References/Tutorials and Technical Paper Reading



References/Tutorials
  1. MySql Tutorial   This is a good first page to learn mysql, especially when your project entails adding/deleting/modifying database information.
  2. Intro to PHP   This is a good page to learn php. It is very comprehensive and you can find any function or command if you're programming in php.
  3. MySql/PHP Tutorial   This is a helpful page that teaches how to interface between php and mysql. This pertained to my project because i had to connect the database and online features of my project.
  4. PHP Function List   If you need to find a specific function that you know the name of, this list can help you write it. However if you need a function but dont know the name yet, search in google and then come back to this page. One helpful function i found was getDate() which lets you get the current date in any format you want.
  5. Intro to HTML   If you need to learn html quickly, this is a good page to start. Since my project was an online system, learning html was vital and this page is a good reference to anyone who needs to learn it or learn additional functions.
  6. HTML Table Formatting Tips   This page is quick beginning if you need to learn how to format tables for html. This was required for my project because i needed to display by mysql databases in a readable, nice fashion.
  7. Tables in HTML   This page is much more comprehensive than the one above. It is much longer but might be needed if you need a lot of table formatting with different requirements and functions.
  8. Forms in HTML   This page is the same as the above one except it deals with forms. This is helpful if you need to collect data from the user and input it or use it somehow in your project. This was the basis of my project, as i used this is the login page, inventory pages, and the other pages that dealt with modifying mysql table values.
  9. Header/Redirection Help   This page helps if you need pages to automatically redirect to another page. Sometimes you get header error messages because you cant put a header after an output. This clarifies the correct programming techniques to make it work. I needed this, for the login page primarily, because if a password was wrong, the page would automatically go back to the login page.
  10. Passing variables between PHP pages   This page is in a question answer format and deals with passing data between pages. This is helpful especially with redirecting. Also you can submit your own questionsto this help page on any topic you want.



Technical Paper Reading

Link to relevent Technical Paper

Summary
  This paper is from an actual company, Lawson, that helps retail businesses with their technological systems so that they can be "competitive and profitable" and they can "quickly tailor applications specifically to the needs of the business industry." One of their solutions is a "Best of Breed" approach that "easily integrate[s] with existing systems, provides immediate and deep information, and adapts as the organization changes." The company mentions one business it worked with, that started with "outdated and inappropriate [systems] for an electronically-connected world." Lawson has different solutions, one of which is the "Business Component Integrator" that provides a "seamless flow of information and transactions" that is "always accurate and up-to-date, leaving time to perform the most important taks - using the data for business intelligence." The way the company writes its program is similar to mine, in that it is web-addressable, meaning the applications use the internet so "users can access from a URL and apply through intuitive interfaces designed in HTML." This was one of the basic ideas I had for my project and its interesting to see that there is an actual company out there that creates and markets programs that help individual retail businesses.
  One of their actual programs is the "Lawson Merchandising" that provides "an integrated solution to gain control over inventory management and pricing, improve operational efficiency, and improve net margins." This was almost exactly the idea behind my project, as to help a business integrate to help them manage their inventory for better profits. Another aspect to this "merchandising" that gives "instant alerts" which is similar to my message center that notifies the companys when important actions have taken place. This system relys on "organizes data to maximize query performance and is widely recognized as the optimal model for decision support databases." This is also very similar to my project because I used mySql databases and used html tables to output the data in an organized, sortable fashion to help the user as much as possible. In conclusion, this particular system "delivers meaningful, filtered and personalized content to users, giving them crystal-clear visibility to the business."
  Another program they have shares characteristics with the project I created and this program contains a subsystem of "replenishment." This is "excellentfor inventory level management of warehouse facilities" that "forecasts store-demand or shipments to predict the exact inventory requirements." This is almost exactly what my project was about and it is meaningful to find out that my idea is actually usable in the real world. Their reason for this inventory management is that their customers "process a large amount of invoices, typically a very labor-intensive manual process. The lack of accuracy in manual processing results in errors and inefficient payment processes..." This too was one of the main reasons I created my project because I saw first hand the inefficiency behind manual invoice check in and decided to create a program that would fix that.
  In short, this company Lawson incorporates many aspects similar to my project in their real world business. They help smaller retail businesses manage their systems, via web-based programs, in order to increase efficiency and therefore profits. Their programs entail what I had in mind when I started my project, except that they are an actual company with real customers and market. :)