Web-based sales and inventory management system for Bloomsdecor

74 WEB-BASED SALES AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR BLOOMSDECOR Savindi Fonseka1, Zikra Fazil2, Mahesh Fernando3, Thamali Chandrasiri4, Chandika Witharana5 Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura [email protected], 2[email protected]om,3ma[email protected].lk, 4thamali.c[email protected].lk, 5ch[email protected]c.lk Background Organization and Business Domain BloomsDecor is a small business which sells cactus pots online, mainly using social media. BloomsDecor purchase cactus plants from various suppliers, arrange them in pots based on the customer requirements and sell them through social media, specially using Instagram. This is a single owner business primarily based in the western province of Sri Lanka Overview of the Existing System The current business process of the BloomsDecor operates manually except for the use of the Instagram messaging service for order taking and payment receipt sharing. As the owner doing the value addition, only the cactus plants are purchased from some suppliers by visiting their shops physically. The inventory of the system is managed manually, and no proper record keeping happens through inventory. Customers can purchase varieties of cactus and succulent pots according to their needs. BloomsDecor currently sells its products through social media, and orders are taken through the Instagram messaging option and delivered through a courier service. Customers can choose either a cash-on-delivery method or bank payment to pay for the business. If they choose the bank payment method, the picture of the receipt should be sent through the social media chat option. Since the organization is primarily based on social media, they are unable to attract a higher customer base, and the current system is not very convenient for the customers and administrators. 75 System Analysis Problem Analysis Since BloomsDecor is an online business primarily based on social media, the business has not been able to attract a higher number of customers. The lack of customizable features in social media prevents the organization from giving a clear picture of the company to the customers. Consequently, the current system lacks features such as search and filtering options, order tracking, online payments, and inventory control, that are essential features which facilitate both administration and customers. In particular, the features exclusive to customers like online payments, order tracking, search and filtering options and features exclusively for administrators like inventory control and order tracking are not available on social media, which are essential requirements for the business. In terms of the payments for products, only cash on delivery and bank payment methods are available, which are not very convenient for the customer and the administrators. Furthermore, the current system does not have a proper mechanism for handling inventory, and a proper record has not been kept in managing inventory. Therefore, the main problems of this existing system used by BloomsDecor are the lack of convenience to customers and the administration of BloomsDecor in fulfilling day-to-day customer orders, and customer attraction has been limited only to a specific number of customers. As social media is the only platform to promote the business, access to the market is also limited because it does not reach most customers. Requirement Analysis Information requirements of users were collected by interviewing the owner and several customers. Based on the findings, developers have identified several extra functions which are not available in the current system. There are two main actors in our system, and the functional requirements of each actor are mentioned below. 76 Customer Admin Search the products and order the products via shopping cart. Raw material Handling related information using GIN and GRN. Order the customize products using the given options via shopping cart Manage information related to all the stock of raw materials, products and suppliers. Payment for the order using online payment option or cash on delivery option Record sales information, generation and maintenances of reports. Order confirmation, management and cancelation View and update order status The objectives of the proposed system are attracting a higher customer base and enhancing the convenience of the system for customers and administrator. System Development In order to solve the current problems faced by BloomsDecor, developers suggest building a web-based application for BloomsDecor. Building a web-based application provides access to a larger customer base which will ultimately lead to an increase in the sales and profit of the business. The following Figure illustrates the high-level architecture of the system, where users can access the main modules (Online Store Module, Inventory Module, Report Module) via any web browser. Figure 1: High-Level Architecture Diagram 77 Developers used Visual Studio development environment for the software coding in both frontend and backend development of the system. Additionally, React.js (version 17.0.1) is also used as the frontend development tool. As for the programming languages, developers have used PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap framework for developing the frontend (W3 School, 2022; laravel.com, 2022; reactjs.org, 2022). Additionally, developers have used Laravel (version 4.2.4) as the backend development. MySQL was used as the database management system, and the WAMP server (version 3.2.3) was used for the Host Server Environment to develop the system. Conclusion This system provides a platform to sell standard and customized cactus pots to a larger customer base by enhancing the convenience of the system for customers and administrators of BloomsDecor. Developers are planning to improve the system by adding a report generation facility, raw materials stock tracking facility and user permission management facility to the BloomsDecor system in the future. References laravel.com. (2022). Retrieved from Installation: https://laravel.com/docs/7.x reactjs.org. (2022). Retrieved from Getting Started: https://reactjs.org/docs/getting-started.html W3 School. (2022). Retrieved from CSS Tutorial: https://www.w3schools.com/css/