Nowadays, many big companies have already implemented an efficient inventory

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background Nowadays, many big companies have already implemented an efficient inventory management system. They have the efficiency on managing their inventory level so the business can run at more profit. For example, JIT (Just in Time) inventory system, MRP (Material Requirements Planning) and many others. As we all knows, to implement such technology is not cheap and only big companies can have that. The small and middle companies usually still have their own conventional inventory system which is by calculate manually with human as their employee. They cannot afford the expensive inventory system in their companies and they usually don t need it because their inventory is lower than other big companies. To implement such sophisticated system is still unnecessary. One of the middle level companies in Jakarta that we want to use as a subject of our thesis is Nafiri Collection. Nafiri Collection is a shop specializing in selling towels and other towel related products, such as, bath robes, bathroom mats, towel blankets, etc. Nafiri Collection was founded in middle 2002 and now has two other branches in Jakarta. The shop also has a warehouse near the main shop. We chose this topic (Inventory Management System) because inventory is very important for a shop. The most important use for the inventory is to see which merchandise sells and which are not. This is critical for a shop, especially 1

2 2 small shops that can t afford large stocks. Even if the shop is big, it won t be profitable if it doesn t know which merchandise the customer want. The second use, which is no less important, is to match the actual stocks with changes that occur because of transactions that happened at the shop. This is important to prevent theft and to see if any merchandise was lost during a transaction. The inventory is also used to manage cash flow. Every shop will want to have sufficient stock to keep up with demand but not too much stock that the shop won t be able to sell them all. Currently the shop uses manual recording to manage the inventory. Employees who make the sales record the transaction on a piece of paper card which will be checked at the end of the day. Each employee records the name of merchandise, the quantity, and the sale price of the merchandise. The sales price for merchandise often fluctuates since Nafiri collection uses a bargaining system. Although Nafiri has some computers, they re quite old and rarely used. The owner also has no desire to upgrade them anytime soon. Nafiri Collection need an inventory system that is cheap and not sophisticated since the employee in the store don t have high experience in using computers. They need a system that will help them organize their stock in their warehouse. The system must help the employee to check their inventory level at their three branches, also to check which item that the customer like. The system also needs to generate report to help business decision. Nafiri Collection should use middle end computers on their inventory system since the requirement is not too high. It would reduce cost. An example in Nafiri Collection daily transaction shows that inventory control is crucial. First, the customer order certain amount of towel in the store then the employee will take it from the warehouse and put the detail on paper. Later on, at the end of the day, the person in charge is checking the towel at the warehouse to see whether the amount is

3 3 exactly the same as on paper. Many times, the number on paper is not the same at the warehouse because the employee often makes a mistake in recording the transaction since one day there is many transactions. We can see that human error is a annoyance in this business. Inventory Management System is essential in many companies including Nafiri Collection. It will help them to add value to their business, reduce or eliminate human error and easier to maintain inventory level at the warehouse. It also helps Nafiri Collection in their business decision at their three branches since it generate transactions report.

4 Scope The scope of this thesis will cover: Inventory Management System that is intranet basis that can be accessed based on the role of each authorized user. Each user can only access information in the. This system will ease the burden of user. Furthermore, it can provide time efficiency for every transaction since with this system user can check the current inventory level and bottom line. This system will provide facilities and services that could support reporting system for current business processes, decision making at near the beginning for each month, inventory allocation for a certain number of activities. All the substance in this thesis will be limited to the usage in Nafiri Collection and its branch. For this system, we will only provide services for Clerks and manager only 1.3. Aims and Benefits Aims of this Inventory Management System are: To develop a system so that Nafiri Collection can automate internal inventory system and their branches. To connect and create communications between their branches. To reduce human error and help the manager keep track of their inventory level at three branches.

5 5 To provide reports that can help Nafiri Collection in determine business decision. The Benefits that can be gained from this system are: 1. It can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the whole business process since it is already been automated. It helps the employee in the store to quickly look if there is stocks available in the warehouse. 2. Support business decision in what item to buy and stock by generating the transactional report. 3. Less human error since the computer records all the transaction and calculates the stock in the warehouse. 4. Less time to manage the inventory at three branches since the communication is established between branches. 5. More secure at the warehouse. The system record it and no way an employee can take the stock out the warehouse Structures In general this thesis writing will be categorized into seven chapters, which later each chapter will be sub-divided into a few sub-chapters, which includes: CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this first chapter, all the general contexts of the problem are discussed. It will cover the problem identification and the background of why we need the system, the scope of the problem such as the constraint and limitation that are need to fulfill in order to

6 6 ensure the system to work properly, aims and benefits of the system, and the writing structures of this thesis. CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FOUNDATION This chapter will cover the theories as a base that supports the analysis which is conducted throughout this thesis and also the system frameworks which is used to formulate the solution. CHAPTER III PROBLEM ANALYSIS This chapter will provide the big picture of the company as the specification of research target, the system design (hardware, software and physical design), and the analysis of the existing system. CHAPTER IV INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DESIGN This chapter aims to show the proposed system as the solution of the problem and the steps in designing the solution using design tools such as DFD (Database Flow Diagram), ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram), use case, database system, etc. CHAPTER V INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION In this chapter, solution that was proposed at previous chapter will be developed and implemented. Within the development phase, testing must be included and must be done thoroughly as verification and validation to the system, so it can solve the problem. CHAPTER VI DISCUSSION Discussion covers a brief essay that evaluates and explains the system or result. CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

7 7 This last chapter consists of summary that is obtained from system analysis and design as a solution and also recommendations that hopefully can improve our system.

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