Development of an Integrated Facilities Management System with GPS-Validated Photographic Evidence for Continuous NBTE Compliance at Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Nigeria

Nigerian Polytechnics have been experiencing accreditation problems due to inconsistent and unverifiable collection of facilities data. This study investigates the use of an Integrated Facilities Management System (IFMS) utilising GPS validated photographs for ensuring technical and vocational education and training (TVET) quality assurance. A convergent parallel Mixed-Methods Design was employed at Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Nigeria, with a total of 34 quantitative performance metrics, NASA-TLX workload questionnaires, and UTAUT surveys combined with 16 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions. Results indicate significant reductions of 45.4% (p < 0.001) in administrative processing time and 76.3% (p < 0.001) in documentation errors using the IFMS. Also, the accuracy of GPS geofencing was found to be 87.3%; however, there was a significant variation in accuracy across different types of facilities (94.2% in open areas and 78.4% in densely vegetated areas), thus necessitating the need for hybrid fallback protocols. NASA-TLX workload assessment revealed a 32.1% reduction in user workloads. While structural equation modelling is treated as exploratory due to sample size constraints (n = 34), System-Specific Trust (SST) emerged as a notable predictor of Behavioural Intention (β = 0.35). Thematic analysis revealed a shift from a reactive 'firefighting' approach to proactive adherence to standard operating procedures; however, this was hampered by infrastructural challenges (cost of mobile data, power outages) and a policy gap regarding the requirements for digital evidence as stipulated by NBTE. This study thus offers a replicable, localized digital transformation framework for TVET institutions in resource-constrained settings and suggests that sustainable technology adoption must balance social interventions with formalised regulatory frameworks for validating digital evidence.

Facilities management system, GPS geofencing, NBTE accreditation, TVET quality assurance, EXIF metadata validation, technology acceptance

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