ABSTRACT
Records
management seeks to efficiently and systematically control the lifecycle of
records that are routinely generated as a result of activities and
transactions. Most universities are continuously deploying integrated records
management as a means of improving the decision making as well as service
delivery quality. It is also generally recognized that at the core of the
numerous complex university problems, is a poor capacity for records
management. The implementation of the automated system was carried out using PHP
scripting language and MySQL database software, a relational database
management system in designing the database; tested and found to have produced
the expected results. Water-fall methodology was adopted in designing this
software. This research thus, attempted to fill this gap by using Federal
College of Agriculture Ishiagu, Ebonyi State as a case study. The study
reviewed literature on the concepts of records, their forms as well as the
life-cycle of records. It further outlined the benefits and challenges of
records management. This leads to quick decision making, saves office space and
promotes good corporate governance. The methodology employed this project is
“Top down” methodology. Therefore, it was recommended that management of Federal
College of Agriculture should embrace the records management function to ensure
its effectiveness, and also professionally trained records managers should be
employed.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Public
and private organizations generate staff records. Staff records play an
imperative role in providing the information needed by organisations to manage
and pay their staff members, plan their workforce requirements and monitor
staff performance. Ultimately, any organisation’s development and
sustainability will depend on sound and effective human resource management,
and the approaches it chooses to follow will be derived in part from an
analysis of the information contained in staff records. The goal of staff
records management is to ensure that a complete and comprehensive employment
history of each employee is readily available for as long as it is needed, and
that the information contained in staff records supports the management,
deployment, payment and development of staff. Other key objectives of staff
records management are to support transparency and organisational
accountability and to enable accurate audits by creating and protecting human
resource records as reliable evidence (Griffin and Hoyle, 2009).
According
to Cain et al (1997) organisations need to keep staff information for
long periods. For example, retention periods of 70 years or longer for staff
files are common in many countries. Thus, staff databases need to store data
about individuals for decades – far longer periods that is typical for most
database applications. Moreover, as public records, staff databases come under
the responsibility of the national archives if they are selected for permanent
preservation (Cain et al, 1997). A lot of government and central
agencies with responsibility for HR functions follow written rules and
procedures for human resource management. These documents are often printed and
issued in compendium editions and are updated regularly. Classically, the rules
and procedures address issues such as: general conditions of service,
appointments, examinations, discipline, promotions, transfers, performance
appraisal, emoluments, training, benefits, loans, leave, travel and transport.
The rules may also specify the content and structure of forms used to execute
HR processes. With the introduction of computerised systems, there is tendency
of not keeping printed rules and procedures up to date any longer but to rely
instead on business rules built into the systems; though up-to-date online or
printed manuals are still indispensable to guide users through procedures.
The
public sector is fundamentally the biggest organization in a country providing
employment for numerous populace of her country. Although, some may view a
public sector as a single firm while others may view it as consisting of a wide
and contrasting variety of bodies varying from ministries and departments to
parastatals, local government councils, health and educational institutions and
other types of agencies. Some of these government agencies usually have offices
all over the states of the federation, each of which will maintain staff
records of some sort. All organization employs staff and creates personal
records. Staffs are among an organization’s most significant and more often
than not most expensive assets.
Just
like any other asset, staffs are resources that must be deployed to maximum
advantage. The role of staff records cannot be overemphasized in an
organization as it provides a basis for decision-making in every areas of staff
work such as human resources forecasting and planning, recruitment and
selection, employment history, education and training, and pay administration.
The
conventional method or better still paper-based staff records are still very ubiquitous
in government agencies, these are characterized by significant and space
consuming categories of records. Although, computer-based staff information
systems are becoming increasingly common in the advanced nations and there is
an ongoing requirements for records managers to still understand how to manage
the paper system because a large portion of staff records will continue to be
on paper systems for the predictable future. Also, computer-based staff
information systems are unlikely to succeed unless they can build upon an
efficient manual system and in some cases a manual system may be the most
efficient and realistic option given the resources available. But because of
the size and intricacy of the government agencies, the public sectors often bump
into extensive problems in maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of its
employees. This impenetrability in turn can result in excessive expenditure on
one hand and injustice to individual staff on the other hand. The development
of staff management systems is increasingly seen as a means of providing
significant benefits to the organizations and to individual staff; and the
management of staff records can make a vital contribution to this process.
Nevertheless,
staff records and information procedures can be managed manually but there is
an increasing trend towards introducing computerized systems. It is very
crucial to understand that whatever the technology to be used the system must
always adhere to the requirements of a good record system; and if an
organization is unable to manage its traditional based records it should not
move to an electronic environment until the manually controlled one is
achieved. On the contrary, computerization inevitably makes record keeping more
complex. Human resource management has been undergoing considerable change over
the past few decades, as governments and decision makers have recognised the
potential of technology to improve Human Resources (HR) management and
information. At the same time, there has been a desire in many public agencies
around the world to increase efficiency, reduce costs, save space, improve
service delivery and enhance transparency and accountability. The conventional
paper-based records systems, even if well organised and complete, cannot easily
provide the information government need to manage the public service and to
develop policies and plans based on accurate and current data. The expectation
is that staff management system will not only improve staff record but will
also provide more accurate, consistent and usable information.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Considering the limitation of the book keeping system usually
employed in dealing with staff records in Federal College of Agriculture,
Ishiagu. That is, records are organized, accessed, and retrieved by human
beings manually. This manual method made the whole thing very difficult to
handle. With the increase in staff in the institution, the above method has
proven very difficult and tedious to work with which therefore has intensified
the need to design a computerized software which will go a long way in tackling
these problems and at the same time help to keep accurate staff record and also
prevent loss of records.
1.3
Aim and Objectives of the Study
The
main objective of staff record system is to
i.
Design a computerized software to
effectively and efficiently manage the staff records.
ii.
Design a software will be easy to
use, simple and will be able to keep information that has already been
organized.
iii.
To create a software act as a step
towards realizing the dream of becoming a paperless society and will also keep
accurate record of staff in the school and prevent loss of records.
1.4
Significance of the Study
The
importance of staff management system cannot be overemphasized in an
organization as it helps to assuage the workloads of staff in human resources
department.
i.
It will processing of documents such as
manual generation of reports and employees data.
ii.
This research will help this
organization to organize staff information by providing a database for easy
access, monitoring, controlling and updating their personal information.
iii.
This research work will computerize the
conventional paper-based operations of human resources and management office of
Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu in terms of staff management system.
Also, the research work will enable the staff information to be easily tracked
for editing purpose.
iv.
The proposed information system is a
stepping stone and a challenge for the researcher to continuously improve their
knowledge on research and system analysis, design and implementation.
v.
This will also serve as a basis for
future system development.
1.5 Scope of Study
The
extent to be covered in this project work is, this work creates a database for
the staff record for federal College of Agriculture Ishiagu. This project work
is going to cover the staff form, arrival report form and annual leave form. With
the system on the network the chief executive that is the provost of the
college can view the staff record at a glance, which will help him/her to know
the number of work force he has. It will help him know the number of staff in
each department and the department that needs more or less staff.
1.6
Limitation of the Study
During
the course of this project work, some limitations were encountered. These
limitations are:
(a)
TIME: The time to get information
about non-academic staff records did not come very easy. Most of the days I will be ask to come back
after one week to enable them gather information for me. This is an academic
environment where time is allocated to other courses, making it almost
impossible to handle the project work more efficiently.
(b)
INADEQUATE AND IRRELEVANT MATERIALS:
most of the materials and information given to me are not in line with the
project work, there by delaying the work.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Database: This refers to a large store of
related data on a computer that a user can access and modify.
Password: This is a secret code that must be
entered into a computer to enable access to its applications. It is made up of
numbers, letters, special characters or a combination of any of the above
categories.
Staff Record System: A list of all the employees in an
organization.
Computerization: This is the conversion of a manually
operated system to a controlled, organized and automated system.
Research: A careful study of a subject to
discover facts, establish a theory or develop a plan of action based on the
facts discovered.
System: A set of computer components
functioning together.
Technology: The study of techniques of mobilizing
resources such as information for accomplishing objectives that benefit man and
his environment.
Software: A computer program or set of
instructions that direct a computer to perform processing functions.
Information System: A collection of procedures, people,
instructions and equipment to produce information in a useful form.
Processing:
This
is dealing with something according to an established procedure.
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