CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the Study

Clearance can refer to authorization or permission from an authority (Anigbogu, 2000;

Chimezie, 2000). The act of clearing an individual involves granting individual a permission to

have access to sensitive or secret documents or other information. The Oxford dictionary defines

“online” as controlled by or connected to a computer and as an activity or service which is

available or performed using the Internet or other computer network (Dictionary of British

and World English, 2015). As people of this generation become more dependent on the

Internet for information, the need for automated clearance becomes more apparent.

Online clearance system is now used in various academic institutions both locally and internationally

for various clearance purposes, for instance, online hostel accommodation, UTME online clearance

exercise, online admission exercise, online graduating clearance exercise, and National Youth

Service Corp online mobilization registration exercise to mention but a few.

In institution of higher learning like Federal School of Statistics, Enugu, there is need for automated

method of data keeping, so a greater need for an automated online clearance system. This will go a

long way in alleviating the various problems and stress involved in the manual method of clearance.

The focus of this research therefore is to provide a reliable and transparent system devoid of

personal inclinations and interest, to eliminate travelling and queuing of students during clearance in

the study institution and to serve as reference material to other researchers.

1
1.1 Statement of the Problem

When a student is about to graduate at Federal School of Statistics, Enugu, he/she will take his/her

final year exams after which he/she obtains a clearance form from the Administrative office of

the institution after the payment of all necessary dues. This form will have to be certified at various

departments and units including bursary, library, candidate’s department, hostel porter’s office and

Students Affairs unit. The bursary department certifies that the student has completed all payments

while library will have to certify that the student does not owe any textbooks and library

materials, and so on. In summary, the current final clearance system of this institution is a

manual one. This makes the system so tedious and time-consuming. In this case, students will have

to visit all the clearance offices with a form for them to sign. Once the form is fully signed, it proves

that the student has been cleared.

In the manual system, the clearance forms are documented in a file cabinet. Each time the

clearance form is needed, a search operation is conducted on the file cabinets to locate a

particular student’s clearance form or the one meant for his department. To alleviate this problem,

there is need to develop an efficient web-based platform that is reliable and cost-effective, which

can manage the process efficiently.

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to develop an online clearance system that will effectively and

efficiently process students final clearance. And this aim will be achieved through the following

objectives;

 Creation of an online database that will contain data of all the students in the institution

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  Creation of a user-friendly platform accessible to the eligible graduating students to obtain

their online clearance forms, fill the forms and submit same, and print out the clearance on

successful filling and submission of the forms.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The online clearance system is very significant to both the graduating students and the school

management. It will help the graduating students to carry out clearance exercise with ease without

having to come to school to experience the rigours of manual system of clearance. And also, it

provides a better storage of students’ information for management as well as ease of file retrieval.

1.4 Scope of the Study

The online clearance system is designed to manage the clearance process of graduating students of

only Computer Science Department of Federal School of Statistics, Enugu.

1.5 Limitations of the Study

Due to time constraint as it is a semester work with a lot of academic activities, the researcher could

not carry out a thorough interaction with all the units concerned, and financially, the researcher had

some constraint here as fund was insufficient for the research work.

1.6 Definition of Terms

 Online: is the condition of being connected to a network of computer or other devices.

 Clearance: is the certification of blamelessness, trustworthiness, faithfulness or suitability.

3
 System: an assembly of interrelated elements which we find interesting to study; it could be a

process or machine.

 Graduating Student: is a student that has completed his/her 4 years course of study in the

higher institution.

 Computer network: is a group of connected, communicating devices such as computers and

printers.

 Internet: is composed of hundreds of thousands of interconnected networks.

 Database: is a collection of data or file purpose to assist many users at the same time.

 Database management system or DBMS: is software designed to assist in maintaining and

utilizing large collection of database.

 Website: is a collection of web pages which have image and/or text for the purpose of

passing information to the users.

 Server: is a process that provides requested services for clients.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter deals with the overview of online clearance in higher institutions, manual-based and

computer-based information systems and other online system related ideas.

2.1 Overview of Online Clearance in Higher Institutions

Online system has become a central element of the discourse on higher education (Cox, 2005).

There seems to be an overall derive towards online system given the mountain need for flexibility in

scheduling and the daily emergency of communication technology and capabilities, (Hillstock,

2005).

Online system is presented as a means of conveying instruction to an extensive learning community

any place at any time, (Cox, 2005). Indicate that adequate designate online learning as the

driving force and model for transformation in teaching, learning and formal schooling online

course has the potential to provide learner individualized attention by the instructor, otherwise

impossible in a large classroom environment. With the continued development of online system

applications, many colleges and Universities have begun to offer online courses as an

alternative to traditional face-to-face instructions. 67% of colleges and universities agreed that

online education is the most logical long term strategies for their institutions (Hillstock, 2005).

However, there are considerable hesitations rising predominantly related quality and student

respectively to online system, Yang & Cornelius (2004). Just as their advantages there are also

disadvantages to the online system instruction delivery method. There is evidence through previous

research that student fill isolated or disconnected when not engaged in traditional face-to-face

instruction (Graham, 2001), while other reports indicate large success.

5
There remains a lack of clarity whether online courses are as effective as traditional courses, Peirie

& Feldman (2004). While there has been vast amount of research conducted on the

advantages and the disadvantages of online system institution, little is known on how assessment

is used in online classroom to monitor performance and progress, Liang & Creasy, (2004) and Hew

et al, (2004) describe the evaluation of current online education system at three levels; the macro

level, the meso level and micro level. The macro level is an online evaluation that access an

entire online program, the meso level evaluation access individual online courses, and the micro

level access the learning of the online student.

Online clearance system presents educational experience very different from standard face-to-

face environment, Hew et al, (2004). When conducting a micro level courses evaluation, interest

commonly lies in learner perception of the course experience pertaining to the level of comfort,

ability to communicate with class mate and the instructor, as well as comparison to traditional face-

to-face lecture. Many times the only means of evaluating learner perception is in the form of

a questionnaire or survey. Although perception of online system can be extremely useful

information, it is usually not sufficient to conclude the evaluation without expanding to learners

understanding.

2.2 Manual-based Information System versus Computer Based Information System

Basically a manual-based information system is one that does not rely on any computerized systems

and a computer-based information system does. A manual-based system will see information

recorded and kept in different ways such as in files in paper form whereas a computer based

6
information system will see data stored on various computer programs including on databases, Word

documents, Excel etc. (Barton, 2018).

Both types of information system are designed to help a business carry out its day-to-day running

and operations. In recent times, computer-based systems are generally considered to be more popular

as more businesses are choosing to keep up with the developments in information technology. There

are still those who continue to use manual systems though, perhaps as a matter of financial

constraints or it may simply be more suitable for their type of business.

A manual-based information system is generally considered to be cheaper than a computer-based

system, however it may contribute to lower levels of staff productivity. In addition, having data

stores manually in boxes or files is not very environmentally-friendly and this could lead company

documentation at risk if a fire broke out for example as there would be no back up.

A computer-based information system may be considered to be more cost effective and efficient than

a manual system. It speeds up operations and can back up important information at the touch of a

button. It is however very expensive to set up and may need to be maintained by IT technical support

advisors on a regular basis.

2.3 Online and Offline Systems in computer technology and telecommunications

In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline

indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology this usually refers to an Internet connection,

but (especially when expressed "on line" or "on the line") could refer to any piece of equipment or

functional unit that is connected to a larger system. Being online means that the equipment or

subsystem is connected, or that it is ready for use (Online and Offline from Wikipedia, 2019).

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"Online" has come to describe activities performed on and data available on the Internet, for

example: "online identity", "online predator", "online gambling", "online shopping", "online

banking", and "online learning". Similar meaning is also given by the prefixes "cyber" and "e", as in

the words "cyberspace", "cybercrime", "email", and "ecommerce" In contrast, "offline" can refer to

either computing activities performed while disconnected from the Internet, or alternatives to

Internet activities (such as shopping in brick-and-mortar stores). The term "offline" is sometimes

used interchangeably with the acronym "IRL", meaning "in real life", (Reed, 2017).

2.4 Role of Information Technology in Academic System

Nowadays the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), especially Internet in the

education sector plays an important role, especially in the process of empowering the technology

into the educational activities. Education sector can be the most effective sector to anticipate and

eliminate the negative impact of ICT. Technology (Internet) in another side can be the most effective

way to increase the student’s knowledge, (Kaka, 2008).

Being aware of the significant role of ICT (Internet) in our life, especially in the educational

activities, education authorities should be wise enough in implementing the strategies to empower

ICT in supporting the teaching and learning process in the classroom. ICT is not just the bloom of

the educational activities, but also it will be the secondary option to improve the effective and

meaningful educational process.

The main purpose of the Strategy for Information and Communication Technology Implementation

in Education is to provide the prospects and trends of integrating information and communication

technology (ICT) into the general educational activities.

There are some unavoidable facts in the modern education; First, the ICT has been developing very

rapidly nowadays. Therefore, in order to balance it, the whole educational system should be

reformed and ICT should be integrated into educational activities.

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Second, the influence of ICT, especially Internet (open source tool) cannot be ignored in our

student’s lives. So, the learning activities should be reoriented and reformulated, from the manual

source centered to the open source ones. In this case the widely use of Internet access has been an

unavoidable policy that should be anticipated by schools authorities.

Third, the presence of multimedia games and online games by Internet has been another serious

problem that should be wisely handled by the educational institutions. The students cannot be

exterminated from this case. They can have and do with it wherever and whenever they want.

Schools, as a matter of fact, do not have enough power and time to prevent or stop it after school

times. Meanwhile, most parents do not have enough times to accompany and control their children.

So, the students have large opportunities to do with multimedia games or online games or browsing

the negative and porn sites. Having been addicted, the students will have too little time to study, and

even do not want to attend classes.

In such situation, education institutions play an important role to eradicate these problems. One of

which is by facilitating the students to do edutainment or educational games. Schools can let their

students be familiar with educational games adjusted by their teachers. Besides, they can also

support and facilitate their students to have their own blogs in the Internet. A lot of WebBlog

providers are free to the users, such as WordPress. In their blogs, the students can create and write

something, like an article, poem, news, short stories, features, or they can also express their opinion

by an online forum provided in the Internet. They are able to share experiences throughout their

blogs to others from all over the world. I think it will be an interesting activity for them, and it will

lessen their time to visit the negative or porn sites existed.

By doing so, I think our young generation will get more and more information and knowledge by

browsing in the Internet. They can also create innovation in web design that it may be out of the

formal curriculum content, but it will be useful for their future.

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Fourth, the implementation of ICT in education has not been a priority trend of educational reform

and the state paid little attention to it. Therefore, there should be an active participation, initiative

and good will of the schools and the government institutions to enhance ICT implementation at

school.

Fifth, the teachers should be the main motivator and initiator of the ICT implementation at schools.

The teachers should be aware of the social change in their teaching activities. They should be the

agent of change from the classical method into the modern one. They must also be the part of the

global change in learning and teaching modification.

The followings are the aims of ICT implementation in education:

1. To implement the principle of life-long learning / education.

2. To increase a variety of educational services and medium / method.

3 To promote equal opportunities to obtain education and information.

4. To develop a system of collecting and disseminating educational information.

5. To promote technology literacy of all citizens, especially for students.

6. To develop distance education with national contents.

7. To promote the culture of learning at school (development of learning skills,

expansion of optional education, open source of education, etc.)

8. To support schools in sharing experience and information with others.

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 CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

In this chapter both the existing and proposed systems have analyzed, and the methodology used is
spelt out. And finally, the justification for the proposed system is made clear.

3.1 System Methodology

The system methodology adopted here is Object-Oriented Analysis and Design Methodology

(OOADM) which focuses on capturing the structure and behaviour of information system into small

modules that combine both data and process.

3.2 Analysis of the Existing System

At Federal School of Statistics, Enugu, the system of clearance carried out by graduating students is

manual which is based on the use of pen and paper. In this case, student will obtain the paper

clearance form from the designated office and fill it. The concerned student will carry the filled

paper form from one department/unit to the other starting from his own department. Each

department/unit will have to endorse with a signature to indicate clearance. The exercise is indeed

stressful as the graduating student has to be physically present in order to meet with those who will

clear him, and may spend a whole day or more to successfully finish the exercise.

3.2.1 Strength of the Existing system

The existing system of clearance at Federal school of statistics which is manual is not without some

advantages. At least, it provides clearance at its level and also more beneficial to those who are not

conversant with the modern technology.

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3.2.2 Weakness of the Existing system

Due to the manual means being used by the institution in keeping information about

student’s clearance, a lot of problems are encountered which includes:

 Delay in processing clearance form

 Absence of some key staff (who process clearance form) can lead to students

repeatedly visiting a particular office in order to have his/her clearance form signed.

 Loss of vital documents as the filing system is manual

 Damage of documents due to fire incident.

 Illegal removal of forms by fraudulent staff leading to insecurity.

 Time wastage in retrieving a particular clearance form.

3.3 Analysis of the Proposed System

The proposed system will be online i.e. it will run on the Internet. It will be accessible

through computer devices anytime, anywhere. The interface of the proposed system will be

user-friendly. It makes provision for easy processing of clearance form. The proposed

system is designed in such a way that it handles the flaws of the existing system effectively.

3.3.1 Advantages of the proposed system

The advantages of the proposed system are given as follows;

i. It save a lot of time.

ii. It is very convenient to use anywhere at any time e.g., office, bedroom or

anywhere in the world.

iii. It has efficient storage facility

iv. Information processing is very fast and delay can be avoided.

v. It is inexpensive to students and school management.

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 vi. It also helps the school in reducing cost such as labour and stationery.

3.4 Justification of the proposed system

The new system is designed to solve problems affecting the manual system in use. It is

designed to be used online thereby relieving both the students and staff from much stress as

experienced in the manual system.

This system will do the analyzing and storing of information either automatically or

interactively as it is online (i.e. having access to the Internet).

The proposed system will also have some other feature like;

 Accuracy in the handling of data.

 Fast rate of operation and excellent response time

 Flexibility (i.e.) it can be accessed at any time.

 Easy way of backing up or duplicating data in case of data loss.

 Better storage and faster retrieval system.

 Accessibility from any part of the world

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 CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.0 Introduction

System design is the process of designing a new system after sorting out the problems in the

existing system. Implementation on the other hand is the process of moving an idea from a

concept to reality. In engineering and other fields, implementation refers to the building

process. This chapter is all about the

t system design and application of the new system.

4.1 System
ystem designs and Specifications

Here we are going to discuss the following ddesigns;

esigns; input, output, database and system

flowchart.

4.1.1 Input design and specification

Input like Student’s name, registration number, departmental name, user’s ID and password,

etc will be sent to the system. Input design

des like fig. 4.1 below.

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4.1.2 Output design and specification

After the user has sent out the inputs, the output such as the notification of clearance for the

student is given out. The following fig.4.2 shows output design;

4.1.3 Security design and specification

The proposed system is open to all the students that want to do clearance but it has some

security features such Administrator ID and password. This helps the system to restrict

access to unauthorized users who may want to manipulate the system to their advantage.
advantage Fig.

elow shows security design;

4.3 below

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4.1.4 Database design and Specification
The database design describes the data structure used in the design of the software, which is

achieved by using MySQL database. The structure of the database is in the tabular form. It includes

field names, data types, field size and the description.

4.2 System flowchart

Flowcharts are used in designing and documenting complex processes. Like other types of

diagrams, they help visualize what is going on and thereby help the viewer to understand a

process and perhaps also find flaws, bottlenecks, and other less obvious features within it.

The following diagram illustrates system flowchart;

16
17
4.3 System Requirements

The requirements of the proposed system will be considered in two ways; Hardware and

software requirements.

4.3.1 Hardware Requirements

 At least an optimized Pentium Central Processing Unit

 1 GB RAM

 At least 40 GB Hard disk

 Enhanced monitor

 Network Interface Card (NIC)

 Printer

 An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) unit

4.3.2 Software Requirements

 MySQL Database

 Windows 7 or higher version for faster processing

 Visual Studio 12 (IDE)

 WAMP Server

 MySQL Connector

 Dot Net Framework 3.5

 Mozilla Firefox or any other browser

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4.4 System Implementation and Maintenance

The proposed system will be implemented after all the system’s components have been

designed and unit testing done successfully. The proposed system is one of the components

attached to the website of the school, and by clicking on its name one can follow the

onscreen instructions to the system.

System Maintenance

In order to make sure that the new system functions properly, system maintenance must be duly

observed. The following must be considered in the maintenance activities;

(i) Ensure that an appropriate windows firewall is configured to prevent “damaging programs”

from the system.

(ii) Ensure that an anti-virus is installed, and the system is scanned when necessary.

(iii) Delete unnecessary files from time to time to ensure disk space

(iv) Ensure enough backup files and keep them away from magnetic area and dusty

environment.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

5.0 SUMMARY

The Proposed System, Design and Implementation of Online Clearance System has been

successfully analyzed and designed.

Chapter one is Introduction which discusses what the project is all about, the reason for the research

work as well as its importance to the parties concerned.

Chapter two is the Literature Review which discusses the opinions of different people on the subject

matter.

Chapter three is Systems analysis and Methodology which analyzes the existing system and its

weakness and specifies the methodology of the proposed system.

Chapter four is System Design and Implementation. It discusses the designs of the system’s

components and the maintenance activities of the entire system and chapter five which is Summary,

Recommendations and Conclusion which summarizes the entire work.

5.1 Recommendation

Having successfully analyzed, designed and developed this system, the researcher strongly

recommends it for use by the management of Federal School of Statistics, Enugu and its

beneficiaries.

It is also recommended that the system requirements must be strictly adhered to, and the

maintenance details properly observed for a continuous and proper functioning of the system.

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5.2 Conclusion

As we have seen that the aim and objectives of the study have been met, the researcher therefore

strongly believes that if the system is adopted for use, it will be of great help to both the students

and the management of Federal School of Statistics, Enugu as it will encourage stress-free process of

student’s clearance. Other interested users like future researchers are not left out, it can still be of

immense use to them in furthering their research.

21
 REFERENCES

Anigbogu, G. (2000), Systematic Planning for Educational Change. California: Mayfield

Publishing Company, Pp.2.

Barton, H. (2018). What Is The Difference Of Manual Vs. Computer Based Information System?

Retrieved from https://science.blurtit.com/1485189/what-is-the-difference-of-manual-vs-

computer-based-information-system.

Chimezie, F. (2000). Use of Local Area Networks in Schools. ERIC Digest. Syracuse,

NY:ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resource, Pp.5.

Cox, D M. (2005). Experiencing Online System. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Dictionary of British and World English (2015), Oxford University Press.

www.oxforddictionaries.com/../english/ Retrieved on 31st January, 2015.

Hew, K.F., Liu, S., Martinez, R., Bonk, C., & Lee, J. (2004). Online education evaluation: What

should we evaluate? Published proceedings of the Association for Educational

Communications and Technology Conference, Chicago, IL.

Hillstock, L.G. (2005, August). A few common misconceptions about distance learning. Published

proceedings of the ASCUE Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Kaka, S. (2008). The Role of ICT in Education Sector. Retrieved from

https://verykaka.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/the-role-of-ict-in-education-sector/ on 4th

January, 2019.

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Liang, X. & Creasy, K. (2004). Classroom assessment in web-based instructional environment:

Instructors’ experience. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 9(7).

Online and offline Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (ND). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_and_offline on 13th January, 2019.

Peirier, W. & Feldman, P. (2004). Strategic Planning for Information System. 3rd Ed. West Sussex.

John wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reed, M. (2017). 19 Things We About The Early Days Of The Web. Retrieved from

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/other/internet/52766/19-things-we-miss-about-the-early-days-

of-the-web on 13th January, 2019.

Yang, Y. & Cornelius, L.F. (2004). Students’ perceptions towards the quality of online

education: A qualitative approach. Published proceedings of the Association for

Educational Communications and Technology Conference, Chicago, IL.

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 SOURCE CODES

<?php

// Connecting to database

mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '');

mysql_select_db('onlineclinic');

//Assigning the input controls to variables

$name =$_POST['name'];

$sex =$_POST['sex'];

$phoneno =$_POST['phoneno'];

$address =$_POST['address'];

$email =$_POST['email'];

//converting the colledted data to binary to avoid hacking

$name =addslashes ($name);

$sex =addslashes ($sex);

$phoneno =addslashes ($phoneno);

$address =addslashes ($address);

$email =addslashes ($email);

if (!$name || !$phoneno || !$email){

echo "Some fields have not been entered,All fields are required";

exit;

24
// Inserting the data items into the database table (staff_tb)

$query = "insert into register values('".$name."', '".$sex."', '".$phoneno."',

'".$address."', '".$email."')";

$result =mysql_query($query);

if($result){

echo 'Registration successful!.' . '<a href="index.php"> Click here to continue

......</a>' ;

else {

echo "Invalide entries";

?>

<?php

// Connecting to database

mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '');

mysql_select_db('onlineclinic');

//Assigning the input controls to variables

$name =$_POST['name'];

$sex =$_POST['sex'];

$phoneno =$_POST['phoneno'];

$address =$_POST['address'];

$email =$_POST['email'];

//converting the colledted data to binary to avoid hacking

25
$name =addslashes ($name);

$sex =addslashes ($sex);

$phoneno =addslashes ($phoneno);

$address =addslashes ($address);

$email =addslashes ($email);

if (!$name || !$phoneno || !$email){

echo "Some fields have not been entered,All fields are required";

exit;

// Inserting the data items into the database table (staff_tb)

$query = "insert into register values('".$name."', '".$sex."', '".$phoneno."',

'".$address."', '".$email."')";

$result =mysql_query($query);

if($result){

echo 'Registration successful!.' . '<a href="index.php"> Click here to continue

......</a>' ;

else {

echo "Invalide entries";

?>

26
Screen Shots

Index Page /

27
Student Registration Page

28
Log In Page

29