Team Name
Nursing Bros
Timeline
Summer 2022 – Fall 2022
Students
- Nguyen Le
- Alexander Martinez
- Kennedy Mosoti
- Bradley Norman
Sponsor
Jacquelyn Donaldson
Abstract
Inventory control has always played a vital role in any industry, especially in the healthcare industry – where the patient’s health and life can depend on a tool or a piece of equipment. Inventory management is lengthy and challenging since it is prone to human error. A smart inventory management application will be a great solution to solve all these problems.
Background
The current problem with inventory system in place now is that it takes tremendous effort by our customer to keep track of all items in the system. The current system consists of an excel spreadsheet that is used to track each individual asset in the nursing department’s inventory which amounts to more than 150 assets (not including non-assets) located in two different buildings on UTA’s campus. Requests for use of inventory items are handled using physical forms which document the purpose and time on which an asset is checked out for use. Items checked out for an extended period of time would require a constant reminder that they are still in use by, in our customer’s case, hanging the document on a board. Accessing and editing the excel spreadsheet is all conducted from the Simulation Inventory Specialist’s computer. The excel sheet is solely managed by one person in the department, The Simulation Inventory Specialist, in which they are responsible for processing requests, repairs, and the retirement of the equipment on a day-to-day basis.
Our customer requests the development of the SmartInventory application to help reduce the load of work on the individual specialist working on the current inventory system. There currently isn’t a development team on hand working on this specific solution so this will be a fresh approach to develop this application. One of the aims of this assignment is to develop a relationship with our customer in order to deliver a solution that satisfies their needs and also provide a inventory application that minimizes the occurrence of human error.
Project Requirements
- Checkout History
- Inventory Domain
- Inventory Tracking
- Inventory Tracking
- Access the Application
- Correctly Handling Read/Write Permission from Users
- Database snapshot/backup
- Correctly Handling Inventory Information
- Intuitive Inventory
- Database Analysis
System Overview
As seen below form the figure the system architecture is made out of six layers. Firstly, the Application Display layer will be responsible for the user experience design/user interface design portion of the application, where this is what the user’s see on their desktop, phone, tablet, etc. Secondly, the Microsoft API layer is responsible for allowing the user’s of the application to sign in through their existing Microsoft account their the university. Thirdly, the Inventory API layer is responsible for converting the actions done by a user into a specific format, so the database can register it and do the appropriate action.
Fourthly, the Account layer is responsible for keeping track of the user’s account information and level of credentials so when they login into the application the appropriate screens appear for a user. Fifthly, the Inventory DB layer is responsible for the maintaining and storing all of the data/assets of the entire application on a primary and secondary site. Lastly, the Notification layer is responsible handling request from a user and to notify the admin of inventory maintenance.
Results
Future Work
Due to circumstances out of the teams control, the application was not able to completed. If the sponsor is willing to sponsor for another Senior Design team in the future. User settings, refined checkouts, item ordering, consumable choices are functionalities that need to be flushed out in order to have a market-ready application to be used by faculty of the university.
Project Files
Project Charter (link)
System Requirements Specification (link)
Architectural Design Specification (link)
Detailed Design Specification (link)
Poster (link)
User Guide (link)
GitHub Repositories:
- Front-end (link)
- Back-end (link)
References
[1] Fishbowl inventory reviews amp; product details.
[2] Online inventory management software: Zoho inventory.
[3] Sage intacct pricing, alternatives amp; more 2022.
[4] Leah Costello. Netsuite inventory management software – what to know, Mar 2021.
[5] Meredith Wood. 19 best inventory management software apps, Apr 2021.
