CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Clearance is a status
granted individuals, typically members of the military, university graduates
and employees of governments and their contractors, allowing them access to
classified information, i.e. state secrets. The term "clearance” is also
sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal process to vet
employees for access to sensitive information. A clearance by itself is
normally not sufficient to gain access; the organization must determine that
the cleared individual has a "need to know" the information. No one
is supposed to be granted access to classified information solely because of rank
or position, but once a clearance is obtained, access to certain information or
gain of freedom will be granted.
As many universities have
choosing to pursue the dynamic educational options available online. The
advantages of e-learning are many. As people of all ages and backgrounds become
increasingly reliant on the internet for information, online learning becomes
more convenient and efficient here the need for an online clearance system. The
skills needed to access and comprehend information online are becoming
commonplace, and the flexibility of wireless computing means that any coffee
shop, airport or bedroom can become a classroom. Online courses, registrations,
clearance have few, if any scheduling restrictions, well-integrated learning
resources and competitive degree options, with an online clearance system.
The changing
online college landscape now includes online clearance system, traditional
undergraduate and general studies programs. However, career learning is still
the most popular online training option.
1.2
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Caritas University, Amorji nike Enugu is a private
University approved by the federal Government of Nigeria on Dec 16 2004. It was
officially opened on Jan 21, 2005 by the Federal minister for education, Prof.
Fabian Osuji. It is the second catholic
university founded by Rev. Fr. Prof E.M.P Edeh. The school is managed by the
congregation of Sisters of Jesus the Saviour, a religious congregation of nuns
founded by him. The school operates the faculty system and presently has four
faculties; Engineering, Environmental, Management and social sciences and
natural science
In
Universities like Caritas, there is need for automated method of keeping data,
more so a greater need for an online clearance system. This would go a long way
in alleviating the various problems and stress involved in the manual method of
clearance. Moreover, the issue of delayed youth service as a result of
inability to complete the tedious manual process of clearance would be
curtailed.
1.3
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The processes of clearing students
after their graduation requires that the students be cleared in various
departments and information units. Among which are:
§
Library fines and overdue or lost library materials from the
University
§ Departmental Dues
§ Infirmary and bookstore charges
§ Residence hall damage charges
§ Return of athletic equipment
§ Student Union Fee
§ Bursary and all other charges
§ A good android or windows phone
for easy access
For a graduating student to
carry out his her clearance from all these departments, it normally takes a
lot of time and a lot of processes and delays in clearing the student for youth
service as well as collection of statement of result. Hence it became imperative
for an online android-based clearance system to eliminate the shortcomings of
the manual system in place.
1.4 OBJECTIVES
OF THE STUDY
The
objective of this project includes:
·
To effectively and efficiently process students clearance
using an android phone.
·
To provide a reliable and transparent system devoid of
personal inclinations and interest
·
To provide borderless access at any time.
·
To ensure prompt clearance
·
To alleviate the problems and stress of travelling and
queuing up of students during clearance.
1.5 SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
This research work is limited to clearance system for
graduating students from Caritas
University. The android
application developed will be carried out using JAVA, SDK, and MYSQL to manage
both the database and at the same time make the application online.
1.6 LIMITATIONS
This project covers all
aspect of online clearance system using Caritas University
as a case study. However, the following were the constraints:
Time
constraints: Due to time constraint, the web – page developed covers only clearance
from various departments by the graduating students.
Financial
constraints: It would cost a lot to develop a
full web – based clearance system.
Some documents were considered confidential
and were not made available.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The project work will help in a good number of ways
to ease the queuing system in the university as the android-based online
clearance system will help students to achieve what ever they want to achieve
without coming to the various offices for clearance.
Clear advantages of Internet information processing
over those of traditional manual system are higher yields. Online clearance
system allows the users to check their clearance status as whether they are in
any way indebted to the school, fill and submit their clearance form, and
obtain their clearance letter from registered emails. There are many other
advantages of online clearance system and some of them are listed below.
o It saves a lot of time and stress
to the students and the administrators.
o It is very convenient to use it
right from the bedroom, office or anywhere in the world.
o Information processing are very
fast and delays can be avoided.
o It is inexpensive to students and
school management.
·
Help the school in reducing costs such as
labor and stationary.
1.8 DEFINITION
OF TERMS
Android
SDK: The Android SDK
(software development kit) is a set of development tools used to develop
applications for Android platform. The Android SDK includes the following: Required libraries, Debugger, An emulator, Relevant
documentation for the Android application program interfaces (APIs), Sample
source code, Tutorials for the Android OS
Computer Network: Computer Network is
a system that connects two or
more computers together
using a communication link.
Debugger: A debugger is a computer program used by programmers to test
and debug a target program. Debuggers may use instruction-set simulators,
rather than running a program directly on the processor to achieve a higher
level of control over its execution.
Java: Java is a programming language that produces software for
multiple platforms.
Android: Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google. It
is used by several smartphones and tablets. Examples include the Sony Xperia,
the Samsung Galaxy, and the Google Nexus One.
iOS: iOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple. It was
originally named the iPhone OS, but was renamed to the iOS in June, 2009.
World Wide Web: World Wide Wed simply
called www is the most
important
tool of the Internet. It was created ion the late
1980s in Europe and was used limitedly in academic
cycle.
Clearance: Official
certification of blamelessness, trustworthiness,
or
suitability for graduation and issue of certificates in
degree course.
Databases: A systematically arranged collection
of computer data,
structured so that it can be automatically
retrieved or
manipulated. It
is also called databank.
File Transfer: Any kind of computer file can be sent
via the Internet
from one Internet
user to another. Table of accounts on
spreadsheets,
design by a graphic artists, music sound
files etc, can
all be exchanged in this way.
Web Brower: This is a special kind of software
that processes hypertext
make-up language
(HTML) document. In other words, a
web browser is a
computer program that interprets HTML
command to collect,
arranged and display the parts of a
web page.
Web Site: A website is a collection of many interconnected web
pages
organized by a specific
college, organization company etc,
containing web pages (good
and commodities) on the Internet.
Web site are stored on web
servers. There are many web site and
thousand of HTML pages on each
web site. A web site is a
treasure of information and
entertainment.
Hyperlinks: Hyperlinks are highlighted
words and phrase you find on web
documents that you can
click on as to jump to some other
documents or Internet
services.
Online: Connected via a computer attached to or
available via a central
computer network.
Offline: Disconnected
from computer network; describes a computer
terminal or peripheral
device disconnected from a computer
network.
System: Set of computer components that is, an
assembling of hardware,
software and peripherals
functioning together.