Students paperwork tracking system

(SPATRASE)
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 1883, 020012 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5002030
Published Online: 14 September 2017

I. Y. Ishak, M. B. Othman, Rahmat Talib, and M. A. Ilyas

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AIP Conference Proceedings 1883, 020012 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5002030 1883, 020012

© 2017 Author(s).
 Students Paperwork Tracking System (SPATRASE)
I.Y. Ishak1,a), M.B. Othman1,b), Rahmat Talib1,c) and M.A.Ilyas1,d)
1
Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,
Malaysia.
a)
Corresponding author: ilyayasmineishak@gmail.com
b)
maisara@uthm.edu.my
c)
rahmat@uthm.edu.my
d)
arif.b.ilyas@gmail.com

Abstract. This paper focused on a system for tracking the status of the paperwork using the Near Field Communication
(NFC) technology and mobile apps. Student paperwork tracking system or known as SPATRASE was developed to ease
the user to track the location status of the paperwork. The current problem faced by the user is the process of approval
paperwork takes around a month or more. The process took around a month to get full approval from the department
because of many procedures that need to be done. Nevertheless, the user cannot know the location status of the
paperwork immediately because of the inefficient manual system. The submitter needs to call the student affairs
department to get the information about the location status of the paperwork. Thus, this project was purposed as an
alternative to solve the waiting time of the paperwork location status. The prototype of this system involved the hardware
and software. The project consists of NFC tags, RFID Reader, and mobile apps. At each checkpoint, the RFID Reader
was placed on the secretary desk. While the system involved the development of database using Google Docs that linked
to the web server. After that, the submitter received the URL link and be directed to the web server and mobile apps. This
system is capable of checking their location status tracking using mobile apps and Google Docs. With this system, it
makes the tracking process become efficient and reliable to know the paperwork at the exact location. Thus, it is
preventing the submitter to call the department all the time. Generally, this project is fully functional and we hope it can
help Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) to overcome the problem of paperwork missing and location of the
paperwork.

INTRODUCTION
Near-Field Communication (NFC) has been growing and developing endlessly throughout the globe. It has been
introduced and used in several modern educational institutions where its services are proved beneficial. Applying
NFC could function as a platform that drives institutions towards a modern environment through innovative
solutions. There are various inventions that allowed NFC to become a powerful tool which only needs proper
requirements and installation. The traditional process of taking student’s paperwork tracking system is time
consuming and takes too much effort, especially to record and to monitor it. Submitters are required to call the
department every day and this process would consume time to get the information about the location status of the
paperwork. However, the only drawback is that users unable to monitor the location status of the paperwork by
using smartphones. The existing document tracking system used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
Furthermore, there is also the same technology as the RFID, which is NFC. NFC uses RFID technology is a branch
of High-Frequency RFID and both operate at 13.56 MHz frequency [1]. It just operates at a much closer range,
typically an inch or so, and thus requires less power and much more secure. Student’s paperwork tracking system
(SPATRASE) is a device or software application that monitors the movement of the paperwork from one place to
another. The RFID technology is ideal for material location. SPATRASE is a system for tracking the location
status of the paperwork using the NFC technology and mobile apps. This system was developed to ease the user to
track the location status of the paperwork. For this project, NFC is easier and more convenient to tap the tag to the

Advances in Electrical and Electronic Engineering: From Theory to Applications

AIP Conf. Proc. 1883, 020012-1–020012-7; doi: 10.1063/1.5002030
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1563-8/$30.00

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RFID reader [1]. The technology involves is deceptively simple and it is evolved from RFID technology, an NFC
chip act as one part of a wireless link. For example, once it is activated by another chip, small amounts of data
between the two devices can be transferred when held a few centimeters from each other. Thus, it will be an easy
way to reduce the time of the user to trace the location status of the paperwork. Basically, NFC has two different
modes of data transmission, which are active NFC mode and passive NFC is presented in [1].
Nowadays, paperwork tracking has been issued as to ensure proper knowledge management in an organization.
In Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), all paperwork that requires approval from many parties from
different departments will be recorded into the logbook and computer. In [2], RFID is widely used nowadays, but it
needs to be improved because of one-way communication. However, the emergence of RFID gives an advantage to
companies by helping them the integration in supply chains without a doubt.
The purpose of this project is for improving the student paperwork tracking system due to the inefficient manual
system. The procedure takes quite a long time for approval and the submitter needs to call the department in charge
to know the status of the paperwork. This project is proposed to make the paperwork system more efficient and the
user can monitor the location status of the paperwork by using mobile apps. With this new system, movement of the
documents can be tracked easily and efficiently.
This process is unnecessarily inconvenient for the user to know the location status of the paperwork. In UTHM
the procedure of the approval paperwork. For example, if a submitter (person in charge) submits a paperwork form,
for the first step he or she has to submit the form to the Head of Department/Deputy Dean of Student Affairs and
Alumni for approval. Second stage is to the Dean of Students Development Centre or known as P3P to verify before
being sent to the Student Affairs office for approval. After receiving the received approval from the Head of Deputy
Registration of Student Affairs the paperwork will be submitted to the Bursary office for the fourth stages before the
paperwork being processed. Finally, sent to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Alumni office for
the final approval. As mentioned earlier problem arose if the paperwork stays too long in one department.
SPATRASE has been introduced by using NFC technology with mobile apps. This system allowed the submitter
to trace the paperwork at any time and being updated the location status of the paperwork by an apps on the mobile
device. From the current process of paperwork example, the paperwork will stop at the five checkpoints.
In this system, the staff (person in charge) is required at each checkpoint and the reader is located on the
secretary desk. Each of the submitters needs to install the mobile apps and open the Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) via email. When the submitter submits the paperwork, the staff, in this case, the Deputy Dean of Student
Affairs of Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (FKEE) attaches the document with NFC tags. The staff,
tap the NFC tag to the file to the RFID reader, and the location status is displayed on the Google Docs. On the other
hand, the administrator and submitter can also monitor the location status tracking using their mobile apps. The
process repeats until the paperwork reaches its final destination and the submitter have been notified through the
mobile apps that the paperwork has been processed successfully. We hope that this project will ease the submitter to
track their paperwork in the near future.

LITERATURE REVIEW
This study is to develop a student paper tracking system using NFC technology. There are several methods that
have been identified and some of the advantages and disadvantages in the system improvements. This study is related
to the use of NFC technology and a software to produce a system that trace the documents with the use of the tracking
system in the office.

A. Near Field Communication

As the technology grows, The NFC has been widely used as a part of the medium of communications. NFC is a
tool that transfers the data in a short range distance with a wireless connection are presented in [3]. In [4], NFC is a
subset of RFID, it also has a similar system in which it can transmit data wirelessly, but RFID can be used remotely
compared to NFC such as Bluetooth. This system allows them to communicate with others by simply touching such
as tap in and to tap and go or bringing them at a very close distance as shown in Figure 1. The two active devices
such as smartphones and laptops or even between an NFC device and NFC tag is the NFC communication protocols
as stated in [5].

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 FIGURE 1. Different Way of Scanning NFC

B. NFC Tags
With the development of a prototype based on a microcontroller device using Android apps and NFC tags can
be a barcode or sticker with small microchips with the little aerials which can store a small amount of information
for transfer to another NFC device such as mobile phones. It is a passive component that is friendly user to store data
which can be read by a RFID reader using a wireless connection.

C. RFID Reader
The active NFC device reads the passive NFC tags to update the data on the web server using an Arduino. The RFID
reader is the most suitable reader to be used in this project. It is consists of the wireless mode to detect the NFC tag. In this
project, the NFC tags which have its significant information stored as the encrypted data and the data read by the reader to
decrypt and send the information to the server as well store in the database. This is to be implemented using NFC tag and
a reader.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This section discussed the detail design of the proposed system which includes the list of hardware, system
design and system flow.

Detail Design
The development of student paperwork tracking system consists of several parts that each of it plays an
important role. The project consists of NFC tags, RFID Reader, and mobile apps. At each checkpoint, the two
microcontroller controlled RFID Reader and Ethernet shield was placed on each counter. While the system involved
the development of database using Google Docs that linked to the web server. After that, the submitter received the
URL link and be directed to the web server and mobile apps. This is because only the submitter can view the
location status of the paperwork. The submitter needs this application for tracking their location status of the
paperwork. Although the tracking is useful, it cannot give a high guarantee that it can be traced easily because, in
this application, it is based on the admin duties to update the database all the time. All the information signals were
controlled using Arduino Uno Microcontroller. The microcontroller sends the information to the database. The
information is displayed on the user's smartphone. The Arduino IDE is software used to perform programming code
for the Arduino Uno Microcontroller to perform as main part of this project. The MIT App Inventor is used to create
the mobile apps.

Hardware Design
Figure 2 shows an overall block diagram of the project. The Arduino Uno Microntroller, RFID reader and
Ethernet shield are programmable thus can control the entire system. Ethernet shield used to connect the RFID
reader to transmit the data of the location through the database from the RFID reader. The web server was displayed
the current location of the paperwork with time. Arduino is used to activate the RFID reader to check whether the
coding of the RFID reader was successful or not. The shield would be on the top of the Arduino board and was
connected using an internet cable (CAT5 or CAT6 with RJ45 connector) to activate it.

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 FIGURE 2. Block diagram of the system

The NFC tag is shown in Figure 2. The RFID reader was communicated with the NFC tag through the web
server. This tag is attached to the paperwork so that the tracking process can be conducted. Next, a reader referred as
a RFID integrator is basically a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver that can store the information. The
reader is an attached antenna that captures data from tags, then send the data to a computer for processing. Readers
can be implemented in a static position, portable or even embedded in electronic equipment. The RFID reader
scanned the NFC tag that is attached to the paperwork. In the proposed system, the RFID readers were placed in the
secretary desk of the Head of Department/Deputy Dean of Student Affairs and Alumni Office, Students
Development Center Office, Student Affairs Office, Bursary Office and Deputy of Vice-Chancellor of Student
Affairs and Alumni Office.
The interface of Google Docs can be opened on the web server or mobile apps. The microcontroller is used to
send the information to the database. Once the reader got the information, the data is updated on the Google Docs
(database).

Flow of the Process

The flow of the process of the whole system has been shown in Figure 3. The first process is the submitter need
to rename the paperwork title in the system and then submit the paperwork to the secretary desk to the first
checkpoint. The Arduino Uno Microcontroller has been controlling the system. At present to check the location
status of any paperwork, manually tracking has to be done where staff has to locate the paperwork at all checkpoints
for approvals before the paperwork can reach to the final destination for processing. The proposed system will help
the staff to locate the paperwork that is attached to NFC tag which will be detected at each checkpoint in the process
by RFID readers. The reader will update a database that has been created on the server, on which the staff may
access the created database from his/her computer using the Google Docs interface that has been developed. The
system also has an added feature where it is connected to mobile apps to allow the user to trace the location status of
paperwork through their smartphone.

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 FIGURE 3. Flow of the system

PERFORMANCE TEST
The purpose of the testing is to have a better understanding about the system functionality by observing the result
and analysis that was concluded from the testing. The testing process includes the tracking the status of the
paperwork, tagging system using NFC tag and mobile apps. The test is conducted to ensure that the project is made
in accordance the planned flow. Testing 1 is to tap the NFC tag on the RFID reader and the data is transferred to the
database, for second test is to track the status using mobile apps.

Testing 1
Figure 4 shows the movement of paperwork KARSEH 2.0 being tracked at each location of the checkpoints.
Paperwork KARSEH 2.0 movement is tracked and the current location is shown in the SPATRASE system as
depicted in Figure 5.

FIGURE 4. Flow of SPATRASE

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 FIGURE 5. Data in Google Docs (Database)

Testing 2
This application is designed using MIT Apps Inventor 2. This application is stored in the file manager of a user
mobile phone. When the user wants to install this application, a user needs to open the folder that has the Document
Tracker application folder.
Faculty hold a program of KARSEH 2.0 where it requires the delivery of paperwork to be given approval from
higher authorities. Therefore, we carried out an inspection on a paperwork entitled KARSEH 2.0 out of faculty to
know the travel time and days required for approval of the paperwork as a proven to my project. Figure 6 shows the
location of the paperwork of KARSEH 2.0 is moving from one place to another using an app. The testing was
successfully achieved based on the objective which is to track the status of the paperwork location using mobile
apps.

FIGURE 6. SPATRASE apps interface when it opened on an app

CONCLUSION
The proposed system was tested. In conclusion, a system that can trace the paperwork location has been
developed with the aid of Arduino Uno Controller, Ethernet Shield and RFID reader that enables the user to use
their smartphone to track the paperwork status using mobile apps with just a flick of their finger. The process
involves in designing this system is divided into two main parts that are hardware part and software part. The
hardware part is the process in which the component is connected together so the data can be sent and received to
the mobile apps. The RFID reader detects the NFC Tag which contains the identical title (ID tag) and the
microcontroller saved the data received in the database and displayed the location status on mobile apps. The
tracking of the document has been saved in database Google Docs automatically when submitter taps the tag to the
reader. The location status of tracking system can be displayed in the mobile apps. In the database, the title of
paperwork, current time and places has been shown. With this new system, movement of the paperwork can be
tracked easily and efficiently using NFC technology.

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 Software part in this project involves the codes that are created and store inside the Arduino Uno Controller. A
simple mobile apps interface is also created for user to easily see the status of the paperwork. This project has
successfully achieved all the objectives that have been proposed in the initial part of this project are fulfilled. The
system is capable of recording and tracking the location status of the paperwork location using 1 tag, 1 paperwork
and 1 smartphone. As the result, experimentally tested the status of the student’s paperwork tracking system using
NFC and mobile apps is done successfully. The system also is efficient to be used.
To improve the quality of this project in the future, a few recommendations can be done. This work shall be
further expanded in the future by using Wi-Fi technologies to makes this system is wireless. Next, replace the NFC
Tags with a QR code that makes this system to be more convenient and user friendly. Another alternative is to
integrate a simple graphic interface can be developed where it is capable of renaming the paperwork so that user
easily key in the data. This SPASTRASE is a new NFC application in this university. Any paperwork form the staff
that needs to be processed has been successfully test and detected at all checkpoints using RFID reader. As
mentioned earlier, further work is needed to upgrade the system to support extra features.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was fully supported by Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Vot No.: 1537), Ministry of Higher
Education Malaysia and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM).

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