Introduction

Purpose: In order to better help stores track and order shipments, a program using databases, tables, and the internet will speed up transition times. The purpose of this program is help businesses with the tracking of inventory, orders, and shipments.

For many companies, these three operations are handled seperatly, while in practicality, they shold be connected. There is no way that one can keep a healthy system going without interconnecting the parts that rely on the same information (ie the inventory). Therefore the goal of this project is to not only connect these three essencial parts of a successfull business, but to also connect between the individual stores of the business and the company's distribution center.

This project is worth doing because not only does it include many types of programming (ie beneficial for me the programmer) but also has value in the business management area. This program would also be beneficial for smaller companies who need an easy and effective way to communicate between their stores and distribution center. After the finalization of the project, it could be packaged and tested out by an actual company, and therefore this program would help companies who need to upgrade their management practices.

The results of this project will be helpful to these companies as they obviously would like a program that does the job in the most efficient manner. Also the results can be applied by adding more components to the project and/or tweaking different aspects of it so as that the company can be satisfied and so that all their requirements are met. This might have to be done on a case by case basis as each company has their own set of requirements they would like in a program such as this. Subsequently, this program might branch out more and into different fields in order to incorporate the many aspects that a company may need to adminster and track.

Scope: To do this, there are a few things to keep in mind. First there will be a log in page, with two different log ins: one for stores and one for the distribution center. From there each has different options -

For the store:

1. Check shipment
2. Send order
3. View inventory
4. Check messages

For the DC:

1. View orders
2. Send shipments
3. View/modify inventory
4. Check messages

Each one of these parts is run by table driven php and html pages that rely on a MySql database. In the database itself, there are quite a few tables, each with a seperate function. Most of these tables keep track of an item, which consists of a sku number, description, color, price, and sometimes, quantity. There is also one table that holds the store numbers and passwords.

The expected results of this project is to have an encompassing online program that will entail all of the parts mentioned above. The program will be able to track orders, shipments, and will be able to control inventory management. Hopefully, it will be easy and applicable to smaller companies who need a practical solultion to inventory and tracking problems.