Design and Implementation of Online School Fees Payment System (a Case Study of Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri)
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to design and implement an effective and efficient of on-line school fees payment system that enables students and their sponsor to securely pay polytechnic fees on-line using MasterCard technology.
- Student can make payment of school fees sitting anywhere, anytime around the world. It is a 365/24 services and such reduces long queue.
- Enabling student to pay with their credit and debit card.
- Reduces time consuming.
- The system will also give login access to both the Bursary Unit and Head of Departments to generate annual student’s school fees payment report.
- To design a system that will securely store and retrieve student’s payment details.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents a review of the literature on; information systems, electronic payment systems, card payment processing, fees payment systems in Nigeria, examples of online fees payment systems, and comparison of the existing online systems with the intended system.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
From Wikipedia, (2013), Information system (IS) is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filters, and process, create, and distribute data. The study bridges business and computer science using the theoretical foundations of information and computation to study various business models and related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline. According to Singh, (2004), an information system refers to information technology and people’s activities that support operations, management and decision-making. Alternatively, an information system is the interaction between people, processes, data and technology (Singh, 2004). In this sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes. Information system is an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and for delivering information, knowledge, and digital products. Business firms and other organizations rely on information systems to carry out and manage their operations, interact with their customers and suppliers, and compete in the marketplace (James, 2009).
ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEMS
Shon and Swatman. (2010) introduced the term electronic payment system to describe any exchange of funds initiated via an electronic communication channel, while Kalakota and Whinston (2012) showed that an e-commerce electronic payment is a financial exchange that takes place in an online environment. Abrazhevich (2004) stated that electronic payment systems are summoned to facilitate the most important action after the customer’s decision to pay for a product or service. Several initiatives have been undertaken to create and develop electronic payment systems (Kalakota and Winston, 1996), and successful ones include various types of smart cards, electronic cash, and electronic cheque mechanisms. (Harris, Guru, and Avvari, 2011). Singh (2009) broadly classified electronic payment systems into four categories: online credit card payment system, online electronic cash system, electronic cheque system and smart cards-based electronic payment systems. For the purpose of the present study, the researchers focused on the use of debit and credit cards for secure online fees payment by students and their sponsors in Federal Polytechnic Nekede.
CARD PAYMENT PROCESSING
According to Mohammad and Emmanuel (2003), there are six parties involved in a traditional credit card processing cycle; customer, card issuing bank, merchant, merchant’s bank, acquirer, and a credit card processor. The card issuing bank issues credit cards to customers and maintains their accounts and the merchant opens an account with a bank to receive payments. In order to accept credit cards, the merchant needs to register with an acquirer, a bank or financial institution that sets up an account for the merchant and provides a terminal to process credit cards. The processor is a large data center maintained by the credit card network, and it acts as a clearinghouse for all credit card transactions (Mohammad and Emmanuel, 2003).
Credit Cards
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a method of payment for online or off-line purchases. The service provider or the commercial bank grants a line of credit to the card user, and the card user is required to pay at least a minimum amount for purchases made every month Harris et al (2011). With the credit approach, charges are posted against the customer’s account and the customer is billed for this amount later or subsequently pays the balance of the account to the payment service. Credit cards are the most commonly used method of electronic payment (Chou, Lee and Chong, 2004) and are widely accepted by consumers and merchants throughout the world, especially in retail markets. (Laudon and Traver, 2001).
Debit Cards
One of the most widely used systems for electronic payments is the debit card; Debit cards combine the service of Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) cards and cheques (Chou, Lee and Chong, 2004). When customers pay with a debit card, the money is automatically deducted from their checking bank account (Abrazhevich, 2004). In contrast with the credit cards, the spent money comes from the bank account directly. Many banks issue a combined ATM/debit card that looks like a credit card and can be used in places where credit cards are accepted. In this case, when users pay with a debit card, the payment will still be processed as a debit transaction. (Abrazhevich, 2004). Both debit and credit cards are associated with advantages of convenience, speed, flexibility, simplicity, ease of use, accessibility and availability.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
Systems are created to solve problems. One can think of the system approach as an organized way of dealing with a problem. In this dynamic world, the subject system analysis and design mainly deals with the software and development activities. In system analysis more emphasis is given to understand the details of an existing system or a proposed one and then deciding whether the proposed system is desirable or not and whether the existing system needs improvements. Thus, system analysis is the process of investigating a system, identifying problems and using the information to recommend improvements to the system.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS
This is an important stage in the system development lifecycle. According to McNab (2004), system development with the identification and specification of both functional and non-functional requirements of the system. He said to achieve this objective, that there is need for analyst or researcher to use systematic approach to ensure that specification derived are accurate and the analysis process is carried out in a controlled manner. Analysis is the breaking down of a complex structure into smaller units so that an intensive detailed cross-examination can be effectively carried out on it.
DETAILED DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM
After the investigation and analysis of the present system, there are so many problems, they are:
- Long queue for making payment
- Cost of material
- Manual process
- Time wasted
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter depicts how the system is designed; it shows the input and output requirement of the system, the hardware and software requirement and other requirements. It shows a system flowchart that shows how operations are carried out. There is also the training of the staff on how to use the new system that is to be implemented, its documentation, valuation and maintenance.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
Due to expansions, in information and communication technology business transactions increase and such transactions can only be recorded and maintained accurately. The study revealed that schools can handle large volumes of payment data with ease however. Online fees payment can handle data many times greater than humans hence cost effective.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Federal Polytechnic Nekede should embrace and implement the developed system as it will improve the conditions of fees payment especially for the Evening counterparts since the Morning counterparts are already using this method of school fees payment.
- The Government of Nigeria should enact laws and implement policies that encourage and favor online payments by citizens in the country.
- Federal Polytechnic Nekede should put in much effort on mass education and sensitization campaigns so that the users of the system are equipped with enough information.
- The researchers acknowledge that security is a threat to every system and therefore encourage that maximum effort be dedicated to ensure security of the online transactions through establishment of sound security infrastructure.
CONCLUSION
The project sought to develop an online fees payment system that provides relief of long endured problems of current modes of paying fees in Federal Polytechnic Nekede. Problems that student and their sponsors faced regarding paying fees to Federal polytechnic were identified and a solution was designed. The researcher developed a web based system that enables students and their sponsors to pay polytechnic school fees from whenever they are using credit and debit master card. This system was welcomed by all its users who believed it would solve most of the problems and improve conditions regarding paying fees in Federal polytechnic Nekede. The project achieved all its objectives and as a result. FPNO-OSEPS was designed, developed, tested and validated. Hence, it was proved that this online system was fit to be implemented.
REFERENCES
- A Beginner’s Guide to Payment Systems for E-Commerce. (Nd). Retrieved February 22, 2013, from http://blog.pixelcrayons.com/ecommerce/a-beginners-guide-to-payment-systems-for-e-commerce
- Abrazhevich, D. (2004). Electronic payment systems: A User-Centered Perspective and Interaction Design. Eindhoven: Technical Universiteit Eindhoven. p.1to12.
- Chanm, D. (2010). Untraceable electronic cash. In proceedings on Advances in cryptology. Spring-verlag, New York
- Chou, Y., Lee, C. & Chung, J. (2004). Understanding M-commerce payment systems through the analytic hierarchy process. Journal of Business Research 57, 1423–1430.
- Connie, E. (2010). Online fee payment and administration: TIES. Burnsville-Eagan-Savage
- Feepay (2013). Retrieved March 20, 2013 from https://www.feepay.com/
- Fiat, A. (2008). Untraceable electronic cash. In proceedings on Advances in Cryptology. Spring- verlag, New York.
- Harris, H., Guru, B., & Avvari, M. (2011). Evidence of firm’s perceptions toward electronic payment systems (EPS) in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Information 6(2).