The project covers a web based system that was developed to improve the process of Bus scheduling system by bus users. The study involved a thorough scheduling of the existing and related bus scheduling systems in Uganda. The main objective was to develop a system that enables bus users to manage travel tickets online and was achieved through requirements collection, analysis, system design, and implementation and testing. Requirements were then determined through analyzing data that was collected through interviews, physical observation of existing and related systems, questionnaires, and from existing literature . The literature obtained enabled the researchers to get a snapshot about the system to be developed given the bottlenecks identified in the existing processes.
Some of the problems identified included; late issuing of the receipt, inefficiency and untimely information which always destabilizes the whole planning process, human errors like lack of knowledge as to which buses go to different routes leading to production of wrong reports, some areas people walk long distances to get buses. The project team sought to address the above problems through the design, development and implementation of an online booking and bus scheduling system that is efficient and effective.
The interface that enables for interaction between the system and the users was designed using Dreamweaver and WAMP Server. The database was implemented using MySQL RDBMS while PHP was deployed to handle interactions between web pages and the database.
Introduction
The number of buses in Uganda has been steadily increasing in the transport sector since the late nineteen eighties due to return of peace in most parts of the country as well as a steadily improving economy. Many of these buses operate long distances on poorly maintained roads.
Furthermore a number of these buses are reconditioned due largely to the high cost of purchasing a new one. The operating environment has also been steadily improving with formation of governing bodies like Uganda Bus Owners’ Association (UBOA) that monitor and guide the bus transport sector in Uganda. However the increasing number of bus fleets both at company and association level poses a significant problem because few of these companies have bus scheduling systems that provide scheduling for these reconditioned buses.
In order to avoid late issuing of receipts, congestion, knowing which destination are the buses supposed to cover, inefficiency untimely information, such buses normally require strict monitoring, frequent services, repairs and maintenances. Manual systems in place by Uganda’s bus travel companies are unreliable, difficult to monitor and render this kind of work tedious. The fleet managers are faced with a number of operational challenges among others staff and vehicle management, time management, customer service, planning, general performance and meeting business objectives. These challenges, when inadequately addressed 1may lead to ubstandard services and decreased profits. The manual systems and lack of monitoring systems means that most transport companies in Uganda cannot keep or make comprehensive reports on their daily operations.
Case Study: Kampala Bus Scheduling Company The case study is Kampala Bus Scheduling Company, which is one of the biggest bus companies in Uganda with 20 buses. In this company, scheduling is done manually and covers all bus operations which include (bookings, bus travel schedules, driver schedules) for country wide and across border bus operations (Sudan and Rwanda).
The bus routing chain is comprised of the regional departure points (central, northern, western and eastern) and the final customers’ destination. A high percentage of these drivers (95%) are full time, including dedicated long term drivers and a few part time drivers. The fleet of buses owned by the company is mostly reconditioned and of the same capacity. The distribution of Kampala buses is to three regions in Uganda: northern which extend to Sudan, eastern and western which extends to Rwanda. The three regions are managed at a central region terminal.
Each of the regions may have several terminals which mainly serve as passenger booking points. Passenger boarding and disembarking take place at different points along the routes. The buses are allocated to separate regional destinations and the cost structure for boarding each bus differs for each destination.
Problem Statement: This manual system is faced with a challenge of late issuing of the receipt and knowing which destination are the buses supposed to cover which always destabilizes the whole planning process.
And it involved human errors in knowing which right routes are to cover and which buses to go for different routes, leading to production of wrong reports, inefficiency untimely information. This causes wrong information in knowing which buses to cover different routes. Therefore there is need for an online booking and bus scheduling system in order to produce timely report and accurate recording on booking for the bus in order to reduce the inefficiencies associated with data handling and to reduce on the error made manually.
Objectives: To design and develop an automated online booking and buses scheduling system for Kampala bus scheduling system help to monitor online booking and also helps management to know which buses to cover different routes. Specific objectives were:
- To study and analyze the current system at Kampala bus management system
- To review the literature related to the bus scheduling management systems used by other scholars.
- To design and develop bus management systems that would help to control records concerning the buses scheduling for easy monitoring and updating.
- To validate the system developed against user requirement.
Literature review
A lot has been written on bus management system, some of what people have written about it to define what a bus scheduling management system is and also describe what is entailed in it. Some of the many articles on bus management include the following;- This chapter will involve reviewing of literature related to the study and it contains what other scholars have researched about the topic, theories and originality of the study and it will examine the far past, near past and the present.
According to Loudon (2002), an information system is a set of interrelated components working together to collect, retrieve, process, store, and disseminate information for the purpose of facilitating planning, controlling, coordination, analysis, and decision making in businesses and other organizations. It further looks at information systems as a set of people, procedures and resources that collect transform and disseminate information in an organization. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS). These are systems that perform and record daily routine transactions necessary for business.
As the name implies, TPS are designed to process routine transactions efficiently and accurately. Knowledge Work Systems (KWS). These are systems that aid the creation and integration of new knowledge into an organisation. KWS exist to help businesses create and share information. These are typically used in an organization where employees create new knowledge and expertise which can then be shared by other people in the organization to create further opportunities. Good examples include firms of lawyers, accountants and management consultants.
KWS are built around systems which allow efficient categorization and distribution of knowledge. For example, the knowledge itself might be contained in word processing documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and Internet pages. To share the knowledge, a KWS would use group collaboration systems such as an intranet. Decision Support Systems (DSS). These are systems that combine data, models and analysis tools for non-routine decision-making. Decision-support systems (“DSS”) are specifically designed to help management make decisions in situations where there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes of those decisions.
DSS comprise tools and techniques to help gather relevant information and analyze the options and alternatives. DSS often involves use of complex spreadsheet and databases to create “what-if” models. According to Comptroller (1995), an information system’s qualities include the following; i. Efficiency. A good information system should allow for input and output by providing an objective system for recording and aggregating information. It should be able to quickly collect and edit data, summarize results, and be able to adjust and correct errors promptly. ii. Effectiveness.
A good information system should be able to attain its goals or the goals of the organization. To simplify prompt decision making, an organization’s information system should be capable of providing and distributing current information to appropriate users. iii. Performance. A good information system should be able to enhance communication among users, deliver complex material throughout an organization. iv. Timeliness. Information systems should be designed to expedite capturing, storing and reporting of information in a real time scale when needed. v. Consistency. A good information system should be reliable.
Data should be processed and compiled consistently and uniformly. Variations in how data is collected and reported can distort information and trend analysis. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the internet is global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private and public academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies.
The internet carries a vast array of information resources and services most notably the interlinked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web and the infrastructure to support electronic mail. According to Adeyeye, Michael e-commerce, Business Methods and Evaluation of Payment Methods in Nigeria, Internet banking: today’s Nigerian banks use (Very Small Aperture Terminal) VSAT for communication among their branches, what is referred to as Intranet. An intranet is the use of Internet technology inside a company.
Emphatically, only staffs share customer and operational information as well as tasks Nwosu O. (2005), Marilyn G and Miklos V. (2002). It has made it possible for someone to deposit or withdraw money from any of the branches of his bank. Examples of the banks are United Bank for Africa PLC, Zenith Bank PLC and First Inland Bank PLC. According to Ndiwalana A and Popov O. (2008) online booking and payments, there is significant enthusiasm about the growing adoption of online booking in the developing world and their potential beyond people’s inherent desire to communicate.
Evidence suggests that online booking are creating new income opportunities for the marginalized social segments in developing countries. While bus scheduling system penetration is still higher in developed countries, biggest growth is expected in developing countries where online booking are substituting non-existent or derelict fixed payment systems. A recent survey of 3,967 small businesses across 14 countries in Africa indicates that online booking have become the real instrument for creating and exchanging information for small businesses in Africa.
Although only 83. 3% of the surveyed business operators owned, 95. 6% of online booking business operators rated online booking as either important or very important for their business operations. An application area gaining increasing attention is the facilitation and growth of mobile commerce by enabling financial transactions via online payments. On the other hand, online payments can be leveraged as a way to bring-in many people that are outside of the traditional commerce in the developing world.
According to O’Brien 1999, management information system (MIS) is a planned system of collecting, processing, storing, and disseminating data in the form of information needed to carry out the functions of management. This also is related to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making. O’Brien also states that management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization.
Thomas Connolly “database system” 4th edition page states that “according to the workshop that was carried out between 1990’s and 1996, they found out that the importance of databases are; if anything increased with significant developments in hardware capability, hardware capability, hardware capacity and communications, business intelligence, mobile communication and grid computing. The database system is arguably the most important development in the field of software engineering and the database is now underlying framework of the information system, fundamentally changing the way that many organizations operate.
This stipulates the importance of databases in managing inventory and information in organization. In conclusion therefore, this literature reviews showed the necessity of an automated online booking system which is of great importance not only to the Kampala but also to any other organization since it eliminates the cumbersome and expensive work that results from the manual system on both sides, for instance on the side of the administration reduces too much paper work and administrative cost
METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the various stages of the system development, its structures and the general look of these designs. It included the system study, planning, investigation, analysis, design, implementation and support. Methodology of preference is the traditional system development life cycle (TSDLC), TSDLC is a structured step by step approach of developing systems. It consists of the following major phases: planning, analysis, design, implementation and testing.
At this phase, I will investigate how the current system works. It involves the findings of activities which are done by extracting bus requirement and documenting problems. This is to help me to have abstract idea of what the users wants as an end results. This was to help me to meet the strategic plans of the store department and the system plans. Planning is to help me to find out the systems requirements, thus making it easy for me to break the whole system down into the manageable sub-tasks and also help me determine the quality plan.
System analysis With the analysis stage, the current system is to be studied in detail that is by determining the problem and fixing the system. Different data would be collected about the system to be developed; System analysis involves breaking down the system in different pieces and drawing the diagrams to analyze the situation. The phase answers the questions of who would use the system, what would the system do, and where and when would it be used.
The administrator and workers would be interviewed to understand how the online booking and bus scheduling is done and the kind of challenges they face in the booking which help to reflect on how to develop the system. The techniques of interviewing to use is basically face to face, question and answer and also through social interacting.
A questionnaire is issued to the selected respondents at Kampala bus scheduling system and the feedback is to be rated and analyzed. After gathering all information, data analysis was taken and an analysis requirement report is to be generated. Observation Through observation, I was able to track and confirm facts that had already been noted and those that are not mentioned. It helps me to know the inefficiency of the current system through observing the way the system is running. Users were not supposed be with the user name and password to log in and depending on the permission of the administrator, they will not be able to view, add, information in the database.
One of the important reasons of having data modeling was to help in understanding the meaning of the data, these involved answering questions about entities, relationship and attributes. Answering such questions enabled one to understand each user view’s perspective of the data, nature of the data its indent of its physical representations.
In the design phase the functional and network requirements identified during the initiation and planning phase were converted into unified design specification that was used to script programs during the implementation phase. The design tools used include the following. Entity relationship diagram . these are diagrams used to show the inter-dependency between object on apperception of the world as consisting of collection of basic entities and the relationship among these entities Data flow diagram. These diagrams modeled the perspectives of the system which is mostly understood by users. It provided a graphical representation of the system. This is how the system looks in the physical design implementation.
This is the process of developing system blue print that guides the system developer. Logical design also includes the description of data and documents clearly specifying the order of flow of stocks. This involved gathering specific information which would be used to determine the databases requirements, entities, and their relationship is to be looked at.
After the blue print has been created logically, in physical design, the system developer starts designing the system using the necessary technology. Alternative is to be generated at this stage like how to use other types of programming languages. These involved the design of the database and different interfaces with the help of the logical design. The system implemented would be tested to ensure the accuracy of the programmed codes and ensuring that the system met the organizational and end-user requirements.
Introduction
PHP language was used to connect the user interfaces to the database through a wamp server (local host) as illustrated below: Concept design diagram Logical Design The system consists of two users who work in the store. All these users are able to log on to the system and have their own interfaces according to the permissions granted to each. The administrator (manager) is able to view all the routes, add, edit, and delete the customer. Other users were able to view and add but they cannot edit and delete customer from the database and that it is only entitled by the manager who is the administrator.
The system deals in trucking online booking and bus scheduling management information system The system gives user it`s interface from where after logging on they are able to create and add a new online booking customer to the database but an unable to delete the customer from the database if they are not logged on as the administrator of the system. With this system in place the administrator was able to accomplish the following; He can be able to manage all the online booking customers for the system. View all the customer and be able to edit them and make changes. Delete all the customer in the database and be able to add the new customer in the database. The flow chart below summarizes all the above information.
Registration this request a user’s information and insert it into a database, it requires a web page and back-end code that inserts the user’s information into the database so a database connection is created and this connection is used by the code when it needs to insert the new registration, it retrieves the user’s information depending on the amount of data you need from the user. For example, only the user’s username and password are retrieved which can be used to allow the user to login to the website at a later date. The bus users first registers or books before they print their travel tickets so that their details stored. If the user does not register they should not be allowed access to the bus travel ticket form but if they already exist in the database, then they can access all the travel ticket.
DISCUSSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
In this part of the report various conclusion are drawn out the research and systems design. Different recommendations regarding the use of the system are made. The problems encountered during this research are also discussed. In comparison with the old system where the whole system was manual in other word file based system. The new system is computerized. The online management information system is now automated such that it involves information testing and sharing. The new system is accurate, efficient and secure in handling information regarding online booking and management information system.
The new system is more accurate than the old one since it doesn`t need opening of the stores in case one need to know what inventories in-store and out-store. The new system is highly user friendly and posses no problem to the users. It is this that the level of efficiency of the system in as far as the data storage, entry and update of the online booking concerned increases. The personal employed to do all this work such obtaining what buses has taken which direction. Only authorized personal can now access and manage the online booking hence the levels of confidentiality is observed within the system as regards to data and information shared.
To achieve the level of the efficiency of an online booking and bus scheduling management system, the data, people and the procedures used to handle, process and store that online booking and scheduling information should be accurate such that the bus, staff and other people involved in the result of getting the expected results. The online booking and bus scheduling information system for Kampala has been designed to achieve all the aims and objectives defined in previous chapter.
Problem encountered in the project. During this project the following problem were encountered; Some members in store were not cooperating when it came to availing the necessary information regarding the activities undertaken in the online booking regards data collection handling and storage. There seemed mistrust to the researcher especially via the security of the released data. There was problem of language barrier because the workers could not peak English which led in difficult with communication hence language being a major problem encountered well conducting the project report.
In a view to improve the performance of Kampala bus, the following recommendations should be put into positive consideration. Establishment of the designed system to enable online booking. All users of the system should be under the direct monitoring by the system administrator who is the manager. It is also recommended that the new system should not replace the current manual one immediately because of various related problems. However, both systems can work concurrently until the personnel can effectively and accurately use the system. Lastly online booking and bus scheduling should put up the mechanisms to ensure regular update of the established system. This would be through recruitment of a professional system administrator to always repair and give maintenance to the system.
