Following milestones were achieved till date:

 

Milestone 1:

Initial Investigation: A project proposal was prepared that defined and analyzed the following aspects:

i)        Background.

ii)       Problem analysis.

iii)     Scope.

iv)     Estimated Cost.

v)      Estimated Schedule.

Milestone 2:

 

Requirement Analysis.

 

Following activities were performed in this phase:

1)                  Identified users of the system

2)                  Identified Business processes

3)                  Identified Interfaces between users and processes

 

 

DESCRIPTIONS:

            This phase was triggered by the approved system initialization objectives from the previous investigation phase.

 

User Requirement analysis:

            System users actually use the system to perform or support the work to be completed. They define the business requirements and the performance expectation for the system to be built. Following System Users were identified for Electronic Home Inventory Database System:

i)        Floor Managers:    

They keep the inventory of the store and check database for items available and inform the purchasing department in case of need. They are also responsible for modifying the database for any stolen/lost/damaged/ defective goods.

 

ii)       Purchase Department:

They will update the inventory system by making purchase orders. They maintain required communication with the suppliers through this database system. A purchase manager can track inventory database for a period of time and he can draw some useful information about the regularity of supply, the quality of different supplies and thereby improves the overall business standard.

 

iii)     Customer Relation Officers:

They have direct interaction with external entities of the business and assist in bridging the gap of information exchange between the outer surrounding and internal business processes. So they have access to the inventory database and can use the information to expedite the handling of any problem for any customer or remote users (like salesperson) by keeping track of the reference number of item concerned and to check the availability of items for sale or any other purpose.

 

iv)     Sales Department:

The users concerning this department are: Sales Representatives, Sales Managers. They can keep track of selling of particular item, total sale of the month, damaged/defective items, and availability of particular item. They can also keep track of seasonal variation in the sales quantity and price. They can use inventory database for forecasting future sales so that purchase department can take appropriate decision.

 

v)      Finance Department:

They can process cost-benefit analysis of keeping or removing the particular brand of item from the database.

 

Business Process Requirement:

These are the chain of activities carried out to achieve business goals. Following business processes were recognized in concern with Electronic Home Project:

 

i)        Purchasing Process:

This process is basically related to ordering of goods. The main objectives include the timely availability of items in the warehouse. Purchasing Department is responsible to carry out this process. A purchase is requested by a floor manager, which is then approved and processed by Purchasing Managers. This process involves Floor Managers, Purchasing Managers and Vendors.

 

ii)       Sales Process:

This process is mainly concerned with the actual sale of good. It marks the change of ownership from the store to the purchasing customer. Sales Department will be directly involved with this process. Players involved are customer, sales-representative and cashier.

 

iii)     Accounting Process:

Accounting is the heart of every business.  Activities related to this process are:

a)                  Sales Audit.

b)                  Quarterly sales report.

c)                  External Auditing.

d)                  Costing.

 Finance/Accounting Department is involved with this process.

 

iv)     Customer Support Process:

This process is concerned with resolution of customers’ complaints and grievances. Customers Officers are related with this process. As a result of this process the inventory database is likely to be modified.