A PROPOSED BILLING SYSTEM OF SAINT TONIS COLLEGE

NOVA DIVINE M. DE LA PEÑA1, ROGELIO A. DOCTOR2, HAIZEL T. PAGULAYAN 3,

JEREMY E. PONCE4
1
Registrar, Saint Tonis College, Philippines, ms.nova015@yahoo.com
2
Faculty, Saint Tonis College, Philippines, doctor.rogeliojr@gmail.com
3
Faculty, Andarayan National High School,haizelpagulayan@gmail.com
4
Faculty, Baggao National High School, jeremyeponce@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
As we can see today, many of the new IT revolution is bringing great things with unpredicted and
unprecedented improvements in the quality and efficiency of all we do as organization and as
individuals. This is why it is so important to take advantage of technology as a tool that makes
possible collaborative partnership among individuals, institutions and industries with common
goals and challenges. Furthermore, the 21st century was strike with modern technologies. As time
passed by, it was developed through enormous effort of many individuals involved in the digital
world. One of the great contributions of Information Technology is the invention of personal
computer. There has been a great change since the emergence of technology. Many minds have
been awakened and can now help by inventing things that one would not have imagined to be in
existence many years ago.

Billing process is very complex; it involves receiving of billing records, determining of

billing rates, calculating the cost of each billing record and aggregating of records in which the
aforementioned procedures are very time-consuming. People seek and crave for better and more
efficient ways to accomplish tedious task. At the present time, people behind large and small
companies adopt modern technology in order to survive and competes market demands. Also,
through the use of the technology different transactions and processing system have become
computerized for greater ease and accuracy (Moimoy, 2012)

School billing system is important to provide consistent and accurate billing information
to clients. The study is aimed to develop an automated billing system of Saint Tonis College, Inc.
and to determine the usability of it in terms of Efficiency, Affect, Helpfulness, Control, and
Learnability. The descriptive and applied types of research were employed in the study. Data
were gathered through interview and feedback form. The respondents were from the personnel of
the accounting office. The Rapid Application Development model was used in the development of
the system. Findings of the study revealed that they need an automated billing system to improve
their billing procedures since it is done manually. Using the Rapid Application Development
model, reliable and feasible automate billing system from Analysis until Testing was achieved.

Keywords
Billing, billing system, Rapid Application Development Model, Billing procedures, Information
Technology

INTRODUCTION
Looking back on the past generation, man’s work has too slow that caused too much time and
effort in able to finish their work but nowadays it is easier, faster and more convenient because of
technology.
As we are living in a fast- paced generation, we must learn to cope-up to become more
competitive in life in the field of technology. And because of technology, many of us have shared
their skills and knowledge to improve the technology that we are using today.
Most of the organizations today are using computerized system in doing their tasks compared to
the past generation they did it manually. As with the business scenarios, getting rid of paper
improves efficiency, reduces human error and allows information to flow to an infrastructure
without a time-consuming data input process.
Scott (2011) concludes that automation increases the accuracy of the data, as human error is less
likely to occur. The completeness of the data is also improved as the automated systems will
process all the data in an efficient manner.
Based on the observations of the researchers, Saint Tonis College is still using the old
methods in billing that’s why the researchers come up to the decision to make a proposed billing
system of the school. Saint Tonis College, Inc. is a church educational institution of United
Church of Christ in the Philippines. It is located at the heart of a developing place, Bulanao which
is the center for provincial and national offices and programs in the province of Kalinga. Kalinga
is one of the provinces in the northern part of the Philippines. The researchers made a proposed
billing system, so that the treasury office will have a lesser work in terms of billing if they have
this system and their record list are more accurate and reliable.

Theoretical Framework
Today’s world is full of pieces of technology that we take for granted. The world we see now
cannot be recognized by people of a few generations ago and there is no truism greater than the
world of computing. Saint Tonis College used manual process in their billing transactions, so the
researcher decided to make a billing system to lessen the work of the treasurer. The following
paradigm illustrates the flow of the study.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

-Limited Students -Done Manually -Time consuming

Information -Manual Trial
balance
-Transactions

-Records

Figure 1. Illustrates the Input, Process and Output (IPO) Model of the existing process of billing
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

-Students Input, -Accurate Billing

Information Verify, System
Confirm and
-Transactions Update Students’
bill
-Records Progress
Figure 2. Illustrates the Input, Process and Output (IPO) Model of the proposed study
Statement of the Problem
 Developing the Billing System of Saint Tonis College was the main objective of this
project study. Specifically, it sought answers to following questions:

1. What are the existing processes used in the billing transaction of STC?

2. What are the problems encountered in the existing processes in the billing
transaction of STC?

3. What features will be incorporated in the proposed billing system of STC?

Objectives of the Study

The following were addressed in the development of the Proposed Billing System of
Saint Tonis College.
1. To enumerate and to understand the processes in the billing process of the school;
2. To identify the features that needs to be integrated in the proposed system; and
3. To determine the benefits that can be derived from the proposed system.

METHODOLOGY

In order to overcome the cons of the model, the researcher used this Rapid Development
Methodology to develop the information gathered about the existing system and the previous
study, which could help in ensuring the success of the proposed system. For better
understanding about the method, a statement retrieved from Freetutes.com Design explains
that “Software Development Life Cycle Model is an abstract representation of a development
process; the goal is to produce high quality software and the sequence of activities that will
produce such software”. In addition to this the researchers chose the Rapid Application
Development (RAD) model in designing the proposed system which is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. The Rapid Application Development Model

Analysis
This part deals with the analysis of the raw data gathered, identifies the possible
problem of the research study and prepares the project proposal.

Design
In this phase, the researchers tried to conceptualize the structure of the proposed study.
In here they have tried to find solution on how they can address the problem.

Implementation
 In this phase researchers coded the program. After each module is done, unit testing
and integration were implemented.

Testing
Pilot testing was done in this phase. It is intended to see or determine if the developed
system is working properly or has met the expectations of the client.

Source of Data
Source of data provided information that served as evidence to support the researchers’
study. The data and ideas helped the researchers develop and design the proposed study. The
primary data was provided by the school treasurer and school cashier. Secondary sources of
data were gathered from Electronic books (E-books), unpublished research study of the Saint
Tonis College students found in the library and the World Wide Web (W.W.W.).

Data Gathering Tool

The following data gathering tools were towards the materialization of the study:

Interview. The researchers conducted an interview with the school treasurer and
cashier in determining the problems encountered in the existing process of billing in school.
Document Analysis. The researchers analyzed the documents of authors found in the
internet in order to determine the additional features that can be added to the proposed study.
Internet. The researchers used the internet to download data (e-books, journals, pdf
files) that were needed in the research.

Software Development Tools

The programming languages used in coding the system are PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS
as front-end. They are the tools used to develop the interface and logical aspect of the system.
MySQL was used as back-end tool to store information of the system. Apex Text to Speech
were used as the narrator of each tab. GIF and PNG was the image format used.

Results and Discussion

Billing Procedures of Saint Tonis College based from the interview conducted with the
accounting personnel about billing policies, they said that the billing procedure is manually done
and the procedure starts upon enrollment. When the students enrolled in Saint Tonis College, the
personnel of the accounting office will make an individual ledger for them to record every
payment of student indicated the receipt number given to students who pay. The accounting
officer will sub-total the payment in every month.

User Design

The proposed Billing System of Saint Tonis College is supposed to replace the manual operations done.
There are only two personnel in the accounting office that’s why the system consists of only two
administrators, the school treasurer and the cashier/bookkeeper. They have the overall control of the
system. They can access the class menu, student menu, security menu, bill menu, payment menu and report
menu. In the proposed system billing and payment transactions are done electronically, not the usual way in
which they will enter all the entries in the students form or ledger and official receipts manually and
repeatedly. These will be printed thereafter using a continuous form. The computation of bills and payments
is also automated. There is no need to compute using the calculator which will have the possibility to yield
inaccurate results. Billing and payment are made easier and faster because it is easier to search for the
record of a certain student. Another function that the proposed system offers is the electronic registration of
new students. The data of a new student will be entered into the system by the Administrator. The new
account will be automatically added and saved to the record of all students per class and can be updated.
The proposed system can generate reports which enable the accounting personnel to get summary of bills,
students logs and collection.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion:
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were derived:

1. Existing processes used in the billing transactions of STC is done manually.

2. Problems encountered in the existing processes in the billing transaction are inefficient
manual processes and difficulty in tracing transaction receipts due to lack of manpower.
3. A features incorporated in the billing system of STC includes web-based application and
real-time processing and generation of reports.

Recommendation:
Based in the conclusions stated herein, the following are recommended:

1. The problems in the existing system must be given attention in order to further improve
the services of the Treasurer’s Office.
2. The features of the proposed system must be upgrade to further give the user reliable and
efficient automated transactions by enhancing the system in accordance to the needs and
demands of the school.
3. The study must be adopted and deployed by STC to solve some of encountered problems
in the existing system.
4. Sufficient manpower to be dedicated in organizing receipts, updating information’s of
students, and etc.
5. The generating of bills should be checked by the researcher to print receipts for future
implementation of school.

REFERENCES

[1] Al-Ani, M. et al, 2012. https://thesai.org/Downloads/Volume3No9/Paper_34-

Billing_System_Design_Based_on_Internet_Environment.pdf

[2] Mostafa, Hatem. 2005. https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/10824/Billing-System-

Introduction

[3] Ambre, J. 2016. ASIST Automated Water Billing System. International Journal of Research
in Management and Business Studies (IJRMBS 2016). Volume 3 issue 1.

[4] Browneyes (2010).Descriptive Method of Research.Retrieved October 4, 2013 from

http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100918215538AASGdiH

[5] Ravindran, C., A. (2007). Rapid Application Development Model. Retrieved

April 11, 2013, from http://ezinearticles.c o m / ? R a p i d - A p p l i c a t i o n -
Development-Model-
%28RAD%29&id=412312

[6] https://www.zuora.com/billing-topics/enterprise-billing-system/