Software to help cos check on fake degrees

The Signifera Software Solutions, Mysore, a techn-based company which specialises in developing various softwares/applications using diverse technologies and multiple platforms, has developed a software to address the menace of fake degree certificates, and university admissions and examinations.

Document Encryption Printing and Authentication (DEPA) 1.0, developed by Signifera, after two years of research and 8,000 man-hours of development, is a Java-based Internet/Intranet software application which offers web-verification and validation of degree certificates and also check their authenticity.

Mariam Fathima Tareen, managing director of Signifera said, when universities across the world are faced with the menace of increasing number of fake degree certificates in the job market, DEPA could be the ultimate solution to check the menace. The software can be used for validating other important documents like passports and bank drafts as well.

The software enables a complete in-house printing of the degree certificates, thus removing external intervention to a large extent. The certificates are printed with a barcode and photo. The barcode can only be read by a software component which resides on the official website of the university.

The tedious job of photo capturing is made easy in DEPA as it can autocrop upto 16 scanned images in one go. The software component does not occupy huge memory spaces and does not require a huge database to sit on the website and it is customisable to suit the requirements of the university, she told Business Standard.

Job-aspirants, who need to have their certificates validated with the company offering the job, can do so anytime, anywhere in the world through the Internet and establish the authenticity of their document. It can be done in less than 20 seconds. The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technologists, Jammu and Kashmir, has already incorporated the software for issuing its degree certificates.

Besides the software, the company has also come out with two more products useful for academic institutions "" university admissions/examination management software (UAMP 0.1) and College Pro.

Useful at the examination level, the UAMP is a high-end project consisting of three modules of registration, tabulation/examination and degree certificate printing. The software suite enables complete automation of the admission and examination section and optimises the process of registration, examination and result declaration.

The College Pro, on the other hand, automatically generates a merit list and makes a master merit list. The entire process is reduced to 1/3rd of the original manual time taken. It captures the student's course/college preference and then allocates seats based on his merit, or on any reservation or category he/she comes under.

Signifera's another product Lockscreen 1.0 is a browsing time management software designed for cyber cafes. The software restricts the members to browse only for the allotted time slot purchased by them. Thereafter, it locks the screen and does not allow them to browse further, thereby eliminating manual management. PROMAG 1.0 is a software for effective project management. It gives the project manager a first hand review of what work is being done by whom, on what activities and projects his team is working on.

Signifera has a content management system product underdevelopment. It is being designed to serve newsgroups and newspapers.