DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SMS BASED WATER BILLING SYSTEM

(A CASE STUDY OF BAGUDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT WATER BOARD, KEBBI

STATE)

BY

ZIYA’U BELLO

( 0911310049 )

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIT, DEPARTMENT OF

MATHEMATICS, FACULTY OF SCIENCE, USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY

SOKOTO, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD

OF DEGREE OF BARCHELOR OF SCIENCE, (B.Sc. HONS) COMPUTER SCIENCE.

SEPTEMBER, 2014

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 CERTIFICATION

This research work by ZIYA’U BELLO (0911310049) has met all the requirements for

the award of degree of Bachelor of Science in computer science of faculty of science, department

of mathematics computer science unit, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and is approved

for its contribution to knowledge.

Mal. Mansur Muhammad Date

(Project Supervisor)

Prof. I. J Uwanta Date

(Head of Department)

External Examiner Date

2
 DEDICATION

To the entire Computer scientists around the world and to my beloved parents Dr. Bello

Usman Bagudo and Hajiya. Halimatu Bello Bagudo for their kindness, love and care.

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 ACKNOWLEGMENT

Much thanks and profound gratitude goes to almighty Allah for his kindness, infinite mercies

and patience he has given me throughout this work.

My special and sincere appreciation to my supervisor Mal. Mansur Muhammad, for his

support, patience and constructive criticisms throughout this work.

I also express my appreciation to the entire lecturers and staff of computer science unit

department of mathematics, Faculty of Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto.

My thanks and gratitude also to my beloved parents Dr. Bello Usman Bagudo and Hajiya.

Halimatu Bello Usman and my lovely brothers and sisters Mubarak, Faruk, Fatimah, Zinatu,

Hindatu, Sadiya, Abdulrasheed, Salmanu, and Ukhashatu for their love, care, moral support,

understanding, endurance, encouragement and sound advise towards my academic pursuits.

I so much appreciate you my friends Sadiq Aliyu Ahmad, Maniru Malami Umar Tambuwal,

Imrana Abdullahi Yari, Umar Muhammad Bello and Malami Ahmad Abdullahi. May almighty

Allah reward you.

My final appreciation goes to Mal. Aliyu Muhd of Bagudo Water Board and all those who

have contributed in one way or the other toward my academic goals. May Allah bless you.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page ………………………………………………………………………………..………i

Certification page ………………………………………………………………………………..ii

Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………………….iii

Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………………iv

Table of contents ……………………………………………………….……………..................v

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….x

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………...1

1.2 Background of the study ……………………………………………………………………...1

1.3 Statement of the problem ……………………………………………………………………..2

1.4 Aims and Objectives…………………………………………………………………………..3

1.5 Significance of the study ……………………………………………………………………...3

1.6 Scope and Limitation ………………………………………………………………………....4

1.7 Definition of terms …………………………………………………………………………....4

1.7.1 Internet …………………………………………………………………………………....4

1.7.2 Web ……………………………………………………………………………………….4

1.7.3 Web browser ……………………………………………………………………………...4

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1.7.4 Website …………………………………………………………………………………...5

1.7.5 Web page …………………………………………………………………………………5

1.7.6 Localhost ………………….……………………………………………………………...5

1.7.7 Web server ……………………………………………………………………………….5

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction to billing ……………………………………………………………………….7

2.2 Types of billing ……………………………………………………………………………...7

2.3 Classification of bills ………………………………………………………………………..8

2.4 Online billing systems (Electronic bills) ………………………………………………..…..10

2.4.1 Features of online bills ……………………………………………………………………10

2.4.2 Advantages of online billing systems ……………………………………………………..11

2.4.3 Disadvantages of online billing systems ………………………………………………….12

2.5 Short message service (SMS) …………………………………………………………….…12

2.5.1 Types of short message service (SMS) …………………………………………………...13

2.6 Water meter …………………………………………………………………………………14

2.6.1 Meter reading (MR) ……………………………………………………………………....14

2.7 Review of some existing water billing systems ………………………………………….....14

2.8 Software tools ……………………………………………………………………………....15

2.8.1 Hypertext markup language (HTML) ……………………………………………………15

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2.8.2 Hypertext preprocessor (PHP) …………………………………………………………..16

2.8.3 Apache http server ……………………………………………………………………....18

2.8.4 Mysql …………………………………………………………………………………....19

2.8.5 Java script …………………………………………………………………………….....20

2.8.6 Wamp server ………………………………………………………………………….....21

CHAPTER THREE: SYSTEM ANALYSIS

3.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………..23

3.2 Requirement analysis ……………………………………………………………………...23

3.2.1 Hardware requirements ……………………………………………………………….....24

3.2.2 Software requirements ………………………………………………………………..…24

3.2.3 Preferred requirements ……………………………………………………………..……24

3.3 Analysis of the current system ……………………………………………………..……...25

3.3.1 Analysis of the input …………………………………………………………….………26

3.3.2 Analysis of the output ………………………………………………………….………..26

3.3.3 Analysis of the existing system procedure ………………………………….…………...27

3.4 Files maintained ……………………………………………………………….…………..27

3.5 Web-design methodology …………………………………………………….…………...28

3.5.1 Mission statement ………………………………………………………….……………28

3.5.2 Audience modeling ………………………………………………………..…………….28

3.5.3 Conceptual modeling ……………………………………………………..……………..29

3.5.4 Implementation design phase ………………………………………….………………..29

3.5.5 Implementation phase ……………………………………………….…………………..31

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3.6 Expectations of the new system …………………………………………………………..31

CHAPTER FOUR: SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………33

4.2 System design …………………………………………………….………………………33

4.3 Description of the proposed system …………………………..…………………………..34

4.3.1 Steps of design process ……………………………………..…………………………..35

4.3.2 System flow design ……………………………………..………………………………39

4.3.3 Data flow diagram ………………………………………..……………………………..43

4.3.4 Use case ………………………………………………..………………………………..44

4.3.5 Database design ………………………………………..………………………………..46

4.4 System implementation ………………………………..………………………………….50

4.4.1 Login page …………………………………………..…………………………………..50

4.4.2 Registration page …………………………………..……………………………………51

4.4.3 Consumer home page ……………………………..…………………………………….52

4.4.4 Password resetting page …………………………...…………………………………….52

4.4.5 Feedback page ………………………………...…………………………………………53

4.4.6 Cashiers page …………………………………..………………………………………..54

4.4.7 Administrator control panel …………………..…………………………………………54

4.5 System testing …………………………………...…………………………………………55

4.5.1 Testing method ………………………………...…………………………………………56

4.5.2 Test plan ……………………………………………………...…………………………..56

4.5.3 Types of testing ………………………………………………..…………………….……57

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CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Summary ……………………………………………………..……………………………59

5.2 Conclusion …………………………………………………..……………………………..61

5.3 Recommendation …………………………………………..………………………………62

5.4 Suggestions for further research …………………………...……………………………….62

5.5 References ………………………………………………....………………………………..64

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 ABSTRACT

Billing is a critical function of most Water Boards especially towards sending the bill to their

consumers. Most problems, currently seen, result from the manual processes followed.

Calculation errors, delays in system updating and bill sending, also report tracking issues are

the major problems that water boards find difficult to find answers for. This project work

provides a solution called an sms based water billing system to collect, process and notify

consumers about consumption. This system will be reliable, efficient and accurate to suit

the requirements of Bagudo local government water board. The proposed solution uses

evolving Mobile Technologies known as SMS and voguepay online payment technologies, over

a solution which uses web applications to handle the organization’s day to day transactions

which will allow the water board to send bills to their consumers via SMS and consumers to pay

their bills using ATM cards. The burden on the billing is lessened and other new features

have also been introduced. Consumer interaction with the organization is improved and

consumers can easily view their monthly water bills by login to the organization’s web site.

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 CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

It is obvious that without technology there is no modernization, and modernization in turn

brings about improvement in the quality of our lives. The invention of computer and some other

related devices has no doubt brought improvement in the quality of life. With the introduction of

computer many software were invented and has made those things, which seem not to be

possible, a reality.

SMS Based Water Billing Software is a special program designed to store and manages

the records of all the billing activities of the Bagudo water board. It helps to save the record of

consumers, cashiers and monthly bills. It also helps to send consumers monthly bills via SMS.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The importance of computer cannot be over emphasized since the ancient times, computer

has proven itself capable of accepting data, storing, processing and producing an accurate result

or output. Since computer has partially taken most of the responsibilities of human being, i

intend to embed the use of computer in the billing exercise.

Water Board is an organization that deals with several paper works and ledger cards in saving

records. These records increase every day as transaction is always going on in the organization.

As the record increases, information saving, retrieval and maintenance is becoming tedious every

day. There is lack of security because the data can be altered by any individual.

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 Another important thing with most of this water boards is that they deal with many of

consumers, the notification of consumers on their monthly bills which is very difficult using the

paper system of keeping records of billing, where the cashiers has to go round to distribute bills.

Monthly report is also very important in order to allow the organization to make further

decisions based on the success or failure recorded in a month.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Proper record management is of very important to every organization or company. Most

organizations have poor record management which leads them to having many problems during

auditing.

Water Board is an organization that deals with every day transaction. The record of bills is

what is used to determine success or failure and is what will be used for further decision as to

continue with the present pattern of business or change to a new style.

The manual record keeping and billing is very slow and is error prone. No proper security is

usually provided to the record and so can be tempered with by any individual either intentional

or accidental. Another problem with the manual system of record keeping and billing is the

natural disaster. Disasters like fire outbreak etc can cause damages or even total vanish of all

records.

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1.4 AIM and OBJECTIVES

Aim

To design and implement an SMS based Water Billing System

Project Objectives

1.4.1 To study and investigate on the current system

1.4.2 To conduct a literature review on SMS based Water Billing System

1.4.3 To investigate the most appropriate tool for the development of a web-based System

1.4.4 To design and implement a database for SMS based Water Billing System

1.4.5 To design and implement a front-end tool

1.4.6 To evaluate the tools, techniques and methods used to design and implement the

propose system.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This project work is of benefit to the management of Bagudo Water Board for simplicity of

their work and to help improve their activities more efficiently. The research also served as

academic bedrock upon which student and researchers would build their research on similar or

other academic work of their choice.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION

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 This project is useful for the Bagudo Water Board, Branch of Kebbi State Water Board, but

has extended capabilities to accommodate more additional Water Boards. It does not suffice for

Kebbi State Water Board as a whole.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.7.1 Internet

It is a “network of networks” that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic,

business, and government networks, etc. which together carry various information and services,

such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other

resources of the World Wide Web (www).

1.7.2 Web

The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked hypertext

document accessed via the internet.

1.7.3 Web browser

A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with

text, images, video, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on

the World Wide Web or a local area network.

1.7.4 Website

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 A website (alternatively, web site ) is a collection of web pages, images, video or other

digital assists that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the internet.

1.7.5 Web page

A web page or webpage is a resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web

and can be accessed through a web browser. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML

format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext links.

1.7.6 Localhost

Localhost is a software program that facilitates access to peer-to-peer virtual file system via

Bit Torrent protocol.

Default name describing the local computer address also known as the loopback address. For

example, typing: ping localhost would ping the local IP address of 127.0.0.1 (the loopback

address). When setting up a web server or software on a web server, 127.0.0.1 is used to point

the software to the local machine.

This IP address is the local IP address and is not the IP address used by your computer to

communicate with other computers on your network or the Internet.

1.7.7 Web server

A web server is essentially a computer program which is responsible for handling HTTP

requests. A browser request to view a page the server then accepts the request and displays the

page. From a general point of view, we consider web servers as the storage area for files which

are available on the web. So in order for any page to be viewable on the web it must be loaded on

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to the web server. A web server is usually a dedicated piece of hardware and software used to

allow a website to be displayed on the net.

CHAPTER TWO
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 LETRATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO BILLING

Bill is a written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or

charge, or an invoice. (http://wiktionary.org).

Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus defined Water Bill as “a regular

charge that is made to people for the use of their local water supply”.

Billing is the aggregation of all non-recurring, periodic, and chargeable events on an

account-by-account basis. It is also the calculation of all outstanding charges and available

discounts and bonus e s. (http://www.tutorialspoint.com)

Webster's College Dictionary (2010), define billing as “Billing is the preparing or sending

out of bills or invoices. The amount of business done by a firm within a specified period of time

or a cost of goods or services billed to a customer”.

2.2 TYPES OF BILLING

There are two types of billing which are postpaid billing and prepaid billing. (Hatem, 2012)

1. Postpaid billing

In postpaid billing the customer may pay an insurance payment in advance, and

he may pay the installation or setup fees, and in each billing cycle he will be invoiced

(receive a bill) to pay for his usage of the service.

2. Prepaid billing

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 In prepaid billing the customer buys a given amount of credits (duration, volume, number

of events) and is then allowed to use the corresponding network resources as long as their

account is in credit. Billing system receives customer usage records from the network elements

and adjusts the customer credits. When their credit has been used up, network usage will be

restricted. Prepaid corresponds to a real-time process, because transactions are only allowed if

the user account is in credit, and this has to be checked in real-time.

2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF BILLS

Chris (2013) classified Bill into eight (8) common classifications as follows:

i. Initiation bill: Normally only requested as the first bill on an account. Includes

product charges and adjustments, but not event.

ii. Periodic bill: Produced at regular intervals. Includes all periodic charges, e

vents, and adjustments.

iii. Interim bill: An extra bill that contains charges due to events processed for

the account since the last bill. Includes all events and adjustments, but no

periodic charges.

iv. Suspension bill: Sent when an account has been suspended. Includes all

periodic charges, events, and adjustments.

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 v. Final bill: Sent when an account has been terminated to bill all outstanding

charges that are due. Includes all periodic charges, events, and adjustments,

along with any refunds; for example, the return of a deposit.

vi. Post-final bill: Sent when a terminated account has receivables outstanding

after the production of a final bill. Includes any post-termination events and

adjustments, but no periodic charges.

vii. Credit note: An extra bill that contains all adjustments in the customer's favor

gene rated since the last bill.

viii. Summary Statements: A summary statement can be produced for a

customer-driven billing hierarchy. It can summarize all bills produced by all

accounts below the customer it is associated with. Optionally, they can also

concatenate all the bills into a single statement.

Bills are produce d either automatically or on request from a customer.

2.4 ONLINE BILLING SYSTEMS (ELECTRONIC BILLS)

Online bill pay is an American mainstream practice. Three out of four U.S. online

households have paid at least one monthly bill online, according to a 2007 survey titled,

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Consumer Billing and Payment Trends 2002-2007; The Volume of Electronic Bill Payments

Exceeds Check Bill Payments for the First Time, conducted by Harris Interactive for Check Free

Research Services. The same study indicated that the percentage of electronic bill payments has

surpassed the percentage of check bill payments among online households. But as paperless bill

payment has briskly moved through the stages of consumer adoption, its counterpart, paperless

bill presentment, has been slower to gain mainstream momentum.

An electronic bill (e-bill) is defined as an electronic version of a company’s bill that is

delivered to a consumer through the website of the company that issued the bill (a “biller”), a

financial institution internet site or a web portal. An e-bill contains the same information as a

paper bill and has the same due date. Paperless billing occurs when consumers replace a paper

bill with an e-bill. Today, many firms require customers to “shut off” their paper bill, either

immediately, or after some period of time, in order to receive an e-bill.

2.4.1 FEATURES OF ONLINE BILLS

An efficient billing system is extremely essential for taxes levied by the municipal

corporations and their collection from consumers. An efficient system of billing can only

ensure timely serving of demand notice and collection of dues from customers, thereby

enabling efficient cash recycling and serve the following objectives:

i. Timely rising of bills for the water dues;

ii. Establishing clear cut time schedules between the raising of bills, sending it to the

consumers and payment by them;

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 iii. Collection from the consumers of the right amount and on due date;

iv. Make it easy for willing consumers to pay at convenient collection centers, most

ideally at the door step;

v. Accounting for daily collections and their remittances

vi. Clear accounting of dues of consumers;

vii. Elimination of avoidable delays;

viii. Minimizing the cost of collection;

ix. Paying adequate attention to disputed cases and defaulters;

x. Rigorous follow-up of defaulters;

xi. Incentive mechanism for workers involved in dues collection from consumers.

2.4.2 ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE BILLING SYSTEMS

1. Real-time IVR interface with CIS database

2. 24/7 customer self-service access

3. Hear account balances and payment history

4. Pay bills by credit card or eCheck

5. System-Wide Messages

6. Update Customer Phone Numbers

2.4.3 DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE BILLING SYSTEMS

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 Some of the disadvantages of online bills are:

1. The slowness of the Internet and power outrages is one of the major disadvantages of

online billings

2. Lack of accessibility to online bills for those who do not have access to the

Internet or any other kind of electronic service

2.5 SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS)

Is a text messaging service component of phone, Web, or mobile communication systems. It

uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line or mobile phone devices to

exchange short text messages (Heather, 2012).

The term "SMS" was used for both the user activity and all types of short text messaging in

many parts of the world. SMS is also employed in direct marketing also known as SMS

Marketing.

2.5.1 TYPES OF SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS)

i. Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS

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 While SMS reached its popularity as a person-to-person messaging, another type of

SMS is growing fast: application-to-person (A2P) messaging. A2P is a type of SMS

sent from a subscriber to an application or sent from an application to a subscriber. It

is commonly used by financial institutions, airlines, hotel booking sites, social

networks, and other organizations sending SMS from their systems to their

customers. According to research in 2011 by clickSUMO , A2P traffic is growing

faster than P2P messaging traffic.

ii. Flash SMS

FLASH SMS is a type of SMS that appears directly on the main screen without user

interaction and is not automatically stored in the inbox. It can be useful in

emergencies, such as a fire alarm or cases of confidentiality, as in delivering one-

time passwords”. (SMS types, 2014).

iii. Silent SMS

Silent messages, also known as “silent TMS”, “stealth SMS” or “stealth ping”, are

employed nowadays to locate a person and thus to create a complete movement

profile. They do not show up on a display, nor trigger any acoustical signal when

received. Their primary purpose was to deliver special services of the network

operator to any cell phone. The mobile provider, often at the behest of the police, will

capture data such as subscriber identification IMSI. In Germany in 2010 almost half a

million "silent SMS" messages were sent by the federal police, customs and the secret

service "Verfassungsschutz" (offices for protection of the constitution).

(Verfassungsschutz, 2010).

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2.6 A WATER METER

Is a device that measures how much water you used. It is similar to your gas or electricity

meter. Your supplier uses readings from the meter to calculate how much to charge you for your

water and sewerage services (post-consumer waste paper, 2013).

2.6.1 METER READING,

Is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data

from water meter or energy metering devices (gas, electric).

2.7 REVIEW OF SOME EXISTING WATER BILLING SYSTEMS

Abuja Water Board (2012) deploys a water billing system for their consumers. Cashiers are

prompted to inter the details of consumer such as name, address and the meter readings (previous

and current reading) as well as price which the system will use to generate the bill.

The limitations of this system are the cashiers cannot retrieve the record of the customer

after printing, the bills has to be distributed to the consumers from one resident to another.

Similarly, Edo State Urban Water Board (2011) deploys a billing system which stores the

details of each consumer and calculates the bill rate of the consumer when the meter readings are

provided to the system, and the bill of each consumer can be retrieved.

One of the limitations of this system is that it is standalone system. In which only one user can

use it at a time.

Other limitations are monthly bill report cannot be generated and payment of monthly bills can

only be done at the water board or by collection.

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2.8 SOFTWARE TOOLS

Some of the software tools reviewed in this research work is: HTML, PHP, HTTP SERVER,

JAVASCRIPT, MYSQL and WAMP SERVER.

2.8.1 HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML)

According to Brooks (2007), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the basic language and

foundation that makes the World Wide Web function accurately. It is the major language used in

web designing and it is understood by most computers and the compliance for creating static web

pages. He also argued that HTML is not only a programming language in the traditional sense,

but rather a set of instructions about how to display content and the application that translates the

instructions is called the web browser. Some of the features of HTML include:

i. An HTML document provides an I/O interface, JavaScript and other scripting

languages handles the calculations. An advantage of HTML is that it provides a

wealth of interface that far surpass those of text-based language such as C

ii. HTML displays a running text on the web page, a feature called a marquee

behavior.

iii. Using HTML, pages can be linked together to form a continuous interactive

session.

iv. The benefits of HTML in this research work is that, it enables us to markup the

structure of the interfaces for this project such as interface for online registration,

and login form.

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2.8.2 HYPERTEXT PREPROCESSOR (PHP)

Tim Converse and Joyce Park (2012) in there book PHP5 and MySQL Bible stated that,

“PHP was invented by Rasmus Lerdorf, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans. The language enables

developers to produce dynamic web application by including complex function calls or database

queries within the HTML code.

Lerdorf (1994) proposed the meaning of PHP to be personal Home Page, but was later

known to be its existing meaning (i.e. PHP Hypertext Preprocessor). It is one of the most popular

Web-development languages in the world. PHP is a server-side scripting language and it is

propose in the web-server before sending the information to web browser (Jason 2004).

According to Brawley and Fuller (2010) PHP was invented in 1995 as Personal Home

Page/Forms Interpreter or PHP/FI. They further highlighted that this language can now be

interpreted as a recursive acronym which stands for “PHP Hypertext Preprocessor”.

However, Rasmus (1994) consider PHP as a server-side, HTML-embedded, cross-platform

script language, in which terms; PHP provides a way for putting instruction in HTML files to

create a dynamic page”.

PHP CAPABILITIES

PHP would create dynamic web pages like a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application.

It provides equal functionalities as the ASP does. PHP also provides database connectivity and

strong security measure. PHP can also deploy cookies and manage session. The database

management systems that provide connectivity through PHP are Adabas D, Dbase, Emress,

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FilePro, Informix, Hyperwave, InterBase Solid, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, ODBC, Microsoft

Access, Sybase, Velocis, Unix dbm, MS SQL Server, etc.

THE STRENGTH OF PHP

Among other scripting languages such as APS, Perl, Python, JPS and JavaScript, PHP is

preferred due to the following:

i. Price

ii. Open source

iii. Platform agnostic

iv. Cost

v. Ease of maintenance

vi. Maturity

vii. Database compatibility

The greatest strength of PHP is its faithful legion of open source supporters.

FEATURES OF PHP

1. PHP can be used to create customized HTTP- based authentication mechanisms for

the Apache web server. PHP also supports all common regular expression operations.

2. PHP can support variables and arrays.

3. PHP also supports embedding of SQL queries directly in HTML files.

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2.8.3 APACHE HTTP SERVER

According to Apache-PHP-MySQL.com, “Apache HTTP Server is an open source, robust,

featured, rock solid and free server application. It is available for UNIX, Linux and Windows

Operating Systems.

1. The following are the features of apache:

2. Common language interference support for Perl, python, Tcl, PHP, etc.

3. DBMS-based authentication database with different popular authentication modules

4. Configurable error messages

5. Custom log files

6. Proxing and

7. URL rewriter

Apache has the following benefits, which made it preferable over other savers:

1. It is free and stable

2. Easy to configure, use and update

3. Lots of good documentation available

4. Supports security features

5. Robust enough to handle major traffic

6. Allow virtual host and other special service

7. It runs on virtually any hardware platform

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2.8.4 MySQL

The Database Management System (DBMS) is a collection of programs that enables

users to create and maintain databases. The DBMS is hence general purpose software that

facilitates the purpose of defining, constructing and manipulating database for various

applications. The DBMS used for handling the data in this research work is MySQL.

MySQL is a fast easy-to-use DBMS used on many websites. The main focus of the

developers was speed from the beginning. In the interest of the speed, they made the decision to

offer fewer features than their major competitors such as Oracle and Sybase.

However even though MySQL is less full-featured than its commercial competitors, it has all

the features needed by majority of database developers. It’s easier to install and use than its

commercial competitors, and the difference in price is strongly in Missal’s favor.

Some of the benefits and Advantages of MYSQL are:

1. Cost Effective: MySQL database is an open source system and from everyone to anyone

can use it as it is under General Public License. This gives developers the opportunity to

create Free MySQL Database. At the same time, you can make changes to the code and

customize the same as per your requirement and with the features that are available

anyone would love to opt for MySQL database. However there are some limitations

though for people planning to use MySQL database for commercial use as they might

have to purchase standard edition of SQL server for a very nominal charge.

2. Cross Platform Operability: One of the biggest factors which make MySQL the most

opted form of database is Cross Platform Operability. It has proved itself in getting

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 installed in all the major platforms such as Linux, Windows, Solaris and so on and at the

same time performance has not been affected. Apart from that, the presence of APIs

makes its integration with C, C++, Perl, Java and Python etc. pretty easy.

3. Security: Databases setup on MySQL are very, very secure as all the passwords that are

stored are in encrypted form, hence restricting unauthorized access to the database.

This project research is going to use MySQL Database as the back-end storage for all records.

All data saved from the registration of consumers, adding of cashiers, billing and payment

processes and feedback will be saved on the SQL Database.

2.8.5 JAVA SCRIPT

According to Mora (2010), JavaScript’s original name was Live Script created by Brendan

Eich at Netscape in 1995. JavaScript is an object-based scripting language modeled after C++.

JavaScript is a client-side scripting language in which it performs all necessary actions within

the browser without consulting any server before it can perform any function. It also supports

event handling and validation of inputs. JavaScript code can make sure that user enters valid

information and when the submit button is pressed; the script checks the values of all necessary

fields; and as a result prevent the request from happening. It also supports regular expression

pattern. Button can be associated with JavaScript events.

The JavaScript language is a Web-enhancing technology. When employed on client

computer, the language can help turn a static page of content into an engaging, interactive, and

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intelligent experience. Applications can be as subtle as welcoming a site’s visitor with the

greeting “Good morning!” when it is morning in the client computer’s time zone – even though

it is dinnertime where the server is located.

JavaScript Capabilities

1. Add content to a web page dynamically

2. Alter a web in response to user actions

3. Reacts to user events

4. Interact with frames

5. Manipulates HTTP cookies

6. Limited network programming.

2.8.6 WAMP SERVER

WAMP Server is a package of independently created programs installed on a computer

that use Microsoft Windows Operating system. The Linux version of this is LAMP Server which

runs on Linux Operating systems. The full meaning of WAMP is Windows, Apache, MySQL

and PHP. Apache is a web server, MySQL is an open source database and PHP is a scripting

language that can manipulate information held in database and generate web pages dynamically

each time content is requested by a browser. Other programs are also included in the package

such as PhpMyAdmin which provides a graphical user interface of MySQL database manager or

the alternative scripting languages Python and Perl.

WAMP Server will be used in this project as a testing server i.e. after the source code has

been created, WAMP Server will be used to test the output of the project.

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 CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Systems are created to solve problems. One can think of the systems approach as an

organized way of dealing with a problem. In this dynamic world, the subject System Analysis

and Design (SAD) mainly deals with the software development activities.

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 System analysis is a process of collecting factual data, understand the processes involved,

identifying problems and recommending feasible suggestions for improving the system

functioning. This involves studying the business processes, gathering operational data,

understand the information flow, finding out bottlenecks and evolving solutions for overcoming

the weaknesses of the system so as to achieve the organizational goals. System Analysis also

includes subdividing of complex process involving the entire system, identification of data store

and manual processes. (National Institute of Open Schooling, 2014)

3.2 REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS

Requirement means different things to different people depending on the context in which it

is used, to some people it means careful elicitation and specification of the users need towards

the development of any application such that the content, navigation and structure of any

application focus on the users, while some viewed it as just system requirements without

considering the user as the main target.

Basically requirements are categorized into software, hardware and user requirements.

Software requirement is a sub-field of software engineering that deals with the elicitation,

analysis, specification, and validation of requirements for software. The software requirement

specification document enlists all necessary requirements for project development. Hardware

requirement involve elicitation and specification of all the equipment needed to design the

project while user requirement specifies what the users are in need of with regard to the new

system. Below are the software, hardware and user requirements for the new system:

3.2.1 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

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 The following are the minimum hardware requirements for the system

i. Minimum of 128MB of RAM.

ii. Minimum of 5GB HARD DISK.

iii. V.G.A color screen monitor.

iv. A keyboard.

v. A mouse.

vi. An uninterruptible power supply.

vii. P-III processor or equivalent.

3.2.2 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The following are the minimum software requirement for the system to work:

i. Operating System: Microsoft Windows98/2000/XP/VISTA/SEVEN.

ii. Web browser: Opera, Google chrome, Mozilla, Firefox.

3.2.3 PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS

Based on the recent data collected the result indicates the following as the requirement for

the new system:

As the front end, the system should provide an interface called login page that can allow

consumers to register with the system, such that information of the end user will be tracked.

1. The login interface also should provide a password reset link which allows registered

users to reset their password.

2. After registration the system should welcome an existing user if the username and

password match and give the privilege to view and pay monthly charges of water

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 consumption using ATM card. Else the system should prompt the user that the username

or the password is wrong.

3. Also a specialized user known as administrator should also login where he can pass in his

details to get logged in to the system if the username and password matches and, logged

in administrator should have the right to manage users; change his password, manage

price; generate monthly report; manage system and logout to the system.

4. In addition it should be created according to the access levels and some security

parameters should be endorse to prevent unregistered users from modifying the details of

other users.

3.3 ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM.

The analysis of the current system at the Bagudo Local Government Water Board, of Kebbi

State was conducted by document sapling and interviewing the users of the existing system

(Billing Officer, Cashiers and Consumers) for clearer understanding of the current system. All

the steps currently for registering of consumers, billing of consumers, distribution of bills,

collection of monthly charges and generation of monthly report is completely manual and offline

system.

The problems of the current system are: There is no efficient means of registering and

managing of consumer information. Also distribution of bills to consumers is another problem

because the consumers may not receive their bills in time or even not received at all or it can be

delayed by the bill officials. In the current manual system consumers can only pay their monthly

charges at specific bank or the water board hence causing long queue every month and time

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consuming. Another problem of the manual system is that some cashier use fake receipt to

collect monthly charges from consumers hence causing great lost to the organization.

3.3.1 ANALYSIS OF THE INPUT

The input requirements include information that must be presented to the system by the user

to enable it performs its operations properly. The input requirements for the current system

include:

1. Name of the Consumer(s).

2. Address of the Consumer(s).

3. Email Address of the Consumer(s).

4. Phone Number of the Consumer(s).

5. Ledger number (used to identify every Consumer).

6. Meter Reading(s)

3.3.2 ANALYSIS OF THE OUTPUT

Output is what the system gives back to you or the result of your process when the right

inputs are in place. The output of the current system is through the Registration and billing of

consumer monthly as well as distribution of those bills. Other output includes payment of the

monthly charges and monthly report generation.

3.3.3 ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM PROCEDURE

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 Procedures are concerned with the processes or steps taken while working with the system to

obtain maximum benefit. In the current system, all the processes of registering consumers,

billing, distribution of bills, and payment of monthly charges are done following the below

procedures:

1. Registering of consumers on ledger cards.

2. Recording of monthly meter readings.

3. Billing of consumer(s) using the meter reading (i.e. Current reading Minus Previous

reading multiplied by price per liter).

4. Distribution of consumer monthly bills from one residence to another.

5. Payment of consumer monthly charges and collection of receipt.

6. Writing of monthly report to find out the number of consumers that pay their bills and

those that did not as well as amount generated for that month.

The above procedures are followed to ensure successful management, billing, distribution and

payments of monthly bills.

3.4 FILES MAINTAINED

The files maintained takes care of records that requires some information about the consumers

and bills which include consumer name, address, meter reading, monthly charges and phone

number etc. on Ledger cards. The essence of file maintenance is to enable easy retrieval of

information when needed. In the current system, all bills generated in a particular month are

recorded on ledger card which has ledger number for easy identification.

3.5 WEB-DESIGN METHODOLOGY

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 The new system to be developed for this research project is a web-based system.

Achebe (2002) stated that there are five phases in web-based design methodology which are:

1. Mission Statement

2. Audience Modeling

3. Conceptual Modeling

4. Implementation design

5. Actual Implementation

3.5.1 MISSION STATEMENT

The Mission statement also known as the “Mission Statement specification” is the first phase

in web-based design methodology. It attempts to provide answer to the questions; what is the

purpose of the web application, what is its subject and who are the target audience? Once the

above questions are answered, it implies the mission statement phase is completed.

3.5.2 AUDIENCE MODELING

This phase comprises of two sub-phases which are audience classification and audience

characterization; At Audience classification, Audience classes are identified by considering only

the activities of the organization related to the purpose of the project and identifying the people

involved; these people can now be grouped into audience classes by looking at those information

and functional requirements that are similar to them. Lastly, at the Audience characterization, the

characteristics of the various audience classes are given. The audience in this project work are

billing officer (admin), Cashier and Consumer where each of them has his characteristics such as

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management of the overall system for billing officer, billing of consumers for cashier and

payment of monthly charges for consumer.

3.5.3 CONCEPTUAL MODELING

This is also known as the conceptual design phase. It consist of three parts that can be

performed simultaneously; Information modeling, functional modeling and navigational design.

Information modeling is mainly intended for data intensive web sites; it deals with the

“conceptual what” i.e. the type of information and how it is structured. Functional modeling

consists of the interaction between the users and the system. For the purpose of the interaction,

the functional requirements are listed according to the various audience classes based on how

they are related to the system. Lastly, Navigational Design addresses how to navigate through

the information. Each audience class is considered and the various information components

external that are related to it are considered. The integration of Information, functional modeling

and navigational model is known as Conceptual Modeling.

3.5.4 IMPLEMENTATION DESIGN PHASE

The Implementation Design Phase is a three-phase model that comprises Page structure

design, Presentation design and Logical Database design. Page structure design entails

packaging information in form of chunks in the right proportions. Presentation Design deals

with the ‘look and feel’ of the web site. And may constitute a lot of literature, Lastly, Logical

Database Design is the design of the underlying database that may be used to maintain the data

in case of data intensive web applications. The output of the implementation design is an

implementation model.

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3.5.5 IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

The implementation phase is concerned with realizing the web applications by using the

design made in the previous phases.

This project research is going to use the above methodology for the design of the online

system for Bagudo Local Government Water Board. The diagram in figure 3.1 shows all the

phases discussed in the methodology above.

Figure 3.1: Web-based design method phase

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3.6 EXPECTATIONS OF THE NEW SYSTEM

Retrieving and Sending Bills electronically tend to overcome all these weakness present in the

current manual system of Bagudo Local Government Water Board.

This could be seen in terms of:

1. Speed

2. Cost reduction

3. Accuracy

4. Provision of Information from databank.

Billing using an automated system means that all information management, Billing and

payment processes will be done online, which will make it faster instead of the present manual

system.

Accuracy refers to the state of being exact. This is the ability to calculate and retrieve

particular monthly bill and consumer information that is needed by either a consumer or cashier

without mistakes. For instance it is possible to search for bill history of a particular consumer,

but retrieving it manually will be time consuming.

All information saved on an online system are stored in a database, therefore it will be kept

for as long as it is needed.

Time sharing is also another advantage of an online system for managing and searching of

document. In a network environment, more than one person could read the information about a

particular consumer or bill at the same time but it varies in current manual system.

The aim of any information system is to improve the efficiency of already existing system

irrespective of the system type (i.e. manual or automated). This efficiency can be achieved by

proper planning. SMS Based Water Billing system may be complex to design and program

41
because it is like training a computer to behave like human being, so the process of designing an

SMS based Water Billing System is a complex task that requires its own expertise.

CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 INTRODUCTION:

System design and implementation are the most crucial phase in the development of any

system, based on the user demands and the detail analysis of the existing system, the new system

need to be designed using the two stages involved that is preliminary or general design and

structure or detail design therefore, in designing any system, it is necessary to guarantee that the

end product will display neither functional nor performance failure. (Přibyl, 2011).

It is then necessary to predict the performance of systems when they are under design

and development, as well as to predict the impact of changes in configurations of existing

systems, as such before actually implementing the system designed into operations, a test plan

should be developed and run on a giving set of test data where the output of the test should

match the expected output after the test and having the user acceptance of the new system

developed, the implementation phase begins; during this phase new system will be turned in to

practice.

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4.2 SYSTEM DESIGN

System design is the most important phase in the development of any information system,

system design is undertaken based on the user demands and the analysis of the new system, in

this phase the design proceeds into two stages, the preliminary or general design and structural or

detail design.

In preliminary design, the features of the new system are specified, cost of implementing

these features and benefit to be derived are estimated while Structural design is a blue print of a

computer system solution to the problem, in structural design the database where input, output

and processing take place are drawn up in detail. (Přibyl, 2011). The whole system was also

designed using flowchart in order to indicate how data flow within the system.

4.3 DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED SYSTEM

The proposed system is the “design and implementation of an SMS based water billing

system” with web based frontend and script based database backend. It allows consumers to

register to the system which authorized a consumer to login using the username and password

specified during registration, where user can view and pay his monthly bill. It provide a

password reset module where users reset their password when necessary using their email and

mobile number used during registration. There is an administration section where the

administrator can login and make some modifications on stored data such as manage cashier,

manage consumer, set price; generate monthly report (paid or unpaid bills), change his password,

view feedbacks and logout. Another section is cashier login where the cashier login and bill

consumers. In the backend, the system stores all the records entered for future references. The

43
web based frontend consists of interpreted web pages that allow user accessibility to the

documents on the web. These documents are linked to each other using CSS by providing well

leveled links which direct the user to the appropriate web page when clicked.

4.3.1 STEPS OF DESIGN PROCESS

1. Logical design

In the logical design, the inputs, outputs (result), Databases (data stores), procedures

(Data Flow) and boundaries of the system are described, which needs the user requirement. It

specifies the user need at a level of detail that virtually determines the information flow in

and out of the system along with the required data resources.

2. Physical design (Database design)

This process is concerned with the design of the physical database. A key is to

determine how the access paths are to be implemented. A physical path is derived from the

logical path. The relationships existing among the entities like one-to-one, one-to-many,

many-to-many are considered while designing the database. Relational structured database is

used in this system.

3. Program Design

In conjunction with database design is a decision on the programming language to be

used and choice of coding. In this design, PHP is used as server side script while JavaScript

44
 and HTML are used as client side script, which are supported by most browsers such as

Internet Explorer 5, safari, Mozilla Firefox, Google chrome, and opera etc.

4. E-R (Entity Relationship) Model

An entity relationship (ER) diagram is a database model that describes the attributes of

entities and the relationships among them. An entity-relationship (ER) diagram is a specialized

graphic that illustrates the interrelationships between entities in a database (Nembhard, 2013). To

avoid insertion, updating, or deletion anomalies, entity relationship diagrams must be normalized

(Peck, 2003). Hence, the database of this system is normalized to third normal form by

eliminating fields that do not depend on the primary key.

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Figure 4.1 Entity relation diagram

The above diagram shows the database design for the SMS based water billing system.

46
 1. Conceptual Class Diagram

A Class diagram is a visual representation of an application showing its classes and the

relationships between those classes. It is used to describe the static structure of the elements in

the application. The classes are arranged in hierarchies that share common structure and behavior

and are associated with other classes. It is a diagram that shows interactions organized around

instances and their links to each other.

Figure 4.2 Conceptual class diagram

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 The above diagram shows the object model and the interaction between them and the

sequence in which the information flow within the system.

4.3.2 SYSTEM FLOW DESIGN

Sequential diagram employed in this design is flowchart in order to show the stepwise

procedures used in performing a task within the application. A flowchart consists of special

geometric symbols connected by arrows. Within each symbol is a phrase representing the

activity at that step. The shape of the symbol indicates the type of operation that is to occur. For

instance, the parallelogram denotes input or output. The arrows connecting the symbols, called

flow lines, show the progression in which the steps take place. Flowcharts should “flow” from

the top of the page to the bottom. Although the symbols used in flowcharts are standardized, no

standards exist for the amount of detail required within each symbol.

The main advantage of using a flowchart to plan a task is that it provides a pictorial

representation of the task, which makes the logic easier to follow. The steps and how each step is

connected to the next are showed.

This project consists of three sections administrator part, cashier part and consumer’s

section, the way data will flow in each part will be shown in the subsequent flowcharts.

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Figure 4.3 Flow-chart show Admin login

The admin login by providing his username and password in which if valid can have access to

the system where he/she can manage the whole system.

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Figure 4.4 Flow-chart show Cashier login

The cashier login by providing his username and password in which if valid can have access to

the system where he/she can bill consumers.

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 Figure 4.5 Flow-chart for Consumer Registration and Payment

The Admin, Cashier or Consumer will start his module by entering the address of the site in

the address bar of the browser, by writing “http://localhost/bagudo_water_bill/” without the

double quot. Clicking at “Create a new account”. The link in the system will prompt the

consumer with a registration form for him/her to fill in order to get registered with the system,

51
and access the component of the system made for him, which is viewing and payment of his

monthly bill online. Then after will logout.

4.3.3 DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

Much in Object Oriented development, data flow diagrams were essential parts of pre-

Object oriented software development. Data flow diagrams (DFDs) still have an important role

in the specification of many systems. The importance of data flow diagrams is in specifying what

data is available to a component. Knowing the data available often helps in the understanding of

what a component is expected to do and how it will accomplish the task.

Figure 4.6 Data flow diagram.

The above diagram show how data flows within the system.

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4.3.4 USE CASE

Use Case is a formal way to capture and to express the interaction and dialogue between

system users (actors) and the system itself. The Use Case diagram creates tracks of various

functions and those who interact with the functions within a theoretical application. This will

help to show the key concepts, their properties and their relationships as classes, attributes and

associations respectively (Bennett Simon et al, 2006).

With the use case model, the key actors in the domain can be easily identified such as admin,

cashier and consumer whom are related to the system. A Use Case diagram is useful for

describing requirements of a system in the analysis, design, implementation and documentation

stages. The below diagram show the Use Case of this project work. The administrator is the only

user that performs the administrative job, starting from Adding cashier, manage cashier, manage

consumer, set price, view feedback and monthly report generation. The cashier bill consumer and

the consumer can register with the system, view and pay monthly charges as show in the use case

diagram below.

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 Figure 4.7 Use case Diagram

The diagram above show the use case model of the system and the activities carry by each

actor in the system.

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Actor Description

System Administrator The system administrator adds cashier, set price, bills consumer, view

feedback and generate monthly report (Paid and Unpaid bills).

Cashier The Cashier is expected to bill consumers (system send the bill to the

consumer’s mobile phone every month).

Consumer The Consumer is expect to update his password, receive his monthly

charges via mobile phone, view and Pay his monthly bill.

Table 4.1 use case description

4.3.5 DATABASE DESIGN

The database is the core of any information system. The nature of data stored in the

database as well as the organization of the data has wide effect on the performance of the system.

A good database design should hold all the data, which may be required by the users of the

system, but at the same time, avoid any harmful or unnecessary redundancy. The database should

also be flexible so that any future change in requirements can be incorporated with minimum

changes.

The data in this system is organized in the form of 2-Dimension relational tables.

Organization of data into tables allows easy categorization, retrieval and storage of data.

Different tables have been created for different type of information. The rules of normalization

have also been applied while designing the tables.

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Since the system requirement some manipulation of data, some of the tables used are almost

static in nature and are already available with the standard data for the selection of the parameter

values. Other tables are used with bi-directional role of data i.e. for both input and output.

During database design six (6) tables were designed among which is:

Name Type Status

Uid Int(11) not null

Username varchar(30) not null

Email varchar(150) not null

Password varchar(200) not null

access_level varchar(1) not null

Table 4.2: User table

Name Type Status

Id int(11) not null

Uid int(11) not null

Fname varchar(50) not null

Lname varchar(50) not null

Dob varchar(100) not null

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phone_number varchar(11) not null

Table 4.3: Cashiers_bio table

Name Type Status

Id int(11) not null

Uid int(11) not null

Fname varchar(30) not null

Lname varchar(30) not null

phone_number varchar(11) not null

Dob varchar(15) not null

Address varchar(200) not null

Table 4.4: Consumers_table

Name Type Status

Bid int(5) unsigned zerofill not null

Id int(10) not null

Reading varchar(20) not null

Period varchar(20) not null

Status int(11) not null

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bill_timestamp int(19) not null

default_msg_stat int(11) not null

Table 4.5: Bill_table

Name Type Status

price_id int(11) not null

price_value float(6,2) not null

Table 4.6: Price_table

Name Type Status

Id int(11) not null

Fname varchar(30) not null

Lname varchar(30) not null

Phone_number varchar(11) not null

Email varchar(100) not null

Address varchar(200) not null

Comments varchar(200) not null

Table 4.7: Feed_Back table

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4.4 SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation phase is the main phase where the new system must be carefully

implemented in order to ascertain its functionality; it is a phase during which the theory is turned

into practice. During this phase, all the programs of the system are loaded onto the user’s

computer. In this project all the steps indicated were designed practically .

4.4.1 LOGIN PAGE

Figure 4.8

This provides an interface through which both existing and new consumers can login and

register respectively. What was required using Mozilla Firefox as the browser or any other

browser, which is available in Microsoft windows operating system. The web directory is log on

to by typing http://localhost/bagudo_water_bill/index.php in the address bar and click go on the

menu bar or press enter on the keyboard. On connecting successfully to the host server the

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“Home page” is loaded first on the browser. All other pages can be viewed when user login

successfully by clicking their respective links.

The registered consumers can login with their login detail and have access to the system

while unregistered consumers can register by click “Create a new account” after which the

registration form is displayed to the consumer to submit the registration details.

4.4.2 REGISTRATION PAGE

Figure 4.9

After filling the form the user will click on the submit button to register where the system

will automatically send an email to his email address containing his/her login details or click on

home button at the top to cancel the registration and go back to the login page.

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4.4.3 CONSUMER HOME PAGE

Figure 4.10

The figure above is the initial page of the consumer interface after complete registration and

login. It is there the consumer will decide to edit his account, view or pay his monthly bill using

his ATM Card.

4.4.4 PASSWORD RESETING PAGE

Figure 4.11

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 This is where the registered users whom forget their password can reset their passwords by

providing the phone number and email address they used during registration, if they are correct

the system will send an SMS to the user which contains reset code that he/she will use to login to

the system.

4.4.5 FEEDBACK PAGE

Figure 4.12

Above is also an interface were registered or not registered consumer and other people can

send their suggestion, complains or comments.

4.4.6 CASHIERS PAGE

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Figure 4.13

The cashier as a special type of user who can only be added or deleted by the system

admin, login to the system by passing in his username and password, necessary authentications

are carried out to ensure that the username and password matches, if it matches then the login

was successful and allow the cashier to bill consumer and the system will automatically send the

bill details to the consumer via SMS else the page will prompt an error message to notify the

cashier that the user name and password are not correct.

4.4.7 ADMINISTRATOR CONTROL PANEL

The administrator as a special type of user, login to the system by passing in his

username and password, necessary authentications are carried out to ensure that the username

and password matches, if it matches then the login was successful else the page will prompt an

error message to notify the administrator that the user name and password are not correct, an

administrator should try re-login.

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 Figure 4.12

If the login was successful the above page will be displayed with different function for the

administrator to perform.

4.5 SYSTEM TESTING

System testing is the process used to help identify the correctness, completeness, security and

quality of developed computer software. With that in mind, testing can by no means totally

establish the correctness of arbitrary computer software. In computability theory, a field of

computer science, a well-designed mathematical proof concludes that it is not possible to solve

the halting problem, the issues of whether an arbitrary computer program will enter an infinite

loop, or halt and produce output. In other words, testing is disapproval or comparison, which is

comparing the actual value with an expected one.

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4.5.1 Testing Method

One of the strategies used to develop a successful system is to fulfill the system requirement

specification and ensure the system is bug free. In order to ensure the system is developed under

requirement specification and error free, the author has designed an appropriate test method to

test the system.

System testing is to examine the system performance, especially in the system function

process.

Such as the system input (data) and output (information), this process is to ensure the input are

validated and output are matched with the expected output.

In order to overcome the problem and verify the system, the author has studied various type of

testing method. To have an efficient test on the system, more than one testing method are used to

test the system or a combination of more than one test method.

4.5.2 Test Plan

A test plan has been designed by the author in order to test the system properly. There are

three main categories to be tested, which are the Consumer site, Cashier site and the

Administration site. The author used unit testing, integrated testing and system testing to test the

system.

Unit testing is the first tested on the proposed system. It focuses on each unit of the system

and checks for the source code of the particular unit and checks whether it is operated according

to the requirement. Next, Integrated testing which basically concentrates on the testing of the

combined parts of the system and checks whether all the parts combined together, would work

65
properly. Lastly, system testing used to test the overall proposed system with all the subsystem

integrated together into a working system.

4.5.3 Types of Testing

There are lots of testing available, such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing,

black box testing, white box testing, acceptance testing, stress testing, alpha testing, beta testing

and so on. These entire testing types have their own area of applicability. Normally, the testing is

used by the developer to test for the performances, functionality, and reliability of the system. It

will always be easy to find out the error in small area and fix it before going to the large area.

1. Unit Testing: Unit testing involves single isolated module. Ideally, a programmer unit

tests each module before trying to integrate that module with other. Testing low-level

modules requires drivers to provide input and output while testing-high level module

requires subs for missing lower-level modules. The entire purpose of unit testing is to

reduce the effort of integration testing. Although the programmer might not unit test all

modules, but they must plan a module test for each module. The plan is simply what data

to provide to the module and what result to expect. This type of testing is sometimes

called black box testing

2. Integration Testing: The integration test combines all the modules together and is

tested. First the programmer would add one or two other subordinates from the same

level. Once the program has been tested with the co-ordination module and all of it

immediate subordinate modules, the analyst would add modules from the next level and

then test the program. This procedure would be repeated until all the modules have been

tested.

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3. System Testing: System testing are designed to verify if the finished system meets its

requirement. There are three kinds of system testing. Alpha testing is a system testing

performed within the development organization. Beta testing is the system testing

performed by a selected group of volunteers. Acceptance testing is system testing

performed by user to determine whether to accept the delivery of the system.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

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 This is the final chapter of this project and will briefly summarized the whole that was

written right from chapter one to chapter five taking into consideration the most important points

and concluded by stating what was achieved, there by recommending what needs to be achieved

in the future.

5.1 SUMMARY

The system for SMS Based Water Billing system (A case study of Bagudo Local

Government Water Board) has been successfully designed. This project research work consists

of five chapters which will be summarized below:

In chapter one, background of the study, statement of the problem, aims and objectives,

significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study and definition of some terms were

discussed.

In chapter two, relevant literatures were discussed; definition of bills, type of bills,

classifications of bills, online (electronic bills), features of online bills, advantages of online

bills, disadvantages of online bills, review of some existing billing systems and software tools

that were used in the development of the system such as HTML, PHP, JavaScript, MySQL etc.

In chapter three, analysis was carried out in terms of; analysis of the current manual

system, analysis of the input, analysis of the output, analysis of the existing system procedure,

files maintained, web-design methodology and the expectations of the new system were

discussed.

In chapter four, a detailed explanation of the proposed system was given in a general term

which include; new input requirements, new system procedure, new output requirements, new

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files maintained, new system requirement (both hardware and software), use case modeling,

database design(modeling), system implementation which include all user interface

implementations and testing were all discussed.

Finally, chapter five gives us a brief summary of all the previous chapters. Also in this

chapter, all necessary documents used in the course of carrying out this research work will be

well referenced in the reference list. The chapter will also contain conclusion, recommendation

and suggestions for further research. Some part of the program code used for the implementation

of the system will be specified.

5.2 CONCLUSION

In every organization there must be a method set up to perform transactions between the

organization and their customers, such methods must encounter some limitations and restriction

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which may hindered the performance, and reliability of the method used to some certain

standard.

The application designed was meant to aid the administrator, cashier and consumer to

carry out their respective functions effectively and also to carter for the problems of the existing

system, the application designed was successfully validated in terms of its performance and

functionality and it was proved to be reliable, consistent, ease the means of sending of bills,

payment of bills using ATM cards and most of all monthly report generation (Paid and Unpaid

bills).

5.3 RECOMMENDATION

After undergoing a critical analysis of the existing system and compared it with the

application designed, it is recommended for the Bagudo Local Government Water Board to

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deploy the system as a means of managing and sending of bills to their consumers, since the

execution and implementation of this application was implemented and tested in an online

environment.

5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The system at its current state can be implemented and will function effectively. But for the

sake of other interested students that will like to extend this project in the near future, I have the

below suggestions for them:

1. The result shows that billing method used by this system is not sufficient therefore I will

suggest and improvement in the method of billing such as Unmetered billing for

consumers with no meter.

2. Also payments option used by this system is not sufficient therefore I will suggest and

improvement in the payment options (the system should offer various payment options

for consumer). For example by breaking down your bill into affordable amounts (part

payment).

3. Also third party deduction schemes (also called ‘Water Direct’) should be added,

meaning that if you are working with a particular organization or government it may be

possible for payments to be made directly to the water board from your benefits.

4. A mobile version (application) for the system that can run on Windows, androids and

Black-berry mobile phones since the world is now moving to a mobile world.

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 5. Finally, I will suggest an interested student that wants to continue with this project to see

the possibility of integrating the system with the consumer’s meter so that the system can

be able to get the meter reading from the meters, without officials going to residence to

take meter reading.

REFERENCES

Achebe. I. D. (2002): Comparative Studies on Web Design Methodologies: [online] Accessed

from: http://www.dsic.upv.es/~west2001/iwwost01/. Retrieved on 3rd March, 2014

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ClickSUMO (2011) SMS is still king article by clickSUMO. Available at

http://www.clicksumo.com/sms-is-still-king/

Check Free Research Services. (August 2007). Consumer Billing and Payment Trends 2002-

2007; the Volume of Electronic Bill Payments Exceeds Check Bill Payments for the First

Time.

Chris Wease (Feb 27, 2013). Billing and Collection System. Seminar Presentation Lead by

TWI.Chris Wease, National Sales. Trends in Billing & Payment Technology Sponsor:

NCAWWA.

Department Audit Commission Hong Kong (25 March 2008). Customer Care and Billing

System of the Water Supplies Report No. 50, available on the website at

http://www.aud.gov.hk.

David R. Brooks (2007), Guide to HTML, JavaScript and PHP For Scientists and Engineers,

doc. Ing. Ondřej Přibyl, (2011). System Analysis and Design of ITS, Available at

http://zolotarev.fd.cvut.cz/sni/. Retrieved 2014-07-2.

Electronic bill presentment and payment (In English). Available at

http://www.webopedia.com/term/e/. Retrieved 2014-02-13.

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Hatem Mostapa, (2012) Introduction to billing, Available at

https://workspaces.codeproject.com/hatem-mostafa/billing-system-introduction/article/#types

Heather Kelly (December, 3, 2012) The Text Message Turns 20, Available at

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/03/tech/mobile/sms-text-message-20/

Monahan, M., Van Dyke., J. (February 2007). Electronic Bill Presentment: Product and

Marketing Strategies to Drive Adoption. Javelin Strategy & Research.

Mora Sergio Lujan (2010), Cookies Uso en JavaScript.

National Institute of Open Schooling, (2014). Phases of System Development Life Cycle.

Available at http://oer.nios.ac.in/wiki/index.php/Phases_of_System_Development_Life_Cycle

. Retrieved 2014-07-2.

Post-consumer waste paper (December 2013) ISBN 1-904655-73-4 Printed on 75% minimum

de-inked Available at http://www.ofwat.gov.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-2.

(nd) SMS types available at http://www.routomessaging.com

Tim Converse and Joyce Park (2012), PHP5 and MySQL Bible. 4th Edition

Vaswani, V (2008), PHP: A Beginners’ Guide, McGraw-Hill Osborne Media

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Verfassungsschutz verschickten und Zoll, BKA (2010) über 440.000 "stille SMS" | heise

online". Available at http://heise.de/newsticker/meldung/

Webster's College Dictionary, (2010) Definition of Billing, K Dictionaries Ltd, by Random

House,

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