International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)

Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

Tracking Students Attendance Using a Mobile based

System
Idoko Nnamdi. A1, Ihedioha Uchechi. M2, Onyedeke Obinna C3, Ezema Modesta4, Uzo Blessing Chimezie5, Juliet
Ugbama6
1,5
Department of Computer Science, Renaissance University, Nigeria
2,4,6
Department of Computer Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
3
Department of Computer Science University of Kairouan, Tunisia

Abstract: - Student attendance is a crucial content of the The work is aimed at design and implementing a mobile based
administration of any tertiary institution as many results to android for student recording present and absent student. The
truancy afterwards. There is nothing wrong with the traditional application is implemented using the android mobile
way of manual tracing of student attendance in the classroom framework. The following are the objectives of the new
but technology can get it better.
system: Create an android based attendance system for student
Since Smartphone are now a very common tool or gadget. This attendance record keeping in class using android framework,
process becomes tidier since all the teachers and students can get provide analytical computation of attendance per course,
access easily and take attendance. The method of this attendance determine numbers of times student attend/present in a course
is based on many to many matching, the matching results are so lectures, the departments are represented in the attendance
good that it could perform very well on large databases. Mobile
management. Conventional systems cannot fit into the
application is to be used for documenting student attendance
record to avoid missing paper sheet for attendance: technological world which we are into. The traditional system
waste time and inaccuracy.
Keywords: Mobile based system, Attendance System, Class
Attendance, Students tracking The work contribute to ICT body by making attendance
system to be easier for both student and lecturer. The system
I. INTRODUCTION or platform has motivational purpose for which it formed a

T he mobile computing and mobile based application project work. The project work is determinist to eradicate the
processing are being popular in all environments and it is system of paper and pen method of taking attendance due the
not exceptional to academic institution too [1]. The failures attached to the platform. It was a motivation from the
conventional and traditional mode of attendance management failure of the existing system.
system (AMS) leads lot of paper work and it is hard to II. RELATED LITERATURE
maintain for a long period of time. Due to the nature of
manual work, it is hard to perform the activities related to the A review of related literature (RRL) is a detailed review of
management of attendance, when there is a need in taking existing literature related to the topic of a thesis or
reports of specific interest and there is a chance of committing dissertation. In an RRL, you talk about knowledge and
error in recording the data and information on the records. findings from existing literature relevant to your topic. When
writing the review, begin by providing the background and
The computerized automation of academic attendance purpose of the review.
management system is available in the form of personal
computer based application and available in various [5] In this development, the traditional mode of manual
computing platforms [2][3]. The various topology equipped, attendance management, is replaced with PC application
PC based management applications are running efficient and based and mobile app based activities. As for PC and mobile
effective manner in many institutions and are being in the the platform of operating system is planned as Android OS.
category of either internet based applications or intranet based The mobile based platform of android OS is available on the
applications [4]. market for smart phones. The application for the smartphone
development is supported by Google with various range of
Attendance as a system used for knowing a record of students API’s in the name of Android Development Tool (ADT). The
present and absent in a class room. The following are the developer will have full privilege over the developed
issues attached to the existing system; it lack real time pattern application and can be distributed as open source product to
of attendance, it waste time and most of the time confusion the market for further development [6]. The android
attendance management, due to human error, it does provide applications are termed as simply “Android Apps”. Android
better analysis of the attendance OS is available in the name of “Android-x86 - Porting
Android to x86”, which can be installed (ported) in a PC (x86

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

alone and not for 64 bit processor) [7]. This gives the
advantage of working with Android OS even from PC.
[8] Developed a system for the student’s attendance
automation. In this system, each students have an ID assigning
a barcode which is read by the smartphone application. In this
system, one students can carry the ID of the others which will
mislead the attendance system.
The conventional automation is very essential, when the
existing system is analyzed and designed toward complete
automation. The conventional mode of development provides
the users, to experience the previous mode of operations, even
it is now available with complete automation. The
heterogeneous computing deals with this project in the
manner of combining the computing’s of mobile and PC
based together to provide basis of computing for this
application
In order to enhance attendance tracking framework, scholars
chipped away at the change from the alternate point of view.
Zhang et al. [9] is with the assessment that attendance
administration is overlooked by current instructive
organization administration framework, concentrating just on
record administration, training design, course administration,
Figure 2.1 Android Core [source [13]]
and so on thus they established attendance administration
framework utilizing VisualStudio.NET and Oracle. Mohamed 2.1 Design of AAMS
et al. [10] outlined a unique finger impression gadget that is
The design of AAMS is having two categories of plan in it.
utilized as a part of unique finger impression attendance
The first plan is based on technical aspects and includes client
framework. The students check their essence by putting their
/ server computing architecture, medium of communication
finger on the gadgets sensor. But this framework has a lack of
feasibility because finger print scanner can’t always detect at
the first time. The NFC-based applications rearrange different
human everyday exercises by just touching a thing settled or
coordinated with NFC tag. For example, Smart Touch is one
of the early NFC ventures that spotlights on NFC innovation
which was composed by VTT Technical Research Centre
Finland; applications in different zones were produced under
this venture, for example, mobile compensation and ticketing,
savvy publication, attendance framework for schools, home
utilize, family unit get to control and security, blood glucose
meter, and so forth [11]. In [12], a robotized attendance
administration framework was executed both in electronic and
portable stage utilizing stationary grid AR 400 RFID reader
with four circulatory polarized antennae and Symbol
MC9000-G hand held RFID reader separately. But the system
Figure 2.2a Web and Database Server Module [source [14 ]
is highly expensive. Soewito et al. [13] proposed an
attendance system using finger print and GPS technology The web server we use throughout this book is the Apache
through smartphone. The system is time-consuming as it used Software Foundation’s Apache HTTP server, the open source
finger print technology. The system is able to collect data but web server used by more than 60% of Internet connected
can’t generate .pdf or .xlsx file. Noor et al. computers.[2]
We use the PHP scripting language as our middle-tier
scripting language.[1] PHP is particularly suited to web
database applications because of its integration tools for the
Web and database environments. In particular, the flexibility
of embedding scripts in HTML pages permits easy integration

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

with the client tier. The database-tier integration support is the respective field. Suppose the wrong inputs are entered, the
also excellent, with more than 15 libraries available to interact application resist to work. The user actually have difficult to
with almost all popular database management systems. use. The existing system cannot fit into this technology or
digital world based on the size of student population with the
university world of departmental lectures.
3.2 Analysis of Proposed system
To overcome the drawbacks of the existing system, the
proposed system has been evolved. This project aims to
reduce the paper work and saving time to generate accurate
results from the student’s attendance. The system provides
with the best user interface. The efficient reports can be
generated by using this proposed system. The mobile
application is to be used for documenting student attendance
record to avoid missing paper sheet for attendance. The
following are the advantages of the newly proposed system.
3.2.1 Advantages of Proposed System
The proposed system is to remove or reduce the problems
associated with the existing system that liken ti its failure to
Figure 2.2b AAMS based on Technological Plan.
improve on. The following are the advantages;
The AAMS is mainly designed, developed and implemented
in any institution, for needful effective decision making by the 1. It is trouble-free to use.
management users. The users of the system is defined, and 2. It is a relatively fast approach to enter attendance
their role on the system access and the restrictions on the user 3. Is highly reliable, approximate result from user
accesses are defined. The exceptional management details of 4. Best user Interface and efficient reports
the institution for academic management is structured and The system is educational institution activities to keep record
focused at the time of development [8]. of students present and absent in lecture hall. Time and
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY attendance systems (TNA) are used to track and monitor when
student enter the class. A time and attendance system enables
Every research work makes choice of method demand is a lecturer to monitor their student present or absent, early
based on the distinction between qualitative and quantitative arrival, time taken on breaks and absenteeism. TNA systems
data. As mentioned previously, qualitative data takes the form can also be used to ensure compliance with student
of descriptions based on language or images, while regulations regarding proof of attendance.
quantitative data takes the form of numbers. Qualitative data
is richer and is generally grounded in a subjective and 3.3 Primary Unit of Administration
interpretive perspective. However, while this is generally the The primary unit of administration, this describe where this
case, it is not always so. Qualitative research supports an in- project work is applicable. The mobile attendance system is
depth understanding of the situation investigated and, due to an application run on the mobile phone to conduct student
time constraints, it generally involves a small sample of attendance to determine the numbers of time student are
participants. For this reason the findings are limited to the available in the lecture hall or class room.
sample studied and cannot be generalized to other contexts or
to the wider population. Popular methods based on qualitative 3.4 Use case Diagram:
data include semi-structured or unstructured interviews, A use case diagram in the Unified Modeling Language (UML)
participant observations and document analysis. Qualitative is a type of behavioral diagram defined by and created from a
analysis is generally more time-consuming than quantitative Use-case analysis. Its purpose is to present a graphical
analysis. overview of the functionality provided by a system in terms of
3.1 Analysis of the Existing System actors, their goals (represented as use cases), and any
dependencies between those use cases. The main purpose of a
The Existing system is a manual entry for the students. Here use case diagram is to show what system functions are
the attendance will be carried out in the hand-written registers. performed for which actor. Roles of the actors in the system
It will be a tedious job to maintain the record for the user. The can be depicted
human effort is more here. The retrieval of the information is
not as easy as the records are maintained in the hand written
registers. This application requires correct feed on input into

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

Figure 4.1 Front-end

4.1 Input Design

The input design, usually are form with description of fields.
The designed is implemented using a Microsoft office.
Figure 3.1 Use Case Diagram mobile Attendance system

The use case diagram are usually referred to as behavior The input design format of the system is user friendly. Input
format is basically concerned on how data is being fed into the
diagram used to describe the actions of all user in a system.
system. They refer to files that could be updated, the input
All user describe in use case are actors and the functionality as
data, how the input data gets into the system and the medium
action of system. The Use case diagram is a collection of
in which they get in. The user enters the data using input
diagram and text together that make action on goal of a
process. devices as a medium.

3.5 Problem of the Existing System 4.2 Process Design

Project work reveal the issues associated with the existing

system. This is due inefficiency, ineffectiveness of the
existing system to be confirmed to the modern day
technology.
IV. SYSTEM DESIGN
The work and implementation was carried out using the
android studio framework. The system is a mobile based
platform designed for mobile student attendance system with
student registration activity, attendance activity, course
activity etc. The student register to the system by presenting
the following details; name, course and semester. The adding
new course is another module with the sole aim to add new
course per semester and a lot more seen in the software. Figure 4.2 Proposed System Process Design

Every box represent and object in the software development

and implementation. The administrator on the backend
implements a the following activities;

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

1. Add new Course The system flow diagrammatically, explain the structural flow
2. View Attendance of operation the entire system organization. Every users most
3. Add new student. have access by login into this account to make attendance
relative to the course in question.
This is the simplest pattern and process of the system design
to suite the entire system development. 4.4 Output Design
4.3 System Data Flow Diagram (DFD) A Design Output is a drawing or specification or
manufacturing instruction. Design Outputs describe all the
A data-flow diagram is a way of representing a flow of a data
components, parts, and pieces that go into your medical
of a process or a system. The DFD also provides information
device. Design Outputs describe all assemblies and sub-
about the outputs and inputs of each entity and the process
assemblies of your product. The design is done using the
itself. The proposed system is designed to assist the product
Microsoft office.
seller to advertise the product and to check how the project are
effective the market. Every object/function has its symbols to
represent an entity.
A data flow diagram shows the way information flows
through a process or system. It includes data inputs and
outputs, data stores, and the various sub processes the data
moves through. DFDs are built using standardized symbols
and notation to describe various entities and their
relationships.
Data flow diagrams visually represent systems and processes
that would be hard to describe in a chunk of text. You can use
these diagrams to map out an existing system and make it
better or to plan out a new system for implementation.
Visualizing each element makes it easy to identify
inefficiencies and produce the best possible system.

Figure 4.4 Attendance Output

The student by entering the registration number and click find

to determine the number of time the student have attended the
course.
4.5 Database Design
Database design is the organization of data according to a
database model. The designer determines what data must be
stored and how the data elements interrelate. With this
information, they can begin to fit the data to the database
model. According to Teorey, Lightstone (2009). Database
design involves classifying data and identifying
interrelationships. This theoretical representation of the data is
called an ontology. The ontology is the theory behind the
database's design.

Figure 4.3 Data Flow Diagram of the proposed system

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

4.6 Database Design and Functionalities

The database of the system has been designed to meet the
following functional requirements:
Ability to accept user’s input/data for registration.
Data such as student name, regno, attendance etc are required
for both student registration and attendance.
4.7 Program Design
Software design is the process by which an agent creates a
specification of a software artifact, intended to accomplish
goals, using a set of primitive components and subject to
constraints. According to Ralph and Wand (2009). This
includes both a low-level component and algorithm design
and a high-level, architecture design.

Figure 4.5 O level Context Diagram

The student start the application on its mobile phone select

options and begin to add names and finally take attendance.
Algorithm

The database Physical Structure table below provides the

exact physical structure of the database, with the tables, data
type and the length of the data type.
Table 4.1 Physical Structure of the New System Database

V. RECOMMENDATION
The work mobile attendance system is target to making an
existing conventional system to upgrade from the traditional
methodological pattern of operation to a more enhanced
system that make attendance system to be convenient for both
the student and teachers.
It is recommended for every educational institute for student
attendance record.

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

5.1 Conclusion
The entire work is shortened with narrative of implementation
and strategy of the scheme. The choice of framework is the
android studio framework used for implementation the mobile
based student attendance. The App testing was on emulator
(Android Virtual Device) or actual mobile phone
consecutively on android operating system. The student name,
Regno., department and course. Additional module for adding
course by semesters. The courses are as well added to be
visible by the student. And finally, the student presence is
taken relative to the current course of lecture.
APPENDIX I (PROGRAM OUTPUT)

Add New Schedule

Initial Activity

Computer Science Courses (Semesters)

Added Activity Scheduling

List of Courses

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 International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science (IJLTEMAS)
Volume IX, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2278-2540

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