Smart Lost and Found System for Campus

Abstract Lost and found management remains a recurring problem on university campuses, often resulting in unclaimed items, delayed recovery, and a lack of accountability in ownership disputes. To address this gap, we developed a digital Lost and Found system that enables item reporting, claim submission, ownership verification, and coordinated return through a unified platform. The system includes a multi-claim arbitration mechanism, real-time notifications, and a lifecycle tracking model that provides transparency from reporting to item handover. Scenario-based evaluation on common campus situations demonstrated reduced resolution time compared to conventional notice board or social media based approaches. The proposed system highlights how digital services can streamline item recovery and improve operational efficiency within campus environments. Keywords: Lost and Found systems, Campus IT, Ownership arbitration, Real-time communication, Notification systems, Fuzzy matching, Temporal lifecycle