project report for chocolates

Chocolates & Sweet Things Inventory System

A Project Report ForA Project Report For

Chocolates & Sweet Chocolates & Sweet ThingsThings

Presented on

December 11th, 2007

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Team # 18Joe McCabeRyan NelsonPiyush Gupta

Table of Contents

1 Requirement Specification........................................................................................31.1 Chocolates & Sweet Things...........................................................................................3

1.2 Organization Chart.........................................................................................................3

1.3 Factors to Address Problem..........................................................................................3

1.4 Project Objective............................................................................................................4

1.5 Feasibility Analysis........................................................................................................4

1.5.1 Economic feasibility.................................................................................................................4

1.5.2 Technical & Operational Feasibility..........................................................................................7

1.5.3 Legal & Political Feasibility.......................................................................................................7

1.6 Information Requirements.............................................................................................7

1.7 System Overview...........................................................................................................7

1.7.1 Brief System Description..........................................................................................................7

1.7.2 Use Case................................................................................................................................. 8

1.7.3 Context DFD............................................................................................................................ 9

1.7.4 Hardware............................................................................................................................... 10

1.7.5 Project Schedule.................................................................................................................... 10

2 Design Specification................................................................................................112.1 Logical Design.............................................................................................................11

2.1.1 Use Case............................................................................................................................... 11

2.1.2 DFD’s..................................................................................................................................... 12

2.1.3 ERD’s..................................................................................................................................... 18

2.1.4 Input, Output Interface Design...............................................................................................19

2.1.5 Process Design...................................................................................................................... 21

2.1.6 Database Design................................................................................................................... 22

2.2 Physical Design...........................................................................................................23

2.2.1 Physical System Specifications..............................................................................................23

2.2.2 Test Plan................................................................................................................................ 23

2.2.3 Implementation Plan..............................................................................................................24

3 Reflection on System Development Process........................................................25

4 Appendix...................................................................................................................254.1 Record of Team Meetings...........................................................................................25

4.2 Communications between Team Members.................................................................25

4.3 Records of Interview with Chocolates & Sweet Things................................................25

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1 Requirement Specification

1.1 Chocolates & Sweet Things

Chocolates & Sweet Things provides the Chippewa Valley region with specialty fine chocolates, creamy fudge, candy, ice cream, pulled taffy, and corporate treats. It is a sole proprietorship firm as following de-tails:

Name of the Proprietor LeAnn Walbeck

Address 416 Water St

Eau Claire, WI 54701

Phone (715) 514-0226

1.2 Organization Chart

1.3 Factors to Address Problem

After discussion with the proprietor and investigation of the systems, the team identified three primary concerns:

1. Slow check-out: since the billing system is on a simple calculator, there is an impending need to upgrade the billing and check-out system to bring efficiencies and cut-down time consumed.

2. Manual Inventory record-keeping: therefore more time consuming and often redundant. The store keeps a track of inventory by physically viewing the level of stock remaining for all items.

3. High cost of maintaining inventory records: since the records are maintained manually, the cost of maintaining inventory stocks is high because of man-hours consumed.

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Recognition of the problem areas led us to identify the course of action and possible solution as elabo-rated in the following sections.

1.4 Project ObjectiveDevice a more efficient inventory system

The team realized that there a scope of improvement in the inventory system which can bring time effi -ciencies, cost effectiveness and reduce chances of redundancy and errors in data recording and upda-tion, by better use of technology.

1.5 Feasibility Analysis

1.5.1 Economic feasibility

After thorough analysis, the team recognized that implementation of an inventory system would yield fol-

lowing tangible benefits to the store:

Cost reduction or avoidance

Error reduction

Increased flexibility

Increased speed of activity

Improvement in management

Miscellaneous

Below is a chart of our calculated tangible benefits. The new inventory system would increase the speed

of sales because it is all computerized therefore being able to handle more customers on a timely fashion.

Intangible benefits would include the following:

More Timely information from quick inventory reports from the inventory software.

Less stress on the owner

Competitive improvement

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Tangible Benefits Worksheet

Chocolates & Sweet Things Inventory

Year 1 through 5

A. Cost reduction or avoidance $2,000

B. Error reduction 1,000

C. Increased flexibility 1,000

D. Increased speed of activity 8,000

E. Improvement in management 2,000

F. Other 1,000

TOTAL tangible benefits $15,000

Cost of new system:

Onetime costs: Below is a chart of our one-time cost analyst. The new hardware/software will be state

of the art technology so it will be the most expensive. The development costs consist of paying the devel-

opers to design the system. For new hardware and software, these costs consist buying the computer,

the laser scanner, and the custom software that we developed. User training is the cost for their employ-

ees to receive effective training on the system. The site preparation costs are the costs of setting up net -

working for the system to communicate with the suppliers.

Recurring costs: Below is our recurring cost analyst chart. We figured that the supplies would cost

much less than before because you won’t need as much paper. For the Incremental data storage, the

more products the company has in the system, the more memory that the system will need. For the in-

cremental communicators, the cost of having a phone line and internet capabilities is a recurring cost for

this company.

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One-Time Costs Work Sheet


Year 0

A. Development costs $11,000

B. New hardware/software1. Laser Scanner2. Computer3. Software

1,000

2,000

3,000

C. User training 1,000

D. Site preparation 2,000

TOTAL one-time costs $20,000

Recurring Costs Worksheet


Year 1 through 5

A. Application software maintenance $1,000

B. Incremental data storage expense 500

C. Incremental communications 500

D. New software and hardware leases 2,000

E. Supplies 1,000

TOTAL recurring costs $5,000

Break even analysis

After we figured out our tangible benefits, one-time cost, and recurring costs we were able to figure out our NPV. Our NPV came out to be $16,898 with an ROI of 42%.

According the break even analysis above we will be making profit by the beginning of the 3rd year and will continue grow.

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1.5.2 Technical & Operational Feasibility

The biggest technical challenge would be to have the weighing system accurately weigh the products so that the inventory system works as accurately as possible. Once in place, the training of the employees takes a few days for them to be totally comfortable. Maintenance will be needed on the Inventory system for the addition of new products and to check if the scale is working properly on a normal basis. This maintenance will be done by our organization as part of the deal to produce the system. We will come in to maintain and test the system bi-monthly for any flaws. The technology we implemented is very reliable to ensure smooth transactions but will require updates when new products are introduced.

1.5.3 Legal & Political Feasibility

Since this is a private company there’s very few people involved. The biggest stakeholder would be the owner and the supplier of products. If business declines the owner may be driven out of business but probably won’t affect the supplier much because it’s a larger and more established company.

1.6 Information Requirements

To plan, analyze, design and implement the new system, we would need the following categories of infor-mation:

List of all products sold, including details like:o cost-price,

o sales price,

o mark-up

o item weight

o lot sizes

o minimum order quantity

o shelf life/ expiry period

Vendor information: o Name

o Address

o Phone number/ email

o Product category sold

1.7 System Overview

1.7.1 Brief System Description

The new system will have entire inventory management automated. This involves having a universal bar code for every product in the store. When a sales occurs, the sales person will scan the bar code on the product. The computer will recognize the item being sold, quantity sold (weight or numbers), price, etc. Once the quantity of all the products sold is known, the system will know exactly how much less inventory available, and will remove the same quantity from stock available.

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The system will also have a pre-identified level of inventory replenishment level. Whenever a stock of any commodity goes below minimum level, the system will identify it and inform the Manager. Manager, de-pending upon need and his judgment, will re-order.

1.7.2 Use Case

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1.7.3 Context DFD

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1.7.4 Hardware

Computer

Printer

Laser Scanner

A new weighing machine which is computer-compatible (if required)

1.7.5 Project Schedule

Our project is broken down into 8 steps and it will take about 14 weeks to complete. The project is broken down like this because it’s the most effective way of completing. The structure of this schedule allows de-velopers enough time to fully develop the system to its wanted potential. The most complex part of the project will be the programming and user documentation. This is because of how we want our inventory system to run.

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2 Design Specification

2.1 Logical Design

2.1.1 Use Case

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2.1.2 DFD’s

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2.1.3 ERD’s

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2.1.4 Input, Output Interface Design

2.1.4.1 Forms – Chocolates & Sweet Things counter sales form

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2.1.4.2 Reports – Chocolates & Sweet Things

o Inventory level report

o Profitability report

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2.1.5 Process Design

2.1.5.1 Pseudo Code

Chocolates & Sweet Things Inventory Control System Pseudo Code

Do

READ Inventory Records

BEGIN IF

IF Quantiy in stock is less than the minimum order quantity

THEN GENERATE new order

ELSE DO nothing

END IF

UNTIL End of file

2.1.5.2 Decision Tree

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2.1.6 Database Design

Sale(Reciept#, sale data)

Product(ProductID, Description)

Product ID

Description

42342 M&M cupcake53424 Chocolate Fudge

Invoice(Invoice#, SupplierID, Invoice Data, Paid status)

Invoice# SupplierID Invoice Data

Paid Status

52435 24232 $345.56 yes52456 3432 $233.53 no

Supplier(Supplier ID, supplier Name)

Supplier ID Supplier Name24232 Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

3432 Warner

InvoiceItem(Invoice#, SupplierID, Item#, Qty added)

In-voice#

SupplierID Item#

Qty added

52435 24232 4234 56 lbs52456 3432 3442 35 lbs

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Reciept# Sale data

257973045 $42.56

252525326 $34.45

InventoryItem(Item#, Item description, Qty-in-stock, type of item, min order Qty, Item Weight)

Item#

Item description Qty-in-stock Type of item

Min order Qty Item Weight

4234 M&M cupcake 34lbs cupcake 15lbs 12 ounces3442 Chocolate Fudge 25 lbs fudge 10lbs 5 ounces

ItemSale(Reciept#, ProductID, QTY-sold

Reciept# ProductID QTY-sold257973045 42342 5 lbs252525326 53424 3lbs

Reorder(ProductID, Item#, Qty-used, reorder amount)

ProductID Item# Qty-sold Reorder Amt42342 4234 5 lbs 15lbs53424 3442 3lbs 12lbs

2.2 Physical Design

2.2.1 Physical System Specifications

Hardware requirement:

Computer

Printer

Laser Scanner: TYSSO LAG-960K LASER SCANNER

Laser Scanner with keyboard interface (IBN PC/XT/AT and compatible)

2.2.2 Test Plan

Manual testing: steps involved:

Inspection

Walkthrough

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Desk checking

2.2.3 Implementation Plan

2.2.3.1 Installation

Direct implementation plan: since the existing system is manual and an automated inventory

system does not exist, there is a need to implement a new system from scratch. We plan to im-

plement the new system and stop using the paper system with immediate effect.

2.2.3.2 User training

Since the client is a small company, employees only 3 people, and the systems suggested are

fairly simple, the training needs are also fairly simple and are as follows:

1. Training program on how to use computers (if needed0

2. Training program on operating Microsoft Office, emphasis on MS Excel (if needed)

3. Training program on using Laser Scanner- refer to user manual

2.2.3.3 Post-Installation Review

We will check up on the installed system once a week for the first month to see if there are any problems.

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3 Reflection on System Development Process

This was very good hands on learning experience that will be beneficial to us and to are our future ca-reers. We learned about the hardships endured as well when working on a project of this magnitude. A project like this requires a team that is willing to make sacrifices in order to get things done. We had some difficulties putting the system together because we were still learning about all the processes that went into it. We had to do a lot of self research so we could understand what kind of system we were pro-ducing.

If we could do it all over again we would assess the entire outlook of the system differently because we would have more knowledge about the SDLC which would help get the project quicker.

4 Appendix

4.1 Record of Team Meetings

Venue Agenda Time and date duration

UWEC- Schneider Decision on project topic September 22 2007 1 hr

Chocolate and Sweet Things Overlook of the existing system September 28, 2007 30 mins

UWEC- McIntyre Library Decision on project proposal October 1, 2007 3 hrs

UWEC- McIntyre Library Creating the project report November 8, 2007 1 hr

UWEC- McIntyre Library Creating the project report November 14, 2007 3 hrs

UWEC- McIntyre Library Creating the project report December 7, 2007 2 hrs

UWEC- McIntyre Library Prepare presentation December 8, 2007 1 hr

4.2 Communications between Team Members

Mode Frequency Total number of times

D2L- discussion board Twice a week 19

Emails Every day 20

Phone Twice a week 10

Meetings Weekly 12

Visit at the store 5

4.3 Records of Interview with Chocolates & Sweet Things

We Interviewed the owner on the following dates: September 15, 2007, October 10, 2007. December 3, 2007.

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project report for chocolates

Documents

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