Stalwart Digital Student Support: An Online Guidance and Counseling Case Management System for Enhanced Student Assistance

This study aimed to develop and evaluate Stalwart Digital Student Support: An Online Guidance and Counseling Case Management System for Enhanced Student Assistance at Sulu State University, Philippines, to address challenges in manual record management, counseling documentation, case monitoring, and appointment scheduling. Guided by the Input-Process-Output (IPO) conceptual framework and the Waterfall Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), the study employed a system development approach involving requirements analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment planning, and maintenance. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with guidance counselors, focus group discussions with students, and reviews of institutional documents. The developed web-based system integrated student profiling, referral and counseling case management, DASS-21 assessment, online appointment scheduling, automated email notifications, reporting, and role-based access control. Results showed that the system managed 184 student records and 183 appointments, while recording 195 audit activities. All ten documented functional test cases passed following defect correction, and evaluated response times ranged from 0.8 to 1.5 seconds, meeting the established two-second performance target. Stakeholder evaluation indicated that the system was Highly Acceptable, demonstrating its functional readiness and relevance to institutional guidance operations. The study concluded that the system achieved its development objectives and recommended institutional adoption, user training, continued maintenance, security reviews, and further evaluation of long-term service outcomes. The study supports Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, 10, and 16 by promoting student well-being, quality education, accessible guidance services, and institutional accountability. Its sustainability contribution lies in strengthening digital service delivery, secure information management, operational continuity, and equitable access to student assistance.