COMPUTERIZED CLASS MONITORING SYSTEM FOR DBIAS-CABUYAO COMPUTER LABORATORY (Unfinish)

Don Bosco Global College
City of Cabuyao, Laguna
Republic of the Philippines


COMPUTERIZED CLASS MONITORING SYSTEM FOR
DBIAS- CABUYAO COMPUTER LABORATORY

A Thesis Presented
To the IT Department of
Don Bosco Global College- Cabuyao Campus


In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science




Briones, Neil Chester E.
Buenaventura, Kelvin Klein V.
Buraga, Joerey A.
Derequito, Lester B.

MARCH, 2017
Chapter 1: Introduction
 
The advancement of technology today has immersed itself towards education. Its presence has reached its maximum of providing sustainable technology towards quality education through delivery and effective learning. Nowadays, computer is a basic need for businesses or companies. It helps a lot in such a way that it makes work more progressive and productive. It is an important thing that a company or small business should have because it helps a lot in many ways such as organizing, storing and manipulating data.
Computer Laboratory is one of the facilities an institution needs the most to operate certain works that are usually cannot be done manually or hand-in-hand. Years before this generation, many are suffering from lack of facilities and because of this insufficiency, the stagnant economic status affects the company's way of improving its quality service for its client. The problem does not stop there; even groups with complete facility also experience certain things such as ineffective management, security weakness, loss of data and many more.
But, the majority of computer labs at today's academic institutions face a common set of business challenges in security, operations management, and managerial decision support. These challenges cause significant direct losses, which can be attributed to factors such as lack of access control and inadequate security. Moreover, there are substantial opportunity costs related to workstation downtime, sub-optimal work schedules, poor employee supervision, and inefficient occupancy management.

Having computer programs may help a company grow bigger and be competitive in the flow of the business world. This is why 'Computer Laboratory Management System' is created and designed to handle the necessity in computer laboratories which include monitoring, security, tracking, etc. It has already been implemented by different organization since it furthers the effectiveness of managing laboratories such as in school, call center and the like. And because of the need to broaden the value of this system, a lot of features have been conducted by different researchers to promote quality management of this facility. This shows the importance of this kind of system that most of the individuals forget and neglect to build in their places.


Background of the Study

The argument that system monitoring is just a nice to have and not really a core requirement for operational readiness dissipates quickly when a critical application goes down with no warning. A significant number of secure systems are concerned with monitoring the environment. "For if a man watch too long, it is odds he will fall asleep", a line of Francis Bacon on his essay 'Of Delays' shows that there is a need for man to rest instead of continuously monitoring one thing, and since there is new way of monitoring things aside from the usual way of watching to secure important things, the proponents proposed a system that would greatly help the IT Department lessen their burdens in monitoring the computer laboratory.

The fundamental principle of a Monitoring system is to allow users to capture data, process and disseminate information in a systematic way. Monitoring system enables us to measure trends of various indicators based on the data collected in the field.

Computerized Class Monitoring System is a system that manages several tasks of Faculty of Computer Studies at Don Bosco Global College (DBGC) – Cabuyao Campus. This system will manage several modules in laboratories such as lab maintenance and the report of the use of lab. DBGC only have manual system that manages these modules before. So, this system will be developed to help the laboratory administrators to set up and manage the laboratories easily.

Computer laboratory, as one of the facilities that Don Bosco Global College-Cabuyao has provided to help students practice the theories that have been thought in lecture, has a total of 64 computers with an average of 32 computers per lab. The laboratories are located in front of the training rooms 1 and 2 at the main building of the school. Each laboratory is devoted to the subject provided like Data Communication, Operating System, Animation and Visual Graphics, Computer Fundamentals and Applications, and different Computer Programming languages including Databases taken mostly by Information Technology and Computer Science students. These laboratories are managed by the IT Head assisted by his two (2) assistants. Instead of time-to-time visit for laboratory maintenance, the proposed system will help the laboratory personnel to maximize their effort which can be used into another important school matter. The security of the laboratory will get more than the limited way before because it will restrict the users of the said laboratory day by day. Knowing that students might not get worried when attending their class because there is already a personal computer waiting for them to get started just so they have to let their identification card be read through the barcode by the hardware.

This is the reason why the researchers would like to conduct a system where the institution, Don Bosco Global College-Cabuyao, could get better changes from the usual way of dealing with daily activities inside the computer laboratory. A system that could likely be seen in others but with added features because of the common problem that is typically faced by the management.


Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework
A Computerized Class Monitoring System in Computer LaboratoryA Computerized Class Monitoring System in Computer LaboratoryThe program designed and coded in Visual Basic.NET shall be installed and must be running in all computers in the laboratory and in main server where the barcode scanner is plugged into.The program designed and coded in Visual Basic.NET shall be installed and must be running in all computers in the laboratory and in main server where the barcode scanner is plugged into.VB.NETMySQL DatabaseBarcode ScannerVB.NETMySQL DatabaseBarcode Scanner
A Computerized Class Monitoring System in Computer Laboratory
A Computerized Class Monitoring System in Computer Laboratory


The program designed and coded in Visual Basic.NET shall be installed and must be running in all computers in the laboratory and in main server where the barcode scanner is plugged into.



The program designed and coded in Visual Basic.NET shall be installed and must be running in all computers in the laboratory and in main server where the barcode scanner is plugged into.


VB.NET
MySQL Database
Barcode Scanner

VB.NET
MySQL Database
Barcode Scanner
PROCESSPROCESSOUTPUTOUTPUTINPUTINPUT
PROCESS
PROCESS
OUTPUT
OUTPUT
INPUT
INPUT










The proponents have come to the idea of using Visual Basic.NET because of its very friendly interface and is very easy to use in creating programs. It has been used by many programmers in building up a system like Payroll System, Enrollment System and the like. Visual Basic.NET, as one of the proponents' subject during the past years, has proven the world of programming that it can be as good as other programming languages used by bigger institutions. Together with the said programming language, connecting it to a database will surely complete a set of system. In order to keep files in storage, a program must be attached into a database in order to complete its purpose especially in any matter of the storing and keeping files.
Since technology never stops innovating, there are already ways on how to maximize time and add security level in any system today. There are RFID's, Biometrics, and a lot more that could help the system to be more useful in terms of limiting redundancy and removing dishonesty.
But due to lack of budget of the proponents, the system will be attached in with a Barcode Scanner; however, this does not lessen the security or decreases any part of the system because scanners are very appropriate when introducing a new and scalable system like the proposed.


General Statement of the Problem

How to develop a Computerized Class Monitoring System for Don Bosco Institute of Arts and Sciences - Cabuyao Computer Laboratory?

It is, at all times, laborious as well as a combination of critical and time-consuming task for the researchers to find these types of little and rare things to open up for studies since the issue is not merely the destruction for the institution's mission and vision but for future use that it would be of help for the growth and development of the said society. This is already tackled in different studies digging the importance and the advantages of management especially in computer areas considering the hazardous form of machine used and the literacy of the people in workstation.


Specific Statement of the problem

How to design a system which can restrict students who are not enrolled to the subject at the time the laboratory is being occupied to use the facility?
It really happens for a while to some students when they do not have computer to use because of outnumbered and overpopulated students in a class. But this is impossible to occur when students regulate themselves from continuous changing of section and some other reasons that cause the irregularity of a class. The school provides 32 computers per lab, which is equal to the number of students that must only be enrolled in subjects with laboratory activities. Therefore, there is no reason for a computer laboratory to insufficiently serve the students by its supposed numbers.

How to provide records like students attendance for professors?

Manually, there are records (attendance sheets) kept by professors daily/weekly. But the thing is, until when they could keep those loads of paper? It might be hard to review and track data written manually in a record that has been passed for years.

How to monitor the students who violate computer laboratory rules including the loss/damage of computer system?

Missing of any input devices is shouldered, most of the time, by the IT Department and not by the students or the faculty. The big problem in their part is how to know and track the student who caused damage/s within the regular day when computer set is complete and working.


General Objective of the Study

To develop a Computerized Class Monitoring System for Don Bosco Institute of Arts and Sciences- Cabuyao Computer Laboratory.
Despite the size of the laboratory which is often the complaint of students due to the number of students it can only occupy, laboratory management completes the packing anyway. The main objective of the study is to produce a system which is an effective way to formally awaken the IT Department about the importance of the proposal and increase the security level in computer laboratories knowing that a single part of the unit is costly and if continuous damage and loss of any single part is reported, it may lead to another receipt of equipment billing.


Specific Objective of the Study

To design a system which can restrict students of using laboratory not unless enrolled in a certain subject.

This objective is to ensure that every computer present in the computer laboratory will be handled with care and only those who have been enrolled in subjects with laboratory can use the facility.

To provide records like students attendance for professors.

Records are proofs from time an action has taken which are used for important matters. There are times when logs are in great need, not only by the professors but also by the students. Since one has taken action, he or she must take charge to any effect of the action.

To monitor the students who violate computer laboratory rules including the loss/damage of computer.
Lab assistants cannot be alerted to potential violators signing in to use a workstation. Lab employees do not have effective means to maintain and query the list of users known for malicious activities. There is no way for a lab assistant to know that a student signing in to use a workstation damaged a thousand peso worth of equipment.


Significance of the Study

Before implementing any study, it must be beneficial and at the same time the significance must meet the different perspective of the faces to where it will take place. The following are the individuals which the study has seen to be significant of:

Students

The students are the primary beneficiary of the study. Because of the observation which the researchers have seen for the last three (3) years of their stay in the school that happens frequently, it came to such that the researchers have to produce and implement this study to stop the usual problems which the students are always afraid of.

I.T. Department

IT Department plays the greatest role in computer laboratory of any organization. The maintenance of laboratory under the computer standardization should be kept well, and through this system, which could be of great help to the said department by keeping eyes to the users of their considered area, they now have a lot of means in tracking the students that have used certain computer.
Professors

Every time the classes start, professors have to check the attendance of their students to formally open up their lesson. Also, they often get angry when students tend to seat from one place to another and try to change the seating arrangement. With this system, professors do not have to check attendance every meeting because they can just get a copy from the administrator of the system, say, IT Department since they are appointed to being the administrator of the system. Professors will not think of the sitting arrangement anymore because what computer the system gives to the student is the only computer they can use to avoid student from unnecessary action and dishonesty inside the laboratory.

School Owner

Given that the value of computer assets ranges from thousands to millions of peso and that educational budgets are at historic lows, it is important to streamline business processes, optimize use of resources, and provide required levels of security in a computer lab. Managers must be able to query and analyze information about room occupancy, waitlists, workstation availability, and cost of maintenance in order to make informed scheduling, hiring, budgeting, purchasing and other decisions. This can be achieved when this study is implemented since there is still need for the school owner to know about what is happening both in the professor and students, and in the IT Department and computer laboratory.

Future Researchers

Having such an idea of what improvement is suitable for the solution to any problem arises; this thesis proposal that has been proposed by the proponents will soon help the future researchers in their proposal in line with the title. For future studies, this might be of great help as one of the references locally.


SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The proposed system allows the user who is enrolled in certain subjects with computer laboratory as long as he enters in the laboratory with the designated time for the subject. It restricts all users to use a personal computer unless part of the class during such time. The server shall give user password to type/enter in a computer which will also come from the server. The system will be at ease to throw the password in computers so that it could be opened when the password the user will put is match to the password the computer is waiting. The system does not allow passwords to be used from different computer simply because the computers are already set with unique passwords.

There are also some limitations that users must know of the system. The system will not identify the user physically but only through the information from the ID number which is done through scanning is recorded in the database. Unlike when biometrics is used, there are no tendencies that other users can make use of one's stuff. In this system, as long as the ID used is enrolled in time it was scanned, the system shall take response of giving way to the user to use of the computers.


Definition of Terms

Computer
A machine (mostly electronic) that is able to take information (input), do some work on or make changes to the information (process), to make new information (output).

Laboratory

A facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed.

Database

It is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. The structure is achieved by organizing the data according to a database model.

Biometrics

Biometrics is the measurement and statistical analysis of people's physical and behavioral characteristics. The technology is mainly used for identification and access control, or for identifying individuals that are under surveillance. The basic premise of biometric authentication is that everyone is unique and an individual can be identified by his or her intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. (The term "biometrics" is derived from the Greek words "bio" meaning life and "metric" meaning to measure.)


Logs

A record of computer activity used for statistical purposes as well as backup and recovery. Log files are written by the operating system or other control program for such purposes as recording incoming dialogs, error and status messages and certain transaction details. Start and stop times of routine jobs may also be recorded.





















Chapter II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
1 . V. Ajanovski "Access control and monitoring for Campus Computer labs"

Computer labs at the universities are used in three general situations: practical demonstrations, individual work by students on projects and conducting exams. Depending on the special use-cases for each situation, different access permissions are required, different network setup is required, access to online resources should be permitted/denied, and in most situations such adjustments should be performed by the teacher, without any network administration knowledge and equipment access.
This document should be considered as a reference and guide to possible simple solutions that can be used for such scenarios, based on many years of trials at computing departments within the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Macedonia. The work is based on ideas from the current implementations at the Computer Labs of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering.
Ideally, the whole solution is organised as a fully automated integrated information and control system – building on top of several practices, tools and applications for network level access control and monitoring. In this document the design and organisational process development of such system is presented together with the tools that enable and ease the implementation of such process.
Business-level use-cases are first presented, to understand the general level functional requirements that teachers and administrators place on the overall solution and further several non-functional requirements are discussed. Where the solution is not possible to be automated, a manual process is proposed.

2 .Ms.Rashmi Janbandhu "COMPUTER LAB MONITORING SYSTEM"
In the present situation the number of system are present in lab and they are in LAN also but in very lab there is no such client server connectivity present. On such system students can complete their given task.
This is the main problem of the current lab management system.The other problem of the present existing lab management is that the lecture cannot supervise the student activities.

3 .Ramya Mohan "Network Analysis and Remote Application Control Software based on Client-Server Architecture"

Computers have been used to automate mundane tasks and simplify complex ones. They have brought a wealth of information to our fingertips. Additionally, computers help analyze raw data and convert it into meaningful and reliable
information. With over a billion users around the world, the computer has changed the way we communicate with one another.

Communication between two or more computers takes place due to a network. A "Computer Network'' is a collection of autonomous computers interconnected by a single technology. Connections can be made with the help of hardware like copper
wires, fiber optic cables or waveforms like Bluetooth, infrared, WiFi and satellites. A computer network can be of any size- it could be a PAN (Personal Area Network) with a few computers connected, or a larger network like LAN (Local Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) or Wide Area Network (WAN). Multiple networks can also be connected to form a bigger network- the internet is an example of such an extended or combined network. It is also possible to create networks in such a way that they allow access rights and restrictions. For example, the "Admin" of a network can have more control over a network than a standard employee. Virtual Private Networks or "VPNs" allow networks to connect to each other in a secure way. This is common in organizations where the office in one
location can access data in the headquarters in another location.


4. Computer Lab Management System Web Application
Georgi Ossipov. The object of this report is to describe the design and development process of a web based reservation system. The aim of the project was to implement a web application for managing hosts used in software testing. Software testing is an important part of software development. Most products that are available on the market are thoroughly tested in order to provide customers with the best solutions.
The project was developed at SSH Communication Security Oyj, a company that specializes in network security software. There are different products that are developed at the company and all of those products require testing before they can be deployed at production sites, i.e. clients' network environments. Each product is developed in a separate department and each department has a dedicated group of quality engineers for testing the product. However, there is only one testing environment with hundreds of virtual machines (test hosts) that can be used for testing purposes.


5 ,

Kelvin on FB:
Mr. Viplove Karhade Scholar, Computer Science and Engineering North Eastern University, Boston

Kelvin
In the present situation the number of system are present in lab and they are in LAN also but in every lab there is no such client server connectivity present. On such system students can complete their given task and they can also do some other work which is not related to their given task. This is the main problem of the current lab management system. The other problem of the present existing lab management is that the lecturer cannot supervise the student activities. The existing system presents an introduction of an embedded processor-based laboratory environment monitor system and its design for hardware and software. This system aims at completing monitoring a variety of real-time data. This system achieves the intelligent management of laboratory. By wired or wireless means, the laboratory monitoring system can communicate with PC. To Monitor a LAN, the monitoring server is typically connected to a monitor port on the switch. If multiple Switches are used in an installation, the monitoring Server may need a connection to all of them. That connection can either be a physical cable, or if your network switches support it, a LAN specifically configured for monitoring traffic. LAN monitoring project aims to develop various network utilities which are required to effectively monitor a LAN network.

Introduction A significant number of secure systems are concerned with monitoring the environment. The most obvious example is the burglar alarm. Then there are meters for measuring consumption of utilities such as gas and electricity. At the top end of the scale, there are systems used to verify nuclear nonproliferation treaties, where a number of sensors (seismometers, closed-circuit TV, and so on) are emplaced in a state's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) to create an immediate, indelible, and remote log of all movements of fissile substances. There are also vehicle systems, such as missile telemetry, taximeters, and tachographs (devices used in Europe to record the speed and working hours of truck and bus drivers). These have a number of interesting features in common. For example, to defeat a burglar alarm it is sufficient to make it stop working, or—in many cases—to persuade its operators that it has become unreliable. This raises the spectre of denial of service attacks, which are increasingly important yet often difficult to deal with. Just as we have seen military messaging systems designed to enforce confidentiality, and bookkeeping systems whose goal is to preserve record authenticity, monitoring applications give us the classic example of systems designed to be dependably available. If there is a burglar in my bank vault, then I do not care very much who else finds out (so I'm not worried about confidentiality) or who it was who told me (so authenticity isn't a major concern); but I do care very much that an attempt to tell me is not thwarted. An alarm in a bank vault is very well protected from tampering (at least by outsiders), so it provides the simplest case study. We are largely concerned with attacks on communications (though sensor defeats are also a worry). But many other monitoring systems are very exposed physically. Utility meters are usually on the premises of the 208 consumer, who has a motive to cause them to make incorrect readings. Much the same goes with taximeters: the taxi driver (or owner) may want the meter to read more miles or more minutes than were actually worked. With tachographs, it's the reverse. The truck driver usually wants to drive above the speed limit, or work dangerously long hours, so both types of attack are found. The driver can either cause the tachograph to fail, or to make false readings of time and distance. These devices, too, are very exposed to tampering. In both metering and monitoring systems (and especially with nuclear verification) we are also concerned with evidence. An opponent could get an advantage not just by manipulating communications (such as by replaying old messages) but by falsely claiming that someone else had done so. Monitoring systems are also important because they have quite a lot in common with systems designed to enforce the copyright of software and other digital media, which I will discuss in a later chapter. They also provide a gentle introduction to the wider problem of service denial attacks, which dominate the business of electronic warfare, and are starting to be of grave concern to electronic commerce.

Lester on FB:
A Proposed Computerized Call Monitoring System CMS for Sysco Development Corporation October 2008 Author : Hector B. Miranda, Daniel Misael D. Querijero and John Genesis D. Tiongson An information System (IS) is the system of persons, data records and activities that process the information in a given organization, including manual processes or automated processes. Usually the term is used erroneously as a synonym for computer-based information systems, which is only the Information technologies component of an Information System. The computer-based information systems are the field of study for Information technologies (IT); however these should hardly be treated apart from the bigger Information System that they are always involved in. Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and plans between various parts of an organization. The people cannot have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for better human relations but also for a successful business. Telecommunication is the technique of transmitting a message from one point or place to another with the typical additional attribute of being bidirectional. In practice it also recognizes that something may be lost in the process; hence that term telecommunication covers all forms of distance communications, including radio, telegraphy, televisions, telephony, data communication and computer networking. Telecommunication is the extension of communication over a distance. The elements of a telecommunication system are a transmitter, a medium (line) and possible channel imposed upon the medium and receiver. The transmitter is a device that transforms or encodes the message into a physical phenomenon; the signal. The transmission medium, by its physical nature, is likely to modify or degrade the signal on its path from the transmitter to the receiver. The receiver has a decoding mechanism capable of recovering the message within certain limits of signal degradation. In some cases, the final "receiver" is the human eye and/or ear (or in some extreme cases other sense organ) and the recovery of the message is done by the brain. One of the roles of the telecommunications engineer is to analyze the physical properties of the line or transmission medium, and the statistical properties of the message in order to design the most effective encoding and decoding mechanisms. Telecommunication can be point-to-point, point-to-multi point or broadcasting, which is particular form of point-to-multi point that goes only from the transmitter to the receivers. A LAN-based Computer Laboratory Report Monitoring System using Voice Transcription October 2013 By: Luna, Rino Lawrence A. and Tolentino, Joan Carla S. Universities have long existed to provide education for future professionals. Technology had indeed worked its way out to provide people with convenience and there is no denying that its direct impact is felt in universities. Through the years, universities have managed to cope and keep up with how fast-paced technology is. This is also the reason why quality teaching had reached students. So to stretch the usefulness of technology, one must take advantage of what technology can provide us with. Hence, leading to automating practices what was manually done before inside a university. In this way, a lot of time and effort will not be put to waste and everyone involved will benefit from it.











General Statement of the Problem
The majority of computer labs at today's academic institutions face a common set of business challenges in security, operations management, and managerial decision support. These challenges cause significant direct losses, which can be attributed to factors such as lack of access control and inadequate security. Moreover, there are substantial opportunity costs related to workstation downtime, sub-optimal work schedules, poor employee supervision, and inefficient occupancy management.

Specific Statement of the Problem
Whenever there is something missing in the laboratory, it's hard to track who is the culprit to blame. Whenever there is a visitor who monitors the items or the equipment on the laboratory, they are finding it hard to monitor the things in the laboratory.
In most cases, the business processes for running a computer lab are either not computerized at all or are computerized using office automation tools. This results in the following problems, just to name a few:
Lab assistants cannot be alerted to potential violators signing in to use a workstation. Lab employees do not have effective means to maintain and query the list of users known for malicious activities. There is no way for a lab assistant to know that a student signing in to use a workstation damaged a thousand dollar worth of equipment a year ago.
There are no means to identify users who performed a malicious activity. A lab manager, alerted about SPAM distribution that originated from one of the lab machines several days ago, cannot identify who used the workstation at that time and what other workstations had been used by the same person. Such an activity will go unpunished encouraging other hackers to abuse lab resources.

General Objectives
Given that the value of computer assets ranges from thousands to millions of peso and that educational budgets are at historic lows, it is important to streamline business processes, optimize use of resources, and provide required levels of security in a computer lab. The solution is a Computer Laboratory Monitoring System that can turn a primarily management business into a flawless automated and highly efficient operation.

Specific Objectives
The system can monitor in and out of the user in the laboratory. It includes the Student ID, Name and time of the user. Our project aim is to monitor the activities of the student by the lecturer and to maintain the control and discipline while student's practical performance.
To provide remote access to labs in various disciplines of students and to provide a complete learning management system around labs where students can avail the various took for learning including video lectures, practical performance, etc. with rules and regulation under vigilance of faculty.


1.4.3 How will the laboratory assistant/s monitor the computers including the students' activity?

The laboratory assistants are engaged to the maintenance of computers, and it is a problem in their part to repetitively visit the laboratory every single time to check the workstation if it is stable and runs well for the students. Though in the first place, part of their job is the laboratory checking and maintenance, there are also some more important matters they are assigned to, and this is tough for them to associate their 8-hour daily work just for the checking of laboratories.