INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

Term Project

“INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

FOR D-MART”

Submitted to:
DR. ZAHEERUDDIN ASIF

Prepared By:
OSAMA MASOOD

SHARJEEL AWAIS

SADAF IJAZ

AYESHA AKBAR

BBA-MIS 4/ II

Submission Date: April 30, 2009

Contents
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Our Project ............................................................................................................................................ 2
3. Rationale for Choosing the Project ....................................................................................................... 2
4. Introduction to the Company ............................................................................................................... 3
5. The Current System .............................................................................................................................. 4
6. Problems with the Current System ...................................................................................................... 4
7. Problem Description ............................................................................................................................. 5
8. Statement of Purpose ............................................................................................................................ 5
9. Description of the New System ............................................................................................................ 6
10. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 7
11. Ontological Assumptions ..................................................................................................................... 8
12. Epistemological Assumptions........................................................................................................... 8
13. The System & Philosophical Paradigms ........................................................................................... 9
14. Objectives of the System ................................................................................................................. 10
15. Key Actors....................................................................................................................................... 10
16. System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) ........................................................................................ 11
17. Use Case Diagram ............................................................................................................................... 14
18. Class Diagram ................................................................................................................................. 15
19. Sequence Diagram ........................................................................................................................... 16
20. Collaboration Diagram ................................................................................................................... 17
21. Activity Diagram ............................................................................................................................. 18
22. ERD Diagram .................................................................................................................................. 19
23. Physical Design ............................................................................................................................... 20
24. Testing, Implementation & Maintenance ...................................................................................... 24
25. Documentation ............................................................................................................................... 24
26. Benefits of the System ..................................................................................................................... 25
27. Ethical Issues .................................................................................................................................. 26
28. Constraints ..................................................................................................................................... 27
29. References ....................................................................................................................................... 28
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1. Introduction
The course for Information Systems Development has laid emphasis on the importance of
suitable systems for organizations for better functioning throughout the term.

As a term assignment for this course, the students were required to develop and design a system
for existing organizations/firms, covering the basic needs and fulfilling the requisites set by the
firms. The project was successfully completed and a web based system for a famous retail chain
was developed. The completion of this project was reached through several milestones that were
facilitated by the course instructor Dr. Zaheer-ud-Din Asif, and has taught us much about
systems development and its various aspects.
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2. Our Project
Our project, as decided by the consensus of the group members, was to study the current system
at D-Mart, a famous retail chain in Karachi, and to develop a system that would better suit its
requirements with rectifications and additional features. Thus we started working on the
project of developing an inventory control system for D-mart, which would be web based and
hence be able to help the store having increased and better interaction with the customers, and
easier and more up to date performance for regular inventory control tasks.

3. Rationale for Choosing the Project

We decided to pursue this project as our term assignment as it would enable us to study a
system such as the inventory control, which links several entities like the company’s
managements to the employees, customers and vendors, and performs a number of functions like
sales recording, online ordering, shipment tracks and stock in hand records.

Moreover, one main factor to consider before choosing an organization for the project was to
determine the availability of a willing contact person. In our case, we found ourselves lucky to
have a very cooperative and helpful contact, Mr. Ayub Durrani, who is the Head of International
Buying and Operations in D-Mart. He provided us all the information required to proceed with
the project and report, and he also made himself available in multiple site visits to the D-Mart
Sea-view branch.

We are also of the opinion the D-Mart is the ideal retail chain that could be studied for the
completion of the project, as it operates from different locations, using a single linked system.
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4. Introduction to the Company

D-Mart is big super store owned by the well-known DEEWAN Group, which deals with
various commodities like house hold necessities, bakery items, medicines, cosmetics etc. actually
D-Mart deals with commodities which are small in size and have a high consumption rate. D-
Mart has seen tremendous success in the area due to nature and quality of the inventory which
they keep. With sales in millions, D-Mart super store has a tremendous flow of goods. D-Mart is
known to be one of the best performing retail stores in Karachi, and operates from three
branches located near Millennium Mall, Bahadurabad and Sea-view.

Mission:

The mission of this retail chain is to provide its customers with a wide selection of
products, at the best possible prices, under one roof, and to satisfy the customers with superior
services and staff support.

Vision:

Vision of D-Mart is to spread all over the country to become the leading retail chain,
with a number of branches operating country-wide, offering the same superior services to all
customers.

Product Ranges:

As we observed in our site visits, D-Mart deals with thousands of products, available in
different stock keeping units (SKUs). D-Mart offers items from bakeries, pharmaceuticals,
cosmetics, electronics, toys and much more, all at very reasonable prices.

Our group in one of the site visits to D-Mart

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5. The Current System

Currently, D-Mart uses a system known as Retail Management System (RMS). The system
implementation was an outsourced project as there is a lack of IT officials in the D-mart
management. The end users are the members of management and the employees. The
management uses the system to determine the stores performance and possible market trends,
whereas the employees use the system for sales recording, keeping a view on the stock in hand,
and order processing. Hence the current system at D-Mart is catering to the most basic system
requirements set by the management. The system has an intranet portal which helps to link the
three branches and to maintain the system use in the store premises.

6. Problems with the Current System

Though the Retail Management System does cater to the most basic requirements of D-Mart’s
operations, we were told by the contact persons that there was an opportunity being wasted
which could be availed by a new and better system. There was observed a lack of involvement
from users and customers, and hence it seemed that the stores performance was not up to the
standards.

There was in fact a need for the retail chain to go online, and open a platform for its customers so
that they could place orders and browse through the offered products at ease. There were also
problems with the reports generation and the management was concerned about security issues
as well. We however decided to take a small step at a time and add the feature of an online
portal to the store’s inventory management system.
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7. Problem Description
Through our meetings with Mr. Ayub Durrani, we were able to identify the main problem as the
unavailability of a platform for the customers to interact with the retail store. With the
emerging trends of online systems and websites, D-mart must take a step forward to cater to the
needs of its customers who want to do online shopping.

8. Statement of Purpose
The purpose of our project is to make some necessary changes to the RMS for better
management of inventory and mainly to design a website for the customers of D-Mart to do
online buying. This website must take into considerations the needs of the customers.
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9. Description of the New System

The new system is actually an extension to the existing system. It involves some changes to the
existing RMS and incorporation of a website for D-mart.

This website will allow D-Mart to:

- Manage a record of its customers

- Manage its products in a better way through trends of sales
- See the performance of different products
- Keep a track of its sales with respect to both customers and geographic locations
- Provide delivery facility to its customers

The website will allow the customers to:

- Search through the wide range of products

- Compare prices
- Select the desired products and quantities
- Receive the products at their place through delivery saving time
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10. Methodology
We have used the SSADM (Structured) Methodology while developing the website along with
use of Agile Methods.

Rational For Choosing Methodology:

We have selected structured system development methodology to carry out our project .The
reasons behind choosing this methodology were:

- This methodology reduces the life cycle development cost through improving analysis
and design.

- This methodology improves the quality of the system that is delivered.

- It improves project management, planning and control.

- It is more effective in using inexperienced members /staff.

- This method reduces communication gap and therefore is able to overcome various
impediments and is self documented.
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11. Ontological Assumptions

Ontology:

Ontology is realism i.e. anything which is independent of observer. It deals with the
existence of entities or what is said to exist and how such entities is grouped together
related to their hierarchy and sub divides according to similarity.

D-Mart Inventory System In Terms Of Ontology:

Ontological explanations for the inventory management system are provided by having
mutual consensus i.e. continuous interaction between employees and managers.

12. Epistemological Assumptions

Epistemology:

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It attempts to distinguish between true and false
knowledge. Broadly saying it‘s about the issues concerned with the creation and spreading of
knowledge in particular to the areas of inquiry.

D-Mart Inventory System In Terms Of Epistemology:

D-Mart inventory management system was constructed through constant interaction

between the developers and the client for requirement gathering and feedback.
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13. The System & Philosophical Paradigms

The assumptions categorize further into four paradigms:

 Functionalism
 Social relativism
 Radical Structuralism
 Neo-humanism

D-Mart Inventory System Lies In The Paradigm Of Social Relativism:

Inventory management system of D-mart lies in the paradigm of Social Relativism as it facilitates
sense making and mutual understanding. D-Mart collect information from all sectors in order to
know the available inventory to sell, budget (goal), information, as well as advertiser payment
history. Once this information is provided, it is approved through mutual consensus.
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14. Objectives of the System

The objectives of this system appear through sense making and taking opinions from everyone.
While the system was developed, the manager provide all details to us, thus, there was
continuous interaction between D-Mart management and the developers of the web-based
system while taking into consideration the user needs.

15. Key Actors

Users:
The user of D-Mart system are the employees who interact with the system on a daily basis
while dealing with the customers and managing the inventory in an efficient manner. The users
of the web-site are the business-to-customer (B2C) customers.

System Developer:
We are the system developers. We have taken in to consideration all the requirements that D-
Mart provided so the ultimate users of the system (D-Mart employees as well as the customers)
can make sense of the system and face no problem in operating it.

Client’s World View

The client i.e. D-Mart is satisfied with the system as it is enabling it to better manage its
environment and provide better quality services to its customers in a well mannered way; and
most importantly, the web-based system enables D-mart to handle its inventory in an efficient
manner..

According to D-mart:

 The inventory management system according to them is a performance measurement

system that provides information related to units of the products, their sales and
demand.

 The inventory management system is in the accordance to the needs of the buyers
allowing them to place orders online and receive them through delivery.
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 The inventory management system maximizes the revenue by analyzing the trends of
sales.

16. System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Planning:
Current System:

D-mart has a Record Management System at its head office as well as other branches. It is a
basic system for keeping records of products, stock, and sales. All the changes are forwarded to
head branch daily where the manager can analyze them.

Need for a Web-Based System:

Clientele of D-mart is increasing day-by-day. Moreover, the retail store has increased the
number of products and SKUs within each product as compared to previous years. A new trend
of home delivery has gained popularity these days. Not only business but home customers also
want to be able to contact the retail stores to deliver the products.

This has lead to the need for a website where business customers (general stores etc) as well as
home customers can log-in and search through the wide range of products, select the desired
ones with quantity, specify their addresses and get the total payment receipt (product prices +
shipment charges).

Though D-mart has a website with general information about the store, and the products range
available, but there is no method for customers to make the transactions from their workplace or
homes.

New system:

This web-based system is actually an added feature to the existing system. It will help D-mart in
increasing its customer base by providing them with the facility to do their shopping online.

Time-line:

S.NO. TASK DATE

1 Starting of the Project (Planning) 20 Feb
2 Requirement gathering (Analysis) 21 Feb – 28 Feb
3 Logical Design( UML diagrams, ERD) 01 Mar – 20 Mar
4 Physical Design 21 Mar – 10 Apr
5 Approval from the organization & Improvements 11 Apr – 20 Apr
Ethical Issues & Other
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6 Implementation & Testing 21 Apr – 10 May

7 Completion of the Project 15 May

Analysis:
Series of interviews with the Store Manager lead to identification of following requirements:

Requirements:

 Create purchase orders, count inventory, and verify prices.

 Calculate the most precise order quantities using sales history, current on hand
inventory, next order date, lead time, and minimum stock levels.

 Track customer information, including total sales, number of Visits, and last visit date.

 The System should be fully secure; it should not be suspicious to threats. (providing
username and login passwords for customers who wish to use online services)

 The System should provide up to date information.

 It should perform data retrieval functions.

 The System should be facile (i.e. minimal training to end users).

 Online Functioning

 Availability of website with the following information:

o Products offered

o Product Details (SKUs and prices)

o Customer records

 Possibility of Business to customer operations

 Tracks of shipments and deliveries

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Design:
Logical Design:

- We made UML diagrams for our system. These diagrams were made through the tool
ArgoUML. Different UML Diagrams created were:
o Use Case Diagram
o Class Diagram
o Sequence Diagram
o Collaboration Diagram
o Activity Diagram
- We also designed an ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram) to describe the relationship of
different tables managed in the database of the website.
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17. Use Case Diagram

The use case diagram shows the system boundary and the different use cases (functions
performed by the system) shown by ovals. The customer interacts with the system to search and
select products and to provide shipment details like address and phone number.
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18. Class Diagram

Class diagram shows the different classes in the system. These are Customer, Product,
Sales_Order, Shipment, and Payment classes. The Payment class includes data from both
Sales_Order class and Shipment class about total price and shipment cost to calculate total
payment.
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19. Sequence Diagram

Sequence diagram shows the sequence of activities with respect to time. This sequence diagram
shows the interaction between customer and the system on the website.
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20. Collaboration Diagram

Collaboration diagram also shows the activities that take place between the user and the system
but there is no reference to time, thus, we cannot tell which activity took place first.
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21. Activity Diagram

Activity diagram show the number of activities within one state of the system. The diamond
shape shows the decision box where system checks whether the desired quantity of the
particular product is available or not.
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22. ERD Diagram

It shows the different tables in the database and the relationship between them.
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23. Physical Design

We generated forms in Microsoft Access 2007 to describe the working of the website.

HOME PAGE
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CUSTOMER

PRODUCT
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SALES_ORDER

SHIPMENT
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PAYMENT
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24. Testing, Implementation & Maintenance

The website has been introduced at the Sea view branch for testing. After the testing is
completed, it will be properly launched at all three branches with the desired changes.

D-Mart has operators who are managing the RMS. They will manage the website as well.

25. Documentation
For the course of Introduction to System Development, we decided to develop web based
system for D-Mart, a famous retail chain in Karachi. Since the day we started to work on the
project, we simultaneously documented whatever activities were done for the development of
the system.

System Documentation:

The documentation that we did for our system was system documentation which consisted of
detailed information about system design specifications, the internal working of the system and
the system’s functionality.

Within system documentation, there were two types of other documentations that we did for
our system, internal documentation and external documentation.

Internal Documentation:

This is the documentation that was done when the different forms for the website were
generated at Microsoft Access. Internal documentation was also done when the website for D-
Mart was being developed.

External Documentation:

Within system documentation, external documentation was also done. This documentation
included the outcome of the different UML diagrams (use-case, activity, collaboration and
sequence diagram) and entity-relationship diagrams that were developed for our web-based
system.
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26. Benefits of the System

Changes after Implementing the System:

After implementing the system D-Mart definitely will surely feel some changes and the changes
are as follows:

- Complete inventory control since no more manual control is done and the chances of
error are minimized.

- Complete information about quantities in hand, quantities that have been sold and
quantities that have to be bought.

- Response to the changes in demand of different inventory will reduce. Whenever the
demand for anything increases or decreases its sales will obviously change respectively
and that will be shown by the system. Hence if the system shows increase in sales D-
Mart will respond quickly and purchase more stock and vice versa if the sales in the
system are shown less.

- Ease in handling inventory at different locations of D-Mart. Since D-mart has three
branches in Karachi it would be easy to manage inventory at three different locations
with the help of an inventory management system.

- Ease in the analysis of inventory records like purchase and sales of inventory.

- Ease of refilling the depleted stock. When ever a particular stock is ending the system
will show its decreasing amount before time and it can be replenished.

- Most of all the efficiency of D-Mart will increase

- Through online system, more customers will be able to place orders and this will
increase the sales for the store.
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27. Ethical Issues

One of the most important things that the system analysts working for D-Mart have to follow is
the ethics set by D-Mart. According to D-mart, ethics is an important attribute of one’s
personality that makes him or her understand right or wrong and even act accordingly. The
ethics that have been set by D-Mart are as follows:

 Systems analyst must be careful not to share any kind of information about the system
within or out side the organization i.e. D-Mart since that information is confidential to
D-Mart.

 Not only about the system but the system analyst must also not tell any kind of private
information regarding the customers, suppliers and employees to unknown people or
those who are not related to the organization.

 The designs of the systems that have been developed by the system analyst for D-Mart
should not be sold by the system analyst to any other organization.

 System analysts should be very careful about copy rights of the system and should not
abide by the copy right rules.

 System analyst should always do honest communication with its stake holders or end
users and should clearly tell the end users or stake holders’ regarding any problems faced
during system development.

 A system analyst should refrain from software piracy. The designers should not copy
licensed software.

According to D-Mart, a system analyst should possess strong professional ethics to help build a
strong client relationship.
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28. Constraints
While making the system some constraints were also faced. These constraints are as follows

- Time Constraints:
Initially when we got to know our project we started our work immediately but then in the end
when the work load of other courses increased we started to face some time constraints where
by the deadline to submit the project was coming near and we felt that we would not be able to
complete our project but somehow in the end the deadlines were met.

- Technical Constraints:
Since we had just studied some basic courses in programming and information system another
constraint that we faced was technical. Once work on the project was started we started to feel
that we not that technically experienced to do everything ourselves hence we took some help
from our instructors and also from some fellow students.
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29. References

 http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7386492/fulltext.html
 http://argouml.tigris.org/
 www.visualcase.com/tutorials/uml-tutorial.htm
 www.bcschools.net/staff/AccessHelp.htm