DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTER BASED SEAPORT BILLING SYSTEM

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTER BASED SEAPORT BILLING SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

Cargo handling has always been a cyclical task in our numerous ports. And the Nigerian Ports Authority (N.P.A), which is in charge of the operations of our different sea ports in Nigeria, has worked tirelessly to ensure shipments are correctly handled with little complaint of damage or misplacement. To improve cargo handling operations in our seaports, researchers undertook this study by critically understanding the work, procedures involved, analyzing the various steps, detecting problems in the current system, and designing a new system that addresses the problems of the existing system. The new design is computerized and liable to change at any time. It too has this interactivity function and produces reliable results.

CHAPITRE ONE

1.0 BEGINNING

Nigeria Ports Authority is a government-owned organization that reports to the federal Ministry of Transportation and is in charge of providing certain ports and labor services to the country’s interim industry.

One of its many responsibilities and important functions is to provide Cargo Handling Quays. The billing system has been manually processed since the company’s start. The port complex is still in the process of being computerized, so the manual method of preparing client bills is being used.

For handling and creating correct bills for customers, a computer-based billing system is required. The new system will improve bill preparation time, information retrieval, security of important information, and resource sharing within the billing department.

1.1 STUDY BACKGROUND:

The port complex is located near Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, and was established roughly twenty years ago, first with the construction and commissioning of the Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT) in 1982 and later with the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT) in 1996.

These two terminals handle lighter (smaller) vessels as well as ocean-going vessels. FLT has an average draught of around 5.7m, while FOT has an average draught of about 13.0m, making it the cheapest in the West and Central African sub-region. In this context, the FOT is expected to attract additional cargo ships and traffic as a transit and transshipment center in the sub-region. It did not, however, have any mechanical handling apparatus for billing.

The billing system is being handled manually by the port’s marketing department. In the 1980s, the port’s marketing department took over revenue billing from the traffic department. Their primary job is to bill customers for any statutory costs levied against port users for services supplied. Rental period for the number of days the consignment is in the port neighborhood, NPA shore handling, transfer service, paperwork, terminal delivery value added tax (VAT), and miscellaneous are among the services provided.

With a growing number of customers, the job of bill preparation is minor. These bills are prepared in a variety of procedural methods. There are three types of bills: provisional bills of vessels, final bills of vessels, and miscellaneous bills. A staff member must raise as many bills as the number of customers increases: more crucially, delays incur additional costs on the importer, making the importer unhappy when they arrive to collect their elevated bills.

As a result of a thorough examination and analysis of the manual billing process, I am able to obtain a knowledge of the underlying nature of their problems and create a computerized seaport billing system that will bring remedies to the inherent problems.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

According to history, the billing system at Nigeria Port Authority, one port, has been plagued by numerous difficulties based on the existing manual procedure of using the Draft import Debit and import Debit Note, including:

Fills and records are not kept properly.

Errors are easily committed and rarely caught.

Bill preparation consumes a significant amount of time.

The data is not properly recorded.

File or document security is not guaranteed.

1.3 STUDY PURPOSE

The primary goal of this research is to computerize Nigeria Ports Authority’s Onne Port invoicing system in order to increase the transaction rate of services provided to their various customers.

1.4 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE

The fundamental goal of this research project is to create a computer-based seaport billing system that will handle invoices raised for various clients in NPA, Onne Port. A computer-based system can be ‘batched’ or ‘interactive’. A batch processing system is one in which transactions are gathered into appropriate-sized batches, and then each batch is sorted and processed as a single unit. There is some lag in batch processing. Interactive systems enable the user to enter data in reaction to information displayed on the screen.

This project is unique in that the researcher touched all aspects of system architecture that will improve a computer-based billing system in NPA.

1.5 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

During the course of this project’s work, the researcher was hampered by time and financial constraints, which threatened the project’s advancement. Despite all difficulties, the researcher was able to produce a work that could be defended.

1.6 THE STUDY’S SIGNIFICANCE

The importance of such research cannot be overstated. It is envisaged that using the developed system, some significant effects of the computerized billing system will be realized. Among the impacts are:

Frauds of any type, as well as inaccuracies on consumer bills, will be greatly reduced.

The new method saves time and allows for the fast generation of bills, as delays incur additional costs for clients.

The information flow is carefully managed, which helps top management make better decisions.

The new technology facilitates processing, resulting in speedier output on clients waiting to retrieve their _G_ personal property other than animals.

1.7 TERM DEFINITION

CONSIGNMENT: The same as the goods container.

CONSIGNEE: The same as the container’s importer.

When two or more importers collaborate to improve one or more containers.

HARBOUR: A secure location where ships can load and unload.

HARDWARE: The physical devices that surround the computer.

INTERACTIVE PROCESSING: A method in which users communicate with the computer directly.

PORT: It refers to the business section of the harbor that is utilized for loading and unloading commodities.

QUATS: A stone or metal plate shape in a harbor where boats or ships dock.

SOFTWARE: All of the computer’s programs.

SYSTEM: A system is a collection of interconnected pieces that act as a unit to produce some output.

SYSTEM FLOWCHART: This is a diagrammatic representation of the logical flow of a system’s evolution through several phases or processes involving the computer and its numerous tasks.

TARIFF: A tax on a specific class of imported products.

TRANSFER CHARGE: The amount paid for N.P.A’s assistance in transferring the consignment from the ship to the port.

VAT is a tax on the value of a product at each stage of production and marketing.