Tablet (iPad) web app for Stock Control.

We are looking for a web-app for use probably on an iPad (but it may be used on other Android based tablets if compatibility does not sacrifice iPad solution) that will be used to gather stock counts in our warehouse. The website will reside on our Windows 2008 server so should ideally be hosted on an IIS webserver but alternatives would be considered if they mean significantly lower bids/timescales or complexity. It will connect to a database stored in our SQL 2008 Server. The code can be in any language as long as it is adequately commented throughout but the pages should take advantage of the iPad (Android if considered) UI designs so perhaps use of jQuery or similar should be considered. The design should make full use of AJAX to enable a favorable user experience etc. and the look and design should be considered as although it is for internal use only, tablets lend themselves to good design and this should be no different (i.e. no ugly layouts and full consideration should be given to the usability etc.). This includes designing the pages for both portrait and landscape formats and the ability to create a homescreen icon. Offline use is not currently needed but could be considered if it does not increase the bid too much! The end product should also be responsive in its operation but where it needs to or may, in certain circumstances, need to be unresponsive or slow, feedback should be given to the user. ## Deliverables Background - We use SAP Business One (SAP B1) to manage stock control throughout our business but it's GUI and business logic limits it usability for recording "stock takes" meaning we have to print stock lists, manually mark stock counts and enter these into SAP. This is time consuming and can lead to input errors but most importantly SAP does not differentiate between a 0 count and no count, neither are recorded (only products that had a difference between current stock and counted stock) so for historical and reporting purposes we cannot currently see if in the last stock check an item was missed or counted as 0. Whilst SAP B1 does not allow any input to its back-end database unless through its GUI or expensive bespoke coding using their API we have a Business Process System (BPM) which can act as middleware to extract data and place it in other databases then import that data into SAP without breaching SAP's guidelines or writing code. So for this project we will extract the relevant data from SAP, place it into a SQL 2008 database to allow read/write access to the data and when complete import the relevant changes automatically all for you so that you do not have to worry about SAP and we can keep a historical log of stock counts. However it should be noted that the SAP data is stored in an open SQL 2008 database, which can be queried and allows data to be copied as required as long as the database is not altered (either data or structure). This gives you free reign to change the data or tables structures in the external to suite your proposed web-app if needed. We store (in SAP) products grouped by product group (either manufacturer and product type) and warehouse (generally location based). Current Ideas for web-app - The web-app will have a few pages (currently three) with the initial page allowing the user to log-in (low grade security just for tracking) and the second page giving options to select a product group and warehouse and change any default settings that may be needed (number of products to display per page, default sorting etc.). Once the selections have been made the user will proceed to the main page (by pressing a button to move on to the next page). When the button to proceed is pressed the web-app will: 1. Check to see if that combination of selections has resulted in a stock take already being started (and not completed). In which case it should give the user the option to continue (as long as the other count is not actively being carried out, see possibly multi-user question near the end of this document) or return and change some settings. If the user selects to continue then a record of the date and user should be added to the header table(s) to give a history of the count for that combination of product group and warehouse. 2. If this combination of selections is not in progress then it will query the SAP database and copy the relevant products into the external database and create a header entry with the date of transfer details etc. then open the main page showing the list of products. The main page to be displayed (from option 2 above) should be in a grid format listing the products in the external table (it will need to be filtered to only show relevant records). The grid should have certain functions as seen in most grid layouts such as, but not limited to, sorting by row heading, a search box (for specific fields), ability to change the number of records shown per page (including view all option) etc. The only editable filed on the grid is the "count" field where a user will enter the count of items. This should initially be empty so tapping on the control will bring up the numerical keyboard. If this field is already populated with a number (which is all it can take) then an AJAX box should be displayed giving the user the option to enter a numeric value (their count) and select one of three options: a) Add the entered value to the existing count b) Replace the existing count. This would obviously only appear if the original list was an existing stock count (option 2 at the time of opening the page). c) Cancel the operation. Once the stock count has been entered the page should update the table in the SQL database as soon as the field is updated (even before it has "lost focus" to ensure counts are recorded in case of accidental button presses or loss of network connection). At the bottom of this page will be two buttons: I. Close and Continue later. II. Close and Save stock count to SAP. Option I will simply close the page as all entered counts should already have been saved and update the header table to show that the count is not being done now. Option II will close the page and mark the count as ready for import into SAP by marking the header entry. This will trigger our BPM to extract the product counts (based on the header information) and import them into the correct locations within SAP. Note that if an item has no count it should not be marked as 0 rather it should be left empty so that for historical purposes we can see if it was actually counted. The system should be designed with mutli-users in mind although the likelihood of two users carrying out a stock count on the same product group for the same warehouse is very low (but plan for the exception, not the rule). We already have in place the external table and a number of stored procedures to handle data transfers etc which we can pass on to you for your inspection to decide if they need to be changed for your design. The process described above can be changed if your experience dictates a different approach and there may be a number of areas we have not totally covered all outcomes which is where I am open to suggestions but the main purpose of the solution is to make stock checks as easy and fast as possible. The successful bidders will be one who, among other things, has experience in the relevant technologies required to complete this job. * * *This broadcast message was sent to all bidders on Monday Oct 10, 2011 9:01:21 AM: Thank you for your proposals regarding this project but the specifics have now changed and it is a lower priority. When it gets back to the top of the list I will refer to your bids and invite you back into the new project. Regards, Paul