  The main aim of this research was to automate attendance registration,
thereby reducing human involvement in the whole process. Typically, the system
works by storing vital staff personable information, such as Name, Job
specification, etc. into a MySQL database upon engagement. The staff is
identified with a unique key associated with an NFC based ID card within the
database. So on typical work day, an employee scans his/her ID card on the
PN532 reader in close proximity. The exact time and date, together with the
unique identifier of the scanned card are stored locally on a storage media,
before the data is relayed via the XBee to the remote database. The captured
data is then authenticated by comparing with the pre-entered data to give
access or authorization to the corporate resources, as well as recorded for
attendance purposes. Our experiment shows that the automated attendance system
is more effective, efficient and reliable, due to its real time capability,
remote monitoring and attendance reports that it provides to the institution.
