🎓 Attendance Management System (AMS)

CSC-414 Enterprise Application Development - Complex Computing Problem (CCP)

University of Engineering and Technology, New Campus, Lahore

Department of Computer Science

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📋 Project Overview

The Attendance Management System is a comprehensive, secure, and scalable web-based solution designed to automate attendance tracking in academic institutions. Built with ASP.NET Core 8.0 MVC and Entity Framework Core, this system provides role-based dashboards for Administrators, Teachers, and Students.

🎯 Problem Statement

"Automating Attendance Tracking for Academic Institutions in Lahore"

Traditional manual attendance recording leads to errors, misplaced records, and inefficiency. This system streamlines attendance tracking by allowing teachers to log in and mark daily attendance for each course, while enabling students to register in courses and view their attendance records in real-time.

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✅ CCP Requirements Implementation

Requirement	Status	Implementation
Authentication & Authorization	✅ Complete	JWT + Identity, RBAC, Session Management
Attendance Module	✅ Complete	Mark attendance, duplicate prevention, real-time view
Course Registration & Enrollment	✅ Complete	Student registration, teacher assignment validation
Reporting & Analytics	✅ Complete	Attendance %, filtering, Excel/PDF export
Deployment	✅ Complete	IIS, Cloud-ready configuration

Grade Achieved: 50/50 (Excellent) 🏆

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🚀 Features

🔐 Authentication & Authorization

• ✅ JWT-based authentication with secure HttpOnly cookie storage
• ✅ Role-based access control (Admin, Teacher, Student)
• ✅ Secure login/logout with session management
• ✅ Password policies (8+ chars, uppercase, lowercase, digit, special char)
• ✅ Account lockout after 5 failed attempts
• ✅ Anti-forgery token protection (CSRF)
• ✅ User registration and profile management

👨‍💼 Admin Module

• ✅ Dashboard with system statistics (users, courses, enrollments)
• ✅ User management (Create, Read, Update, Delete, Activate/Deactivate)
• ✅ Course management (Full CRUD operations)
• ✅ Teacher-to-course assignment
• ✅ Section and Session management
• ✅ Timetable configuration
• ✅ System-wide attendance reports

👨‍🏫 Teacher Module

• ✅ Personal dashboard with course overview
• ✅ Mark attendance for assigned courses only (validation enforced)
• ✅ Attendance status options: Present, Absent, Late
• ✅ Duplicate attendance prevention
• ✅ Timetable-based attendance window validation
• ✅ View and edit attendance records
• ✅ Attendance history with date filtering
• ✅ Export reports to Excel/PDF

👨‍🎓 Student Module

• ✅ Personal dashboard with attendance summary
• ✅ Course registration/enrollment
• ✅ View enrolled courses
• ✅ Real-time attendance records viewing
• ✅ Attendance percentage calculation
• ✅ Download personal attendance reports

📊 Reporting & Analytics

• ✅ Automated attendance percentage reports (per student, per course)
• ✅ Filtering by course, date range, student, minimum percentage
• ✅ Status indicators (Good ≥75%, Warning ≥50%, Critical <50%)
• ✅ Export to Excel using ClosedXML
• ✅ Export to PDF using iText7
• ✅ Detailed student-wise and course-wise reports

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🛠️ Technology Stack

Component	Technology	Version
Framework	ASP.NET Core MVC	8.0
ORM	Entity Framework Core	8.0
Database	SQL Server / SQLite	Latest
Authentication	ASP.NET Core Identity + JWT	Built-in
Frontend	Bootstrap	5.3
Icons	Bootstrap Icons	Latest
JavaScript	Vanilla JS + jQuery	3.7
Excel Export	ClosedXML	0.102.2
PDF Export	iText7	8.0.2
IDE	Visual Studio 2022 / VS Code	Latest

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📁 Complete Project Structure

AttendanceManagementSystem/
│
├── 📂 Controllers/                      # MVC Controllers (Request Handling)
│   ├── AccountController.cs             # Authentication, Login, Register, Profile (312 lines)
│   ├── AdminController.cs               # Admin operations, User/Course CRUD (1286 lines)
│   ├── HomeController.cs                # Landing page, About, Privacy
│   ├── StudentController.cs             # Student dashboard, enrollment (330 lines)
│   └── TeacherController.cs             # Teacher dashboard, attendance marking (686 lines)
│
├── 📂 Data/                             # Data Access Layer
│   ├── ApplicationDbContext.cs          # EF Core DbContext, Fluent API configs (142 lines)
│   └── DbSeeder.cs                      # Database seeding - roles, users, courses (454 lines)
│
├── 📂 Migrations/                       # EF Core Migrations
│   ├── 20251221151308_InitialCreate.cs  # Initial database schema
│   ├── 20251227125640_AddSectionSessionTimetable.cs  # Added timetable support
│   └── ApplicationDbContextModelSnapshot.cs
│
├── 📂 Models/                           # Entity Models
│   ├── ApplicationUser.cs               # Extended IdentityUser (custom fields)
│   ├── Attendance.cs                    # Attendance entity (StudentId, CourseId, Date, Status)
│   ├── Course.cs                        # Course entity (Code, Name, Credits, Semester)
│   ├── Enrollment.cs                    # Student-Course relationship
│   ├── TeacherCourse.cs                 # Teacher-Course assignment
│   ├── Section.cs                       # Class sections
│   ├── Session.cs                       # Academic sessions
│   ├── Timetable.cs                     # Class schedule
│   ├── ErrorViewModel.cs                # Error handling
│   │
│   └── 📂 ViewModels/                   # Data Transfer Objects
│       ├── AccountViewModels.cs         # Login, Register, Profile models
│       ├── AdminViewModels.cs           # Admin dashboard models
│       ├── AttendanceViewModels.cs      # Attendance marking models
│       ├── CourseViewModels.cs          # Course/enrollment models
│       └── ReportViewModels.cs          # Report generation models
│
├── 📂 Services/                         # Business Logic Layer
│   ├── AttendanceService.cs             # Attendance CRUD, validation (282 lines)
│   ├── CourseService.cs                 # Course & enrollment logic (371 lines)
│   ├── ReportService.cs                 # Reports, Excel/PDF export (434 lines)
│   └── JwtTokenService.cs               # JWT token generation & validation
│
├── 📂 Views/                            # Razor Views (UI Layer)
│   ├── 📂 Account/                      # Authentication views
│   │   ├── Login.cshtml
│   │   ├── Register.cshtml
│   │   ├── Profile.cshtml
│   │   └── AccessDenied.cshtml
│   ├── 📂 Admin/                        # Admin dashboard views
│   │   ├── Index.cshtml                 # Dashboard
│   │   ├── Users.cshtml                 # User management
│   │   ├── Courses.cshtml               # Course management
│   │   ├── CreateUser.cshtml
│   │   ├── EditUser.cshtml
│   │   └── Reports.cshtml
│   ├── 📂 Teacher/                      # Teacher views
│   │   ├── Dashboard.cshtml
│   │   ├── MyCourses.cshtml
│   │   ├── MarkAttendance.cshtml
│   │   ├── AttendanceHistory.cshtml
│   │   └── Reports.cshtml
│   ├── 📂 Student/                      # Student views
│   │   ├── Dashboard.cshtml
│   │   ├── MyCourses.cshtml
│   │   ├── RegisterCourses.cshtml
│   │   ├── Attendance.cshtml
│   │   └── Reports.cshtml
│   ├── 📂 Home/                         # Public pages
│   │   ├── Index.cshtml
│   │   ├── About.cshtml
│   │   └── Privacy.cshtml
│   ├── 📂 Shared/                       # Shared layouts & partials
│   │   ├── _Layout.cshtml               # Master layout with Bootstrap
│   │   ├── _ValidationScriptsPartial.cshtml
│   │   └── Error.cshtml
│   ├── _ViewImports.cshtml              # Tag helpers & namespaces
│   └── _ViewStart.cshtml                # Default layout assignment
│
├── 📂 wwwroot/                          # Static Files
│   ├── 📂 css/
│   │   └── site.css                     # Custom styles
│   └── 📂 js/
│       └── site.js                      # Custom JavaScript (257 lines)
│
├── 📂 Properties/
│   └── launchSettings.json              # Development server config
│
├── Program.cs                           # Application entry point & DI config (149 lines)
├── appsettings.json                     # Configuration (DB, JWT settings)
├── appsettings.Development.json         # Development overrides
├── libman.json                          # Client-side library manager
├── AttendanceManagementSystem.csproj    # Project file & NuGet packages
└── README.md                            # This file

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📊 Database Schema

Entity Relationship Diagram

┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐
│  AspNetUsers    │       │    Courses      │       │   Sections      │
│  (Identity)     │       │                 │       │                 │
├─────────────────┤       ├─────────────────┤       ├─────────────────┤
│ Id (PK)         │       │ CourseId (PK)   │       │ SectionId (PK)  │
│ FirstName       │       │ CourseCode (UK) │       │ SectionName     │
│ LastName        │       │ CourseName      │       │ SessionId (FK)  │
│ Email           │       │ CreditHours     │       └─────────────────┘
│ RegistrationNo  │       │ Semester        │
│ EmployeeId      │       │ AcademicYear    │
│ IsActive        │       │ IsActive        │
└────────┬────────┘       └────────┬────────┘
         │                         │
         │    ┌────────────────────┼────────────────────┐
         │    │                    │                    │
         ▼    ▼                    ▼                    ▼
┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐   ┌─────────────────┐
│   Enrollments   │       │ TeacherCourses  │   │   Attendances   │
├─────────────────┤       ├─────────────────┤   ├─────────────────┤
│ EnrollmentId(PK)│       │ Id (PK)         │   │ AttendanceId(PK)│
│ StudentId (FK)  │       │ TeacherId (FK)  │   │ StudentId (FK)  │
│ CourseId (FK)   │       │ CourseId (FK)   │   │ CourseId (FK)   │
│ EnrollmentDate  │       │ AssignedDate    │   │ AttendanceDate  │
│ IsActive        │       │ IsActive        │   │ Status (Enum)   │
└─────────────────┘       └─────────────────┘   │ MarkedBy (FK)   │
    UK: (StudentId,           UK: (TeacherId,   │ Remarks         │
         CourseId)                 CourseId)    └─────────────────┘
                                                    UK: (StudentId,
                                                         CourseId,
                                                         Date)

Tables Summary

Table	Description	Key Constraints
AspNetUsers	Extended Identity users	Email unique
AspNetRoles	Roles (Admin, Teacher, Student)	Name unique
Courses	Course information	CourseCode unique
Enrollments	Student-Course mapping	(StudentId, CourseId) unique
TeacherCourses	Teacher-Course assignment	(TeacherId, CourseId) unique
Attendances	Daily attendance records	(StudentId, CourseId, Date) unique
Sections	Class sections	-
Sessions	Academic sessions	-
Timetables	Class schedules	-

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🔐 Security Implementation

Feature	Implementation	File Location
JWT Authentication	Token-based auth with configurable expiry	JwtTokenService.cs, Program.cs
HttpOnly Cookies	Tokens stored securely, not accessible via JS	AccountController.cs
Password Hashing	BCrypt via ASP.NET Core Identity	Built-in Identity
CSRF Protection	[ValidateAntiForgeryToken] on all POST	All Controllers
Role-Based Access	[Authorize(Roles = "...")] attributes	All Controllers
Account Lockout	5 failed attempts = 5 min lockout	Program.cs
Input Validation	DataAnnotations + Server-side	ViewModels
SQL Injection Prevention	Entity Framework parameterized queries	All Data Access

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🔧 Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK - Download
• SQL Server - LocalDB, Express, or Full version
• Visual Studio 2022 or VS Code with C# Dev Kit

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/muhammad-rateeb/AttendanceManagementSystem.git
cd AttendanceManagementSystem

# 2. Restore packages
dotnet restore

# 3. Apply database migrations
dotnet ef database update

# 4. Run the application
dotnet run

# 5. Open in browser
# https://localhost:54030

Configuration

Edit appsettings.json for custom settings:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=AttendanceManagementDB;Trusted_Connection=True;"
  },
  "JwtSettings": {
    "SecretKey": "YourSecretKey",
    "Issuer": "AttendanceManagementSystem",
    "Audience": "AttendanceManagementSystemUsers",
    "ExpirationInHours": 24
  }
}

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👤 Default Login Credentials

Role	Email	Password
Admin	admin@ams.edu.pk	Admin@123!
Teacher	teacher1@ams.edu.pk	Teacher@123!
Teacher	teacher2@ams.edu.pk	Teacher@123!
Student	student1@ams.edu.pk	Student@123!
Student	student2@ams.edu.pk	Student@123!

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📈 Deployment Options

Option 1: IIS (Windows Server)

# Publish
dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish

# IIS Configuration
- Application Pool: .NET CLR = No Managed Code
- Install ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle

Option 2: Cloud Hosting (SmarterASP.NET / MonsterASP.NET)

1. Update connection string with cloud SQL Server
2. Run database migration script
3. Upload publish folder via FTP

Option 3: Azure App Service

# Using Azure CLI
az webapp up --name AttendanceManagementSystem --resource-group MyRG

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📝 API Endpoints Reference

Authentication

Endpoint	Method	Description
/Account/Login	GET/POST	User login
/Account/Register	GET/POST	User registration
/Account/Logout	POST	User logout
/Account/Profile	GET	View profile

Admin Operations

Endpoint	Method	Description
/Admin/Index	GET	Admin dashboard
/Admin/Users	GET	List all users
/Admin/CreateUser	GET/POST	Create user
/Admin/Courses	GET	List courses
/Admin/CreateCourse	GET/POST	Create course

Teacher Operations

Endpoint	Method	Description
/Teacher/Dashboard	GET	Teacher dashboard
/Teacher/MyCourses	GET	Assigned courses
/Teacher/MarkAttendance/{id}	GET/POST	Mark attendance
/Teacher/ExportReport	GET	Export report

Student Operations

Endpoint	Method	Description
/Student/Dashboard	GET	Student dashboard
/Student/RegisterCourses	GET	Available courses
/Student/Enroll	POST	Enroll in course
/Student/Attendance	GET	View attendance

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🎯 CCP Attributes Alignment

Attribute	Description	Implementation Evidence
A2: Depth of Analysis	No obvious solution, requires innovative analysis	Complex attendance validation, duplicate prevention, timetable-based access
A3: Depth of Knowledge	In-depth computing knowledge required	ASP.NET Core, EF Core, JWT, Identity, MVC pattern, DI
A5: Level of Problem	Beyond standard practice	Enterprise-level security, scalability, multi-role system
A8: Interdependence	High-level with many submodules	Auth ↔ Enrollment ↔ Attendance ↔ Reporting ↔ Deployment

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📸 Screenshots

Login Page

• Clean Bootstrap 5 design
• Email/Password validation
• Remember me functionality

Admin Dashboard

• User statistics cards
• Quick action buttons
• System overview

Teacher Attendance Marking

• Student list with radio buttons
• Present/Absent/Late options
• Remarks field
• Duplicate prevention

Student Dashboard

• Attendance percentage display
• Enrolled courses list
• Quick access to reports

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🧪 Testing Checklist

• User Registration (Admin, Teacher, Student)
• Login/Logout with session management
• Role-based dashboard redirection
• Course CRUD operations
• Teacher-Course assignment
• Student enrollment
• Attendance marking with validation
• Duplicate attendance prevention
• Report generation
• Excel export
• PDF export
• Password change
• Profile update

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👨‍💻 Developer Information

Field	Value
Developer	Muhammad Rateeb
Course	CSC-414 Enterprise Application Development
Project Type	Complex Computing Problem (CCP)
University	UET Lahore, New Campus
Semester	5th Semester
Submission Date	December 31, 2025
Viva Date	January 6, 2026

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📄 License

This project is developed for educational purposes as part of the CSC-414 course requirements at UET Lahore.

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• Course Instructor for guidance
• University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
• Microsoft Documentation for ASP.NET Core

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Last Updated: January 6, 2026

Repository: github.com/muhammad-rateeb/AttendanceManagementSystem