Design And Implementation Of A Computer Based Bill Of Material Processing System

INTRODUCTION
Bill of material processing can be described the compilation of the raw materials required to produce any desired product. This means billing the materials before processing so as to achieve a cost-effective production, avoiding less in buying the materials for production and also in the sale of products after production.
There are a lot of problems encountered in the manual bill of martial processing system. It is difficult to maintain the relationship between raw materials at the lowest level and the in which this raw materials are combined to form final products are not shown in the manual bill of material processing.
Most raw materials are used for more than one product. It becomes difficult to determine the final products in which a particular raw materials is used unless a separate record of the usage of raw materials is maintained.
In Nigeria, some companies are a manufacturing company that produces spare parts (ie motorcycle or motor spare parts).
Those companies are the producers of engine blocks, piston and Rings, brake shoes, Inner kick, Inner gear, con rod, clutch Fiber, Tyre and Tube etc. the bill of material processing system is operated manually.
Those involved are the production manager who is in charge of production. He lists all the raw materials that are needed for production. The stores manager takes Inventory of available raw materials and notes those that are not available. He then notifies the purchasing manager.
The purchasing manager who is the head of the purchasing department is also involved. He is responsible for buying and bringing down the materials from the source.
The Head of Finance and Accounts who is responsible for releasing funds for the purchase of raw materials.
Those people co0operate with the marketing department. This is because price of the raw materials may affect the price at which products are marketed.
This study involves an analysis of the manual system and the design of a new computer based system.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
A lot of problems have been encountered in the existing manual system of bill of material processing system. The particular raw materials used in a product and the quantity used cannot be traced because of the following:-
1. Inefficient processing and storage system for bill of materials information.
2. Wrong transcriptions and mutilations by accident or on purpose. The information is very insecure and can be accessed by wrong persons.
3. Use of filling cabinets makes retrieval of information very difficult. Also the filling cabinets are prone to termites and rats.
4. Management decisions are often based on incomplete, incomprehensive, incorrect and unreliable information and as such planning and other management activities are affected.
5. Duplication of tasks will be eliminated so that the staff will gear their talents towards more challenging and innovative tasks.
1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study is to eliminate the problems that occur to improper billing of materials.
The steps involved are:-
1. To produce an inventory of all the raw materials used in Nigeria.
2. To critically examine the present trends in the billing system of the companies.
3. To identify the causes and sources of the problems encountered in the billing of materials.
4. To identify the effects of these problems and offer suggestions on how to solve them.
5. To serve as a reference to other researchers in this and other related fields of study.

1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY
The objective of this project is to design a computer-base bill of materials processing system.
An in-depth analysis of the existing system is necessary so as to identify the problems and to justify the development of the new system.
The new system aims at access and retrieval to authorized person, security and control against abuse. Efficiency and effectiveness will be enhanced. Timely accurate and up – to – date reports will be generated.
Most importantly, the staff will be free from boring and repetitive chores from which they drive no job satisfaction. They can then redirect their effort to more challenging and creative task. They will not be made redundant by the advent of a computer – based system.
1.4 SCOPE
The scope of the study covers the activities involved in the bill of materials processing. It involves an inventory of raw materials before productions avoiding loss in the purchase of raw materials and selling the final products at an optimal price. This is ensure that production is cost effective.
Due to the difficulties in determining the final products in which a particular raw material is used, separate records will be maintained for each product and will be made available on request to the users of the proposed system.

1.5 LIMITATION
There are a lot of factors mutilating against the development of this software.
However, I hope that this work will serve as a base for the development of a more sophisticated computerized software when I must have required the necessary acumen.
Some of these limitations are:
1. Financial constraints.
2. Time constraints
3. Insufficient programming knowledge
4. Inadequate manpower.
5. Administrative bottleneck co-official bureaucracy.
1.6 ASSUMPTION
I assume that accurate and reliable data will be used for analysis so that valuable results will valid. I also assume that the staff of Nigeria companies will co-operate with me during research.
Finally, I assume that all the objective of this study will met.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Some basic and operational concepts have been used in this project and it is important to explain them so that users of this work will understand them in the context in which they are used.
ACCESS MODE
This is the means by which data in a file retrieved for processing. Eg. Random and sequential access modes.
BILL OF MATERIAL PROCESSING SYSTEM
This is a manual or electronic system or (a combination of both) that creates and maintains the product structure record and established relationship between raw materials at various hierarchical levels of production.
INTERACTION DISPLAY
These are display on the visual display unit (VDU) that allows the user to input data or information is response to output.
INPUT
Input is a data or information transferred into a system. This system may be manual or electronic.
MANAGER
A manager is one who forecasts, plans organizes, takes elections, controls, co-ordinates motivates and leads in an organization.
MENU BAR
This is a bar at the top of the screen in a software that lists the available option (modules or sub-modules). An option may be chose using the arrow keys, clicking with the mouse or pressing a function key.
ON-LINE PROCESSING SYSTEM
In online processing mode, single transaction arriving on a random basis are processed as they arrive. Jobs are processed at the point of origin by means of terminals connected to and controlled by a control processor.
Common goals, they establish a hierarchy of authority and divide tasks according to members area of specialization so that the human resources within the organization can be properly harnessed to achieve set objectives.
PASSWORD
This is a code that a user of a system must supply to gain access to software and its database.
PROCEDURE MANUAL
This is a documentation containing an ordered sequence of processes. It shows how operations are performed in an installation.
PRODUCTION
This consists of all the operational activities involved in a manufacturing process starting from the assembling of raw materials to the finished goods or services (final products).
RAW MATERIALS
Raw materials include all inputs in the form of substances, chemicals and reactants into a production process.
REAL TIME PROCESSING SYSTEM
This is a processing made where immediate response is get as a result of inputting and processing data. The response (output is required immediately because it is used for further processing).
RECORD
A record is the basic element of a file consisting of a number of related data elements. It can be described as a unit of data representing a particular transaction or a collection of one or more fields of logically related information pertaining to one person or one thing.
REPORT
Reports are information generated in the form of textual, numerical, graphical, and /or pictorial presentations to aid a variety of functions like decision making, task sharing and performing actions.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS
This is an in-depth analysis into the inter-relationship between the components of system by breaking the system down to its separate components. This is done to enable the analyst understand and suggest solutions to the problems of the system.