Attendance Monitoring Web System Based on Web Services

and Biometrics Systems for Use in Educational Institutions

Gerardo Jimnez Bazn Mg. Carlos Cnepa Prez (Consultant)
National University of San Marcos, Computer Engineering Department, Avenue Germn
Amezaga, June 2015, Lima - Peru
alxonbudi@gmail.com
ccanepap@unmsm.edu.pe

Abstract:
Monitoring systems are very important today, because they allow us to see which processes
work well and which do not. Educational institutions incorporate many processes for proper
operation and, thus, require monitoring systems. Currently, the process of student
attendance recording is determined by the type of school where it is done (schools, colleges
or universities), and is made based on the needs of each institution. This research aims at
providing a software solution for monitoring the attendance of students by making it available
as a subscription service (SAAS), using fingerprint scanning technology for authentication,
and Web Services to obtain student data from each educational institution`s systems.

Keywords: Attendance Record, Biometric Identification, Fingerprint, Web Service, SAAS

1. INTRODUCTION
Inefficient or even inexistent
student attendance monitoring is a
problem
in
many
learning
institutions such as schools,
colleges and universities located in
Lima.
Many of these institutions perform
teacher attendance monitoring by
means of a variety of automatized
mechanisms that, in one way or
another,
allow
adequate
monitoring. However, when it
comes to student monitoring, these
schools
have
neither
the
technological nor the financial
means that would allow them to
implement their own monitoring
software system.
In order to meet this need, these
schools resort to hand-written
records. The problem with this way
of attendance monitoring resides in
the impossibility to secure and
retrieve the attendance record, in
case of theft, misplacement or loss
(unless the instructor has made
copies of the record, which is
seldom the case).
For this very reason, I have
deemed necessary to conduct the
implementation of a web-type
system that would allow student
attendance
recording
and
monitoring, making use of Web
Services
technology
and
Biometrics Identification Systems
(fingerprint scanning), as well as to
offer it as a subscription service
(SAAS) instead of going the
traditional route (installation in
clients own servers). This would
reduce the implementation and
maintenance cost, making it
possible to capture a greater share
of the market while at the same
time providing a personalized
solution to the particular needs of
each institution.
Section 2 of this article shows a
brief description of a Biometrics
Identification systems (in particular
regarding fingerprint scanning),
and Web Services. Section 3

shows the approach used to apply

this solution as well as the
technological platform to be used,
and section 4 presents the
proposed
solutions
high-level
architecture as well as Web
Services internal architecture.
2. BIOMETRICS IDENTIFICATION
AND WEB SERVICES
2.1 BIOMETRICS
IDENTIFICATION
SYSTEM
(FINGERPRINT SCANNING):
[1] A biometrics identification
system is a system based on
measuring certain human body`s
characteristics with the purpose of
identifying an individual. In order to
achieve this, a characteristic that
varies greatly between individuals
must be chosen.
There are several kinds of
biometrics analysis, such as:
a) Fingerprints
b) Handwriting (signatures)
c) Facial recognition
d) Retinal mapping
e) Iris pattern
f) Voice recognition
For the implementation of the
proposed
solution
I
chose
fingerprint
scanning,
which
consists of a series of dark lines
representing the peaks and a
series of white spaces representing
the valleys or depressions. This is
shown in figure 2.1. Fingerprint
scan identification is mainly based
in the location and orientation of
peaks, deltas and valleys.
Fingerprint lines

Figure N 2.1 [1]

2.2 WEB SERVICES:

[2] A Web Service is an application
that shows an interface based on
messages, which encapsulates the
data, and is able to perform ACID
transactions
(Atomicity,
Consistency,
Isolation
and
Durability).
[3] Web Services are composed of
the following elements:
a) UDDI: It stands for Universal
Description, Discovery, and
Integration, which is an
internet business catalog. This
record is made in XML and it is
focused on Web Services.
It is one of the basic standards
of Web Services, which
objective is being accessed by
SOAP messages and give way
to WSDL documents.
b) WSDL: It is an XML format
used
to
describe
Web
Services as a group of final
destinations
operating
on
messages
which
contain
information
directed
to
documents or procedures.
c) SOAP: It is a protocol that
allows one to summon the
service methods
d) XML: It allows the Web
Services
consumer
technologies to send and
receive messages.
e) (e) HTTP, SMTP, TCP: These
are internet protocols that
allow web page transfer, mail,
and data flow.
Web Services Elements

Figure 2.2 [3]

3. ANALYSIS
3.1 STRATEGY
TO
BE
EMPLOYED:
The proposed solution seeks
to:
1. Eliminate the use of
student
attendance
handwritten
record
keeping, which is so
common in many learning
institutions.
2. Integrate all departments
and classrooms of an
institution,
regarding
record processing and
student
attendance
monitoring.
3. Integrate systems that are
already
in
place
in
learning institutions.
4. Allow users to obtain
student attendance record
performance reports.
Because of this, the strategy
consists of:
a) Procesamiento de
requerimientos:
Requirement definition,
based on interviews.
Requirement analysis
and selection of the
most
significant
requirements.
Validation
of
requirements
previously
analyzed
with the users.
b) Use case modeling:
Modeling use cases
found and validated.
Specify the use cases.
Database model based
on the use cases.
c) Web Services
definition:
Web Services
entry/exit
definition.
Web Services
elaboration.

interface
interface
variable
interface

d) Application development:
Application development
based on the use cases
and data modeling.
e) Application deployment:
Application deployment
into a web server.
3.2 ANALYSIS RESULTS:
I. IDENTIFYING USE CASES:
The following use cases
(shown in figure 3.1) have
been identified as a result of
the corresponding:
a) System access: The staff
needs to access the system
to activate the record as
well as to obtain the
necessary reports, and they
will
do
so
through
fingerprint scanning.
b) Attendance recording: In
this context it is the student
who will record his/her own
attendance
through
fingerprint scanning.
c) Request of each students
attendance record: The
instructor will be able to
request
individual
attendance records.
d) Request of attendance
record by subject: The
instructor will be able to
request
the
student
attendance by subject.
e) Attendance record editing:
the instructor will be able to
edit the attendance record
of a particular student.
Use case diagram

Figure N 3.1 [Own responsibility]

II. PACKAGES
IDENTIFIED
FOR USE IN THE SYSTEM:
1. Login Package: It is the
package which contains the
system access use case.
2. Attendance Record Package:
It is the package that
contains the use case in
charge
of
attendance
recording.
3. Report Package: It is the
package which contains the
use case in charge of report
generation.
System Packages Diagram

Figure N 3.2 [Own responsibility]

3.3 TECHNOLOGIC
TO BE USED:

PLATFORM

The platform to be used,

shown in figure 4.1, is the
following:
1. Architecture design : UML
diagrams
The
architecture
components (Use cases,
actors, and packages) will
be drawn using Unified
Modeling Language.
2. C# Programming language:
C# is a very flexible,
powerful, and easy to use
Microsoft language. Its
traits make it ideal for

commercial
development.

application

Proposed system`s technological

platform

3. Web application server: IIS

Internet
Information
Services
(IIS)
is
the
Microsoft server by default.
It also happens to be the
one that best allows for the
integration of applications
built
in
a
Windows
environment. This is why I
chose it as the server on
which the proposed solution
will be deployed.
4. Database engine: SQL
Server 2012
SQL server 2012 is a
Microsoft
database
manager, which has been
optimized for all consistent
transactions on Windows
developed systems. For this
reason it is the DBMS
chosen to store the data.
5. Windows Communication
Foundation:
It is a service-oriented
application
production
framework. It is based on
asynchronous
message
sending
between
and
emitter and a receiver, and
vice versa. It incorporates
the communications and
message sending protocol
SOAP,
and
REST
architecture.
6. Fingerprint scanning SDK:
SDK (software development
kit) is a group of libraries
that allow both, fingerprint
scanner recognition and
scanner programming, so
that applications can use
this device to capture and
process .

Figure 3.3 [Own responsibility]

4. PROPOSED
SOLUTION`S
ARCHITECTURE:
4.1 HIGH
LEVEL
ARCHITECTURE:
The high level architecture is
composed of the following
elements (as shown on figure
4.1)
1. Business
logic
and
presentation layers: The
presentation layer interacts
with the user. It is the one
that
shows
graphic
interfaces, captures the
fingerprints and shows
reports. The business logic
layer is the one in charge of
processing data sent by the
presentation layer, such as
fingerprints. It summons
web
services
and
processes both sent and
received data.
2. Web Services: It is a
system component that will
request and process the
external
systems`

necessary data, which it will

store in the database after
processing.
This
component is also in
charge
of
providing
processed data for report
generation.
3. Web
Services
and
communications channel
interface SOAP/WFC: The
proposed
system
and
external
systems
communicate
through
interfaces,
which
are
means
defined
by
communication
rules.
These rules must travel
through a media, and need
to follow an established
protocol. Because of this
the media chosen is
Windows Communication
Foundation (WCF), which
provides
the
communication
channel
between interfaces, and
uses the SOAP protocol,
which is a communication
standard with good or
acceptable characteristics
in the transport mode,
delivery time, and security
areas.
4. External systems: They
are the systems belonging
to the organizations we
intend to provide with the
service.
The
proposed
system`s Web Services will
extract information from the
external systems in order to
process
attendance
records.

Proposed
solutions
architecture

high

level

Figure 4.1 [Own responsibility]

4.2 WEB SERVICES INTERNAL

ARCHITECTURE:
Web
Services
internal
architecture, shown on figure
4.2, is composed of the
following elements:
1. Service layer: This layer
will define the contract used
for information exchange
between the service and
peripheral systems. It is
itself composed by three
main elements.
Service Contract: Which
defines the Web Services
contract/interface.
Message Contract: Which
defines the transmitted
messages structure.
Operation Contract: Also
known as the service
methods, where the sent
an recived messages will
be processed.

2. Logic Layer: This layer will

contain the business logic,
where the web services main
operations will be carried out.
3. Interface layer: It will allow
communication between the
logic layer and the data access
layer.
4. Data Access layer: It is the
layer in charge of data
consistency, as well as data
access.
5. Entity layer: It contains the
classes used to instantiate the
necessary objects for data
manipulation.
6. Fault Layer: It will manage
errors produced by the web
service.
Web Services internal architecture

educational institution would

spend an affordable sum; the
expense would be much lower
than the one involved in
dedicating
staff
and
technology
expressly
to
student attendance recording
and monitoring.
3. This
solution
aims
at
guaranteeing
adequate
information backup, preventing
the
loss
of
attendance
recording
generated
information in case of natural
disasters or for any other
reason.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Jimy Corts Osorio, + (2010).
Sistemas de seguridad basados en
Biometra.
Universidad
Tecnolgica de Pereira.
[2] Csar De La Torre Llorente, +
(2010). Gua de Arquitectura NCapas orientada el Dominio con
.NET 4.0
[3] Marco Basteiro, + (SF).
Servicios Web. Universidad del
Pas Vasco
Available
online:
http://www.ehu.eus/mrodriguez/arc
hivos/csharppdf/ServiciosWeb/We
bServices.pdf

Figure 4.2 [Own responsibility]

5. CONCLUSION:
1. The research carried out aims
at reducing the time and effort
spent
by
instructors
in
recording
and
monitoring
student attendance.
2. This solution is offered as a
subscription service. Thus, an