Attendance is one of the work ethics which is valued by most employers. In educational institutions, attendance and academic success are directly related. Therefore, proper attendance management systems must be in place. Most of the educational institutions and government organizations in developing countries are still using the unreliable and expensive paper based attendance method to monitor attendance. There is a need to replace these traditional methods of attendance recording with a more secure, cheap and robust system. Fingerprint based automated identification system based are gaining popularity due to their unique nature. In this report, novel approach for fingerprint based attendance system using Arduino and GSM technology has been designed. Optical fingerprint module is used for capturing and processing fingerprints. Features such as recording of attendance in a text file along with the date and time of attendance are also incorporated in the system. GSM technology is used to alert the parents about their children attendance. The designed system was implemented and its performance was evaluated based upon user friendliness, accuracy, speed, security and cost. The designed system has met the aim and specific objectives of the project.