TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………………………….v

LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………… ix

LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………………………x

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………. xi

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………1

2 BACKGROUND ……………………………………………………………………………………………..3

2.1 Need for a Mobile Store Management System ………………..3

2.2 Background and Motivation ……………………………………………………………………3

2.3 Market ………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 3

HISTORY, RELEVANT LITERATURE AND SURVEY …………………………………….5

3.1 Transformation from Paper to Computer-based System ………5

3.2 Point-of-Sale System: An Innovative Proposal ……………………..6

3.3 Why Computerization is Required? ………………………………….7

3.4 Survey of Current Inventory Systems in Stores …………………………8

3.5 Project Needs …………………………………………………………………………….12

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The Mobile Store Management System is developed for desktop systems to facilitate mobile shop owners’ management of customer details and inventory data, which will include mobile phones and accessories. It can be used efficiently for physically separated shops in different locations. This software will provide in a simple and easy to operate user interface, which can be managed by any user without having prior in-depth knowledge of the computer system. One can use this software to get a sales report. Administrators can pull data, from any location from the server. This software is a complete package for small organizations which will allow them to keep track of their sales and inventory, and provide a computerized billing system. There are various applications with more complex implementation and features available in the market, but they are generally very expensive.

Therefore, creating an application with the basic requirement of low cost is essential for small organizations. This application will allow stores to manage customer details, keep inventory of all products and purchase information, in a very simple way, using a state-of the-art software application. It will automatically generate invoices and update inventory. The rest of this document is organized into the following chapters:  Chapter 2: Background. This chapter discusses the background of mobile store· management system and targeted market.  Chapter 3: History, Relevant Literature and Survey. This chapter discusses the history· of mobile store management system. It also discusses different approaches for mobile store management. At the end of chapter Survey results are included for the possible use of the application by different businesses.  Chapter 4: Requirements. This chapter describes different requirements for this· application.  Chapter 5: Technology. This chapter provides an overview of the software and tools· used to develop this application.  Chapter 6: Design· & Implementation. This chapter discusses the design approach for the database and application. It also includes the implementation method for this application. 2  Chapter 7: Functionality and Usage. This chapter provides information about details· of different functions available for this application and their usage.  Chapter 8: Test Plan for Application. This chapter describes different testing· methodologies used for this application and their results.  Chapter 9: Future Work and Limitations. This chapter includes limitations of the· existing application and future scope.  Chapter 10: Conclusion.· 3

CHAPTER 2

BACKGROUND

2.1 NEED FOR A MOBILE STORE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In today’s market, retailers and wholesale outlets should quickly adapt to the ever changing technology to minimize overhead, lower cost of operation, and help to stay competitive. Everybody needs software, which can facilitate store operations and make their day-to-day lives much easier. Mobile Store Management System is application software designed to take advantage of today’s technology and reduce or avoid the burden of storing data on paper and in files. This facilitates moving purchase, sales, and customer information, as well as supplier and company data, from paper to digital media on a secured server. Sales and purchase bills can be generated as needed. Each store has an option to store their data on one remote central database server. This will also allow stores to access information from other partner stores. This would in turn lead to information sharing, so that all the stores are aware of each other’s current inventory. It will be useful when ordering new purchases to avoid overstocking.

2.2 BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION

The concept of the Mobile Store Management system has been around for a long time, but it is still in the phase of discussion and design. Initially, all inventory and billing reports were managed manually by shop owners/employers using ledger- based systems. This requires a significant amount of time due to repeated access of the data. There is a high risk of lost or stolen data in that system. Storing old data is also one big factor. Stores have to spare one separate room to store this information. Paper- based documents might lose their information with time, and after some years we can’t really read them at all. So the Mobile Store Management System is designed to reduce paper- based data storage system and provide digital touch to billing and inventory system.