Product Document · 2025 · Krishna

CT Gate Pass
Project

A digital gate pass system built for CT Group of Institutions — eliminating the frustration of paper-based exit approvals through QR codes, real-time approvals, and role-based dashboards.

3 Roles
Student · Teacher · Guard
~0 Paper
Fully digital, no forms
QR-Based
Tamper-proof verification
Real-Time
Instant approval flow
01
Origin story — Why I built this
"Every time I needed to leave college early, I had to hunt down my HOD or principal across the campus just to sign a paper slip. Half the time they weren't in their room."
As a student at CT Group of Institutions, Krishna experienced firsthand the broken gate pass system. Getting out for a doctor's appointment, a family emergency, or even when lectures were free meant physically locating a teacher, waiting outside their office, and filling paper forms — often multiple copies. Guards at the gate had no way to verify if a pass was real or forged. Teachers had no log of approvals they'd given. The whole system was built on trust, inconvenience, and paper that got lost. This project was born out of that frustration — a simple, digital, verifiable way for students to request exits, for teachers to approve instantly from their phones, and for guards to scan a QR code and confirm in seconds.
The Problem
Manual gate passes were broken
Students waste 20–40 min physically finding teachers
Paper slips can be forged or lost easily
Guards have no way to verify authenticity
No record of approvals — disputes with admin
Teachers annoyed by constant interruptions
Emergency exits become painful and slow
The Solution
CTGP — Digital, instant, verified
Students submit requests from their phone in 30 seconds
Teachers approve with one tap from anywhere on campus
Unique QR code generated for each approved pass
Guards scan the QR — real-time verification, no guessing
Full audit log — admin can review every exit
Reason categories make reporting structured
P

Part One

Product Requirements Document (PRD)

02
User personas
Persona 1 · Primary User
The Student
Ages 17–22 · Needs to leave campus
Goal
Get out of college quickly for personal, medical, or free-period reasons without hunting for a teacher
Pain: wastes 30+ min per exit
Persona 2 · Approver
The Teacher / HOD
Faculty · Approves or rejects requests
Goal
Manage student exit requests without being interrupted in class or hunted across campus
Pain: constant physical interruptions
Persona 3 · Verifier
The Gate Guard
Security · Controls physical exit
Goal
Verify that a student has an approved pass without calling the HOD to confirm every slip
Pain: no way to verify paper passes
03
Core features
📝
Smart Request Form
Students select from structured reason categories — No lectures / Free period, Medical issue, Family emergency, Official college work, and more. Optional additional details ensure context for approvers.
Student-facing
✅
One-tap Teacher Approval
Teachers see a live queue of pending requests and can approve or reject from anywhere on campus. No physical presence required. Notification arrives instantly after submission.
Teacher-facing
📱
QR Code Gate Pass
Each approved pass generates a unique, time-bound QR code on the student's phone. The pass is cryptographically tied to the approval event — cannot be forged or reused after expiry.
Student-facing
🔍
QR Scanner for Guards
Guards open the scanner on any device, point at the student's QR code, and get instant green/red verification. No calls, no paper checking. Result shows student name, reason, and approving teacher.
Guard-facing
📊
Full Audit Trail
Every request, approval, rejection, and exit scan is timestamped and stored. Admin can view request history by student, by date, by reason. Teachers can see all passes they've approved.
Admin + Teacher
🔐
Role-Based Auth
Students, teachers, and guards each see a completely different UI — relevant only to their role. Secure login via email and password. No role confusion, no accidental access to approver tools.
All roles
04
User journey — Student exit flow
Step 1
Student logs in
Student opens ctgatepass.in and logs in with their college email and password. They land on their personal dashboard showing active passes and request history.
Step 2
Create leave request
Student taps "Create Leave Request," selects a reason category (e.g., Medical issue, Free period), adds optional details, and submits. Takes under 30 seconds.
Step 3
Teacher receives pending request
The assigned teacher/HOD sees the request in their "Pending Requests" queue. They can view the reason, student details, and approve or reject with one tap.
Step 4
QR code generated
On approval, the system generates a unique QR code that appears in the student's "Active Gate Pass" section. The pass is valid for a defined time window.
Step 5
Guard scans at gate
The student shows their QR code at the gate. The guard opens the scanner on their device, scans the code, and sees an instant "✓ Pass verified" or "✗ Invalid" result — with full details.
Step 6 ↺
Logged & archived
The exit is timestamped in the system. Admin and the teacher can see the full history. Student's request moves to "Request History."
05
Technology stack
LayerTechnologyRoleType
FrontendHTML / CSS / JavaScript (Vanilla)Student, teacher & guard UI — single-page appCore
Auth & BackendFirebase AuthenticationEmail/password login, role-based session managementInfra
DatabaseFirebase FirestoreReal-time storage of requests, approvals, user dataInfra
QR GenerationQRCode.js / Client-sideGenerates QR code from approved pass IDCore
QR ScanningjsQR / Camera APIGuard-facing scanner via device cameraCore
HostingFirebase Hosting / Custom domainLive at ctgatepass.inInfra
SecurityFirestore Rules + Firebase AuthRole enforcement — students can't see teacher dashboardsSecurity
C

Part Two

Case Study — Problem, Build & Impact

06
The problem in numbers
🏫
CT Group of Institutions — Ludhiana, Punjab
One of Punjab's largest educational groups with thousands of students across engineering, management, and pharmacy programs. The gate pass system was the same for everyone — paper, manual, frustrating.
30–40
Minutes the average student wasted per gate pass request trying to find and get sign-off from their HOD
0
Verification mechanism for guards — they had to take paper slips at face value, making forgery trivial
100%
Manual process — no digital log, no audit trail, no accountability for approvals or exits
07
Build journey — How it came together
1
Identified the pain point

After one particularly frustrating attempt to get a gate pass before a doctor's appointment — wasting 35 minutes and almost missing the appointment — Krishna decided to build a solution instead of complaining.

2
Mapped the 3-role system

Realised early that the solution needs three distinct interfaces: students submit, teachers approve, guards verify. A single app view wouldn't work — role-based routing was key to the architecture.

3
Built the core request → approval loop

Used Firebase Firestore's real-time listeners so teacher dashboards update instantly when a student submits. No polling, no refresh needed — the pending request appears within milliseconds.

4
Solved the verification problem with QR

The key insight: the QR code must be tied to the Firestore approval record, not just generated client-side. A guard's scan calls back to the database to confirm the approval is still valid — making forgery impossible.

5
Launched at ctgatepass.in

Deployed on Firebase Hosting with a custom domain. The system went live for real use by CT Group students, with teachers and guards onboarded to their respective roles.

08
Competitive comparison
FeaturePaper Slip (Old)WhatsApp MessageCT Gate Pass
Student submits digitally✗✓ (informal)✓
Teacher approves remotely✗✓ (no record)✓
Guard verifies pass✗ Paper only✗ Not visible✓ QR scan
Forgery prevention✗✗✓ DB-tied QR
Audit log / history✗✗✓ Firestore
Structured reason data✗✗✓ Categories
Time to get a pass20–40 min5–15 min< 2 min
G

Part Three

Go-To-Market Strategy

09
GTM phases
Phase 1
Pilot at CT Group
Months 1–3 · Internal validation
Deploy to 1–2 departments within CT Group as a controlled pilot
Onboard 5–10 teachers and 2–3 guards with short training sessions
Collect feedback from students on request flow and speed
Measure reduction in time-to-exit vs. paper baseline
Fix edge cases (offline QR, expired passes, duplicate requests)
Phase 2
Full CT Group Rollout
Months 4–6 · Scale internally
Present pilot results to CT Group administration for full adoption
Onboard all departments — engineering, management, pharmacy
Add admin dashboard for management-level reporting
Student onboarding via campus email invite
Share case study on LinkedIn and college tech groups
Phase 3
Expand to Other Colleges
Months 7–12 · B2B SaaS model
Package CTGP as white-label "GatePass SaaS" for other institutions
Target engineering colleges in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR
Cold outreach to DSW (Dean of Student Welfare) offices
Freemium model: up to 200 students free, paid tiers above
Partner with edtech platforms for distribution
10
RACE growth model
R
Reach
LinkedIn posts, college WhatsApp groups, student union endorsement, word-of-mouth from early users
A
Act
Students sign up with college email, teacher gets invite from admin, first request submitted in under 5 min
C
Convert
Admin sees clean audit logs, teacher approves without interruption — system becomes the default over paper
E
Engage
Students use it for every exit, teachers build a habit of checking the queue, guards stop accepting paper slips
+
Refer
CT Group students share the product, other colleges reach out, institutional B2B referral loop begins
11
Business model — Future SaaS tiers
Free Tier
₹0
Colleges up to 200 students
Student request + QR generation
Teacher approval flow
Guard QR scanner
30-day request history
Institution Plan
₹4,999/mo
Up to 5,000 students · Most popular
Everything in Free
Admin analytics dashboard
Unlimited request history
Custom branding & college logo
Bulk student onboarding via CSV
Priority support
University Plan
₹14,999/mo
Unlimited students · Multi-campus
Everything in Institution
Multi-campus support
API access for ERP integration
SLA-backed uptime guarantee
Dedicated account manager
12
12-month success targets
from 1 dept
↑
10+ colleges
Institutions on platform
from 30–40 min
↓
< 2 min
Average exit approval time
from 0%
↑
100%
Verifiable exits at CT Group
from ₹0
↑
₹1L+/mo
Target MRR (post-expansion)
The CT Gate Pass Vision

Built by a student, for students — because the best products are born from genuine frustration, not design sprints.

ctgatepass.in QR Verification Role-Based Access Real-Time Approvals CT Group · Ludhiana Built by Krishna