Information System to Support Canvassing Activities

Abstract

In the era of Industry 4.0 and the increasingly competitive business landscape, operational efficiency has become a decisive factor in sustaining corporate competitiveness. X Store, a Business-to-Business (B2B) distributor specializing in electronics and household appliances, faced severe operational challenges stemming from fully manual administrative processes. Identified problems included delayed sales recording (performed monthly instead of real-time), duplicate purchase orders, lost invoices and delivery notes, inaccurate inventory tracking across two warehouses, undocumented return and service workflows, and unstructured canvassing activities where sales teams carry physical stock to customer locations without systematic tracking. This study designed and implemented an integrated web-based administrative information system to address all identified challenges. The system encompasses nine core modules: sales, purchasing, inventory, payment, delivery, expenses, return/service, canvassing, and reporting, with role-based access control. The development methodology encompassed literature review, business process analysis, system design, iterative implementation, and two-phase evaluation (scenario-based testing and UAT). All scenario tests produced outcomes consistent with expected behaviour. A satisfaction survey conducted with X Store administrative personnel yielded an average UAT score of 4.375 out of 5, indicating strong user acceptance. Quantitative performance comparison demonstrated transformative efficiency improvements across eleven operational metrics, including elimination of duplicate orders and lost invoices, and reduction of profit/loss report generation time from over three working days to under two minutes.

Introduction

This research presents the design and implementation of a web-based Administrative Information System (AIS) for X Store, a Business-to-Business (B2B) electronics and household appliance distributor. The system aims to replace manual administrative processes with an integrated digital platform to improve operational efficiency, inventory management, financial control, and canvassing operations.

Background

With the rapid growth of Industry 4.0, digital information systems have become essential for business operations. B2B distribution companies face complex challenges such as:

• Bulk transactions
• Multi-step delivery processes
• Negotiated payment terms
• Vendor management
• Large inventory and documentation requirements

X Store relied entirely on manual processes using paper records and spreadsheets, resulting in delayed sales recording, inventory inaccuracies, duplicate purchase orders, lost documents, poor expense tracking, and inefficient canvassing operations.

Problem Statement

Business process analysis identified several major issues:

• Sales records delayed by up to two months.
• Duplicate purchase orders due to lack of tracking.
• Manual warehouse inspections for stock verification.
• Poor management of canvassing inventory.
• Untracked returns and service requests.
• Weak expense approval processes.
• Delayed customer billing and duplicate vendor payments.

Canvassing was identified as a particularly challenging process because inventory taken by sales representatives was not properly separated from warehouse stock, causing stock discrepancies and revenue loss.

Proposed Solution

The research develops a web-based Administrative Information System featuring:

• Nine integrated business modules.
• A specialized canvassing management module with automatic inventory allocation.
• Role-based access control for different operational roles.
• Real-time inventory synchronization.
• Automated administrative workflows.

The system is built using:

• Django (backend)
• React (frontend)
• MySQL (database)

Literature Review

Previous AIS solutions improved sales, inventory, and financial management but were primarily:

• Desktop-based.
• Limited to specific business functions.
• Lacking integrated canvassing support.
• Missing multi-user web access and role-based authorization.

This research addresses these limitations with a fully web-based, integrated solution.

Research Methodology

The project follows a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) consisting of:

1. Literature review.
2. Business process analysis through stakeholder interviews.
3. System design.
4. System implementation.
5. Testing and evaluation.

System evaluation includes:

• Scenario-based functional testing.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
• Performance comparisons between manual and computerized workflows.

System Design

The AIS supports major business operations, including:

• Sales and invoice management.
• Purchase order management.
• Inventory control.
• Canvassing management.
• Return and service tracking.
• Expense approval.
• Delivery monitoring.
• Stock opname.
• Profit and loss reporting.

The database contains 15 core entities, including customers, vendors, sales orders, purchase orders, inventory, payments, deliveries, expenses, returns, and canvassing records.

Canvassing Module

A key innovation is the canvassing management module, which:

• Automatically transfers products from available stock to on-hold inventory before sales trips.
• Tracks all sales made during canvassing.
• Reconciles unsold inventory back into warehouse stock.
• Links canvassing expenses to each trip.
• Prevents double allocation of inventory.

System Architecture

The system uses a three-tier architecture:

• Presentation layer: React Single Page Application (SPA).
• Application layer: Django REST Framework with JWT authentication.
• Data layer: MySQL relational database.

Features include:

• Secure login.
• Role-based authorization.
• Responsive web interface.
• RESTful APIs.
• Real-time inventory updates.

Implementation

The system was developed using:

• Python 3.11
• Django 4.2
• Django REST Framework
• React 18
• Bootstrap 5
• MySQL 8.0

Major functions include:

• Automatic invoice and delivery note generation.
• Stock validation before sales.
• Automatic inventory updates.
• Payment due-date calculation.
• WhatsApp-ready invoice generation.
• Dashboard summaries of sales, receivables, expense approvals, and active canvassing trips.

Conclusion

This research successfully designed, implemented, and evaluated a comprehensive web-based administrative information system for X Store, a B2B electronics and household appliance distributor. The integrated system unifies nine operational modules: sales, purchasing, inventory, payment, delivery, expenses, return/service, canvassing, and reporting, accessible to four defined user roles under a role-based access control framework. Scenario-based testing across fifteen test cases confirmed 100% functional correctness, with all modules producing outcomes consistent with expected behavior under both normal and boundary conditions. The three-state inventory model, namely ready_stock, on_hold, and to_delivery, proved effective in maintaining inventory integrity during canvassing operations, the research’s primary technical contribution. User Acceptance Testing yielded an overall average satisfaction score of 4.375 out of 5, indicating strong user acceptance across core operational features. Quantitative performance comparison across eleven operational metrics demonstrated transformative efficiency improvements, with the majority of processes reduced from hours or working days to under two minutes, and the complete elimination of previously recurring operational errors including duplicate orders, lost invoices, and canvassing stock discrepancies. The canvassing module represents the primary novel contribution of this research to the AIS literature for B2B distribution. By providing automated on-hold inventory allocation, integrated sales order creation linked to canvassing records, four-stage return/service tracking, and integrated expense management, the system addresses an operationally significant challenge that prior AIS research has not comprehensively addressed in a web-based, multi-module context.

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Rudy Adipranata, Felina Evangelica Setiawan, Silvia Rostianingsih. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.