DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTER BASED STOCK MONITORING SYSTEM

1.1 Introduction

A stock management monitoring system is a key part of the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and process the associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, put away and picking. The systems also direct and optimize warehouse put away based on real-time information about the status of bin utilization. Stock management system is an essential activity that must be undertaken in an organization to ensure proper management of inventories. In other to ensure for the proper management of inventories, systems and software has to be put in place. System has to be developed to keep proper track of all in-coming and out-going inventories.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The development of the stock Market in Nigeria started in 1946 when their year plan local ordinance was promulgated. The ordinance provided for the floating of & 300,000 (N600, 000) to stock bearing interest at 3%. It had maturity of 10-15 years. Another attempt was made in 1951 through the creation of a loan fund financing public utilities. This, 1945-55 constitute the first significant attempts made under the British colonial administration to create investment opportunities of Nigeria. There they mark the beginning of capital market development in Nigeria but the specific objectives of developing a local capital market was not seriously by the colonial administration.

In 1958, committees under professor barrack. The director of the Nigeria institute of social and economic research was appointed to consider the ways and years of postering a stock market in Nigeria. There was a favourable report recommending the creation of facilities for in stock.

The objective of A stock management monitoring system is to provide a set of computerized procedures to handle the receipt of warehouse and returns into a warehouse facility, model and manage the logical representation of the physical storage facilities (e.g. racking etc), manage the warehouse within the facility and enable a seamless link to order processing and logistics management in order to pick, pack and ship product out of the facility.

In its simplest form, the stock management system can data track products during the production process and act as an interpreter and message buffer between existing ERP (Enterprise resource planning) and stock management systems. Stock Management is not just managing within the boundaries of a warehouse today; it is much wider and goes beyond the physical boundaries. Inventory management, inventory planning, cost management, IT applications & communication technology to be used are all related to warehouse management. The container storage, loading and unloading are also covered by warehouse management today. Even production management is to a great extent dependent on stock management. Efficient stock management gives a cutting edge to a retail chain distribution company. Stock warehouse management does not just start with receipt of material but it actually starts with actual initial planning when container design is made for a product. Stock warehouse design and process design within the warehouse (e.g. Wave Picking) is also part of warehouse management. Warehouse management is part of Logistics and SCM.

Stock warehouse management monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems, and communication between product stations. Stock warehouse management deals with receipt, storage and movement of goods, normally finished goods, to intermediate storage locations or to final customer. In the multi-echelon model for distribution, there are levels of warehouses, starting with the Central Warehouse(s), regional warehouses services by the central warehouses and retail warehouses at the third level services by the regional warehouses and so on. The objective of warehousing management is to help in optimal cost of timely order fulfillment by managing the resources economically.

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1.3 Statement of Problem

Investigation revealed the majority of the problems that occur in the warehouse occur because of a lack of control of inventory control, operational control and or management control. To become a dynamic, consistent organization, all the operation must be under control. In order to achieve this control, all the tools and technology available has to be used to get control and manage the warehouse operation. A control system is a means, mechanism or procedure by which we manage these operations.

In the study area, the method used in tracking goods involves the traditional record keeping and identifying products according to written labels. Inventory management and distribution typically relies on a traditional process of taking a physical inventory of products and manually ordering refills, while also eliminating product that is nearing or passed its expiry.

In the recording of a transaction only a single employee at a time is able to enter the record on a ledger book and furthermore some goods are not entered in the book but sold directly. Reports are not generated daily, weekly or monthly but only on a yearly basis and this cause mishandling of funds among the employees. The warehouse does not have a backup and recovery for the products of transactions journals made for the inventory items. Security is not there because the users and the administrators both perform the same tasks.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to design and implement a Computer Based Stock Monitoring System. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:

1. Monitor all forms of fraudulent activities associated with the stock exchange market.
2. Ensure that timely and accurate information about stock market transactions.
3. Eradicate all the difficulties encountered by recording and storing of data which are being done manually.
4. Track, store and move goods and materials efficiently.
5. Facilitate easy access to the information about the stock market.
6. Keep track of all transaction to prevent any stock losses in warehouse.

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1.5 Significance of Study

This study will be of importance to individual's private and public companies, financial institutions government and parastatals, as it will enable them to understand the role which capital market plays in the mobilization of funds and their eventual transfer to businesses, the government and individuals that need those funds for investment. It encourages the investor towards specification, development and mobilization of the economy through investment process.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.6 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Design and Implementation of a Computer Based Stock Monitoring System. The Stock management system is intended to cover all the operations of the company. The scope and tasks of the research project include finding out the scale of implementation of stock management system and perceived barriers for adoption, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of warehouse management system currently adopted by the industry as a whole

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1.7 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

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1.8 Definition of Terms

Stock Market: It is used interchangeable with the capital market, which is integral part of the country financial system where many securities are bought and solid.

Share Holder: A shareholder is one who holds a share certificate that has to share is also called or referred as stock holder.

Speculation: It is the buying and selling of goods with the objects of gaining from differences in prices.

Stage: One who speculates on the stock exchange by subscribing to new issue with the hope of selling his allotment at a profit as deal in the securities commences.

Common Stock: It is a terms for equity or ordinary share.

Bid: The process at which a jobber or investor is prepared by stock or shares, when a prices is quoted as bid” It generally means that there are more, buyers than sellers.