CHAPTER ONE

1.1    INTRODUCTION

It is obvious that without technology there is no modernization, and modernization in turn brings about improvement in the quality of our lives. The invention of computer and some other related devices has no doubt brought improvement in the quality of life. With the introduction of computer many software were invented and has made those things, which seem not to be

possible, a reality.

SMS Based Water Billing Software is a special program designed to store and manages the records of all the billing activities of the Bagudo water board. It helps to save the record of consumers, cashiers and monthly bills. It also helps to send consumers monthly bills via SMS.

1.2    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The importance of computer cannot be over emphasized since the ancient times, computer has proven itself capable of accepting data, storing, processing and producing an accurate result or output. Since computer has partially taken most of the responsibilities of human being, i intend to embed the use of computer in the billing exercise.

Water Board is an organization that deals with several paper works and ledger cards in saving records. These records increase every day as transaction is always going on in the organization. As the record increases, information saving, retrieval and maintenance is becoming tedious every day. There is lack of security because the data can be altered by any individual.

Another important thing with most of this water boards is that they deal with many of consumers, the notification of consumers on their monthly bills which is very difficult using the paper system of keeping records of billing, where the cashiers has to go round to distribute bills.

Monthly report is also very important in order to allow the organization to make further decisions based on the success or failure recorded in a month.

1.3    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Proper record management is of very important to every organization or company. Most organizations have poor record management which leads them to having many problems during auditing.

Water Board is an organization that deals with every day transaction. The record of bills is what is used to determine success or failure and is what will be used for further decision as to continue with the present pattern of business or change to a new style.

The manual record keeping and billing is very slow and is error prone. No proper security is usually provided to the record and so can be tempered with by any individual either intentional or accidental. Another problem with the manual system of record keeping and billing is the natural disaster. Disasters like fire outbreak etc can cause damages or even total vanish of all records.

1.4    AIM and OBJECTIVES

Aim

To design and implement an SMS based Water Billing System

Project Objectives

1.4.1        To study and investigate on the current system

1.4.2        To conduct a literature review on SMS based Water Billing System

1.4.3        To investigate the most appropriate tool for the development of a web-based System

1.4.4        To design and implement a database for SMS based Water Billing System

1.4.5        To design and implement a front-end tool

1.4.6 To evaluate the tools, techniques and methods used to design and implement the propose system.

1.5    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This project work is of benefit to the management of Bagudo Water Board for simplicity of their work and to help improve their activities more efficiently. The research also served as academic bedrock upon which student and researchers would build their research on similar or other academic work of their choice.

1.6    SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This project is useful for the Bagudo Water Board, Branch of Kebbi State Water Board, but has extended capabilities to accommodate more additional Water Boards. It does not suffice for Kebbi State Water Board as a whole.

1.7    DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.7.1 Internet

It is a “network of networks” that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, etc. which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (www).

1.7.2 Web

The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked hypertext document accessed via the internet.

1.7.3 Web browser

A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, video, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network.

1.7.4 Website

A website (alternatively, web site ) is a collection of web pages, images, video or other digital assists that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the internet.

1.7.5 Web page

A web page or webpage is a resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext links.

1.7.6 Localhost

Localhost is a software program that facilitates access to peer-to-peer virtual file system via Bit Torrent protocol.

Default name describing the local computer address also known as the loopback address. For example, typing: ping localhost would ping the local IP address of 127.0.0.1 (the loopback address). When setting up a web server or software on a web server, 127.0.0.1 is used to point the software to the local machine.

This IP address is the local IP address and is not the IP address used by your computer to communicate with other computers on your network or the Internet.

1.7.7 Web server

A web server is essentially a computer program which is responsible for handling HTTP requests. A browser request to view a page the server then accepts the request and displays the page. From a general point of view, we consider web servers as the storage area for files which are available on the web. So in order for any page to be viewable on the web it must be loaded on to the web server. A web server is usually a dedicated piece of hardware and software used to allow a website to be displayed on the net.