PUNCH CARD ATTENDANCE MONITORING SYSTEM

PUNCH CARD ATTENDANCE MONITORING

SYSTEM
FEASIBILITY REPORT

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND IT

NOVEMBER 2010

Course Supervisor: MS FARHANA HUSSAIN

Submitted By: YASMIN KHAN 2009/Comp/BS(CS)/10007

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

JINNAH UNIVERSITY FOR WOMEN

5-C NAZIMABAD, KARACHI 74600

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction that accompanies that the successful completion of any task would
be incomplete without the mention of people whose ceaseless cooperation made it
possible, whose constant guidance and encouragement crown all efforts with
success. We are grateful to our project guide Ms. Farhana Hussain for the
guidance, inspiration and constructive suggestions that helpful us in the preparation
of this project. We also thank our colleagues who have helped in successful
completion of the project.

Yasmin Khan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................02
Table of content......................................................................................................03-04
Chapter 01...................................................................................................................05

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background…………………………………………………………………...…05
1.2. Attendance policies of Jinnah University…………………………………….…05
1.2.1. Attendance guidelines ……………………...……………………….…..05
1.2.2. Inclement weather ………………………….……….………….……....06
1.2.3 Religious observances………………………………………….……….06
1.2.4 Problems with manual system……………………………….……,.......06
1.2.3. Rescheduling classes and final examination…………………………....06
1.3. Why to Change the Present Attendance System…………………….….…...…06
1.4. Problems with manual system……………………………………….………....... 07
1.5. Need for punching card attendance system………………………….………….07

Chapter 02..................................................................................................08

FEASIBILITY OF PROPOSED SYSTEM

2.1. Purpose………………………………………………………………...…….....08
2.2. Scope…………………………………………………………………………....08
2.3. Feasibility study…………………………………………………………….......08
2.3.1. Economically feasibility……………………………………………..…...08
2.3.2. Technical feasibility………………………………………………….…...08
2.3.3. Behavioral feasibility……………………………………………….…….09
2.4. Working of present system……………………………………………….…….09
2.4.1. Disadvantages of present working system…………………………......…09
2.4.2. Characteristics of the proposed system………………...…………….…...09
2.5. Why implement punching card student attendance System…………...……...10
2.6. Coverage of attendance monitoring…………………………………………......10
2.7. Features off punch card attendance system………………………......................10
2.7.1. Punching card as time and attendance system………………..………..10
2.7.2. Manual versus Automated………………………………………………11
2.7.3. The benefits of a computerized system…………………………………11
2.7.4. Absence Management………………………………………….....…......11
2.7.5. Comprehensive reports………………………………………………......11

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Chapter 03..............................................................................................................12

PERSEPTION OF USERS ABOUT THE PUNCH CARD SYSTEM

3.1. Teachers upset by punch card system…………………………………….12-13
3.2. The Logbook procedure for monitoring attendance…………........................14
3.3. Students perception about the system…………………………………….….14

References...............................................................................................................15

Conclusion...............................................................................................................16

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CHAPTER 01
INTRODUCTION
This chapter introduces use of punch card attendance system for Jinnah University for Women
for automation. Present system for monitoring attendance is done manually.

1.1. BACKGROUND:-
Jinnah University of Women is situated in the middle of the Karachi city, an organization for
domestic students. It runs a range of programmers designed to meet the needs of the market
primarily in the area of health sciences, business administration, commerce and arts.
It plans to offer to its students a series of progression options, based on the fact that it is
registered with HEC (Higher Education Commission).

The management of these all departments is done manually by paper work. For each course the
lecturer has a separate data sheet to call attendance for a specific number of students of a specific
class. The data sheet contains the names of students, the teacher calls one by one the names of
the students and marks the presence as well. It is too much time consuming process which wastes
the time of both teacher as well as students. Sometimes the teachers also gets frustrated from this
situation. The manual work is human error prone. The reports generated may contain errors some
times. We need an easy system to handle this situation which can get improved by automation.

1.2. ATTENDANCE POLICIES OF JINNAH UNIVERSITY:-

The following are the attendance policies of Jinnah University which are strictly implemented by
the management of the institution and seriously obeyed by the student as well.

1.2.1 ATTENDANCE GUIDELINES:-

[1]
University policy excuses the absences of students for illness (self or dependent), religious
observances, participation in University activities at the request of university authorities and
compelling circumstances beyond the students control. Students must request the excuse in
writing and supply appropriate documentation, e.g., medical documentation. Course syllabi
should specify the nature of the in-class participation expected and the effects of absences on
students’ grades. Students with written excused absences are entitled to a makeup exam at a time
mutually convenient for the instructor and student.

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1.2.2. INCLEMENT WEATHER:-

Faculty should clarify their policy on handling official schedule adjustments (closings and
delays), including associated rescheduling of examinations and assignments due to inclement
weather and campus emergencies. If necessary, they should make arrangements to communicate
with students directly if weather conditions preclude meeting with students for a normally
scheduled class. Official closures and delays are announced on local radio and TV stations. If
inclement weather conditions force a faculty member to cancel a class even though the
University is open, the faculty member must notify the department chair in advance.

1.2.3. RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES:-

The University System policy on religious observances states that students should not be
penalized for participation in religious observances and that, whenever feasible, they should be
allowed to make up academic assignments that are missed due to such absences. This is
especially important for final examinations. Faculty should remind students in advance,
preferably on the syllabus, that prior notification is especially important in connection with final
examinations.

1.2.4.RESCHEDULING CLASSES AND FINAL EXAMINATIONS:-

Changes to scheduling and location must be approved by the chair of the department or dean of
the college, or the appropriate designee. Permanent changes in the scheduling and location of
classes must be approved by the chair of the department or dean of the college, or the appropriate
designee. [1]

1.3. WHY TO CHANGE THE PRESENT ATTENDANCE

SYSTEM:-
[2]
We want to install punch card system for the attendance of student in our university due to the
drawbacks in traditional system of attendance which is all along manually handled.

Proxy attendance checking is one of the oldest problems and is a hard process to carry out during
the attendance which gets more time consuming.

This process needs more men power, and the attendance is called on data sheets and registers
manually. Mismanagement may occur due to human error. it increases the pay roll processing
time and one of the major reason is that it lacks security. [2]

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1.4.PROBLEMS WITH MANUAL SYSTEM:-

Manually tracking student attendance is not just inefficient, it is a highly labor-intensive
procedure that is error-prone and susceptible to rampant cheating by employees. There are
several immediate and long-range problems created when manual collection of students
attendance is not replaced with an automated system:
 Data entry errors
 Cheating by students
 Unauthorized overtime

1.5.NEED FOR PUNCHING CARD ATTENDANCE SYSTEM:-

The need of punching card system arises when underlying points are considered to be controlled;
 Stops proxy attendance.
 No worry of card theft
 Access to right person only.
 More secure.

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CHAPTER 02

FEASIBILITY OF PROPOSED SYSTEM

Punch card System is proposed for daily student attendance in Jinnah University. If facilitates to
access the attendance information of a particular student in a particular class. The
Information is sorted by the operators, which will be provided by the teacher for a particular
class. This system will also help in evaluating attendance eligibility criteria of a student.

2.1 PURPOSE:-
The punching card attendance management system is to computerized the traditional way of
taking attendance. Another purpose for developing this system is to generate the report
automatically mark the attendance of students simply by punching their id cards before entering
the class or in the between the lecture without making any kind of disturbance.
The attendance of teachers can be also marked by the use of this system. The punching card
attendance management provides the accuracy, flexibility in the procedure of marking
attendance, give human error free result.

2.2 SCOPE:-
The scope of the project is the system on which the user weather it is student or teacher can, i.e.
the project will be developed as punching an ID card application, that will automatically mark
attendance for teachers and students, and it will work for a particular institute. But later on the
project can be modified.

2.3 FEASIBILITRY STUDY:-

2.3.1. ECONOMICALLY FEASIBILITY:-

The system being developed is economic with respect to university’s point of view. It is cost
effective in the sense that has eliminated the paper work completely.
The system is also time effective because the calculations are automated. The result obtained
contains no errors and are highly accurate as the data is required.

2.3.2. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY:-

The technical requirement for the system is economic and it does not use any other additional
Hardware and software.

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2.3.3. BEHAVIORAL FEASIBILITY:-

The system working is quite easy to use and learn due to its simple. User requires no special
training for operating the system.

2.4.WORKING OF PRESENT SYSTEM:-

In the present system all work is done on paper. The whole session attendance is stored in
register. At the end the students who don’t have 75% attendance get a notice.

2.4.1 DISADVANTAGES OF PRESENT WORKING SYSTEM:-

 Not User Friendly: The existing system is not user friendly because the retrieval of data is
very slow and data is not maintained efficiently.
 Difficulty in report generating: We require more calculations to generate the reports.
 Manual control: All calculations to generate report is done manually so there is greater
chance of errors.
 Lots of paperwork: Existing system requires lot of paper work. Loss of even a single
register/record led to difficult situation because all the papers are needed to generate the
reports.
 Time consuming: Every work is done manually so we cannot generate report in the
middle of the session or as per the requirement because it is very time consuming.

2.4.2.CHARACTERSTIC OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM:-

 User Friendly: The proposed system is user friendly because the retrieval and storing
of data is fast and data is maintained efficiently. It provides user to deal with the system
very easily.
 Reports are easily generated: reports can be easily generated. Administration can give
the notice to the students so he/she become regular.
 Very less paper work: The proposed system requires very less paper work. All the data
is immediately transferred and reports can be generated. Moreover work becomes very
easy because there is no need to keep data on papers.

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2.5. WHY IMPLEMENT PUNCHING CARD STUDENT

ATTENDANCE SYSTEM:-
An effective information system needs to support a set of activities, which enable human beings
to achieve effectively the objectives of the organization, supported by punch card-based
information technology .[3]Traditional styles of attendance management include hand-written
signatures. This report summarizes an improvement for manual attendance system during class
using punch card student attendance system.

The implementation combines the technology to trace, store and transfer of data to the host
computer for report generation and data analysis.

This system offers effectiveness through its functions in capturing data, minimizing time-
constraint, and saving effort to collect attendances. The improved student attendance system
provides effectiveness and efficiency in administering and managing the attendance procedure.
Hence minimizing cost and improving productivity thus improving staff development.[3]

2.6 COVERAGE OF ATTENDANCE MONITORING:-

The punching card attendance monitoring system could cover all students. These students have
given an ID card by the use of this card they can easily register their attendance in a particular
course. Within few seconds the user can get the desire result to mark their attendance and
because of its efficiency their no doubt about the result that the user has attended the lecture.

By using this system the lecturers’ have the benefit to easily get the attendance report of a
particular student and can ask about the short attendance.

2.7 FEATURES OF PUNCH CARD ATTENDANCE SYSTEM :-

Following are few advantages and the main features of the proposed system. How one can
improve the quality of attendance by the use of punch card monitoring system.  

2.7.1 PUNCHING CARD AS TIME AND ATTENDANCE SYSTEM:-

 
[4]
Time and attendance systems are used by institutes of all sizes use to record credit hours of
students as well as their staff primarily in order to mark their attendance. Some institutes have a
requirement to record the number of hours spent on specific tasks in order to cost attendance
accurately.

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 A punching card system allows enables administration to have full control. It is also valuable for
ensuring compliance regarding proof of attendance.
 

2.7.2 MANUAL VERSUS AUTOMATED:-

 
Manual processes such as datasheets can prove both time consuming and costly to business.
They rely not only the students to ensure that they mark attendance correctly but also on the
teachers department who need to manually calculate all these hours and input them into their
payroll system. This can prove both laborious and open to abuse.

Although in a recent survey by visual management solutions on workforce management 60% of

companies still opt for a manual system such as datasheets, larger institutes have moved onto
more automated punch card recording systems in order to cut down on administration costs and
reduce chances of human error.

Of the remaining  60% of universities all over the world that opted for a punch card attendance
monitoring systems 99% stated it has significantly reduce the day-to-day administrative burden
associated with time recording, analyzing attended time, managing absence reports.

2.7.3 THE BENEFITS OF A COMPUTERISED SYSTEM:-

 
The main benefit of installing an effective punch card system is improved operational efficiency.
This translates into direct and indirect financial savings far in excess of the cost of the
investment.

There are also important many non direct financial benefits, such as those provided through an
accurate,

Improved safety and security afforded through integration with access control. Finally, there are
benefits relating to staff morale that ultimately aid staff retention.

 
2.7.4 ABSENCE MANAGEMENT:-
 
A full history of all individual, department and absence is constantly available and able to be
reported on. Along with this systems can provide reports on absence, holidays, holiday
entitlements and balances remaining for each employee who helps to avoid the ‘cramming’ of
untaken holidays towards the end of the year.

2.7.5 COMPREHENSIVE REPORTS:-

 

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Comprehensive sets of reports generated as standard, and can usually be scheduled to run at any
time you wish and are most cases emailed directly to you if required. This feature saves time and
improves efficiency [4].

CHAPTER 03
PERSEPTION OF USERS ABOUT THE PUNCH CARD
SYSTEM
A punched card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the
presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. They were used through the 20th century in
unit record machines for input, processing, and data storage. Early digital computers used
punched cards, often prepared using keypunch machines, as the primary medium for input of
both computer programs and data. Some voting machines use punched cards

3.1.TEACHERS UPSET BY PUNCH CARD SYSTEM:-

To punch a card twice a day in the morning and leave at the end of the day, just like factory
worker. They tell the paper that it is a more efficient way of marking attendance.
[5]
The teachers remain riled despite the explanation. They ask: Aren't there more dignified ways
of monitoring attendance?

Why reduce them to hourly-rated workers in front of their students?

'It's very embarrassing,' said a teacher from one such school. 'One student has even raised the
issue by asking me: 'Isn't this what factory workers do?'

At Gazi founation, which also requires teachers to punch in and out, a teacher was fuming.

'I feel like a factory worker reporting to work every day. It's a system that makes sense for
(factory workers) as they are paid by the hour,' she said.

'By punching in and out, their bosses can calculate the amount of overtime pay they should
make,' added the teacher, whom we cannot name because teachers need approval from their
principals before speaking with the media.

'Why subject teachers, who are professionals on a fixed pay, to such an unprofessional practice?'

This teacher, who has 10 years' experience, added that the punch card system was implemented
in December when the new principal took over.

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Every morning, teachers and heads of departments have to go into the general office, take their
respective cards and punch in.

When they leave, they do the same thing.

Only the principal and the two vice-principals do not need to do so. 'It's like we are children and
need to be monitored closely,' the teacher added, clearly upset. 'Before the punch card system,
we just had a book to sign in and out. That was more respectable.

'Why change the system?'

When asked about the use of the system in his school, Gazi foundation principal Kenneth Lee
would only say that the punch card system was introduced to keep track of staff attendance and
presence in the school.

He added: 'The introduction of this system is to make this more convenient for them to do so.'

Since in ‘70s

Another school which uses the system is Dunearn Secondary School.

Principal Ali Asghar said the system in his school was introduced in the '70s, when the school
was built.

Said Mr. Ali `It is a ministry requirement that all teachers clock in and out every day.'

He added that none of his staff has complained about the practice and so they have continued
with the system.

An Education Ministry spokesman said that schools need to keep track of staff members to
ensure that student activities are looked after and classes are attended to.

But school has the liberty to decide how they want to keep track of their teachers.

But not all schools support the practice. It is not certain how many schools have implemented
this system for their teachers. One head of department, who declined to be named, said he was
against implementing the system when his principal mooted the idea several years ago.

Said the 35-year-old: 'We had a problem of three teachers who kept coming in late in the
morning. So the principal thought, as a preventive measure, why not start the punch card system
for all teachers?

'But it did not make sense to penalize and disrespect the majority of teachers when the problem
was caused only by a handful. It would also instantly affect the morale of all teachers.'

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He said they approached the three teachers personally and told them to be punctual.

3.2.THE LOGBOOK PROCEDURE FOR MONITORING

ATTENDANCE:-
'We also introduced the logbook system as a way of monitoring their attendance, but in a less
regimented fashion.

'Yes, (the logbook system) is not foolproof but teachers are adults and we have to treat them with
respect and trust them.'

The problem was solved, he added.

Madam Shaista, a parent of two teenagers, agreed. She said: 'I feel it's not right because as
teachers, they would want to feel trusted and this system makes it seem that principals do not
trust them.'

But some teachers do find the system effective.

One teacher said: 'We are all rushing in the morning and it is the fastest way to mark attendance.
With the logbook, we have to write our identity card numbers and sign in.

'It just takes more time.'

Other schools have access cards that they use to mark attendance and gain access to staffrooms.

A teacher, 28, who uses the card, said: 'It's a more respectful and reliable way of marking
attendance.

'Plus, it can be very useful in emergencies as you can instantly know if a particular teacher is in
school if she is needed urgently[5].'

3.3.STUDENTS PERSEPTION ABOUT THE SYSTEM:-

One of the important feature of the proposed system is that it will overcome the responsibilities
from teachers because sometimes students blame them for not taking their attendance accurately
thus the institute will have command to generate the report according to short absent of the
student and will have prove that its responsibility of student to register their attendance.
 There may be some economies of scale in monitoring all students rather than a sub-set.
 Greater amount of accurate management information of student attendance will be
obtained.

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 The attendance will be marked by the system along with the time of registration.
 The institute can get the advantage of registering the attendance of teachers as well

REFERENCES
1. http://www.faculty.umd.edu/teach/attendance.html
2. http://www.scribd.com/doc/20162313/Punching-Card-System
3. http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/IACSIT-SC.2009.130
4. http://www.time-attendance.co.uk
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card

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CONCLUSION:-
Mainly, this proposed system aimed to develop an automated system to enhance attendance. An
automated attendance monitoring and registration system offers a total solution that electronically records
student’s attendance. It is also an advanced system that enables to run attendance monitoring in short
period of time. The system records individual student attendance in real time and eradicates all
registration on the system and administration easily can reach their records. There are a lot of
advantages for this
system like time consuming, economical efficiency, reduce personnel usage, user friendly and
protected program.

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