Biometric Attendance System

Transcription

1 Biometric Attendance System Dr. Sunita Narang, Dr. Surinder Kaur, Dr. Shalu Mahajan Acharya Narendra Dev College (University of Delhi) Abstract: This paper investigates the implementation of BAS in India, finding the benefits of BAS over manual system, its image among citizens of India, whether it leads to good governance, and challenges in its successful implementation. The study has revealed low level of awareness of digital India initiatives among people, although those who know about it have a very positive image of BAS. They not only find BAS to be more useful and effective as compared to traditional (manual) methods of taking attendance but also perceive it as a motivator as they know that this way, employees are getting true attendance. By eliminating bulky paper files of manual system and the problem of ghost employees, it is a step towards good governance. I. Introduction Attendance is an important factor for tracking the presence of employees in an institution. The previous approaches, where attendance was taken and maintained manually, were not only inconvenient but also inadequate in handling increasing need for security. Earlier registers were used for the purpose of recording signatures of the employees on daily basis. Registers only contained data of an employee, his authenticity could not be checked. An employee could easily mark the attendance of another employee which is referred to as impersonation. To solve this problem smart cards were introduced where a person can easily sign in and sign out after authentication by smart card via card reader. The problem with these cards is an employee can easily swipe the card of another employee in his absence. Thus, these approaches had loopholes giving rise to fraudulent activity. Biometric Attendance system (BAS), on the other hand, checks an employee's presence by using finger and face recognition system. This system verifies his identity and records his entry and exit time with complete details. BAS uses finger print or iris pattern to identify a person. BAS is much better than the manual time tracking systems. It is user friendly, accurate and fast; any person can easily access it. The moment an employee comes in contact with it, his/her full details are automatically recorded in no time. It is very secure and doesn't allow anyone to use your credentials. Biometric attendance system does not allow fraudulent activity as the employee has to mark his attendance in real-time with his physical characteristics. It allows the system to identify ghost employees (someone recorded on the payroll system, but does not work for the organization). The system is also effective while granting or denying access to restricted areas. It can help in monitoring security in such cases. II. History of Biometrics Metrics are for measurements. Measurements of physical or behavioral aspects of people become biometrics. As computer science has grown many folds in last few decades, it has led to development of automated biometric systems. Many of the ideas used in these systems

2 were conceived thousands of years ago. For example, business transactions were recorded using fingerprints as early as 500 B.C. During mid 1800s, industrial revolution led to quick growth of cities with mobile population which highlighted the need to formally identify people. Police departments started using fingerprints to identify criminals during late 1800s. Techniques for indexing fingerprints were developed and records were retrieved using fingerprint patterns and ridges. The first robust biometric system which had the ability to cope with errors was built by Azizul Haque and was called Henry System in the name of Edward Henry, Inspector General of Police, Bengal, India. It was only in the later half of twentieth century that true biometric systems emerged alongside appearance of computer systems. In 1963, first research paper on fingerprint automation by Hughes was published. During 1990s and early 2000s, the use of biometrics spread to everyday applications. Indian context As part of Digital India initiative, Biometric Attendance system is being implemented on a large scale in India. It automates the whole process of taking attendance and maintaining it. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), Government of India and National Informatics Center (NIC) are implementing Biometric Attendance System as part of Digital India program since October 1, Biometrics are highly secure and reliable, hence, almost all the central Government Ministries/Departments in Delhi are being covered under this scheme. Biometric attendance system ensures full transparency and also that employees complete their proposed work-hours. It eliminates employee fraud problems related to entry and exit time and fake/proxy attendances. III. Theoretical Framework Biometrics can significantly improve security as well as other value-added applications. The Biometric machines provide a more secure and reliable way of recording attendance. With manual systems used earlier it was difficult to find out what was actually going on in the organization. The commitment of the staff could not be measured or recorded. Thus, an advanced system for greater visibility on working practices is required. Therefore, accurate attendance record of the staff and a better overall understanding of its operations are required. Biometric attendance system has been adopted to provide a flexible, on-line way to improve employee reporting and management. Thus, it is essential to understand the various aspects of Biometric attendance system. IV. Literature Review Biometrics are in use for a very long time now. Last decade has seen a lot of research in this area. Chatterjee and Nath (2015) and Olalere et al. (2014) have both explored biometric systems to identify frauds. Chatterjee and Nath (2015) proposed extension of the UID service to other sectors so that biometric verification can be done. Biometrics are secure and robust despite being simple hence can eliminate chances of corruption. The paper also assesses the acceptability of biometric techniques among masses. Olalere and Osho (2014) evaluate existing attendance record systems for their strengths and weaknesses to identify frauds against them. The use of biometrics for student attendance is also becoming common. Sayed and Jradi (2014) discuss the effectiveness of applying various biometric technologies in blended learning environments. It implements fingerprint model as the most secure biometric method. Kar et al. (2012) used personal component analysis (PCA) algorithm to integrate face recognition technique into student's attendance system. The algorithm is applied on student images or video

3 frames taken at the classroom doors by continuous observation. Singh (2014) discuss the advantages of using ICT enhanced biometric technology for managing classroom issues. It also studied the level of awareness among students and graduate teacher trainees of Faculty of Education, Banasthali University. The findings revealed low level of awareness about working of biometric system but this lack of awareness does not affect its usage. V. Research Design and Methodology A self-structured questionnaire has been used as the primary survey instrument for carrying out participatory stake-holders analysis. Random stratified sampling technique has been used to collect data. The sample included in the study covers bureaucrats, doctors, businessmen, IT professionals and academicians. The study has used mean, standard deviation, ANOVA analysis for measuring peoples experiences and expectations from BAS Limitations The findings of the questionnaire survey and the conclusions reached are based on the analysis of the information supplied in the questionnaire. It is quite common that responses are checked according to the understanding of the questions and perceptions of the persons completing the questionnaire. Where matters of opinion are involved, the probability of a certain amount of subjectivity creeping into the responses cannot be ruled out. The study has been restricted to the questionnaire responses and personal interviews have not been included. The size of sample can be extended to improve generalization of results. Although the questionnaire has been constructed after thorough study of available literature and empirical studies but the subjectivity of researcher in construction of statement cannot be ruled out. VI. Analysis & Findings The respondents in this research are the people who use or are going to utilize digital services. As part of questionnaire, they were requested to provide information relating to their age, gender, education, employment status, work experience along with period and frequency of use of these services. Maximum numbers of participants are in age groups of years and years with 43.4% and 37.6% in each group. However least number of participants is from age group of 51+ years at 6.3%. Majority of respondents (83.1%) are male and only 16.9% are female. Apparently sample seems skewed towards males. Majority of respondents (35.4%) are post graduates whereas 33.3% are professionally qualified. The respondents with graduation qualification are 29.1% of total sample. Majority of respondents (42.9%) are working in government offices or public sector undertakings whereas 39.2% are privately employed. Majority of the respondents (45.5%) have more than 10 years of work experience whereas 28.0% of the respondents have experience of less than 10 years and remaining (26.5%) have more than 20 years of experience. BAS: Findings and Discussions

4 Through the survey, peoples perceptions about benefits of BAS over conventional system, image of BAS and its role in good governance were studied. The survey results (mean values and t-test results) showed that people in general found BAS better as compared to conventional systems of attendance taking. Survey results also reveal that people found BAS an effective method of taking attendance. They found it more useful and effective and therefore want traditional (manual) methods of taking attendance to be replaced with new and better technology. In the opinion of people, it is more popular in non-government organization compared to government organization. Employees perceive it as a motivator as they know that this way, employees are getting true attendance. However, the statement that BAS is irrelevant in the present era when organizations are moving towards work from home culture is not accepted. Overall people have very good image of BAS. Survey results reveal that adoption of BAS will lead to good governance. BAS not only acts as deterrent to defaulting employees thereby ensuring true presence but it will also be useful to those who are coming to offices for some issues if they know in advance about availability of relevant official. By eliminating bulky paper files of manual system, it is a step towards green governance and e governance. VII. Summary and Implications This research investigated the awareness and utilization of Digital India Initiatives. The study has revealed low level of awareness of digital India initiatives among people. Nearly 50% of the people surveyed do not either know about various initiatives or have just heard about these. For those who know about these initiatives, their main source of information is newspapers and magazines and media talk. Therefore there is strong need to campaign about these initiatives aggressively through newspapers and media. Those who have visited the websites of various services under Digital India Initiatives and used these services have found these to be useful. However, nearly 20% of the respondents in each case reported that it was very difficult to reach the portals and user interface was very poor. There is strong need to explore the causes like lack of fast Internet network or poor working knowledge of computers and work on these for widespread and effective utilization of these services to popularize these initiatives. Secondly the study investigated the implementation of BAS in organizations, its benefits and main concerns restricting its implementation. As far as implementation of BAS is concerned, the study has revealed that majority of the respondents have BAS implemented in their respective organizations and those who do not have BAS revealed that their organizations are likely to implement it in near future. The study has revealed that people in general have very positive image of BAS. They not only find BAS to be more useful and effective as compared to traditional (manual) methods of taking attendance but also perceive it as a motivator as they know that this way, employees are getting true attendance. REFERENCES Afonso, A., Schuknecht, L. and Tanzi, V. (2006), Public sector efficiency: evidence for new EU member states and emerging markets, Working Paper Series No. 581, European Central Bank, available at: Breckenridge, K. (2005), The biometric state: The promise and peril of digital government in

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