A DATABASE DESIGN METHODOLOGY AND TOOL FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Abstract:

The work presents a design of a computerized account payable system for IMT Enugu. A computerized account payable system for IMT Enugu is concerned with the computerization of account payable records appraisal in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the organization. The computerized account payable system (APS) is a tool that will assist IMT administrators in interpreting the financial outcomes of operational decision-making. It will help administrators to decide whether their staff financial health is better or worse than during previous accounting periods or past budget periods. The APS will also allow administrators to compare their operation with similar operations. The design was implemented to facilitate the computerized account payable system for Institute of management of technology, IMT Enugu. It will be time conserving and cheap to run. It is expected that if full consent is given to this, it will enhance the Information of account record for the Institution.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

Financial accounting is the employment of the firm’s balance sheet and income statement to establish some relationship between one figure and another in order to highlight the strengths and weakness of the concerned business. The balance sheet of a firm is also called the financial position because it shows the position of the business in monetary term at
a given point in time while the income statement show how the position depicted by the balance sheet has been attained. The results of financial analysis are normally expressed as financial ratios, which could be broadly classified as liquidity, leverage, activity and profit ratio. The suppliers of the firm’s funds and the investing public are usually interested in these ratios. But the nature of interest expressed on the firm determines the ratios to be emphasized by each concerned parts. This implies that different people emphasize on different ratios and as a result financial analysis means different thing to different people.

The Accounts Payable System is a Masterpiece module developed by Computer Associates. The system is designed to facilitate the payment of external vendors as well as the reimbursement of staff for General Claims and Student Refunds. The Accounts Payable system provides the facility to maintain, track and report invoice information for vendors as well as providing users with on-line interrogation features.
Payments made from the Accounts Payable System can either be by cheque or EFT.  A flag on each vendor determines the payment method.
The Accounts Payable Accounting System provides a convenient way for you to process cheque, print checks and maintain a history of your accounts payable. It can be used as a simple check writer or a sophisticated accounting system that allows entry of prepaid, accrual, recurring and pending items with disbursements as checks. It can export files to
ACH, check reconciliation and general ledger providing one of the most effective accounts payable systems available today. This system is used to identify all of the detailed transactions that posted to the Individual Master Files (IMF), Business Master Files (BMF), Individual Retirement Accounts File (IRAF), and Non-Master Files (NMF) during the fiscal year. These detail
transactions are broken down into Revenue transactions, Refund transactions, Other Transactions that are part of the fiscal year, and Other Transactions that are not part of the fiscal year. Once these breakouts are done, revenue and refund reversal transactions are matched to the transactions they reverse. Paper and electronic reports are generated and
distributed to the Office of the CFO and to GAO. The detailed files provide support for the amounts from the Interim Revenue Accounting Controls System (IRACS). The files are also made available to GAO for sampling and to validate the financial statements.

Background of Study

PRIOR TO THE establishment of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, there were two institutions in Enugu – The College of Technology which offered courses in Engineering and Laboratory Technology, up to the Ordinary Diploma Level and the Institute of Administration which provided short in-service Training Courses for Civil
Servants of various grades. The college of Technology was part of the Ministry of Education and was controlled directly by that Ministry. Similarly, the Institute of Administration was controlled by the Ministry of Establishments. Both institutions were staffed by Civil Servants
who were posted to the two institutions and could be re-posted to other departments of ministries according to the needs of the service. They were not specially recruited as teachers. Thus, the administration and operation of the institutions closely followed the routine in the Civil Service. Both institutions were separate and located on different sites.

          However, the need for a higher institution of learning to upgrade the training in technology and management education has begun to be felt for some time. The academic program of the College of Technology, Enugu, was no longer adequate for the assessed needs of Nigeria at the threshold of industrial take-off. If the industrialization of the country was to
be achieved and maintained at a high standard, the technologists, technicians and processionals needed a better and more functional training. It is clear that successful industrial development depends as much on the technologists as on the management skills and expertise available to the country concerned.      Management education of the highest quality was, therefore, a corollary of the processional and technological education. Management in this context is used in its broadest sense including both business and personnel administration. The engineer in the Nigeria of today needs training in management for maximum effectiveness. He is no longer to be the narrow professional or technical concerned only with machines and structures. He has to understand fully the relationships and the social setting of his position as an Engineer, he must be able to analyse and assess the economic and social consequences of his decisions; he
has to work with people all the time and must therefore be acquainted with basic personnel and labour matters. He needs management tools to do all these. If these tools and attitude can be acquired all through the engineer’s training periods so much the better.