CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In many institutions, and academic organizations, attendance is a very important

criterion which is used for various purposes. These purposes include record

keeping, assessment of students, and promotion of optimal and consistent

attendance in class. In developing countries, a minimum percentage of class

attendance is required in most institutions and this policy has not been adhered to,

because of the various challenges the present method of taking attendance presents.

This traditional method involves the use of sheets of paper or books in taking

student attendance. This method could easily allow for impersonation and the

attendance sheet could be stolen or lost. Taking of attendance is time consuming

and it is 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 attendance management system using biometrics would provide the needed

solution. An attendance management system is software developed for daily

student attendance in schools and institutions. It facilitates access to the attendance

of a particular student in a particular class. This system will also help in generating

reports and evaluating the attendance eligibility of a student.

1
Rather than signing an attendance sheet, individuals will pass their thumb over the

fingerprint scanner, the finger print is compared against a list of pre-registered

users, and once a match is made, the individual will be registered as having

attended that lecture.

The paper discusses related works in the problem domain; highlights the general

overview of the proposed system; details design considerations of the system, both

at the hardware and software level; discusses the operation and how the system

was tested in conformity to system design and functional objectives; concludes the

observations made; and makes recommendations for future improvement.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The traditional system is still mostly used in lecture room or examination hall in

most institution today. Lecturer or instructor will give out a sheet of paper

containing list of student’s name to sign or in some cases, the student will be the

ones to write their names, student id and matriculation number to indicate their

presence for a particular class. Falsification in student attendance does occur

rampantly in the traditional method.

For example, another student can easily sign an attendance on behalf of another

student. In other to prevent this problem, it is necessary to develop an

Authentication System for Students using fingerprint Biometric recognition that

will be employed to track and keep the attendance of every student in a particular

2
class. Fingerprint is unique feature for everyone compare to using barcode in smart

cards. Therefore, this system designed in this project work is not based on the

existing barcode system. Tracking and monitoring student time of attendance could

be tedious, time consuming and more susceptible to errors. The security of the

existing attendance system that are now use in classroom (signature system) can be

easily compromised. Some students can master other student’s signature. Thereby,

helping their colleague who are absent for a particular class to sign the attendance

sheet using the duplicated signature. The Fingerprint Attendance monitoring

system designed in this research work for student is a more secure platform where

students mark their attendance with their fingerprint.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the study

The aim of the study is to design and develop a reliable, scalable and cost effective

Fingerprint based Student Attendance Management system. This is to be achieved

by the following objectives:

i). To carry out the analysis of manual processes involved in class attendance and

examination attendance.

ii) To design a new system for the (i) above and

iii). To implement the design using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0.

3
1.4 Significance of the Study

The System for Students using fingerprint Biometric will eliminate the use of paper

in manual signing processes and all the risk associated with it. One of the risks of

using a paper in class attendance is that it can be easily misplaced and students

cheat by signing for each other not present in the class thereby defeating the aim of

taking the attendance. Tracking and monitoring students time of attendance could

be tedious, time consuming and susceptible to error. Thus, the System will

drastically reduce time needed to verify attendance data.

The System also allows the institution management to track or investigate student

class attendance in a particular course having poor attendance thereby enabling the

management to rectify the situation by providing the necessary interventions. The

system provide high level of security whereby making it impossible for imposters

and impersonators in making their ways to examination halls. The System using

fingerprint Biometric will keep historical data making it easy for lecturers to access

and grade students.

Fingerprint Based Student Attendance management System is extremely useful in

institutions especially during classes, tutorials, laboratory sessions and examination

during which heavy security are normally deploy to validate student’s identity in

order to cob imposters, with the use of Authentication System the number of

security personnel will be greatly reduce. Most lecturers’ handout sheet of paper for

4
their class attendance, which can easily be misplaced or damaged and poses a lot of

stress in cumulating grades for their students. The system allows the lecturer to

monitor each student attendance, track down truants and take the appropriate action.

Thus, the system eliminates all these downsides. The Authentication system is not

only useful to the institutions and lecturers alone, even the students benefit a great

deal by reducing the stress in queuing up which result in delay and often time in the

damage of the attendance sheet. It also prevents mistakes and anomaly that is

associated with manual signing in which student that attend a class are marked as

not present thereby losing the mark accorded to the particular attendance due to

multiple attendance sheet.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The scope of this work is to develop an Attendance management System that will

improve how attendance management is done by using fingerprint as a form

authentication for proof of attending a class. The system will be a window based

application developed using Microsoft Visual Basic.net as the preferred

programming language for building the user interface and Microsoft Access for

database design. It does not cover other aspects of biometric.

1.6 Limitations of the Study

The efficiency of the scanner can be reduced due to the roughages in the captured

images which are often caused by worn-out or cut or dirt’s found on fingerprint.

5
Therefore, there is every possibility that enrolled users can be rejected by the

system. Also the scanner or sensor cannot distinguish between a real and an

artificial finger; therefore it is possible to fool the scanner. In addition, if an

enrolled fingerprint is been duplicated or spoof, it is not possible to change

fingerprint as in the case of password because user finger biometric. Finally, since

the system will be design using Visual Basic.net, it won’t be able to run on any

other platforms other than Microsoft Window operating system.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Biometrics: is a physiological or behavioral characteristic unique to individuals,

this Include Fingerprint, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein and voice.

PIN: personal identification number.

Biometric Verification: is any means by which a person can be uniquely

identified by evaluating one or more distinguishing biological traits.

Scanner: a device for examining, reading, or monitoring something in particular.

Fingerprint sensor: is an electronic device used to capture a digital image of the

fingerprint pattern.

Rapid Application Development: is a concept that products can be developed

faster and of higher quality.

Authentication: is the process of determining whether someone or something is,

in fact, who or what it declared to be.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION
A number of related works exist on the application of different methods and

principles to effectively monitor the attendance of students. In Shoewu, O, O.M.

Olaniyi, and A. Lawson. (2011), an embedded computer based lecture attendance

management system was proposed. The system provides an improvised electronic

card and card reader serially interfaced to the digital computer system.

Kadry, S. and M. Smaili. (2010), used a wireless attendance management system

that authenticates using the iris of the individual. The system uses an off-line iris

recognition management system that can finish all the process including capturing

the image of iris recognition, extracting minutiae, storing and matching.

Attendance Management has also been carried out using attendance software that

uses passwords for authentication.

Cheng, K., L. Xiang, T. Hirota, and K. Ushijimaa. (2005), designed and

implemented a system that authenticates the user based on passwords, this type of

system allows for impersonation since the password can be shared or tampered

with. Passwords could also be forgotten at times thereby preventing the user from

accessing the system.

7
Other attendance solutions are RFID-based student attendance system and GSM-

GPRS based student attendance system. These are all device-based solutions.

While GSM-GPRS based systems use position of class for attendance marking

which is not dynamic and if schedule or location of the class changes, wrong

attendance might be marked. Problem with RFID Shoewu, O. and O. Badejo.

(2006) based systems is that students have to carry RFID cards and also the RFID

detectors are needed to be installed. Pankanti, S., S. Prabhakar, and A.K. Jain.

(2002)

This system, however, is a cost effective simplified system that uses fingerprints

for identification. The fingerprint is unique to each individual and cannot be

shared. It allows students to register for lectures with ease and eliminate errors that

are associated with attendance reports because the system generates reports at the

end of the semester.

2.1 BIOMETRIC SYSTEM

The word “biometrics” comes from the Greek language and is derived from the

words bio (life) and metric (to measure). Biometric systems use a person’s physical

characteristics (like fingerprints, irises or veins), or behavioral characteristics (like

voice, handwriting or typing rhythm) to determine their identity or to confirm that

they are who they claim to be. (Bolle et al, 2003) Biometric data are highly unique

8
to each individual, easily obtainable non-intrusively, time invariant (no significant

changes over a period of time) and distinguishable by humans without much

special training, (Jain, 1999). Biometric data are highly unique to each individual,

easily obtainable non-intrusive, time invariant that is no changes over period of

time, distinguishable by humans without much special trainings. Biometric

identifiers are categorized as physiological versus behavioral characteristics.

A physiological biometric would identify ones voice, DNA, hand print, iris A

behavioral biometrics is related to the behavior of a person, including typing

rhythm, and signature (chang, 2005). The tradition or conventional means of

access control include knowledge based methods such as password or pin and

token based method such as passport, driver’s license, ID card. These methods are

prone to fraud because pin numbers could be forgotten and hacked and the token

could be lost, duplicated or stolen, to address the need for robust, reliable and fool

proof personal identification, authentication and systems will necessarily require a

biometric component. (Calvin, 2007)

2.2 BIOMETRIC FUNCTIONALITY

Several aspects of human physiology, chemistry or behavior can be used for

biometric authentication. The use of a selected biometric for specific applications

involves the considerable factors which are

o Uniqueness
9
o Measurability

o Performance

o Universality

o Permanence (Jain et al, 1999)

2.3 IDENTIFICATION

A biometrics system searches the database for a match to the newly captured

sample, and grants access if it is found. Using a fingerprint as part of the login

process to a computer is an example of this mode.

2.4 FINGER PRINT

A fingerprint is the feature pattern of one finger (Figure 2.1). It is an impression of

the friction ridges and furrows on all parts of a finger. These ridges and furrows

present good similarities in each small local window, like parallelism and average

width.

Figure 2.1 Fingerprint image from a sensor

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However, shown by intensive research on fingerprint recognition, fingerprints are
not distinguished by their ridges and furrows, but by features called Minutia, which
are some abnormal points on the ridges (Figure 1.2). Among the variety of minutia
types reported in literatures, two are mostly significant and in heavy usage:

Ridge ending - the abrupt end of a ridge

Ridge bifurcation - a single ridge that divides into two ridges

A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a

human finger.olsen,(robert, 1972) In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the
traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human or other
primate hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges.
A friction ridge is a raised portion of the epidermis on the digits (fingers and toes),
the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot, consisting of one or more connected
ridge units of friction ridge skin. These are sometimes known as "epidermal
ridges" which are caused by the underlying interface between the dermal papillae
of the dermis and the interpapillary (rete) pegs of the epidermis. These epidermal
ridges serve to amplify vibrations triggered, for example, when fingertips brush
across an uneven surface, better transmitting the signals to sensory nerves involved
in fine texture perception

11
 Fig. 2.2 features of finger print

2.5 FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION

Fingerprint identification is referred to as dactyloscopy is the process of comparing

questioned and known fingerprint against another fingerprint to determine if the
impressions are from the same finger or palm(Ashbaugh & David, 2013)

Fingerprints are made of a series of ridges and furrows on the surface of the finger
and have a core around which patterns like swirls, loops, or arches are curved to
ensure that each print is unique. (Maltoni, Jain, Maio, Prabhakar,2004)An arch is a
pattern where the ridges enter from one side of the finger, rise in the center
forming an arc, and then exit the other side of the finger. (Henry, Edward,1990)

The loop is a pattern where the ridges enter from one side of a finger, form a curve,
and tend to exit from the same side they enter. In the whorl pattern, ridges form
circularly around a central point on the finger. The ridges and furrows are
characterized by irregularities known as minutiae, the distinctive feature upon
which finger scanning technologies are based. Minutiae points are local ridge
characteristics that occur at either a ridge bifurcation or a ridge ending. The ridge
12
ending is the point at which a ridge terminates. Bifurcations are points at which a
single ridge splits into two ridges. Minutiae and patterns are very important in the
analysis of fingerprints since no two fingers have been shown to be identical.

It includes two sub-domains: one is fingerprint verification and the other is

fingerprint identification

There are five stages involved in finger-scan verification

And identification:

1. Fingerprint Image Acquisition

2. Image Processing
3. Locating Distinctive Characteristics
4. Template Creation
5. Template
2.6 FINGERPRINT AUTHENTICATION

Biometric authentication technologies such as face, finger, hand, iris, and speaker
recognition are commercially available today and are already in use. (Fernando L.
Podio: year) A biometric system is essentially a pattern recognition system that
operates by acquiring biometric data from an individual, extracting a feature set
from the acquired data, and comparing this feature set against the template set in
the database. Depending on the context, a biometric system may operate either in
verification mode or identification mode.(Anil, Arun and Salil,2004)

Verification mode: In the verification mode, the system validates a person’s

identity by comparing the captured biometric data with her own biometric
template(s) stored system database. In such a system, an individual who desires to
be recognized claims an identity, usually via a PIN Personal Identification

13
Number), a user name, a smart card, etc., and the system conducts a one-to-one
comparison to determine whether the claim is true or not (e.g., “Does this
biometric data belong to Bob?”). Identity verification is typically used for positive
recognition, where the aim is to prevent multiple people from using the same
identity. (O'Gorman, 2002.)

Identification mode: In the identification mode, the system recognizes an

individual by searching the templates of all the users in the database for a match.
Therefore, the system conducts a one-to-many comparison to establish an
individual’s identity (or fails if the subject is not enrolled in the system database)
without the subject having to claim an identity (e.g., “Whose biometric data is
this?”). Identification is a critical component in negative recognition applications
where the system establishes whether the person is who she (implicitly or
explicitly) denies to be. The purpose of negative recognition is to prevent a single
person from using multiple identities. Identification may also be used in positive
recognition for convenience (the user is not required to claim an identity).
While traditional methods of personal recognition such as passwords, PINs, keys,
and tokens may work for positive recognition, negative recognition can only be
established through biometrics. (O'Gorman, 2002.)

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 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1 System Analysis

Since the use of fingerprint is yet to be introduced in higher institution of learning

as prerequisite for lectures, entering the examination hall, impersonation and all
form of exam malpractice has become the order of the day.

Students can boldly enter the examination hall with prohibited materials without
being detected. Some who are not registered students of the institution often
receive huge amount of money from registered students in order to help them in
writing various examination, this they do with impurity.

3.2 Source of Data

This is the research methodology that helps researchers to gather sources of

information that will help building the new system. Some of the mode of data
collection includes:

a. Interview

b. Observation

3.2.1 Method of Data Collection

Various methods were used in gathering data from students which include
interview and observation.

3.2.2 Observation

This is the direct aspect of data collection. In one of the just concluded exams, a lot
of students were arrested because the invigilators discovered that they were unable
to write their matriculation number correctly.
15
During their arrest, there was an up roar thereby disturbing other candidates in the
hall from concentrating on their exams. This would have been prevented if
biometric data machine had been introduced.

3.2.3 Interview

Having interviewed some students, over 80% of the students interviewed believed
that the introduction of fingerprints detecting machine will go a long way to
eradicating impersonation during examination especially in institution of higher
learning.

3.3 Problems of the System

The existing system which makes use of mostly manual technique of student
verification such as photo cards which carries students’ passport photograph and
details and this serve as an entry key into lecture/examination halls through
verification by the examination supervisor. The problems with this method of
verification are

 The manual photo cards are easily forged.

 These cards can be misplaced by the students.
 Time is wasted doing students’ verifications by the supervisors.

3.4 Proposal for a System

The proposed system provides solution to lecture/examination attendance problems

through the use of attendance management software that is interfaced to a
fingerprint device. The student bio-data (Matriculation number, Name, Gender and
Date of Birth) and the fingerprint are enrolled first into the database. The
fingerprint is captured using a fingerprint device.

16
For attendance, the student places his/ her finger over the fingerprint device and
the student’s matriculation number is sent to the database as having attended that
particular lecture. At the end of the semester, reports are generated to specify the
students that are eligible for exams and percentage of times the student attended
lecture.
3.5 Objectives/Benefits Of The Proposed (New) System
 Students who were once victims of impersonation will desist and take their
studies serious.
 Impersonation and mercenary will be eradicated during examination.
 Lecturers will be encouraged to put in their best in order to avoid any
occasion for cheating during examination.
 Strangers/unregistered students will be discouraged from entering the
school premises.
 Virtually all the students will be encouraged to study hard since there will
be no more room for impersonation.
3.6 High Level Model of the Proposed System
HOME

STAFF STUDENTS

LOG IN STUDENT VERIFICATION REGISTER AUTHENTCATION

This proposed attendance management system uses fingerprint identification. In

identification, the system recognizes an individual by comparing his/her biometrics
with every record in the database. In general, biometric identification consists of
two stages:
17
i. Enrolment and
ii. Authentication

During enrolment, the biometrics of the user is captured (using a fingerprint reader,
which are likely to be an optical, solid state or an ultrasound sensor or other
suitable device) and the unique features are extracted and stored in a database as a
template for the subject along with the student ID.
The objective of the enrolment module is to admit a student using his/her ID and
fingerprints into a database after feature extraction. These features form a template
that is used to determine the identity of the student, formulating the process of
authentication. The enrolment process is carried out by an administrator in the
attendance system.

During authentication, the biometrics of the user is captured again and the
extracted features are compared (using a matching algorithm) with the ones already
existing in the database to determine a match. The identification accuracy of a
biometric system is measured with the false (impostor) acceptance rate (FAR) and
the false (genuine individual) reject rate (FRR). The FAR/FRR ratios depend,
among other factors, on the type of difficulty of the algorithms used in the
fingerprint extraction. Usually, algorithms with high-medium complexity lead to
acceptable low FRR/FAR.

However, as it becomes more complex the computational cost increases which

leads to undesirable high processing times. Thus, the overall performance of the
identification system should be evaluated in terms of FAR/FRR, computational
cost and other factors such as security, size and cost.

18
 CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 Analysis of Input

An Automated Fingerprint Attendance System (AFAS) is a highly specialized

system that records students’ attendance by comparing a single fingerprint image
with the fingerprint images previously stored in a database. The Automated
Fingerprint Identification system (AFIS) is the principle behind the AFAS.
4.1.1 Processing of Input
This phase works on the responses that are provided by the user in the input stage.
The responses acquired from the fingerprint are sent and checked from the data-
base before processing. The program examines the finger, if it matches
identification of the user. The program proceeds to the output stage for the result of
the fingerprint.
4.1.2 Generated Output
The reliability and acceptance of a system is determined by its output for this
project the output design is simple.
4.2 Analysis of Facts Gathered
The major factors in designing a fingerprint attendance system include: choosing
the hardware and software components and integrating both to work together,
defining the system working mode (verification or identification), dealing with
poor quality images and other programming language exception, and defining
administration and optimization policy.

19
4.3 Design of Input and Output of the Proposed System
In fact, any artificial language that can be used to define a sequence of
instructions that can ultimately be processed and executed by the computer
program. Many programming languages are currently in use today.

They include.

 VISUAL BASIC
 QBASIC
 ORACLE
 JAVA
 HTML
 ACCESS

Each of these languages has its own merits and demerits. Nevertheless, this
research work was done to favour interactive processing rather than batch
processing. Its interactive nature makes files processing more lively and makes for
immediate response. The tutorial nature of interactive system enables a layman
even to understand it easily and also for faster function. It is a stand. Alone
program that will be accessed by the account department only, irrespective of the
password.

On this note, the attendance management system was written with a well structured
query language, visual basic in particular, because of the following reasons.

1. The need to provide a graphic user interface (GUI) for the operator so as to
enhance operations of the program.
2. The simplicity
20
3. And module oriented nature of the software.
4. The ability of the software to connect to diverse database engineer, such as:
ODBC, Data Access, SY base and the like.
5. The fact that programs developed from visual basic can easily run on most
windows operating system that has the VBARUN DLL files (without actually
requiring the installation of the VB compiler).
6. The fact that it has sufficient storage management and facilitates easy retrieval
of information stored.
7. It is user friendly and easy to code, red and understand, since it is English like.
4.3.1 Program Flowchart
The program flowchart is drawn from the job specification of the analyst. It
consists of outline flowchart, which is an overview and sketch of the various
procedures, while the detailed chart involves processing operating and procedures
in the system. The system works on a central database. All outputs generated while
running the program are also sorted in the central database until they are needed
either for printing or viewing.

Normally, the program to suit the needs of the user will generate reports. And
besides, the system has been designed to work on a multi-user to en-corporate time
sharing facility.

(See Appendix for flowchart)

4.4 Programming Language Used

A program is a set of instruction that enables the computer system to function. A
program implies a degree of completeness that is source code program comprises
all statement and files necessary for complete interpretation or compilation and an
executable program can be loaded into a given environment and executed

21
independently of mother programs. The process of creating these instructions is
called the out of programming.

4.5 System Implementation

To implement means to effect or carryout, this stage involves implementing the
entire system on the database system and obtaining acceptance from its user. To
achieve this, the system users have to be actively involved right from beginning of
the project (developing or designing of the new database) to ensure a smooth
implementation. Also, training of end user is essential for effective user of the
database system in order to gain benefits from it. Implementation process usually
takes much time than anticipated and should not be pushed too hard on the users. It
requires a great deal of patience and perseverance to gradually and carefully
implement the new system, as it would definitely change the work styles of many
people in the institution. Based on this, the program implementation will assume
the following shape:-

 Change over procedures

 Staff training and recruiting
 Location and installation
4.5.1 System Testing
The system was tested during debugging in the application development
environment using test data. Many parts of the application as well as the variable
are modules, which make up the system well traced and implemented.

4.5.2 System Deployment/Training

For proper implementation and effective use of the database system, training and
recruiting of staff to manage the system is very necessary. All staff must be at least
computer literate, thus, conducting seminars and other tutorials to educate them on
the importance and how to make use of the new system (database).

22
4.6 Program Structure
The program structure is a step that must follow the design of the output. The
success of any system development depends more on the design and file output.
This is because the coding of the program is done on the design inputs. The
program for this system will thus be:

 Splash screen with messages

 Main form
 User ID and password.
The keyboard and the mouse are the basic input device used; the storage media
used for processing are validated and verified before they are allowed. This input
procedures designed as a part of the new system will improve the quality of the
output.

4.6.1 Change over Procedure

There are three ways of changing over to a new system; they include

 Direct change over

 Parallel change over
 Pilot change over
4.6.2 Direct Change Over
In this method of change over, the new system is used alone; no reference is made
to any particular system. It involves the introduction of completely new system.
The condition for this new system exist when there is no similarity between the
existing and proposed system, also when there is slack of work and the analyst
must be confident that the system must work.

23
4.6.3 Parallel Change Over
Here, the old and new systems are run concurrently using the same inputs. The
outputs are compared and reason for differences resolved until new system has
been proved satisfactory. At this point, the old system is discontinued and the new
system takes its place.

4.6.4 Pilot Change Over

This involves the changing over of parts or small portions of the system, either in
parallel or directly.

4.6.5 Recommended Mode of Change Over

Having considered the various methods of change over, the author recommends
that the parallel change over is used for implementing the new system. This is
because; the method will give the management the time and facility of fully testing
the new system while still retaining the existing system.

4.6.6 Location and Installation

The computer system should be located in a separate room and other equipment
that will result to effective and efficient processing should be made available in the
room. Such equipment includes;

 Ups (uninterruptible power supply)

 Air conditioner
 Tiles and curtains
 Dehumidifying equipment like water sensor
 Fire prevention equipment like fire extinguisher
 And proper ventilation system to dissipate heat and discourage dust.

24
4.6.7 Maintenance
Once the implementation process is complete and the system is operational, there
is a tendency to have a sign of relief but it is importance to follow up
implementation with an evaluation process to ensure that the original objectives are
being reached. Thus, program evaluation is defined as a detailed measure of
performance against standard, which form a basis of comprise. On the other hand,
program maintenance has to do with maintaining the system to ensure that the
necessary subsystems are functioning and this may lead to at times possible
updates to the database program. Attention should be given to various aspects like
the user and the kind of work that will be done. Finally, time productivity and cost
may be some criteria that will serve as standard of measuring the data base
performance (new system).

4.6.8 Program Documentation

Documentation is very important in the development of any software or any
system. This is because documentation makes the system to be open to all users,
and if it is not well documented it becomes difficult in its usage. That is why the
system documentation has to be included in the specification document of the
systems.
In making use of the system, the user who wishes to carryout any operations has to
first boot on the system. And before using the software, he/she has to make sure
that the software is properly installed in the system. The user can follow these
steps:

 Insert the CD containing the software and then.

 Install the application
 Go to start button below on the desktop,
25
 Go to all programs and then click on Attendance system
The software is developed in such a way that anybody, whether with the
knowledge of computer or not, he/she can access it. Meaning that the software is
user friendly and is developed in such an interactive manner that any individual
can run it.

26
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The manual attendance system average execution time for eighty (80) students is
approximately 30 minutes as against 10 minutes for this attendance management
system using fingerprint identification. Reports generation for the attendance
system takes approximately 30s. From the research carried out, it can be seen that
the automatic attendance management system using fingerprint authentication is
better and faster than the use sheets of paper.

5.2 CONCLUSION
The system successfully took the attendance both at lectures and examinations.
The prototype successfully captured new fingerprints to be stored in the database;
scanned fingerprints placed on the device sensor and compared them against those
stored in the database successfully. The performance of the system was acceptable
and would be considered for full implementation especially because of its short
execution time and reports generation. Everyone who tested the system was
pleased and interested in the product being developed for use in schools.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION
The following suggestions should be considered in carrying out further work on
this study:
 The system can be linked with the school’s central database so that the
student registration phase can be eliminated and the bio-data can be directly
from the database.
 The university should acquire the fingerprints of all students at admission.

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 The components could be chosen and assembled in a commercialized
manner: instead of a stand-alone fingerprint scanner and a laptop, the unit
could have the fingerprint scanner, a small LCD screen and a keypad all
attached to the wall of each classroom.
 The system could be modified into a web based system so that reports could
be generated anywhere
 The system could be adapted for human resource use i.e. attendance,
pension, payroll processing, etc.

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 REFERENCES

Ashbaugh, D. R. (1999).Quantitative-Qualitative Friction Ridge Analysis: An

Introduction to Basic and Advanced Ridgeology; CRC Press: Boca Raton,
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Anil, K. & Arun, R. (2004) “An Introduction to Biometric Recognition” IEEE
Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Special Issue
on Image- and Video-Based Biometrics.
Bolle, R., & Connell, J. (2003) Guide to Biometrics, Springer.
Cheng, K., L. & Ushijimaa, K. (2005). “Effective Teaching for Large Classes with
Rental PCs by Web System WTS”. Pro. Data Engineering 1D – d3 (in
Japanese)
Maltoni D, & Prabhakar, S. (2004).Handbook of Fingerprint Recognition,
Springer.
Kadry, S. & Smaili, M. (2010). “Wireless Attendance Management System Based
on Iris Recognition”.
Olsen, R. D. (1972). “The chemical composition of palmar sweat”. Fingerprint
and identification magazine.
Pankanti, S., & Jain. A. K. (2002). “On the Individuality of Fingerprints”. IEEE
Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.
Shoewu, O, & Lawson, A. (2011). “Embedded Computer-Based Lecture
Attendance Management System”. African Journal of Computing and ICT
(Journal of IEEE Nigeria Computer Section). 4(3):27 – 36

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Shoewu, O. (2006). “Radio Frequency Identification Technology: Development,
Application and Security Issues”. Pacific Journal of Science and
Technology.

Flowchart

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