BKAS3063 ANALYSIS PHASE

Table of Contents

21.0 INTRODUCTION

32.0 Determining System Requirement

32.1Interview and Listening

52.2Questionnaire

10Summary Report of Interview and Questionnaires

112.3Directly Observing Users

132.4Analysing Business Documents

142.5Joint Application Design

193.0 Module: Sales System

19(A)Old InventorySystem (Manual)

20(B)New Sales System (Computerized)

214.0 Structuring System Requirement

214.1 DFD

224.2 Context Diagram

234.3 Flowchart

254.4 Sequence Diagram

274.5 Use Case Diagram

294.6 Entity Relationship Diagram

315.0 Technical System Requirement

335.1 Computer Network

345.2 The Source of Software:

356.0 CONCLUSION

1.0 INTRODUCTIONOur team has granted the permission to continue to analysis phrase for our point of sales system project development. Point of sale(POS) is the place where a retail transaction is completed. It is the point at which a customer makes a payment to a merchant in exchange for goods or services. At the point of sale the merchant would use any of a range of possible methods to calculate the amount owing, such as a manual system, weighing machines, scanners or an electronic cash register. The merchant will also normally issue a receipt for the transaction. A trading company needs an online sales system which can automatically interact with an inventory management system. First and foremost, we have to determine the system requirement, which mean we have to know what the new system needs, or in other words, what is required and expected of the new system. In order to determine the features required, we have resorted in using various methods to collect the information, for example through interview, questionnaire, directly observing users, analysing business reports, and through Joint Application Design (JAD).

After collected the relevant information needed, we proceed to the next action, which is structuring system requirement. In this part, we will use the collected information to begin our process of brainstorming and figuration of a brand new POS system, one that meets the requirements of all interested parties. In order to do so, we will employ the help of several diagrams, namely DFD, flowchart, Context diagram, Sequence diagram, user diagram and ER diagram.

Since our resources may be quite limited, after structuring the system requirement, we will consider the options available to develop the new system. Among the factors taken into consideration are the reliability of the option, the expertise required, future maintenance needed, and the cost expected to incur.

2.0 Determining System RequirementThe analysis phase is to define the problem for planning phase. The system requirements are studied, structured and examined in greater detail with thoroughly studies by the T&T Pharmacy current system procedures. Since our system has approved by Managing Director, , our Information Systems Development Team has started to determine what system requirement that users expected. During requirement determination, we used several methods to gather current system information and system requirement for Point of Sales (POS) system. The methods are divided into two categories which is traditional methods and modern method. Traditional methods included interviewing and listening, questionnaire, directly observing users in their work environment, and analyzing procedures and other written documents. While, modern method includes Joint Application Design (JAD).

2.1Interview and Listening

Interviewing and listening is one of the primary ways to collect information about an information system project. Our company interviews a wide range of people such as potential users and manager in order to know what are the issues that faced by them in using current system. We gather information from our interview in order to solve the problems faced by the current system and what are the systems needed in companys future activities.

Table below shows the questions and answers in the interview form.No.QuestionAnswer

1.What is the current system used?We are using manual system, which the records are mainly in paper work and keep in the cabinet file.

2.Any problems with the currents system?Manual system is too much paper work and time consuming. We also were facing problems for the places to keep the cabinet file. Besides, the change in product price will not be noticed immediately.

3.Who will conduct and use the system?Payroll clerk

4.Do all worker in payroll department are permanent workers?No, we also will employ part time workers.

5.How is your companys reporting?We could not get report for a specific time due to the unorganized data. We hope that with the implementation of the new information system, we can know view the report anytime we want and print it out.

6.Is there any other problem from the current manual systems?Yes, there are many human errors occurred and data redundancy. We hope that the error will be reduced to the minimum level.

7.Are you satisfied with the paperwork prepared by the employee?No, because a lot of paperwork needs to be done, and this is wasting time. I hope with the conversion to computerized system can reduce the paperwork needs to be done with the present manual system.

8.Do all employees is a skilled worker and common to use the computerized system? No, this is because most of our staff is consists of students who make a part-time job. Some of them just work within a short period and they do not have time in learning the computerized system. So, they just do the recording by the manual system.

9.Any complain from customer by using current barcode key in system?Yes, some customers complain about cashier slow and consume lot of time in key in barcode.

10.Is there any problems related to the general ledger process?Missed posting from journal to ledger by the staff.

11.Can we know the business margins immediately by using current systemNo, only at the end of period just can know the business margin.

12.What is the main thing your company wishes to improve?We hope to convert the current manual system to computerized information system so that the operational data can be organized systematically.

2.2Questionnaire

In order to get more information, we also distribute questionnaires to employees who work at the shops around T&T Pharmacy. We spent about 10 days to collect this information from 50 users. We divided the questionnaires into two categories which are open ended questions and closed ended questions. For example, open-ended questions that we insert in the questionnaire are What kind of system that your company is using now? This type of questions able users write down and elaborate their opinions. For the closed-ended questions, we provide few check boxes with answer for users to make a tick on their choice.Below is a sample of survey questionnaire that we have distributed:

2013 T&T PHARMACY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIREDear all, we sincerely hope that you can find a few minutes to complete these questionnaires and help us to improve our performance in develop a new payroll system.

The purpose of this survey is to investigate any differences between the manual payroll system and computerized payroll system and what you expect about the implementing new payroll system.1. Name:

2. Gender:

Male

Female3. Do you have any experience in using computerized payroll system?

Yes

No

4. Please tick the below answer from 1 to 5 according to the range:

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

No.Question12345

1.Computerized payroll system being implemented at the company.

2.Manual system is time consuming because to ensure the payroll is accurate.

3.The processing of data is too slow in manual payroll system.

4.A manual payroll system is something you operate yourself, so you could make a mistake manually.

5.A manual payroll system is considerably slower procedure than a computerized payroll system.

6.I am facing many problems when using manual payroll system.

7.It is hard to find the data that I needed.

8.Difficulty of getting the data through the computerized payroll system.

9.A computerized payroll system keeps a copy of all payroll transactions performed and they are easy to retrieve.

10.Computerized payroll system calculates the wages and deductions based on inputs. This saves the payroll person from having to do the calculations himself.

11.Computerized payroll system also stores personnel records, which saves the employee from having to search through hard copy files.

12.The computerized payroll system helps save cost, energy and time.

13.The operation and management of organization will run efficiently and effectively.

14.It is simple to use the computerized payroll system.

15.I can effectively complete my work by using this computerized payroll system.

16.I feel comfortable using this computerized system.

17.It is easy to learn to use this computerized system.

18.The system gives error messages that clearly tell me how to fix the problems.

19.Using computerized payroll system, I can recover easily and quickly when a mistake is happen.

20.It is easily to find the data that I needed in computerized payroll system.

5. How would you rate your overall experience in using computerized payroll system?

Highly satisfactory

Satisfactory

Neutral

Unsatisfactory

Highly unsatisfactory

6. What is the main problem faced when using computerized payroll system?

7. What are your expected features that should include in the computerized system?

Summary Report of Interview and QuestionnairesThis report summarizes the opinion of all administrative staffs and employees of T&T Pharmacy about the development of new payroll system. Moreover, this report also highlights the overarching themes from interviews and results of the questionnaire, again following the structure.Interviews and questionnaire responses indicated that about 92% of administrative staffs and employees agree to change from manual payroll system to computerized system. Most of them are be tired with manual payroll system because of a lot of paperwork needs to be done, and this is wasting time. They are hope that with the conversion to computerized system can reduce the paperwork needs to be done with the present manual system. In addition, manual payroll system caused many human sneak in occurred and data redundancy. They are hope that the error will be reduced to the minimum level.

In the other hand, 8 % of them was not agree to change from manual payroll system to computerized system. Most of them are old and loyal employees and give a lot of contribution to the company. Since the company was established, they are started to use manual payroll system instead of computerized payroll system. Intentionally, they are not familiar to the computerized payroll system. Furthermore, the manual payroll system is usually considerably cheaper than computerized payroll system. With a basic amount of understanding, clerical staff can learn to use a payroll system and the business saves the cost of hiring a payroll professional. Therefore, compared to computerized payroll system, they think that manual payroll system takes up valuable time, resources and money.Lastly, they expect that the computerized payroll system will allow them to generate a report that allow them to see exactly what employees will be paid before prints checks or sends the direct deposit file to the bank. If there are errors, they can make the change beforehand. They also wish that the system can come with a complete HR feature attached, which enables benefits administration. This allows the payroll staffs to track vacation, sick and personal time.In conclusion, most of the employees in T&T Pharmacy agree to change from manual payroll system to computerized payroll system. It is because they think that computerized payroll system will bring more benefits to the company.2.3Directly Observing Users

Objective: To find out how users use the manual system and what is the problem facing.

Activities: Observe users at selected times to see how data are handled and what information people need to do their jobs.Sales SystemDirectly Observation in Perfect Market Environment

1.How was the physically observation on the current system? When we visit to this market, we can see there is a long queue in front of the counter and some customer are started impatient when waiting for the payment. We go thought the counter and ask the cashier about the sales records. We were told that they were taking a long time to record every sales transaction. The cashier need to records every customers items in the receipt book, summed it and then received the payment at the same time. When we walk in to the store, we can see the storekeeper is counting the inventory physically. We were told that they use the sales record prepared by the clerk to count the total inventory available and we were told also they are always facing sales record are not tally with the inventory. Thus, this situation makes the storekeeper need to recount the inventory physically.

2.What are the problems arises due to the weaknesses in the current system? When the cashier is asked to check the total sales for today, she has to check all the receipt and calculate one-by-one to sum up all the sales today.

It takes lots of time to track the records. We estimate the time to check for the sales records is 10 minutes, sometimes even longer or amount not tally with the cash in.

The storekeeper is facing difficult to track the availability item of inventory. It takes a lot of time to update the records and sometime they need to count physically when the inventory is not tally with the sales records. The result of the time consuming work is operation is not efficient and effective.

3.How was the staffing in the working environment? Any problem arises? Mostly the problem arises of part-time worker who is not a skilled worker. Workers unable to manage their work properly, resulted the work has been take more time to complete. Some of the part-time worker are not aware with the change of price and cause loss to the market.

Problem also arises during peak season such as weekend and festival, there are not enough staff to serve the customer and cause the payment process slow.

4.Based on the observation, what is your suggestion in order to improve the system? Should implement of POS System. Every sales transaction will automatically accumulate so that can assist the supervisor to check for the total sales.

Storekeeper can check the inventory frequently by using the inventory summary provided by clerk though POS system.

POS system also assist cashier to improve their efficiency during the sales transaction record, so that customer can save their time during payment.

Security of cash also increase thought using POS system. POS system allows the supervisor to detect the fraud committed by cashier when there is not tally among the sales record with cash.

2.4Analysing Business DocumentsDepartment : Sales Department

NoSources DocumentInformation Contents

1.Invoicei. Company name, address, phone, fax and email address

ii. Customer identical number, name, address and phone

iii. Invoice no. and invoice date

iv. Product number, product description

v. Quantity, unit price for each item, total unit price and total amount

vi. Signature and company cop

2.Cash Billi. Company name, address, phone, fax and email address

ii. Cash bill no. and cash bill date

iii. Product number or barcode

iv. Quantity, units price for each item, total unit price and total amount

v. Authorized signature

3.Monthly Sales Reporti. Sale date

ii. Receipt number

iii. Daily sales amount

4.Daily Sales Items Reporti. Invoice number

ii. Sale date

iii. Customer identical number

iv. Product number

v. Product description

vi. Product price

vii. Quantity sold

viii. Total sales

2.5Joint Application Design

Joint Application Design (JAD) is a process for collecting information system requirements and reviewing system designs. It is to structure requirements determination phases of analysis and the reviews that occur as part of the design. User, managers and systems developers are brought together for a series of intensive structured meetings run by a JAD session leader. JAD will brought them together to agree on system requirements and design details, time and organizational resources are better managed and more likely to develop a shared understanding of what the information system is supposed to do.

PositionParticipants

JAD Session LeaderMr. Alexander (Top Managements Secretary)

UsersSupervisors

Cashiers

ManagersSales department manager

Purchase department manager

Inventory department manager

SponsorMr. Joshua Ng (Chief Executive Officer)

Systems analystsMs. Kong Chiu Yueh

Ms. Song Yin San

Ms. Lim Chiew Mong

Ms. Lee Mong Ying

Ms. Khoo Yih Wen

ScribeMs. Vernal Wong

IS staffMs. Cg Ang (database analysts)

Ms. Vincy Lee (programmers)

Mr. Andrew Tan (IS planners)

The problems occur and discuss in JAD session:

1. Calculation errors

2. Recording errors

3. Inaccurate, incomplete, obsolete sales data

4. Time consuming

5. Loss of dataThrough our JAD section, we expect a highly secured computerized Point of Sales (POS) system should implement in our organization by having:

Private and confidential information about items can be kept safely.

Required to use an authorized username and password to login and access the data in the POS system.

Only few authorized employees can change the items data.

Automatically post the data and updates the inventory record at timelier basis.

Speeding up the process of recording sales activities at counter with constant price for an item.

Produce daily sales report systematicallyBelow are the problems facing by the department and how we overcome those problems:

Current ProblemAlternative to Overcome

1. Calculation Errors :

In current manual sales system, calculations on total sales for each sales transaction are being done manually by employees and are always inaccurate. Employees frequently calculate wrongly by totaling the inaccurate price of items especially during peak hours where there is many customers queuing for payments. Employees also often pay back the remaining money to the customers inaccurately. This affects our company reputation among customers whereby customers make a lot of complaint and request for refund the next days.

New implemented POS system will calculate the amount of sales automatically. Employees only need to key in or scan the barcode of the items, the name and price of items will be shown on screen. Sum of sales for each customer will be calculated by the system. Furthermore, employees only need to key in the money given by customers into the system and the system will show the remaining amounts that should be return back to the customers.

2. Recording errors

In current manual system, risk of recording errors are relatively high especially during peak hours whereby employees have to rush their work of recording sales activities and sometimes they do not double check the price of items they recorded. Employees also frequently omitted some sales activity record especially when the customer buy items in large amount whereby employees easily count the number of items wrongly. There is also possibilities whereby employee relatives come to buy items and the employee purposely miss out the item or record lower price.Risk of recording errors and omission of sales activities are relatively low in new POS system. This is because the price of items will be stored in a database whereby employees no need to remember the price of items, they just have to key in or scan the barcode of the items into the systems and the item name and price will be display in the computer screen. By using new POS system, only few authorized employee can access to the database to change the pricing of items. So, it can prevent unauthorized employee record the price of items wrongly to prevent fraud.

3. Inaccurate, incomplete, obsolete (outdated) sales data

Sales data are always incorrect and cannot tally with the inventory balance due to recording errors, incomplete data and also obsolete sales data. Data are always not updated on timely basis as employees need time to update the data manually especially for inventory data whereby storekeeper need to calculate the balance of stock physically, often need to calculate at least twice to prevent error of calculation. Whereas, sales data are always inaccurate due to recording errors and incomplete due to the omissions of sales activity transaction. So, data are often corrupted and employees need days to find the errors.

By implementing new POS system, the possibility of inaccuracy and incomplete data will be low as the items data like price of items and name of items already being stored in database, the employees only need to key in or scan the barcode of items to retrieve the data from database. Furthermore, as sales activity being recorded in the new POS system, the system will automatically update the inventory balance by reducing the amount that have being sold. So, the storekeeper can retrieve updated inventory data on timely basis by using the new system. So, we can have more accurate, complete and updated data by using the new system and thus reduce the workload of employees.

4. Time consumingStaff took a lot of time in searching the payroll data and it is not efficient.By just key in the information, staff can get the data they want in an instant.

5. Loss of dataSince the paper work and document is stored in filing container and it is easily lost. Computer will store all the information properly.

From this JAD section, we found those participants are quite satisfied with this new POS System. With the using of new system, all the data will be saving properly. Sales department staffs just have to key in or scan the barcode of the sales item and all the information about the items will show up. Furthermore, the new system will automatically update all the data like the balance of sales items and daily sales report. This will save time, meanwhile create paperless environment which can save the place used for storing all the data. Once employees know how to use and manage well the new system, they can perform their work efficiency and effectively.

3.0 Module: Sales System (A) Old InventorySystem (Manual)

The functionality of the sales information system of T & T PHARMACY is presented by Use Case Diagram. Each use case is major process of the system that will benefit an actor(s). The major use cases of the previous manual sales system are: Allow Customers to place order via telephone or visits the shop.

Allow Sales Officer to receive the order to prepare for the Sales Order.

Allow Inventory Officer to use the Sales Order to record item sold in Inventory Book.

Allow Purchasing Officer to refer Inventory Book and purchase goods that are shortage according to the Inventory Book from Supplier.

Allow A/R Officer to prepare invoice and post the transaction to General Ledger file.

The actors who use the system are Customers, Sales Officer, Inventory Officer, Purchasing Officer and A/R Officer.

Activity DiagramThe Activity Diagram of the previous sales system shows the primary activities in sales system which are: prepare Sales Order, record Inventory books and purchase stock. Since Customer and supplier are not internal actor in our point of sales system, the record cash received and pay bill activity will not be covered in the design. Lastly, the related journals will be posted to the general ledger file by manual record.

(B) New Sales System (Computerized)

Use Case

The functionality of the sales information system of T & T PHARMACY is presented by Use Case Diagram. Use case is represented by an oval and labeled with verb-noun phrase. Each use case is major process of the system that will benefit an actor(s). The major use cases of the new sales system are: Allow Customers to place order.

Allow the Sales Officer to receive Sales Order and scan through POS system, generating four invoices, one send to customer, one send to the A/R Officer, one to the delivery department, and the other for filing.

Allow Sales Officer and Inventory Officer to know the stock left through computer screen.

Allow Purchasing Officer to purchase stock when Purchasing Officer being notified by Inventory Officer that stocks is less than being assigned.

Allow A/R Officer to receive invoice and post the transaction to General Journal.

The actors who use the system are Customers, Sales Officer, Inventory Officer, Purchasing Officer and A/R Officer.

Activity DiagramThe Activity Diagram of the new system shows the primary activities in sales system which are: prepare Sales Order, check inventory limit and order inventory. Each activity consists of several actions, for example, scan item sold by checking the inventory limit of the stock. Since Customer and Supplier are not an internal actor in our sales system, the record cash received and the pay bill activity will not be covered in the design.

4.0 Structuring System Requirement

4.1 DFD

4.2 Context Diagram

4.3 Flowchart

4.4 Sequence Diagram

4.5 Use Case Diagram

4.6 Entity Relationship Diagram

5.0 Technical System Requirement

To enable we can implement our Automate Payroll System in our organization, we have decided to buy a batch of computer to support each department. The brand computer that we suggest to buy is the computer that branded Dell because they will provide Door to Door service to their customers. Dell is among the most popular and well-recognized PC brands in the computer market, making both desktop and laptop computers. The price of the computer hardware reflects the features it offers, from entertainment functions to memory capabilities. Besides, we also look at other perspectives such as its features, reliability, price and customer service to decide buy the Dell computer as using in our organization. Firstly, even if it is not the best source for reliability among all branded computer but it also can making the brand's reliability decisively average 18.3 percent of Dell computers can be expected to fail in the first 3 years of use. Second, the price of Dell computer is also not so expensive and can be affordable by everyone. At last but not least, Dell computer service staff will come immediately to our organization to provide maintenance service and repair service if the Dell computers sudden face any problems.

Below is the computer specification that we suggest to buy to support implementation of the new system in the organization.

Main Hardware Hardware description

Processor Options:

2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2120 Processor (3.3GHz, 3MB, 2C)

Operating System:

Genuine Windows 8 Home Basic SP1 64 bit (English)

Base:Vostro Slim Tower 260

Microsoft Software:Microsoft(R) Office Professional 2010

Security Software:

Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Service (Multi-Language) - 15 Months

Monitor:Dell E1912H 20" Monitor with LED backlights

Memory:

4GB (2X2GB) Single Channel DDR3 1333MHz

Hard Drive:

500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with 16MB Data Burst(TM) cache

Optical Drive:16X DVD+/-RW drive

Floppy and Media Reader:Integrated 8-in-1 Media Card reader

Video Card:Intel HD Graphics / Intel HD Graphics 2000

Sound Card:Integrated 5.1 Channel (Audio) Capable

Keyboard:Dell(TM) KB212-B USB Entry Business Keyboard

Mouse:Dell MS111 USB Optical Mouse

LAN Card:Linksys LAN Card

Item included in the system:

Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Reader X

Integrated Gigabit EthernetVDINFOPower Cord (HK/MY/SG)Data Safe Local Basic

5.1 Computer NetworkThe type of network that we are using is wide-area networks (WAN). It connects computers and smaller networks to larger networks over greater geographic areas, including different continents. They may link the computers by means of cables, optical fibres, or satellites, but their users commonly access the networks via a modem (a device that allows computers to communicate over telephone lines). The largest wide-area network is the Internet, a collection of networks and gateways linking millions of computer users on every continent.

We will set up an intranet with our company that will enable our computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to share information, operational systems, or computing services within an organization.The computers are connected by using the star topology which is a very common network topology whereas all computers are connected to a central hub. A star topology is typically used in a broadcast or SIMO network, where a single information source communicates directly with multiple clients.Compared to the bus topology, a star network generally requires more cable, but a failure in any star network cable will only take down one computer's network access and not the entire LAN. (If the hub fails, however, the entire network also fails.) The advantages of star topology are very easy to manage because of its simplicity in functionality. Besides, the problems can be easily located logically in a Star Topology and therefore is easy to troubleshoot also. The Star Topology is very simple in format so it is very easy to expand on the Star Topology.

The computers will transfers and store any transaction information in the file server which will be set up in the central hub. Users within the department are able to retrieve the information from it. A file server allows users to share information over anetworkwithout having to physically transfer files by floppy diskette or some other external storage device. Any computer can be configured to be ahostand act as a file server.5.2 The Source of Software:Since our company needs a new point of sales information system but does not have the enough expertise or personnel to develop the system in-house, and a suitable off-the-shelf system is not available, hence during the JAD discussion, we decide to outsource our Point of Sales (POS) System information system development software to one of Information Technology Services Firms in Malaysia that is Smart Info Systems Sdn Bhd. They will help our company to develop custom information systems for internal use, or they develop, host, and run application for customers, or they provide other services. We will propose our POS System project to the IT firm and the IT firm will help us to develop the payroll system software. Besides, they also provide consultation service to our company. Thus, making this option viable, economical, and reliable.6.0 CONCLUSION

We had gained knowledge and experience on how to analyse a system in this project. In order to develop a system that fits the requirements for related users, we used several methods to determine the users requirement in designing the new Point of Sales system. It is essential to understand their requirement so that we can create a new Point of Sales system which can fulfil their needs and easy for them to carry out their tasks.

For that, we had an interview session with the key persons involving in sales transactions respectively so that we can know their job scope and also to identify any problems they faced in the manual sales system. Directly observing users would be a powerful tool for us to better understand the flow of jobs in the current system as the data obtained would be highly reliable and most importantly it is cost saving as compared to interviewing and Joint Application Design (JAD). We also obtained the documents of selected department to get the pictures of their existing sales system in order to develop a user friendly system. Next, we also used JAD method to obtain various opinions and advices from key users, managers and system analyst. The end result of a completed JAD is a set of documents that detail the workings of the current system and the features of a replacement system which is very useful for our system development team.

For better understanding of how our system goes, we had constructed the context diagram, DFD diagram, system flowchart and entity relationship diagram for the Point of Sales system by referring the information and requirements from the users. At last, we can conclude its a great challenge in doing system analysis but we enjoy doing it.1