Water Supply and Project Team free essay sample

Modern Technology is one of the main reasons why most of business transactions today are easier. Thru the use of computer system, we can make exact and consistent reports, billing, monitoring, and many more. One of the best examples is a billing and payment system for a billing and payment transaction. It will help a lot to focus on customer bills, monitoring on customer info, paying of bills and producing an adequate weekly or monthly billing and payment report. Using a computerized billing and payment system will really help a lot on a business transaction. It will change the old manual transaction by transforming it to a useful computer system. The computer system will help the employees doing their jobs fast and consistent. It can even manage every department to give a balance interaction between the system and the business. OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATE OF TECHNOLOGY The TRWSA is currently using manual transaction. We will write a custom essay sample on Water Supply and Project Team or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Every transaction that they accommodate every month is done through the use of a typewriter. The record keeping of their documents are not well organized because the filling cabinet are not able to maintain the proper arrangement of their files. They are not able to produce a specific report that they need because they are on a manual system. Through the use of computer system all of the current problem faced by TRWSA can be solve easily. Every transaction is processed through the use of computer. The working efficiency can be upgraded and it fastens the processing of every transaction. The storage of all files are now stored on an organized database therefore the searching and sorting of files can be easily done. The proposed system can produce annual reports easily. Preparing of bills is more easy, fast and accurate. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This is the statement where the problems of project study states. It includes both the general and specific problems of the study. General Problem How could the current transaction of the Tibagan Rural Waterworks and Sanitation Association (TRWSA) be upgraded using functional computers or computerized transactions and to produce accurate billing receipts? Specific Problem How to improve the current data storage of TRWSA which is by record book or ledger? How to minimize time and process consumption on preparing, computing and issue of the bills? PROJECT OBJECTIVES This study is designed to identify and determine the usefulness of manipulating the system in Tibagan Rural Waterworks and Sanitation Association. GENERAL OBJECTIVE The project team adjusts in the needs of the company. The team designs a computerized billing and payment system to help them on upgrading their old manual system into a more easy and functional computerized billing and payment system. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES These are the following objectives that the project team would like to achieve. The project team uses an organized electronic database that is included on the proposed computerized billing and payment system. The proposed systems really shorten the time consumption on preparing the monthly bills and the system are accurate on producing monthly bills. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT This segment gives a brief explanation on various significance of the research. The study contributes so much to the following: I. T Professional This study helps the need for information technology experts to continue to grow. I. T students will assist to learn how to plan, analyze, design, build, maintain and manage projects. Professors and projects will expose students to software development, systems integration, and data management and computer networks. Project team The planned study serves the project team as their reference or guide in making their program. It also assists the project team taking computer related courses to identify the best programming language to use. Proponents learned how to boost their self – esteem and confidence. It also helped the team to have unity to make this system successful. Company The billing and payment system that the team proposes really helps on upgrading their current manual system into more easy to use, reliable and trusty computerized billing and payment system. The project team makes sure that every menus, options, and tools that are included in the system really helps on every transaction to be more accurate and to produce exactly the fair amount for the concern of the valuable customers. It also speed’s up the time in creating billing invoice. It also helps the user to avoid redundancy and other human errors. The system answer’s some problems of the TRWSA regarding on their system improvements. Customer Through the improvement of their current system the customer can easily pay their monthly bills. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The review of related literature serves as a basis for the project team to engage this study. This part offers the gathered information on the study. Water supply and sanitation in the Philippines is characterized by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are a high access to an improved water source of 92% in 2010; the creation of financially sustainable water service providers (Water Districts) in small and medium towns with the continuous long-term support of a national agency (the Local Water Utilities Administration LWUA); and the improvement of access, service quality and efficiency in Manila through two high-profile water concessions awarded in 1997. The challenges include limited access to sanitation and in particular to sewers; high pollution of water resources; often poor drinking water quality and poor service quality; a fragmentation of executive functions at the national level among numerous agencies; and a fragmentation of service provision at the local level into many small service providers. Mr. Antonio Flores, 2010 In 1990 the Water and Wastewater Department and the Water Rates Advisory Committee of the City of Taguig, developed a new water rate structure simpler than the one previously in use. This new water rate structure encourages water conservation. Preliminary calculations done by city staff confirmed the advantages of the new billing system (City of Taguig, 1990). However, a specific water forecast model is required for a more precise estimation of the influence of the new rate structure on water consumption and on revenue collection. Such a model will allow testing of different rate structures and different conditions affecting water use and therefore revenue (water price, conservation programs, and weather conditions). Mr. Robert Marquez, 1998 Just like with any business, having the right tools is critical to a company’s failure or success. One of the most critical tools for a successful utility company is having an efficient, yet effective water billing system. Having the right billing in system is place is important for a number of reasons. New water billing software helps utility companies to be more efficient in their overall billing processes, while helping them to boost productivity. New water billing technologies help utilities automate internal billing processes into a simple, effective, and easy to use system. If you’re looking to boost efficiency and productivity, while decreasing customer response times and increasing customer satisfaction, there is no one more trusted in the utility billing services industry than CUSI Utility Billing Solutions. CUSI Solutions, 2011 Water supply scheme is the only urban water supply scheme in Marikina which has been getting the facility of computerized water billing system continuously since 1991. The operating of the system has been outsourced. The software development has not been in a year or two, but it has been in process years together and proudly contributed by generously from meter readers, counter clerks, fitters, plumbers, clerical staff in the office, and auditors and accountants, to the higher officers, engineers at all levels, and most of consumers of the scheme. It has become most intelligent software in the city and now it is not only utility software but it is management software. It is in use in Valenzuela and has to share the experience of managing more than 8000 consumers in the manila, the Capital city of the Philippines. Julius Bautista, 2002 REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS AND DOCUMENTATION These are the important things to be taken in considering the system efficiency. Minimum machine requirements should be met which are stated below: The machine should run Windows operating system most preferably Windows XP. The processor should be Pentium or Athlon with a capacity of 1. 86 GHz. 1GB RAM for better performance of the system at least 100MB space in the hard drive for the system to be installed, 512MB video card or higher for better graphics. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The focus of this study is on billing and payment transaction of TRWSA. This system can save, manage and organize the customer’ record. The proposed Water Billing and Payment System keep track of the monthly bills of preferred customers. The customers can be notified about their monthly bill and shows the transparency of their bill because this system is designed to produce accurate bill invoice. It generates Billing and Payment report of customers. The proposed system is password-secured for the security of the important records to prevent tampering and to loss of important documents. The personnel who have the authority to access all record of the system is the manager of the TRWSA. The proposed system only covers the billing and payment of TRWSA. It can also notify the user if the customer is already in need to be sent a disconnection notice. Records of monthly meter consumed by the customer can be shown easily, can search faster, and all records are stored in a database. OVERVIEW OF THE REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENTATION The researchers develop a Water Billing and Payment System equipped with Barcode Scanner for TRWSA. By using the system, producing of monthly bills is more accurate and efficient and the TRWSA will have no problem acquiring it. 1. The Billing and Payment System is more efficient and perform the billing and payment transaction faster and less time consuming. 2. The Billing and Payment System will automatically record the customer transaction and the time/date that they pay with a device using Barcode Reader. 3. Although having some difficulties, the project team still pursued developing computerized Billing and Payment System to be more fast and efficient in their transactions. GENERAL DESCRIPTION The project team aim is to propose a Water billing and payment system for TRWSA because nowadays manual transactions are no longer implemented on some water districts because it consumes more time on preparing bills and handling customers record. A lot of disadvantages are going to eliminate if manual transaction will be change into computerized transaction. This proposed system is using a barcode scanner to make it faster on handling payment transaction when the customer is going to pay his bills. Every bill notice or disconnection notice is including barcode data for the use of barcode scanners. After the completion of the project, it will be tested to check and monitor the water billing and payment transaction of TRWSA. The manager and secretary will be the user of the project. The manager has the authority to manipulate the system. Both the manager and the secretary have their own password to be protected and secured. The proposed Water Billing and Payment System aims to promote accurate billing, an easy way of payment and to make every transaction fast and reliable. PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE The project team has chosen to create and develop this kind of system because as of now, manual transaction are no longer been used on some water districts. Manual transaction is less efficient than the proposed system. This will serve as their computerized transaction on their monthly billing. The project team builds and conceptualizes this kind of system to maintain the good quality service that the TRWSA is given to its valuable customers. Brainstorming, suggestions and perseverance are present to come up with this successful proposal. It can be beneficial to the TRWSA to enhance their current flow of transaction from manual to computerized it is simply upgrade their monthly billing transaction into more efficient and reliable transaction. PRODUCT FUNCTIONS Monthly billing is the important part of the transaction, because here it all starts the computation of meter consumed and tracking of customers that who did not pay their bills. As the problem of keeping up some important records of TRWSA the product seems to provide an organized database for the user can be easily sort or search what he needed for the specific transaction. The product also comes up with barcode scanner to make every transaction fast and avoid typing errors within the payment process. The manager can easily check and supervise the day to day records of the customers with the use of this system. The main function of this system is its Barcode Scanning procedure. The system simply generate the bill notice or disconnection notice including barcode data and when the customer is going to pay his desired bills the user simply trigger the barcode scanner into the bill notice or disconnection notice and the system shows how much the bill is going to pay by the customer. Water Billing and Payment System recording procedure includes (1) adding new member record (2) updating records, for editing customer’s information. Monthly Billing procedure includes (1) monthly meter reading collected by the meter-reader. Payment of Bill procedure includes (1) using of barcode scanner on identifying the customer’s bill. Monthly billing and payment report procedure includes (1) simply the user click the print button to print out the report. Time In/Out procedure includes (1) recording of the time that the user logged-in and logged-out the system, (2) generating of reports of the attendance. USER CHARACTERISTICS The manager will be the end user of this system. He has the capability to manipulate and view all the records on the database. The manager and the secretary must be computer literate and knowledgeable about the system – particularly the flow, so he can perform his task accurately and efficiently. They do not need to learn about the programming language used in this system because he does not need to do to programming. GENERAL CONSTRAINTS The system’s performance can be tested and shown on Windows Operating Systems – much better if it is Windows XP. Some features might be present on Windows XP which might not be present at some operating systems nowadays. The existing system of TRWSA is a manual transaction that is more time consuming on preparation of bills. That’s why the project team decided to choose TRWSA to be the subject of this study. ASSUMPTIONS AND DEPENDENCIES Water Billing and Payment System with Barcode Scanner recognizes the barcode data of the bill notice or disconnection notice stored on its computerized database storage. It saves the records and updates the database immediately. It also requires a manager to handle and operate the system without the need of many users. The proposed system is password-protected so it can be guaranteed accurate and shows a genuine report. The user of the system does not need a lot of skills when it comes to programming. He only needs to acquaint himself and be aware of the processes made by the system to eliminate error. Concentration and effort must be present for him to get used in using the system. Preferably, the system would run on Windows Operating System – much better if it is Windows XP. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS This section provides the systems detailed features and its functions together with the considerations of what must the system and the user meet. USER REQUIREMENTS The proposed system really complies on the needs of the user. The user can easily understand the flow of the system. The system was able to produce accurate billing and publish the billing and payment reports. It lessens the time consumption on preparing the monthly bills and the computation of every customer’s bill. The system uses an electronic database therefore the user can easily search and sort customer files and records. The system is also password secured so that only the authorized person can only use the system. The user must be knowledgeable on the flow of the system and has the skill to use computer. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 1. Logging In Out and Registration 1. 1 The system must provide a registration form for creating accounts 1. 2 The user must be able to register in the system. 1. 3 The user must be able to log in and out. 1. 4 The system must be able to detect or distinguish a valid user account. 1. 5 The system must able to recognize the level of access of the user. 2. Billing and Payment 2. 1 The user must be able encode the meter consumed by the customer on the Compute Bill menu. 2. 2 The user must encode the full account number of the customer on the search textbox to be able to search the correct customer. 2. 3 The system must be accurate on computing the bills all the time. 2. 4 The system should be able to detect the customer who reached the penalty limit. 2. 5 The system must produce accurate billing and disconnection notice. 2. 6 The system should save the billing and payment history of the customer. 3. Report and Receipt 3. 1 The system must produce billing and payment reports. 3. 2 The system should produce accurate billing and payment receipts. 4. Maintenance and Security 4. 1 The system must assure the full security of the system. 4. 2 The manager should be able to edit and delete any non-active account on the system. 4. 3 The user must be able create a back-up copy of the database. INTERFACE REQUIREMENTS Log-In form – In this form the user needs to enter the correct username, user-type and password to be able to access the system. Main menu – all of the functions of the system are in here. The user must log-in with his account to be able to view the menu and sub-menu of the system. Compute Bill Menu – Here the user simply encode the customer’s consumed meter on the present meter textbox. To make the computation just click the compute button. To print the Bill notice, click the print bill notice button. Payment Menu – In this form the user can perform the payment transaction. The user needs to use the barcode scanner to able to search quickly on the database. The user needs to click the payment button to complete the transaction. To print the payment receipt the user simply clicks the print receipt button. Billing and Payment History Menu – This is where the user can view and generate the customer’s billing and payment reports. DESIGN OF SOFTWARE, SYSTEM, PRODUCT AND/OR PROCESSES The proposed computerized water billing and payment system was programmed using the visual basic 6 language. The system’s hierarchy was designed based on the flow of the monthly transaction of TRWSA. The system is using Microsoft Access Database as storage of files, data and all of the important information of the system. As the development of the system, the system is now included barcode scanner to fasten the payment transaction of the system. The system is a LAN based activated so the two computers can communicate to each other. To present the flow of the system we used a Data Flow Diagram and Context Diagram to analyze every flow of the data from one another. Here is the Context Diagram of the Existing Water Billing and Payment System. Here is the Context Diagram of the Proposed Billing and Payment System. Here is the Data Flow Diagram of the Existing Billing and Payment System Decomposing Process 1. 0 Billing System Issued Bill Invoice Distributed Bill Invoice Decomposing Process 2. 0 Payment System Here is the Data Flow Diagram of the Proposed Billing and Payment System Decomposing Process 1. 0 Billing System Issued Bill Invoice Distributed Bill Invoice Decomposing Process 2. 0 Payment System The Context and Data Flow Diagram shows the data flow of the transaction on the existing and proposed system. Based on the System requirements of the product it must be run on Windows Operating System and it works great on Windows XP because of the compatibility issue of the programming language that being used to developed the system. DEVELOPMENT METHOD The development of a system is not that easy. To prove that the system is running it consumes a lot of time on designing, planning, testing and etc. On the development of the system we considered some guidelines to help us through accomplish every part of the system. In this case we use the waterfall model as a pattern on developing our system. The Waterfall model is a sequential development process where development flows steadily downwards through the various phases of analysis, design, implementation, testing, integration and maintenance. The project team found that emphasizing planning, time schedules, target dates, budgets and implementation at one time allows us to consider, think and plan through the entire life of a project. The benefits of Waterfall model is it has several provisions for correcting any errors in early steps and allows for change control. Here is the sample of the Waterfall model that the project team has been used to develop the system. WATERFALL MODEL DESCRIPTION OF THE PROTOTYPE In this section shows the system prototype and some explanations on the functions of the system. Figure 1. 1 Login Form For Login:Here is the login form of the system. The user must be able to input correct username, privilege type and password to be able to access the system. The privilege type is the identifier of the user level of the system. For Registration: To be able to register new account the user simply clicks the register button to go to the registration form. Figure 1. 2 – Master Code Form For the Master Code: To be able to access the registration form the user must enter the correct master code of the system. This validation is serves as security to block unauthorized user to create new account. The manager is the one who knows the master code. For Changing the Master code: The manager can change the master code all the time he wants to. Figure 1. 3 – Set Master Code Form Here is the form where the manager can change the master code depend on what the manager wants. Frequent updating of master code can really help on the security of the system. The manager needs to enter first the current master code before entering the new master code. Figure 1. 4 – Add new User Form After gaining the access code, the user can now add new user account depends on the user level that the user wants. The username and password must be 6-10 characters long and the password must be a combination of alphanumeric characters. Figure 1. 5 – Main menu form This is the main menu of the system. The entire main and sub menu of the system are here. The toolbar at the top of the form includes the following menus: Customer Center menu – It includes the add/edit of customer accounts on the system Billing and Payment Transaction menu – On this menu the user can prepare the bill notice, compute meter readings, payment transactions and viewing/printing of billing and payment reports. Create Back-up Database menu – The manager can create backup copy of the systems database to be able to retrieve any important files in case there is database corruption happen. View User Account options menu – The manager can view all the user information here. It serves as the monitoring of the user on the system. Log-Book menu – The manager can view the log time in and out of the user. Figure 2. 0 – Add new customer Form For adding new customer: Here the user can add new customer account on the system. To be able to add the customer the user must complete all the information fields. The customer needs to pay the installation fee of the connection. For updating Installation Fee: The user can update the installation fee by clicking the update button. Figure 2. 1 – Edit Customer Information Form Here the user can update some of the customer’s information. The user can search the customer’s database by simply encoding the account number on the search textbox. Figure 3. 0 – Bill History Form The user can perform the preparation of the monthly bills here. The user can search the customer on the search textbox and enter the customer’s meter consumed on the present meter textbox. To compute the meter consumed the user needs to click the compute button to perform the transaction. To print the bill notice the user needs to click the print bill notice button. Figure 3. 1 – Bill History Form On this form the user can view the billing records of the customer. The user can sort and search the billing records on the database. To search on the database the user simply enters the account number of the customer on the search textbox. The system allows the user to print the billing record that the user has been selected. Figure 3. 2 – Payment Form In this form the user can perform the payment transaction of the monthly bills. Through the use of barcode scanner the searching of files on the database will be faster than typing the complete account number to find a customer. The user can view the complete bill information of the customer. To print the payment receipt the user needs to click the print payment receipt button. Figure 3. 3 – Payment History Form On this Form the user can search and view the payment records of the customer. The user can print the selected payment record of the customer. Figure 4. 0 – Create Backup Form The manager can create backup copy of the systems database to be able to retrieve any important files in case there is database corruption happen. The manager must choose the destination where the copy of the database will be saved. Figure 5. 0 – User log Form This is the user log form. Here the manager can view/print the user log records. To search on the user log database the user must set the start date and end date of the user log records. TESTING Table 1. 1 Type Scale Rating Equivalent 5 Excellent 4 Very Good 3 Good 2 Fair 1 Poor This table represents rating and equivalent used to evaluate the software material of the system. The highest score is 5 and lowest is 1. Table 1. 2 Reference table to obtain Mean Value Scores Weighted Score Interpretation 5. 0 – 4. 50 Excellent 4. 49 – 3. 50 Very Good 3. 49 – 2. 50 Good 2. 49 – 1. 50 Fair 1. 49 – 1. 0 Poor This table represented the weighted scores and the user understanding with the system in order to identify the results of the evaluation. Table 1. 3 Initial mean rating according to Functionality A. Functionality Rating Description 1. Correctness. Ability to produce correct. 4 Very Good 2. Reliability. Ability of a system to perform and maintain its function. 4 Very Good 3. Usability. Ease which of systems functions is learnability. 5 Excellent 4. Integrity. Data is stored and retrieval is correct. 4 Very Good Total 4. 25 Very Good Table 1. 4 Initial mean rating according to Engineering B. Engineering Rating Description 1. Efficiency. Amount of quantity expense. 4 Very Good 2. Testability. Hypothesis are logically possible 4 Very Good 3. Documentation. The process of providing evidence in research paper. 5 Excellent 4. Structure. Permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. 4 Very Good Total 4. 25 Very Good Table 1. 5 Initial mean rating according to Adaptability C. Adaptability Rating Description 1. Flexibility. Capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements. 4 Very Good 2. Reusability. Segment of source code that can be used again to add new functionalities. 4 Very Good 3. Maintainability. Something can be maintained. 4 Very Good Total 4 Very Good IMPLEMENTATION PLAN / INFRASTRUCTURE / DEPLOYMENT Care planning of the implementation and deployment of the system and the preparations of the researchers do for the deployment of the finished system. It has necessary steps in placing the new system into productions. The researchers need to take some considerations such as the user knowledge, the timing of implementation, type of deployment and its acceptability. On the counterpart in order to put Water Billing and Payment System into actions, the researchers need to be knowledgeable and skilled to be aware of all the needed things, materials, and proper actions for the implementation. The first step is to coordinate with the owner involved and interacted with the system then conducts an assessment of the system. However, once error occurs it affects the whole transaction but it is beneficial once the system runs properly. And if ever bugs appeared, the IT personnel and other computer literate personnel conduct can have a plan to deliver the problem and conduct maintenance once a solution came up. For the successful of the system, detailed and thorough planning is needed to extent the systems productivity. The developers need to test and validate again the functionality of the system to be assured that it’s free from errors and bugs. It’s also part of the developers to train the users involved with the system to operate the system to its full extent of functionality. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion-The proposed water billing system will make accurate, functional and more efficient the existing system. As the project team has studied the system of the company, it has been concluded that there is really in need of a system that will greatly facilitate faster and easier transactions especially in the computing of bills, recording customer information and creating reports. Recommendation- Knowing the problem of the Tibagan Rural Waterworks and Sanitation Association it helped the project team to come up in recommending a computerized water billing system that will make accurate billing amount and billing transaction. Having this proposed system the company’s daily transaction will consume less time and effort expected in performing the work. It also gives more advantage not only to the employee but also to the management. This proposed system is designed to address the efficiency and accomplishments level desired by the entire company.