UNIVERSITITEKNOLOGI MARA

CLASS ATTENDANCE SIGNING SYSTEM USING STUDENTS' SMART CARD (BARCODE)

WAN AZLENA WAN MOHAMAD

BSe (HONS) COMPUTER SCIENCE FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND QUANTITATIVE

SCIENCE

31"'MAY 2007

CLASS ATTENDANCE SIGNING SYSTEM USING STUDENTS' SMART CARD (BARCODE)

By

WAN AZLENA WAN MOHAMAD

(2005614753)

A project paper submitted to

FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

AND QUANTITATIVE SCIENCES MARA

UNIVERSITITEKNOLOGI MARA

In partial fulfilment of requirement for the

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (Hons) IN

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Major Area: Computer Science

Approved by the Examining Committee:

Azizi Ngah Tasir (PM) Project Supervisor

Naimah (PM Dr.) Coordinator

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

DECLARATION

Here is to declare that I am responsible for the work submitted in this

project with all the word, facts and relevant printed material are fully under

my own except several finding as specified in the references that each of

their sources has been stated.

4* APRIL 2007 WAN AZLENA WAN MOHAMAD

(2005614753)

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the name of Allah s.w.t the Most Merciful and Most Gracious.

Praise to Allah the Mighty for showering me a good experience throughout this

final project proposal and for all that has bestowed on me. It is with His ascendancy the

project paper completed.

My heartiest gratitude and gratefulness to Professor Madya Azizi Ngah Tasir,

my project supervisor for his valuable information, advice, comments and

encouragements from the beginning until the completion of this final project proposal.

His guidance and v dse supervision has benefited me greatly. I also would like to

address my deepest appreciation and sincere thanks to Dr. Naimah Mohd Hussin for her

guidance, ideas and tolerance towards this final project proposal.

Last but not least, a special dedication to all my Mends for their support, help

and ideas. This final project proposal have gives us opportunity^ to learn and gain

experience.

II)

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

ABSTRACT

As the world has moving towards the technology era, all of the universities and

industries have started to upgrade their performance using computer and technology.

University Technology Mara (UiTM) is one of the universities that are moving towards

technology era by implementing^ the electronic system management to replace the

traditional method of UiTM system management.

Nowadays, as system management is being delivered through computer, software

and application, the usage of barcode are common in system management in

universities or industries, hi UiTM, the usage of barcode is ah-eady implementing in

cafe and library system management.

Networking has grown tremendously over the past several years all over the

world. Networking support structured connection between computers which are found

more effective and efficient in managing a system. In UiTM, Fakulti Teknologi

Maklumat dan Sains Kuantitatif (FTMSK) has a network: called Local Area Network:

(LAN) which provides connection between computers v dthin FTMSK. This project

implement client-server network which connects two computers through a cable, one

computer works as client and the other works as server.

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE i

DECLARATION ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF FIGURES ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1

2

2

S

3

4

4

4

5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Advantages of using smart card to fill in class attendance 7

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

Introduction

Project aim

Project background

Problem description

Project objective

Project scope

Project significance

1.7.1 Significance to lecturer

1.7.2 Significance to students

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

2.3 The feature of smart card to fill in class attendance 8

2.4 The application of the bar code on smart card to fill m class attendance 9

2.5 The usage of the bar code reader to implement class attendance signing

system l&

2.6 The related issues between barcode and class attendance signing system 12

2.7 The usage of PHF language in developing^ the class attendance signing^

system 13

2.8 Implementing client-server network in class-attendance signing system 15

2.9 Conclusion 17

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 18

3.2 Research approach and methodology 18

3.2.1 Data collection 20

3.2.2 Data analysis 2a

3.2.3 Project design 21

3.2.4 Project implementation 21

3.2.5 Testing and evaluation 22

3.2.6 Projectmodel 23

3.3 Summary 24

CHAPTER 4 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 Introduction 25

4.2 Requirements checklist 26

4.3 Data flow diagram 27

4.3 .1 Context diagram dfd 27

4.3.1.1 Context diagram's explanation 28

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

4.3.2 Diagram Odfd 29

4.3.2.1 dfd's^levelO explanation 30

4.4 Data design 30

4.4. t Normalization 3t

4.4.1.1 INF 31

4.4.1.2 2NF 31

4.4.1.3 3NF 32

4.4.2 Database relationship 33

4.4.3 Entity relationship diagram 33

4.4.3.1 Relationship diagram explanation 3 5

4.5 Flow chart 35

4.5.1 Flow chart explanation 36

4.6 Object modelling 37

4.6.1 Use case diagram 37

4.6.2 Sequence diagram 39

4.6.2.} Frit in class attendance 39

4.6.2.2 View attendance percentage 40

4.6.2.3 Edit class attendance 40

4.6.2.4 View complete report 41

4.6.2.5 Maintain system information 42

4.6.2.6 Enhance system 42

4.6.2.7 EditDatabase 43

4.7 Application architecture 44

4.8 Summary 46

CHAPTER 5 TESTING AND RESULT ANALYSIS

5.1 Introduction 47

5.2 The client-server network 47

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

5.3 The barcode reader implementation 49

5.4 Functionalities of class attendance signing^ system for students 51

5.5 Functionalities of class attendance signing system for lecturer 57

5.6 Functionalities of class attendance signing^ system for administrator 74

5.7 Testing result 117

5.7.1 Students feedback and acceptance towards the system 118

5.7.1.1 Effectiveness 118

5.7. f.2 Ease of use 121

5.7.1.3 Efficiency 123

5.7.2 Lecturers feedback and acceptance towards the system 124

5.7.2.1 Effectiveness 125

5.7.2.2 Ease of use 126

5.7.2.3 Efficiency 129

5.7.3 Comparison between students' attendance report m manual

class attendance signing system and computerized class

attendance signing: system 13 }

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1 Benefits of the system 138

6.2 Weaknesses of the system 139

6.3 Future work 140

LIST OF REFERENCES 141

APPENDICES 145

Students' questionnaires

Lecturers' questionnaires

User manual of class attendance signing system

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

2.1 Client-server network diagram 16

3.1 Research approach and Methodology 19

3.2 Project Model 23

4.1 Context Diagram DFD for Class Attendance Signing System 27

4.2 Diagram 0 DFD for Class Attendance Signing System 29

4.3 Class attendance sigmng system database relationship 33

4.4 Class attendance signing system database relationship Entity Relationship

Diagram (ERD) 34

4.5 Class attendance signing system Flow Chart 36

4.6 Use case diagram of Class Attendance Signing System 38

4.7 Sequence diagram of fill in class attendance Research Model 39

4.8: Sequence diagram ofview attendance percentage 40

4.9 Sequence diagram of edit class attendance 40

4.10 Sequence diagram of view complete report 41

4.11 Sequence diagram of maintain system information 42

4.12 Sequence diagram of enhance system 42

4.13 Sequence diagram of maintain system information 43

4.14 Class Attendance Signing System Architecture 45

5.1 The network of client server implemented by class attendance signing

System 48

5.2 Address to access the class attendance signing system through client-server

network 49

5.3 The barcode reader used in class attendance signing system 50

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

5.4: The barcode on the students' smart card that will be read by the barcode

reader 50

5.5 The login page of class attendance signing system for students 51

5.6 The main page of class attendance signing system for students 52

5.7 The page for students to fill in class attendance 53

5.8 The page for students to view the student's class attendance current

percentage 54

5.9 The page when students enter incorrect student I.D 55

5.10 The page that shows the student's attendance percentage 56

5.11 The page that views the class date 57

5.12 The login page of class attendance signing system for lecturer 58

5.13 The main page of class attendance signing system for lecturer 59

5.14 The page to edit class attendance 60

5.15 The page when class attendance status is not completed 61

5.16 The page to view the attendance record of the selected date 62

5.17 The page to edit the student's attendance status 63

5.18 The page that views the class date 64

5.19 The report page to views the class attendance report by date 65

5.20 The page when class attendance status is not completed 66

5.21 The page that view the students' class attendance report of the selected

date 67

5.22 The page to print the class attendance report of the selected date 68

5.23 The page to view class attendance report by student 69

5.24 The page that view the class attendance report by student 70

5.25 The page to print the class attendance report by student 71

5.26 The page to view the students' class attendance current percentage 72

5.27 The page that views the students' class attendance final percentage 73

5.28 The page that allow lecturer to change the lecturer's usemame or

password 74

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

5.29 The login page of class attendance signing system for administrator 75

5.30 The main page of class attendance signing system for administrator 76

5.31 The page to views the students' attendance data by date 77

5.32 The page that shows the list of students' attendance of the selected date 78

5.33 The page that allows the administrator to insert students' attendance data 79

5.34 The page that shows the list of class attendance data 80

5.35 The page that allows the administrator to insert class attendance data 81

5.36 The page that shows the list of students' attendance percentage data 82

5.37 The page that allows the administrator to insert attendance percentage data 83

5.38 The page that allows the administrator to insert login data 84

5.39 The page that allows the administrator to insert students' login data 85

5.40 The page that allows the administrator to insert lecturer's login data 86

5.41 The page that allows the administrator to insert administrator's login data 87

5.42 The page that allows the administrator to edit students' attendance data 88

5.43 The page when class attendance status is not completed 89

5.44 The page to view the attendance record of the selected date 90

5.45 The page to edit the student's attendance data 91

5.46 The page that allows the administrator to edit class attendance data 92

5.47 The page to edit the student's attendance data 93

5.48 The page to edit the attendance percentage data 94

5.49 The page that allows the administrator to edit attendance percentage data 95

5.50 The page that allows the administrator to edit login data 96

5.51 The page that views the list of students' login data which can be edited 97

5.52 The page that allows the administrator to edit students' login data 98

5.53 The page that views the list of lecturers' login data which can be edited 99

5.54 The page that allows the administrator to edit lecturers' login data 100

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

5.55 The page that views the list of administrators' login data which can be

edited 101

5.56 The page that allows the administrator to edit lecturers' login data 102

5.57 The page that allows the administrator to delete students' attendance data 103

5.58 The page when class attendance status is not completed 104

5.59 The page to delete students' class attendance data on selected date 105

5.60 The page that allows the administrator to delete class attendance data 106

5.61 The page to delete the class attendance data on the selected date 107

5.62 The page that allows the administrator to delete attendance percentage data 108

5.63 The page to delete the final attendance percentage on selected student 109

5.64 The page that allows the administrator to delete login data 110

5.65 The page that views the list of students' login data which can be deleted 111

5.66 The page to delete the login data on selected student's login 112

5.67 The page that views the list of lecturers' login data which can be deleted 113

5.68 The page to delete the login data on selected lecturer's login 114

5.69 The page that views the list of administrators' login data which can be

deleted 115

5.70 The page to delete the login data on selected administrators' login 116

5.71 The page that allow administrator to change the administrator's usemame or

password 117

5.72 Effectiveness - Number of students manage to fill in the class attendance in

class attendance signing system using barcode reader 119

5.73 Effectiveness - Helps to keep track students' attendance by viewing students'

attendance current percentage 120

5.74 Effectiveness - Not easy to forge Mend's signature compared to manual class

attendance system 121

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

5.75 Ease of Use - Barcode reader helps the students to fill in the class attendance

into the class attendance signing system 122

5.76 Ease of Use - Helps students to view the class date 123

5.77 Efficiency - More efficient to have computerized class attendance signing

system rather than manual signing system 124

5.78 Effectiveness - Managed to view a standardized students' attendance

report 125

5.79 Effectiveness - Helps detect students whose current attendance percentage

is low 126

5.80 Ease of Use - Easier to edit students' attendance record 127

5.81 Ease of Use - Helps lecturers to view the class date 128

5.82 Ease ofUse-Easier the lecturers to retrieve the class attendance signing 129

5.83 Efficiency - helps the lecturers to keep students' attendance data efficiently

compared to manual attendance system system through client-server

network. 130

5.84 Efficiency - More efficient to have computerized class attendance signing

system rather than manual class attendance signing system 131

5.85 Students' attendance report in manual class attendance signing system 132

5.86 Printed students' attendance report by date in computerized class attendance

signing system 134

5.87 Printed students' attendance report by student in computerized class

attendance signing system 135

5.88 Printed students' final class attendance percentage in computerized class

attendance signing system 137

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This project is about the class attendance signing system using students'

smart card. The existing manual class attendance signing system is inefficient and not

systematic. The existing manual class attendance signing system needs students to take

time to sign the attendance sheet during class. It also affecting the efficiency of lecturers

where lecturers have to calculate the students' attendance percentage throughout the

semester and come out with their own, not standardize students' attendance report. The

purpose of this project is to gather students' class attendance by using students' smart

card. The other purpose is to give options for lecturers to calculate the students'

attendance percentage and to view the attendance report.

The development of this project uses System Development Life Cycle

Approach (SDLC) approach. The reason of using SDLC approach is because an

alternative model of the SDLC focuses on the interaction of planning, analysis, and

design tasks, which leads to implementation, followed by operation and support. The

class attendance signing system includes the implementation of the barcode. The project

development involves wide research on the usage of the barcode reader to implement

the barcode on the students' smart card for students' identification. At the end, this

project allows students to easily touch their smart card to barcode reader in order to fill

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

in the class attendance. This project also allows the lecturers to get the calculation of the

class attendance and view the attendance report throughout the semester.

1.2 PROJECT AIM

The aim of this project is to develop a class attendance signing system that

will improve the management of class attendance in FTMSK.

13 PROJECT BACKGROUND

This electronic system management is about the class attendance signing

system that read the barcode on the students' smart card. The existing manual

class attendance signing system for subject Project Formulation (CSC633) is

inefficient for both lecturer and students . Lecturers need to calculate the students'

attendance percentage throughout the semester manually and come out with their

own, not standardize students' attendance report while students have to sign the

attendance sheet during lecture which will disturbs their concentration of learning.

Therefore, the development of class attendance signing system gives

many benefits to both lecturer and students. This system allows students to easily

touch their smart card on the barcode reader in order to fill in the class attendance.

Students can also view their attendanee percentage by date t& control their

attendance reputation. This project allows lecturers to get the calculation of the

student class attendance percentage and view the attendance report throughout the

semester.

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

Basically, this system v U be implementing in Local Area Network

(LAN) in FTMSK. LAN allows lecturer to access the mformation of the student

attendance through the lecturer's personal computer in the lecturer's room and at

the same time print out the class attendance report for record, hi this project, LAN

will be implementing in the networking of client server (involve only two personal

computer) fortesting;

1.4 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

The problem description of this project is the existing manual class

attendance signing system for subject Project Formulation (CSC633) is inefficient

and not systematic. The existing manual class attendance signing system needs

students improperly^ sign the attendance sheet during class. The lecturer has to

keep all attendance sheets and calculate the attendance report throughout the

semester manually and come out with their own, not standardize students'

attendance report. In the manual system, students can easily forge their firiends'

signature purposely to fill in the class attendance.

1.5 PROJECT OBJECTIVE

One of the objectives of this project is to gather students' class attendance

bousing students' smart card. The other objective is to allow lecturers to get the

calculation of the students' attendance percentage throughout the semester and

view the standardize attendance report The other objective is to control students'

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

signature forge in filling the class attendance. The last objective is to allow

lecturer to easily access the information of the class attendance through network.

1.6 PROJECT SCOPE

The scope for this project is to gather UiTM students' attendance by

using students' smart card for alt classes the students take throughout the

semester. The testing for this project will be do on a smaller scope which involve

only Bachelor in Computer Science students (CSe230) for a specific subject

which is Project Fomulation (CSC633).

1.7 PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE

This project gives significance to both lecturer and students of subject

Project Formulation (ese 633).

1.7.1 Significance to Lecturer

Lecturers are able to get the calculation of the class attendance percentage,

to easily access the information of tiie class attendance and to view the standardize

attendance report throughout the semester.

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

1.7.2 Significance to Students

Students able to fill in the class attendance by only touch their smart card

on the smart card reader, which is more efficient and can view their attendance

percentage which will motivate them to control their class attendance reputation.

1.8 SUMMARY

Chapter one is an introduction chapter, which explains clearly about the

development of this project. This chapter includes the project background which

shortly explains the project description. This chapter also includes the problem

description which simply explains the problem of the existing system that

becomes the main point of the idea of this project. Chapter one also includes the

objective and the scope of the project. The project significance in chapter one is

based on both lecturer and students. The main purpose of this chapter is to show

the main idea about what this project is all about

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

CHAPTER!

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Smart cards are programmed to perform tasks and store information. Smart

cards currently^ are used in telephone, transportation, banking, and heahhcare

transactions. Smart card can store lots of mformation and can perform multiple

ftmctions in a wide range of industries. A recent study found that 27% of smart card

applications were within banking, 18% wdthin health and welfare and 15% within

transport (Rogerson, p.t).

In UiTM, smart cards are aheady implemented and are gainmg popularity

among the UiTM communities. UiTM communities get many advantages by the

usage of the smart card in system management. Currently, smart card is use as an id

card and as an ATM bank card in UiTM. This project is going to level up the usage

of the smart card in UiTM by usmg smart card to fill in class attendance. The

barcode on the students' smart card will be implementing^ in this project: Nowadays,

barcode is fi-equently used in almost all industrial branches whenever an information

needs to be read automatically (Jorg et ah, 1999,pp.3). This literature review will

focus on the advantages of using smart card to fill in class attendance, the feature of

smart card, the application of bar code on smartcard, the usage of barcode reader to

implement class attendance signing system, the related issues between barcode and

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

class attendance signing system and the usage of PHP language in developing the

class attendance signing^system.

2.2 ADVANTAGES OF USING SMART CARD TO FILL IN CLASS

ATTENDANCE

Smart card generally, gives lots of advantages to the user. For this project, the

researcher will explore the advantages of using smart card to fill in class attendance.

One of the advantages is using smart card will easier the students to fill in the class

attendance. The time constraint of using smart card to fill in class attendance is

small compared to the existing manual system which use attendance sheet. This is

because smart card allows the system to get students' identification efficiently; The

main improvement is the possibility to process the information directly on the card

(Flandre et al, p.2).

Other advantages is each student can use smart card securely because the

unique identification that the smart card provide. Smart cards can of course retain a

huge amount of information compared to the magnetic strip cards, but they can also

manage this information much more securely, using authentication and user

identification procedures (Flandre et al, p.2).

Other advantage is using smart card in signature system can tackle student

to attend to class. This is because the students know that the system can easily detect

those students who regularly attend the class. The students can also view their class

attendance percentage which will motivate them to control their attendance

reputation.

Usage of smart card gives advantages to the lecturer because the smart card

will directly input the information of student attendance to the system. The lecturers

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

do not have to carry the attendance sheet every class time and filing the attendance

sheet manually which is not efficient Smart cards can improve access to services

for the disabled and elderly (Rogerson, p.l). The lecturer can easily get the

percentage of student attendance at the end of the semester without face the

difficulties to calculate the percentage manually and view the standardize student

attendance report

2.3 THE FEATURE OF SMART CARD TO FILL IN CLASS

ATTENDANCE

The interesting features and functionality of smart card that make it popular

is the multi- purpose card it applies. To implement a smart card scheme certain

design features is to ensure integrity across applications on multi-purpose cards

(Rogerson, p.3). Smart cards have three broad functions^ authentication, storing

value and storing personalized information. The smart card can also be used as a

portable storage device and with the capability of holding a large amount of data of

different forms and for different purposes. UiTM students' smart card includes

barcode which completely implemented in order to achieve the aim of this project.

The feature of smart card, which it is a portable hardware unit makes it more

convenient to use. A smart card is the most convenient and most portable

cryptographic hardware unit; public key smart cards are able to perform the signing

operation inside the card (Hamman et at, p.6). In recent years, many brands and

types of smart cards have come to market. Several major categories of smart card

are simple file-system-oriented smart cards without public key capability, advanced

file-system smart cards with public key capability, Java Cards, Windows-powered

smart cards, and MULTOS (muhi-application operating system) cards (Hamman et

al, p.7). Smart cards are a personal piece of hardware that must communicate with

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

some other device to gain access to a display device or a network. Cards can be

plugged into a reader, commonly referred to as a card terminat (Komerling^ and

G.Kuhn, p.3).

For this project, as the first-time class attendance signing system

development, the researcher has decided to use UiTM student's smart card where

the connection is made when the barcode reader contacts the barcode on the back of

the students' smart card. The barcode reader provides a path for the applieatio» to

send and receive commands firom the barcode on the students' smart card. There are

many types of readers on the market, the most prevalent being the serial, PCCard,

and keyboard models (Seliger, p.2). Once it can communicate with the reader, there

is one protocol for communicating with smart card (Seliger, p.3).

2.4 THE APPLICATION OF THE BAR CODE ON SMART CARD

TO FILL IN CLASS ATTENDANCE

The implementing of smart card to fill in class attendance only can be access

by UrTM commxmities (the students and the lecturers). It is show that authentication

is very important in using smart card. Authentication is concerned with ensuring

only authorized individuals gain access to systems (Komerling and G.Kuhn, p.4).

The great variety of applications led to the existence of approximately 200 different

codes which are altogether subsumed under the term barcode (Jorg: et

al.,1999,pp.3.).

The barcode generator is used to generate the logical parts of a barcode. To

make it easy to create the barcode generator, the BarcodeUtil singleton class is used

which will choose the correct barcode implementation depending on the

configuratiGn built (JeremiasMarki, 2004, pp.3). The barcode on the students' smart

COPYRIGHT © UiTM

card must be accurate in terms of width and darkness in order to ensure the accurate

data retrieved.

For this project, students have to signing electronically with a smart card at

the beginnings of each class. Each student has their own smart card to fill in class

attendance in class attendance signing system. By using this system, student can

discipline themselves to always carry their student smart card as it is a compulsory

to UiTM students. The computer that implements this system is equipped with a

barcode reader. Students fill in their class attendance by touching: their card at the

barcode reader which automatically records the attendance information in the

server. The reader, in turn, communicates with card, thereby acting^ as the

intermediary before sending the data to the server. The b^code reader wiggles the

barcode on the smart card and record the data in the server. That way, data can be

processed immediately and in a totally automated way. At the end of the semester,

lecturers can get the calculation of the students' attendance percentage more

efficiently and view the standardize attendance report.

2.5 THE USAGE OF THE BAR CODE READER TO IMPLEMENT

CLASS ATTENDANCE SIGNING SYSTEM.

There are four different types of barcode readers available. Each uses a

sli^tly different technology for reading^ and decoding^ a barcode. Barcode reader

provides a good introduction into the fundamentals of barcode information theory

while a comprehensive description may be found in (Jorg: et al.,1999,pp.4.). There

are pen type readers (i.e. bar code wands), laser scanners, CCD readers and camera

based readers. The computer that hnplements this system is equipped with a barcode

reader.

10

COPYRIGHT © UiTM