Computerized Sales and Inventory System for Anthony’s General Merchandise

Many people use computers in their daily lives. Some use it for transactions, some use it for educational purposes and others use it for data storage. Though it might sound unnecessary but in some cases when storing a file for such a big company, can you manage it properly? Organizing, finding a file, etc. With computers, it can help you simplify the process of storing and managing the files you need for future use and make finding files easier than the manual process. Computerized Sales and Inventory System is a product of human knowledge with a use of technology so why not use technology as an advantage and benefit ourselves.

This proposed system aims to lighten works and solve the problems involving strict and complex recording and calculations. Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply is still under the manual method since the business started back in April 2000. The business is located first at Riverside then they transferred to Road BHS near Quezon City Polytechnic University. It is a family owned business by Mrs. Herminia Baguino. They have 1 cashier, 3 sales persons, 2 drivers, 4 delivery men, 1 staff that is in charge of the warehouse. The cashier is the person who keeps the money in their money box, the sales person are those who talks to the customers and responsible in providing the customers’ needs. The driver and delivery men are those workers who are responsible for the delivery of the items to the customers.

1.1 Statement of the Problem
General Problem:
How to Design and Develop a Computerized Sales and Inventory System for Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply that will improve their business operation? Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply is working under manual method which sometimes causes customer dissatisfaction because of the slow process on how they transact to their customers and the occurrence of some errors that are not expected. With this manual method, the person in charge of inventory is having a hard time because he needs to check the items repeatedly and they don’t even monitor the expiration of the items and they also experienced loss of important records. Specific Problem:

* How to design and develop a module that will monitor the items accurately in re-order and critical level? Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply encountered difficulties in monitoring items that are in re-order level and critical level, items that need to be replenished. This sometimes results in some items to be out of stocks. In their current system they don’t have critical level and re-order level because they just do it by looking at their display shelves to estimate the number of items that needs to be purchased from their suppliers.

* How to design and develop a module that will generate a purchase order? Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply encountered difficulties in making a purchase list because they made their purchase order through estimations. That there are some instances where some items are doubled, and important items that is needed to be purchased are not included, then the manager will write it on a piece of paper. This affects the operation of their business because of the erroneous estimation of their inventory. * How to design and develop a module that will enhance the manual computation of the amount purchased and then issues an official receipt? Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply use calculator, pen and paper to compute the total amount of items that the customer purchased.

In processing the sales transaction they need to calculate twice to recheck if the total is accurate and everything has to be written resulting to a long queue. Because of their current written process, it may result in difficulty in calculating the sales transaction undertakes in their business. The waiting time for a customer is too long which may also result in less profit in the business. * How to design and develop a module that will generate reliable sales report and inventory report? Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply are experiencing problem in generating their sales and inventory reports that results to an inaccurate sales and inventory control. It is a long process when they are doing their spot checking of daily sold items and when it comes to inventory of the items in the store and warehouse. Sometimes they encountered misplaced logbooks and ledgers where their important data are recorded. These incidents may lead to incorrect reports that affect their operation and decisions pertaining to their business. 1.2 Current State of the Problem

Inventory
The manager told us that they do not conduct their inventory weekly in the store, instead they do it monthly and the same with the warehouse. When it comes to inventory, the stockman or the person in charge in the storeroom will count the items on hand and the items in their warehouse, the stockman will count it repeatedly to avoid mismatch of the total numbers which takes a lot of time to come up with accurate result. In doing their inventory it’s not very easy especially because they have many items in the store and warehouse it consumes almost 4 days to say that they already have the correct result, they record their inventory in a logbook where there is no back-up which is a big problem if something happens to their important data. Their sales book, carbon copies of sales invoice and the sales invoice from their supplier is placed in a small box over a small table inside the store which is not stored properly and prone to damages. * Safety Stock

Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply’s safety stock is 10 boxes per item all hardware supplies and for those construction supply the safety stock for example in sand 2 elf truck is the safety stock. They kept it to their store room and the excess were brought to the warehouse by the stockman so that in case a customer would buy many items they will be able to provide it. * Re- Order Point

Re-Order point is determined through estimation of the manager and by looking at the display shelves. If she saw that the display shelves has no more display of a particular item she will ask the stockman to look for the item in their store room and she will also ask the person in charge in the warehouse if they still have enough stock. * Critical level

The critical level is reached if the items are below three to one or below the re-order point and they experience it if the delivery is delayed. * Fast-Moving Items& Slow Moving Items
Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply consider most of their items are fast moving items especially those in low price but they cannot exactly distinguish what are the most in demand to their customers because it also depends on customers need, and the slow moving items are those items which is in high cost. Purchase Order

In preparing their Purchase Order, the manager looks at the display shelves to look for the items that need to be replaced and the manager will write it on a paper. If one of their suppliers drops by to the store she will just show the purchase list then the agent will check the items and copy those items that they can supply. If the item left is less than 3 or one left, the manager will estimate the quantity of the certain item they will purchase to the supplier. * Agent

Is a sales person who drops by at the store to ask if there is something our client wants to order, sometimes the agent introduces new products to the manager and asks if they are willing to try the product being introduced. When the agent is at the store the manager will give the purchase list and then the agent will check the items they can provide. After that they will deliver the items after one day and Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply will pay half of the total amount upon ordering and the rest of the payment is when the purchased items have arrived. * Phone Call Supplier

In this transaction there is no need for a sales person, transactions can be made through phone calls. The supplier will ask if Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply have enough stock and they will take the note of the order and the schedule of delivery through telephone. In terms of payment it is (COD) Cash on Delivery, if the items arrived at the store they will give the payment to one of the person who delivered the items.

Receiving of items
In receiving of items the supplier will deliver all the order of Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply in the store at the exact date that they agreed upon. Items will go directly to their store located in Road BHS near at Quezon City Polytechnic University. They do not conduct checking of items one by one they will just accept it. And when the items was not exact on the purchased list of the manager and the carbon copy of the sales invoice from the supplier they will deduct the items delivered to the number of items that the supplier were not able to comply and in terms of payment the Anthony’s General Merchandise &Construction Supply uses the (COD) Cash on Delivery which they will pay only the items that were delivered.

Replacement of Items
The manager mentioned that they can return damaged items to their supplier even after 1 year, they just need to show the sales invoice from the supplier.

Sales
* Walk-In Customers
Walk-in customers are those who personally drop by to the store and buy’s something whether it is in large quantity or small. The walk-in customer will ask the salesperson if they have the item then the sales person will look for the item in the display shelves. If the item being asked is available, the sales person will get it and write it on the sales invoice. Upon receiving of payment the sales person will give it to the cashier. * Phone-In Customers

Phone-in customers are those who ask and places their orders through phone, they will ask for a specific item then one of the staff will look for the item. If there are still enough stock of the item being asked by the customer, the sales person will ask the phone-in customer how many items she/he will purchase and if the purchased item/s are to be picked-up or to be delivered. If the items are to be delivered they will have an agreement on when will the Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply will deliver. The customer may also pick up the purchased item anytime between 8am to 6pm. * Replacement of Items

Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply allow replacement of items within one week upon date of purchase. The customer has to show the sales invoice as a proof that he/she really bought the items from the store their store. If it exceeds after 1 week they will no longer accept it. Replacement of items should have the same amount or more expensive than the items to be replaced. * Returned Items

Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply don’t accepts returned items from customers they only allow replacement of items. * Cancellation of Orders
Cancellation of orders by the customer is allowed as long as the customer will do it 2 days before the agreed delivery date. In some cases that was not avoidable if the customer cancelled his/her order upon the arrival of delivery it is allowed but then the customers will pay for the gasoline because it is deducted to their profit. The computation of the delivery charge is based on meter. * Delivery

Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply accepts delivery if the items are in large quantity and they also have delivery charges. If it is within the vicinity there is no charge but some cases just like when they have a delivery to Antipolo they will charge 1500 in Pasay 1000 and in Araneta 500. They base on the distance or with the use of meter to avoid loss of capital it is. Generation of Reports

* Sales Report
This is where the cashier records their sales transactions every day, monthly and yearly. * Sales Invoice
Is what they give to the customer as a copy of a transaction that happened between Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply and the customer which is lesser tax compare to the Official Receipt. * Official Receipt

It is confidential receipt the manager gives it to their book keeper. When it is used as a copy of transaction between the client and the customer who bought large quantity of items and the tax is larger compared to sales invoice. * Inventory Report

* Logbook
This is where they record the items on hand and the items in and out, if there are damaged items there is adjustments in their record they will list it on the replaced logbook. 1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General Objectives
To design and develop a Computerized Sales and Inventory System for Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply that will improve their business operation. The proponents proposed a system that will enhance Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply manual method of sales and inventory and continually monitor the sales report and inventory report of the business. It will provide them accurate computation of the items sold, monitor the stocks availability and the products that are in re-order level and critical level that alerts them that they need to purchase product immediately to their supplier. The client will no longer be worried about loss of receipts, misplaced log books where their important data is recorded and for them to accommodate their customer in a convenient way because the system is user friendly and is easy to use.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives
* To design and develop a module that will monitor the re-order level and critical level of their items accurately. The proponents will create a module that will help them in monitoring their products so that they can avoid their items in reaching the critical level. It will also show detailed information about the items that are running out of stocks and the products on hand. This module will ensure that items will no longer be out of stock in their store room and warehouse it also shows accurate record. * To design and develop a module that will generate a Purchase Order.

The system will provide a module that will let the user to generate or produce purchase order easily and accurately. There is no need for them to estimate how many items they would list on their purchase list and to avoid duplicate numbers of items. * To design and develop a module that will enhance the manual computation of amount purchased and then issues an official receipt. The System will list down all the ordered items of the customer as the cashier enters the first letter of the items then the items starts with the same letter will appear and the user will choose the item as the user press the enter it will automatically compute the total amount of the purchased items and will directly print a receipt. This will result in a more accurate computation, faster transaction and generate better income for the business. * To design and develop a module that will generate reliable sales report and inventory reports.

Anthony’s General Merchandise and Construction Supply don’t have to look at their old records which are unreadable, fading hand writing and old pages of the book which are crumpled because those were not properly kept. The system allows them to retrieve the old records anytime that they can also print the reports easily. The system will print more accurate reports which would be beneficial in the operation of the business

1.3.3 Scope and Limitations
Scope:
* Maintenance
This module is responsible for the security of the keeping important file. * User Level – A user level allows adding, editing, and disabling user. * End User – This module will allow the user to manipulate some private data. * Category – This module will allow the user to add and edit the category of a product. * Unit of Measurement – This module will allow the user to add and edit the unit of measurement. * Brand – This module displays and allows the user to add and edit what brand the item is. * Transactions

* Purchase Order – This module will allow the user to generate Purchase Order. * Sales – This module will handle the sales process and then compute the amount purchased by the customer. * Replacement of Item/s – This module allows the authorized user to replace or change the item. * Monitoring

* Inventory – This module will handle the inventory of all items in the store. * Re- Order – This module will monitor and display items that are in re-order level. * Critical Level – This module will monitor and display items that are in critical level. * Fast Moving Items & Slow
Moving Items– This module will display fast & slow moving items. * Adjustment of Stocks – This module will allow the user to adjust the items they have.

* Utilities – This module secures important files or data of Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply. * Archiving & Restoration – This module will allow the user to keep old files and to restore previous database. * Back-Up & Recovery – This module will allow the user to have a back- up of the database if the other file was corrupted. * Audit Trail–It allows authorized user to trace out the users who used the system. * Settings –This module will allow the adjustment of date and time where you can edit the current date and time of the system. * Reports – This module will be responsible for the generation of necessary reports for Anthony’s General Merchandise & Construction Supply. This module presents information into a readable and easy to understand report.

Reports module include: * Inventory – This module will generate reports regarding all information about the inventory. * Items On Hand – This module will generate reports regarding all products that they have. * Critical Level – This module will generate reports regarding all products that are in critical level. * Re-Order Point – This module will generate reports regarding all products that need to be re-ordered. * Fast and Slow Moving Items– This module will generate reports regarding to what is fast moving and slow moving item. * Sales – This module will generate reports regarding all information about the sales of the business. * Daily – this will generate daily sales reports.

* Weekly – this will generate weekly sales reports. * Monthly – this will generate monthly sales reports. * Yearly – this will generate yearly sales reports. Limitation
* This system does not accept credit cards as payment.