1.1 Introduction
A phone billing system is a process of gathering consumption data, calculating billing and charging information, availing customer bills, processing the customer payments as well as managing collection of debts. The telephone billing software, the phone billing system is automated helping an individual, but also to improve accuracy and significantly reduce costs (ExpertSure, 2021). Communication through the telephone system is one of the fastest and most reliable modes of message transmission. Through telephone system information can be conveyed quickly and adequately. Information gets to the destination immediately and the sender receives feed back at the same time.
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.
1.2 Background of Study
NITEL is Nigeria’s national fixed line and mobile telecommunications company. It is 100% owned by Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). NITEL was incorporated as a limited liability company in December 1984. It is a product of the merger between the telecommunications arm of the defunct posts and Telecommunications Department (P&T) of the Ministry of Communications, and Nigerian External Communications Limited (NET). NITEL formally commenced operations on 1st January 1985. As at June 2004, NITEL had an installed fixed telephone network of 720,000 lines, of which approximately 500,000 had been activated (BPE, 2021).
Computer has proved his uniqueness in different words of life. It provides and in different ways which reduces complexity and generates maximum output. This made possible through the unique features of computer system in the area of speeds information storage and retrieval automatic processing and adequate reports. Communication is the most important of act of economy in the society. It provides adequate communication causes great placed havoc in the society. The nature of communication determines the mode of transmission.
The application of computer in various fields has eased a lot of problems encountered in the use of manual system in the various discipline if life. It is as measure towards addressing this issue that this project has primarily billing system that would get rid of the short falls. In this project, the researcher have analyzed the manual system and also identified some of the problems and limitation which seem to hinder the realization of the goals of the existing system.
Information storage and retrieval is also achieved through the telephone system. Information can be stored in the absence of the receives. The receiver can also retrieve this information at any time. Acquiring the phone is by subscription, individuals or groups that which to acquire phone always subscribe through the organization in charge. Information about every subscriber is taken and stored for reference purpose. Phone subscribe pay bills according to call made. The most speed at which the universe is being tuned into a global world is attributed to the sophistication in the telecommunication industry. These radicals changes have been possible by the invention of digital technology in electronics and telecommunication analogue. This means that the signals being handled, processed or transmitted are presented by voltages whose amplitude and frequency vary continuously with time.
Consequently, in the telephone system, the transmitted signals are direct representation of the speech waveforms. This did not provide the easy and continuous flow of sound wave in the system. This project is aimed at developing a system that will help in the billing section of NITEL (Nigeria telecommunication Enugu) to enable serve its customers effectively, bill them accurately and also give customers details of how they are being billed.
1.3 Statement of Problem
The quest for a more sophisticated and effective system that can handle the telephone bills of the customers in telecommunication companies has led the researchers to the designing and development of software to handle the telephone billing system of customers in NITEL Enugu.
Most times, many telephones subscribe to complain of excessive billing and this has often been traced to the carelessness or otherwise on the part of the staff that prepare the bills. The carelessness of staff that results in the delay and stoppage of updating the customer’s bill account is another factor. Also, lack of working materials e.g carbon sheets and stationeries and also laziness in the repairs of faulty machines is often complained about.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a web based NITEL Telephone Billing System for effectiveness and ease of the problems facing the manual system. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to design and develop an application software that will:
- Identify the problems that are encountered in the manual telephone System
- Ensure accuracy in the daily telephone billing operations or activities.
- Detect sources of these errors and arrive at system that takes care of anomalies and give customers the best possible values of their money within the preparing cost constraints.
- Help in projecting the image and improve revenue base since cases of fraud among staff will be minimized.
1.5 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to Enterprises, Telephony Companies and 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.
1.6 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Design and Implementation of A Web based NITEL Telephone Billing System using NITEL Enugu as a case study. The system is intended to take care of every aspect that relates to the control and operation of the telephone billing for NITEL. The web page would contain the following data; the subscribers name, address, telephone number, date of bill, access charge, number of dials/unit used, cost per unit, description, cast and the data of miscellaneous serious used, his total discharge and total payment tax.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- 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.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- 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).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Billing: Make a list of services rendered with price charged.
Telephone: Apparatus for transmitting sound (speech) to a distance especially by using optical or electrical signals.
Telegraph: Device or system for transmitting messages or signals to a distance, especially by making and breaking electrical connection.
Trunk Calls: These are calls made outside the vicinity.
Toss: This is a case in which a telephone line is put of use.
Japing: This is an illegal use of telephone line.
Bills: These are charges made to subscribers for using the telephone lines.
Design: This is preliminary plan or sketching for constructing figures that should represent a real event or action.
File: A file is made up of one or more records with each record having the same field name arranged in the same order as the rest such that the entire file looks like columns of tabular information.
