CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

          Record is the sum of the past achievements or actions of a person or organization. Every existing organization or firm works through a flow of information concerning several aspects that make it up – facilities, funds, personnel and so on. Records refer to information or data on any such specific subject obtained and preserved for future reference or use.

          Data are made by people/organizations when they carry out actions that leave traces which are managed and organized to keep evidence. The data we decide to store should reflect the type and purpose of information system. Data need to be processed and organized before it becomes information. Organizing the data will involve the process of sorting and filtering (classifying) before it can be analyzed and stored for later retrieval.

          International standard on Records Management, ISO 15489 defines records as information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization, a person, in purpose of legal obligations or transaction of business. However, for a piece of information to be considered a record, it must meet such parameters as genuineness and authenticity (Egwuyenga, 2005).

          Record keeping is a process that involves practice of safe-guarding the records of an organization throughout their life cycle, from the time they are created to their eventual disposal. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking and destroying or permanently preserving records. Record keeping occupies a strategic position in the efficient and effective management of the university system. Record keeping in an organizational set-up like the school cannot be over emphasized, especially to ensure that accurate and proper record of student’s achievement and growth are kept in schools.

          Record management was believed to have started around 8000 B.C, the people in southern Mesopotamia began using clay tokens that had different shapes and markings used for such functions as counting and record keeping. These numerical notations gradually combined with pictures. Sometime before 3000 B.C., this combination emerged as the writing system known as cuneiform, which used wedge-shaped characters. Scholars believe cuneiform was the first writing system. So although record keeping has been around for a long time, it was not until the masses became literate that it really took off.

According to (International Standard Organization 1548, 2001), record management includes:

Ø  Setting policies and standards

Ø   Assigning responsibilities and authorities

Ø   Providing a range of services relating to the management and use of records

Ø  Designing, implementing and administering specialized systems for managing records

Ø  Integrating records management into business systems and proposal

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

          Record keeping occupies a strategic position in the efficient and effective management of the university system. As a matter of fact, it is central in the administration of institutions of learning because it documents the planning and implementation of the right course of services allowing proper monitoring of work. In past years, effort has been made to improve record keeping systems in Nigerian universities by introducing computers and internet but these efforts have been clearly unsuccessful because record keeping is still done in the conventional paper-based way

(Omotunde, 2012).

          In the conventional paper based organizations such as the universities, paper continues to be viewed as the material for records in administrative documentations (Igwoku, 2008). Despite the fact that educational records are very vital in the management of educational institutions, it is disheartening to observe that many Nigerian universities do not take record-keeping seriously and most of their essential records are badly stored and secured (Akor P.Usman et al, 2013).

          There is a box laid of problems associated with the paper-based method of record management (which is currently in use at computer science Department, Babcock University). These problems are:

Ø  Inability to be able to access data quickly and compute the departments preparedness for NUC

Ø  Inability to identify records where numerous data are processed, searching through to find a record cannot be done quickly when decision must be made by the users of the information.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

          The aim of this work is to look into the problems associated with record management system in the computer science department and design, develop and implement an E-Record based system that organizes student and staff data and also determines the preparedness of the university for NUC.

Ø  Examine the pitfalls of paper based record management system

Ø  To maintain students and staff information using a web-based platform

Ø  To make known the power and effectiveness of record-management

Ø  To determine how ready the department is for NUC and make suggestions on improvements which (Omotunde, 2012) couldn’t achieve.

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology used in this research were both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies. A wide selection of published resources were employed. They include:

Ø  Academic journals

Ø  Professional bodies magazines

Ø  Books

Ø  Interview of a lecturers in Babcock University, reviewing the existing system and its pitfalls and also proposing what the new system intends to achieve.

A detailed survey of E-record system was carried out after which a new system was proposed. The proposed E-record system covers the essential operation relating to record generation and also commutation of data from input.

1.5 SCOPE OF STUDY

          This research projects majorly aimed at reviewing the current system being used at the department of computer science, Babcock University. A proposed system will be worked on, the proposed E-record system covers the essential operation relating to record generation and also commutation of data from input.

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF SUBSEQUENT CHAPTERS

                The organization of the chapters of this project is as follows;

Ø  Chapter one: Introduction. This is the introduction to our project and the system we are proposing.

Ø  Chapter two: Literature Review. This chapter entails reviewing the previous existing systems that are available and the pros and cons of each system.

Ø  Chapter three: System Analysis and Design. The purpose of this Chapter is to specify software requirements for the students and staffs registration and how accredited for NUC the University is. It is intended to be a complete specification of what functionality the registration process provides.

Ø  Chapter Four: Analysis and Design of the System. This chapter reviews testing and implementation of the proposed system. It consists of features and screenshot of the new system and their functionalities.

Chapter Five: This chapter entails summary, conclusion, limitations and Recommendations.