A comprehensive Teacher Tracking and Profiling System designed to streamline campus monitoring and academic visibility. This AI-powered platform provides role-based dashboards for administrators, teachers, and students, facilitating real-time status updates and location monitoring while strictly adhering to privacy standards.

Project Overview

FacultyLink (Teacher Tracking System) is a robust web application built with vanilla PHP and MySQL, fully containerized with Docker. It addresses the need for real-time faculty availability tracking within an educational institution.

The system enforces a "Status-Only" policy for students allowing them to see if a teacher is "Available", "In Class", or "Busy" while reserving precise GPS location monitoring exclusively for administrators via interactive Leaflet maps.

Key Features

"LinkyBot" AI Assistant

• Smart Assistance: An integrated AI chatbot (powered by Perplexity) to help students find teachers, check room schedules, and get status updates instantly.
• Context Awareness: Remembers recent queries and offers "follow-up" capabilities.

Student Access

• Privacy-First Design: View teacher status (e.g., Available, In Class) without exposing location data.
• Search & Filter: Quickly find teachers by name or department.
• Real-Time Updates: See the most recent status timestamps.

Teacher Portal

• Status Management: Update current availability (Available, In Class, Busy, Offline, Off Campus).
• GPS Location Pings: Securely submit current location using browser geolocation APIs.
• Profile Management: Maintain professional details and subject lists.
• Timetable Management: Add and manage courses directly in the schedule.

Admin Console

• Interactive Map Monitor: Visualize teacher locations in real-time using Leaflet maps.
• Audit Logging: Comprehensive logs of all privileged actions and location history.
• Student & Teacher Management: Full control over student and teacher accounts with a centralized interface.
• Analytics: Generate reports on faculty attendance and availability history.

Quick Start

With Docker (Recommended)

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/frostjade71/teacher-tracking-and-profiling.git
   cd teacher-tracking-and-profiling

2. Configure Environment

   Copy .env.example to .env and configure your API keys:

   cp .env.example .env

   You may need to add your PERPLEXITY_API_KEY for the chatbot functionality.

3. Start the application

   docker-compose up -d --build

4. Access the System

   • Web Interface: http://localhost:8080
   • Database: http://localhost:3306 (or configured port)

Note: Ensure Docker Desktop is running before executing the commands.

Technology Stack

• Backend: Vanilla PHP 8+ (No heavy frameworks)
• Database: MySQL 8.0
• Frontend: HTML5, Tailwind CSS, JavaScript
• AI Integration: Perplexity API
• Mapping: Leaflet.js (OpenStreetMap)
• Drag & Drop: interact.js
• Infrastructure: Docker & Docker Compose

Configuration

Database Environment

The system is pre-configured with Docker environment variables. You can verify them in docker-compose.yml:

environment:
  DB_HOST: mysql
  DB_NAME: ttrack
  DB_USER: ttrack_user
  DB_PASS: ttrack_pass

Security Features

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Strict permission checks for every request.
• Password Hashing: Industry-standard bcrypt encryption.
• Prepared Statements: Full protection against SQL injection attacks using PDO.
• Session Security: Session ID regeneration and secure cookie handling.

Usage Guide

1. Login: Access the system with your assigned credentials.
2. Dashboard: automatically redirected to your role-specific dashboard (Student, Teacher, or Admin).
3. Teachers: Click "Update Location" to send a GPS ping.
4. Admins: Navigate to "Monitor" to view the live tracking map.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/NewFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add NewFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/NewFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Jaderby Peñaranda. All Rights Reserved.

This software is a commissioned work depending on proprietary and confidential information. Permission is hereby granted to the client/student to use this software solely for the purpose of academic requirements and thesis defense.

See the LICENSE file for full details.

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