Brian Trade Project
Brian Trade Project
INDEX NO :
PAPER NO : 2920/308
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DECLARATION
I declare that this project is my original work and has not been submitted for the award of
Signed …………………………………………………………….…………….
Date …………………………………….........................................................
Approval
This research project has been submitted to the Kenya national examination council
Sign ……………………………………………………………………………
Date …………………………………………………………………………….
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DEDICATION
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank God for taking care of me as I started my schooling up to the end of this
level and also for offering ways of getting my school fees. Special thanks and appreciation to my
supervisor Mr. Eric Mochoge for the guidance and advice throughout the project. Much thanks to
my family for the financial support towards the completion of my course and making my project.
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ABSTRACT
The main aim of this project is to help solve the current problem of the readers’ service
department, collection and development department, technical department and the e-bookstore.
The current readers’ desk management system automates the basic operations carried out in that
department but still has some limitations and prone to errors that can be caused by the network or
the readers’ desk. The online bookstore management system can be seen as a modern innovation
that is expected to help in the registration of users such as the students and teaching staff of the
institution, registration and the classification of books, extracting and storing the details of e-
books, generating reports, accurate calculation of fines, sending mails to registered users of the
system to inform them of the new collections and remind them to return borrowed materials.
This system can perform two automated tasks with the help of two windows services. The
windows service is a light-weight background program that provides core operating system
functions such as web services, error or report logging etc. In this project, the purpose of the
windows service is to provide web services for automatically adding defaulters to the defaulters
list and deleting user reservations. The main advantage of using a windows service is that the
system can still carry out its automated functions even when the application is not running.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION...............................................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..............................................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER ONE..............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of the study.......................................................................................................1
1.3 Description of the current system.........................................................................................2
1.3.1 Problems of the current system...............................................................................................3
1.4 Evaluation of the current system...............................................................................................3
1.4.1 Advantages of the current system...........................................................................................3
1.4 Description of the proposed system......................................................................................4
1.5.1 Advantages of the proposed system.......................................................................................4
1.6 Limitations of the proposed system...........................................................................................4
1.8 Objectives of the study..............................................................................................................7
1.8.1 General objective....................................................................................................................7
1.8.2 Specific objective....................................................................................................................7
1.7 Organization Structure...............................................................................................................7
CHAPTER TWO.............................................................................................................................8
2.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................8
2.2 Related Works......................................................................................................................8
CHAPTER THREE.......................................................................................................................12
3.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................12
3.2 System development methodologies.......................................................................................12
3.2.1 Requirements planning.........................................................................................................13
3.2.2 User design...........................................................................................................................13
3.2.3 Construction..........................................................................................................................13
3.2 Implementation........................................................................................................................14
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the background of the study, description of the current
system, pproblems of the current system, evaluation of the current system, description of the
proposed system, advantages and limitations of current system, problem definition, and
Gusii Institute of Technology that is currently The Kisii National Polytechnic was founded on
19th December 1971 during an all Abagusii leaders conference at the Gusii County Hall. The
initiation of the institute was on a fund raising basis supported by the farmers, Kisii cooperative
union, Gusii County Council, business community and the general public. Registration of the
institute took place in March 1972 under the Education Act CAP 212 of the laws of Kenya. In
1976, the institute first opened its doors to twenty five students for secretarial studies and by then
the Catholic Church headquarters at St. Vincent hosted the institute. The current site was then
identified, and the construction activities started in 1980. The first buildings to be put up were
two workshops (i.e. woodwork technology, mechanical engineering) a typing pool, a dining hall
and a hostel. Kisii National Polytechnic has land measuring 16.95 hectares which is considered
adequate for further expansion. In 1983, with the new facilities in place, other courses were
added to the curriculum. The rest of these were courses in building trades, which included
Carpentry and Joinery, Plumbing, Masonry and Electrical Installation. The institution has
continued to grow thanks to donor assistance from various bodies and organizations. The current
population consists of 3000 students, 180 lecturers and 95 non- teaching staff. Kisii National
Polytechnic is a hive of activity where people work together to transform dreams into skills for
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life. We look forward to taking the polytechnic to the higher level of training individual in order
In an ancient kingdom located at the Southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia, the libraries there were
a collection of clay tablets. In 330 B.C. the first public bookstore in Greece contained preserved
works of great dramatists. Out of these above mentioned libraries, the most famous libraries of
antiquity were those of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I, which contained some 700,000 Greek
scrolls.
Libraries from Greece, Asian Minor and Syria were the first Roman libraries as a result of the
conquest in the first and second century. Early Christian libraries were in the residence of a
religious community called monasteries. From the ninth to fifteenth century, Arabs collected fine
libraries also the Jews and the Byzantines collected fine libraries during the medieval period.
In the year 1732, a circulatory bookstore called the Bookstore Company of Philadelphia in the
United States was chartered on the initiative of Benjamin Franklin. The first tax-supporting
bookstore was opened at Philadelphia in the year 1833, and then the American Bookstore
Association was later formed in the year 1876. Traveling libraries and book mobiles began to
take books to people living in the rural areas in the early twentieth century.
By the end of the twentieth century, many resources were made available to bookstore patrons in
electronic formats which could be easily accessed directly from home or work due to digital
revolution.
The current situation is very limited too few resources, students are unable to get knowledge
more than that the lecture provides to them. This in the end limits student’s performances,
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1.3.1 Problems of the current system
i. The current system is that lectures download references for students or for lecturing.
ii. Students submit assignment to lectures through hard copies or personal emails.
iii. Students only get help from lectures if the lectures are in they are office.
v. Students are unable to share resources effectively and hold group discussions that are
The following sections describe the general factors that affect the product and its requirements.
Users must have a valid User Id and password to login to the system. After the valid user login
he is shown the list of details available on. On selecting the desired option he is taken to a page
which shows the details he needed. Student can get the required material as softcopy for free of
cost. Student can also request the university people to share their own documents which can help
other students. Information is available at anytime, anywhere as desired by the student. The
student will have client interface in which he can interact with the e-learning portal. It is a web
based interface which will be the web page of the e-learning application. Starting a page is
displayed asking to login as student, in this page we can sign up and create new account as
student. Then the page is redirected to home page where the user can enter the details as required
if it is valid. The administrator will have an administrative interface which is a GUI so that he
can view the entire portal system. He will also have a login page where he can enter the login
particulars so that he can perform all his actions like uploading of courses, books, materials,
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1.4.1 Advantages of the current system
The system will hopefully serve as a centralized database of syllabus for the courses offered at
the university allowing students and faculties (current, past and prospective), to view them. The
system will end up bringing an effective communication among students, lectures, and the
iii. It provides an easy-to-use way to manage course websites that include schedule
Technology dependent
Learners will need access to a machine of minimum specification as dictated by the eLearning
supplier or access to a service with a high bandwidth to transfer the course materials in a timely
way.
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Material Incompatibility
Some materials designed for one particular system will not function properly on another (for
example, the Apple Macintosh and the Windows PC). Standards will help in the area.
Any skill that relies heavily on inter-personal contact although these courses could be
supplemented by eLearning.
ELearning requires a high-level of self-discipline and personal time management. eLearners need
to be highly self-motivated to take full advantage of the medium as often the online learning
It is too easy for some institutions to defer the photocopying costs onto the learner by placing all
lecture notes and course handouts online. Such practices often mean that the course materials are
in an inappropriate format for online learning. Course providers need to develop new technical
Expensive
Start-up cost of an elearning service is expensive and the cost of production of online training
materials is very high. Teachers must be confident that the extra costs are balance with the
benefits of delivering a course online. Significant time needs to be invested in course set-up and
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ELearning is still dependent on help on either the course materials or the software.
Social/economic disadvantage
Can limit or prevent access by some student groups (for example, cost of equipment, online
Electronic communication does not necessarily provide a good match for face-to-face
Learners may have limited IT skills, or be uncomfortable with electronic communication and
Disabilities
Inflexible
Flexibility may be lost as adjustments to the course in response to student reaction are not easy to
Pedagogically Unsound
The electronic environment does not per se offer a pedagogically enhancing learning
environment.
The transactions related to book purchase, book issue and book returns are maintained manually
at present along with maintaining the accounts of the Students and the lecturers. All these are to
be automated and an application is required to relate all of them relatively and logically so that
the current system can be replaced and accepted without major changes and problems. The
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application should provide quick access to the records maintained and must reveal the important
reviews about the business so that the growth can be easily compared and should provide with
the various reports showing the related details so that the important decisions could be taken
easily.
The main objective of the application is to automate the existing system of manually maintain
the records of the book issue, book return from the student, stock maintenance, catalog and book
i. Develop a relational database to store book details (hard and soft), staff details and
student details.
ii. Provision of a search functionality to enable users search for books efficiently and system
iii. Provision of e-book extraction functionality for extracting the details of the e-books in
iv. Development of a user account management component to handle account related matters
v. Designing a user-friendly interface for the users to enable them navigate through the
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CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter the researcher will look at the literature of other writers and what they discussed
Neelakandan et’al. (2016) implemented an automated bookstore management system for the
work was motivated by the inefficient and static [not dynamic or flexible] methods of carrying
out the daily activities in the bookstore plus the great importance of applying modern techniques
and approaches for the efficient retrieval and dissemination of information and services for the
clientele. The main objective of this study is to automate the Departmental Bookstore of
Chemistry by implementing an automated system using Koha Bookstore Integrated Open Source
Software. The methodology used in carrying out this research work involves integrating a free
and open source software with other third party applications such as: MySQL dump utility for
MySQL replication dumps, MySQL database etc. Monitoring the activities in the School of
Chemistry Bookstore and taking stock of situations. Then performing physical examination of
the books in order to extract their bibliographic details which are later entered in an excel sheet.
integrated bookstore management software that works either on a single machine or in a client-
Since a bookstore contains very large collections of books and large number of members, it is
impossible for the librarian to manage the day to day activities manually.
Tan Chaur Chuan (2015) points out that bookstore management system is mainly used by
librarian and bookstore administrator. The librarian is able to manage the following modules:
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Member maintenance module; Book maintenance module and Book transaction module. Tan
Chaur Chuan (2010) also stated that the bookstore management system allows user [librarian] to
manage the publisher as well as lost book module. The other type of user which is the admin
level staff is able to handle the staff module and view the report module. The main objective of
this work is to automate the daily transactions that take place in the bookstore in order to
eliminate the traditional paper-work and to prevent the occurrence of missing records or files.
Kumar (2016) defines an online bookstore as a system that maintains books in the server in any
format. It allows storing books, documents, audio and video files. The online bookstore enables
users to search and open documents by giving a simple query. [Kumar, 2012] also defines an
online bookstore management system as a system, which maintains books, documents and
audio/video files. In order to use this system one must be a member of the bookstore. Bookstore
members or registered users can search for books by giving a simple query. The online bookstore
uses internal feedback from the user to improve search processes in every search. The system
also makes use of indexing to locate documents very fast in a search that is related to the query.
This project was motivated by the defects of the existing system which includes: using manual
methods to record the details of acquired bookstore materials; low level of security; complexity
arises in the maintenance of bookstore catalogue and arrangement of books to the catalogue and
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A bookstore can be defined as a depository built to house a collection of books, literary
documents, or records for studying or borrowing. It can also be seen as a building containing
collections of information resources that can be easily accessed by the public for reference or
borrowing.
This is a sub-discipline of the institutional management that focuses on specific issues faced by
tasks as well as intellectual freedom, anti-censorship, and fundraising tasks. Issues faced in
organizations.
This is a register of bibliographic items (e.g., books, computer files, graphics, realia, cartographic
materials, etc.) found in a bookstore or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several
geographical locations. A bibliographic item can be seen as any information entity that is
considered bookstore material or a group of bookstore materials linked from the catalog as far as
This can be defined as an online database of materials held by a particular or group of libraries. It
can also be defines as a computerized system to catalog and organize bookstore materials. An
OPAC is available to bookstore patrons to search the catalog for bibliographic items (e.g., books,
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2.6 Bookstore Management System (LMS)
This is a computer-based system that the functions carried out in the bookstore such as
acquisition, cataloging, circulation, and budget management and collection analysis. The heart of
every bookstore management system is a relational database where all records or data related to
the bookstore and users are stored. The number and names given to different subsystems
[modules] in an LMS may vary from one system to the other. Today’s modern LMS offers the
Serials Control, Enquiry, OPAC [Online Public Access Catalogue], Inter bookstore loans, Self-
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CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Introduction
This chapter started on the discussion about the system development methodology. The second
part presented system requirements. The third part handled system requirements. The last part
The researcher will use Systems Development Life Cycle to develop this system. SDLC is a
conceptual model used in project management that describes the stages involved in an
information system development project from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of
the completed application. Various SDLC methodologies have been developed to guide the
processes involved including the waterfall model, rapid application development (RAD), joint
application development (JAD), the fountain model and the spiral model. In this system the
by Rapid Application Development (RAD) cycles. Unlike waterfall development life cycles,
where testing is done at the end of the project, iterative life cycles specify testing at multiple
performance analysis and predictive tuning in the process. Identifying the addressing flows
early, especially performance limitations, has as advantage the cuts of the cost to fix them and at
the same time minimizes the impact on the project schedule. RAD has been proven to be a
valuable software strategy. However, it is not without pitfalls and risks. RAD incorporates some
defects that we need to adjust. Research and capitalization should be invested in order to
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The Rapid Application Development path may be adapted to different CASE tools and
development environments. This section briefly describes the four stages of RAD.
In this stage the researcher will review areas immediately associated with the proposed system.
This review will produce a broad definition of the system requirements in terms of the functions
the system will support. The deliverables from this stage will include an outline system area
model of the area under study, a definition of the system's scope, and a cost justification for the
new system.
In user design stage a detailed analysis of the business activities related to the proposed system
will be carried out. The researcher will outline key users, decompose business functions and
define entity types associated with the system. A complete set of the analysis will be done by
creating action diagrams defining the interactions between processes and data. Following the
analysis, the design of the system will be outlined. System procedures are designed, and
preliminary layouts of screens will be developed. Prototypes of critical procedures will be built
and reviewed. A plan for implementing the system will also be prepared.
3.2.3 Construction
In this stage the researcher working directly with users will finalize the design and build the
system. The software construction process consists of a series of design-and-build steps in which
the users will have the opportunity to fine tune the requirements and review the resulting
software implementation. This stage also will include preparing for the cutover to production. In
addition to the tested software, construction stage deliverables will include documentation and
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instructions necessary to operate the new application, and routines and procedures needed to put
3.2 Implementation
The implementation stage will involve implementing the new system and managing the change
from the old system environment to the new one. This will include implementing bridges
between existing and new systems, converting data, and training users. User acceptance is the
Based on the proposed fleet management system is designed purely from the users' viewpoint
achieve such designs are clarified. After checking requirement specifications included in the
basic plan, the overview of the project is represented by the use of diagrams so that the
The software design specifically targeted to customers and management of the researchers used a
user-friendly design to attract the user to use the new automated system. Here the system was
designed purely from the users' viewpoint without considering the constraints of hardware. In
addition, system structures required to achieve such designs are clarified. After checking the
requirement specifications included in the planning, the overview of the system represented by
the use of diagrams so that the processed of data can be easily understood. Based on the
representations, the division into sub-systems and input/output designing was performed. The
entire system was divided into three modules on a functional basis, and each module was further
divided into smaller units. The designing of the code, such as the determination of a coding
system, was conducted. In addition, relationships between the data were analyzed.
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CHAPTER FOUR: SYSTEM DESIGN
4.1 Introduction
This chapter involves developing a program structure by breaking the overall design into many
smaller programs as necessary for easy understanding of the code. Detailed design will be dealt
with. The design will consist of data design, process design and physical design.
Depending on the results of the initial investigation the survey is now expanded to a more
detailed feasibility study. Feasibility study is a test of system proposal according to its
workability, impact of the organization, ability to meet needs and effective use of the resources.
During feasibility analysis for this project, following primary areas of interest are to be
considered. Investigation and generating ideas about a new system does this. Steps in feasibility
v. Determine and evaluate performance and cost effective of each proposed system.
Feasibility study is the procedure to identify, describe the evaluate candidate system and select
the best possible action for the job. The initial investigation culminated in a proposal
summarized the thinking of the analyst, was presented to the user for review. The proposal
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initiated a feasible study to describe and evaluate the best system to choose in terms of
A study of resource availability that may affect the ability to achieve an acceptable system. This
evaluation determines whether the technology needed for the proposed system is available or not.
i. Can the work for the project be done with current equipment existing software
This is concerned with specifying equipment and software that will successfully satisfy the user
An important issue for the development of a project is the selection of suitable front-end and
back-end. When we decided to develop the project we went through an extensive study to
determine the most suitable platform that suits the needs of the organization as well as helps in
development of the project. The aspects of our study included the following factors.
i. It must have a graphical user interface that assists employees that are not from IT
background.
iii. Flexibility.
iv. Robustness.
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vi. Must provide excellent reporting features with good printing support.
v. Stored procedures.
vi. Popularity.
According to above stated features we selected MS-Access as the backend. The technical
feasibility is frequently the most difficult area encountered at this stage. It is essential that the
feasibility. It centers on the existing computer system (hardware, software etc.) and to what
Economic justification is generally the “Bottom Line” consideration for most systems. Economic
justification includes abroad range of concerns that includes cost benefit analysis. In this we
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weight the cost and the benefits associated with the candidate system. And if it suits the basic
purpose of the organization i.e. profit making, the project is making to the analysis and design
phase. The financial and the economic questions during the preliminary investigation are verified
ii. The cost of hardware and software for the class of application being considered.
iv. The proposed system will give the minute information, as a result the performance is
After considering the following point that the system is behaviorally feasible. The project is
carried out on the request of the users. To a greater extent, the proposed system aims at
maximizing user friendliness. This is intended to overcome resistance to change by the exiting
staff. Users are quite experienced in handling the computerized system. Users are aware of the
i. Software requirement.
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4.4 Hardware Requirement
The hardware components of a computer system refer to the physical part that makes up the
computer system. For an effective operation, the system can be implemented provided the
following hardware components are at least met. The following hardware is required for the
efficient work of the system: Pentium IV or higher, Storage: 13-20 gigabyte of storage,
Memory: 128MB of ram and above, Keyboard: Enhanced keyboard, Drivers: c d rom 48x and
above, 3.5 (1.44mb) fdd drive, Mouse: Enhanced serial or parallel mouse, CRT: 15”
svgacolored monitor, Model: Pentium 580 mml and above, Printer: Optimal (Colored/black and
white) For effective operation of the newly designed system, the following minimum hardware
specifications are recommended. The listed configurations are the minimum requirements, but if
the configurations are of higher versions, the processing derived will definitely be better and the
Computer software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the
instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. In other words, software is a set
of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a
data processing system. Program software performs the function of the program it implements,
another piece of software. The following list of software are needed for adequate implementation
of the system
The researcher used the requirements to entail what the system in question would do. This study
therefore provides detailed documentations of requirements applicable and this was categorized
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into collection and analysis of user requirements, functional requirements, nonfunctional
i. The system was able to provide access to accurate and updated information
ii. The system was user friendly and interactive to be used by users to complete their tasks
iii. The system responded when the buttons are clicked and all links shall be able to lead to
the destination.
iv. Administrators accessed the user details in terms of those who checked
i. The system allowed different users to get direct access to different departments
The system has consistent interface formats and button sets for all forms in the application,
which have a form based interface for all data entry and viewing formats, and generates reports
i. Response time
ii. Throughput
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The system processed simultaneous requests at a particular time from users
iii. Security
The researcher was able to view records in the organization. This data helped the researcher to
examining data and its relation. Records were examined to see whether there was any
5.1 Introduction
This chapter includes software that has been built as a result of the design made by the
researcher. This will help to carry out the organization’s task as per the user’s requirements. The
prototype will mostly focus on the database, inputs, processes and outputs that are the basic
system’s components. The end users suggest change and the prototype is revised to
The aim of testing was to detect any errors that can cause the program to fail. A successful test
should be one that does not show up the presence of errors rather the reverse. This kind of test
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5.3 System installation requirements
The researcher found out that the organization needs a computer with the following
specifications.
vii. Windows 7
5.4Controls
The researcher introduced control measures i.e. restricting the system access by means of
The researcher’s view was that a room to be set aside that was well ventilated; the floors
carpeted and dust free. These specifications were enough o host the proposed system.
The change of old system prompted a need for the personnel to acquire detailed knowledge on
how to use the new system. The training was to be made successful by providing system manuals
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CHAPTER SIX: DOCUMENTATION
6.1 Introduction
Documentation is a means of communication between the analyst and users of the system.
Documentation consists of users request, specifies the procedure required for running the system
by the operations personnel, gives general sequence of events for performing the work and
defines precise procedures for data control and security, data preparation, program running and
output distribution. It is for the use of anyone who wishes to understand the detailed working of a
program.
Encompasses of all information needed to define the proposed computer-based system. The
6.2.1 1nput
Input should be established effectively by making sure that data are correctly entered into the
6.2.2 Processing
This involves clicking on the command buttons to get the required results. The outputs will be
6.2.3 Output
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The processed data is produced in a softcopy form or hardcopy depending on what the user
requires. The output should have no errors that can be created during input or processing.
The researcher subdivided the program into smaller manageable modules that made it easier.
After coding each component module, the testing of each module followed suite. Testing was to
The user manual was designed to specifically provide instructions and guidelines to the users
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CHAPTER SEVEN
7.1 Introduction
This chapter shows the limitations, problem areas and future improvements that can be solved by
Input determines the output to be produced. If there is an error during input, processing will
7.2.2 Viruses
Computer viruses affected the files hence making them to get lost or the program to appear to
There is constant power surge and power black outs in the organization
The researcher concluded that the organization needs to network its departments to enable
sharing of resources and also ease communication. Different departments should also be
integrated by the new system to ensure accuracy and efficiency between departments.
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Budget
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References
Nielsen, B. (2003). Taking the risk out of rapid application development. London, Sage
Publishers.
Carrera, et al., (2003). Rapid Aplication Development. New York Educations Publishers,
Sourer, M. (2003). Systems Analysis and Design. New York, Brothers Publishers
Publishers.
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