CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

A contract is a written or oral legally-binding agreement between the parties identified in the agreement to fulfill the terms and conditions outlined in the agreement. A prerequisite requirement for the enforcement of a contract, amongst other things, is the condition that the parties to the contract accept the terms of the claimed contract. Historically, this was most commonly achieved through signature or performance, but in many jurisdictions – especially with the advance of electronic commerce – the forms of acceptance have expanded to include various forms of electronic signature. Contracts can be of many types, e.g. sales contracts (including leases), purchasing contracts, partnership agreements, trade agreements, and intellectual property agreements.

A sales contract is a contract between a company (the seller) and a customer where the company agrees to sell products and/or services and the customer in return is obligated to pay for the product/services bought. A purchasing contract is a contract between a company (the buyer) and a supplier who is promising to sell products and/or services within agreed terms and conditions. The company (buyer) in return is obligated to acknowledge the goods / or service and pay for liability created. A partnership agreement may be a contract which formally establishes the terms of a partnership between two legal entities such that they regard each other as ‘partners’ in a commercial arrangement. However, such expressions may also be merely a means to reflect the desire of the contracting parties to act ‘as if’ both are in a partnership with common goals. Therefore, it might not be the common law arrangement of a partnership which by definition creates fiduciary duties and which also has ‘joint and several’ liabilities.

1.1 Background of the Study

When an institution or organization needs to manage a large amount of data, a database is a good way to store and retrieve the data. A database in this context refers to any collection of related data used by your application. Some typical examples of information that may be stored in a database include:  Student information, Employee information, Patent records, Sales, Inventory, Product data, Transaction records, etc. We could use individual files to store this information, but a large number of files becomes too much as the scale of the database increases. A database management system is the entire software package that is used to develop, implement, manage, and maintain the database(s). Common examples of databases include MySQL (free), Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Microsoft Access. In a database, data is stored in tables made up of one or more columns (Access calls a column a field). The data stored in each column must be of a single data type such as Character, Number or Date. A collection of values from each column of a table is called a record or a row in the table while a field represents the unit of a given record or an attribute of every entity in the database.

A database system for contract allocation facilitates the easy recording of contract records, such that it will be easier to get details of contracts awarded or get reports of any registered contract when needed.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The manual way of recording contract information on paper files or office flat files is associated with many pitfalls. It makes it difficult to easily record and update contract information, searching for specific information pertaining contracts awarded is very difficult with the manual system. It is in view of these pitfalls that necessitates a database management system for contract allocation.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The following are the objectives of the study;

To develop a database system that can be used to register awarded contracts To develop a system that will aid the easy retrieval of contract information To develop a system that will facilitate the easy updating of contract information.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is that it will provide a convenient way of managing contract allocation. This will help the ministry to keep record of contracts with ease and update contract information with ease. The study will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers seeking for information related to the research study.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study covers database management information system on contract allocation and it is limited to ministry of works, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state.

1.6 Organization of the Research

This research work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the preliminaries, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

Chapter two focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.

Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It analyzes the present system to identify the problems and provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system. The system design is also presented in this chapter.

Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation. The choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.

Chapter five focuses on the summary, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Contract: A document that records a formal or legally binding agreement

Allocation: The assignment or earmarking of something

System: A combination of related parts organized into a complex whole