Chapter One Introduction

1.0 Background of Study Communication has an undeniable role on molding our lifestyle. Modern world of ours revolves around communication facilities that render information transfer fast, reliable and trustworthy. Our quest for faster means of communication provided us with the now unavoidable technology for communication of modern times SMS. Within a short span of time SMS has become an indispensable part of communication of common man. Most of the information that is needed to be relied fastly and efficiently is now conveyed through this media. Irrespective of the distance between the users the information is delivered swiftly and securely. This most attractive feature of this technology paved way to the implementation of SMS for important data transfers.

In this project SMS technology is implemented for the fast and reliable procurement of examination results. Now also even after the publication of examination result by the university/board, the students have to wait a long time to get their result details. This problem is tried to be solved through this system which uses SMS to provide examination results to the needed students. The students who have registered for examination will have to provide their mobile number for contact. After the examination result has been computed by the university/board, the status is automatically sent as a message to the provided mobile phone number of the student involved.

1.1 Statement of the Problem Most universities now provide examination results on their website. When results are made available on the website, students have to login by providing a username or ID and password before they can view their result. This ensures that examination results are protected from unauthorized access. Although websites are readily accessible and provide options like printing and saving, these benefits could easily be inaccessible if a user does not have access to the internet. Also, the student must visit the website to know find out if the examination results are available. While websites seem to be a very good option in countries where the internet is readily available, its impact can be less felt and it can be quite inconvenient and expensive in countries

with poor internet access. In such places, students will have to visit cyber cafes where they have to pay to check their grades.

1.2 Justification for the study The system of examination result checking in most Nigerian universities today is less efficient and thus, there is a need to develop a more secured, faster and efficient system. The proposed system will be developed to eliminate the difficulty faced by students in result checking by delivering the grades to their phones as soon as it becomes available. This means that they can access their grades even in the remotest locations where internet service might be unavailable, preventing them from accessing the schools website.

1.3 Aims and Objectives of the study The aim of this project is to develop an online result alert system using SMS which will replace the existing system where students will have to check the university notice board in anxiety or login to the university/board website to check the status of their result. The specific objectives are; a) Provide students with valuable information on the fly without them requesting for it. b) To save cost of transportation on the side of students who are not resident around the institution where the exam was written. c) To save cost of printing students results by the institution concern. d) To ensure confidentiality and security of result as only the student involved is sent his/her result.

1.4 Scope of the Study Every research work will always have a scope or boundary point. This rule stands as some guiding principle in each research work. The Result Alert System using SMS is introduced to be used by the Exam officers in universities. The system will cover two main functions. First function is to get the registration information of the students and the second one is to send SMS to the students phones alerting them of their result status.

1.5 Limitation of the Study The limitations of results alert system with SMS are the same with that SMS Applications in general. Unlike paper results which are stamped, it is difficult to certify SMS results. However, mobile operators provide numbers that bear a name of company or institution. This way user can be sure that the message originated from the right source. As a rule, length of a SMS message is 160 characters. This is a limitation in SMS technology. Therefore the messages are abbreviated depending on the availability of the space. The SMS technology (like email) does not guarantee set transmission times or guaranteed delivery of the message, therefore some messages may be delayed, blocked or lost in transmission. The cost of the message might be transferred to the sender (although toll-free lines can be acquired) and this is network dependent. It is also possible to reimburse such cost, and to operate volume based tariffs. Service operators might not have coverage in some areas, and some locations may be prevented with mobile-phone jammers therefore preventing users from getting service signals. Not all students will have a mobile phone. This is negligible considering the amount of mobile phone owners; at least one person in a family will own a phone.

1.6 Definition of basic terms SMS: SMSC: SIM: