DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN E-CERTIFICATE VERIFICATION SYSTEM
Abstract
In recent years, the increasing rate of academic certificate forgery has raised serious concerns among employers, educational institutions, and verification agencies. Manual methods of certificate validation are often time-consuming, unreliable, and susceptible to human error. This project titled “Design and Implementation of an E-Certificate Verification System” presents the development of a secure, efficient, and web-based platform for authenticating academic certificates in real time. The system was implemented using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, with the integration of a QR code generator for unique certificate identification. Unlike conventional systems that rely solely on serial numbers, the proposed system provides multiple verification options. Users can verify certificates by scanning the QR code, capturing the certificate using a camera (via WebRTC), or uploading a soft copy (PDF or image) for text or QR extraction and comparison against the database records. The system architecture was developed following the Agile methodology, which facilitated iterative design, testing, and improvement. The application’s backend processes certificate data using prepared SQL statements to prevent SQL injection, while input validation and file type filtering enhance data integrity. The administrator module allows authorized personnel to generate, upload, and manage certificate data, whereas the verifier module provides the interface for public verification. Testing results demonstrated that the system achieves high accuracy in detecting valid certificates and effectively identifies forged or tampered documents. The platform is responsive, user-friendly, and capable of handling simultaneous verification requests with minimal latency. Overall, this project provides a technologically advanced solution to the challenge of certificate forgery by ensuring authenticity, transparency, and trust in academic document validation. Future enhancements could include the integration of blockchain technology and optical character recognition (OCR) for even more secure and automated verification. Keywords: E-Certificate, Verification System, QR Code, WebRTC, File Upload, PHP, MySQL, Agile Methodology.
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