April

22, 2019

Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS III
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY V
1) WHERE DO WE STAND AS THE WORLD CHASES ITS DIGITAL DREAMS? .......... 1
1.1) Project Overview ......................................................................................................... 2
1.2) The Problem at Hand................................................................................................... 3
1.3) Why This Idea ............................................................................................................. 3
1.4) Questions Needed to be Answered.............................................................................. 3

2) MESS AND CLASS ATTENDANCE SYSTEMS IN GIK INSTITUTE ......................... 5

2.1) Current Mess and Class Attendance System ............................................................... 5
2.2) Drawbacks of the Current System ............................................................................... 8

3) OUR PLAN ........................................................................................................................ 9

3.1) What is Our Objective? ............................................................................................... 9
3.2) Launching a Prototype System .................................................................................... 9
3.3) Computerized Mess and Class Attendance system ..................................................... 9
3.4) Feasibility .................................................................................................................. 11
3.5) Methodology ............................................................................................................. 12
3.6) Benefits of the System............................................................................................... 13
3.7) Working of the System .............................................................................................. 14
3.8) Cost Analysis............................................................................................................. 17
3.9) Time Frame ............................................................................................................... 17
3.10) Demerits of the System ............................................................................................. 18

4) CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 19

5) INDEX .......................................................................................................................... 20

6) REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 21

7) APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 22
APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................................... 22
APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................... 23
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1) WHERE DO WE STAND AS THE WORLD CHASES

ITS DIGITAL DREAMS?
In the past people used to make drawings on rocks, then they started
collecting data on leaves of trees. Centuries later, with the evolution of time and
technology, about six decades ago, first computer was invented. It was not very
common and had special needs to be operated so any of the data collection was
still done on paper. Later came personal computers or desktops and changed the
way things were recorded and done. Computers made data collection much
more slick, efficient and easy for everyone including consumers and companies.
Today this technology has evolved so much that almost all around the globe, in
almost every field of life, data is collected, kept, stored, processed and
transferred using computers. How unfortunate is that we still stand in the past
with no use of technology and computerization. We still rely on the paperwork
which requires more space to store data (figure 1.1 & figure 1.2) and is difficult
to maintain. We can remember the incident happened in Spain in the golden age
of the Muslims where their biggest library was burned which stored the data of
all ages and of all subjects. It was the knowledge that could take the humans to
new heights but all of it turned to ashes. However, there were no computers in
those days that could save that unrecoverable loss but, in our era, there is this
opportunity that we are not taking advantage of. Therefore, we have to avail this
chance by promoting computerization in every phase of life. Figure 1.3 clearly
shows where our country stands in the world with respect to computerization.

Figure 1.1 History of data storage

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Figure 1.2 Data storage versus time graph Figure 1.3 Computerization in
different countries

Moving on to our situation, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of

Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) is known for its well academic
and diverse-cultural background country-wisely. The institute has enormous
faculties, huge infrastructure and everything a university can have is here. Still,
there is always room for improvement and the improvement is required in the
sector of mess and class attendance systems. This is where we come in, there
are almost 3000 students in GIK Institute and to keep the record of them for
attendance and mess is itself a hectic thing to do and that being done manually
on registers is the icing on the cake. We highly recommend computerizing the
whole process because it will reduce the cost put into this process, the human
effort, the staff and many other aspects.

1.1) Project Overview:

Our research is for the following purpose:

 To identify the flaws in the current messing and class attendance systems
and to find solutions to the problems faced by students of GIK Institute.
 Our solution is the digitalization of the current messing and class
attendance system. The initiative will have an attractive environment in
the institute.

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 The purpose of this project is twofold. One being the attendance and the
other is messing system.
 Every student will use the already available student ID card to identify
himself to the system.
 Computers and scanners will be provided in every part of the institute
where they are needed.
 The system will be linked to the Campus Management System (CMS) of
the GIK Institute. In this way, students will be able to access their own
data by using the provided password on the student portal.

1.2) The Problem at Hand:

The biggest reason for the computerization is that the current messing and
class attendance system of paperwork is outdated. There are many flaws in the
current system and the sufferers are mostly students. Students are often victims
of short attendance and extra billing in the mess. Also, some students mark false
attendances and teachers cannot actually get them for this, even if they know
students are wrong they cannot do anything about it. Students are also not
satisfied with it and want a change in it.

1.3) Why This Idea?

All the things stated above beg the need to ask the question that, why we
came up with such an intriguing idea? The reason is that computerization has
taken over the world like white on rice; it is the only solution to all the problems
stated previously. It can help the institute in many ways: reduction in cost,
manpower, workspace etc. Also, it can help the institute to come up with other
modern institutes of the world. Having such advanced technology in education
but having an outdated system of mess and class attendance does not make any
sense.

1.4) Questions Needed to be Answered:

 What is the current situation of the mess and class attendance systems?
 What are the loop-holes in the current system?
 What will we do to fill these loop-holes out?
 What is our idea of mess and class attendance systems?
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 Is our project feasible?

 How will our system work?
 What will be the cost and time required for its completion?

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2) MESS AND CLASS ATTENDANCE

SYSTEMS IN GIK INSTITUTE:
2.1) Current Mess and Class Attendance System:

The current mess and attendance system of GIK Institute is based on an

outdated system of paper work. It is all done in black and white which is very
much time consuming and difficult to store and compile for a longer span of
time. The Mess system existing at the present time runs on the following
criteria:

 The students have to sign-in (figure 2.1) in the mess in order to take the
meals.

Figure 2.1 Mess in/out register

 Once they have the access they can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.
 Students make queues and mark their attendances on their respective
rooms on the sheets (figure 2.2).

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Figure 2.2 Mess attendance sheet

 If the students have to mark themselves out of the mess, they have to sign
out on a register of their respective hostels before 10:00 am in the
morning.
 If the student has signed-in in the mess then the breakfast will be charged
on the bases that whether the student has attended it or not. However, it is
not the case with lunch or dinner. If the student has signed himself in but
does not eat lunch or dinner, he will still have to pay for it, even if he
does not eat any one of them, he has to pay for both.
 These attendances then are recorded on a larger register (figure 2.3) on
daily basis by the mess staff.

Figure 2.3 Monthly mess register

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 The mess bill (figure 2.4) is then prepared, taking into account the larger
register by the mess staff on the computer, which is then distributed in
printed form to the students.

Figure 2.4 Students’ mess bills

The attendance system in the classrooms is also not efficient and is time
consuming. An attendance sheet (figure 2.5) is circulated by the Teaching
Assistant (T.A) in the classrooms on which the students mark their attendances
by signing. The T.A then uploads the attendances manually on the CMS which
is a very difficult and errors can occur.

Figure 2.5 Classroom attendance sheet

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2.2) Drawbacks of the Current System:

 Students are often victims of extra mess bills and short attendances.
 There is also a culture of false attendances. Some students might imitate
their friend’s signatures even though they are absent. They are known as
“proxies”.
 Maintenance of records is difficult and requires a larger space to store
data.
 The data may be lost, stolen and cannot be restored.

In our research conducted on 16 April 2019, it has been found that 71.1%
of students take their meals from the mess and it is concluded that they are very
much unhappy with the current mess system. Students are not satisfied and they
want a change in the system.

Most of the students consider the system inefficient and time consuming
and 85.4% of students rated the overall mess and attendance system as poor.

This calls for the change in the outdated system and the reason to
introduce a system which should be more efficient, faster and easy to use both
by the staff members and the students of GIK Institute.

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3) OUR PLAN:
3.1) What is Our Objective?

We have devised a mechanism to overcome the analogue system of the

mess and class attendance in GIK Institute. We have planned to introduce a
computerized mess and class attendance systems. In this regard, we would
require some computers and a digital system such as a bar-code reader,
fingerprint scanner or it could be a facial recognition system. We have opted for
the bar-code scanning system as it is easier to install and is economical, and the
institute also provides the bar-code printed ID cards to the students which are
used for coming in or going out of the institute. Also according to our survey
taken on 14 April 2019, 66.8% of students shared their thoughts that the most
efficient and feasible system to be installed in GIK Institute should be that of
the bar-code scanner/reader. The attendance both in the mess and classrooms
will then be marked via computers that will ease the burden on the institute as
well as the students and the staff members.

3.2) Launching a Prototype System:

First of all, a prototype system will be implemented to record the

efficiency of the system and the satisfaction of its consumers for a week or two.
The launching of this test type of system will be very easy since it will be
involved to deploy only one computer along with a bar-code scanner in the
mess and one bar-code reader in the classroom. Next, a careful examination of
the system will be carried out to record the outputs of the system. As soon as the
initial stage of test would be over, the whole system shall be established. This
system will also help us to estimate the cost of the project very efficiently.

3.3) Computerized Mess and Class Attendance system:

The system will be based on a bar-code reader and a computer (already

available) in the classrooms while in the mess there will be bar-code scanners
and desktop computers that will offer the digitalized working.

 Mess:
 Now, in the mess, the students only have to swipe their GIK Institute
cards (figure 3.1) and they will be given the meals.

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Figure 3.1 GIKI student ID card

 The in and out system will be followed but now the students can do that
just by one click on the CMS student portal sitting in their hostels.
 The students can sign in and out the mess separately for their lunch and
dinners. It means that if one wants to eat the lunch but not the dinner, he
may sign in the afternoon and can sign out afterwards before the dinner
so that the dinner will not be charged. Same follows for the lunch as well.
 The breakfast system is somewhat the same: if a student has signed in in
the mess he can have the breakfast but still, if he has signed in and does
not want to take his breakfast then it will not be charged.
 Furthermore, students can also give their suggestions on the menu of the
mess on the software.

 Classrooms:
 In the classrooms, the students swipe their cards to mark their attendances
which will be supervised by a T.A.
 The T.A now have to only focus on the swiping of the cards rather than
focusing on the whole class that whether the students would not mark
proxies, along with he/she also has to take care of the class at the same
time.
 There will be an option in the scanner of shutting it down. From that
afterwards no attendance will be taken. It will be shut down by the T.A
after five minutes of the start of the class.
 The T.A, taking the attendances, will then take with him the portable bar-
code reader and keep it in the store room where the other microphones
and accessories are also kept.
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3.4) Feasibility:

 Technical Feasibility:

 The institute already has a Campus Management System (CMS) that

works as a data binder of all the students studying in GIK Institute. We
will use the same software with some modifications (for the mess bills
etc.) and link our computers to the CMS. The attendances will then be
easily accessible both of the classrooms and the mess.
 We also have a similar system as a model for us installed at the main gate
of the GIK Institute.
 Internet services are also available in every faculty of the GIK Institute so
it is easier to take the online attendances.
 Desktop computers are already available in the classrooms so we just
need to have a bar-code reader.

 Economic Feasibility:

The system is also economically feasible as it will reduce the usage of the
attendance sheets, large registers and also will reduce the staff working in the
mess and classrooms. Hence, by doing so, it will recover the amount of
investment in a very short span. A short summary of the savings is given below:

Current situation

No. of Halls 4
Staff per Hall 5
Salary per Person 40,000
Total salary per Month 8,00,000
Total (per year) 96,00,000

No. of Hostels 12
No. of Attendance Registers per Hall 4
Cost of one Register 1,500
No. of Attendance Sheets per Hall 3

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Total Cost of Sheets per Annum 21,600

Class Attendance Sheet Cost per day 1,000

Total Cost per Annum 4,23,600

Grand Total per Annum : 1,00,23,600 (PKR)

Savings

As mentioned above, the computerized system will reduce the usage of

the paper work and will eventually reduce the staff required. This will decrease
the budget issued by the institute and will result in the savings in terms of
money. The following table will show that how many staff members will then
be required and how much is being saved:

No. of Mess Halls 4

Staff required per Hall 2
Salary per Person 40,000
Total Salary per Annum 38,40,000

So, the previous cost from 1,00,23,600 PKR drops down to 38,40,000 PKR,
saving 61,83,600 PKR.
Savings per year 61,83,600 (PKR)

Note: All the costs mentioned above are in Pakistani rupees (PKR)

3.5) Methodology:
Different surveys and interviews with respective staff and faculty
members have been taken for the project till now. Questionnaires have also
been distributed among the students of all batches as well as faculty members
for the same cause, and it has been concluded that most of the respondents
particularly 68.8% were in favor of the implementation of our project. We shall
now discuss the methodology we will take for the implementation of the
system:

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How the system shall be launched:

 The data of the students should be collected from the security office as
they have already a digital system for coming in and out of GIK Institute.
This makes the system to be installed very easily.
 Next, a computer and a scanner will be placed in every class and dining
hall. In this way, the students will be able to scan the cards given to them.
 The system shall be linked with the CMS portal in order to directly
update the attendances in case of classrooms and update the mess bills in
case of the mess dining halls.

3.6) Benefits of the System:

 Maintenance:

This system requires minimal maintenance as all the data is in digital

form and there is no need for gathering bundles of files to save the records. All
the data will be directly saved in the software and any information of any
student will be available in just one click.

 Error Free:

This system is also free from human error because everything is carried
out by computers. No human efforts are required for compiling and managing
the data.

 Encryption:

Data stored by this system is totally encrypted from login passwords and
unique identity card numbers. The data can only be accessed by the admin and
instructors.

 Portable:

The devices used in the system are easy to carry and can be easily moved
from one place to another.

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 Time Efficient:

Data management through this system is very fast and less time is
required to operate the devices. It can efficiently mark the attendances and can
directly update them on CMS in no time.

 Savings:

A huge amount of money can be saved in the form of less usage of papers
and printing process and also less staff is required (just for the supervision of
the system).

 Recoverability:

There is very less possibility of deletion or loss of record. However, in

such cases record can easily be recovered as the system will have a backup at
hand and any threat of data loss can easily be detected.

 Proxy/False Attendance:

There is no chance of false attendance or proxy as the system is totally

computerized and no one can by-pass the system. If anyone still tries to
overcome the system, he can also be detected easily.

 Go green campaign:

GIK Institute has recently started a project of the “go green” campaign
and our project can also be linked with it as it will serve in reduction of
pollution caused by the use of papers. The computerized system will effectively
reduce the use of papers, large registers etc. and will promote the go-green
campaign.

3.7) Working of the System:

The system will be capable of storing data of attendances of students and
updating them on the CMS. It will also take the attendances of the mess and will
generate mess bills accordingly.
The software that will be programmed by the company itself will
synchronize the CMS of GIK Institute and the mess attendance and billing
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systems. It will have access to the details of the students and their attendances.
Its interface will be just like the already available CMS with an addition of the
mess billing option appearing in the student portal (figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2 User-interface of the system

The screen that will appear in classrooms and in mess dining halls will
consist of a bar where a registration number is required so that one can type it or
simply scan his/her student identity card as shown in the figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3 Screen that will appear in classes and mess

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In the classrooms, the T.A first has to turn on the bar-code reader;
secondly, he has to type in the class subject, section, date and time. Finally, the
screen as stated above will be displayed. At the background of the screen, the
software will be updating the attendances of the students that have swept their
cards. If a particular student is not of the respective section, the software will
not grant access and give an error.
In the mess dining halls, the system will be working 24 hours. The
students registered to specified halls can only swipe their cards otherwise they
will be detected. The attendances will be directly uploaded to respective mess
bills of the students on the CMS. Additionally, there will be an option for extra
food items (such as eggs or meatballs) and beverages, and recommendations for
the menu of the mess in the mess software. The students will “in” and “out”
with their CMS portal having the option of “Mess” but there will be timings
given to them: before 10 am for the lunch and 5pm for dinner. After these
timings the in and out option will automatically be blocked. It is done so
because food is wasted if someone signs out of the mess just before his meal. It
also helps the mess staff to approximate the number of students that will be
eating the food in mess.
The types of devices that will be used are shown below:

Figure 3.4 Bar-code reader Figure 3.5 Bar-code scanner

In case of non-availability of the internet, the software can also save the
attendances and upload them later.

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3.8) Cost Analysis:

It is a one-time investment project which will save millions of money that
are spent on the paper works and management of records.

The total investment is as follows:

Cost Analysis
Sr No: Equipment Name Cost of Single Quantity Total Cost
Unit (PKR) (PKR)

1. Computer System 7000 4 28,000

2. Bar-code Scanners 7500 4 30,000
3. Bar-code Readers 6500 37 2,40,500
4. Installation Charges 11,625 - 11,625
5. Labour / Transportation 30,000 - 30,000
6. Maintenance 2906 12 (months) 34,875
TOTAL : 3,75,000 PKR

Note: The above cost may deviate from the actual price by 15%.

Therefore, for this project, the estimated investment is about 375,000

Pakistani Rupees. This project would be initially funded by the administration
department of the university while the revenue generated by this project
would be awarded to the university.

3.9) Time Frame:

 Devices:

Bar-code scanners and Bar-code readers will be ordered online from

“Wal-Mart” and the order confirmation will take a day or two.

 Desktop computers:

Monitors and CPUs for the mess will also be ordered online from
“Corsair” and 2 to 3 days are required for its confirmation.

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 Shipment:

After order confirmations, shipments will be delivered by 7 to 8 working

days.

 Installation:

When all the orders have been received, the installation procedure of the
system will begin and it will take roughly 1 to 2 days.

 Training:

After the installation of the system, the mess staff and T.As should be
trained so that they will know how to operate the system correctly and
efficiently.

 Testing of all the systems:

After installation, the system cross-check procedure should be conducted

to verify that all the systems work well.

Time frame
Items Days Required
Order Placements 2-3
Shipment 7-8
Installation 1-2
Training of staff 1-2
Testing 1-2

Maximum number of days required: 15 days

We would recommend that the best time for starting the project is in the
summers (June or July).

3.10) Demerits of the System:

 Malware:

Technology is vulnerable to viruses so in this regard our system can also

get corrupted. It will be challenging to protect the data from any loss.

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 Hack:

The system can be hacked as there is nothing in this world that cannot be
hacked. The hackers can attack the system and can steal the data or make
changes in it. However, we would be improving it to protect the data from any
such kind of problems.
 Internet Requirement:
Internet is required for the system to upload the attendances of both the
mess and class rooms. The system will be greatly affected if there will be no
availability of internet.
 Electricity:
Rarely does it happen that electric supply cuts off in GIK Institute. Our
system depends on the availability of the electric supply so it will not work if
there will be no electricity. Even if it goes for a short period of time, the
attendance criteria will be greatly affected.
 Security:
The devices used are very expensive and easy to carry so they can get
stolen very easily and cannot be detected.

4) CONCLUSION:
To sum up, the merits of this system are way more than its demerits. This
project has become a need of every student of GIK Institute. The system is
efficient and easy to use and it will prove to be fruitful. Moreover, it is also very
cheap to be installed and can be termed as a long term investment. It will surely
release the burden on the institute. If the system launches successfully, which it
would be, we will always be trying to improve it by taking recommendations
and ideas from the students of GIK Institute. So having that study and all the
researches, we can conclude that the system will leave no stone unturned until
its superior and will help GIK Institute grow in the field of computerization.

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5) INDEX

Budget 11
Campus Management System (CMS) 2
Corsair 16
Facial recognition system 8
Go Green Campaign 13
Golden age of Muslims 1
Proxies 7
Questionnaire 11
Spain 1
Teaching Assistant 6
Wal-Mart 16

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6) REFERENCES

1. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/197985-Pakistan-at-a-crossroads
2. Jamshed Masood; Salman Malik (7 January 2008). "Pakistan". In Felix
Librero (ed.). Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2007/2008. Sage
Publications. p. 264.
3. https://www.wikipedia.org/computerization
4. https://www.yourdictionary.com
5. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-barcode-scanner-with-display-
screen-English/32327852511.html
6. Research paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-7206(92)90006-2
7. Carol A. Lundgren, Terry D. Lundgren, (1992) "The Computerization
of Records Systems: A Study of Selected Businesses", American Journal
of Business, Vol. 7 Issue: 1, pp.49-52
8. Bar-code scanner photo: http://www.kanbkam.com/ae/en/honeywell-
mk712031a38-quickscan-barcode-scanner-black-11189417
9. Bar-code reader photo: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/WinCE-
barcode-scanner-with-display-mobile-data-
terminal/32299436892.html

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7) APPENDICES:

APPENDIX A

The first interview was scheduled on 15 April 2019, Monday regarding

the current mess and attendance systems.

The interviewee was Mr. Muhammad Ikram-ullah, a mess staff member

in GIK Institute for many years.

Question asked was: Was there any computerized system carried out in
the institute? If no, then do you recommend the following system?

He replied: “No, there was not any such type of system carried out.
Although, some theory work was done in the past years but no implementation
took place. The computerization of mess would be highly recommended.”

The second interview was taken on 18 April 2019, Thursday regarding

the in and out system of the main gate of GIK Institute.

The interviewee name preferred not to be mentioned as it is confidential.

We asked him about the gate system of GIK Institute and he replied that the
system works on a scanner and a computer that is linked with the main server
placed at the Faculty of Computer Science. It has all the records of the students
and is maintained by a small staff working on that.

Note: All the above conversations between the interviewer and interviewee have been
translated into English.

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APPENDIX B

The following survey has been distributed among the students of GIK Institute
to examine their thoughts and recommendations in making of this project.

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