Penggunaan Google Apps Script Untuk Peningkatan Pelayanan Kegiatan Praktikum Pada Laboratorium Geografi Universitas Negeri Semarang

Abstract

Laboratory management in universities is still dominated by manual administration, causing inaccurate inventory data, slow equipment circulation, and inefficient issuance of laboratory clearance letters. This condition is evident at the Geography Laboratory, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), where hardware-based (IoT) solutions are considered too costly. This study formulates and develops an integrated administration system model based on Google Apps Script (GAS) using a Low-Code Development Platform approach, integrating equipment circulation management, calendar-integrated practicum scheduling, and real-time automated issuance of legal documents. This research employs a Research and Development (R&D) method with a Waterfall model, evaluated through a usability survey (USE Questionnaire) involving 80 respondents (52 students of Geography Science and 28 students of Geography Education) and a two-period observational comparison of service cycle time. Usability results show high acceptance across all four criteria: usefulness 93%, ease of use 92%, ease of learning 92%, and satisfaction 93%, with a Pearson item-total correlation ranging from 0.683 to 0.818 (valid) and a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 (excellent reliability). The average cycle time for laboratory clearance letter processing dropped from 35 minutes under the manual method (n≈85, Jul-Dec 2025) to 5 minutes 48 seconds under the GAS-based system (n>120, Jan-Jun 2026), a descriptive reduction of 83.4%, though without variance data for formal inferential testing. These findings indicate that the GAS-based system is well accepted by users and substantially reduces administrative service time, supporting its feasibility as a low-cost, integrated laboratory administration model.