114 1st International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention

TITO: UTILIZING MYKAD TOUCH N GO FEATURES FOR STUDENT

ATTENDANCE SYSTEM

Mustafa Man,
1
Law Yoke Kyng
Department Of Computer Science,
Faculty Of Science and Technology,
University Malaysia Terengganu.
mustafaman@umt.edu.my
1
yokekynglaw@yahoo.com


ABSTRACT

TITO (Touch in Touch Out) system is developed for monitoring student attendance using Mykad
Touch n Go features. Development of this system using the ready features in Mykad could
reduce the cost of buying another contactless card. TITO system can fully utilize Mykad features
whereby all data captured by this system could be accessed by teachers, headmaster and
parents via internet and intranet facilities. TITO system will automatically generate statistic of the
attendance results in real time and display them in several graph formats.

INTRODUCTION
By the end of 2005, all Malaysian citizens over the age of 12 will be carrying a dual interface
contact/ contactless smart card as their national ID. With a population of 23 million, the Malaysian
program is both one of the worlds first national ID card programs and one of the largest
issuances of dual interface technology. The multi-purpose MyKad cards incorporate both
government and private sector applications onto a single card. MyKad has eight (8) applications
and replaces the two (2) most important official documents, namely the identification card and
driving license.

The Malaysian Government asserts that the new ID cards employ the state-of-the-art technology
that incorporates multiple layers of security features. These features include card authentication
using symmetric key cryptography, multi applications Operating Systems with firewalls and a
secure chip platform. However, there is real concern that there still is no adequate protection on
the confidentiality of personal data. The smart card readers can be used by virtually any
government agency. Further, the willingness to share data with the private sector without the prior
consent by the card owners is worrying.

The main strength of MyKad is to reduce publics burden of having to carry several different cards
at the same time. MyKad will function as government document and payment channel. It is
approved to be safe, easy to use, faster and paperless. Several benefits from each applications
are as follows:
One card for all MyKad replaces identify card and driving license regardless of access
key to other services.
Entry and exit Facilities Passport information that is compacted in MyKad will fasten the
entry and exit to and from other country by Immigration door. *Passport document is still
needed to go overseas.
Data is precise and safe Technology chip and biometric (fingerprints) will verify data are
precise and safe security elements in MyKad prevents the holder from any fraud and
cross-used. (cloning).
Ease of travelling packs When top-up with currency value, MyKad will function as
Touch n Go card and can be used in highway traveling payments, bus services, LRT,
parking and theme parks.
Easy payments E-cash application provides easiness in daily payment without having
to carry cash especially for smaller amount value.
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Emergency treatment facilities Your health record in MyKad will give the most recent
information for the purpose of public and emergency treatment.
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) These facilities will assist in e-commerce business that
verifies data integrity and information without any denial of services.
Easy banking transactions Function like ATM card, all transactions such as balance
enquiry, change pin number, withdraw and other facilities related are provided.
CONTACTLESS TOUCH N GO TECHNOLOGY
Contactless cards use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to transmit card
information to the reader. In most instances, there is no need to sign a receipt, input a personal
identification number (PIN) or hand the card to the cashier. This expedites the transaction for both
the consumer and business. Contactless cards are also equipped with a magnetic strip so they
can still be used in traditional swipe machines. Industries using contactless smart card technology
include government and corporate ID cards, transit fare payment cards, passports and visas, and
financial payment cards. Leading financial and transit institutions have adopted contactless
payment technology to offer customers increased convenience and speed when making
purchases. Cards no longer have to leave the consumers hands; they are simply waived in front
of a device to complete the transaction. Consumers do not have to bother with change, cash or
swiping their card.
The contactless card has a higher level of security and protection than traditional cards.
Contactless payment cards utilize technology that brings more security to the cardholder by
making it almost impossible to skim the card information. The cards use microprocessor chips
that decipher the information and use the CPU of the chip to check and authenticate the
messages - all of which are encrypted. Each transaction is unique and digitally signed, which
prevents duplication and data theft. Cards that require the highest level of security use
contactless technology based on the international standard ISO/IEC 14443.
The Touch n Go card (Touch n Go) is an electronic purse that can be used at all highways in
Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and theme park. Touch
n Go uses contactless smartcard technology. The card looks similar to a credit card. User can
continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. User can reload the card
at toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines, Cash Deposit Machines, petrol kiosks
and at authorized third party outlets. Reload denomination is ranging from RM20 to RM500.
Touch n Go enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Apart
from the speed, it is also very convenient because user no longer need to prepare for small
change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction. Table 1 below shows the
facts and figure on the use of Touch n go contactless technology.

Table 1: Facts and figures on the use of T n Go contactless technology.
Achievement
No. of Touch n Go users Around 3 million cardholders
No. of MyKad holders with Touch n Go facility Around 1 million cardholders
Touch n Go card lifespan Around 10 years (64,000 read and write
cycles)
Average Touch n Go transactions 1 million transactions per day
ATMs with Touch n Go reload facility More than 700 ATMs nationwide
CDMs with Touch n Go reload facility Around 60 Cash Deposit Machines
Petrol kiosks with Touch n Go reload facility Around 60 kiosks
Authorised agents with Touch n Go reload
facility
More than 400 outlets



116 1st International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention


TITO: THE SYSTEM FRAMEWORK
TITO is a web-based system that can capture student attendance using Mykad features Touch n
Go and smart card reader effectively. Besides that, TITO also assists teacher in monitoring
attendance for registered students more efficiently. The objectives of the development of TITO
are to fully utilized MyKad features for new application development, to design a web based
technology application for student attendance system using Mykad and to analyse the usefulness
of this system in reducing teachers workload. Figure 1 shows the developed system is pilot tested
in Sekolah Menengah Komplek Gong Badak, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu.









Figure 1: Pictures shows the TITO device which is installed in Sek. Men. Komplek Gong Badak,
Kuala Terengganu as TITO Pilot Project.

The scope of this system is subdivided into three (3) main activities. TITO is developed for
teacher, staff as well as student. The system is developed using Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP),
MySQL and Macromedia Dreamweaver.. Using the Multiple Smart Card Readers and Mykad
which is a device that capable for Touch n Go features for testing. The expected outcome of the
system are the data for student attendance is automatically captured, analysed and the results
are reported in statistical format and respective graphs are dispalyed online or on the web. All the
data that have been analysed could be stored in a central database for future analysis of its
efficiency and speed of processing.

TITO System is based on management and access control. It also reused the concept of
attendance system whereby it is controlled by computer and is being implemented with
microprocessor. Through touch in and touch out attendance concept, the TITO system will adopt
the same concept. Each activity can be controlled by referring to the activity, record done by each
individual and all the records are saved in a database. All data stored can be accessed, updated,
analyzed and deleted as needed. Data captured by the system using MyKad reader known as
Netmaxe Smart Card Terminal NSCT 1000. The features of this reader are as follows:

Can be integrated with various smart card reader
Real time smart card controlled and logged record
Add, delete and update smart card users
Log and record
Interactive user interface (web based system)

The TITO system is designed to suit with current technology needs. It is a web-based system
whereby all information that is touched with MyKad will be recorded and user identity will be
identified. When a student uses MyKad and touch in at smart card terminal, then the students
information of the attendance is automatically captured and stored in central database. Data such
as date, day and time will be captured by TITO and stored in individual database so as the report
will automatically be generated. By using this application, teacher just only clicks or selects one
button, all the information about attendance appears on screen monitor.

The overall project involves four phases. The first phase is development of Netmaxe NSCT 100
reader software. Second phase is developing of students school attendance system (TITO). The
third phase is developing the students class attendance by subject software that could be
accessed using mobile device technology and developing a short messaging service (SMS)
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technology. The last phase is the integration of all the database systems in school. Figure 2
shows the overall system framework.















Figure 2: Partial TITO implementation in overall system framework

TITO: THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE AND IMPLEMENTATION
This system is designed using three tier architecture, as depicted in Figure 3, has been chosen
for monitoring of system using Internet technology. This architecture provides greater application,
scalability, high flexibility, high efficiency, lower maintenance, and reusability of components. In
this design, each tier can be run either on a separate machine or on the single machine. It
improves system processing performance. These tiers do not necessarily communicate to
physical locations on different computers or networks. A typical three-layer architecture is divided
into Client or presentation tier, Application tier and Data tier.














Figure 3: Three-tier architecture

Client or Presentation Tier
This tier enables user to interact with the database through the web browser in a user-friendly
manner from remote location or using wireless device like PDA. It is also called user services
layer refer to figure 3. It provides user to access the application. This layer optionally permits to
feed and manipulate data.

Application Tier
Application tier consists of web server and application logic for data monitoring. This tier is also
known as application service layer. The logics and rules are separately stored in the files using
Web scripts. This architecture has proven ideal for developing Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP),
Presentation Tier Application Tier Data Tier
Web
Browser

Apache

MySQL
Client Web Server Database Server
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Extensible Markup Language (XML) based applications because all PHP and XML processing is
carried out on the middle tier of the system, without affecting client and/or database tier
manipulation/development. These logics and rules are properly interfaced with the main Web
server in this tier. In the current development of monitoring system, Apache Server has been
used as Web server. This provides management services that are shared by multiple
applications.

Data Tier
This tier is also called data service layer. It concerns with persistent data usually stored in a
database or in permanent storage. We are using MySQL database to store the entire students
class attendance data collection by wireless PDA via online application. It can be accessed either
through the application services layer or on event created by the user services layer. The major
benefits of three-tier architecture are reusability, flexibility, manageability, maintainability, and
scalability.

TITO: SYSTEM USER INTERAFACES
Implementation phase takes part after analysis and system design phase. This phase focused on
coding to produce function which were identified earlier in the design phase. Relationship
between function is an important part that can make system more efficient. The menu heirarchy
of TITO is divided into three (3) primary modules which are the administrator module, teacher
module and student module. The menu hierarchy of the system is shown in Figure 4.



Figure 4: Menu Hierarchy of TITO

Modules in this system which are administrator module, teacher module and student module.
Each module has different access level. The implementation for each module will be explained
one by one. Figure 5 shows the display screen of all the modules in TITO system. For
administrator and teacher, they are required to log-in by entering their IC number and passwords.
However, student only required to enter their IC number to log-in. Administrator module has
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permission to access function provided for teacher, student, as well as class, calendar, remark
and report.














Login Add Teacher Add Student

Add Class Add School Schedule School Schedule

Daily Report Analysis Update Remark Chart Report Analysis

Figure 5: TITO System User Interfaces


CONCLUSION
This system has the potential to be expanded for university and college use. In this system,
weekdays are fixed on Friday and Saturday (East Coast). The weekdays of the system can be
adjusted for the use in other states of the country, such as those in the West, North and South
Coast. To make this system more useful, it is able to store and update the starting time and the
ending time of school day. Each school may have different starting time and ending time. This will
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enable the user to monitor the punctuality of students. Besides that, this system is also able to
monitor teacher attendance.

As a conclusion, TITO is developed to monitor student attendance using Mykad features Touch n
Go. Its purpose is to further utilize the Mykad features for new application and to reduce teachers
workload in managing student attendance as in the conventional manual system. This indirectly
helps to increase teachers productivity as well as their work quality.

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