|
Customer Profile
CTRL System Inc,
http://www.ctrlsys.com
Our Solution
Based on the requirements
of CTRL System we proposed that the system be developed
as a browser based application using Active Server Pages
(generated automatically by IIS Application template
of Visual Basic 6.0), HTML and DHTML. The web server
used is Internet Information Server 4.0 Web server,
running on Windows NT 4.0. MS Access was used as the
database. Both VBScript and JavaScript were used for
the validation at the client side.
The system has all the functionality
of the client’s existing DOS based system as desired
and provides a web based user-friendly interface.
Tools and Technologies
- Microsoft
Windows 9x/NT Platform
- Internet
Information Server 4.0
- Microsoft
Visual Basic 6.0
- Visual
Basic IIS Application
- Microsoft
Access
Methodology
The
system was developed as an add-on module to the existing
system. Hence, it was designed in such a way that it
fits into the existing system.
The system was designed and developed
using the Iterative Methodology and a Component based
architecture.
Benefits
InventoryCTRL
effectively minimizes the human interaction in maintaining
the inventory. It also helps in ordering of parts by
calculating the inventory available, apart from providing
the user with time-to-time information in the form of
various reports. It maintains the information of various
vendors for a given part along with their history in
terms of meeting the standards and deliveries etc, which
is used for choosing a vendor for a given part to be
ordered.
|
Introduction
InventoryCTRL was developed as one of the series of
products from CTRL Systems Inc. InventoryCTRL is a product
targeted at the Fleet/Equipment Maintenance Industry.
The system is a distributed application that allows
the complete tracking of any consumable inventory. This
product is used in association with the VehicleCTRL,
Fuel Interface and ROCTRL, designed to help the user
to control the maintenance operations. InventoryCTRL
maintains year-to-date records for all inventories in
the user’s warehouse. And more importantly, InventoryCTRL
analyzes this data to print reports, which can help
the user in planning future orders more accurately.
Situation
CTRL Systems Inc. wanted InventoryCTRL
to be a web-based distributed system that allows the
complete tracking of any consumable inventory (stocked
or non-stocked) from suggested order through product
receipts and issuances.
The system was to provide the following
functionality:
- Work as Internet/Intranet Solution.
- Control and monitor any type of consumable inventory
item.
- Provide suggested orders based on actual history
of usage.
- Automatically create purchase orders and provide
for blanket purchase orders if established on the
system.
- Maintain history for both stocked and non-stocked
parts.
- Help minimize inventory overhead by providing suggested
phase-in or phase-out according to usage.
- Provide automatic markup for cost analysis.
- Provide cost analysis based on either LIFO or Rolling
Average costing, and
- Provide complete investment analysis.
- Provide a flexible reporting mechanism.
Apart from above functional requirements
CTRL wanted the System to:
- Be able to work over the Internet
- Be scalable and customizable
- Be user-friendly and intuitive to use.
- Be reliable and manageable
- Provide acknowledgements wherever required.
- Be accurate and reliable
Features
- Web based Inventory, spread across multiple locations.
- Uses component architecture, hence very secure and
maintainable.
- Web based customizable reporting capabilities.
- Automated Purchase Order generation.
- Continuous monitoring of all the consumables in
the Inventory.
- Maintains history for both stocked and non-stocked
parts.
- Provides suggested orders based on actual history
of usage.
- Provides automatic markup for cost analysis
- Provide complete investment analysis
Our Process
The system was implemented using a
component based architecture as the following modules:
Setups and Adjustments:
This module helps in, setting
up new entities related to the system or modify the existing
ones. This module is accessible by only the administrator.
This is used for setting up and adjustment of Users, Parts,
Vendors, Inventory Locations, and Bins etc.
Transactions: This
module helps in tracking the different transactions of
various parts. The basic transactions include:
- Issue parts
- Receive parts
- Order parts
- End of day inventory
- Physical inventory
- End of period inventory
Reporting: This
module is used for generating different reports associated
with the various entities of the system. The main entity
of the system is ‘Parts’. The reports are generated
dynamically using different criteria. The reporting functionality
includes:
- Part Reports
- Vendor Reports
- Transactions Report
- End of Day Reports
- End of Period Reports
Conclusion
We have made significant contributions
in terms of the design for this system and tried to keep
in mind the client’s long-term requirements. The
System was designed and developed to cater the needs of
Fleet Industry, but can be easily customized to use across
different industries. As the system uses component model,
it is easy to maintain and upgrade. |
