CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

With the numerous and effective capabilities and features of technology today, an

organization’s operations are becoming more reliant to both computer hardware and

software. A single machine can replace several employees of an organization that results

to their expenses being lessened significantly since the total salary of those employees

would be costlier and the occurrence of human error is lessened as well. Communication

is also essential in the business world and one of the main benefits of technology is the

numerous resources available to communicate quickly and effectively, even across great

distances. Doing so reduces travel costs and the time it takes for communication within a

company, like starting a meeting or the relay of important and sensitive documents, that

can improve the efficiency of their work.

The company that has accepted the proponents to conduct a study for is Air Ocean

Express. It is a cargo and freight forwarding company that was conceived in November

2002 by Rowie Bautista, with the adage of “Committed to Serve You” as its guiding

policy. The nature of Air Ocean Express’ business operations is that if a company from a

country of origin made transactions by selling goods to a buyer to a foreign country

which is the country of destination, they will arrange the safe importation of the goods,

through partner agents based from the country of origin, by getting the permits,

documents, and the tariff consultations required of the outbound shipments and the

computations of duties and taxes of the goods with the customs of the country of
destination. They can also arrange the trucking services as well as the warehousing of the

commodities that is to be exported or those that are imported.

The transactions of Air Ocean Express currently only rely on telecommunications

with both the buyer and the seller that results to heavier workload for their employees as

well as the completion and recordkeeping of each transaction to become slower that also

leads to lesser productivity of the company. Because of this, labor costs can rise and the

possibility of human errors can also occur more often. Due to them relying on the

traditional methods in recordkeeping of the inventory of the warehouse, it is also slower

and can even be tedious to some extent, as well as the sifting through of old records.

The objective of the study is to develop a web-based billing and inventory system

that will help lessen the workload of the employees of Air Ocean Express by enabling the

company to check their records and accurately process their bill of lading information

with their clients online. Clients of Air Ocean Express are also enabled to check their

current invoice and pay it online. This will also enable the warehouse employees of Air

Ocean Express to update their office of the warehouse inventory status using the online

system.

The beneficiaries of the proposed system are first, the clients of Air Ocean

Express are enabled to check their invoice as well as pay their bills online. Next is

workload for both the office and warehouse employees of Air Ocean Express can be

lessened since the checking of transaction records and invoicing can be done online and

by having a computerized inventory management system that also removes the need for
them to contact the office for any updates regarding the warehouse through telephone and

instead be able to do so online.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

GENERAL PROBLEM

Currently, the business transactions of Air Ocean Express only rely on

telecommunications for their transactions with their clients, both the buyer and the seller,

that results to heavier workload for their small number of employees as well as the

completion and recordkeeping of each transaction to become slower that also leads to

lesser productivity of the company. Because of this, labor costs can rise and the

possibility of human errors can also occur more often. Invoice payments can also be

inconvenient since currently the only mode of payment of Air Ocean Express is cash on

delivery. Due to them relying on the traditional methods in recordkeeping of the

inventory of the warehouse, it is also slower and can even be tedious to some extent,

including the searching in old records as well.

SPECIFIC PROBLEM

 The completion and recordkeeping of transactions are slow and wearisome for the

employees of Air Ocean Express.

 Payments of invoice can be inconvenient.

 The inventory management of the warehouse of Air Ocean Express is slow and

can be tedious.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

GENERAL OBJECTIVE
 The objective of the study is to design and develop a web-based billing and inventory

system that will help lessen the workload of the employees of Air Ocean Express by

enabling the company to check their records and accurately process their bill of lading

information with their clients anywhere, provided that they have access to the internet.

The clients of Air Ocean Express, either the buyer or the seller, will also be able to see

and pay their current invoice online. The system will also enable the warehouse

employees of Air Ocean Express to update their office of the warehouse inventory status

using the online system.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

 To develop an online billing system for the checking of transactions and invoice

records of the clients of Air Ocean Express.

 To develop an online system that enables the clients of Air Ocean Express to pay

their bills online.

 To develop a web-based system that is efficient in inventory management for the

warehouse of Air Ocean Express.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The proposed system that the proponents developed would be able to provide the

objectives of the study to the following beneficiaries.

Clients. The clients of Air Ocean Express are enabled to check their invoice as well as

pay their bills online.

Office Employees. Workload for the office employees of Air Ocean Express can be

lessened since the checking of transaction records and invoicing can be done online.

Warehouse Employees. Workload for the warehouse employees of Air Ocean Express

can be lessened by having a computerized inventory management system. This also

removes the need for them to contact the office for any updates regarding the warehouse

through telephone and instead be able to do so online.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The proposed Web-based Billing and Inventory System includes the accurate

computation and detailed information for the bill of lading, as well as the ability for the

clients to confirm if there are any typographical errors with their information. The system

also covers the online payment of the client’s invoice. The system would also have an

online inventory management system for the warehouse employees of Air Ocean

Express.

The proposed system would still require the employees of Air Ocean Express to

input all the necessary information for the bill, especially for new clients and special

offers like discounts. It will also not cover any real-time geographic tracking of the

shipment of goods. Any records regarding the legalities with the customs of either the

country of origin or the country of destination will not be handled by the system as well.

WEBSITE OF THE SYSTEM

Home. This tab contains the information about Air Ocean Express including its history

and contact information.

Login. This tab will enable the employees of Air Ocean Express to login to the system

either as the main office or the warehouse office.

Transactions. This tab contains the web page that enables the clients of Air Ocean

Express to check their invoice and the payment of it as well.

Events. This tab contains any of the possible events that the company would be holding.

Records. This tab contains the transaction records as well as the invoice records for the

main office while the inventory records for the warehouse.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies from both local and foreign

sources to provide relevant information about the study.

Information and Communications Technology has the power to positively affect

every aspect of our lives and a strong and effective strategy with it will benefit the public

sector the most. But the government cannot function without a thriving business sector so

private corporations also need to develop these strategies to thrive in the demanding and

ever evolving market. An example of the contribution of information and communication

technology is the ability to create and receive content and services in a faster and cheaper

way (Garcia, 2016). According to Ocampo (2017), the Philippines is no stranger to

successive tech trends and innovations, all of which are reshaping its business landscape,

like the spread of mobile devices and solutions in the consumer market and the increasing

reliance of companies on big data and smart tools. The Philippine ICT industry is

expected to continue its upward trajectory due to opportunities from the financial,

telecommunications, Business Process Management (BPM), and health IT sectors.

Increased consumer spending, low PC penetration, and small and medium enterprise

(SME) modernization will also contribute to its growth. The financial sector is one of the

vertical industries expected to leverage ICT to deliver better and more secure customer

service. The BPM industry is driving the growth of the hardware, software, services, and

cloud opportunities as more offices are opened. Cloud services are now preferred by
smaller businesses as a lower cost alternative to more expensive software licenses and it

is now considered as a great equalizer in the Philippines as it makes technology solutions

more affordable and available (Quiambao, 2017).

An information technology project would be effective if strategies that consists of

planning and initiating projects or other initiatives that either improve the service to the

end users or provide additional services to them are made. It must be aligned with the

overall company focus and direction, and must provide some concrete benefit or address

concrete requirements needed by the company. Generally speaking, it should increase

revenue, decrease operational cost, improve customer service, minimize risks, and

address legal and regulatory requirements (Castillo, 2016).

The rise of the internet age has given us far more than just the capability to

connect with friends or upload selfies online. It has also given modern entrepreneurs

capabilities not possible several decades ago. Whether an organization have a primarily

online or offline business, chances are that internet tools, widgets, plugins, applications,

and features play an important role in ensuring the success of their business (Elizan,

2016).

According to Almeida (2012), in the next years to come, transactions will become

fully and totally paperless. Although there are still some businesses that are slowly

adjusting to paperless billing, there are still others that prefer the traditional method of

billing. In this high-tech world that we move in, it is important to be able to easily adapt

to the changes that are happening so that you can move on and grow. This is also good
for business because this means that you are keeping up with the changes and that you are

flexible.

According to the report of Valdez (2016), the Philippine government should

develop a tax billing system that would do away with voluntary tax compliance in order

to ensure everyone pays their respective taxes, said Stephen Roger, executive director for

Asia Pacific Region at BKR International. He said that more and more countries

including India, China, Australia, and New Zealand were considering a tax collection

system that would unburden its taxpayers from having to file their income tax returns

(ITR) and pay the corresponding dues. Taxpayers need not lodge their respective income

tax returns and would only have to pay the taxes being billed to them by their respective

governments that would also ensure compliance as taxpayers would simply have to wait

for their respective bills at home or in the office, and pay as if settling utility bills. Roger

noted that the said countries were in the process of beefing up their taxpayer databases,

through which incomes are being monitored. The revenues generated by these taxpayers,

including income derived from dividends, wages, and interest earnings are all being

reported electronically by the payers to their respective tax agencies, so it is easier to

determine as to how much each taxpayer has to pay.

Adrian (2018) stated that it is time to level up on how we manage our finances.

One of the best and most convenient ways to be on top of our finances this 2018 is to

make use of electronic payments. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has teamed-up

with banks for its National Retail Payment System (NRPS) program, which aims to

increase electronic payment usage from the current 1% to around 20% of total payments

by 2020 through seamless, convenient, affordable, and secure fund transfers between
banks and electronic money (e-money) accounts. The e-payment system is set to be

established this year. There isn’t any shortage of electronic payment patrons in the

Philippines however, a shortage of facilities and resources that can acknowledge cashless

payment is. This limits the availability of cashless payment in the country. According to

the Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Survey in 2016, Filipinos are ready to go

cashless and six out of ten Filipinos prefer cashless payment. Today, 49% have more

cards in their wallets compared to five years ago, while 29% carry less cash. The increase

of cashless payments can also be contributed to the advent of online shopping, with

online retailers such as Lazada and Zalora going strong in the market. According to the

survey, 71% of Filipinos now shop online at least once a month, and the e-commerce

industry is expected to grow 30% year-on-year. Aside from shopping, other online

transactions made by Filipinos involve bill payments. 62% of the respondents also found

carrying cash is unsafe while 57% preferred faster transactions, which is possible with

electronic payments. The findings from the survey indicate that banks in the Philippines

are in a perfect position to leverage on the country’s strong electronic payment

opportunities.

In the Philippines, paperless or electronic billing is an option presented by most

banks, telecommunications, and credit card and insurance companies. Even several utility

service providers such as Maynilad Water Services have given customers the option to

shift to e-billing. Customers that subscribe to a company’s e-billing program are notified

about their bills via e-mail or through an alert on their mobile phones. They also often get

access to a web portal where they can check their bills, see their usage, and even pay.

Despite the fact that, in most cases, companies inform customers of their shift to e-billing
is an option, many charge additional fees for the issuance of paper billing statements. In a

sense, they make the option to go paperless mandatory if you don’t want an extra charge

in your monthly bill. Most companies who made the switch to e-billing often cite two

things leading to the decision, convenience for both themselves and the customers and the

desire for more environmentally sustainable operations. Switching to e-billing is

supposed to reduce the amount of paper waste generated by a company’s operations. It is

often cited as part of a company’s corporate social responsibility efforts (Jalbuena, 2018).

Low banking and credit card penetration in the Philippines has been a factor

hindering the growth of the country’s e-Commerce sector in its earlier years. With a mere

27 percent banking penetration and two percent credit card penetration, the prospect of

increasing ecommerce transactions doesn’t look promising. But today, online vendors can

encourage consumers to purchase online through alternative online payment methods. E-

Wallets and payment gateways are bringing bank and non-bank payment options to the

table. Few examples are Smart Money, GCash, and DragonPay (Magdirila, 2014).

In today’s age, an organization needs to compete and survive in an environment

which is global, massively interconnected, intensely competitive, rapidly-changing, and

information-intensive that has been radically transformed by information technology

(Prince & Rainer, 2016). For example, tech companies like Samsung, Google, Amazon,

Facebook, and Apple from the west while Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent from the east

have all begun entering the financial services market, offering mobile banking and real-

time payment applications (Mearian, 2018).

 One way for organizations to apply information technology is through the use of

an information system. According to Reynolds and Stair (2012), businesses have passed

through at least three major stages in their use of information systems. The first stage

focused on using information systems to reduce costs and improve productivity while the

second stage was oriented towards gaining a competitive advantage. In the third stage,

companies focus on the performance-based management of their information systems and

carefully consider both strategic advantages and costs of their information system.

Mistrik et al. (2013) explained that system architects need to understand the business

environment of the system, the concerns of their stakeholders, and the solution approach

with consideration for additional constraints that may be imposed by the enterprise.

McKee (2013) stated that an information system has two primary functions. The first is to

provide the operational features for day to day activities while the second is the

increasingly important function to support an organization by providing the essential

information to managers.

One of the most common type of information system used by businesses, both big

and small, would be a transaction processing system that provides them many real-time

benefits. Every business deal with these types of systems every day and how a company

decides to manage these transactions is an important factor for their success. As a

business grows, the number of transactions they would have to deal with will drastically

increase. It is essential that they ensure that the transaction process doesn’t become too

complex, or else it can cause frustration for customers and even the potential of losing

them. The first main benefit of a transaction processing system is their ability to handle

concurrent transactions. A good transaction processing system can simultaneously

coordinate thousands of purchases, debit accounts, hold each client’s private banking and

address information, and even process customer orders. These systems allow a business

to make the selling process much easier for their customers with some even

implementing them online to make the online purchasing process simpler for customers

who prefers to shop online. An organization should find a system that matches the size

and complexity needed to sustain their business processes. A small business should not

invest with highly complex systems that can make the transaction processing more

difficult. Another huge benefit of implementing a transaction processing system is its

ability for organizations to reach and gain customers from anywhere in the world. More

and more marketplaces are becoming globalized to stay relevant in our highly

competitive world. Implementing an online system can enhance the potential for growth

of a company and reach new audiences. These online systems are more efficient, have

excellent response times, are easy to use, and can easily handle all types of credit cards.

With an online processing system, customers gain easy access to an organization’s

products or services and can easily purchase them with a comprehensive system that

they’re already used to. Also, since online banking is based on online transaction

processing systems, customers can see their purchases hit their bank accounts almost

instantly, giving them peace of mind about where their money goes (Pribanic, 2018).

According to Rampton (2017), there are certain tips for an organization in setting

up their billing or invoicing system. The first tip would be to properly select the invoicing

system that can outperform spreadsheets and manual invoicing like a cloud-based

invoicing system that allows them to create and send bills electronically. Most electronic

invoicing systems let you create, manage, and review invoices even on mobile devices.
Additionally, setting-up recurring payments and payment reminders automate invoicing.

Other systems come with features like time tracking, expense management, and project

management. The second tip would be inputting your customer’s information on your

system, including their name, email address, billing and mailing address, and preferred

payment method. This enables issuing of invoices in a matter of minutes or set-up

recurring payments. The third tip is to set up the payment terms and policies to determine

when and how the bills will be paid. It is also suggested to set a payment policy with

short terms. The fourth is to design the invoice professionally since poorly designed

invoices can cause confusion and annoyance for the clients and can demonstrate a lack of

professionalism. The fifth is to have a strategy within the system that will entice clients to

pay their bills on-time, like either offering small incentives for early payments or the

implementation of penalty fees for late payments. The last would be the system having

good record keeping capabilities.

Palmer (2017) stated that there are numerous advantages of using an online

invoicing system. First advantage is that it is faster and easier to use than spreadsheets or

logging into an invoice template site and since an invoice can only take a few seconds to

send to the client, payments can be received faster as well. Second advantage is that

client and invoice data can all be recorded within the cloud that helps lessen large

storages needed for record keeping as well as the simplification of auditing. Third is the

automation of transactions. Fourth is that it can help establish and reinforce brand identity

of an organization. Fifth would be security of the system, since a reputable online billing

software must adhere to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS)

clearance that helps with the implementation of advanced security safeguards against any
loss and interference like secure socket layer (SSL) encryptions. Another advantage is its

capability to allow users to select their preferred currencies and languages for their

transactions. One more advantage would be the accuracy of the invoice computations.

According to Decker (2018), since businesses most likely have computers, it is

sensible for them to maximize its use, and one way to do that is by computerizing their

inventory system and only very small businesses would find traditional inventory

methods advantageous. It can be used to speed recordkeeping or it can even be a full-

blown, real-time inventory system. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to manage

inventory. One is by physically counting its contents periodically at regular intervals, and

then reconciling inventory with the figures shown after accounting for incoming and

outgoing operations. This method has numerous benefits from computerization, although

small businesses might not have the necessity for it but businesses with larger inventories

to manage and higher turnover of product generally favor this. This type of system can

update inventory count in real-time with every transaction. Although they would still

need to do physical count occasionally to make sure that inventory records are accurate.

One of the greatest advantages of an inventory system is that it makes for faster and more

accurate counting. Scanning barcodes or QR codes is faster and easier than writing down

stock numbers manually or flipping through pages of inventory sheets that also means

transferring of those numbers would be automatic that can eliminate another possible

source of human errors and several hours of data entry time. Inventory systems make

shipping and receiving orders simpler as well. Products can simply be scanned into the

inventory as it's received, and it will show in the on-hand inventory. Although companies

would still need to train their staff to double-check the contents of each box against the
order or invoice, the elimination of one or more data entry steps can still reduce the

occurrence of errors.

Rosing (2017) explained that the days of managing inventory in warehouses with

pen and paper is already outdated. In their place are information systems that have risen

to make managing inventory easier and provide tremendous benefits. The first is that

warehouse space can be saved if managed correctly, so in other words, it enables accurate

stocking, slotting, and pulling of orders, giving companies the opportunity to gain higher-

level of insights into how much of each item is truly needed. Therefore, they can reduce

overstock and minimize understock simultaneously to save space. Second is that it can

increase customer satisfaction and service by reducing errors in the order fulfillment

process. Also, the system ensures customers receive undamaged products and promptly

and thus, the number of customer complaints decreases and improves operations. Third

advantage is that these systems can reduce wear and tear of warehouse equipment.

Forklifts, trucks, pallet jacks, and carts represent a fraction of the equipment used in

warehousing. Unfortunately, the said equipment tends to have low life expectancy due to

wear and tear from inefficient stocking, picking, and resetting processes. An inventory

system can help improve the efficiency of managing inventory. Lastly, security is another

feature enhanced by implementing an information system. Unfortunately, there are

people who will try to steal or damage product intentionally. An effective system keeps

meticulous records of inventory, and since the system relies on user-specific logins,

managerial staff can ensure workers are not slipping extra product out the doors.

Furthermore, systems that utilize automated data capture, like radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags can effectively eliminate most cases of theft by keeping

accurate inventory levels around the clock.

Ching (2017) discussed in her study that the Philippines have an estimated 2.4

million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), which contributes to the country’s economic

growth through remittances wherein the Philippines received the highest amount of after

India and China. However, there is financial inclusion where only 42% Filipinos have

access to banks, which triggered the need to have a more effective and efficient way of

transmitting money. This spawned the cutting-edge innovation of cashless payments and

because of the advent of the internet, it has conceived the business service of e-

Commerce. Furthermore, the cashless transactions in the Philippines have been

increasing because of the growing popularity of online shopping among young urban

Filipinos. For this reason, BSP had been very involved in the cashless transactions

growth, where they worked with both private sector and government agencies for

evolving the cashless solutions. And in 2015, the government announced its initiative on

making the Philippines a cash lite society in 20-year timeframe, which includes the

National Strategy for Financial Inclusion that focuses on the importance of technology to

reach out to those who are financially excluded. However, even with a strong top-down

support from the government, the country is still dependent with cash and cheque as the

mode of payments. It is still concluded based on the results that doing online transaction

is convenient since Filipinos have limited time to physically perform their necessary tasks

such as paying their utilities and/or sending money to their relatives. Additionally,

females have trust in the e-Commerce security, which business can niche, while males

are not but designing a more secured electronic payment system will help decrease it.
Furthermore, provision of user friendly applications and systems will help encourage

more Filipinos in adopting it because the current devices that we have for connecting in

the internet helps in the adoption of the electronic payment systems, such as for mobile,

there are applications that caters fund transfers and bills payments, which makes it easier

for Filipinos to execute. The kind of electronic payment systems also affect the kind of

online transactions that Filipinos use, where having diverse payment schemes will

encourage more Filipinos in doing online transaction using their preferred method based

on their general, privacy, security, and trust perceptions. With these, the Philippine

government is on the right track on providing channels on improving the use of electronic

payment systems through their National Strategy for Financial Inclusion.

According to the study of Ambre (2016), computerized systems and improved

efficiency have been the focus of entrepreneurs. As with many 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. There is also less chance

of handwritten orders being misread and a higher customer turnaround as customers will

be served faster. In light of this, the researcher’s study aimed to design and develop an

automated billing system for the water system of Abra State Institute of Sciences and

Technology (ASIST). The ASIST water system was currently using the manual method

in computing the amount of bill of the concessionaries. The accounting personnel

manually prepare the monthly water bills, pre-addressed and post consumption bill, and

amount of the water bills. They manually accomplish the posting of the payment to their

concessionaires’ temporary ledger. The personnel admitted that there were instances that

they committed inaccurate computations. Regarding the posting of payments, there is a

tendency that the input of date paid and debit and credit of a concessionaire may be

compromised thus, duplicated collection of payment may happen. Its objectives in terms

of the system are its efficiency, effects, helpfulness, control, and learnability.

Gentugao et al. (2014) stated in their study that companies around the world use

strategies to maintain its profitability and flexibility and often provide service for the

benefits of their clients and the company itself. To maintain its profitability, the company

must secure the good communication with their clients while also securing their financial

status. A billing and collection system must be effective and accurate to be able to assure

the revenue. The problem that the study focused on is that the process during the

calculation of bills is inefficient because the current system calculates bills using

Microsoft Excel wherein user needs to input data one by one and writing only other

charges listed on the created billing form. And in terms of creating invoices for the client,

end-user used to input invoice number and may lead to data redundancy because the

system doesn’t notify the user if it has record on file already. Current system has no

ability to produce auto-generated reports that will show status of the client, their

balances, amount does the client has paid and other penalties and a report of all invoices

and also report of all the collected revenues from the client. Issuance of official receipt on

the collection is also a problem because the agency relies only on writing other

information in the receipt. And in terms of confidentiality of information especially in

billing, anyone can access the database because all the information regarding billing

transaction is only accessible in MS Excel. The researchers proposed an automated

billing and collection system in order to help the company’s growth. The first benefit of

the system developed in this study will give the client access to billing with a high level
of system security. Second is that it will generate invoices, process their payment,

calculate penalties, generate billing reports, and issue official receipt. It will also serve as

storage of billing information on a centralized database so that whenever the accounting

department asks for billing reports periodically, the system has the ability to produce

reports immediately and is accurate enough to meet a client’s demand. It provides storing

of billing documents and data from a full range of sources and in a variety of formats, and

automatically calculates client’s bill. The user doesn’t need to input data one by one to

fill all the text field of the billing form because the system has an ability to process the

bill automatically. By automating document processes instead of relying on manual

methods, businesses reduce the cost, increase the operation speed, and improve the

quality of information exchange with their clients. The said clients are can either be

schools, drugs stores, subdivisions, factories, and other companies that need service of

security. The processing of billing and collection are according to the contract of

agreement with the clients who will benefit by their service provider.

The study of Esmeria and Seva (2017) discussed the usability of the web for an

organization and stated that since human computer interaction is continuously evolving

with the fast changes in technology, the use of internet becomes a way of life for most

individuals and organizations. Internet is used for various purposes such as a means of

communication through emails and social networking, doing online research activities,

online marketing and making financial transactions among other activities. It continues to

expand and various websites are developed where users are expected to benefit from and

the more websites are created, the more options there are to choose from and thus, users

now have the freedom to influence the existence of websites. For a website to be
successful, the level of usability must be very high. Web usability simply means that their

design must be easy to use and understand. In designing websites, there are three

important criteria to be considered such as content visibility, ease of content access, and

the ease of content browsing. The rationale in doing website usability is profitability. The

issues on website usability can be considered as an important management task on which

success in business depends. The inadequate usability of a business website may

adversely affect sales which results to lost business opportunities. Interface design and

quality is becoming even more critical in the internet and it was found that the common

problems with website designs include bad presentation of search results, lack of clarity,

difficulty in sorting and filtering, and confusing display of product or service prices. Poor

interface design may lead users to shift from one site to another. One critical issue raised

was in the design of websites such as in e-Commerce is the failure of web developers to

consider cultural dimensions since the cultural-oriented interface quality is an important

element to attract both local and foreign users.

A study conducted by Ado and Pelandiana (2018) stated that digital interactions

among businesses and consumers through powerful information systems and connected

devices establish today's networked society. Mulanay Water Sanitation and Services Unit

is the company that the researchers chose as the respondent for their study which is a

local government unit that already have a billing system in the form of a spreadsheet

application. Through further analysis, they discovered that it is very difficult to provide

up-to-date reporting using the existing system. Finding and encoding customer's data

specifically the meter readings of customer's water consumption was tedious to the end-

users, and the report generation proved difficult in scanning individual tables of each
customer. Thus, they developed a web-based billing and collection system that will turn

the meter reading paperless. It can be accessed through the internet enabling end-users

and customers to connect and perform the transactions online whether they are in the

office or at home. The head of the unit can make overall viewing of the status of daily

transactions and can be viewed using any computer connected to the internet. The

consumers may also receive email and short messaging system showing their current

water consumption and water bill.

According to a study by Forman and McElheran (2012), there are two

implications of information technology investment for an organization. The first is the

customer-focused IT that has the potential to reduce both the costs of coordinating

operational activity among firms and the risks of opportunistic behavior and also enables

the sharing of information to downstream customers. The second one is the supplier-

focused IT which has the potential to decrease the incentive costs of transactions between

the focal establishment and the upstream suppliers, although the adoption of supplier-

focused IT will only work if it is coupled with the information-sharing implemented by

customer-focused IT.

The study of Grabara, Kolcun, & Kot (2014) described that many technologies in

the preparation and transmission of information have been created to improve the quality

of transportation services. Due to this reason, an information system for transportation

companies must be able to process certain necessary information. The first is the

information on the selection of mode of transport, whether it would be by road, rail, air,

or sea. The second would be information about the load or commodity like its size, type,

quantity, weight, and height. The third would be information about both the senders and
the recipients like the organization name and their address. The last information needed

would be the date of dispatch of the cargo and the date of receipt of the load. A

digitalized bill of lading would have all the information stated within it.

The study of Oinonen (2014) discussed the principles of billing in cloud

infrastructure. The study looked at the most usual methods and principles the billing

systems have in common. By forming an idea of a typical billing system, it is easier to

spot differences in services that deviate from the common pattern and aim to set them

apart among competition. Even the basic structure of a billing system can be divided into

several categories, showing the typical questions that billing system de-signers have to

face during the design and initiation of their service. Two most basic types of billing

engines are hosting billing and Telco billing. Hosting billing is basically subscription

billing with a fixed amount each month on a single bill, compared to Telco billing, where

the billing is based on numerous meters and records. The name comes from resemblance

to practices that telephone companies have. One of the basic problems in designing the

billing system is how the customer is charged based on their usage of services resources.

There is also an exceptional method of ad-based revenue model in which the revenue

comes from advertisers rather than the users themselves; however, this is usually quite a

rare model within cloud billing platforms due to expensive maintenance costs. There

would have to be loads of advertisements to cover the upkeep cost of the service in case

there is loads of hard disk space and memory and other hardware components concerned.

However, for example a trial version of a cloud platform could probably be well

profitable using this model, provided that usage limits have been set strict or the trial

period is time limited with no easy workaround to reset the timer. These same problems
mostly exist with premium service model, as cloud service in its most typical form is

usually quite a simple and invisible service that consists of few easily measurable basic

services. This leads to a problem where somehow limiting the service causes a severe

deterioration in service usability and quality. But as even that amount of service provided

has its maintenance costs, it is usually more profitable to keep testing services both time-

limited and in low capacity. Even though cloud service providers usually advertise their

solution as a simple and carefree option, the system behind the user’s cost calculation

may be in some cases very complicated. In its most simplified form, the basic data

needed for reliable billing consists of hardware that the customer is using as a backbone

of his service platform, the amount of data that has been either transferred in and out of

the platform, or the capacity that user is allowed to access with his current plan. Currently

there is still a lot of differentiation between the large service providers in their billing

systems, but it is possible that in the near future as research of information systems

gathers, the providers start moving towards more unified billing methods. When taking a

customer’s viewpoint, it is somewhat complicated to define what kind of service model is

the most efficient without more thorough research, as the cost basically varies due to

certain variables used in billing systems. Simplified, two different users may get a whole

lot difference between the costs of various cloud services due to differences in their ways

of using the service.

A study conducted by D. Al-Ani, M. Al-Ani, and Noory (2012) stated that paper

bills are the primary channel of communication between companies and their customers.

However, its potential for personalization is limited and are not interactive. If a customer

has concerns regarding their bills like a customer service inquiry or to order a new
service, they would need to do things like making a telephone call. Web-based billing

promises far more than a new and inexpensive way to deliver the billing information.

Billing systems use databases to hold customer information, usage detail records, rate

tables, and billing records that is ready to be invoiced. The key functional parts of a

billing system include creating usage records, event processing, bill calculation, customer

care, payment processing, bill rendering, and management reporting. In addition, billing

systems share information with many other business functions such as sales, marketing,

customer care, finance, and operations. Billing systems are very complex starting from

the elements that generate usage to the billing system to usage collection, mediation,

rating, and invoicing. Industry experts predict that online billing will fundamentally

change the way companies interact with their clients. Eventually, it will be an interactive

entry to a host of additional services including customer self-care and automated sales,

although the concept of electronic billing itself is not new. Since the advent of the

internet, a small number of consumers have been using this electronic medium to pay

bills online after receiving standard paper invoices via regular postal services. The new

concept in the electronic billing arena is the electronic bill presentation. With electronic

bill presentment, companies that sends bills post consumers' statements to the internet,

enabling their clients to view the statements and make e-payments. With the ever-

increasing spread of internet influence, bill presentment and payment are becoming a new

type of service area for periodic billers like telephone companies and converts billing

centers from cost centers to revenue centers and for customers, the system can be a

personalized service.
 The study of Chana & Singh (2013) discussed that the cloud provides a

dynamically scalable, abstracted computing, and storage infrastructure that is typically

based on a virtualized, distributed, fault tolerant, and parallel computing architecture. Via

cloud, users can leverage the power of highly distributed internet or the high computing

power made available by grid engines. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is one of the key

components of cloud computing where billing is a challenging task. As Cloud services

and infrastructure scales up, billing management complexity increases and efficient

billing management technique are required. To increase the efficiency of IaaS cloud, the

study concentrated on billing and the objective is to minimize the complexity and

improve user interaction and response time along with user satisfaction. Through this

system cloud customer can pay within seconds by using online net banking. Cloud

economics have encouraged future in the cloud computing industry that is capable of

fulfilling the requirements of the current industry. The model offers the transparency of

consumption, billing, and frequency of usage of services. Billing System is particularly

useful for cost estimation and comparison because there is large variability in the cost of

various infrastructures provided by different IaaS providers. For example, if there are

four different users accessing the billing system simultaneously, it is not possible in

traditional billing models. Thus, concurrency is introduced in this system and time spent

for each transaction is also reduced. There are many constraints including user

satisfaction, reduction of the time of execution, interactivity of user interface and

improvement of security, reliability, and flexibility. The system developed in this study

provides well defined user interface for every type of user. The cloud user selects the

various services managed by service management dashboard according to the

requirements after registration. Budget manager manages all the discounts on current

services and resources and upgrade the infrastructure as technology changes and

feedback provided by billing system stakeholders. The user selects the services and

generates the report consisting of the total estimated cost along with services, tax,

discount, and other expenditures that is also mailed to the respective user. All the

information regarding the bills will be managed and updated from time to time. The

frequency of billing is maintained according to the use of services and resources for

further interpretation regarding updates or addition of existing or new services. The

billing system displays policy-based services like storage service and network services

along with the cost, rules of use, and instructions. Other issues like load balancing, fault

tolerance, dynamic scaling, virtualization management, and internet connectivity are

displayed as well. The system provides all types of support like forum, premium and

advance premium underprice plan management. The billing system provides the login

option for each stakeholder and asks the user for username and password. Every

stakeholder is provided with a particular fixed set of user privileges for viewing,

updating, deleting services as well as users, every customer is authorized to perform these

tasks.

A study by Yang (2012) stated that a warehouse management system is an

information system whose primary goal is to manage the movement and storage of

products within a warehouse and handle the connected transactions is a main part of the

supply chain. It also manages the stock based on real-time information about the status of

products and storage locations. And there is no doubt that this kind of information system

can be extremely significant for most businesses. It can be an independent system or

modules of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system or supply chain execution

suite, which provides an efficient, productive, and accurate way to manage a warehouse.

It is not only the barcode or batch processing, but it also deals with the inventory

management, transportation management, order management, and integrated with the

accounting systems. Nowadays warehouse management systems are evolving into

warehouse-based enterprise resource planning system. The study also stated the benefits

of web-based applications. Firstly, the devices of a company do not need to install any

applications because the web browser is the tool. The end-users will always use the latest

version since the updating of the application happens on the server side instead of

patching each client device. The second would be its cross-platform capability. Any

devices with any operating systems which include a web browser can use the application.

Last is its secure data storage. It is easy to manage different end-user groups by defining

different accesses which means that data can be stored and secured through the internet.

According to the study of DeBusk et al. (2014), they developed an automated

system for medical items dispensing, billing, and inventory management. The system

includes several core functional software applications that communicate either through a

networked information system architecture, or which reside on a single general-purpose

computer workstation. In addition, the system includes a supply inventory management

system which in general provides limited access to certain medical products or supplies

and capture key information in the course of dispensing them that subsequently enables

the inventory management and billing functions for the system to operate. Some

preferred embodiments provide an inventory management system for managing

information regarding medical items dispensed in conjunction with medical treatment of

patients of a medical facility. The inventory management system includes inventory

sensors that sense removal of medical items from an inventory space of the medical

facility to be dispensed to a patient. One or more computers that are in communication

with the inventory sensors are configured to store and manage item usage information

and billing information for medical items dispensed to patients. The billing information

includes information regarding the patient’s medical insurance providers and medical

item suppliers, information that associates each of the patients with a medical insurance

provider to which medical expenses incurred by the patient are to be billed, information

that associates each medical insurance provider with a medical item supplier that is a

preferred biller for the medical insurance provider. The inventory management system

includes software applications comprising sets of computer-executable instructions

which, when executed, associate the item usage information with patient information that

identifies the patient to which the one or more medical items are dispensed, process the

billing information to identify the patient's medical insurance provider, identify the

medical item supplier that is the preferred biller for the patient's medical insurance

provider, generate an invoice from the inventory management service provider when it is

determined that they are the preferred biller for the patient’s medical insurance provider,

and send the billing information to the medical item supplier identified as the preferred

biller for the patient’s medical insurance provider when it is determined that the

inventory management service provider is not the preferred biller for the patient’s

medical insurance provider.

The study conducted by Higham and Visser (2018) developed an inventory

management system that can be used to track the quantity of items taken or replaced from
the inventory. Specifically, the present invention relates to inventory manage systems

which can be used to wirelessly record multiple inventory items using one or more button

modules. The computer management of perpetual inventory is a common process today.

There are many methods for tracking who takes, returns or restocks items in a store room

or warehouse in order to maintain a record of the on-hand quantity, and to monitor that

quantity in order to place orders to replenish stock. A typical system comprises a

computer with a database storing information about each item, and means for users to

interact with that database, to maintain a computer based numerical representation of

what is actually physically on the shelves. The maintenance of the information in the

computer can be as simple as requiring a user interacting with the inventory, to

subsequently go to a nearby computer terminal, and input information about what they

did. The invention of this study relates to wireless connected button modules, one semi

permanently located at each item shelf location, and each button module able to transmit

wireless signals to a base station. Generally, a system for managing multiple inventory

items by multiple users may comprise a button module having at least a first button and a

second button and a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip incorporated into the button

module, wherein the NFC chip has a predetermined and unique module identification

signal associated with the button module and where the NFC chip is configured to

activate when a mobile device is in proximity to the button module. The button module

may further include a circuitry unit in communication with the NFC chip, wherein the

circuitry unit is configured to receive a predetermined and unique mobile device

identification signal from the mobile device for combination with the module

identification signal from the NFC chip, wherein the circuitry unit is further configured to
receive a count signal indicative of an increase or decrease in inventory count

corresponding to the first button or the second button being depressed upon the button

module and combine the count signal with the mobile device identification signal and

module identification signal for transmission to a remote server.

The study of Lee et al. (2017) developed an inventory management system that

relates generally to tracking packages and, more particularly, to managing inventory.

Accurate and efficient product flow is important for any retail location and can receive

new products from various transportation options and store the products in the retail

location prior to stocking and display at the front of the store. When an associate receives

a task to restock a product, the association first finds the product and then transports the

product to the product's location at the front of the store. Time can be lost both in

processing of products received at the retail location and in associates looking for

particular products when trying to fulfill restocking tasks. In some embodiments,

apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful for product storage location

identification. Reconfigurable lights can be mounted to product storage locations and one

or more of the lights can be illuminated to identify a particular storage location, such as

for placement or pick up of a product. The system described herein can utilize RFID

chips or tags to identify products and storage locations. So, configured, the system can

identify which storage location a particular product is in or can identify where a particular

product should be placed.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Big Data. It is an evolving term that describes any voluminous amount of structured,

semi structured, and unstructured data that has the potential to be mined for information

(Rouse, 2016).

Billing System. Refers to information systems that handle the tracking of billable

products and services delivered to customers, with some also tracking work hours for

billing purposes. These systems automate much of the time-consuming processes of

preparing invoices or other documentations.

Bill of Lading. It is the document issued by a carrier or its agent to the shipper that serves

as the contract of the carriage of goods and it is also the receipt for the cargo accepted for

transportation and must be presented at the destination of the delivery.

Business Process Management (BPM). It is the discipline of improving a business

process from end to end by analyzing it, modelling how it works in different scenarios,

executing improvements, monitoring the improved process, and continually optimizing it

(Rouse, 2018).

Cloud. The term comes from early network diagrams, in which the image of a cloud was

used to indicate a large network, such as a Wireless Area Network but eventually became

associated with the entire internet. The cloud may also be used to describe specific online

services, which are collectively labelled cloud computing (Christensson, 2012).

Downstream. The stage in the production process that involves processing the materials

collected during the upstream stage into a finished product. It also includes the actual sale

of that product to other businesses, governments, or private individuals (Bass, 2018).

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). A modular software system designed to integrate

the main functional areas of an organization's business processes into a unified system

(Rouse, 2018).

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce). It is the buying and selling of goods and services,

or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet.

These business transactions can occur as business-to-business, business-to-consumer,

consumer-to-consumer, or consumer-to-business (Rouse, 2018).

Human Computer Interaction (HCI). A discipline concerned with the design, evaluation

and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study

of major phenomena surrounding them (Wright, 2013).

Information and Communication Technology. It is the infrastructure and components

that enable modern computing. It is all the devices combined like networking

components, applications, and systems that allow people and organizations to interact in

the digital world (Rouse, 2017).

Information System. A set of interrelated elements or components that can collect,

manipulate, store, and disseminate data and information and provide feedback to meet an

objective (Reynolds & Stair, 2012).

Information Technology. It is any computer-based tool that people use to work with

information and to support the information and information-processing needs of an

organization (Prince & Rainer, 2016).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Refers to computing infrastructure comprising of

networking, hardware, virtualized operating systems, and software servers offered as a

service (Chana & Singh, 2013).

Inventory System. Transaction processing system that combines software and hardware

like barcode scanners to streamline the tracking of inventory as products flow through a

warehouse environment that could be a single stockroom or multiple warehouses spread

across the country.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS). It is the adherence to the set

of policies and procedures developed to protect credit, debit, and cash card transactions,

and prevent the misuse of cardholders' personal information (Rouse, 2017).

Performance-based Management. The systematic approach to improve performance

through an ongoing process of establishing strategic performance objectives, performance

measurement, performance data collecting, analyzing, reviewing, and reporting, and the

usage of the data.

Quick Response Code (QR Code). It is a type of 2D bar code that is used to provide easy

access to information through a smartphone (Rouse, 2013).

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). It refers to small electronic devices that consist

of a small chip and an antenna that provides a unique identifier for the object that it is

attached on. Just like a bar code or magnetic strip must be scanned to get the information,

the RFID device must be scanned to retrieve the identifying information.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL). It is a computer networking protocol for securing

connections between network application clients and servers over an insecure network,

such as the internet (Rouse, 2016).

Spreadsheet. It is a sheet of paper that shows accounting data arranged in rows and

columns but it can also be a computer application program that simulates a physical

spreadsheet by capturing, displaying, and manipulating data.

Stakeholder. Either an individual, group, or organization who is impacted by the

outcome of a project. They have an interest in the success of the project, and can be

within or outside the organization that is sponsoring the project (Landau, 2017).

Supply Chain. The network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities, and

technology involved in the creation and sale of a product, from the delivery of source

materials from the supplier to the manufacturer, through to its eventual delivery to the

end user (Rouse, 2013).

Website. A group of world wide web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other

and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution,

government, or organization (Merriam-Webster, 2018).