CHAPTER TWO

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is made up of three sections, the theoretical background, the technologies required

for the system development and the review of related literature.

2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This section discusses on the technical aspect the proposed system; it describes the operations of

Custom Information System so that the reader can have a general knowledge of its modus

operandi. Below are the operations performed Custom Information Systems according to the

research made in the institution:

i. Registration of Imported/Exported Goods: The existing system uses registers and files

to keep record of imported and exported goods that comes in and out of the nation. This

system is prone to inaccurate data collection and misplacement of registers and files.

ii. Registration of Custom Agents: Custom agents are usually registered and given a

unique number to operate. The existing system uses registers and files to keep record of

their custom agents activities against their unique numbers. This system is prone to

inaccurate data collection and entering.

iii. Registration of Custom Staffs: Staff information management is also one of the

functions carried out in the Nigerian Custom Service. Registration, updating, deleting,

and searching of staffs record is been carried out in the Nigerian Custom Service. The

existing system uses registers and files to carry out these functions which are related to a

lot of human errors.

 iv. Generating of Reports: Reports are been generate weekly, monthly or yearly for

effective management and decision marking in the Nigerian Custom organization.

Reports can be used to tell the number of imported and exported goods within a certain

period of time. In the manual system it takes a lot of time in generating a report. Time

constraint can be seen as the major challenge faced with report generation, other

challenges might be the inaccuracy of the report.

2.2 TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED

Custom management systems is a desktop based application that will make use of object-

oriented programming language, relational database software and a query language for its

development.

An object-oriented programming language such as Visual Basic (VB) 6.0 will be used to develop

the software of our proposed system. It makes use of objects and sub-routine codes in

manipulating the objects. Below is the object oriented code I used to manipulate the splash

screen button.

Private Sub Command1_Click()

Unload Me

frmLogin.Show

End Sub

The above object-oriented codes are written under a click event which hides the splash screen

and show the home form of the proposed system.

The figure 2.1 below shows the splash screen for the proposed system.
Fig 2.1: Splash screen.

Relational database software such as Microsoft (MS) Access will be used to create the database

and database tables for data storage.

A structured query language such as MySQL will be used via VB IDE to access the information

stored in the database.

2.4 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUE

The Nigerian Custom operational activities are dependent on data and information to carry out its

functions. According to author [1], customs generally play a pivotal role in the economic life of

any country. There is hardly any sector of the economy that is not directly or indirectly affected

by the activities of Customs. The functions of the Nigeria Customs Service include, but not

limited to collection of Revenue (Import /Excise Duties & other Taxes /Levies) and accounting

for same, anti-Smuggling activities, security functions;, generating statistics for planning and

Budgetary purposes, monitoring Foreign Exchange utilization etc, engaging in Research,

Planning and Enforcement of Fiscal Policies of Government, manifest processing, licensing and

registration of Customs Agents, registration and designation of collecting banks and working in

collaboration with other government agencies in all approved ports and border station.

According to author [2] explained that there have been numerous challenges faced by the

existing system. These challenges can be traced to the time taken to add, updates, delete and

search for a particular custom record, human error and mutilation during registration activities of

custom service, lots of stress and human power to locate custom records or files, custom records

or files are not secured as it might be attacked by insects or burned down by fire outbreaks. The

author [2], argued that with a developed information system these challenges will be overcome.

Information is that which informs. In other words, it is the answer to a question of some kind. It

is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and

knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. [3] As it regards data, the

information's existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer (it exists beyond an event
horizon, for example), while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive

observer. [4]

An information system (IS) is a group of components that interact to produce information. [5] A

computer information system is a system composed of people and computers that processes or

interprets information. [6] The term is also sometimes used in more restricted senses to refer to

only the software used to run a computerized database or to refer to only a computer system. Any

specific information system aims to support operations, management and decision-making. [7]

An information system is the information and communication technology (ICT) that an

organization uses, and also the way in which people interact with this technology in support of

business processes. [8]

According to author [9], Information Management System (IMS) is a general term for software

designed to facilitate the storage, organization and retrieval of information. IMS is also the name

of IBMs mammoth software program developed in the 1960s to support NASA's Apollo space

program. This IMS version was the precursor to IBM's premier hierarchical database

management system (DBMS).

[1] Nigerian Custom Services (NCS), Statutory Functions, Oct. 2017;

https://www.customs.gov.ng/Statutory/functions.php

[2] Emma Obi J., Challenges facing Custom Information System in Nigeria and its possible

solutions, 7th ed., NG, Emmanuel Printing, 2007, ISBN 7-739-95175-0, pp. 15, 17-19, 23, 27.

[3] Merriam-Webster, Definition of Information by Merriam-Webster, Oct. 2017;

http://www.merriam-webster.com, Retrieved 2017-05-01.

[4] Luke J.O, Can there be information without a knower, 7th ed., UK, James and Sons, 2007,

ISBN 8-861-55698-7, pp. 15-19.

[5] kroenke, David (2015). MIS Essentials (Fourth ed.). Boston: Pearson. p. 10.

[6] DAtri A., De Marco M., Casalino N. (2008). "Interdisciplinary Aspects of Information

Systems Studies", Physica-Verlag, Springer, Germany, pp. 1416, doi:10.1007/978-3-7908-

2010-2 ISBN 978-3-7908-2009-6

[7] Bulgacs, Simon (2013). "The first phase of creating a standardised international technological

implementation framework/software application". Int. J. Business and Systems Research. 7 (3):

250. doi:10.1504/IJBSR.2013.055312. Retrieved 2015-11-02.

[8] Kroenke, D M. (2008). Experiencing MIS. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

[9] Information Management System (IMS),

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/26859/information-management-system