TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
APPROVAL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
LIST OF FIGURES vii
List of Tables
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 Statement ofthe problem 2
1.3.1 General objective 3
1.3.2 Specific objective 3
1.4Scope 4
1.5 Significance of the study/justification 4
CHAPTER TWO s
LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1 Information technology 5
2.2 E-commerce versus e-business 6
2.3 E-business and the new economy 6
2.4 E-business advantages and disadvantages 7
2.4.1 Advantages of e-business 8
2.4.2Disadvantages of e-business 9
2.5 E-business models 9
2.5.lSummary of business models 10
2.6 How the internet affects businesses today 10
2.7 Types ofweb sites 11
2.7 .1 Static websites 11
2.7.2 Dynamic website 11
2.8 Order fulfillment process 12
2.9 Shipping and delivery 13
2.10 Processing order returns 14
iv
2.11 Traditional payment methods 14
2.12 Checks and money 15
2.13 Consumer credit, debit, and charge cards 15
2.14 Payment-processing software 17
CHAPTER THREE 18
METHODOLOGY 18
3.0 Introduction 18
3.1 Study population 18
3.3 Data collection 18
3.3.1 Primary data 18
3.3.2 Secondary data 19
3.4 Data collection tools used 19
3.4.1 Interviews 19
3.4.2 Questionnaire 19
3.4.3 Observation 20
CHAPTER FOUR 22
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND SYSTEM DESIGN 22
4.0 Introduction 22
4.1 Data presentation 22
4.2 Systems Analysis 23
4.2.1 Weaknesses of the existing system 23
4.2.1 Functional requirements 23
4.2.2 Non-functional requirements 24
4.3 Design of the new systems 24
Figure 4.lShowing a context diagram of the system 24
4.3.1 Database design 25
CHAPTER FIVE 28
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTION 28
5.1 Introduction 28
5.2 Program testing 28
5.3 Hardware acquisition 28
5.3.1 System implementation 28
5.4 user interfaces 28
ABSTRACT The internet has turned the world into a global village. Meaning that business transactions can be carried out from any where and at any time provided that one is connected to the internet. However, in most third world countries Uganda inclusive, people are not fully exploiting the benefits of IT businesses still face problems of low customer-base limited to the areas where those businesses are located just because they have not exploited IT or they are just ridged to traditional ways of carrying out business. Hima cement factory happens to be one of those businesses that still suffer from the problem of IT-divide moreover falling on the lower side. It almost only carries out business with those that can physically access their different offices or the plant itself. And this has hindered its economic growth as some customers are geographically eliminated for fear to incur extra costs in traveling to the few districts where hima has offices. The high cost of operation that is incurred by customers, and Hima as accompany was key to the undertaking of this project. The project study focused on only the order making process which is a major business process. However, there is need of expanding on this so as to integrate it with other process like online payments among others. There is need for Hima management to sensitive its customers on the introduction this new service. User training is highly recommended to all the people on how to use the system. The system was developed using Php, mysql and dream weaver. Php provided a local host, sql was used to create a database, and dream weaver for creating web pages.
