Towards Implementation Of A Fingerprint-Based Attendance Register, A Case Of Maasai Mara University

Abstract

Attendance marking in any institution ensures continuous operation and thus, important. Aiming at the drawbacks of traditional paper based attendance system, a fingerprint based attendance register is proposed. This system will be used to record the attendance of students as a solution and provides accurate and reliable data for the institution. The term 'biometrics' refers to a measurable characteristic that is unique to an individual such as fingerprints, facial structure, the iris or a person's voice. This paper presents a fingerprint based biometric system that records the attendance of a person by using a hand held fingerprint sensor. Fingerprint recognition has been used for data access but it can also be employed for monitoring purposes, and this project defines how it could be used in this context to provide a fingerprint-based attendance register. This project is set out to overcome the drawbacks of the current system. The descriptive research design was preferred given that it ensured complete description of the situation under study and minimized bias in the collection of data. A sample of 371 respondents was drawn from the target population of 4820 individuals in Maasai Mara University. The researcher developed a questionnaire as the main instrument for data collection from the respondents. An interview schedule was also utilized to gather more insight and collect more sensitive data. Collected data from the questionnaires was coded, collated, cleaned and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the collected data. The study concluded that the implementation of an electronic biometric-based method of attendance management system using would greatly assist the university and thereby prevents time-consuming processes which would improve the net productivity of the university. The proposed system is dependable, secure, competent, and capable of replacing the traditional manual method of attendance management. The study recommends that the university needs to enhance the utilization of the biometric attendance register for improved operational performance.