Design of a Web-Based Lost and Found Reporting System for IMT Enugu Campus

The loss of personal belongings on tertiary institution campuses is a recurring challenge that causes financial distress and disruption to students and staff. At the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, the absence of a structured lost and found reporting mechanism means that misplaced items are rarely reunited with their owners, and the process of reporting and searching for lost property remains informal and ineffective. This study designed a web-based lost and found reporting system tailored to the operational environment of IMT Enugu. The system was developed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a PHP/MySQL backend, providing a platform through which campus users could report lost or found items, upload photographs, provide location details, and receive automated email notifications when a potential match was identified. A fuzzy matching algorithm was incorporated to compare reported lost items against found item entries and flag probable matches for administrative review. System testing confirmed reliable item matching accuracy and consistent notification delivery across tested scenarios. Feedback from campus users involved in usability trials indicated strong willingness to adopt the platform, citing its ease of use and the absence of any comparable existing solution on campus. The study concluded that a web-based lost and found system would bring measurable order to property recovery on the IMT campus, reducing reliance on informal social media announcements and improving community trust in institutional support services. Deployment is recommended to coincide with a campus-wide awareness campaign.

Keywords: lost and found, web-based system, IMT Enugu, campus management, item tracking