ABSTRACT
This project was centered on
the development of an e-voucher for online recharge card users. The
burden of generating pin codes as recharge cards and the subsequent huge
database accompanied with the storage of these generated codes,
challenges of inefficient bandwidth and network congestions are some of
the problems currently being experienced by mobile network providers.
These issues and more such as the congestion caused by the toll placed
on the network by the need to reload/recharge airtime are what this
research aims to proffer solutions to. The new system developed would
take away these burdens from the network operators by providing a simple
portal where users can recharge their phone online without needing to
scratch cards. The research methodology used in this project research is
the SSADM (Structured System Analysis and Design Method). The
application was developed with PHP and MySQL. This language was chosen
because of its easy syntax and features for developing web-based
applications....
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Electronic
commerce, commonly written as e-commerce, is the trading or facilitation of
trading in products or services using computer networks such as the internet.
E-commerce payment system is one of the main requirements in e-commerce which
is the ability to accept a form of electronic payment. This form of electronic
payment is referred to as Financial Electronic Data Interchange (FEDI). Financial
electronic data interchange has become increasingly popular over the last
number of years due to the widespread of use of the internet based shopping and
banking through the use of credit cards and smart cards.
Over
the years, credits cards have become one of the most common forms of payment
for e-commerce transactions. In the early years of the business to consumer,
many consumers were apprehensive of using their credit cards over the internet
because of fear that their credit cards numbers would get stolen. However, due
to increased security with credit card companies such as Visa, American Express
and MasterCard there is widespread use of credit card use over internet,
especially in North America. Despite this widespread use in North America, there
are still a number of countries such as China, India and Pakistan that have
some problems to overcome in regards to credits card security. In the meantime,
the use of smartcards has become popular. A smartcard is similar to a credit
card.
This
free online service allows consumers and businesses to send money to anyone
with an email address in 45 countries.
PayPal is accepted by thousands of businesses worldwide and is the
preferred payment method on eBay.com. PayPal is now owned by ebay.com are
usually assessed a fee (either to the recipient or to the sender) to recoup the
transaction fees charged to the media.
Electronic
bill present and payment is fairly new technique that allows consumers to view
and pay bills electronically. There are significant numbers of bills that
consumers pay on a regular basis, which include: power bills, water, oil,
internet, phone service, mortgages, car payments etc. Electronic bills present
payment systems that send bills from service providers to individual consumers
via the internet.
The
biggest difference between Electronic bill present and payment systems and the
traditional method of bill payment is that of technology. Rather than receiving
a bill through the mail, writing out and sending a check, consumers receive
their bills in an email, or are prompted to visit a website to view and pay
their bills.[http://www.google.com].
1.2
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It
has been observed that most telecommunication firms make use of paper based
voucher systems when making available telecommunication services such as
recharge cards, bill generation whether post-paid or prepaid, transaction and
pin based operations.
1.
There is less security in the manual
system.
2.
The problem of using paper voucher to
litter the environment.
3.
The problem of fake voucher cards that is
using fake pins.
4.
Errors such as transposition of figures in
the Voucher
1.3
AIM OF THE STUDY
The aim of study is to design and
implement an electronic voucher system which provides a fast and easy way to
purchase vouchers online.
1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
objectives of this project are as follows:
a.
To design an electronic voucher management
and payment system.
b.
To provide a systems requirement document
for the design and implementation of such an application.
c.
To evaluate the project’s results, provide
recommendations of refinements and enhancements for interested system
developers and designers.
1.5 SCOPE OF STUDY
The
study cover the design and implementation of
e-voucher for online recharge card for top leading telecommunication companies in Nigeria, which
is MTN, GLOBALCOM, AIRTEL AND ETISALAT etc. It is restricted to any other
telecommunication company in Nigeria.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The
significance of the study of this project is to bring to light the advantages
of Online voucher system, the earring problems associated with the manual
method and how this problems can be solved using online techniques and the best
approach in which we can go about solving problems involving recharging is
through Online application.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
However,
there are also areas of limitation due to some uncontrollable factors which
include the following:
1.
Shortage of personnel to carryout research
to a logical conclusion.
2.
Reluctance of service providers providing
adequate and concise information.
3.
Financial limitation in carrying adequate
research in for the project.
4.
Time constraint in concluding the detailed
project.
5.
Rapid change in information technology
trends and the expansion of telecom service provision to 3G, 4G and other next
generation services.
6.
Policy of the respondent company.
7.
Insufficient information regarding the
topic being discussed.
1.8 DEFINITION OF
TERM
1.
E-commerce:Refers
as electronic commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services or
transmitting of funds or data over an electronic network,primarily theinternet.
2.
FEDI:Refers
as Financial Electronic Data Interchange is the computer-to-computer exchange
of payment and payment- related information between companies using a standard
format.
3.
PayPal:Is
used to send and receive payments through the internet.
4.
Credit
card:Is a card issued by a financial company giving the
holder an option to borrow funds, usually at point of sale. It charges interest
and primarily used for short-term financing.