Software Implementation of an Online Supermarket Sales and Inventory Management System

1.0 Introduction

Sales and inventory management is one of the basic problems of business organizations that need to effectively manage their financial information and stock records. It may cause a lot of paper work, if there is no automated system available. Inventory management is the process of efficiently overseeing the constant flow of units into and out of an existing stock of goods. This process usually involves controlling the transfer units in order to prevent the inventory from becoming too high or dwindling to levels that could put the operation of the company into jeopardy.

Inventory management is primarily about specifying the size and placement of stocked goods. It is an activity specifying the shape and percentage of stocked goods. Inventory management is required at different locations within a facility or within multiple supply network to protect the regular and planned course of production against the random disturbance of running out of materials or goods. The scope of inventory management also concerns the fine lines between replenishment and lead time, carrying cost of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation, inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns, defective goods and demand forecasting [1]. Planning and controlling of inventory management is concerned with the following basic questions:

1. Which items and how much of them should be on stock?
2. Where to store them?
3. How is the re-order point defined?

To compete more effectively in a global market place, it is important that firms understand the issue of inventory control and align their purchasing to the diverse environments in which they operate. It is a paradox to note that the organizations often complain of the non-availability of some items to meet their requirement and finance department is facing the problem of increasing locked up capital in assorted inventory. Inventory constitutes the most significant part of current asset in organizations. Because of the relative largeness of inventories maintained in business organizations, a considerable sum of an organization’s fund is being committed to them. It thus becomes absolutely imperative to manage inventories effectively so as to avoid unnecessary cost and ensure high level of customer service [2].

In fast food restaurants, sales are done regularly and as the stock level of each product are sold, the stock reduces and this affects the inventory level. In order for the management of fast food restaurant to be able to get reports of the inventory level and reports of daily sales, a sales and inventory management system is needed to aid the manager of the fast food restaurant to know when they should re-order more stock, update inventory and also view sales financial information report.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The following problems were identified in the existing system at the case study:

1. Items are unknowingly out of stock, leading to hasty buying of goods because of low stock levels.
2. There are cases of inaccurate recording or poor entering of some data/information which is an indication of poor inventory management.
3. It is time consuming to obtain reports of sales made on a daily basis.

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the study

The aim of the study is to develop a sales and inventory management of supermarket. The following are the objectives of the study to realize the aim:

1. To develop a system that will aid easy management of stock record.
2. To design a system that will update stock level as they are being sold to enable the fast food restaurant to know when stock level is low.
3. To design a system that will help in proper record keeping of sales and inventory.
4. To develop a system that will enable easy access to sales record report.

1.3 Significance of the Project

The significance of the study are, it will provide the management of the fast food restaurant with a more effective system to enable them manage their sales and inventory record. It will enable the management of the fast food restaurant to know when they should re-order for stock of any item that has reached the registered re-order level. It will provide the management of the fast food restaurant with a means of obtaining sales and inventory reports. Also, it will aid accurate computation of sales transactions and easy updating of inventory records. The study will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers seeking related information on the research topic of sales and inventory management.

1.4 Scope of the Study

This study covers the development of a sales and inventory management of supermarket using Oliver Tweets supermarket in Ikot Ekpene as a case study. It is covers the development of a web based system to manage sales and inventory records.

1.5 Organization of the Research

This research work is organized into five chapters.

Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the introduction, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

Chapter two focuses on theoretical background and literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.

Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It covers the description of the existing system, analysis of the proposed system and design of the Proposed System

Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation. It covers the choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.

Chapter five focuses on the summary, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.

1.6 Definition of Terms

Management:

The organizing and controlling of the affairs of a business or a sector of a business.

Inventory:

A record of a business’s current assets, including property owned, merchandise on hand and the value of work in progress and work completed but not sold. Also means aggregate of those items of tangible personal property which are held for sale in ordinary course of business, are in process of production for such sales, are to be currently consumed in the production of goods or services to be available for sale.