CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Globally, most of the institutions and organizations rely on use of traditional paper verification methods to verify the documents presented to them. These organizations and institution do not have the capacity to verify the document presented to them instantly (Dharani, 2018). One of the problems we have in traditional paper based is that people and especially recruiters and employers find it difficult in knowing the validity of documents such as academic certificates presented to them because there is no way they can authenticate those documents instantly (Glenn, 2014). In the current scenario most of the organization do not have the capacity to instantly authenticate the documents presented. Traditional identity information verification and validation processes were developed in a project transaction world (Dejan, 2011). This project is centered on the need to adopt automatic online verification system that will save the huddles of manual verification method. This will enable anybody or an employer to verify an institution certificate online without having to come down to the school to do so (Srushti, 2014). All that is required of the employer is to log into the verification link given, which is a link to the university portal and enter the certificate number of the certificate he/she wants to verify, then the original copy of that certificate will be displayed on the screen along with the following message (assuming the name of the certificate owner is “JohnsonIfedioraâ€ÂÂ), JohnsonIfediora is a graduate of Computer Science  Department, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, he graduated in the year 2015. Please carefully compare the certificate you have there with the one on your screen any alteration renders that certificate invalid (Johnpaul, 2011). But if the certificate number is invalid (i.e a forged certificate number), the following message will be displayed on the screen “Invalid Certificate, we don’t have details of this person in our record, it is either you made a mistake in typing the certificate number or the owner did not pass through this institution, Verify and try again, please if the problem persists contact the school +2348000000000, admin@university.edu.ng. According to Boris, (2017), the usage of computer software is widespread. Several organizations perform their daily activities more efficiently using applications founded by use of computer science knowledge. Software developers make it possible for people with illiterate computer knowledge to be able to operate computers by creating applications that require short training to learn how to use. Application software is a program designed to perform specific tasks for a user (Nwachukwu, 2015). In this study, the design and implementation of Certificate Generation and Verification System is developed based on the client-server technology. This technique is also used in many other works, with the coming of client-server technology more frameworks are being developed and the expense and the time for building up an application phenomenally decreased (Matthew, 2018). This study focuses on improving the processing time of certificate generation and verification systems by enabling multiple certificates generation simultaneously, provide effortless verification approach and allow end-user to define template and template format (Kothari, 2014). In this modern age, computers have verified the cause of their existence. The advent of computers in our society caused a lot of criticism on the danger it poses on the society (Mahamat, 2016). Critics of computer and new techniques express their fear on how computers will displace and replace all human skills thus resulting to mass unemployment. The presence of computer on virtually every field of today’s fast life has proved the critic wrong as the invention of computers and new technologies continues to create additional jobs for those who identify themselves with computers and new technologies. This make computes partner to human beings in any fields of human endeavor (Uzoka, 2018). Over the past decades, students identification and verification have been a major problem in large institutions as documents, certificate and studentship can be forged at a great rate and easy way, using the computer negatively. Forgers fail to know that in this fast moving world, the computer has equally served as an aid to decision making, verification and authentication. This is because of computers efficiency in terms of speed, accuracy, reliability, cost and security among others (Ramus, 2012). In recent years, awareness has existed and created in people as it concerns the use of computer in verifying, authenticating and security activities either through web-based (internet) or window-based. Decision support system (DSS) and others system like management information system (MIS) and information system (IS) are used in organization (Ramus, 2012). Decisions are largely based on experience and principle (Uzoka, 2018). The value of every degree is the reputation of the institution and the students produced, hence, the greatest obstacle to any academic institution which is dishonesty and forgery has to be balanced with verification and authentication systems and processes. “In recent times, effort are made to build intelligence into computer system, whereby the computer can be used to process large volume of structured and unstructured information for decision making†(Mahamat, 2016).