Online ISSN: 2814-2195Science Journal of Advanced and Cognitive Research, Month Year, Vol.

x(x): xx-xx Print ISSN: 2736-1667

Science Journal of Advanced and Cognitive Research
An Official Publication of Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Nigeria.

Sales and Inventory Process: A Proposed System Prototype (Case Study of

Medrite Pharmacy in Uganda)

To cite this article:

Author’s surname and Abbreviation of other names,Title of manuscript,Science Journal of Advanced and Cognitive Research, x(x): xx-xx,
year.

ABSTRACT
The study is about the development of Sales and Inventory system for Medrite pharmacy based on timely
delivery of reports due to the use of the manual storage of information which focuses on SBMS that will
enable the employees to make appropriate and accurate decisions. The delivery of reports is currently
paper based and it is inadequate in decision making. This makes them spend a lot of time writing receipts
and invoice to customers hence a delay in the operations.This study that adopted quantitative research was
conducted at Medrite Pharmacy and data collections methods employed are interviews, observation, data
analysis and processing and questionnaires.This enabled gathering of user and system requirements which
were translated into a design of a proposed system that allows the users to generate receipt quickly and
reports in time. The design of the system model was accomplished by use of data flow diagrams, entity
relationship diagrams and the data dictionaries. The system is thus user friendly retrieves, updates
information and secures the information.However there is a challenge that most of the employees are
illiterate and their access to the computer is not promising unless they are trained and made aware about
the value of sharing information and knowledge as the best way to get good yields and profits.

Inventory, sales, systems, record, pharmacy.

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INTRODUCTION actions towards smooth operation of Pharmacy

leading to customer satisfaction.
A Pharmacy Sales and Inventory system is a tool
that helps sales people get organized, manage For optimal Pharmacy Sales and inventory
their contacts better, track their sales deals more management system processes, Pharmacy needs
efficiently and save them time. Pharmacy Sales robust functionality for managing their logistics
and Inventory system is a computer based system facilities. Support for Pharmacy Sales and
for tracking of sales and deliveries. (Abbas, M., inventory management system helps the
Alhasan, A., &Hamza, U. M. (2015) Pharmacy record and track materials on the basis
of both quantity and value. Pharmacy Sales and
The practice of pharmacy involves the general
inventory management system functions cover
implementation of medical orders which entails
internal sales movements and storage. Using an
the evaluation and the interpretation of the
automated Pharmacy Sales and Inventory
medical orders, the administration of drugs,
system, Pharmacies for example price line
dispensation of prescribed drugs from qualified
Pharmacy in South Africa used this kind of
medical practitioners, the review of prescribed
system that helped them to reduce operational
drug regimen, and the correct storage of drugs
costs for example transportation, costs of buying
(CPP, 2017). The American Pharmacists
ledger books and material handling while
Association has described pharmacy as having a improving customer service. Pharmacy can also
mission which is the responsibility of ensuring significantly improve sales turns hence
the use of medication in the right way and optimizing the flow of goods.
manner, and enjoying the services of drugs to (SnehaBrahmaneDhanashriUpasan, 2018)
ensure the achievement of optimized results in
The current system for the pharmacy is manual
therapeutic applications.
where they record their products, suppliers,
In addition, the birth of modern pharmacy has customers’ details in ledger books, giving out
brought with it some positive effects in the hand written receipts, invoices to their customers
society; like the increase in life expectancy without even knowing whether the products are
globally from 45 years to 50 years, which some available in stock or not and reports are written
argue is as a result of the number of at the end of the month. This kind of system is
breakthroughs recorded in pharmacy over the quite tedious hence leading to the following
last century. These breakthroughs such as: the cons: Time consuming, less accurate, less
discovery of new compounds in battling existing efficient, lots of paper work, not user friendly
ailments and the invention of methods and environment, difficult to keep old records and
devices to accurately dispense drugs have been inventory is sometimes run out of stock. At the
welcomed with open arms by the society. end of the day they end up losing their potential
(Federation International Pharmaceutique, 2015). customers who may be in need of drugs which
may be out of stock.
According to Lockard Robert (2017), Pharmacy
Sales and Inventory system facilitates to manage In the earlier years, Inventory Management was
the sales of the Pharmacy on a day to day basis treated as a cost canter, since Purchasing
for taking care of the Pharmacy inventory Department was spending money on inventory
accurately and efficiently. The system keeps while stores were holding huge stock of
track of the purchases, stock, supplies and inventory, blocking money and space,
billing. The various kinds of reports generated Ramakrishna (2015). However, with the process
help to make timely decisions and appropriate of liberation and opening up of Global economy,
there has been a drastic change in the business

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environment, resulting in manufacturing The pharmacy sales and inventory management

organizations exposure to intense competition in system serves many purposes, including the safe
the market place. Service companies’ worldwide and effective dispensing of pharmaceutical
has been working out various strategies to face drugs. During the dispensing process, the system
the challenges and to cut down manufacturing will prompt the pharmacist to verify the
costs to remain competitive (Blomqvist, 2006). medication they have filled is for the correct
patient, contains the right quantity and dosage,
Of recent in Uganda, as per the record of the and displays accurate information on the
Uganda Bureau of statistics, Research Gate, prescription label. Advanced pharmacy
2019, studies shows that 39% of manufacturing management systems offer clinical decision
firms and businesses resorted to and highly support and may be configured to alert the
recognize the importance of using such pharmacist to perform clinical interventions,
computerized systems to capture products in such as an opportunity to offer verbal counseling
stock, sales, maintenance, making reports and if the patient’s prescription requires additional
generating receipts with a lot of ease to access education.
stock data as well as securing confidential data Pharmacy management systems should also
about the information in the business. serve the pharmacist throughout the Pharmacists’
Patient Care Process, a cycle developed by
Unfortunately many businesses in Uganda have
the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners
not been able to put in place such good
(JCPP). The process details the steps pharmacists
computerized systems, Medrite pharmacy being
take to practice tangible, proven care to their
the case study to consider, its currently using
patients.
papers in files to capture new products in stock,
This is in reference to the main objective as
sales, ledgers and making reports internally,
regards the research which talks of developing
something that has proved to be costly and
sale and inventory systems
tiresome in terms of resources and doing too
According to the study of Edwin Bello and his
much of paper work respectively. This partly
fellow researchers of Computerized Monitoring
explains why data loss and redundancy has been
and inventory of stock with warning level dated
reported as one of the serious challenges that are
March 4, 2015, many firms have thousands of
faced by Medrite pharmacy.
items of inventory which require some form of
Therefore this research came up with an control. The usage calculations and record
automated Pharmacy Sales and Inventory system keeping chores wouldsoon become
for timely and efficient recording of activities overwhelming were it not for the computer and
done in the sales, purchases, bill generation and its unique information storage and
an alert message to the administrator about the retrievalcapabilities.
products reduction after sales. This reference also clearly indicated the need for
designing sale and inventory systems referring to
The system should be efficient, real time and my specific objective number two According to
able to track inventory levels, orders, sales and the study of Anna Marie Beltran Distor of
deliveries. It is a highly interactive module and Proposed sales Monitoring Systemissued 2016,
can fit into an existing system without many the accelerated work structure of the company
customizations. proper monitoring is essential in order tokeep
track of the company’s sales activities. Her
LITERATURE REVIEW system aims to come up with an efficient, and
Different kinds of System being used accuratemechanized system of preparing
invoices that will keep track of the daily
transaction and generatereports. Important

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information will be provided by this study in ubiquitous throughout all sectors of the
order to prove that the computerizationof the economy. Observation of almost any company
company’s operation and achieve a more reliable balance sheet, for example, reveals that
and efficient means of monitoring day to significant portion of its assets comprises
dayactivities. 0er system focuses on the analysis inventories of raw materials, components and
and design of the sales monitoring system which subassemblies within the production process, and
willmonitor the stacks inventory of the sales finished goods. Most managers don't like
departments. This system of hers is somewhat inventories because they are like money placed
related to our study but our system focuses more in a drawer, assets tied up in investments that are
on the inventory monitoring system of a trading not producing any return and , in fact, incurring a
company. borrowing cost. They also incur costs for the care
This is to the need for the new system developed of the stored material and are subject to spoilage
because it is also solving the same problems as and obsolescence. In the last two decades there
highlighted according to JK Henderson, they have been a spate of programs developed by
have three major advantages by using of industry, all aimed at reducing inventory levels
inventory systemthese are: Time savings, and increasing efficiency on the shop floor.
Accuracy, and Consistency; which helps a lot for Some of the most popular are conwip, kanban,
a business man to increase thesales of their just-in-timemanufacturing, lean manufacturing,
business. and flexible manufacturing. Nevertheless, in
Inventory Management spite of the bad features associated with
Dr. PadmanavaSamanta, 2016 Asst. Professor inventories, they do have positive purposes. Raw
Dept. of Mathematics Berhampur University. material inventories provide a stable source of
The word inventory doesn't have the same input required for production.
meaning in the USA and in the UK. A large inventory requires less replenishment
In American English and in a business and may reduce ordering costs because of
accounting context, the word inventory is economies of scale. In- process inventories
commonly used to describe the goods and reduce the impacts of the variability of the
materials that a business holds for the ultimate production rates in a plant and protect against
purpose of resale. In American English, the word failures in the processes. Final goods inventories
stock is commonly used to describe the capital provide for better customer service. The variety
invested in a business, while in British English; and easy availability of the product is an
the sentence stock shared is used in the same important marketing consideration. There are
context. In the rest of the English speaking world other kinds of inventories, including spare parts
stock is more commonly used, although the word inventories for maintenance and excess capacity
inventory is recognized as a synonym. In British built into facilities to take advantage of the
English, the word inventory is more commonly economies of scale of construction. Because of
thought of as a list compiled for some formal theirpractical and economic importance, the
purpose, such as the details of an estate going to subject of inventory control is a major
probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. consideration in many situations. Questions must
In both British and American English, stock is be constantly answered as to when and how
the collective noun for one hundred shares as much raw material should be ordered, when a
shares were usually traded in stocks on Stock production order should be released to the plant,
Exchanges. For this reason the word stock is what level of safety stock should be maintained
used by both American and British English in the at a retail outlet, or how in-process inventory is
term Stock Exchange. to be maintained in a production process. These
Inventories are materials stored, waiting for questions are amenable to quantitative analysis
processing, or experiencing processing. They are with the help of inventory theory.

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Various systems provide inventory management of the primary areas of operations research,
tools that allow pharmacists to reorder items, implying that the successful production
return unused stock, and organize shelf labels. researcher cannot be one-dimensional.
Ideally, pharmacies keep a lean inventory to Furthermore, production systems problems
avoid spending money on products that remain cannot be solved without an in-depth
undispersed on their shelves. Pharmacy understanding of the real problem, since
management systems also support the electronic invoking assumptions that simplify the
data exchange (EDI) between pharmacies and mathematical structure of the problem may lead
wholesalers, which digitizes shipping and to an elegant solution for the wrong problem.
receiving orders, catalog updates, and pricing Common sense and practical insight are common
changes. attributes of successful production planners. At
Production Systems the current time, the field of OR is extremely
Dr. PadmanavaSamanta 2016 Asst. Professor dynamic and ever evolving. To name a few of
Dept. of Mathematics Berhampur University the contemporary (primary) research projects,
Businesses and organizations frequently face current work in OR seeks to develop software for
challenging operational problems whose material flow analysis and design of flexible
successful solution requires certain expertise in manufacturing facilities using pattern recognition
applied statistics, optimization, stochastic and graph theory algorithms. Further, approaches
modeling, or a combination of these areas. To for the design of re-configurable manufacturing
illustrate, a company may need to design a systems and progressive automation of discrete
sampling plan in order to meet specific quality manufacturing systems are under development.
control objectives. In a manufacturing Additional OR projects focus on the industrial
environment, operations that compete for the deployment of computer-based methods for
same resources must be scheduled in a way that assembly linebalancing, business process
deadlines are not violated. The manager of a reengineering, capacity planning, pull
supermarket must determine how many checkout scheduling, and setup reduction, primarily
lines to keep open at various times during the through the integration of the philosophies of the
day and evening so that shoppers are not Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing.
unnecessarily delayed. Or as a final example, the Before the industrial revolution, most business
size of the areas reserved for storing work in and industry consisted of small enterprises, each
process at a number of bottleneck stations has to directed by a single boss who did the purchasing,
be determined so that a smooth flow of work planned and supervised production, sold the
results, even at the busiest (peak) production product, hired and fired personal etc. Such
times. The area of operations research that mechanization of production led to rapid growth
concentrates on real-world operational problems of industrial enterprises that it became
is called production systems. Production systems impossible for one man to perform all these
problems may arise in settings that include, but managerial function took place.
are not limited to, manufacturing, Inventory control is one such consequence.
telecommunications, health-care delivery, The management of every economic sector
facility location and layout, and staffing. The gained interest after World War II to study
area of production systems presents special inventory management system due to much risk
challenges for operations researchers. Production factor and uncertainty. Consequently, the study
problems are operations research problems, of inventory literature has been enlarged day by
hence solving them requires a solid foundation in day and various inventory models have been
operations research fundamentals. Additionally, published in differentjournals. In 1951, Arrow,
thesolution of production systems problems Harries and Marschak established a
frequently draws on expertise in more than one mathematical analysis of inventory models on

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"Optimal Inventory Policy" Within analyzed a operations stemming from sales -- such as an
review of the inventory system on "The Theory investment company -- they must still generally
of Inventory Management" The collection and have some sort of sales effort to generate
processing of large quantity of data are needed in investment revenue to fund their investments in
every inventory problem. After 1950's, several income-producing assets. For example, a limited
researchers like Starr and Miller, Hadley and partnership must often engage in a concentrated
Whitin, Naddor, Fabrycky and Banks, Silver and sales effort to recruit more limited partners.
Peterson etc. published different articles in this Sales: description
direction. According to Paul H. Selden (1998), sales refer
Pricing and Billing to an exchange of money for goods, services, or
Within a pharmacy, financial intelligence is other property. He also said that in accounting
crucial for maintaining the store’s business. there are different types of sales for example, net
Pharmacy management systems are capable of sales that refers to the operating revenues earned
identifying profit losses from direct and indirect by a company by selling their products or
remuneration (DIR) fees, rebilling third parties services
for claims resubmissions, and tracking market According Leslie McClintock, Demand Media
changes so the pharmacy can continually offer (1999), in any business organization, sales is the
competitive prices. department that generates revenue. No matter
Accounts Receivable how good your manufacturing operation is, how
Also known as “A/R Accounts” or “Charge cutting-edge your technology is, how tight your
Accounts,” these allow patients to pay the financial goals are or how progressive and
amount owed to the pharmacy at a later date. forward-thinking your management techniques
These patients are typically residents of long- are, you must still have a sales mechanism in
term care facilities, or patients who receive place or everything else is useless
prescription deliveries. Sales are a transaction where money or value is
Reporting exchanged for the ownership of a good or
Because pharmacies interact with patients and entitlement to a service (Wikipedia).
multiple facets of healthcare (payers, prescribers, Sales agents
facilities, etc.), they gather and store data within According to R. S. SAXENA (1 December
their pharmacy management systems. This data 2009). Agents in the sales process can represent
may be utilized for implementing business either of two parties in the sales process; for
intelligence practices, documenting patient example:
responses to new care strategies, or supplied to Sales broker, seller agency, seller agent, seller
an auditor during an inspection or certification representative: This is a traditional role where
process. the salesman represents a person or company on
According to EGA futura (2012), there are the selling end of a deal.
different advantages of sales but he explains the Buyers’ broker or Buyer brokerage: This is
main advantage as seen below; where the salesman represents the consumer
Sources of Revenue making the purchase. This is most often applied
A business organization can generate revenue in large transactions.
from a variety of sources, including operating Disclosed dual agent: This is where the salesman
income from sales, royalties, dividend and represents both parties in the sale and acts as
interest income from financial assets it owns, a mediator for the transaction. The role of the
payouts from insurance policies, rental income salesman here is to oversee that both parties
and capital gains from the sale of owned receive an honest and fair deal, and is
properties. However, even where organizations responsible to both.
derive little or no taxable income directly from

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Transaction broker: This is where the creation of value or perceived value is the result
salesperson represents neither party but handles of taking the information gathered, analyzing the
the transaction only. The seller owes no goals and needs of the prospective customer and
responsibility to either party getting a fair or leveraging the products and/or services the
honest deal, just that all of the papers are handled salesperson's firm represents or sells in a way
properly. that most effectively achieves the prospective
Sales outsourcing involves direct branded client’s goals and/or suits their needs. Effective
representation where the sales representatives are salespeople will package their offering and
recruited, hired, and managed by an external present their proposed solution in a way that
entity but hold quotas, represent themselves as leads the prospective customer to the conclusion
the brand of the client, and report all activities that they acquire the solution, resulting in
(through their own sales management channels) revenue and profit for the salesperson and the
back to the client. It is akin to a virtual extension organization they represent. R. S. SAXENA (1
of a sales force (see sales outsourcing). December 2009).
Sales managers aim to implement various sales
strategies and management techniques in order to Inside sales vs. Outside sales
facilitate improved profits and increased sales According to Paul H. Selden (December 1998).
volume. They are also responsible for Since the advent of the telephone, a distinction
coordinating the sales and marketing department has been made between "inside sales" and
as well as oversight concerning "outside sales" although it is generally agreed
the fair and honest execution of the sales process that those terms have no hard-and-fast
by their agents. definition. In the United States, the Fair Labor
Salesperson: The primary function of Standards Act defines outside sales
professional salespeople is to generate and close representatives as "employees who sell their
business resulting in revenue. The sales person employer's products, services, or facilities to
will accomplish their primary function through a customers away from their employer's place(s) of
variety of means including phone calls, email, business, in general, either at the customer's
social media, networking, and cold calling. The place of business or by selling door-to-door at
primary objective of the successful salesperson is the customer's home" while defining those who
to find the consumers to sell to. Sales are often work "from the employer's location" as inside
referred to as a "numbers game" because a sales.
general law of averages and pattern of successful Inside sales generally involves attempting
closing of business will emerge through to close business primarily over the phone
heightened sales activity via telemarketing, while outside sales (or "field"
sales) will usually involve initial phone work to
How systems handle inventory and sales book sales calls at the potential buyer's location
management: to attempt to close the deal in person. Some
Locating prospects, fostering relationships with companies have an inside sales department that
prospects, building trust with future clients, works with outside representatives and book
identifying and filling needs of consumers, and their appointments for them. Inside sales
therefore turning prospective customers into sometimes refers to up selling to existing
actual ones; Many tools are used by successful customers.
salespeople, the most important of which is
questioning which can be defined as a series of Sales Techniques:
questions and resulting answers allowing the Selling technique, Consultative selling, Sales
salesperson to understand a customer's goals and enablement, Solution selling, Conceptual selling,
requirements relevant to the product. The Strategic selling, Transactional selling, Sales

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Negotiation, Reverse Selling, Up selling, Cross- overstock, notice declines in sales and prevents
selling, Paint-the-Picture, take away, Sales over ordering for certain items which is far
Habits, Relationship Selling, Sales outsourcing, different with the paper files as they lead to data
Cold calling, Guaranteed sale, Needs-based redundancy and duplication. Maintaining
selling, Professional Selling Skills, Persuasive appropriate Inventory levels is crucial as it helps
selling, Hard Selling. Price based selling. to control and balance the flow of incoming and
outgoing merchandise, it also helps to determine
Billing whether to order for certain items and goods. It’s
Next Generation Billing provides instant access important to have an Inventory management
to online, up to date customer billing information system that accounts for lead time. If for
and is seamlessly integrated with other Next example, a grocery store was going to have a
Generation distribution software modules. sale on hot dogs, relish and mustard, but the hot
Productivity and accuracy are increased by dogs took longer than three days to receive while
enabling each distributor to create their own the condiments took five days; the inventory
billing flow, complete with prompts to collect management system would need to ensure that
required information during the invoicing all items were in stock in time of sale.
process. Invoice, credit memo, debit & credit
adjustment transactions for standard, branch Inventory management system (Information
transfer and drop ship orders are all supported. system)
Additional capabilities include the ability to print Inventory management system is the practice of
at time of entry, duplicate printing, minimum identifying, sorting and information from day to
invoice amount surcharge, standing and day activities carried out in the stock
repetitive invoices and an audit trail of changes. management.
(Lee, Perlitz (2012)). According to Alberto (ISO, 2001), he defines
information system as “information created,
Inventory management System advantages received, and maintained as evidence and
over file based systems (Manual) information by an organization or person in
Tariq Hussein, Krukshetra University, 2000, pursuance of legal obligation or in the
Inventory Management is a challenging problem transaction of the organization”.
area in supply chain management. Companies The international committee on archives (CIA)
need to have inventories in ware houses in order and electronic records defines a record as “a
to fulfill customer demand; meanwhile these specific piece of an activity and which comprises
inventories have been holding costs and frozen sufficient content and structure to provide proof
funds that can be lost. Therefore, The Inventory or evidence of that activity”. While the definition
management technique is more useful in of a record is often identified strongly with a
determining the optimum level of inventory and document for example academic documents,
finding answers to the problem of safety stock transaction receipt, bank documents and all
and lead time. Inventory management has examples of records.
become highly developed to meet the rising Koumanakos, (2008), Inventory refers to the
challenges in most corporate entities and this is number of times inventory is converted into
in response to the fact that inventory is an asset cash. High levels of inventories mean that there
of distinct feature. low levels of inventory turns. Non availability of
stock results into losses to all chain partners
Leann Harms, South Florida 2008, Inventory is because customers may decide to buy another
necessary for many businesses including Retail, brand or other items from another store or delay
and manufacturing facilities. Such systems help purchase. Lack of inventory record accuracy
to reduce the liabilities and losses created by clearly reduces chain profits due to lost sales and

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inventory carrying costs which may run as high model is independent of any application
as 10%, 10 percent of existing profits (Raman et program. A database management system is a set
al, 2001). of procedures that manages the database and
Better inventory management enables better provide access to the database information
customer satisfaction (Eckert, 2007). Customers required by an application program. the DBMS
are satisfied when suppliers fulfill their orders on aims to allow writing application program
time (Wilding, 2003). independent of the physical organization of file
Access to information and time saving in secondary storage because it can access
Administrators no longer have to spend time several file at once. A DBMS is much better than
looking in books for stock details, the system can flat file management system that used to dictate
simply do it automatically. Perhaps even more computing.
beneficial, as indicated by Kevin (2004) online (Hutchinson, sawyer, 2015) Database has made
easy recharge saves time, because technology it possible for the company to perform sample
allows device recharge in seconds or in minutes sequencing and selection items with great power
instead of hours, days or weeks. accuracy sharing of data has become possible in
data base because data is considered as an
important source of information for companies to
Effect of database management system be shared by the a number of administrators.
(DBMS) Content management systems
The introduction of database management A Content Management System (CMS) is one
system had a great impact, some of which that is used to manage information, be it web-
include the following: based systems or information delivery systems.
(i) Reduced application development time. These kinds of systems carefully manage data in
DBMS support important functions that an organized fashion in documents and borders
facilitate quick development of that can be easily understood and is also
application. presentable (Holm, Rudis& Wilson, 2015).
(ii) Database eliminates data redundancies Content management has been around for a
therefore reducing the risk of while, but did not eventually become acceptable
inconsistencies and ensuring improved till the age of technology such as the Internet, for
data integrity in addition to security. example, or the portable computer (Swanson,
(iii) It requires much time and to develop a Broekmeier, & Anderson, 2017). The content
database information system stored in the system is done in a native format
(iv) Initial costs are high. it is expensive to which enables the easy retrieval of information.
data Administrator and data A Most content management systems have various
administrator processes embedded in them during the retrieval
(v) Database is vulnerable to power of information. They also enable accessibility
flection’s and disaster. features such as search boxes, user interaction,
Database in information system. customization, all of which improve on user
Database is an organized collection of integrated experience (Rockley, Manning, &Kostur, 2014).
files (William, sawyer, Hutchinson, 2016). V. CMS are contained in frameworks which are
Rajaraman (2018) refers a database to a used for online systems which involve trading of
collection of related data necessary to manage an goods and services. One of such services can be
organization. it excludes data such as input seen in Amazon, which is an American company
document, reports and intermediate results that deals with the sale of all kinds of goods from
obtained during processing. A database models verified vendors.
the data resources of an organization using the Pharmacy inventory management systems
relationship between different data item. The

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The growing popularity of computers and need for medicines for the injured, and also aid
gadgets in general has in no way slowed down for them.
the birth of new innovative ways in the Due to the high influx of medicines into the
pharmaceutical management system. These days, country at the time, an inventory management
computers have become an essential part of system was developed to help the cause. The
many people’s lives due to the versatility of the hospitals in the country did not at the time have
devices, and how much they can do with so little the means to provide medicines to the needy
effort. Performing tasks which would have taken without losing track of what has been given to
hours and maybe days in the past have become who, and what has not been given. Also, the
possible in seconds. The invention of the Internet management systems that were proposed and
and other utilities such as search engines (Google later implemented helped in tackling shortage
being a prime example), have made searching for problems, thereby saving countless lives in the
the most remote things possible in very little process.
time. Also, the portability of the computer Pharmacy Computerized Inventory Program
systems have helped the cause in making The Pharmacy Computerized Inventory Program
information more portable than it was in the past. (PCIP) had four processes which include: needs
In the same vein, the management of inventory assessment, the development of the PCIP,
and taking stock of goods and services in implementation of the PCIP, and outcomes and
different organizations have become so much data analysis. The program proved to be a
easier with the growth of the computer system success and greatly reduced the turmoil going on
(Goldberg et al, 1991). These days, even phones in the land at the time of the earthquake (Holm,
and tablets have faster processing power than the Rudis, & Wilson, 2015).
early generation computers, which has made it Other parts of the world such as the Middle East
easier to perform tasks. Our economy has been have not been left out of the trend. A group of
referred to as the “learning economy”, because individuals in King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz
of the rate at which new innovations come to University for Health Sciences in Saudi Arabia
light (Abbas, Alhasan, &Hamza, 2015). came together to study and report findings on a
In China, a text message system was developed pharmacy inventory management system in a
to help in general patient pharmaceutical care, hospital in Saudi Arabia. Their software
and promote mobile systems (Mao, Zhang, controlled and monitored existing stock levels,
&Zhai, 2017). which allowed them to decide how much
Vendor Managed Inventory System quantity of drugs to order in order to be at full
The management of inventory has taken various capacity. The application was installed on all
shapes and forms, one of which is called a computers of the staff in the hospital which was
Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) system. The used and information was directly updated to the
VMI gives a supplier full discretion to deliver database (Muallem,Dogether, Al Assaf, Al
goods and services, as long as the customer can Ateeq, &Househ, 2015)
fully optimize these goods and services. This These various systems have allowed ease of
method or level under the VMI system is called work at the hospitals and pharmacies, and
the Maximum Level. The other level in the reduction of errors in drug related practices.
system is called Order-up-to policy which allows Also, with the introduction of these practices, the
the supplier to get the inventory of the customer prescription drug abuse trend has been curbed to
to its maximum capacity at every delivery a considerable extent. These days, applications
(Coelho &Laportes , 2015). Various make use of large databases and verification
computerized management systems have been processe
useful in helping to save lives around the world. METHODOLOGY
The earthquake in Haiti in 2010 brought about a Research Design

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The study was focused on mainly two research Identifying Requirements for the system
designs as seen below: Descriptive research (Data collection techniques)
included describing the process through which In the process of discovering system
the system used by the administrators for requirements (data collection), data was gathered
example, how the products was recorded and using Observations, Questionnaire, interviews
generating bills at the Pharmacy using the new and reviewing relevant documents which may
system and Cross sectional in choosing the include online journals, internet material and e-
respondents from which data was gathered and books.
research questions was used.
Document Reviews
Target population The researcher reviewed relevant documents,
The target population was constitute the staff of guides and laws governing the Sales and
The pharmacy concerned with the recording Inventory system that have been used for past
process, selling of products, and customers’ years. The researcher also made a study on
orders and Suppliers to get the orders from the processing methods used to come up with
customers and interact with the interface of the accurate records. The main source includes the
system to make the records such that the pharmacy, journals about Pharmacy Sales and
administrator can implement the transaction Inventory system, internet sources. The
since he is the only person who interacts with the researcher chose to use this method simply
systems’ data base. because it was the best way to help him acquire
the requirements for developing the new system;
Sample size hence this assisted in answering the research
The total population was 500 people and sample question number one and achieving the specific
size was223 people, calculated by using objective number one.
formulas. The study used Solvin’s formula to
compute the sample size for the individual target Observations
population. However, the researcher also This is a data collection method that involves
considered three different pharmacies, medrite, physical appearance using his or her eyes. This is
lunar and cape. Using the sampling techniques the best method used to acquire all the
plus consideration of some factors like size of information needed because it is convenient and
the pharmacy, number of stock, number of flexible. In other words this tool is the best and
customers, location of the pharmacy, capital cheap among all the data collection tools. Here
investment, and the researcher had to narrow it the researcher observed how the existing system
down to medrite which had more advantages (manual) works and how these people at the
compared to the other pharmacies. Pharmacy use it for the day to day smooth
running of the business. The researcher used this
Table Indicates the number and percentages method to help in getting information with his
of respondents naked eyes on how the existing system is
working which he used to develop the new
Target population Total Sample size system and also achieving the main of objective
Manager 40 20 while also answering research question number
Suppliers 5 3 two
Cashier 5 5
Customers 450 208 Questionnaire
Total 500 223 The questionnaires consist of a set of questions
that people are asked and they answer according
to what they think right. The questionnaire was

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used because they have a brief and precise and Essential Business Modular. Data Modeling:
question didn’t create bias and the details of This was achieved using Entity-Relationship
those people who fill the questionnaire remain Diagrams to show the data requirements and
anonymous. The researcher used this method Model.
because it’s the common methods, however,
used the open question questionnaire in order to System Design
protect the secrets and the private information of Design was the first step into the development
his respondents by simply ticking yes or no this phase which was logical and physical design.
assisted in get information and answering Design is a creative process of applying various
research question number two and three at the techniques and principles for the purpose of
same time achieving the objective number two defining a process or a system in sufficient detail
and three to permit its physical realization. The system
design was to be developed using the
Interviews architectural detail required to build a system.
These can be structured, unstructured or semi The logical design of Sales and Inventory system
structured. The researcher conducted interviews was of structural analysis which included process
with stakeholders, the staff working in the sales, modeling that was achieved using Data Flow
inventory and billing department to identify and Diagrams (DFD) as well as the data modeling
specify functional and non-functional was designed by the Entity Relationship
requirements and also to determine requirement Diagrams (ERD).
specification. The interview was both semi-
guided and unguided and it also contained both System development tools
closed and open ended questions in order to During system development stage, the following
obtain data mainly about the operation of the software or tools were used; Wamp server,
system. This helped the researcher to achieve the Windows operating system, cascading style sheet
specific objective number three, at the same time for the page designs and Dreamweaver
answering the research question number three environments to construct both HTML and PHP
pages.
Data analysis Wamp Server is a free server bundle that uses
This was done in order to eliminate Apache server. When installed on the system, it
contradictions on the data to be used and make a includes Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache is
difference between facts and opinions of the popular web server that has many ISPs and
individuals who were interviewed. The Individuals use to host web pages. The
collection and analysis of information was researcher installed Apache on the system as a
carried out from the sales, inventory and billing web server. Pages are to be stored in the www
department at the pharmacy which is my case directory.
study. MYSQL is an open source Relation Database
Management (RDBMS) that uses structured
Modeling Query Language (SQL), the most popular
Modeling process of a system is divided into two language for adding, accessing and processing
that is Process Modeling and Data Modeling data in a database.
Process Modeling: This was achieved by using Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is an open source
Data Flow Diagrams to show processes and server side programming language extensively
external entities in the system and the product used for web scripts. It is a popular server-side
had a detailed description of the processes scripting language designed specifically for
involved(process models). The Data Flow integration with HTML and is used (often in
Diagrams was designed using Microsoft Visio conjunction with MySQL) in Content

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Management systems and other web who buy on credit. According to the research
applications. It is available on many platforms carried out, it shows that this kind of system is
including windows, Linux and Mac Operating insufficient to facilitate quick service delivery to
System. customers and hence time consuming.

IMPLEMENTATION With the existing system, Medrite Pharmacy

welcomes customer, the customer orders for the
System Study
goods needed, the customer pays the cashier; the
Currently the system in existence at Medrite cashier issues the goods to the customer and the
pharmacy is a manual system where they record cashier issues out a receipt to the customer as
all the sales in books and write receipts to their shown in the diagram below
customers to prove that they have bought goods Figure 1.Manual Based System for Medrite
from them and issue out written invoices to those pharmacy

Frequency Percent
System study and Findings Valid Computer 8 7.7
Responses from the Electrical center’s employee files/papers 86 82.7
and managers
These are the results the researcher got from compact disks 10 9.6
some of the users of the current system. Showing Total 104 100.0
the means they use to capture their data. It was
categorized into two parts, those who capture Table indicates the number and percentages
data using papers/ files, those who capture data of respondents
using the computer and those who capture data
using different disks like compact disks. The above table illustrates how Medrite
pharmacy captures its data which is really not
The table below shows the percentages and efficient hence the need for the proposed system
the number of interviewees

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within and outside the system. During analysis,

data was collected on the available files, decision
points and transactions handled by the present
system. All procedures and requirements were
analyzed and documented in form of detailed
data flow diagram and data dictionary.

Functional Requirements:
These specify clearly each of the functions the
automated Sales and Inventory system should
perform to the users along with the
corresponding input and output data set needed
pie chart showing percentages of the to meet the users’ expectations.
respondents
The highest percentage is 82.7% that shows large
numbers of the respondent use Papers/files to
capture their data. This is because quit a number
of people had no knowledge about the computer.
This system is very slow in reports generation
and it does not aid management in making
accurate decisions. While 9.6% of the
respondents use compact disks to capture the
data, this was because some of these people want
to keep their records for easy management
especially when it comes to printing of reports.
7.7% of the respondents use computer since it
enhanced decision making and timely delivery of
reports
Strength of the current system
1. The current paper based system is
convenient and effective to non-
computerized users
2. The current system is not affected by
viruses
3. The current sales and billing system
tracks sales of the Electrical center
4. Sales made are written and balanced at
the end of every day manually which is
convenient to non-computerized users.
System Analysis
This involved the detailed study of the current
system leading to the specification of the new
system. It is a study of various operations
performed by a system and their relationships

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Non-Functional Requirement Wampserver 2.0 designing databases and

Table Represents the non- Functional implementing of Sales
requirements and Inventory system
List of Description Requirement 4: The component is a
requirement Macromedia developing tool that
s Dreamweaver 8 supports languages such
as HTML,
Requiremen The system has interactive XML,JAVASCRIPT,
t 1: interfaces and an authorized PHP, CSS, the name
Usability user navigates the system to do scripts language was used
the necessary. for this system
development
Requiremen Users view screens by their
t 2: roles and editing is strictly for
Constraints the administrator
System Design
Requiremen The system is reasonably This is the art or process of defining the
t 1: speedy according to the architectures, components, modules, interfaces
Performanc technology used to generate and that for a system to satisfy specified
e reports, customer’s receipts requirements. This comprises of tools and
after they have ordered for their methods especially diagrams the researcher used
goods. to analyze the design and implement the system
such as entity relationship diagrams (ERD) and
data flow diagrams (DFD). They help in
Requirement Definition identifying the major entities and their attributes
The system must provide means by which clients as well as attributes as well as relationships
can have access to the pharmacy services and get between entities.
satisfied to their needs
Logical Designs
Software Requirement The logical design pertains to an abstract
Table software requirements of the system representation of the data flows, inputs and out
List of Description puts of the system. This is often conducted using
requirement modeling, which involves a simple and
sometimes graphical representation of an actual
Requirement1: Windows 7, 8 system. In the context of system design,
Operating System modeling can undertake data flow diagrams and
Entity Relationship Diagrams.
Requirement 2: This component stores
Database customer’s data, Context Flow Diagram (CFD):
supplier’s data, product’s A Context Flow Diagram is a top level (also
data, User’s data that is known as level 0) data. It only contains one
Admin and Cashier, sales process node (process 0)
data and reports from the
sales That generalizes the function of the entire
system in relationship to external entities.
Requirement 3: This is an open source for

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A Context Flow Diagram is a diagram that Context Diagram of the system

shows the inputs and output of a system.
It shows all the external entities with the system and the data
flows between these entities and the system.

end user with a physical idea of where the data

The figure above shows the CFD with the main they input ultimately has has an effect upon the
external entity interacting with the system’s structure of the whole system
major process 0
LEVEL 1DFD
Data Flow Diagram (DFD):
A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is a graphical
representation of the "flow" of data through an
Information System. A data flow diagram can
also be used for the visualization of Data
Processing. A DFD represents flow of data
through a system. Data flow diagrams are
commonly used during problem analysis. It
views a system as a function that transforms the
input into desired output. A DFD shows
movement of data through the different
transformations or processes in the system.
Dataflow diagrams can be used to provide the

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The figure above shows system processes where

by a user logins in using a password and the
level DFD username to access the system, if the system
authenticates that the entered password and
Key
username is correct the user accesses the system
and the information used while logging in should
Data store/ database correspond to that in the database. If the user
enters the wrong username and password he/she
Process does not access the system but otherwise remains
on the login page.
External entity
Data flow If the administrator logs in, he is able to add,
delete, edit customers, suppliers, and products

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details and the moment he enters that data into Cost Int 10
the system, this data goes directly into the data Supplier Varchar 100
base and he is the only authorized person who is Qty Int 10
supposed to manipulate this data.
If the cashier logs in, he is able to make Table products table that includes all the
transaction like selling the available products to products details
customers who are in need of them, but during Purchases table
these transactions, data is captured by the system Field Data type Size Primary
and the details are stored in the database from key
which reports are generated and these reports are transaction_id Int 11
viewed by the administrator Invoice_number Varchar 100
Date Varchar 100
Database tables Supplier Varchar 100
Collection table Remarks Varchar 100
Field Data type Size Primary
key Table purchases table that includes all
Transaction Int 11 products purchased and the supplier who
_id supplied them
Date Varchar 100 Purchases item table
Name Varchar 100 Field Data type Size Primary
Invoice Varchar 100 key
Amount Varchar 100 Id Int 11
Remarks Varchar 100 Name Varchar 100
Balance Int 11 Qty Int 11
Cost Int 100
Table collection table that collects all reports Invoice Varchar 100
of the system made daily, weekly or monthly
Customer table Table purchases item table that shows the list
Field Data type Size Primary of items purchased
key Sales table
Customer _id Int 11 Field Data type Size Primary
Customer_name Varchar 100 key
Address Varchar 100 Transaction_id Int 11
Contact Int 20 invoice_number Varchar 100
Membership Int 10 Cashier Varchar 100
number Date Varchar 12
Type Varchar 100
Table customer table that includes the Amount Varchar 100
customer’s details Due_date Varchar 100
Products table Name Varchar 100
Field Data type Size Primary Balance Int 100
key
product_id Int 11
product _code Int 5
product_name Varchar 100

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Physical design monitor and printer. It would not concern the

This relates to the actual input and output actual lay out of the tangible electrical center,
processes of the system. This is laid down in which for a personal computer would be a
terms of how data is input into a system, how it monitor, CPU, motherboard, hard drive,
is verified/ authenticated, how it is processed, modems, video/graphics cards and universal
and how it is displayed as output. serial bus slots
It is the detailed design of the system that
includes modules, the data base electrical center Database System requirement
and software specifications of the system. A These are the requirements for the system and its
personal computer\s physical design involves database as its being deployed on the storage
input using the keyboard, processing within the media.
Central Processing Unit, and output using a
Table 4: System Requirements
Software Software requirements Electrical center Minimum
requirements Requirement

Operating Windows7, XP, vista and Hard disk 1 GB

System 8

DBMS Wamp Server 2.0 RAM 160 MB

(MySQL)

Web browser Mozilla, Internet VGA 1024* 768 pixels

Explorer

IDE HTML, PHP, Java script Processor 500MHZ

Testing and Validation to detect the inventory stock has reduced

The system was run with test data collected from and shows an alert message to the products
different points in a location to check whether page “product out of stock”
the system behaves as expected. Testing
involved internally checking the implemented ii.) Integration testing, involved testing of a
system to identify errors and weaknesses and to combination of modules to ensure that they
correct them before presenting it to the intended worked as expected. The integrated modules
users. were tried on different electrical center and
software platforms to monitor their
Testing behavior. This was tried on windows 7, 8
When the development of the system was with platforms like Acer, HP and Dell
completed, testing was carried out to ensure platforms 512MB and 1GB of RAM
complete system functionality. The following respectively.
tests conducted.
iii.) System testing, this involved testing of the
i.) Unit testing, this involved testing of a single entire system to check for errors in the
module to ensure that it was error free and system and making sure that the elements
that it met the designer’s response worked as required. It involved trying the
expectation for example the system was able system on different electrical center like 625

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HP laptops and software like Wamp server An index page for all user Logins
for database to monitor its behavior.
iv.) Functionality testing, Using input data, a
finished system was tested for conformance
to requirements specification.However, the
results of the tests were systematically
recorded to ensure that the outputs match
anticipated results..
Validation
The process of checking input data of a system is
to ensure that it is complete, accurate, and
reasonable, (Thomas M. Connolly, 2004). A
suitable combination of validation checks were
conducted to ensure that most errors are
detected.
Validation involved feeding data into the system
and the output checked to confirm if it was the
expected output. To ensure data integrity, user
input was checked and incase of wrong inputs
the user received a notification and prompted to
enter the correct data. For example a no- user of
the system cannot access it because it requires a
username and password
Implementation
The whole architecture is client-server based.
The client (Sales and Sales and Inventory
system) runs on any operating system and the
server runs a PHP application. MYSQL was used
to implement a server based database while PHP
library was used to process data on the server.

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Login page
Index page This is where the identified user enters his/her
password to access the system
This index page was created using HTML, it
guides users who access the system to be
knowing the account they are using.

The data entry pages

Login page This is where the user enters the data in the
system for example adding customers, products,
purchases and suppliers.

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For example the figure below shows the user

adding more products to the system Figure 13.data entry page for products

Receipt formed automatically after recording

sales
This show the receipt issued to the customer
after he or she has paid for the goods as shown
below

System reports
Receipt page These reports are generated every day when the
users of the system have sold any product at the
end of the day the reports are generated and
printed out as shown below

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work and providing encouragement throughout

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
the research.
First we would like to thank the Almighty God
who has been on our way of academic life. Glory We also thank Kampala University specifically
be to him. We would like to take this opportunity the faculty of science and technology for steering
to thank all the people who have in various ways, us through the tough as well as easy phases of
helped in the successful completion of our the research in a result oriented manner with
research. concern attention.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Allah for

giving us the constant source of inspiration and
help in preparing the research, correcting our

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