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Computerized Inventory System – Program Development and Execution

Article  in  International Journal of Agriculture and Biology · January 2000

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY
1560–8530/2000/02–1-2–55–58

Computerized Inventory System – Program Development and

Execution
SHAZIA ARSHAD, MUHAMAMD SHOAIB AND MUHAMMAD SAJJAD KHAN†
Departments of Computer Science and †Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad–
38040, Pakistan

ABSTRACT
Stock keeping and stock checking is one of the major components of any business organizations. Manual reports are time consuming and
difficult to construct. A user friendly computerized store inventory system has been developed in FoxPro after studying the current store
system of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The proposed software can help improve the efficiency of the store department. It is
timeliness, accurate, reliable, consistent, faster, efficient and easy to use. Removal of redundancy/duplication and irrelevance are some of
the other benefits. It can be easily tailored for multi-user environment with minor modifications.

Key Words: Software; Inventory system; FoxPro

INTRODUCTION The main objective of the proposed inventory

system was to facilitate the overall operation of the
Information is what is needed to make current and organization. Specific objectives were to develop an
future decisions and are data that have been evaluated in information system that is flexible, accurate, efficient
the context of a specific problem situation. Most and user friendly. It should not only be cost beneficial
business experts would contend that it is the proper but also satisfy the economic objectives of the
management of data and information that is one of the organization, provide data security from accidental loss
keys to a successfully managed operation. However, of data and should be acceptable to the organization for a
most decision makers are more often than not smooth flow of information from one step to the next
overwhelmed with the large amounts of data, but only and should also remove redundancy.
limited supply of information. The value of information
is directly related to the decisions the managers have to MATERIALS AND METHODS
make.
A major decision making component in any The current system in the Store Departments in the
organization is stock keeping and checking. It can be a University of Agriculture, Faisalabad is manual. The
real challenge for most businesses and may become a reason for switching over to computer system is to get
major problem especially if the inventories are long and the job done in lesser time and store different
in- and outflow is huge. Manual reports are time information, reports in paper form and at a bigger scale
consuming and difficult to construct. Inadequacy, which is difficult to achieve under a manual system.
duplication, irrelevance and inefficiency are just few of Briefly, the computer system is expected to be more
the many problems with the current manually operated comprehensive and error free, covering every aspect of
systems. List of files, and papers in these files are the operations. The proposed system has been designed
difficult to document and maintain, thus prone to risk of after in-depth study of the existing manual system. The
loss or damage, making the system inefficient. new suggestions have been made, keeping in view the
Increasing use of computers to solve day to day and demand of the organization and their ultimate
long term problems is obvious. It is no longer a question effectiveness.
of if we need a computer to assist in managing our farm Development phases. The proposed system was
business but rather when. Computer software available designed in the following phases:
to perform specific chores is costly and rarely meet 1. Preliminary investigation and analysis phase
specific needs of any setup especially when computer This phase consisted of:
literacy is inadequate. Tailor made programs often help. i) Understanding the existing system
Present study pertains to the development of a computer ii) Determining true nature of the problem
inventory system for a store in a general organizational iii) Objectives/advantages of the proposed system
set up such as the University. Yet, it can be applied to iv) Determining system requirements
specific situations in any agricultural operation with 2. Design phase
minor modifications. The design phase was conducted in the following steps
 ARSHAD et al. / Int. J. Agri. Biol., Vol. 2, No. 1-2, 2000

i) Selection of software and hardware a) GEN-MEN1.PRG (SUPPLIER MENU

requirements PROGRAM)
ii) Design input and output forms b) SUPPADD.PRG (SUPPLIER ADDITION
iii) Reports PROGRAM)
3. Development phase c) SUPPDEL.PRG (SUPPLIER DELETION
The development of the designed system was conducted PROGRAM)
as under d) SUPPMODI.PRG (SUPPLIER MODIFICATION
i) Development of computer program PROGRAM)
ii) Testing of computer program with sample data e) SUPPLIST.PRG (SUPPLIER LIST PROGRAM)
iii) Testing of computer program with real data iii) ARTICLE FILES
System design. The new proposed system has been a) GEN-MEN3.PRG (ARTICLE MENU PROGRAM)
designed in FoxPro language. This language has been b) ARTADD,PRG (ARTICLE ADDITION
suggested for this project due to its powers for databases PROGRAM)
as compared with other languages and packages. c) ARTDEL,PRG (ARTICLE DELETION
1. Input designing PROGRAM)
Input forms have been designed to collect data in d) ARTMODI.PRG (ARTICLE MODIFICATION
suitable forms and can be entered on computer PROGRAM)
easily and processed successfully e) ARTLIST.PRG (ARTICLE LIST PROGRAM)
2. Code designing II) TRASACTION FILES
a) Technique i) STORE FILES
b) Structured programming a) GEN-MEN2.PRG (STORE MENU PROGRAM)
c) Edit and validation checks b) STOREINP.PRG (STORE ADDITION
d) Testing, debugging and enhancing PROGRAM)
3. Output designing c) STOREDEL.PRG (STORE DELETION
Software selection. As mentioned earlier, Foxpro 2.5 PROGRAM)
(Antoinovich, 1993) was used for the development of d) STOREMOD.PRG (STORE MODIFICATION
the software to computerize the store department. The PROGRAM)
choice was based on fact that it provides interpreter and ii) ISSUE FILES
the compiler and is faster than Clipper and dBASE III a) GEN-MEN4.PRG (ISSUE MENU PROGRAM)
plus, the other choices. It has capability to handle large b) ISSUEINP.PRG (ISSUE ADDITION PROGRAM)
amount of data (one billion records per database) and is c) ISSUEDEL.PRG (ISSUE DELETION
source compatible with dBASE III plus. PROGRAM)
d) ISSUEMOD.PRG (ISSUE MODIFICATION
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION PROGRAM)
III) REPORTS
Software development. The package developed for the Current stock
proposed system named as "Material and Management Stock of specific item
Information System: consists of about 35 programs. Monthly stock issued
There are five modules in the MAIN MENU Annual stock issued
(MAMIS.PRG) with different options. Department wise items
I) MASTER FILE Article status
i) DEPARTMENT FILES IV) UTILITIES
a) GEN-MENU.PRG (DEPARTMENT MENU Indexing file
PROGRAM) Backup file
b) DEPTADD.PRG (DEPARTMENT ADDITION Restore file
PROGRAM) V) EXIT FILES
c) DEPTDEL.PRG (DEPARTMENT DELETION Exit to prompt
PROGRAM) Exit to DOS
d) DEPTMODI.PRG (DEPARTMENT Addition, Modification, Deletion, Listing and Exiting are
MODIFICATION PROGRAM) the common choices in any of the options for viewing
e) DEPTLIST.PRG (DEPARTMENT LIST and publishing reports.
PROGRAM) System implementation. The implementation project
ii) SUPPLIER FILES involves the activities like planning and scheduling of

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 COMPUTERIZED INVENTORY SYSTEM / Int. J. Agri. Biol., Vol. 2, No. 1-2, 2000

implementation process, organizational planning and system is put into operation and will provide an
personnel administration, final system design and opportunity to compare its results with those obtained by
testing, establishment of standards of performance and the previous method.
control procedures and conversion from old to new Both the direct and pilot conversion are not suitable
system. for the proposed system, because for pilot conversion,
Hardware requirements. To minimize the risk of the proposed system is not so vast as to fulfil the
computers getting obsolete owning to fast growing requirements of conversion approach. In case of parallel
technical advancement and innovations, a computer conversion the old system will be available as back up
system with a minimum 640K RAM, one 5.25 or 3.5 and the results produced can be compared to those of the
inch size floppy disk drive, a fixed disk having a old one.
capacity of 40 MB, at least, a low radiation monitor and While introducing a new system, its benefits and
printer 80/132 column would be required to run the drawbacks as compared to the old system should be
software. carefully evaluated. It has to be ensured that the
System testing. All data were entered in an interactive objectives, for which the new system has been planned,
manner. User friendly screens for data entry and these have been achieved.
screens were facsimiles of the documents being entered The evaluation is not only necessary but also
manually. As data entry is basically a transcription unavoidable to keep the system updated in terms of
exercise, it is prone to errors. Thus to ensure correct data business & economic environment as well as
entry, each document had cleared certain built-in technological change in the electronic data processing.
validation checks, before it was accepted by the Admittedly the system which produces information
computer. Self explanatory messages were displayed on possessing accuracy, timeliness, completeness, and
the screen to guide the user for correct data. Any error conciseness will be declared as successful.
encountered during the validation process was shown on Not withstanding manufactures, one, which is often
the screen so that person entering the data could take of major consideration, is the cost factor. The user of the
corrective actions. It is possible that some errors might new system is the best judge to decide the effectiveness
have been initiated by the department that initiates the of the system. Apart from various screen queries and
documents in respect of computer processing and, as far reports, following reports can be printed on paper with
as possible, corrections in respect of different codes. the help of a printer.
These coding errors have been minimized as the 1. Current stock report
computer displays the description of various codes 2. Stock of specific item
entered on the screen, so that user can match description 3. Monthly stock issued
written on the document with description displayed on 4. Annual stock issued
the screen. 5. Department wise items
In brief, testing of the system guarantees that all 6. Article status
modules function correctly and the new developed Evaluation. The new computerized material and
system is at hand for the system conversion. management Information System has many advantages
System conversion. The system conversion is primarily over the manual system. Some of the prominent
referred to the relationship between the new system and (projecting) features of the new system are as follows:
the old system. There are three basic conversion (a) Efficiency. The new system is more efficient as
methods; direct conversion, parallel conversion, and compared to the old system. Data entry task is
pilot conversion with advantages and disadvantages. easier and fast because instead of entering data
Choice usually depends upon the urgency, resources and names, respective codes are used. There is no
requirements. All the conversion methods have been chance of entering wrong data, because there
considered. After through analysis, parallel Conversion are all possible checks, which have been built in
is recommended for Material and Management the system, and they do not allow wrong data
Information System of University of Agriculture entry.
Faisalabad. The significant objections against the (b) Accuracy. Accuracy is the ratio of correct
parallel conversion may be the cost and additional work information to the total amount of information
load. But the real advantages of this system are that in produced over a period. The accuracy level
case of its failure, data is not lost because the old system depends on the type of information produced. In
still runs without any interruptions. So the organization's the new development system, level of accuracy
work will not be affected. It involves continuing the is nearly hundred percent i.e; unless there are
former system for a certain period of time after the new errors in data entry, the new system is accurate.

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 ARSHAD et al. / Int. J. Agri. Biol., Vol. 2, No. 1-2, 2000

Validation checks are made to ensure the (e) Timeliness. It is another characteristic of the
accuracy of the system. new system. This was the major problem faced
(c) User friendly. The new computerized system is by the management of Store Department. This
user friendly. A user having little knowledge system saves both time and labor,
about computer can run this system effectively.
Moreover, the new system is designed in such a REFERENCES
way as it can provide the user with facility of
updating the data whenever required. Antoinovich, M., 1993. Foxpro Programming Guide. Gagotia
(d) Conciseness. The new computerized system Publication Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
gives brief information that summarizes the (Received 15 December 1999; Accepted 20 January 2000)
relevant data.

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