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Design and Development of Online Clearance System for Tertiary Institutions:

A Case Study of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State, Nigeria

Conference Paper · March 2016

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Design and Development of Online Clearance System for Tertiary Institutions: A Case
Study of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State, Nigeria

Usman, Opeyemi Lateef; Olusanya, Olayinka, O.; Adedeji, Oluwaseun B.

Corresponding Author: Usman, O.L., +2348031910783/[email protected]

Abstract

Online clearance system is an internet base research work that will help ease the queuing
system in the university’s clearance process. Online clearance system will build an
effective information management that is very convenient to use for schools since it is
internet based and can be accessed from anywhere. It is aimed at developing a computer
software system that replaces the manual method of clearance for graduating students
and that also help students to carry out their clearance without coming to the various
offices for clearance. The designed software will serve as a more reliable and effective
means of undertaking students clearance, remove all forms of delay and stress as well as
enable you to understand the procedure involved, as well as how to do your clearance
online. This project work makes use of data collection from the university, materials and
journals from various authors and the software was developed to effectively achieve the
aim of the project. In this project, the implementation of the computer based system was
carried out using PHP language, Html, CSS and the database for the software is MySQL.
KEYWORDS: Computer network, Automation, Clearance, Query Language, World Wide
Web, Databases, Online, System

1.0 Introduction

Improvement in information and communication technology has made time and space less
complex and could be seen that this modern age is the age of information boom in which an
average individual wants to explore the information system. Thus, the capability for timely
acquisition, utilization, communication and retrieval of relevant and accurate information has
become an important attribute for better teaching and learning processes (Adebayo, 2008). The
use of ICT in educational arena is not limited to teaching and learning situations alone, but also
extend to the administrative assignments. One of such administrative tasks is the development of
a web-based clearance system called online clearance.

By definition, clearance is a status granted to individuals, typically members of military,

university graduates and employees of governments and their contractors, allowing them access
to classified information. The term “clearance” is also used in private organizations that have a
formal method to vet employees for access to sensitive information. Clearance can refer to

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

authorization or permission from an authority (Anigbogu, 2000; Chimezie, 2000; Wikipedia

2013). The act of clearing an individual involves granting individual a permission to have access
to sensitive or secret documents or other information. The Oxford dictionary defines “online” as
controlled by or connected to a computer and as an activity or service which is available or
performed using the internet or other computer network (Dictionary of British and World
English, 2015). As people of this generation become more dependent on the internet for
information, the need for automated clearance becomes more apparent.

Online clearance is now used in various academics institute both locally and internationally for
various clearance, for instance, online hostel accommodation, UTME online clearance exercise,
online admission exercise, online graduating clearance exercise, and National Youth Service
Corp online mobilization registration exercise to mention but a few. The admission process of
students is strictly done online in some universities such as Ambrose Alli University, where
physical presence of admitted candidates is not required in the university premises during the
clearance exercise as it is strictly online while in some university in Nigeria such as University of
Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Tai Solarin University of Education, the admission process are done
online, and physical presence of candidate is needed for other admission clearance exercise.
Online clearance system has been employed by International Islamic University for vetting
graduating students.

In universities like TASUED, there is need for automated method of data keeping, so a greater
need for an automated online clearance system. This will go a long way in alleviating the various
problems and stress involved in the manual method of clearance. Also, the issue of delay in youth
service as a result of inability to complete the tedious manual processing of clearance will be
curtailed. The focus of this research therefore is to provide a reliable and transparent system
devoid of personal inclinations and interest, to eliminate travelling and queuing of students during
clearance in the study university and to serve as reference material to other researcher.

2.0 Statement of Problem

When a student is about to graduate in Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State, Nigeria,
he/she will take his/her degree exam after which he obtains a clearance form from Exam and
Record Unit of the University after the payment of all necessary dues. This form will have to be
certified at various departments and units including bursary, library, candidate’s department, and
the University Health Centre. The bursary department certifies that the student has completed all

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

payments while library will have to certify that the student does not owe any textbooks and
library materials, and so. In summary, the current final clearance system of the university is a
manual one. This makes the system so tedious and time-consuming. In this case, students will
have to visit all the clearance offices with a form for them to sign. Once the form is fully signed,
it proves that the student has been cleared.

In the manual system, the clearance forms are documented in a file cabinet. Each time the
clearance form is needed, a search operation is conducted on the file cabinets to locate a
particular student’s clearance form. To alleviate this problem, there is need to develop an efficient
web-based platform that is reliable and cost-effective, which can manage the process efficiently.
Therefore, the objective of this study is summarized below:

i. To develop an online clearance system that will effectively and efficiently process
students’ final clearance.
ii. To provide a reliable and transparent system for the students’ final clearance devoid of
personal inclinations and interest.
iii. To alleviate the problems and stress encountered by students during final clearance, most
prominent one being the queuing up of students at various clearance spot.

3.0 Related Works

Clearance is a certificate giving permission for something to be done. In higher institution of

learning, final year students that have satisfied the academic requirements to graduate must
undergo a clearance process before they disengage from the institution. The above fact prompted
the development of a web-based database-driven students’ clearance system by Agbo-Ajala and
Makinde (2015). The system was developed using PHP and MySQL, and is aimed at eliminating
the delays associated with the manual process of final clearance. In similar manner, Umezinwa,
Uwakwe and Abode (2015) developed online clearance system for final year clearance of Imo
State University using PHP, JAVASCRIPT, CSS, APACHE and MySQL for the database. The
above system was able to process data with great speed and also replaces the error-prone manual
clearance system.

Zuhaib (2013) supervised a project on the development of online clearance system using
ASP.Net to create interfaces of the system. The system which was implemented at Quest

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

University, Nawabshah contain database that can store all the required information of students for
clearance certificate via web pages. Awuzie (2013) summarizes the advantages of online
clearance system to include the following:

i. It save a lot of time.

ii. It is very convenient to use anywhere at any time e.g., office, bedroom or anywhere in
the world.
iii. Information processing is very fast and delay can be avoided.
iv. It is inexpensive to students and school management.
v. It also help the school in reducing cost such as labour and stationery.

As many universities have chosen to pursue the dynamic educational options available on web
pages (online), the advantages of e-learning cannot be estimated. According to Cox (2005),
online system is presented as an efficient means of conveying instruction to an extensive learning
community any place at any time. Indicating that adequate attention be designated to online
learning as it serves as the driving force and model for transformation of teaching, learning and
formal schooling, Environmental Education and Training Partnership (2006) posits that, online
course has the potential to provide learner individualized attention by the instructor. This is
otherwise impossible in a large classroom environment.

With the continued development of online system applications, many colleges and universities
have begun to offer online courses as an alternative to traditional face-to-face instructions.
Hillstock (2005) reports that 67% of colleges and universities agreed that online education are the
most logical long-term strategies for their institutions. However, there are considerable
hesitations rising predominantly related quality and student respectively to online system, (Yong
and Conellus, 2004). Just as their advantages there are also disadvantages to the online system of
instruction delivery method. There is evidence through previous research that students feel
isolated or disconnected when not engaged in traditional face-to-face instruction (Guhu 2001;
Graham, 2001), while other reports indicate large success (Hoffman, 2002; Kaczynski and Kelly,
2004; Meyer, 2006). There remains a lack of clarity whether online courses are as affective as
traditional courses (Peirier and Feldman, 2004).

While there has been vast number of studies conducted on the merits and demerits of online
system institution, little is known on how assessment is used in online classroom to monitor
performance and progress (Liang and Creasy, 2004). Hew, Liu, Martinez, Bonk, and Lee (2004)

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

in Agbo-Ajala and Makinde (2015) describe the evaluation of current online education system at
three levels; the macro level, the meso level and micro level. The macro level is an online
evaluation that access an entire online program, the meso level evaluation access individual
online courses, and the micro level access the learning of the online student.

Several communicational tools are at the disposal of students and staffs to support their activities
during the clearance. The partner universities offer two virtual communication tools with
different capabilities “Marratech and Central”. It is also available online as the communication
management systems (CMS) and independent discussion forum.

Marratech is a virtual interactive tool that allows holding meeting and video conferencing on the
web, face-to-face, whenever you want to talk, see each other and share application and document
without being in the same room, the same building, or even the same country. This platform is
used in several systems, like in the energy online master program for lectures, project meetings
and project presentation. Central enables group to work faster and more effectively by automating
critical clearance system and training initiatives online through virtual classroom, online meeting
and web conferences. Central has a broad array of features that make live, group-oriented system
effective on the web. Interactive white board, YES/NO feedback, had-raising, multi-point
conferencing, advanced application shearing and text and fool-duplex chart examples, in the
energy online master program for lectures, project meetings and project presentation.
Communication management tools are available at each university and also in an online clearance
system homepage.

4.0 System Design Methodology

The proposed system uses a top-down design which is a software design technique which aimed
to describe functionality at a very high level, then partition it recursively into more detailed level
one at a time as shown in Fig.1. The information captured in Fig.1 is further described in Fig.2,
which depicts the Use-Case diagram showing the interaction between the user and the proposed
system. In designing the proposed system for Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State,
for managing graduating student clearance system, the following will be used: PHP language,
JavaScript, CSS and MySQL server as the database.

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Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Start

Login graduating

Student

No Is record

found
yes

Make payment
Show error message

Message Is Payment
No
successful

yes
Fill and submit Form
for various unit

unit

If Form is filled
No
And submitted

Successfully
yes Submit Complain via E-
mail
Save to database

Respond to complain via

Send clearance certificate student E-mail
Notification to Student
E-mail

End

Fig.1: Flowchart of Online Clearance System

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

SYSTEM
Email student
Login
Clearance Analysis
Make

Payment
View error Log file
Fill form

Edit setup
Receive Certificate
Notification
Verify Student
Contact

Help students
User Admin
fill
complai
Fig.2: Use-Case Diagram Showing the Interactive Between the System, User and Admin
n form

5.0 System Implementation

This system was implemented using object-oriented approach. In this approach, two different
applications were created each for the system. The system consists of codes that connect the user
to the database engine. This is to hide database from the user. In implementing the system, this
concept was used because of future updates of the system. Procedure can be added to the class
and corrections made without affecting the application. Figures below are the visual display of
the online clearance development environment.

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Figure 3: Home page

Figure 3 shows the home page of the system window. In this home page interface, the icons are
clickable and the login icon redirects the user to the login page.

Figure 4: Login page

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Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Figure 4 shows the login interface. In this login interface, is a login form provided by the admin
in order to test authentication of graduating student. The form included: Matric Number, which is
the graduating student matric number and Password, which is the graduating student surname.

Figure 5: Payment page

Interface used for making payment. Login user is redirected to this page to make payment. If
payment is successful, user is redirected to the next page to print receipt.

Figure 6: Successful payment page

Figure 6 shows the successful payment interface. In this interface, payment ID is generated on
every payment which is used as payment security.

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Figure 7: Payment Receipt Page

The interface shown in figure 7 is the receipt interface issued to every student after payment.
Thereafter, the user proceeds to verify payment.

Figure 8: Bursary Clearance Page

Figure 8 shows the Bursary Clearance page, where all payment made from first year in school till
date are verify. In this interface the Payment Id on all receipt from first year in school till

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

400level are generated, and the graduating student is asked to supply the newly generated
identification number from payment made, then verify. If verification is successful from the
bursary unit, user is redirected to Exams and Record for the final stage of the clearance.

Figure 9: Exam and Records Page

Figure 9 shows the Exams and Record interface. In this interface, user is to check all information
and supply email. If all information are correct, click final submission, otherwise, click send
complain.

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Figure 10: Successful clearance page

Figure 10 is successful clearance interface. This page is generated on successful clearance. User
is redirected to this page on clicking final submission.

Figure 11: Complain Page

Figure 11 shows the complain interface. User with incorrect information on the exams and record
page is redirected here on clicking send complain.

Figure 12: Complain Successful Page

User who fill the complain form is redirected to this page.

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

Input

Input from the input

device e.g. Keyboard

CPU Reports
Data
Repository

Output

Figure 13: System Flowchart

Figure 13 depicts the interaction and the connections between the system(s) in the program and
also explains how the information supplied to the system are processed. The keyboard serve as
the means of inputting the data, the disk storage is a device that saves information and data, while
the Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a machine that processes information or data supplied as
well as the brain of the system. The output and report are the expected results from the proposed
system.

6.0 Contributions to knowledge

This research study has contributed immensely to knowledge through the development of an
efficient and cost-effective web-based clearance system for tertiary institutions which has a
potential of alleviating the delay problem associated with manual clearance system. With this
development, the problem of personal inclination was completely eliminated. When tested on

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 Proceedings of the iSTEAMS Multidisciplinary Cross-Border Conference, University of
Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

samples (students) drawn from our case study, the proposed system was able to process data with
great speed thereby removing the queuing-up of students at various clearance spot.

7.0 Conclusion and Future Direction

The research paper culminated in the design and implementation of a software application,
meant to ease the process and activities of graduating student, during final clearance. The
application was successfully developed, tested, and found to be working as expected.
However, beta and acceptance testing are expected to be carried out by the users to discover
and correct more bugs. The developed system is capable of storing and processing graduating
student clearance with high speed and accuracy, and presenting output in certain required
format. Other qualities of this system include reduction in cost of travelling, elimination of
stress for both students and administrative staff, reduction of paper works and reliability.

Research, as we know is a continuous process and this is not an exception. This research has
successfully been carried out and now in a better position to make necessary recommendation
and suggestions. Below are some recommendations for future research and addition to the
project:

i. All tertiary institution should endeavor to adopt and use an automated online
clearance system since it is capable to carry out all the clearance process and keep
records effectively and efficiently.
ii. Researchers can carry out further research on this research.
iii. Admission clearance in tertiary institution can also be automated using this research
as bedrock
Finally, this software is recommended as decision comparison and facilitation for all
tertiary institutions.

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Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

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Professional Studies, Accra Ghana, 21st-23rd March, 2016, page 655-664

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