By using the mouse to click on the NEW button on the orders
menu, a user begins the process of creating a new order.
The first event which occurs is the displaying of the NEW ORDER
interface. The NEW ORDER interface screen is set up as follows:
At the top of the interface screen is a section which displays
all of the information which is saved in conjunction with an
order. This includes:
- The current date and time
- The employee ID
- The order number
- The store ID
Each of these are set automatically.
The middle section of the NEW ORDER interface screen is where
items can be placed on an order.
There is a table on the left which displays a listing of every
grocery which is carried by the warehouse. The items are displayed in
order of UPC number, and a description of each one is given. This
table has the following functionality:
-
The table will only display groceries if they fall into a
category to which the user has security access to. Thus, a meat
manager will not be given the opportunity to accidentally order
produce, and a pharmacist will not be able to place an order for baked
goods.
-
A scroll bar on the right edge of the table is used to
manually search through the list.
-
A find button below the table brings up a dialogue box where a
user can enter a UPC number or a brief description, and the table will
automatically scroll so that the indicated UPC number or description
is displayed.
-
A sort button below the table allows the user to select
whether the list should be displayed in order of UPC number, or in
alphabetical order of Description.
A second table on the right of the groceries table displays
the actual order being made. The items are displayed in order of UPC
number, and the quantity ordered is also listed. This table has the
following functionality:
-
A scroll bar on the right edge of the table is used to
manually search through the list.
-
Below the new order table is a SUBMIT button. When the order
is done, the user clicks this button to have the order processed. This
adds the order to the orders database and updates the big orders table
on the previous screen. After the order has been submitted, the
NEW ORDER window disappears.
A right arrow button to the left of the table increments the
number of items to be ordered. The item highlighted on the Groceries
table is what is affected on the Order table. If an item is not listed
on the order table, it is added to the table, and the quantity is set
to 1. Each subsequent time this button is clicked on, the quantity
increases. By clicking and holding on the button, the quantity can be
raised very quickly.
A left arrow button to the left of the table decrements the
arrows. If the highlighted item on the Groceries table is not listed
on the Order table, no action results from clicking on this button. If
there is a quantity of one given for the highlighted item, clicking on
the left arrow button removes that item from the order
form. Otherwise, the quantity is reduced by one. By clicking and
holding on the left arrow button, the quantity can be lowered very
quickly.
Lastly, in the bottom-right corner of the table, a CANCEL
button is displayed. When the user clicks this button, the current
NEW ORDER is discarded, and the NEW ORDER
interface screen disappears, replaced by the ORDERS interface
screen.
DETAILS
The orders database only stores the order number, date ordered, the
employee who ordered it and the orders status. A separate
database, groceries ordered, is need to record the details of each
order. These details consist of the breakdown of every item that
was in that order - including the UPC, description, the number
ordered and the number received. To access this information, the
user highlights a particular order and then clicks on the details
button. This brings up the details window which will display the
above information for the given order in a scrollable table. The
number received is the
only changeable field on the table. If an order is marked
incomplete (on the orders screen previous to this) then it is
necessary for the user to enter the details screen and fill in how
many of each individual item in the order was received. The
details screen will automatically pop up when an incomplete is
entered. The user then enters the number received by clicking on
the correct field and then entering the number received directly
into the field. If an order was marked complete on the orders
screen, then the numbers in the number received column will
automatically be set to match the numbers in the number ordered
column.
- PRINT
-
This prints out the details of the particular order.
- EXIT
-
This returns the user to the Orders Interface
screen. If changes have been made to the details screen, but
the database hasn't been updated, a message will come up asking
the user if he/she wishes to save the changes.
FIND
This button allows the user to find a certain order or orders.
A FIND dialogue screen will come up which allows the user to enter
various criteria. The user will be able to search on any field(s)
in the database. For instance, the user should be able to search
for a single order by order number, or for all orders made in the
previous month by a certain employee and containing squid.
SORT BY
This button allows the user to sort the table of orders based on
any column in the table. The following sorts will be used:
- order number: highest (most recent order) to lowest (least
recent order) lowest (least recent order) to highest (most
recent order)
- date ordered: sort by year, month, day or time. Most recent
first
- employee number: lowest number first
- status: sort by type: complete, incomplete, pending, filled.
Note: multiple matches will be sub-sorted by order number
(highest to lowest).
PRINT
This button prints out all the orders in the orders database.
AUTO
This button starts the automatic ordering process. It is not
set to start at any specific time. It is assumed that the user
will remember to start this process at the end of each day.
The process makes one big order which includes every item needed.
It goes through the inventory database looking for items where
the quantity in stock is less than the alert level. If this
happens that item is added to the order and the appropriate
details are added to the groceries ordered database.
EXIT
This returns the user to the main menu. If changes have been
made to the orders table (status change, etc) but these changes
haven't been saved then a message will come up asking the user
if he/she wants to save the changes.