Enterprise data integration for graduating students’ clearance processing: A case study of Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

In some enterprises, data of heterogeneous nature (in terms of formats) are captured and stored. One of the major challenges of these data storage mechanism is aggregating them for appropriate usage. The case of
Nigeria higher institutions is not an exception where students‟ information are captured and stored at locations like the bursary, admission and departmental offices among others for diverse purposes. Graduating students are expected to visit each of these units and get cleared one after the other before final certification. In this paper, a data integration approach is developed to facilitate this clearance issue using Lagos State University as a case study. These data are merged irrespective of the format of storage and location and integrated into desirable format for the said purpose at a central point. Apart from proffering timely solution for the automation of graduating students‟ clearance process, the system can be made robust by easily accommodating more data formats and sources as the need arises.

Keywords: Data, integration, Information, system, Decision, making.