DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTERIZED BILLING SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES (CASE STUDY WATER CO-OPERATION ENUGU)
ABSTRACT
Billing Automation for Public Utilities (e.g., electricity, gas and water) have been widely studied and implemented in developed countries across the world this project explores the design implementation and application of billing automation for gas consumers. For low gas consumer (domestic consumers) a prepaid meter has been designed which a prepaid card to keep the gas supply need continue. For industrial consumers, a gas meter is wirelessly connected with the regional billing office where the consumption billing will be recorded. Along with the gas, the system can be enhanced to measure and bill the consumption of electricity and water. The major concern of this project work, Design and Implementation of Billing System for Public utilities, is to improve their billing operation for water cooperation Enugu through automation. In achieving this, a computer system is needed as a working tool and visual basic programming language to implement the computerized system.
ORGANIZATION OF WORK
CHAPTER one of this project deal with introduction to the work, statement of problem, aims and objectives, purpose of study, significant of the study, scope, limitation, assumption of study and definition of terms. Chapter two deal with literature review of the project topic and Chapter three deals with description and analysis of the existing system, fact finding method, organization structure, objective of existing system, input/output process analysis, information flow diagram, problems of existing system and justification of the new system. Chapter four deals with design of the new system. Chapter five deals with implementation of the new system. And Chapter six deals with Documentation (program and user). And Chapter seven deals with recommendation, summary and conclusion of the project work and also references.
Table of contents
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
References ……………………………………………………………….
Appendix ……………………………………………………………………
Source listing ………………………………………………………………
List of figures ………………………………………………………………
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Organizational Structure
Figure 2: Information Flow Diagram
Figure 3: Procedure Chart
Figure 4: System Flow Chart
Figure 5: Program Design
Figure 6: Program Flowchart
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
Billing system (BS) is a system realizing accounting of consumable services by subscribers, calculation and allowances of cash assets. It is aimed for calculation of services’ costs or goods based on the tariff. Also it is used to bill and close the accounts. [1]
Prototypes of the modern electronic BS were born together with expansion of modern computers some tens years ago.[3]. Hence, 1868 can be mentioned as the date of the first BS. One system is used for calculation telegraphic communication statements between telegraph offices. The first electronic invoice appeared in 1918 when Fedwire payment system was created. This facility linked the twelve Federal Reserve banks across the U.S.A over leased telegraph lines to electronically settle central bank balances.[2] Calculations between the enterprises with the help of electronic transactions, instead of the traditional scheme of calculations are now in great use everywhere. The aspiration to simplify process of payment as much as possible is natural, to make it’s as much as possible convenient for the client.
The author of the paper considers three platforms (Microsoft, LINUX and MAC) and all aspects concerning this selection. Platform is a system on which programs operate. [4] Nowadays, almost all billing procedures between companies operate either offline (connected to the local network) or on-line (connected to the internet) bill presentment platforms. Offline bills, for now, are often passed from branch to branch for approval. In other case (there are no connections at all), the procedure is slowed. [5]
As a rule, some area requires a development of an independent highly adjusted BS for own needs. Correct selection of BS and operating platform is an essential point for profitability of a company. BS allows analyzing company productivity and becomes a tool for improvement of company processes. Customer retention and vender abilities depend on reliability of BS and platform. For instance, fast and accurate receiving of statistic sales figures, customer transactions and activity of the client helps to define new ways of the company development, plan actions of the service technical improvement, to react on new customer’s request.
These are very important for a company. One of the most important aspects of using a BS is selecting an appropriate platform. There is a broad range of platforms in the market. Factors to consider include the functionality available within the platform, security, IT issues and cost considerations. Selecting the right platform for the project is the necessary task for achieving these objectives.
1.1 Statement of Problems
Every company has a specific character which has to be considered when a billing system is selected or developed. The solution can be good for some companies and a disaster for others. There are solutions providing required functionality, quick installation but their prices are unjustified high. Forcible argument for a development of an own BS is price of the prototypes and imperfection of cheap or average solutions. When developing a BS one of the main questions which arise is to select a platform.
1.2. Objectives
The main aims of this study are to evaluate and to select the optimal platform for a BS. These objectives are based on formalized system and specific project which allow increasing efficiency and quality of service. The project considers a BS.
The list of tasks to study:
• Researching Design Company – to consider a company structure;
• Researching business process of the Company – to consider how a system of the sequent, purposeful and regulated kinds of activity that are being input the process will be transformed to outputs (the results of process) which are of value for the customers;
• Researching quality ass
| 1 - 5 of 96 Reviews |