International Journal of Computing Sciences Research (ISSN print: 2546-0552; ISSN online: 2546-115X)

Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 89-101

doi: 10.25147/ijcsr.2017.001.1.27
https://stepacademic.net

Design and Implementation of a Centralized University

Result Processing and Transcript System: Case study of
University of Ibadan
Oluwaseyitanfunmi Osunade
Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
[email protected]
(corresponding author)

Isaiah Babatunde Ayinla

Information Technology Unit, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
[email protected]

Olalekan Olubukola Aduroja

Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
[email protected]

Date received: December 10, 2018

Date received in revised form: January 7, 2018
Date accepted: January 26, 2018

Recommended citation:

Osunade, O., Ayinla, I. B., & Aduroja, O. O. (2018). Design and Implementation of a
centralized university result processing and transcript system: Case study of
University of Ibadan. International Journal of Computing Sciences Research, 2(3), 89-
101. doi: 10.25147/ijcsr.2017.001.1.27

Abstract

Purpose – Result processing and Transcript generation are academic and administrative
tasks which universities are engaged in on a regular basis. Results inform students of their
academic progress while transcript is a record of a student's academic performance. In
most tertiary institutions the two tasks are handled separately with manual operations
linking the two tasks. The manual operations and interconnections lead to errors in
calculations and delay the production of results or transcript. The delay has caused many
students or graduates to lose opportunities.

Method – In this work, a combined and centralized result processing and transcript
generation system was developed for a tertiary institution. The implementation was
done using a Faculty as pilot study before extending to other faculties.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly credited.
Findings – The output shows the results were calculated correctly, graduation parameters
applied correctly and reports such as transcript easily generated from the web-based
application.

Conclusions – The developed transcript and result processing system is functional and
operational at the University of Ibadan. It has been used for over 4 academic sessions.
The system is compatible with all Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) regulations. The
cooperative result processing technique that ensures results are provided for all
registered students and documented permission for result changes are some of the
features that users have appreciated.

Recommendations – Tertiary institutions in Nigeria are encouraged to customize the

developed system to eliminate repetition. Additional security mechanisms such as
biometrics may be added as another layer. The system may be hosted in the cloud if there
is adequate technical support.

Practical Implications – This implies that student academic records are stored digitally and
requests for reports such as transcripts and statement of results are efficiently produced.
The need for result requests for individual student is over as all results for registered
students must be submitted for computation as at when due. Manipulation of results is
eliminated due to the multi-layered security built into the operation of the system.

Keywords: automated processing, report generation, database, web-based, grading

system

INTRODUCTION

The result-processing and transcript generation are two tasks within tertiary
institutions that link the academic section with the administrative section. The academic
section examines the students, grade the examinations and award scores for each course
taught in the semester. The Department approves the scores at a meeting and directs the
examination officer to process the overall performance of students in the department for
that session and to distribute the scores to departments who have students with scores
in a course taught in that department. Examination officers have a variety of options
(e.g., calculators, excel sheets, bespoke programs) to use in processing or calculating the
overall performance of each student in the department. The processed results of each
level of study from the Departments are presented to the Faculty Board for approval. The
Faculty, in conjunction with the Examinations Office, on behalf of the Departments
presents the results to Senate for approval. The Senate approval is final. This process is
the same for both final year and non-final year students. All other activities such as
transcript generation and statement of results occur after senate approval. The
University of Ibadan Act (1962) section 5 part 2c empowers Senate as follows “the

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organization and control of courses of study at the university and of the examinations
held in conjunction with those courses.”

The administrative section involvement in result processing and transcript generation

starts from the departmental and faculty level, where the administrative staff assists in
preparation for the Faculty Board or Senate meeting. The Examinations Office decides on
the format of result presentation at the Faculty and Senate level of the University. After
Senate approval of the presented results, the administrative section is in charge of
transcript generation and endorsement.

The relationship between the academic and administrative sections has been mutually
satisfactory. However, the relationship did not include the student population who are
the owners of the processed scores. The forceful entrance of students into the
relationship changed the dynamics, responsibilities and deliverables as it relates to
academic performance. The bid to integrate and meet the demands of students for timely
dissemination of results, reduce the transcript generation time for graduates, improve
retrieval of results from departmental archives and the need to reduce result
computation period led to this work. The aim of this work is to develop an automated and
secured result processing system that generates appropriate reports such as transcripts
and statements of results. The grading system at University of Ibadan is based on the
seven-point system (Faculty of Science Prospectus, 2013) as opposed to the four-point
system currently proposed by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Ukem and Ofoegbu (2012) developed a computer software application to facilitate

the automated processing of undergraduate results to eliminate tedious and error prone
processes. The software was developed in Java programming language and PHP while
employing MYSQL Relational Database Management System. The developed software
works based on the five point system of the National Universities Commission (NUC) with
user access limited to three roles: Super Administrator, Staff Administrator and Staff. The
software computed Grade Point Average and Cumulative Grade Point Average for each
student based on examination scores entered. The software is secured by only
passwords; not web-based thus access is restricted; requires manual entry of scores and
does not generate reports. The software focused on results processing at the
departmental level only.

In Oyeyinka and Oladipo (2015), the result processing software was re-engineered into
a multi-modal system (data access layer, program logic layer and the user interface)
comprising of five major modules designed for specific user groups with assign privileges.
The system operates in online and offline mode and has ability for forward and backward
integration with the student course registration portal. User feedback was accepted to
ensure all requirements were met. However, the software relies on manual collation of
student’s scores for every course taken before computation.

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 Akinmosin (2014) developed a single platform to manage the processing of all
examination records within Nasarawa State University, Nigeria. The system has two levels
of design models: physical and logical. The physical model refers to the interfaces
between users, the result system and user devices; while the logical model consists of the
database. The data used for testing was obtained from the Department of Physics,
Nasarawa State University. The performance evaluation showed that the system is still
under development and requires customization to the grading system of the University.

In Cadar, Teytelman and Trusova (2003) a design of a system that replaces paper
transcripts with computerized records that are secure, safe, convenient and practically
impossible to falsify was presented. The design is based on Authenticated Grade Records
(AGRs), which are used to record a grade for a particular subject/course, record the
number of classes taken in a particular term and certify that a degree was received. These
records are computerized and are digitally signed with private keys, using the RSA
algorithm to ensure authenticity. Universities then carry out the verification process using
the public keys received either from the sending University or Educational institution. This
work is applicable to the output of the result processing and transcript system where a
framework of interconnected institutions exist such as that provided by NUC.

Oluwasegun, Akomolafe and Oyedeji (2015) provided a biometric-based solution for

the security issues affecting result processing in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The
fingerprint authentication system was developed using VisualBasic.net. Staff fingerprints
were enrolled into the system to form a biometric template which the system validates
against at every login attempt on the result processing software. The result processing
software also ensures that all write transactions to the database are confirmed and
identified by forcing another biometric authentication at the point of making a write
request to the web server and associated database. This ensures that the exact person
initiating the transaction was the same user who logged in to the application. The users
identified at login and various confirmation milestones set for write transactions are
logged into a table for future reference and audit trail. The security of data into the
system is considered by this solution.

Iwuagwu (2013) documented issues students face when requesting for transcripts as
evidence of academic performance. Some of the identified issues include misplaced
records, dependence on paper records and limited storage for physical files. A
computerized information system was proposed and demonstrated. The proposed
system is not based on any requirements hence the functionalities are limited.

Ajayi, Lawal and Isheyemi (2015) provided a mobile application for users to request for
transcripts from an educational institution. The mobile application was developed to
target the android mobile platform with Java Android Programming (Native App) as the
language of development. The Hybrid Mobile App with HTML5 and JavaScript was
compiled with Phonegap. ObjectOriented PHP served as the frontend with MySQL

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database as the backend. This mobile app prevented hacking of transferred data by
employing md5 checksum for data encryption.

Ogwuche and Oyerinde (2015) investigated the implementation of information

retrieval and indexing in an academic transcript system. The work sought to reduce the
time consumed in comparing and finding student records saved in different tables. An
algorithm that would optimize data and preserve them in an eco-friendly manner,
improving the indexing and retrieval process of the system was implemented and
evaluated.

Pandya (2010) designed and implemented a transcript tracking system for transcripts
submitted at California State University, United States of America. The system
accommodates multiple points of entry and allows staff to efficiently track the
acceptance and routing of a transcript. The system interacts with the existing student
portal and provides real time status of the processing of the transcript turned in and
additional reports needed for audit processes.

From the related works reviewed, it will be seen that academic institutions have
challenges handling result processing and transcript systems. The solutions proposed,
designed and implemented have ranged from academic perspectives to mobile users and
security. In this work the aim is to implement a secured result processing and transcript
system.

METHODOLOGY
This work was done using the experimental approach. The proposed Result
Processing and Transcript System consist of four modules. The modules interact and are
integrated to meet the requirements specified in the Faculty Handbook/Prospectus and
the Student Information Handbook. The Software Development Life Cycle was adopted
for the development of the Result Processing and Transcript System. The modules for the
result processing and transcript system are shown in Figure 1.

Forms Report(s)
Processing

Database

Figure 1. Model of Result Processing and Transcript System

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 The Result Processing and Transcript System uses forms, databases, algorithms and
reports to meet all the requirements and functionalities desired by students, staff and
external agencies such as World Educational Services (WES). Figure 2 shows the
functionalities available on the Result Processing and Transcript System.

The forms serve as input to the system with some of the following data fields
available scores for a course; student identification number for a course taught and
examination administered; session, course code, department, faculty and report type.
The database stores student bio-data, course details such as code, title, number of units,
scores, computed results, staff names and position. The processing module consists of
algorithms for computation and report generation using the rules and regulations from
the handbook. Sub modules exist for final year students and non-final year students. The
reports serve as output from the system allowing such functions as view, print, send by
email and send by SMS.

Table 1: Functions available on Result Processing and Transcript System

Data Capture Data Update Reports Administrator
Student/Staff Data Edit Result Senate format User
Course  Student Faculty Board Management
Registration/Session  Course format Maintenance
Score sheet Upload Delete Result Departmental Course Info
 Student format Programme
 Course Statement of Information
Edit Bio-data Result Faculty Info
Edit Course Transcript Department
registration Registration Information
 Add/Delete data
form Results per
course
Performance
Analysis
Warning List

The system is web-based, using PHP for the programming and MySQL for the
database, and accessible only via local network connection with computer MAC address
authentication.

RESULTS
The program was used by most departments in Faculty of Science for the 2013/2014
session as a pilot study. The Faculties of Law, Arts and The Social Sciences are currently
using the system. To implement the result-processing program, a server to host the
program and student data and results was provided. All users (Lecturers, Examine
Officers, Head of Departments, Deans and Record Officers) in the University will access

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records from the same domain thereby eliminating problems of redundancy and
inconsistency in records. The result calculation process for each department was
confirmed by the Head of Department, because the program uses content from the
Faculty Handbooks. The student data (bio-data and course registration) was collected
from the student portal while the department provides the approved scores for each
course taught. The program calculates the results and produces outputs based on several
formats e.g. faculty, senate, etc.

Figure 2. Services Available

Users login to the application through a unified interface. Authentication was done via
system MAC address and login details specific to a department for the purpose of
security. When authenticated, users are granted access to different services provided by
the system as shown in Fig 2. The services available include data upload, reports and so
on.

Figure 3. Data Upload interface

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 Users can only upload results for the courses taught in their department. The session
and course are selected on the interface, while results are uploaded in .csv format as in
Figure 3. The .csv file has 2 columns for matriculation number and score.

Figure 4. System copy of results uploaded

A report is generated at the end of the upload to state the level of success and display
data stored for each student for the course uploaded. The printed report is endorsed by
the Course Lecturer and the Head of Department as security against tampering from
System Administrators or system failure. Figure 4 shows the scores uploaded for students
who took the course GEY234 with the date and time uploaded.

Figure 5. Report generation menu

Once results are uploaded different reports can be generated from the menu shown
in Figure 5. Reports available include Senate, Faculty and Departmental format including
transcript and statement of results.

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 Figure 6. Senate Format for Graduating students

The list of graduating students can be generated based on class of degree,

department and faculty. Figure 6 shows a sample for the 2014/2014 academic session in
the Department of Microbiology under Faculty of Science.

Figure 7. Faculty’s format for Non-Final Year

The format for the presentation of non-final year students to the Faculty Board,
shown in Figure 7, contains details for assessing a student performance without
reference to specific courses. The report gives the Faculty Board an overview of the
students’ performance in a level of study without revealing personal data.

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 Figure 8. Departmental Formats for Non-Final year students

In Figure 8 the departmental format for result processing shows the scores for the
courses taken by students at a level of study. This report guides lecturers at the
departmental level in assessing students and making decisions.

Figure 9. Statement of Results

Statement of Results, as in Figure 9, are used to report the academic progress of

students who are not graduating but require an official record of their academic
performance e.g. scholarship, grants, visas. The system uses available results in the
database to generate this report. At the University of Ibadan, statement of results is
generated for students at the end of each semester and session. The Statement of
Results can be sent to the e-mail addresses provided by students in their bio-data.

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 Figure 10. University Transcript

The program generates the University Transcript as shown in Figure 10. The process is
automated and based on scores in the database. The student must fulfill all regulations,
as stated in the Faculty Handbook, to graduate before the system can generate a
transcript. The transcript can be printed and endorsed for official use.

Figure 11. Performance reports

The program has a built-in analytical tool that produces charts of academic
performance of students in a level of study, department and faculty. The charts are
generated using the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of the students. In Figure 11
the chart shows that only 5 students are in the first class division and 31 in the second
class upper division category.

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Result processing and Transcript generation, that had been done manually and in a
difficult manner, has been digitized by this software. The design of the software is based
on university regulations for admission and graduation, senate approved curriculum and
security requirements. In this work, a system capable of collecting students scores,
storing the scores for each student, securing the scores, calculating the results per
semester with cumulative grade point, generating reports that meet university and
external agencies requests, and providing multiple ways of sharing the results. The Agile
method of software development was used to make the design iterative and
development faster. The result processing and Transcript system is functional and
operational at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to appreciate Professor I. P. Farai for testing the software in
the Faculty of Science and encouraging other faculties to adopt the software. Prof
Gbemisola Oke (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic 2015-2017) is recognized for
supporting the project at management level. The hard work of Olusegun Olagoke, Esther
Alabi, Wuraola O. Wuraola, Elizabeth Ogunseye and Tope Khadijat in data entry,
verification and training are also acknowledged. All examination officers and heads of
departments of participating Faculties are acknowledged for their support.

REFERENCES
Ajayi, O. O., Lawal, M. A., & Isheyemi, O. G. (2015). Design and implementation of a
mobile-based transcript-request-processing system (MBTS). International Journal of
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Akinmosin, J. (2014). Automated students result management system using Oracle’s
database, forms and reports. Journal of Information Engineering and Applications,
4(11), 1-11.
Cadar, C., Teytelman, L., & Trusova, E. (2003). Secure and convenient computerized
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University (Unpublished manuscript). Caritas University, Enugu, Nigeria.

Ogwuche, G., & Oyerinde, O. D. (2015). Information retrieval and indexing implementation
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Oluwasegun, O., Akomolafe, O. T., & Oyedeji, A. I. (2015). biometric secured result
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Pandya, K. (2010). Transcript management system (Unpublished manuscript). California
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0System.doc
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University of Ibadan Act, 1962.

Author’s Biography

O. Osunade is an Associate Professor/Reader in the Department of Computer Science,

University of Ibadan. His research interests include data communications, use of
technology in education and management. He was the Director of Information
Technology and Media Services, University of Ibadan, Nigeria when this program was
developed and implemented.

I.B. Ayinla is a Chief Systems Analyst at the Information Technology Unit of the
College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a programmer and software
developer.

O. O. Aduroja is a Chief Systems Analyst in the Department of Epidemiology and

Medical Statistics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a programmer
and statistician.

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