Problem

No proper inventory management system to manage the flow and the billing.

Goal

To frame a proper automated inventory management and billing system.

Solution

We were approached by a leading food producer and retail seller to reframe their inventory management system.

Inventory is a report that contains a list of tangible items. It collectively includes the list of goods (manufactured and delivered), raw materials used for production, the supply of goods, and in-stock information. Taking care of inventory helps in smooth operation and is vital for every business. It helps in the real-time understanding of what actually is happening and the means to serve the customers better.

Studying the firm

The first step involved visiting the factory and the retail outlet to assess the entire process of the goods flow, interacting with the staffs in understanding their concerns in maintaining the system, and taking a look into their existing system. It was a conventional system that involved pens, papers, and spreadsheets.

We documented the findings at every stage of the process and cross-referenced the findings with the current market practices for a better, feasible solution.

Problems with the existing conventional system

The existing system was a traditionally, outdated system which involved a lot of manpower to continually monitor every transaction while handling the entire system. Involving a lot of manpower also increases the expenditure and tends to produce mistakes, mistakes in inventory management are difficult to track which in turn reflects on the genuinity of the firm.

Preparing simple, working model

After studying the existing, conventional model, its discrepancies, and the datum collected from interaction, we jotted down the important factors & worked on them collectively that involved frequent brainstorming sessions and experimental implementation.

Further to the findings, additional requirements to be implemented were also collected. The entire requirement was split into different modules and was worked on to put all the functionalities in a single workable wireframe. The designs were continually iterated till an effective wireframe with ease in the user flow appeared. The required functionalities were designed & integrated with the system and a functional chart was built.

Impact

With a user-friendly interface, the functional chart was easy to use and completely automated with customizable features. It needn’t be monitored continually as in the previous outdated system and is clutter free.

Through the functional chart, the flow of goods starting from raw material purchase to vendor to suppliers; everything can be tracked easily. In addition to this feature, information about the existing and new stocks also gets updated automatically making things easier for the system admin.

The functional chart proved as a simpler, easily accessible option to the administrators. The functionality and the simplicity of interaction was seamless and daily reports can also be generated at the end of the day which added to the effectiveness of the system. Further to this, a billing platform was also built.