SEMINAL Automated Secondary School Record Keeping System

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                                              INTRODUCTION

Record keeping system is the systematic procedure by which the records of an organization are created, captured, maintained and disposed off. Record management system is the practice of identifying, classifying, archiving and destroying records. The International Standards Organization (ISO) (2001) defines record as “The field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records”.

The International Council on Archives (ICA) committee on Electronic Records (2014) defined a record as,” recorded information produced or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional or individual activity”. While the definition of a record is often identified strongly with document, a record can be a tangible object or digital information which has value to an organization. Records are to be managed according to their value to the organization other than their physical or logical characteristics.

A record is something that represents proof of existence and that can be used to recreate or prove state of existence, regardless of medium or characteristics. Records can be either tangible objects, such as paper documents like birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and physical medical x-rays, or digital information, such as electronic office documents, data in application databases, web site content, and electronic mail (email).

Record Management (RM), also known as Record Information Management or (RIM), is the professional practice or discipline of controlling and governing what are considered to be the most important records of an organization throughout the records life-cycle, which includes from the time such records are conceived through to their eventual disposal. This work includes identifying, classifying, prioritizing, storing, securing, archiving, preserving, retrieving, tracking and destroying of records.

A good record keeping is an important part of accountability for an organization to those who use their service. Record keeping enable organization to keep a summary of decision made and their reasons for keeping such record is that they are essential source of evidence for reviews and investigation.

The school record keeping system will ensure accurate records which will help in assessing the performance and productivity of students and match student resources with production or service requirements. It may also help in making more  informed decisions about polices of students such as the capacity of class rooms, the performance of students, the school fees check and balance of students and many more.

Avoiding potential disputes with staff and help in ensuring that there is respect for equal opportunities and every student is treated consistently and fairly. A centrally administered automated system will makes it easier to retrieve information. However such systems require extra cost and training.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The Federal Government College Jos (FGC Jos) is a co-educational school in Nigeria. It was established by the Federal Ministry of Education in 1975. The idea of this college in Nigeria was conceived in the minds of the authorities of the Federal Ministry of Education early in 1972 when they thought it necessary to have one co-educational institution for Nigerian states across the Federation. The college was founded by the Federal Ministry of Education in line with the Federal Government’s intention to establish in each state of the federation one co-educational school.

The Unity Schools is an incorporated body to advance the objectives of National unity and development through quality access to education in Nigeria.  The 104 Unity Schools all over Nigeria were founded on a philosophy of quality instruction and inter-community coexistence as the basis for National unity and development.

The schools have become populated over time due to the expensive nature of private schools today, and this makes manual record keeping of a large body of students ineffective. The manual means of record system has become tedious to manage, consumes a lot of space, maximum security could not be ensured and has led to altering of records and loss of documents in some cases. Processing of result is not easy due to large number of students whose result has to be worked on.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the related literature of this study. It will also what school records are all about, how these records are kept, how important they are, how they are managed physically and electronically, what are their types, what are their essence and also to examine the current issues of record management. Finally, it will compare and contrast the manual method versus using the software technique of keeping school records and find how advantageous it is.

Record is defined as information or data on a particular subject collected and preserved. This definition implies that any processed or unprocessed datum that is collected and kept for future use constitutes a ‘record’. On regular basis, information on school personnel (pupils, teachers and non-teachers), facilities, funds and school activities, are collected and preserved.

This collection becomes school records. School records are therefore information or data which are collected on various aspects of a school and preserved for future use. The information or data which are written manually or electronically are preserved in books, files, diskettes and other electronic materials. (Fasasi, 2004) Summarizes this concept when he states that school records include all books and files containing information on what goes on in school, which is in the school and the type of properties owned by the school. School records include:

1. A register of admission and withdrawal
2. A register of attendance
3. A log-book
4. A cash book
5. A visitor’s book
6. A copy of education law
7. Scheme of work
8. Teacher’s record of work
9. School time-table
10. Staff records
11. Pupil’s Report Card/ performance book
12. Health Record Book
13. Past Question Papers
14. Corporal punishment book
15. Counterfoils of transfer and leaving certificates, and
16. Minutes book of meeting
17. Record of School Equipment/Material

School records serve as a bank in which information is deposited and kept with the hope of retrieving and utilizing in the future. Proper keeping of school records could enhance planning process, serve as historical record, provide knowledge on students’ academic performance and facilitate schools’ financial administration. It will also provide a basis for advisory and counseling services. School records provide raw data which can be used by officials of education (Stevoloski, 2011). The automated record keeping system that is developed will provide for storage of staff student profile, and will also keep track of student academic information.

SYSTEM DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter talks about the analysis of the existing system, strength, weakness and solutions provided for the existing system which leads to the design of the new system which will help in overcoming the weakness, shortcoming and limitation of the existing system.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS

This is the process of studying a procedure or business in order to identify its goals and purposes and create systems and procedures that will achieve them in an efficient way, the principal objective of the systems-analysis phase is the specification of what the system needs to do to meet the requirements of end users. In the systems-design phase such specifications are converted to a hierarchy of charts that define the data required and the processes to be carried out on the data so that they can be expressed as instructions of a computer program.

Many information systems are implemented with generic software, rather than with such custom-built programs.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

The design methodology refers to the development of a system or method for a unique situation. Today, the term is most often applied to technological fields in reference to web design, software or information systems design. The key in this design methodology is finding the best solution for each design situation, whether it be in industrial design, architecture or technology.

The design methodology also employs basic research methods, such as analysis and testing. A particular web application development methodology may not be necessarily suitable for use by all projects. Each of the available methodologies (Agile, waterfall, RAD etc.) is best suited for a specific kind of projects, based on various technical, organizational, team, and project considerations.

This study makes use of the software engineering concept and method by critically analyzing the existing record keeping and building an online application that will perform better and faster. The model adopted for this project is the waterfall model.

Summary 

The project covered all the processes involved in designing and developing an automated record keeping system for the Federal Government College Jos. The system is aimed to address the problems associated with the current manual means of record keeping of information of staff and students, as well as provide a web site that can be accessed by people interested in getting information about the school.

Conclusion  

This project was developed to change the methods of record keeping from the manual approach of record keeping to an automated web based record keeping system. The transformation of the secondary school system from its present manual system of operation to a computerized system has various advantages which includes maximum and efficient storage capability, avoids data redundancy. The software also ensures that only authorized users can gain access to the software thus ensures data security. The computerized or automated system of database storage will definitely results in an easier, faster and more efficient access to information

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