1.

1 Project Background

Chips Computing Services were formed in 1989 and have grown into Zimbabwe's leading

supplier of Accounting and Business Management Software. Chips domination of the

Zimbabwean market has been based on the availability of local support for their main

brands being Sage Enterprise (Sage 1000,500 & X3) and Pastel. Chips have invested

substantially in training and accrediting all their consultants to meet international

standards.

The Sage Enterprise suite of ERP solutions which include Financials, Distribution,

Manufacturing and Services have been successfully implemented into over 100 Medium

to Large organizations in Zimbabwe. These organizations include 20 companies listed on

the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Chips have a large team of twelve consultants providing

local implementation, training and support. Chips also have clients in Zambia, Malawi

and Tanzania.

Chips through a division called Pastel Software Zimbabwe are the distributors for Pastel

in Zimbabwe which includes leading products such as Pastel Xpress, Pastel Partner and

Pastel Evolution. Pastel Software Zimbabwe have a large user base in Zimbabwe whom is

supported through a channel of 21 Pastel Certified resellers.

Pastel Software Zimbabwe have been awarded the Platinum award for being top

international distributor for 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002. Pastel Zimbabwe

offers implementation, support and classroom training on Pastel Partner and Pastel

Evolution using Pastel Certified Installers.

Enterprise resource solutions like sage 1000, sage line 500, Pastel Evolution , Microsoft

Navision have done some work in this Area with modules such as project billing and job

costing but the main problem is you have to buy the entire cow just to get some liver. The

other problem is Enterprise Resource Planning solutions are generic and do not give you what

you desire, you have to work around the solutions they provide and these packages have high

annual licence fees which same companies cannot afford.

1.2 Problem statement

Chips computing are in need of a timesheet management system that they can use to control

and bill their consultancy hours with. Their core business is billing consultancy hours so it is

very important that this is well managed. If is a lot of redundancy in the current manual

process of billing consultancy hours which makes it difficult to make important decision in

the organisation.

1.3 Scope

The area I would like to concentrate on is billing of hours and managing consultancy time.

Knowing which resources are free to be allocated producing reports that show the amount of

hours charged for a project to enable management to make decisions on whether the project is

worthwhile or to terminate or find ways of cutting the cost of the project.

1.4 Aims

 To develop a timesheet management system that will be custom made for Chips

computing operations
1.5 Objectives

 To develop a simple timesheet management system that will be used to bill employee

consultancy hours.

 To Track the work that has been done by the consultants

 To Track progress that has been made in a project.

1.6 Justification

Enterprise Resource Planning systems are generic systems that have a lot of functionality in

them which are meant to serve companies in different industries although this has advantages

in sharing resources at times its necessary to create a complimentary application like the time

sheet management system that is custom made for the client and can be later integrated to the

other systems like the Enterprise Resource Planning systems or payroll systems or a

Customer relationship management system.

1.7 Assumptions

 There is technology available to link other applications to the Timesheet management

system.

 That there is cooperation from all stakeholders

 That there are enough financial resources available for all requirements
1.8 Limitations

 I only have 2 months to finish my project.

 I am not allowed to work with competitor’s software.

 My application will be limited in its connectivity to the enterprise resource planning

solution.

 My developments will be limited to work with Sage products only.

1.9 Feasibility

1.9.1 Social feasibility

The current system creates a lot of duplications in that sage administration in filing

consultants’ job cards in duplicate. One has to be filed in the support department and the

other has to be captured and filed in accounts. The introduction of a new system that reduces

the amount of work that has to be currently done is a welcome development from the

administration staff. This will be a definitely

1.9.2 Technical feasibility

The Timesheet management system is a simple system to implement there is enough

technical staff to support and maintain the system. The organisation has the necessary

hardware and software required to run the system. All sage products have an application

programming interface that will allow the integration of already existing systems to the

timesheet management system.

1.9.3 Organisational feasibility

The timesheet management systems development will be in line with the company’s

developmental policy on our system shortcomings where we do add on applications that do

not require the change in architecture of our current systems. The new system will be linked

to existing applications via application programming interfaces or the new method of linking

applications using web service technology.

1.9.4 Economic feasibility

The benefits of implementing this solution definitely outweigh the costs of implementing the

solution. It will not take much time to implement and the benefits will be immediately felt

because they will be no need to renew the annual licence of the current solution being used.

The same solution can be sold to other clients since it will belong to Chips computing

covering all costs involved in the development of the system.

1.9.4.1 Cost benefit analysis

Work plan

Project schedule

Task/Activity   Duration wk1 wk2 wk3 wk4 wk5 wk6 wk7 wk8 wk9 wk10
  Days                    
Requirements   14                    
                         
User interface 14                    
Design                      
Integration &   7                    
Testing                          
Database 3                    
Design                      
Refinement &   70                    
Testing                          
Documentatio
n 70                    
        d7 d15 d21 d28 d35 d42 d49 d56 d63 d70

Conclusion