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employee could then use the verification application
to complete data verification checks using a barcode
scanner. The application would check the barcode
data on the documentation, against the master data
stored in the database, informing the employee of a
pass, or fail. This would result in eliminating
management from this process, as the employee
would not be required to perform data verification,
thus eliminating human error from the process.
The application successfully developed with
open source technology (APACHE, PHP and
MySQL). It was successfully implemented and
replaced the existing manual process, thus
improving the process significantly. It was found
that the new application provided several benefits,
such as more efficient business processes within the
dispatch department because the current bottle neck
had been eliminated. This in turn helped speed up
the dispatch of goods from the department.
Furthermore, through better utilisation of human
resource management, more time can now be spent
in other areas of the business, which could provide
even more cost savings or help improve revenue
streams through new product development.
The total project cost for the application was
calculated at £4006.35. This included hardware,
software, training and development costs. The new
process provided a resource saving of fifty percent
and a noticeable improvement in throughput time.
This was calculated as a total cost saving of
approximately £20K in the first year, providing an
approximate five hundred percent Return on
Investment (ROI) for the case study company.
It was found that the verification system
provided a number of benefits which could not be
fully quantified. Some of which included the ability
of the case study to eliminate the bottle neck
observed in the department. This in turn helped
increase the throughput of goods in the dispatch
department. Furthermore, through better utilisation
of human resource management, time can be spent
in other areas of the business, which could provide
even more cost savings or help improve revenue
streams through new product development. The
process was de-skilled, resulting in any employee
being able to perform verification using the web-
based system, after initial training.
In addition, the development of the web-based
application includes the storage of data, using the
MySQL database. As a result, management can use
the data to monitor the process and retrieve
historical data to help make business decisions.
Finally, the research team found that knowledge and
understanding of e-Business application had been
positively witnessed and experienced by the entire
organisation. Management and personnel involved
in the verification process have commented that
without the adoption of the system, it would have
been impossible to meet current customer demands
using the existing approach.
Organisation B
The research team and employees from the
organisation reviewed several web-based
applications used by competitors and organisations
providing financial services. This provided the initial
concept of a web-based application to the
organisation. The research team held focus group
meetings to discuss, and identify desirable
functionalities of the proposed web-based
application. It was agreed that the application would
also include finance quotation tools for dealerships
to use whilst using the web-based proposal form. It
was thought this would enhance value proposition to
dealerships, thus encouraging adoption. The web-
based proposal form would include validation
functions to ensure that all required information was
completed on the form before submission, thus
ensuring data integrity and minimising errors, thus
reducing processing time.
It was agreed to develop and implement the
solution in phases. In the first phase the solution
developed would store all the proposal information
in a database. The proposal would then be encrypted
and emailed to the organisation for processing, this
would replace the fax. The next stage of
development would look at identifying solutions to
allow data sharing between different operating
systems and programming platforms.
The organisation successfully implemented a
web-based e-Business application using open source
software (PHP & MySQL). The application
improved information flows between the car
dealerships and the organisation, replacing the paper
passed proposal application process. The application
was first released to field sales staff for review and
testing, before being released to car dealerships.
However, it was identified that the next stage of the
development may be more difficult, as the
application would be required to share data directly
with legacy systems, posing a security risk.
Furthermore, a dealership has requested information
sharing between both organisations to simplify the
proposal process. If the organisation can provide a
solution, the dealership as agreed to complete all
business transaction with the case study company.
This has resulted in the proposal for the application
to be developed further, into a web service.
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