Spare Parts Database Project

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                                                                                                         Wong Spare parts                                                                                       

                                                       SECTION 1

 ANALYSIS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

        The company that I have chosen to computerize deals with motor vehicles spare parts and belongs to Mr. Wong. The Wong Spare Parts and Car Selling Agency was founded in year 2000. It is situated in the south of the island, more precisely, at Mahebourg. Infact it is specialized in almost all spare parts of different types of vehicles, especially buses, lorries and cars, which come from Japan and South Africa.

 

        Mr. Wong was facing many problems since five years, as he was operating an old fashion business. He had to do everything manually, that is, he has to record individually all the stock and place it in a file, which took him hours to do. When he received his goods, he had to update all the new stock. Moreover he had to record all his income and expenses himself. At the end of the month, he had to search for every ledger to make the monthly reports. Sometimes, he also faced problems with the security of files and other important documents. Furthermore he had to spend hours in searching for a specific account or consignment.

                                                                                     

Mr. Wong has to note down stock details in files and books. When a client orders a product, Mr. Wong must go back to the store to see whether the product is still available or not. And in the meantime, other clients who are in a hurry leave the store to go elsewhere. Whenever goods are received, he has to search for the specific documents for updating. Sometimes some documents are misplaced and it becomes very difficult to retrace them. He has a lot to do such as to count all the spare parts, stock one by one and make necessary records in his book.

        Mr. Wong wanted such a system in which he can record all stock available and stock sold. He wanted such a program that allows him to save, to update his stock and to fix their price. Moreover he wanted something that allows him to record all discount and credit of his clients. He wanted to change the face of the business.

1.2 INVESTIGATION

1. Self: Where is your business situated?

Mr. Wong; It is situated at Mahebourg.

2. Self: Since when has it been implemented?

Mr. Wong; It exists since the year 2000.

3. Self: In what does the business deal?

Mr. Wong; The business deals in the selling of engines and spare parts.

4. Self: From where does the business import its goods?

Mr. Wong; The business imports its goods from Japan and               South Africa.

5. Self: What are the problems that the business is facing?

Mr. Wong; The problem that the business is facing is                      the loss of record as there is not a good Database.

6. Self: Do your business give credit facilities to the client?

Mr. Wong; Yes, if we do not give credit facilities to clients, we would never get a good clientele.

7. Self: Do you think the computerization of your business will                 help to reduce the problem you are facing?

Mr. Wong; Yes, I am sure that the computerization of my                              business will help me to reduce my problem.

8. Self: How do you think that it will help you?

Mr. Wong; I would have a control on my stock, a good database, and also can update all the stock and at same time fix the price without difficulties.

9. Self: How many employees are there in the business?

Mr. Wong: There are three.

10. Self: How do you store data when someone comes?

Mr. Wong; Well, while issuing the product, the reference number and the price are noted in the book.

11. Self: What happens when an account or an important document is lost?

Mr. Wong; If an account is lost and cannot be retraced, I am obliged to close the account, whereas for an important document I have to write to the person to send me another.

12. Self: How much salary does an employee get?

Mr. Wong; He gets Rs 7000 per month.

13. Self: How many customers do you have?

Mr. Wong; Up to date, we have about 200 clients and this is increasing year by year.

14. Self: Do you think of increasing the salary of the

employees?

Mr. Wong; Yes, as my profit increases, I will increase their salary, so as to retain them in my business.

15. Self: How much did you invest in the business?

Mr. Wong; I invested about Rs 100000 in the business.

                                                                                                               

        

1.3 Problems with the current system

  1. Tracing previous orders placed by a customer

Each time a costumer comes in to buy an auto part or has a problem with the goods, the information is written on paper. However, I have frequently encountered loss of important documents and the customer gets irritated when asked to produce the duplicate of his receipts.

  1. Lack of information about customers.

The actual system is not customer friendly that is the Wong spare parts does not have the adequate and relevant information about its customers which thus result in billing errors.

c. Inability to properly control the stock.

The current manual system does not provide a proper way of controlling the stock. As there is so huge a stock arriving in the business, he cannot control the stock properly and also does not have a good record of the stock. When a client comes to fetch his order, he must spend time in searching for it.

1.4 Objectives of the new system.

The objectives may be stated in both quantitative and qualitative terms.

  1. The system should consist of a proper database to hold records, so as to minimize loss of records.
  2. The database should hold information on item and customer.
  3. It should be possible to update the stock automatically and inform the suppliers when the re – order level has been reached.
  4. Customer should be informed on new products by selecting criteria and mail merging.
  5. The new system is required to provide the following information;
  1. A list of all available item and options.
  2. A list of all customers.
  1. Proper reports and receipts should be obtained whenever requested.
  2. The system should be user-friendly and data entry should be as fast as possible.
  3.  It should take less than one minute to trace a sparepart for a customer.

1.5 Data flows

The following is the data flow of the proposed system.

        Item ID,

            Item        detail

   

                           Detail

                                                                         Customer Id, name, address

Item ID, Make

 

                                                                 

                                                     Transaction ID, Customer ID

                                                             Item ID

                                                         

        

                                                                              Transaction ID

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                                                                           Item ID,

                                                                     Customer ID

        Customer name,

                                          ...

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