Unit to be placed on the
staff member's file.

PURPOSE OF STAFF RECORDS

 Administrative and monitoring.
Records, if they are kept efficiently, are a help to the school head in
managing the school, in identifying needs within the school and in moni-
toring progress. They help the school head to plan for school and staff
development. Workloads need to be shared out between members of staff so
that there is a fair distribution of teaching, administration, and non-teaching
time. You, as the school head, need to know where all the teachers are
throughout the school day, which rooms they are in, what classes and
subjects are being taught. All of this needs to be recorded for your own
benefit, the benefit of others and to pass on if you suddenly are not available
or well enough for work
 PROFFESIONAL
Before staff are allocated to classes, you or, in a large school, a deputy
head, will have reviewed staff qualifications and experience in particular
subject areas. You will not want to allocate a teacher to a subject in which
he or she has neither qualifications nor experience. Teachers with
expertise in senior secondary Mathematics should not, for example,
normally be allocated to teach a first grade class, nor the other way round.
Staff need to be matched to subjects and year groups according to
qualifications, experience and interests. Your records are important for
this process.

Your records will include information about the category of qualifica-

tions, for example, CSEC, teaching certificate, diploma, degree. These,
together with experience and competence, will help you decide how best

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 to use the staff member's expertise, and will have been taken into account
for salary purposes.

 STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The purposes of keeping staff records which have so far been given have
been related to the administrative, supervisory and professional duties of the
school head. However, as well as ensuring that, for example, every pupil is
provided with teaching in every subject of the curriculum, you also have a
responsibility to provide for staff development. Records of staff will
therefore include details of in service courses attended by the teacher,
private study undertaken for upgrading purposes or extracurricular
responsibilities undertaken by the teacher.

The staff development responsibility of the school head is part of the

continuous process of staff appraisal. Records kept for the purpose of staff
development should contain dates when the school head has observed a
teacher's classroom work, notes of observations and discussions with the
teacher. Where there has been a complaint about the teacher's work, the
records should contain details of the reason for the complaint, the dates, and
the action taken and whether there has been improvement.

TYPES OF STAFF REORDS

Staff records can be grouped according to whether they are purely factual
and objective, or whether the information contained within them depends on
judgments which are often subjective. You need to remember, however, that
the differences between the two types of record are not always as clear-cut
as one might think. In apparently factual records there can sometimes be a
subjective element, for example, the choice of information to be recorded.
This problem can be largely overcome by using the same factual record form
for all staff and awareness that the risk of being subjective exists. The best
way to avoid subjectivity is to base all judgments on evidence which has
been shared with and discussed with the teacher, for example lesson
observation notes, inspector’s comments etc.
 CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS
All records which contain subjective information, for example, the process
and outcome of teacher appraisal procedures, should be regarded as confi-
dential and should be kept locked in the school head's room. Details of
salary scale, copies of references should also be regarded as confidential, as
should any note of personal problems or domestic difficulties. Staff are
entitled to privacy

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 EXAMPLES OF CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS KEPT ON A STAFF
MEMBER’S FILE
 References
 Observation of teaching
 Interview/discussion with school head as part of staff appraisal
 Lecturers salary and financial status
 Promotion prospect
 Medical and health records
FACTUAL AND OBJECTIVE RECORDS
Factual and objective details such as the ones listed below would be likely to be
kept in the secretary’s or administrative office but you may find it convenient to
have this information also available on the staff member’s confidential file.
 Full name, address, date of birth, gender, nationality.
 Qualification, where obtained and date of qualification.
 Subject in which teacher is qualify to teach.
 Date of appointment to the school
 Details of previous post, length of service in these
 Length of teaching experience.
 Timetable.
 Summary of teaching and NON teaching periods.

Staff records are private and confidential and access to information contained
within staff records is limited to that required to fulfil the legitimate and authorized
purposes of the University. Requests for access to personal information contained
in staff records by third parties are normally denied. In particular, access to staff
members’ personal addresses and phone numbers is not provided to fellow staff,
students or any other third party. The University will disclose information only
with the permission of the staff member concerned, or if required or authorized by
law, or in an emergency.

Records kept within a school are part of the history of a school and are used for
planning future actions and policy. School records contain important information
about school administration, for example, the safekeeping of money, how it is
collected and used. However hardworking and intelligent you may be, you cannot
carry all the information about every teacher, nor all the records about the
administration of the school, in your memory. Information about the staff and
school administration needs also to be available to others, for example, the District
Education Officer. This unit, however, is not about school financial records or
those concerned with books or property, nor of keeping minute books or log books.
The subject of this unit is the keeping of staff records.
.

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While many institution still make use of the traditional means of keeping staff
record, majority new and old institute are now making use of the computerized
means of keeping staff records.
Merriam – Webster dictionary (2014) defines computerization as the ability to
carry out, control, or produce by means of a computer. Computerization is the use
of computers, control systems and information technologies to optimize
productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. The correct
incentive for applying computerization is to increase productivity, and/or quality
beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of
scale, and/or realize predictable quality levels. In this scope of industrialization,
computerization is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides
human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of
work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental
requirements while increasing load capacity, speed, and repeatability.
Computerization plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in
daily experience. (Merriam – Webster, 2015).

A database is A collection of interrelated data (records) organized so that

individual records or groups of records can be retrieved that satisfy various criteria.
Typical examples include employee records and products catalogs. (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2015).

Mankind has been keeping records since the dawn of civilization. The oldest
surviving examples of records made by humans are purely pictorial such as
painting of animals, which dates back to more than 15,000 years ago. These
methods of record keeping were mostly found in Spain and France.
However, as civilization developed, pictorial records changed into pictographic
representations, such as hydro graphic used by Egyptians and subsequently into the
alphabetic system we use today. Also, the changes from subsistence economies
based on trade necessitated the recording of numerical and financial information as
well as records of the people and events.
Similarly, the traditional office system used by most organizations consists of
paper based filling systems, which comprised filling cabinets, folders, shelves that
occupied considerable space, and also require maintenance/servicing frequently
(Williams, 1994).
in this study, we narrowed down to the record keeping system as been practiced
by the institution. Nearly all the tasks manually performed by man some years
back can now be done in matter of seconds with computer technology. Since the
invention of the “wonder machine”, there has been a change from the manual way
of carrying out certain tasks to a faster and more reliable computerized method.

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BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Caleb University, Imota, Lagos was given provisional license by the Federal
Government of Nigeria to operate as a private University on May 17, 2007. The
Proprietor of the University is Caleb International College Ltd with Dr. Ola
Adebogun as the Chairman, and Visitor of the University.
The University commenced full academic activities on January 21, 2008 with
admission into three Colleges — College of Environmental Sciences and
Management (COLENSMA), College of Pure and Applied Sciences (COPAS), and
College of Social and Management Sciences (COSOMAS). The University started
operations in January 2008 from its approved Take-Off Site on Ikosi GRA, off
CMD Road from where it moved to the 110-hectare permanent site at Km 15
Ikorodu-Itoikin Road, Imota, and Lagos in November 2009. The University has
produced 11 sets of graduates who have been mobilized in succession for the one-
year mandatory National Youth Service Scheme, from 2011.
In 2012, the National Universities Commission approved the commencement of
Part-Time programs at the Caleb Business School (CBS) and the take –off of the
College of Postgraduate Studies (COPOS), beginning with the MSc Degree in
Architecture in March 2013. The College of Education (COLED) was approved by
the National Universities Commission (NUC) in August, 2018 and the College of
Law was approved by both the NUC and the Council of Legal Education in 2021.
The University operates three tiers of Management, namely:
The Board of Trustees with Prince Abiodun Ogunleye as the Chairman.
1.    The Governing Council with Prof. Sunday Olukayode Ajayi as Pro-Chancellor
and Chairman of Council.
2.    The University Management with six Principal Officers as follows:
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Prof. Samuel A. Daramola
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Innovation, Strategy & Administration)
Prof. Olalekan Asikhia
The Registrar, Mr. Mayokun Olumeru
The Bursar, Mr. Adesina Abubakre
The University Librarian, Mr. Josiah Ifedayo Adeyomoye

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PROBLEM STATEMENT
Most of the limitation of a book keeping system usually employed in dealing with
staff records in the School of Computer Science and cyber (CALEB
UNIVERSITY), a computerized database application would be greatly
necessitated. This is because a central database server that would hold all staff
records created would be stored. As a result staff records and information would
easily be accessible from different locations provided they are connected to the
central database server, thereby creating a less cumbersome staff record. In
addition to the aforementioned, a computerized staff record would also assist staffs
in the following problem areas;
Inaccurate Staff Report: Sometimes staff report are not properly stated and
reported. This results to questionable report being sent to management for
planning.
Mishandling of Staff Folders: Staff folders are often handled with little or no
regard. This leads to detaching and tearing away of some of the staff important
documents.
Poor statistics about a particular staff: this may be as a result of lost or misplaced
staff files.
Longer Waiting Time: The record clerk wastes so much time in bringing staff
folders. In case the management needs the record for a particular staff, it takes the
clerk time to manually organize the data and bring it to the destination where it is
needed.

1.4 AIM OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to computerize the necessary procedures involved in
keeping staff records in a dedicated staff record department for Caleb University.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To make data sharing as regards to staff records feasible, so that more than one
department, in different locations can have access to staff records.
To reduce paper work, thereby improving the efficiency of record keeping in a
more computerize way.
To avoid time consuming searching for information or data not available on record
using database management system.
To reduce clerical work, where more than one clerk have to be employed to handle
certain aspects of staff records and information.
To integrate records of staffs from different departments within Caleb university
for management consumption, and also aid quick decision making and efficiency.
1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

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This project intends to make use of available resources and database technology to
develop an easy to use application for convenient book keeping and staff records
so as to minimize loss and management of data or information, and also to make
staff records readily available in a more computerize way.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This project covers the data of staffs in an organization, personal information,
educational qualifications, job title, as well as other relevant information.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study is limited to staff and staff records department within Caleb university.
This does not mean that Caleb University does not have other staff related
functions, like students records. There are other departments that handle other
student related issues. Another major constraint to this study is lack of time
available to enable us carry out and extensive research.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Computerize: Use of computers to carry out specific tasks or functions.

Staff: All the people employed by a particular organization.

Data: A thing constituting a piece of evidence about the past, especially an account
kept in writing or some other permanent form.

Database: A structured set of data held in a computer, especially one that is

accessible in many ways

Algorithm: A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other

problem solving operations, especially by a computer

SQL: Structured Query Language, an international standard for database

manipulation.

Server: A computer or computer program that manages access to a centralized

resource or service in a network

Desktop: The working area of a computer screen regarded as a representation of

notional desktop containing icons representing items such as files and a
wastebasket

Query: Ask a question about something, especially in order to express one’s doubt
about it or to check its validity or accuracy.

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Menu: A list of commands or options, especially one displayed on screen.

Password: A secret word or phrase that must be used to gain admission to

something.

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