DETERMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
PROPOSED CUSTOMIZED FINANCIAL
SOFTWARE IN A PUBLIC SECTOR
UNIVERSITY
Muneer A. Shaikh
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.
E-mail: munir.shaikh@admin.muet.edu.pk
Rizwan Hassan
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.
E-mail: rizwanmtc@gmail.com
Mujawar Malik
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.
E-mail: mujawar2@gmail.com
Ali Akbar Shah
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan.
E-mail: shah.aliakber32@gmail.com
Recepción: 30/07/2019 Aceptación: 20/09/2019 Publicación: 06/11/2019
Citación sugerida:
Shaikh, M.A., Hassan, R., Malik, M. y Shah, A.A. (2019). Determining the eectiveness
of proposed customized nancial software in a Public Sector University. 3C Tecnología.
Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. Edición Especial, Noviembre 2019, 149-165. doi: http://
dx.doi.org/10.17993/3ctecno.2019.specialissue3.149-165
Suggested citation:
Shaikh, M.A., Hassan, R., Malik, M. & Shah, A.A. (2019). Determining the eectiveness
of proposed customized nancial software in a Public Sector University. 3C Tecnología.
Glosas de innovación aplicadas a la pyme. Speciaal Issue, November 2019, 149-165. doi: http://
dx.doi.org/10.17993/3ctecno.2019.specialissue3.149-165
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ABSTRACT
Professionals all around the globe use various available software products for the
data solutions of their rm. These software products are general and are available
publically. But in order to develop customized software, huge amount of money
and eorts are needed. Therefore in this proposed paper, a budget friendly software
based on basic business infrastructure of accounting in nance is developed. The
contribution of the software is in PV payments, inspection of personal ledger
accounts, ledger reports and summary of various vouchers as well as it can fetch and
print the details of the cheques as well. In the result section of this paper a survey is
conducted for showcasing the eectiveness and importance of this software.
KEYWORDS
Software products, Customized software, Budget friendly software, Accounting, PV
payments, Ledger accounts, Ledger reports, Voucher, Cheque, Survey.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Various software products are available in the open source and licensed that have
applications in accounting and nance (Hoeer et al., 2012; Cook, 2017; Ryan,
Scapens, & Theobald, 2002; Atanasov & Black, 2016; Bangemann, 2005). Software
products like Oracle, SPSS, Peachtree, SAAS and Microsoft excel are at the pinnacle
of the software products chart based on business applications (Beckett, Castagno,
Lockwood, & Mcdougald, 2017). Whereas, in terms of customization SAP is at
very best of its game (Lorenc & Szkoda, 2015). Modules like SAP Hana provide
user friendly interface to its customers but the problem with these software products
like SAP is its pricing (Cook, 2017; Rasmussen, Goldy, & Solli, 2002). SAP modules
are very expensive therefore it is not possible for the companies with less nancial
backing to aord them. So for overcoming this problem, a new software solution is
required that has similar user friendly interface like the SAP (Driesen, Engelko, Jahr,
Muscarella, & Storz, 2015).
The main problem with the development of the software is its architecture, user
interface and back coding (Yousouf & Stanev, 2015). Moreover, it must also contain
applications that are essential for the operation of the enterprises (Rogaway &
Coppersmith, 1998). Basic accounting software requires many functionalities and
data tools for analyzing the company’s data as well its interface must be properly
encrypted so that a third party cannot access the classied data. Encryption plays
a vital role in securing the data and in preventing the online attacks. Attacks like
Ransomware had taken most of the multinational rms with the threat of hacking
their most sensitive data (Kharraz, Robertson, Balzarotti, Bilge, & Kirda, 2015;
Kharaz, Arshad, Mulliner, Robertson, & Kirda, 2016). So it is the task of the software
developers to understand the risks of the software development and any loophole in
the software development can be have fatal outcomes.
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2. SYSTEM FLOW
The system ow diagram of the proposed software is mentioned in the below Figure
1:
Figure 1. Signal Flow Chart.
In the above Figure 1, it is clearly illustrated that the details of the account are linked
with the voucher entries that are basically the transactions that are made by the user.
These transactions are being recorded. After this process, the software fetches the
details of the transactions and to whom it is being sent. After the process of sender
classication is nished then the transaction is moved to designated head of that
specic department. After approval of those transactions by the head, each of the
transactions is assigned with a unique PV number and later the cheque is printed.
With the completion of this process, the cheque books are updated automatically by
the software.
This software also provides data analysis tools like the income variance report that
shows the variations in the withdrawal of the transactions whereas the remaining
budget is updated accordingly to the account sheets.
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3. NETWORK TOPOLOGY
Star topology is implemented by connecting the end users with a common server that
is shown in the gure below:
Figure 2. Star Network Topology.
The end user can access the server with the local domain IP which can be accessed
by the end users that relate to the common network connection. WPA/WPA2 PSK
protocol of the network is implemented for accessing the local server that requires
the username and password which will be given by system administrator to the end
users. Moreover keeping the security into consideration the variations in the software
can only be controlled by the master administrator.
4. WORKING OF THE SOFTWARE
4.1. CHART OF ACCOUNT
A separate chart of the account is prepared based on each designation in which the
employee is employed on. Various allowances and charges are incorporated based on
the designations. These charts of the account are then allocated with specic number
for their classication based on the grades of the employees. A sample account chart
is shown in the mentioned below gure:
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Figure 3. Account Chart.
As this software is designed for an educational institution so for each allowances and
charges, a unique HEC code is allocated.
4.2. ALLOCATION OF THE BUDGET
The budget that is allocated by the institution is then feed on the proposed software
along with the HEC codes. The software is capable enough of the updating the
amount of the budget once the money is withdrawn or is transferred to the account
as shown in the gure below:
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Figure 4. Budget Allocation Sheet.
4.3. VOUCHERS AND TRANSACTION RECORDS
After the prerequisites are fullled after feeding the numeric needed for the budget
allocation and account charts, then vouchers are made for keeping the record of
the account based on the budget of the project and the salaries that awarded to the
project team members as shown in the gure below:
Figure 5. Voucher Sheet.
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After the saving the data of the vouchers in the proposed software, the software
provides various customized options that include cost of the project, reference number
for the transaction, account key, account title, details of the bank transactions, etc. as
shown in the mentioned below gure:
Figure 6. Software Options.
This business transaction records are present in the account ledger which can be
accessed by the user and it contains all the necessary data of the transaction that are
done previously as shown in the gure below:
Figure 7. Sample Account Ledger.
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Whereas, the voucher summary based on the nancial budget of the project can also
be viewed as shown below:
Figure 8. Voucher Summary.
Based on these records, the cheques can be later printed with the reference to the
chart of the account and allocation of the budget as shown below:
Figure 9. Cheque Print Sheet.
While the receipt can be also viewed along with the variance report of the prot and
expense of the project as shown below:
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Figure 10. Receipt and Payment.
In order to demonstrate the eectiveness of the personal record of a voucher, the
personal ledger of a sample is shown as below:
Figure 11. Sample Personal Ledger Sheet.
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5. RESULTS
The performance of the software was tested based on the survey conducted from
the end users that are currently using the proposed software. First and foremost the
installation and the compatibility of the software with the hardware were concerned.
The bar graphs of the survey are shown in the Figure 12 and Figure 13, respectively.
The survey was taken of 20 employees that were also the end users of the proposed
software. Majority of them expressed their satisfaction towards the installation of the
software.
Figure 12. Survey of Ease of Installation.
Figure 13. Survey of Operating System Compatibility.
The second most important issue of the nancial software is the completeness of the
needed tools and clarity in the documentation. In the survey of this, majority of the
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end users were satised with the completeness of the needed tools and clarity of the
proposed documentations as shown in the mentioned below Figure 14 and Figure
15, respectively.
Figure 14. Survey of Completeness and Organization of the Data.
Figure 15. Survey of Clarity of Documentation.
While considering the quality of the software support most of the end users were
somewhat satised as shown in the below Figure 16. But as the software is at its initial
stage and it is new in comparison with the legacy software so therefore the end users
had certain problems, dealing with the software interface support environment.
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Figure 16. Survey of Quality of Product Support.
Moreover the software was stated to be very cost ecient and reliable. The end users
as shown in the survey mentioned in the below Figure 17 were quite satised with the
overall cost of the software in comparison with the software products that are already
available in the market. Where as in the reliability as shown in the survey mentioned
in the gure, almost all the end users claimed that their none of the data was lost
nor any reports of the software crashed where been recorded by any of the end user.
Figure 17. Survey of Software Reliability.
7. CONCLUSION
Considering the overall performance of the software which is mentioned in the
mentioned below Figure 18 that is the survey of the end users, almost all the end
users had expressed their satisfaction as shown in the survey mentioned in the Figure
19.
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Figure 18. Survey of Overall Software Performance.
Figure 19. Customer Satisfaction Survey.
As well as most of the end users had agreed on proclaiming this proposed software
to be better and more budget friendly than the other software products that are
currently available in the market as shown in the Figure 20 and Figure 21 below:
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Figure 20. Survey of Optimization.
Figure 21. Survey of Cost Efciency.
7. ACKNOWLEGEMENT
We are highly indebting of the Finance department of MUET and its employees for
testing the software and Mr. Mujawar Malik without whom this software wouldn’t
have been possible.
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