CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter covers the ideas of what this project entails, why this project is carried out and what

is to be achieved at the end of the work. It is organized under the background of the project,

Statement of the problem, Aim of the project and Organization of the Project Report.

1.1 Background of the Study

The internet has changed the face of the world and make receiving and sending of information

spread widely and easily, this can be done at the tips of people’s hand and without wasting any

time. Compared to when the internet has not evolved, before information could be received from

another end, it takes time depending on the distance of the journey.

According to (Adesanya, 2002). The Internet is a global collection of many types of computers

and computer networks that are linked together. It is increasingly becoming the solution to many

information problems, information exchange, and marketing. According to Awuzie (2013)

Clearance is the process of determining and negotiating any permission that is needed to include

the use of someone's intellectual property in a creative project. Clearance systems for graduating

students are vital incessant procedures and processes in every University that is inevitable. The

clearance must be carried out so as to check if the student is eligible to go for National Service and

not owing to the school anything. It is the University practice to carry out these processes at the

completion of the last exam in school, where the student did not have any carryover left.

Online clearance system is a web-based system which makes use of the internet. University of

Education Winneba, Kumasi Campus current method of clearance is not internet based which

increases the stress of students moving from school to school or office to office to sign the forms.

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The form given to students must be signed by the following; Dean of all school, University

Liberian, Head of the department, Sports official, Dean of student affair, Hall Administrator.

Thus, the need for a web-based clearance system for graduating student is inevitable to save the

time and the cost of transportation from one location to another.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In the University of Education Winneba, Kumasi Campus, clearing of graduating students has

always been a manual process. An effort has been made by the University to replace the existing

manual process with an automated clearance system for graduating student but to this day

clearance is still a manual process. It is evident that the registration is incapable to totally replace

the manual process of online clearance system for graduating student.

It is obvious that we are now in a technology era where science and technology is applied to almost

every aspect of life to make work faster, easier and efficient. As a University of Technology, it is

our duty to lead the way into Science and Technology for other institution and organization to

emulate by implementing automated systems that will replace all manual process within our

University System.

The manual process of clearing student has a lot of limitation which includes;

i. The integrity of information is not fully guaranteed, as there is a high risk of information getting

to unauthorized or wrong hand that may manipulate the information illegally making the

information inaccurate.

ii. In the absence of a personnel in charge of any of the clearance form processes, the entire

clearance registration process is delayed until such personnel is available.

iii. Too much time is wasted before a student successfully completes his/her clearance registration

form.

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iv. The manual process is only capable of attending to a limited number of students a day, hence

students who are not attended to will have to come back the next day until they successfully

complete their clearance form registration.

1.3. The aim of the Project

This project seeks to develop an online (Android-based) clearance system to manage the clearance

of students who complete the various programs in UEW, Kumasi campus. Specifically, the system

is to allow final year students to clear themselves with ease from the various departments in the

university.

1.4 Significance of the Study

Online clearance system is basically designed to save user information, facilitate the manipulation

of data in a faster rate, provide concurrent access (access too many users at this time) to authorize

users, and also ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information system store by the authorized

users.

The online clearance system for graduating student will help to ease the student from queuing to

have them cleared by the University.

1.5. The scope of the Study

The online clearance system for graduating student has been designed to manage the clearance

process for graduating student of only Kumasi Campus students of University of Education,

Winneba.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

For the purpose of this project, the service provided by the Online Clearance System for

Graduating Students (OCSFGS) is only restricted to Kumasi Campus. It does not extend to other

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Campuses in the University at the moment. The application can be extended if the University

management is interested in it.

1.7 Definition of Terms

OCSFGS: means Online Clearance System for Graduating Student.

Online: is the condition of being connected to a network of computer or another device.

Clearance: is the certification of blamelessness, trustworthiness, faithfulness or suitability. The

definition by the free dictionary.

System: an assembly of interrelated elements which we find interesting to study, it could be a

processing machine.

Graduating Student: is a student that has completed his/her 4 or 5-year course of study at the

University.

Computer network: is a group of connected, communicating devices such as computers and

printers.

Internet: is composed of hundreds of thousands of interconnected networks.

Database: is a collection of data or file purposely to assist many users at the same time.

Database management system or DBMS: is software designed to assist in maintaining and

utilizing large collections of a database.

Website: is a collection of web pages which have an image and/or text for the purpose of passing

information to the users.

Server: is a process that provides requested services for clients.

1.8 Organization of the Project Report

This project is organized as follows; chapter one introduces the project; the background of the

project is also discussed. The objective of the project, its significance, scope, constraints and a

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brief of the methodology all falls under chapter one. A brief history of the UEW-K clearance and

review of the literature on an online clearing system are the subject matter of chapter two. Chapter

three discusses system analysis and design. The methodology used is discussed through here; it

deals with detailed investigation and analysis of existing application and problem identification.

Chapter four covers the application; testing and integration. Chapter five is the summary,

conclusion and recommendations and future works.