On entering the CSO inventory system the user will be required to go through a login process. This process involves entering a user name and their password. The user name will consist the employees surname and their initial. By going through this process two important requirements are satisfied. Firstly, the system ensures security for the operation of the CSO supermarket information. Secondly, this process will determine the employee's privileges on the system. For the CSO inventory system it has been determined that there are four types of employees using the system. Stock personnel are involved in updating the the amount of stock in the store as new shipments arrive. Cashiers, naturally, are responsible for reducing the inventory in the system as the sales to customers are processed. While, managers and the head manager are responsible for administration of the personnel and stock.
For each type of employee the system will display a window that reflects the necessary functions to perform their duties. The head manages windows will also include a method of accessing the window for all types of employees. The department managers will be able to access the windows for the cashier and stockers.
The login process is quite simple. After starting the CSO inventory system, the system will ask the employee to enter their employee name, followed by their personal password. After the system validates the password and employee name, the appropriate window will appear on the screen.
After the managers log into the CSO inventory system, there will be two major components to the window.
At the very top of this window all major categories of the manger's responsibilities appear as buttons. This can be referred to as the Primary Duty Menu. These responsibilities have been determined as: Inventory, Personnel, Create and Delete Departments, Accessing the Stocker's Window, Accessing the Cashier's Window, Access to the Database Archive and Inquiring into all Changes to the Inventory. Since only the head manager is responsible for creating and deleting departments, this function will be restricted. Naturally, there will be a button, prominently displayed for quitting the CSO system in this top area. These buttons will always be at the top of the window while the mangers are using the CSO inventory system.
The bottom component of the window, for convenience, will display the most frequently performed duty, the Inventory. In this component of the window the manager will see two lists in the middle of the screen. The list on the left will show the current list of inventory for which the manager is responsible. The title of this list will be the manager's department. For the head manager the list is titled "inventory of all departments", and they will be able to change the list to display the inventory for specific departments if it is required.
By default the list on the right hand side will display all items in inventory that need to be restocked and have not yet been placed on order. Essentially this list is a stock order list. The title of this list will be "Order Number XXXX", where XXXX is a new order number. The manager can change this list to display a previously placed order if required.
Since all mangers may need to add items to the order list, there is a button between the two lists for adding a selected inventory item to the order list. There is a remove button for removing an order item from the order list.
Only one item from either the inventory list or the order list can be selected at one time. When an item is selected from either list, information about that item is displayed in a separate box at the very bottom of the window. This information will include: Bar Code, Item number, Item description, Department, Item location in store, Price, stock Minimum, stock Maximum, current Stock. This information can be modified by the manager, except for the department category which can only be changed by the head manager.
If the item was selected from the order list additional information will be displayed including; date ordered, quantity ordered, date received. If the order list contains a new order, some of this information will not yet be applicable, ie date received will be blank. The order list will also indicate the status of an order; To be approved by the head manager, or Waiting to be received from the warehouse.
The head manager will have three additional buttons that will not be accessible by the department managers. The buttons will not be completely invisible to the department mangers in order to remind them that such duties exist for the head manager. These buttons are for adding and deleting items from the inventory list, and the third for authorising a stock order request.
When a manager wishes to perform personnel duties, rather than the default inventory duties, they must press the Personnel button from the Primary Duty Menu located at the top of the window. When this button is selected the second component of the window changes to display functions related to personnel.
The list of personnel for which the manager is responsible for will be prominently displayed on the left hand side of the window. The list will be titled by the department name for the department managers. For the head manager the title of the list will be a pull down menu for selecting a specific department or for displaying "all" personnel (by default all personnel will be displayed) . On the right hand side of this list there will be buttons for adding or deleting an individual from the employee list.
When an employee is selected from the employee list, all information available on that employee will be displayed at the bottom of the window. This information can be changed as required.
There must also be a button for changing the password of an employee. This is useful for situations such as an employee forgetting their password. Since the employee list will only contain persons for which the manager is responsible for, the manager can only change passwords for his employee's.
By selecting the button for creating and deleting departments from the Primary Duty Menu, the head manager (only the head manager) can add a new department into the system or remove an old department. When the button is selected the window will display a menu for selecting a particular department, department information, a button for deleting a department, and a button to add a new department.
When a particular department is selected, information is displayed including a personnel and inventory list. These lists cannot be changed from this window. They are displayed only to provide necessary information to the head manager before deciding to delete the department.
To delete a department from the CSO inventory system a department must be selected first to enable a button on the window to be usable. The system will ask the head manager where to transfer the personnel and where to transfer the inventory. There will be an option to transfer both the personnel and the inventory to an unclassified department. The system will ask for final confirmation for deleting a department that still has personnel or inventory recorded in the system.
Should the head manager wish to transfer employees or inventory to many different departments, they should use the Personnel and Inventory buttons from the Primary Duty Menu.
When creating a new department the head manager will be asked for the new department name. The head manager will then use the Personnel and Inventory duty buttons in the Primary Duty Menu to define the personnel and inventory for this new department.
In order to access the cashier or the stocker windows, the manager will select the appropriate button from the Primary Duty Menu.
Both of these managerial functions are extensions to the CSO Inventory System that will be available in the near future.
This window can be accessed by any manager from the Primary Duty Menu from the manager window, or by any cashier who logs on to the CSO inventory system.
The duties of the cashier are located on a separate window since speed and efficiency is fundamental to the duties of a cashier. Like the window for managers, the cashier's window is partitioned into two segments. The top section is the Cashier Primary Duty Menu, and consists of three basic buttons, sales, refunds, and print receipt. By default the 'sales' button is selected, so when the cashier logs onto the system the bottom segment of the window diplays the 'sales' area.
The 'sales' area in the Cashier's window consists of a list of items for a customers transaction. The cashier can enter items into the list two ways. A bar code reader can be used. For situations when the bar code is unreadable by the bar code reader, the cashier can enter the new item in a field at the top of the cashier window.
When an item is entered, the list will display the item description, price, quantity to purchase, and the bar code number. The inventory system will not be updated until the cashier finalises the sale of all items in the list by pressing the "complete transaction" button. It is important that the cashier is able to change items in the customer list in case there are errors or the customer changes their mind.
If the bar code reader, or the cashier enters an invalid bar code number, the terminal will beep and display an error message.
The 'refund' area in the Cashier's window is just like the 'sales' area.
When the cashier completes a sale or refund for a particular customer, the cashier presses the 'print receipt' button.
For security purposes, the cashier must consult a department manager assistance to change the completed transaction. The department manager would login to the system and change the correct the errors using the inventory button in the Primary Duty Menu.
This window can be accessed by any manager from the Primary Duty Menu from the manager window, or by any stocker who logs on to the CSO inventory system.
The duties of the stocker are quite simple, therefore the stocker window contains only a few simple functions. The window consists of a list containing all ordered items that have been sent to the warehouse.
The stocker must enter the items received from the warehouse into the CSO inventory system. The stocker will only perform this duty when they have received the laiding form from the manager who has signed to verify receipt of the shipment.
In order to update the correct items in the CSO inventory system, the stocker must find the items in the displayed list. The stocker can search for a specific item in the list by entering the name or BAR code number of the item in a field below the list. Alternatively the stocker can enter the order number from the laiding form to change the list to display only those items corresponding to that order number.
When the stocker sees an item in the list that must be updated, the stocker selects that item. When the item is selected the inventory of that item is displayed in the bottom of the window.
The stocker can update the inventory system by pressing an update button. If only a partial order has been shipped the stocker can change the quantity to update field before updating the inventory system.
The warehouse system has four main functions:
An order will presumably be received either in some physical or electronic form that must be manually entered into the warehouse's computer, either on paper or my email.
On startup, the warehouse system will display a menu bar at the top of the screen containing the two main functions the warehouse system can perform: Receiving and order and Confirming a shipment.
When in the Receive Order mode (selected from the main menu bar), a menu will appear for the entry of the following information:
Once this information has been entered into the menu form, the button labeled "Print Lading Form" must be pressed. The system will then print a laiding form to accompany the completed order to the store.
When the warehouse receives a confirmation of a shipment, again either in some physical or electronic form, an invoice can be printed from the Confirm Shipment mode (selected from the main menu bar).
From a list of previously entered orders (see RECEIVING AN ORDER) the user can find and select the order for which receipt has been confirmed. Once a previous order has been selected, selecting the "Print Invoice" button will print an invoice to a file that can be sent to the supermarket by email or printed and sent by regular mail.