ABSTRACT
Businesses (Manufacturing, Merchandising or Service Delivery) have similar
organizational structures like Administration, Human Resources, Marketing,
Accounting and Customer Care/Public Relations. Stand alone software products have
been developed to enhance operations in each of these business. The business
management system software developed in this project is aimed at integrating these
software products into a single system that will provide solution to different
management challenges that each type of business encounters. The software was
successfully developed using Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), My Structured Query
Language (MySQL), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS) and Javascript programming languages to reside and run on any network
topology and to enhance the efficiency and productivity of any business venture that
will use it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Approval == == == == ii
Dedication == == == == iii
Acknowledgement == == == == iv
Abstract == == == == v
Abbreviations == == == == vi
List of Figures == == == == viii
Table of Contents == == == == ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study = = = 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem = = = 1
1.3 Significance of the Study = = = 3
1.4 Limitation of the Study = = = 3
1.5 Contextual Definition = = = 3
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Business Management = = = 14
2.2 Software Development = = = 22
2.3 Review of Existing Business Management Softwares = 59
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Method = = = 63
3.2 Design Method = = = 63
3.3 Build Method = = = = 65
CHAPTER FOUR: IMPLEMENTATION
4.1 The Programming Language = = = 71
4.2 The Coding = = = = 72
4.3 The Graphics User Interface = = = 74
4.4 The Server = = = = 86
4.5 The Network = = = = 86
CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Results = = = = 87
5.2 Discussion of Results = = = 88
5.3 Summary = = = = 89
5.4 Conclusion = = = = 90
5.5 Suggestions for Further Research = = 90
References = = = = 91
Appendices = = = = 95
CHAPTER ONE
NTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Beyond reasonable doubt, effective and efficient human existence is not possible without
food, shelter and clothing. In order to provide these essential necessities, man involves
himself in different activities. Such activities could generally be referred to as business.
Businesses have evolved over time since the creation of man. From fruit gathering through
hunting to the present day ‘white collar jobs’, man strives to fulfil basic necessities required
to sustain life. But as he tries to provide these necessities, he is faced with different business
managerial challenges.
These business managerial challenges include accounting, human resources management,
financial management, business operations management and customer resources
management.
Because these business management challenges are human problems, engineers are faced
with providing lasting solutions in order to make life better. Various attempts have been
made to tackle these problems but there are areas that are either overlooked or tackled less
unsatisfactorily. In This project, the researcher attempts to solve this problem using
software development strategy.
This Business Management System Software is designed to provide effective Business
management tool for individuals and corporate bodies. Specifically, the thesis targets small
scale businesses. It will also include new features and innovation to existing business
software packages.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
There are some challenges facing business establishments. These could be represented as
requisitions, export, budget, operations, staff discipline, salary and emoluments,
promotions, transfers etc.
§ Requisitions: These represent what come into the establishment. They include
employee recruitment, raw materials, customer requests etc. The challenges that
are noticed at this point are over invoicing, insufficient materials, etc.
§ Export: During service to customers, fraudulent sales staff gives excess goods to
costumers they like thereby liquidating the company. Some even remove the
company’s property without due approval.
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§ Budget: Budget challenges are not always problematic since the excesses are usually
carried forward to the next fiscal year while for deficits; supplementary budgets are
made to take care of inadequacies.
§ Operations: These challenges manifest more often with field work staff. Cases
abound where they are paid lodging allowances more than three times the actual
amount, some do not visit the work site on time. In the office, information flow,
reaction or feedback of customers and members of staff are also problematic.
§ Staff Discipline: In most establishments, staff punctuality have become a big
problem. For example, staff that have the duty of opening offices by 0800 hours
report for duty by 0900 hours. The challenge created here is that staff daily input is
not adequate compared to their salary/wages.
§ Staff Salary and Emoluments: Staff salary challenges are of different forms: 1.
Omitted members of Staff; 2. Incorrect pay cheque; 3. Double salary for a staff for
one duration; 4 Ghost workers, etc. Other problems include late or non payment of
incentives, leave allowance, gratuity and pension for retired members of staff and
death benefit for dead members of staff.
§ Promotion: Problems with promotion include delayed promotion, favouritism in
promotion etc.
§ Transfers: Transfer of members of staff is carried out to meet up with lagging
human resources in a particular section or department in the industry. The problem
here is that some members of staff are transferred to areas where they do not have
the knowledge to work efficiently. Some are either over or under qualified for the
vacant position.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
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It is expected that at the realisation of the Business Management System Software, it will be
possible to counter these managerial challenges experienced in Business ventures by:
1. Increasing the profit margin of any company that makes use of the software.
2. Reducing operational cost for companies using the software.
3. Increasing the efficiency and productivity of both manpower and machinery.
4. Promoting discipline, loyalty and respect among employees and their employers.
5. Creating virtual office for employee and customer access anytime, anywhere.
6. Providing more conducive and enabling environment for higher turnover in any
given business venture.
1.4 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The Business Management System Software is designed specifically for all business classes;
whether small scale, medium scale or large scale. It is also expected to be applied in
different forms of business like Manufacturing, Merchandising, Service Delivery and so on,
but the researcher has limited it to small scale merchandising industry that is managed by
about ten administrators, having between twenty to fifty members of staff, selling limited
number of items and have about five branches.
1.5 CONTEXTUAL DEFINITION
1.5.1 BUSINESS
Business is an organized approach to providing customers with the goods and services they
want. The word business also refers to an organization that provides these goods and
services. Most businesses seek to make a profit – that is, they aim to achieve revenues that
exceed the costs of operating the business. Prominent examples of for-profit businesses
include Mitsubishi Group, Shoprite, Innoson Limited, Chitis Limited, General Motors
Corporation, Ibeto Group, Microsoft Corporation, and Royal Dutch/Shell Group. However,
some businesses only seek to earn enough to cover their operating costs. Commonly called
nonprofits, these organizations are primarily non-governmental service providers. Examples
of non-profit businesses include such organizations as social service agencies, foundations,
advocacy groups, and many hospitals.
Business plays a vital role in the life and culture of countries with industrial and postindustrial
(service- and information-based) free-market economies such as the United States
and Nigeria. In free-market systems, prices and wages are primarily determined by
competition, not by governments. In the United States, for example, 73 percent of the
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people buy and sell goods and services as their primary occupations. In 2001 American
companies sold in excess of $10 trillion worth of goods and services (Microsoft Encarta
Premium, 2009). Businesses provide just about anything consumers want or need, including
basic necessities such as food and housing, luxuries such as whirlpool baths and wide-screen
televisions, and even personal services such as caring for children and finding
companionship.
1.5.1.1 TYPES OF BUSINESSES
There are many types of businesses in a free-market economy. The three most common are
(1) manufacturing firms, (2) merchandisers, and (3) service enterprises.
MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Manufacturing firms produce a wide range of products. Large manufacturers include
producers of airplanes, cars, computers, and furniture. Many manufacturing firms construct
only parts rather than complete, finished products. These suppliers are usually smaller
manufacturing firms, which supply parts and components to larger firms. The larger firms
then assemble final products to sell to consumers. For example, suppliers provide many of
the components in personal computers, automobiles, and home appliances to large firms
that create the finished or end products. These larger end-product manufacturers are often
also responsible for marketing and distributing the products. The advantage that large
businesses have in being able to efficiently and inexpensively control any parts of a
production process is known as economies of scale. But small manufacturing firms may work
best for producing certain types of finished products. Smaller end-product firms are
common in the food industry and among artisan trades such as custom cabinetry.
MERCHANDISERS
Merchandisers are businesses that help move goods through a channel of distribution—that
is, the route goods take in reaching the consumer. Merchandisers may be involved in
wholesaling or retailing, or sometimes both.
A wholesaler is a merchandiser who purchases goods and then sells them to buyers, typically
retailers, for the purpose of resale. A retailer is a merchandiser who sells goods to
consumers. A wholesaler often purchases products in large quantities and then sells smaller
quantities of each product to retailers who are unable to either buy or stock large amounts
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of the product. Wholesalers operate somewhat like large, end-product manufacturing firms,
benefiting from economies of scale. For example, a wholesaler might purchase 5,000 pairs of
work gloves and then sell 100 pairs to 50 different retailers. Some large American discount
chains, such as Kmart Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., serve as their own wholesalers.
These companies go directly to factories and other manufacturing outlets, buy in large
amounts and then warehouse and ship the goods to their stores.
The division between retailing and wholesaling is now being blurred by new technologies
that allow retailing to become an economy of scale. Telephone and computer
communications allow retailers to serve far greater numbers of customers in a given span of
time than is possible in face-to-face interactions between a consumer and a retail
salesperson. Computer networks such as the Internet, because they do not require any
physical communication between salespeople and customers, allow a nearly unlimited
capacity for sales interactions known as 24/7—that is, the Internet site can be open for a
transaction 24 hours a day, seven days a week and for as many transactions as the network
can handle. For example, a typical transaction to purchase a pair of shoes at a shoe store
may take a half-hour from browsing, to fitting, to the transaction with a cashier. But a
customer can purchase a pair of shoes through a computer interface with a retailer in a
matter of seconds.
Computer technology also provides retailers with another economy of scale through the
ability to sell goods without opening any physical stores, often referred to as electronic
commerce or e-commerce. Retailers that provide goods entirely through Internet
transactions do not incur the expense of building so-called brick-and-mortar stores or the
expense of maintaining them.
SERVICE ENTERPRISES
Service enterprises include many kinds of businesses. Examples include dry cleaners, shoe
repair stores, barbershops, restaurants, ski resorts, hospitals, and hotels. In many cases,
service enterprises are moderately small because they do not have mechanized services and
limit service to only as many individuals as they can accommodate at one time. For example,
a waiter may be able to provide good service to four tables at once, but with five or more
tables, customer service will suffer.
In recent years the number of service enterprises in wealthier free-market economies has
grown rapidly, and spending on services now accounts for a significant percentage of all
spending. By the late 1990s, private services accounted for more than 21 percent of U.S.
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spending (Microsoft Encarta Premium, 2009). Wealthier nations have developed post
industrial economies, where entertainment and recreation businesses have become more
important than most raw material extraction such as the mining of mineral ores and some
manufacturing industries in terms of creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. Many
of these extractive industries have moved to developing nations, especially with the rise of
large multinational corporations. As post industrial economies have accumulated wealth,
they have come to support systems of leisure, in which people are willing to pay others to do
things for them. In the United States, vast numbers of people work rigid schedules for long
hours in indoor offices, stores, and factories. Many employers pay high enough wages so
that employees can afford to balance their work schedules with purchased recreation.
People in the United States, for example, support thriving travel, theme park, resort, and
recreational sport businesses.
1.5.1.2 FORMS OF BUSINESS OWNERSHIP
There are a number of different forms of business ownership. These include (1) sole
proprietorships, (2) partnerships, (3) corporations, (4) joint ventures, and (5) syndicates.
SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP
The most common form of ownership is a sole proprietorship – that is, a business owned by
one individual. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were more than 17 million sole
proprietorships in the United States. These businesses have the advantage of being easy to
set up and to dissolve because few laws exist to regulate them. Proprietors, as owners, also
maintain direct control of their businesses and own all their profits. On the other hand,
owners of proprietorships are personally responsible for all business debts and, because
they are constrained by the limits of their personal financial resources, they may find it
difficult to expand or increase their profits. For those reasons, sole proprietorships tend to
be small, primarily service and retail businesses.
PARTNERSHIP
A partnership is an association of two or more people who operate a business as co-owners.
There are different types of partners. A general partner is active in the operation of a
business and is liable for all of its debts. In small businesses with only two or three owners,
all typically will be general partners. A limited partner, by contrast, invests in a business but
is not involved in its daily operations. Partnerships, like sole proprietorships, are relatively
easy to establish. Furthermore, partners can pool financial resources to fund expansion and
can divide their duties and responsibilities according to personal expertise and abilities. For
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example, one partner may be very good at selling, while another has a knack for maintaining
good financial records. As with sole proprietorships, however, partnerships may entail
substantial financial risks, as all of the general partners are liable for the debts of the
business. And unlike proprietorships, disagreements among partners can harm partnership
businesses.
CORPORATION
A corporation is a legal entity that exists as distinct from the individuals who control and
invest in it. As a result, a corporation can continue indefinitely through complete changes of
ownership, leadership, and staffing. Current owners can sell their holdings to other
individuals or, if they die, have their assets transferred to heirs. This is possible because a
corporation creates shares of stock that are sold to investors. One strength of the corporate
business structure is that stockholders have limited liability, as opposed to the unlimited
liability of general partners, so they cannot lose more than their initial investment. Investors
may also easily buy and sell stocks of public corporations through stock exchanges. By
offering stock publicly, a corporation enables anyone with some money to buy the stock and
become a part-owner of the company. As a result, corporations can more easily raise capital
for business expansion than can sole proprietorships and most partnerships.
Investors control a corporation through the election of a managing body, known as a board
of directors. In a large corporation, investors collectively decide who will oversee the
operation of the enterprise. In turn, the board chooses a president, who decides on the key
company personnel and helps formulate company strategy.
Many corporations are highly successful business organizations, with profits far exceeding
those of many sole proprietorships and partnerships. However, they traditionally have
higher tax burdens than other kinds of businesses. Also, the fees involved in creating and
organizing a corporation can be very high.
JOINT VENTURES AND SYNDICATES
In joint ventures and syndicates, individuals or businesses cooperate to create a single
product or service package. A joint venture is a partnership agreement in which two or more
individual- or group-run businesses join together to carry out a single business project. For
example, U.S.-based General Motors Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation, based in
Japan, have a joint venture called New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., created for the
purpose of producing cars in California.
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A syndicate is an association of individuals or corporations formed to conduct a specific
financial transaction such as buying a business. Quite often syndicates are created for the
purpose of buying sports franchises. For example, the Miami Heat basketball team and the
New York Yankees baseball team are each owned by syndicates of individuals. Each member
of these syndicates is also involved in the operation of other businesses.
1.5.1.3 BUSINESS OPERATIONS
A variety of operations keep businesses, especially large corporations, running efficiently
and effectively. Common business operation divisions include (1) production, (2)
marketing, (3) finance, and (4) human resource management.
PRODUCTION
Production includes those activities involved in conceptualizing, designing, and creating
products and services. In recent years there have been dramatic changes in the way goods
are produced. Today, computers help monitor, control, and even perform work. Flexible,
high-tech machines can do in minutes what it used to take people hours to accomplish.
Another important development has been the trend toward just-in-time inventory. The
word inventory refers to the amount of goods a business keeps available for wholesale or
retail. In just-in-time inventory, the firm stocks only what it needs for the next day or two.
Many businesses rely on fast, global computer communications to allow them to respond
quickly to changes in consumer demand. Inventories are thus minimized and businesses can
invest more in product research, development, and marketing.
MARKETING
Marketing is the process of identifying the goods and services that consumers need and
want and providing those goods and services at the right price, place, and time. Businesses
develop marketing strategies by conducting research to determine what products and
services potential customers think they would like to be able to purchase. Firms also
promote their products and services through such techniques as advertising and
personalized sales, which serve to inform potential customers and motivate them to
purchase. Firms that market products for which there is always some demand, such as foods
and household goods, often advertise if they face competition from other firms marketing
similar products. Such products rarely need to be sold face-to-face. On the other hand, firms
that market products and services that buyers will want to see, use, or better understand
before buying, often rely on personalized sales. Expensive and durable goods – such as
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automobiles, electronics, or furniture – benefit from personalized sales, as do legal,
financial, and accounting services.
FINANCE
Finance involves the management of money. All businesses must have enough capital on
hand to pay their bills, and for-profit businesses seek extra capital to expand their
operations. In some cases, they raise long-term capital by selling ownership in the company.
Other common financial activities include granting, monitoring, and collecting on credit or
loans and ensuring that customers pay bills on time. The financial division of any business
must also establish a good working relationship with a bank. This is particularly important
when a business wants to obtain a loan.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Businesses rely on effective human resource management (HRM) to ensure that they hire
and keep good employees and that they are able to respond to conflicts between workers
and management. HRM specialists initially determine the number and type of employees
that a business will need over its first few years of operation. They are then responsible for
recruiting new employees to replace those who leave and for filling newly created positions.
A business’s HRM division also trains or arranges for the training of its staff to encourage
worker productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction, and to promote the overall success of the
business. Finally, human resource managers create workers’ compensation plans and benefit
packages for employees.
BUSINESS IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY
The economy of the United States, Nigeria, as well as that of most developed nations,
operates according to the principles of the free market. This differs from the economies of
Socialist or Communist countries, where governments play a strong role in deciding what
goods and services will be produced, how they will be distributed, and how much they will
cost. Businesses in free-market economies benefit from certain fundamental rights or
freedoms. All people in free-market societies have the right to own, use, buy, sell, or give
away property, thus permitting them to own and operate their own businesses as private,
profit-seeking enterprises. Business owners in free markets may choose to run their
businesses however they like, within the limits of other, mostly non-business-oriented laws.
This right gives businesses the authority to hire and fire employees, invest money, purchase
machinery and equipment, and choose the markets where they want to operate. In doing
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so, however, they may not violate or infringe on the rights of other businesses and people.
Free-market businesses also have the right to keep or reinvest their profits.
All free-market economies, however, keep the rights of businesses in check to some degree
through laws and regulations that monitor business activities. Such laws vary from country
to country, but they generally encourage competition by protecting small businesses and
consumers from being hurt by more powerful, large enterprises. For example, in the United
States the Sherman Antitrust Act, enacted in 1890, and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
forbid business agreements that impede interstate and most international commerce. The
Clayton Antitrust Act also protects against unfair business practices aimed at creating
monopolies and guarantees the rights of labour to challenge management practices
perceived as unfair. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 prohibits businesses
from attempting to control the prices of its products or services, among other provisions.
Other laws prohibit mergers that decrease competition within an industry and require large
merging companies to notify the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for approval [1].
1.5.2 MANAGEMENT
Management, in all business and organizational activities, is the art of getting people
together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and
effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and
controlling an organization (a group of two or more people or entities) or effort for the
purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resources encompass the deployment and manipulation of
human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources.
Because organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as
human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a
system. This view opens the opportunity to ‘manage’ oneself, a pre-requisite to attempting
to manage others.
The verb manage comes from the Italian maneggiare (to handle – especially tools), which in
turn derives from the Latin manus (hand). The French word mesnagement (later
ménagement) influenced the development in meaning of the English word management in
the 15th and 16th centuries [2].
Other definitions of management are:
Organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain
policies and in achievement of clearly defined objectives. Management is often included as a
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factor of production along with machines, materials and money. According to the
management guru Peter Drucker (1909–2005), the basic task of a management is twofold:
marketing and innovation.
Directors and managers have the power and responsibility to make decisions to manage an
enterprise. As a discipline, management comprises the interlocking functions of formulating
corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, and directing the firm’s resources to
achieve the policy’s objectives. The size of management can range from one person in a
small firm to hundreds or thousands of managers in multinational companies. In large firms
the board of directors formulates the policy which is implemented by the chief executive
officer [3].
1.5.3 SYSTEM
System is any collection of component elements that work together to perform a task. In
computer science, system is used in a variety of contexts. A computer is a hardware system
consisting of a microprocessor and allied chips and circuitry, plus an input device (keyboard,
mouse, disk drive), an output device (monitor, disk drive), and any peripheral devices
(printer, modem). Within this hardware system is an operating system, often called system
software, which is an essential set of programs that manage hardware and data files and
work with application programs. External to the computer, system also refers to any
collection or combination of programs, procedures, data, and equipment utilized in
processing information: an accounting system, a billing system, a database management
system [4].
1.5.4 SOFTWARE
Software is a set of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Software comprises the
entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the operation of a
computer system. The term was coined to differentiate these instructions from hardware
which is the physical components of a computer system. A set of instructions that directs a
computer’s hardware to perform a task is called a program, or software program.
The two main types of software are system software and application software. System
software controls a computer’s internal functioning, chiefly through an operating system,
and also controls such peripherals as monitors, printers, and storage devices. Application
software, by contrast, directs the computer to execute commands given by the user and
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may be said to include any program that processes data for a user. Application software thus
includes word processors, spreadsheets, database management, inventory and payroll
programs, and many other applications. A third software category is that of network
software, which coordinates communication between the computers linked in a network.
Software is typically stored on an external long-term memory device, such as a hard drive or
magnetic diskette. When the program is in use, the computer reads it from the storage
device and temporarily places the instructions in random access memory (RAM). The
process of storing and then performing the instructions is called “running,” or “executing,” a
program. By contrast, software programs and procedures that are permanently stored in a
computer’s memory using a read-only (ROM) technology are called firmware, or “hard
software”. Software which was once a mysterious sparkle in the hardware engineer’s eye
has now been democratized, and its applications in the modern digital world seem infinite
[5].
1.6 PROJECT OVERVIEW
In the introductory chapter of this work, a background to the study was discussed as well as
the problems were stated. Significance of the study together with the limitation of the study
was also put forward. Finally, an elaborate definition of key terms as they apply to the study
was carried out.
The second chapter offered the opportunity for the review of important literature in the
study. The first section was for business management followed by software development
while a review of existing business management softwares was done in the last section.
The different methods adopted to ensure the successful realisation of this study were
discussed in the third chapter. This encompassed the research method, the design and the
build methods.
Chapter four took care of the implementation of the Business Management System
Software. The programming languages used were discussed in the first section. The second
section explained the coding while the third section handled the graphical user interface.
The server and the network concluded this chapter.
The concluding chapter enumerated the results emanating from testing the Business
Management System Software and also the discussion of results. Summary, conclusion and
suggestions for further work formed the final sections.
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