DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTERISED SALES RECORD SYSTEM

1.1 Introduction

Computerized sales Record System is the process of collecting, inputting, storing, classifying, summarizing and interpreting data. Record keeping has two sides, viz: financial record keeping and managerial record keeping. In this study we have been able to design a computerized sales record system that will be universally acceptable by managers of any business, in fact the entire business populace. Computerized sales help provide better insight into which products are most popular. This allows for confidence in accounting and accountability among employees as it is easy to verify how much money and what time transactions took place. They also allow for consistent experiences in terms of customer service. People know there is always a uniform interaction at the register that requires tendering payment, taking a receipt and transition of ownership of products and services. This generates confidence in a business and ensures ongoing consumer relationships. Computerized systems are the most common method of inventory control and sales processing in retail markets.

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 company Beverly Hills Supermarket is a small store that is managed by one person, the owner. The business sells different items or products like household equipment, drinks, grocery and other items that we can see everywhere. Like some other convenience store, the business does their physical counting of stocks manually. Technically, Beverly Hills Supermarket is only using a manual system that may cause to duplication of documents and work redundancy. The business is just depending on their manual listing of products and inputs of data which is possible to commit errors. The business cannot view their proper records of sales or income in a given time of the year. It also does not have its proper listings of product. In some instances, lost items are just being ignored by the owner. Beverly Hills Supermarket does not have any extra employee today. But before, the business had one cashier on that time. And basically, introduced the income and force to remove employees. How, the owner is the one who does all work in the business.

Record keeping has two sides, viz: − financial record keeping and managerial record keeping. The basic purpose of financial record is to assist decision makers in evaluating the financial strength, profitability and future prospects of a business. Managerial record keeping in contrast is tailored to the needs of a particular company. It helps the executives to measure success in carrying out their plans, to identify problems requiring executive attention and to attain company objectives. The purpose of record keeping is to produce financial statement and accurate record about a business entity. Therefore, in this study, we narrowed down to the record keeping system as been practiced by a business center in Port Harcourt. Nearly all the tasks manually performed by man some years back can now be done in matter of seconds with computer technology. Since the invention of the “wonder machine”, there has been a change from the manual way of carrying out certain tasks to a faster and more reliable computerized method. Justifiably, if a supermarket has the problems of keeping adequate record of financial transactions, workers file and managerial documents accrued by the purpose of planning, accuracy, timely data processing and security, they do this in manual means with its associated problems of insecurity, high cost of operation and long period of time used for processing data. The design and development of computerized record keeping system in the supermarket will no doubt bring about immeasurable relief from the problems associated with manual system of record keeping. Therefore, the study is aimed at producing an efficient computer software package that can handle the record keeping system of the supermarket (Rubin, 2007).

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

Some of the problems of the study include:

1. The recording of sales and cash received are done manually on the book that appears rough.
2. It is difficult to know when certain items need to be restocked
3. The manual system of inventory system is stressful and time consuming
4. Inaccuracies in record keeping due to human errors.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives Of The Study

The aim of the application is to design an application that can be used in keeping records of sales and cash received or spent, also to promote efficient and quality services to customers. In achieving this aim, the following are the specific objectives of study to design and develop a system that will:

1. Create a database that will help store sales records
2. Capture the sales and inventory activities
3. Automate sales and inventory task/activities.
4. Ensure consistency of accounts and reduction of error due to damage
5. Ensure safety of the documents/records, because the system will be passworded to reduce access.

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1.5 Significance of Study

The significance of this study is to Beverly Hills that will provide easy-to-use and easy-to-use and easy accessed system thus transactions will be more reliable and faster that they do not have to hire another employer to do the job. It gives more accurate and secure records of sales and list of products. It will help in a good number of ways to ease the queuing method in supermarkets. This will also help in accurate keeping of records. Specifically the study will be relevant to the following:

1. Admin: manages the adding of stocks, updating the inventory, and determining the users of the system.
2. Customers: have the benefits of the printed receipts right after purchasing an item.
3. Future Researchers: would see the possibilities of upgrading the system.
4. Researcher: student, teacher, programmer and web-developer can benefit in this system through a detailed document

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1.6 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Sales Record System using Beverly Hills supermarket in Port Harcourt as a case study.

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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. High programming technique: The programming aspect of this project posed a lot of problematic bugs that took us some days to solve. Problem such as database connections using PHP, MySql, posed a lot of challenging.
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

Automation: This is the use of control system such as computer to control and process data, reducing the need for human intervention (Rubin, 2007).

Computerized: To convert a based system to start using a computer system to control, organize and automate something (Rubin, 2007).

Database: This refers to a large store of related data on a computer that can be access and modified by the user (Rubin, 2007).

Password: This is a secret code that a user must type into a computer to enable him access it or its applications. This is made up of numbers, letter, special character or a combination of any of the above categories.

Record System: The act of using a computer system to store and update information/data sequentially in order to keep file security (Rubin, 2007).

Research: A careful study of something, especially to discover new facts or information about it (Rubin, 2007).

System: Set of computer component (that is, the assembling of hardware, software and peripherals to function together).

Customers: a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business.

Hardware: the physical tangible parts or component of a computer such as the cabinet, central processing unit, speakers and motherboard.

Inventory: is the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale.

Inventory management: a discipline primarily about specifying the shape and placement of stocked goods.

Inventory Management system: the combination of technology(hardware and software) and processes and procedure that oversees the monitoring and maintenance of stocked products.

Sales: an exchange of goods or services for currency or credit.