Draft

Running head: LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERTRANS LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM

ZARINA GRACE V. BILLONES

EURIZZE MAYE A. NIEVA

CAMILLE I. SANTIAGO

A Thesis

Presented to the Faculty of the

College of Science

Technological University of the Philippines

Manila

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor of Science in Information Systems

OCTOBER 2015

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, the objectives of the study, the scope

and limitations of the study.

Background of the Study

Technology makes the world move faster. Nowadays, technology is everywhere and

everyone is using it. Industries use different technologies and software tools to make their work

easier. Particularly in most logistics company, monitoring of goods are still done manually.

Gathering, processing and monitoring of data is not easy.

In this study, we aimed to develop a system and minimize all the paperwork and manual

monitoring of goods.

Intertrans Logistics is a local company that provides total logistics services like Freight

Forwarding by Air & Sea, Customs Clearance (Peza, Formal & Informal Entry), Project Cargo

(Hauling and Positioning), Warehousing and Logistics Services, Domestic Cargo Forwarding by

Air & Sea Freight and Trucking Services. The company has a sub-office in Australia and two

offices in Manila.

Since Intertrans Logistics provides total logistics services, it is a struggle for employees

when it comes to manual monitoring of their warehousing services. The employees monitor and

process each product manually with the use of Microsoft Excel. Employees are assigned with a

company and should only focus on it, therefore, security is also a problem in the system because

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

of the easy access that it gives to other employees once they use each other’s computer. The

manual way of their system is time consuming and less efficient.

Objectives of the Study

General Objectives

The general objective of the study is to develop an Automated Warehouse Monitoring

System for the Intertrans Logistics.

Specific Objectives

The study has the following specific objectives:

1. Design the system with the following features:

To eliminate the manual way of monitoring, receiving, issuance and inventory of

the goods.

To generate serial numbers for the goods.

To generate reports for monthly or yearly transactions.

To create employee accounts for system security.

2. Create the system as designed using Visual Studio 2013.

3. Test and improve the software.

4. Evaluate the performance of the study using ISO 9126.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study will focus on the development of an Automated Warehouse Management

System for Intertrans Logistics. This is to eliminate the manual way of monitoring the services.

The system allows the monitoring of goods coming in and out of the warehouse and generation

of reports for year-end monitoring. The system will also generate a serial number for each goods

that are received by the company. The study will be evaluated by the supervisor of the company

using the ISO 9126 software evaluation instrument.

The study is only designed to Intertrans Logistics for Warehouse Management. Other

operating systems like Mac OS, UNIX, etc. are not supported by the system.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Chapter 2

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies underlying the

framework of the study. It includes the conceptual model of the study and the operational

definition of terms.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

Warehouse Management System

According to Wikipedia (2015), a warehouse management system (WMS) is a key part of

the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within a

warehouse and process the associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, putaway and

picking. The systems also direct and optimize stock putaway based on real-time information

about the status of bin utilization. A WMS monitors the progress of products through the

warehouse. It involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems, and

communication between product stations.

More precisely, warehouse management involves the receipt, storage and movement of

goods, (normally finished goods), to intermediate storage locations or to a final customer. In the

multi-echelon model for distribution, there may be multiple levels of warehouses. This includes a

central warehouse, a regional warehouses (serviced by the central warehouse) and potentially

retail warehouses (serviced by the regional warehouses).

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Warehouse management systems often utilize automatic identification and data capture

technology, such as barcode scanners, mobile computers, wireless LANs and potentially radio-

frequency identification (RFID) to efficiently monitor the flow of products. Once data has been

collected, there is either a batch synchronization with, or a real-time wireless transmission to a

central database. The database can then provide useful reports about the status of goods in the

warehouse.

Warehouse design and process design within the warehouse (e.g. wave picking) is also

part of warehouse management. Warehouse management is an aspect of logistics and supply

chain management.

Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET or VB .NET) is a multi-paradigm, high level programming

language, implemented on the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the

successor to its original Visual Basic language. Visual Basic .NET is a version of

Microsoft's Visual Basic that was designed, as part of the company's .NET product group, to

make Web service applications easier to develop. According to Microsoft, VB .NET was

reengineered, rather than released as VB 6.0 with added features, to facilitate making

fundamental changes to the language. VB.NET is the first fully object-oriented programming

(OOP) version of Visual Basic, and as such, supports OOP concepts such as abstraction,

inheritance, polymorphism, and aggregation.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Microsoft's integrated development environment (IDE) for developing in Visual Basic

.NET language is Visual Studio. Most of Visual Studio editions are commercial; the only

exceptions are Visual Studio Express and Visual Studio Community which are freeware. In

addition, .NET Framework SDK includes a freeware command-line compiler called

vbc.exe. Mono also includes a command-line VB.NET compiler.

Integrated Development Environment

As stated by Rehman (2002), an integrated development environment (IDE) is a software

application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software

development. An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools and

a debugger. Most modern IDEs have intelligent code completion.

Some IDEs contain a compiler, interpreter, or both, such as NetBeans and Eclipse; others

do not, such as SharpDevelop and Lazarus. The boundary between an integrated development

environment and other parts of the broader software development environment is not well-

defined. Sometimes a version control system, or various tools to simplify the construction of a

Graphical User Interface (GUI), are integrated. Many modern IDEs also have a class browser,

an object browser, and a class hierarchy diagram, for use in object-oriented software

development.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Database Management System

A database management system (DBMS) is a computer software application that interacts

with the user, other applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-

purpose DBMS is designed to allow the definition, creation, querying, update, and administration

of databases. Well-known DBMSs include MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server,

Oracle, Sybase and IBM DB2. A database is not generally portable across different DBMSs, but

different DBMS can interoperate by using standards such as SQL and ODBC or JDBC to allow a

single application to work with more than one DBMS. Database management systems are often

classified according to the database model that they support; the most popular database systems

since the 1980s have all supported the relational model as represented by the SQL language.

Sometimes a DBMS is loosely referred to as a 'database'.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed

by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing

and retrieving data as requested by other software applications which may run either on the same

computer or on another computer across a network (including the Internet).

Microsoft markets at least a dozen different editions of Microsoft SQL Server, aimed at

different audiences and for workloads ranging from small single-machine applications to large

Internet-facing applications with many concurrent users.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ISO 9126

ISO 9126 Software engineering — Product quality was an international standard for

the evaluation of software quality. The fundamental objective of the ISO/IEC 9126 standard is to

address some of the well-known human biases that can adversely affect the delivery and

perception of a software development project. These biases include changing priorities after the

start of a project or not having any clear definitions of "success." By clarifying, then agreeing on

the project priorities and subsequently converting abstract priorities (compliance) to measurable

values (output data can be validated against schema X with zero intervention), ISO/IEC 9126

tries to develop a common understanding of the project's objectives and goals.

The standard is divided into four parts: quality model, external metrics, internal metrics,

and quality in use metrics.

Related Studies

A study was created for the Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences Warehouse

Management System by Yang Yang on 2012.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Evaluation System

ISO 9126 Software Quality Model

The ISO 9126 standard describes a software quality model which categorizes software

quality into six characteristics (factors) which are sub-divided into sub-characteristics (criteria).

The characteristics are manifested externally when the software is used as a consequence of

internal software attributes.

Table 1.

The ISO 9126 Model

Criteria Attributes

Functionality Refers to a set of functions and their specified needs. The functions are those that

satisfy stated or implied needs.

Reliability Refers to the capability of software to maintain its level of performance under stated

conditions for a stated period of time.

Usability Refers to the effectiveness of the system to meet the user’s need, and on the

individual assessment of such use, by a stated or implied set of users.

Efficiency Refers to the relationship between the level of performance of the software and the

amount of resources used, under stated conditions.

Maintainability Refers to the effort needed to make specific modifications.

Portability Refers to the ability of software to be transformed from one environment to another.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Table 2.

The FURPS Model

FURPS is an acronym representing a model for classifying software quality attributes.

The FURPS Model was developed at Hewlett-Packard and was first publicly elaborated by

Grady and Caswell.

Criteria Attributes

Functionality Refers to the main feature of the system and describes what it does for the user and

how does it do it.

Usability Includes looking at, capturing, and stating requirements based around user interface

issues such as accessibility, interface aesthetics, and consistency within the user

interface.

Reliability Includes aspects such as availability, accuracy, and recoverability of the system.

Performance Involves issues such as throughput information, system response time, recovery

time, and startup time.

Supportability Refers to the bucket of requirements that addresses supporting the software such as

testability, adaptability, maintainability, compatibility and so on.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FURPS)

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Conceptual Model of the Study

As shown in figure 1, the conceptual model of the study shows and contains the summary

requirements such as knowledge requirements, software requirements, and hardware

requirements to develop the study and implement the system.

Figure 1. Conceptual Model of the Study

Knowledge Requirements

- VB.Net Programming

- Microsoft SQL Server

- ISO 9126

Software Requirements

- Visual Studio 2013

- Microsoft SQL Server

- Adobe Photoshop CS6

Hardware Requirements

- Intel Core2Duo (Or higher)

- 2GB RAM

INPUT PROCESS INPUT

System Design

System Development

Testing

and Improvement

Intertrans

Warehouse

Management

System

Evaluation

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

As shown in Figure 1, Conceptual Model of the Study contains Input, Process and

Output. The input contains knowledge, software and hardware requirements. The study requires

basic knowledge in Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft SQL Server and system analysis, and Adobe

Photoshop CS6 to be able to develop the system.

The process shows how the system will be developed before implementing it. System

Design and System Development refers to the function and the step by step process of the

system. The system will be tested and revised if there are errors for further improvements.

The output shows the finished project which is the Intertrans Warehouse Management

System.

Operational Definition of Terms

The operational definition of terms terminologies utilized in the context of discussing and

describing the research project.

Warehouse refers to the location wherein items are kept and stored until further notice of

releasing from the authority.

Cannibalized refers to items that are still usable from damaged or salvaged machines or other

items.

Commodity refers to a raw material or or any product that be bought or sold.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Chapter 3

Methodology

This chapter includes the project design, project development, operation and working

procedure, and evaluation procedure.

Project Design

The system was developed using JAVA, MySQL as development tools, XAMPP as

server and MySQL as database server. The system was designed for the authentication of users

depending on the client assigned. The system make use of user tables for storing of login and

passwords of users. Passwords are hidden in hashed form for security.

0.0

Intertrans LogisticsWarehouse Management

System

User

Log in

View Client

Generated Report

View & Add Item

Inventory Details

AdminLog in

View & Add Client

Figure 2. Context DFD of the Developed System

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Figure 2 shows the context diagram of the develop system. The system requires the

username and password by the user in order to use the system. After successfully logged in, the

user may now proceed to the modules provided by the system.

User

1.0

Login

D1 | users_dbUser info

Username &Password

2.0

View/AddClients

D2 | clients_dbClientInfo

User info

3.0

View/AddItem

D3 | items_db

Client Info

Item Info

4.0

Inventory

D4 | inventory_db

Item Info

Item Info w/ Location

5.0

Generate Reports

Client Info

Item List

Inventory Details

Generated Report

AdminUsername &Password

Figure 3. Top Level DFD of the Developed System

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Figure 3 shows the top level data flow diagram of the developed system. The diagram

describes the process in more details from the login up to the generation of reports that is only

accessible for the administrator. The diagram shows how the information enter leaves the

process, how the information changes and where it would be stored and retrieved.

The first process is the login in which the user has limited access depending on the client

assigned. The user may manage two clients in the system. It is the administrator’s responsibility

to manage the clients handled by the users. The user must enter a valid username and password.

Three attempts on logging in is allowed in the system, and it will automatically close after three

failed attempts. Upon login, the user may now proceed on the modules provided by the system.

The second and third process is for viewing of clients and adding of items for the user.

Whilst the admin have access on adding clients and then assigning it to a user. The user therefore

can only add items under the client’s account.

The fourth process is for inventory details. It is where the information about the item is

stored with the corresponding location of it inside the warehouse. It also includes the receiving

and issuance details by each item in the system.

The last process is the generation of reports. This process is only accessible for the

administrators. This is where monitoring can be done and then printing of the generated report.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Data Dictionary

Table 3 shows the client_db data dictionary of the system. This table contains the

information regarding the company’s clients.

Table 3. Client_db Data Dictionary

Field Name

Data Type

Field Size

Description

Client_name

Comp_add

Contact_no

Tel_no

Comp_email

Mobile_no

Tin_no

Remarks

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

INT

INT

VARCHAR

INT

INT

VARCHAR

30

50

30

40

Client Name

Company Address

Contact Number

Telephone Number

Company Email

Mobile Number

Tin Number

Remarks

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Table 4 shows the item_id_db data dictionary of the system. This table contains the

information regarding the details about the items.

Table 4. Item_id Data Dictionary

Field Name

Data Type

Field Size

Description

Item_id

Model

Class

Dimension

Net_weight

Gross_weight

PO_ref

UOM

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

INT

INT

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

20

25

20

10

20

20

Item ID

Model

Class

Dimension

Net Weight

Gross Weight

Purchase Order Reference

Unified Ordering Model

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Table 5 shows the receiving_db data dictionary of the system. This table contains the

information regarding the details of the items received by the company.

Table 5. Receiving_db Data Dictionary

Field Name

Data Type

Field Size

Description

Item_id

Model

Class

Dimension

Net_weight

Gross_weight

PO_ref

Received_by

DR_no

Checked_by

Deliver_by

Time

Received_date

Plate_no

Date_posting

Location

Type_of_storage

Remarks

Serial_no_ref

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

INT

INT

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

20

25

20

10

20

20

20

20

20

10

20

15

20

40

15

30

20

Item ID

Model

Class

Dimension

Net Weight

Gross Weight

Purchase Order Reference

Received By

Delivery Receipt Number

Checked By

Deliver By

Time

Received Date

Plate Number

Date Posting

Location

Type of Storage

Remarks

Serial Number Reference

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Table 6 shows the issuance_db data dictionary of the system. This table contains the

information regarding the details of the items that are issued by the company.

Table 6. Issuance_db Data Dictionary

Field Name

Data Type

Field Size

Description

Item_id

Model

Class

Dimension

Net_weight

Gross_weight

PO_ref

Issued_by

Date_issued

Approved_by

Date_approved

Received_by

Serial_no

Remarks

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

INT

INT

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

VARCHAR

20

25

20

10

20

20

20

20

20

10

20

15

Item ID

Model

Class

Dimension

Net Weight

Gross Weight

Purchase Order Reference

Issued By

Date Issued

Approved By

Date Approved

Received By

Serial Number

Remarks

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Operation and Testing Procedure

The system will be subjected to a series of tests and analysis in order to discover any

faults, bugs, or inconsistencies.

The following are the operation and testing procedures needed to check the system’s

performance.

Installing the System

1. Prepare the required versions of Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server.

2. Install Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server.

3. Import and configure the MySQL file with the database.

4. Import and configure the JAR file.

5. Open the JAR file.

6. Log in using registered credentials.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Subsequent tables will show the testing done on the modules to check if the desired

function was achieved.

Table 7. Usability Test

Test on Module Steps Undertaken

Login Form - Created a valid user account. An error message

will display when input was incorrect.

Home Page - Posts announcements and other news. Checked

the search bar and navigated all the menu items.

Client Module - Tested create button. Filled up all required fields.

Tested the edit and create button.

Item Module - Tested add button. Filled up all the required fields.

Tested the edit and save button.

Receiving Module - Tested add button. Filled up all the required fields.

Tested the edit and save button.

Issuance Module - Tested add button. Filled up all the required fields.

Tested the edit and save button.

Stock Inventory Module - Tested the dropdown list. Tested the search and

print button.

Transaction Record - Tested the dropdown list. Tested the search, export

and print button.

Search Module - Filled up the required fields. Tested the search

button.

Reports Module - Filled up the required fields. Tested the search and

print report button.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Evaluation Procedure

To determine the performance of the system, 20 respondents composed of employees of

Intertrans will be asked to determine the merit, worth, and significance of the system based on

the criteria that will be set as standards. The study adapted the ISO 9126 evaluation instrument

for software quality with the following criteria: functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency,

maintainability, and portability.

The following steps will be needed to evaluate the system.

1. The researchers will conduct a complete system demonstration to the

evaluators.

2. The evaluators will be given a chance to explore and navigate the system.

3. The evaluators will be requested to rate the system using the given evaluation

sheet.

4. The individual ratings will be tabulated and the mean rating will be computed

to determine the acceptability of the system.

5. The result will be interpreted for the equivalent descriptive rating.

The mean will be used to determine the viability of the project based on ISO 9126 criteria

that include functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability. The

formula below was used in computing the mean.

x = mean; n = no. of respondents; i = no. of response

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Based on the formula, the mean will be computed by getting the sum of all the responses

and dividing it by the number of respondents. Respondents answered an evaluation form using

the criteria defined by ISO 9126. Items in each criterion were rated in a scale of 1-5, with 5 as

the highest or “Highly Acceptable”, 4 as “Very Acceptable”, 3 as “Acceptable”, and 2 as “Fairly

Acceptable”, and 1 as the lowest or “Not Acceptable” as shown in Table 8.

Table 8. Rating Scale for the Evaluation Instrument

Numerical Rating Descriptive Rating

5 Highly Acceptable

4 Very Acceptable

3 Acceptable

2 Fairly Acceptable

1 Not Acceptable

The responses of the evaluators will be tabulated, computed, and interpreted using the

equivalent rating system in Table 12. The mean range from 4.2 to 5 will be interpreted as

“Highly Acceptable”, 3.4 to 4.1 as “Very Acceptable”, 2.6 to 3.33 as “Acceptable”, 1.8 to 2.50

as “Fairly Acceptable”, 1.00 to 1.7 interpreted as “Not Acceptable”.

LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Table 9. Scale Range and its Qualitative interpretation

Range Qualitative Interpretation

4.2-5.00 Highly Acceptable

3.4-4.1 Very Acceptable

2.6-3.3 Acceptable

1.8-2.50 Fairly Acceptable

1.00-1.7 Not Acceptable