A user-centred approach to a business management application for small business owners
Date
2016-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Due to the expected changes in the business industry, businesses are placing greater
emphasis on innovation. Most businesses are taking advantage of technology to achieve
innovation. As such, a number of business tools have been developed to help business owners
manage their businesses. However, these tools are not utilised by several well-educated small
business owners because they claim to prefer their current methods. This is because they
believe that paper or a simple Excel sheet is less complicated than an application that will
stand as a challenge for them and disconnect them from their business.
This project employs a user-centred design to present a simple web application to help
small business owners manage their sales, customer, inventory and receivables. The
application has an integrated notification system that keeps the business owner updated on
activities occurring within their business. The application follows design principles in order to
achieve a simple, useful and usable application for the small business owners who are novice
technology users.
After conducting several tests, it can be concluded that the solution is a highly usable
and useful application for its target users. Usability tests revealed that the application saves
time and effort and hence increases operational efficiency for small businesses and their
owners. By adopting this solution and implementing further features, small business owners
can be kept abreast with their businesses and can sustain their businesses over the years to
come.
Description
Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems, April 2016
item.page.type
Applied project
item.page.format
Keywords
technology, business process automation, SMEs, Facebook