Biometric Student Attendance Technology

The UKBA Tier 4 Policy Guidance stipulates that It is a necessary requirement to reliably identify each individual student. In this case we recommend the use of a Biometric terminal that has the advantage that it will continue to record attendance transactions even if your network fails.

In such cases the transactions are stored locally in the terminal and then later transmitted to the CaptureIT database once network connectivity is re-established. The result of this is that student attendance data in always maintained for complete attendance records.

The ‘verification’ system is simple to use and it proves beyond doubt that the presented finger is, indeed, that of the student. The reading and verification process takes less than a second.

It is important to note that there are no ‘human rights’ issues in respect of students ‘fingerprints’. This is because there is no image of the fingerprint either read or stored.  Instead, the reader measures the changes in electrical conductivity at a number of places across the reader surface and translates these into a unique number. 

It is this unique number, alone, that is stored in the database. It is not possible to ‘reverse engineer’ the number into any form of finger pattern or fingerprint.

The electrical conductivity varies with the peaks and troughs of the finger surface and since these are different in all persons this guarantees that the number generated is unique.

Multiple fingers can be ‘registered’ to take account of situations such as a student wearing a plaster.  In a very limited number of cases some fingers cannot be read’.  This can happen when there is a genetic factor that creates a very ‘smooth’ finger.  In these cases such employees substitute the placing of their finger on the reader with the entry of a unique PIN number.

In terms of using the terminal the process of clocking in and out is straightforward.  To clock in the student presses the red (‘in’) button on the keypad.

They then pass their proximity / ID card in front of the terminal and place their finger on the biometric reader to prove their identity.

The system then ‘verifies’ that the presented finger is, indeed, that of the student or staff member. The reading and verification process takes less than a second. Clocking out is identical, but the ‘out’ button is pressed.

Click here to view our Biometric Proximity Terminal

Number of Terminals Required

Whilst the reading of the finger template and its subsequent verification typically takes one second, the elapsed time between one student and the next is typically 5 – 10 seconds.  This accounts for the time taken by a student to position themselves, present their ID badge or enter their student number, present their finger and read any confirmatory messages.

Using this knowledge and your understanding of the number of students arriving at peak times we can determine the number of terminals that should be used to avoid undue queuing at the terminal. We suggest one terminal per 150 - 175 students, but this may vary with individual college circumstances.

Thought must also be given to how students are to undergo the initial registration process.  Some colleges decide to use a dedicated registration terminal, located away from the student entrance – usually in the administration area. This allows the administrator to engage with the student during the registration process and avoids the pressure caused by students undergoing registration whilst others are waiting to clock in or out.

Data Entry Card Reader

To assist with accurate and speedy student registration a Data Entry Card Reader device will automatically insert the students unique proximity / ID card microchip number into the student detail section within the CaptureIT software.

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