MOBILE AND WEB BASED REMOTE BUSINESS MONITORING SYSTEM

International Journal of Advanced Information Technology (IJAIT) Vol. 3, No. 4, August 2013
DOI : 10.5121/ijait.2013.3401 1
MOBILE AND WEB BASED REMOTE BUSINESS
MONITORING SYSTEM
Boniface Ndau Mutinda1
, Karari Ephantus Kinyanjui2
Kihuha Cyrus kamau3
1
Department of Computer Science, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri,
Kenya
boniface@ibearesearch.org
2
Kenya
efantus.kinyanjui@dkut.ac.ke
2
Kenya
cyrus.kamau@dkut.ac.ke
ABSTRACT
The adoption of contemporary information technology by businesses in Kenya and East Africa is on the
rise. This is especially due to the fall in price of hardware and the availability of affordable software. Some
businesses have adopted stand alone systems for purposes of enhancing the operational efficiency of their
branches. An affordable tool that would monitor the activities of each branch remotely and provide
information to the manager(s) is required. With availability of smart phones and tablets, its only better that
such a tool provides a mobile interface so that the monitoring can be done on the go.
This paper is a summary of a research project carried out to fulfil this need. The product of this research is
an application that uses simulation techniques to manipulate the data collected via the internet from
various remote branches and provide reports in textual and graphical formats.
KEYWORDS
Business Activity monitoring, Complex event processing, MPesa, Dashboard
1. INTRODUCTION
The fall in price of computer hardware has resulted to increased automation of business in
many parts of the world, Kenya and the larger East Africa region been one of them.In fact ,
it said phones and specifically smart phones/tablets could be spreading than any other
technology in human history[1].
The adoption of distributed computing solutions for point of sale and inventory management
has not solved the challenge of interlinking branches of the same store and providing real
time data on the performance to the management. The later is a concept Gartner Research
refers to as Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) [2] and is a key factor in enhancing speed
and agility [3] which is relevant for any business that wants to remain competitive in today’s
information age.

2
BAM provides a better solution than calling and requesting for reports in emails a common
practice in Kenya and the larger east Africa especially for micro, small and medium
enterprises. In a number of instances, the branch managers have betrayed the trust by getting
involved in fraud and relaying erroneous information to the regional managers or managers
at the organization’s headquarters as has happened with some Savings and Credit
Cooperatives (SACCO) [4].
Remote Business monitoring System is formulated alongside the same concept as BAM but
with a focus to affordability and platform independence, these two will take care of the main
challenges faced by micro, small and medium enterprises in adopting this technology in their
existing systems. It is clear BAM is undoubtedly the next frontier of business systems
solution for reasons to do with enhancing both operational efficiency and quality of
information used by managers in decision making [3]. The end result of having affordable
business monitoring software for a distributed store is to catapult such organizations
expansion strategies, enhance quality of information hence speed and agility.
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
For businesses with branches in remote areas, the provision of quality information from the
branches for purposes of enhancing operational efficiency and decision making by managers
is a key challenge.
Quality of information as mentioned here provides for the three dimensions; content, time
and form dimension. From a content dimension information is expected to be accurate,
relevant and complete. Form a time dimension information should be timely and current (up
to date) and from a form dimension it should be clear, orderly and presented in the most
appropriate format; say video, audio or textual depending on its nature.
The challenge mentioned above is coupled with the need for the solution to be cost effective
as to make economic sense to micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) such as mobile
money transfer (MPesa) outlets and boutiques. Affordability was key for this project.
3. OBJECTIVES
The main aim of the project is to develop a system that can provide micro, small and
medium enterprises owners/managers with real time remote business monitoring via both
personal computer and tablets at an affordable price. Other project objectives are:
i. Generate real time business updates
ii. Generate business operations’ reports
iii. To enhance report sharing.
iv. Minimize the costs incurred in managing the business
v. Enhance affordability of BAM tools to micro, small and medium enterprise by exploiting
open source platform independent tools.
4. JUSTIFICATION
The completed solution when applied by a business will provide benefits such as:
i. Reduced costs: By making fewer or no calls and making limited or no trips to the remote
branches.

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ii. More productivity: The time which could have been used to travel can be used to do other
productive activities.
iii. Reduced Levels of Uncertainty: to some extent reports generated by business employees
might contain errors and omissions. Making use of a remote business monitoring systems
would reduce such incidences since the data is kept away from employee’s interference in
a password secured database.
5. GENERAL SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT
The product of this project can be applied by micro, small and medium enterprises in Kenya
and other parts of the world. It is designed for businesses with several branches that require
real time business monitoring such as supermarkets, Savings and Credit Co-operative
Societies (SACCOs) and mobile payment solutions (MPesa) outlets.
6. LITELATURE REVIEW
The research conducted in this project revealed that there is no specific platform deployed to
monitor business for the SMEs in Kenya. However, a number of solutions have been
developed for automating the process of monitoring business activities elsewhere and are
discussed below:
6.1. SpectorSoft SMB solutions
SpectorSoft[5] in addition to supplies of monitoring tools, have developed an Internet monitoring
and surveillance product for business, education, government and general home users which does
not necessarily target a specific user category. Their mode of monitoring is also very costly since
they rely on cameras to track user activities. This product is not suitable for provision of
information in support of several managerial functions.
6.2. Workexaminer
Workexaminer[6] is software that is used to monitor employee’s activities by keeping
track of what he/she is or has been doing on a machine ranging from the programs
accessed, how long has he spent and generate timely reports based on these activities.
The information that is also available includes:
i. How long the user has accessed the internet
ii. Which websites has the user accessed and the time spent on each site
iii. Screen snapshot widget- get a snapshot of a user desktop at a specific time
The software’s mentioned above is limited to employee and hence not suitable for several
managerial functions.
6.3. Internet monitoring software
Employee internet monitoring software tells you everything your employees are doing online
during the working hours. It provides answers to questions facing the employers, or managers in
the corporate sector every day. You can get this information at any moment in real time or by a
schedule. It's also possible to restrict access to the internet by setting up a list of "allowed"
websites and time slots within which these URLs can be visited. However, this software is very

4
costly and does not necessarily target a specific user category. Therefore, it is not suitable for
provision of information in support most managerial functions
6.4 Apama DashBoard studio
Apama Dashboard Studio is part of Progress® Apama® Event Processing Platform. The studio
offers a richly-featured business activity monitoring dashboard design and execution
environment. With up-to-the-second visualizations of key metrics driving event-driven
operations, Dashboard Studio gives decision-makers the ability to see operational activity in real
time and generate alerts when conditions are detected that warrant action.
Apama Dashboard Studio is designed with a wide variety of visual objects for intuitive
monitoring, including meters, tables, grids, scales, bar and pie charts, as well as trend and XY
charts. All can be connected to the underlying Apama complex event processing engine so that
they change dynamically as business events occur in real time. Users can customize the
dashboard with a design palette, placing objects on a visual canvas and defining parameters.
Users have the ability to view sophisticated summary configurations while simultaneously
drilling down for a more granular view.[7]
The key elements of the Apama BAM architecture extend beyond dashboards to include [7]:
1. RAD Dashboard Development Tools – The Apama platform features a flexible development
environment that allows rapid application development (RAD) of dashboards.
2. CEP Engine – The Apama Event Correlator monitors event streams, detecting patterns and
relationships amongst the events through application of complex event processing (CEP)
rules.
3. RAD CEP Development Tools – Apama's sophisticated pattern detection rules are accessible
via development tools for business users, business analysts, and IT developers
4. Encapsulated Functionality – Apama incorporates unique SmartBlocks that encapsulate CEP
rules and expose them to business users via a high-level functional interface.
5. Data Source and Sink Adapters – Apama can receive data from and send data to a wide
variety of sources making it appropriate for a range of use cases in many markets.
6. Event Data Management, Research, Testing, and Simulation – The data that business activity
monitoring solutions monitor requires a unique class of data management to capture each
event, together with filtered subsets of events determined by CEP logic, and newly created
"complex" events. Event data management services from Apama EventStore and Research
Studio provide the basis for research, testing, and simulation.
6.5 webMethods Optimize for B2B
webMethods Optimize for B2B is a product of SoftwareAG which makes it possible for
managers to get real-time facts about you’re their supply chain, anytime. It enables the managers
to make proactive decisions that improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs and protect revenue
streams [8].
Used with webMethods Trading Networks, Optimize for B2B is a Business Activity
Monitoring (BAM) software solution that helps you analyze and understand interactions
with your trading partners. You’ll gain visibility into transactions and trends across your
trading network.

5
You can define and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in real-time. Find out how
many orders you’ve received—so you can measure your success. Track percentages of late
deliveries—so you can check supplier performance.
Head-off potential supply chain management issues. Optimize for B2B will automatically
learn your network’s normal behavior and alert you if anything unusual occurs.
The software is optimized for B2B and whereas this is necessary, the immediate concern of
owners of micro and small enterprises is to obtain reports on sales, gross profits, expenditure, net
profit and inventory reports. webMethods Optimize for B2B is therefore limited for other models
of commerce such as B2C and other basis of conducting business monitoring like mobile business
intelligent[12].
6.6 webMethods Optimize for Processes
webMethods optimize for processes is also a product of softwareAG which gives real-time
analysis on process health. It quickly identifies what’s operating well and what’s not. It
helps the owner recognize improvement opportunities.
It gives a single view of Systems and processes which saves time and prevents service issues
with a single view of your operations.
It also provides for proactive, error based alerts and yields ready to read reports. It provides for
intelligent learning by monitoring each Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and learns what is
“normal” based on historical patterns, such as time-of-day and day-of-month.[9]
It is a heavy tool for a micro or small organization. An alternative would have to be sought that
requires fewer resources in terms of human resources and hardware and that provides a mobile
interface for it.
6.7 HP Business monitoring software
HP Business Process Monitor (BPM) software is a synthetic monitoring solution that simulates
business transactions for consistent, predictable measurement—whether or not real users are
active [10]. It lets you control mobile application performance health by monitoring web and
native applications as experienced from multiple devices. You can run transactions from multiple
locations inside or outside your firewall. By leveraging HP LoadRunner technology, you can
reuse assets in testing and production environments. And you can monitor a range of protocols
and applications.
6.8: Comparisons for remote business software
Other software’s using the BAM concept are Elite Keylogger, SoftActivity Keylogger,
AceSpy Spy Software, Total Spy, PA File Sight ,Internet Security 2010,Net Nanny
System Surveillance Pro[11]
All these software provide for remote monitoring but none on how that can be done using a
phone/smart phone. Some also have an affordability or a functional deficiency issue and may
not be used for comprehensive performance monitoring.

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7. METHODOLOGY
7.1 Fact finding
Two types of data collection methods were applied in conducting this study; quantitative and
qualitative methods.
Face to face interviews and observation were used as the quantitative data collection
methods (primary methods) while internet research was used as qualitative data collection
method.
Facts obtain from both cases indicate that the challenge of obtaining information from remote
branches is real to managers. Our fact finding revealed that most managers exploit an solution
which involves calling the branch supervisors and requesting reports from them which are sent
via email. Even the much publicised Software as a Service cloud computing solution by
Safaricom is yet to take root.
7.2 Development methodology
The second phase of the methodology is concerned with the detailed steps followed in the
development of the solution; that is, the system development life cycle (SDLC) model
applied.
For this project, the Rapid Application Development (RAD) model was used. This model
uses minimum planning in favour of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of the software
developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself. The lack of extensive
pre-planning generally allows software to be written much faster, and makes it easier to
change requirements.
This method of software development involves both techniques of iterative development and
software prototyping.
The steps followed using this methodology includes:
i. User requirements gathering and planning which involves development of preliminary
data models and business process models using structured techniques.
ii. Requirements verification through development of prototypes, eventually to refine the
data and process models.
These steps are repeated iteratively until clear and sophisticated software is developed to meet the
set user requirements with a technical system design
7.3 Evaluation
The evaluation was conducted to determine the usability of the system which was developed
during this work as well as the satisfaction of the users.
Usability testing was carried out by a group of developers who were acquainted to the problem at
hand.

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8. SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
8.1. System requirements
These were classified into two categories:
8.1.1.Functional Requirements
The functional requirements of this system are summarised as follows:
Table 1: Functional Requirements
# Requirement Brief description
1 Register new user The system should allow the administrator to register new
system users
2 Update profile
information
The system should allow its users to update their profile
information
3 View profile
information
The system should be capable of allowing users to view their
profile information
4 View products The system should allow employees, business owners and the
administrator to view all their products and specific product
information
6 Update products
data
The system should enable the administrator, business owner or
the employee with the update rights to modify products
information.
7 Delete products Administrator, business owner and employee should be able to
delete various products from the system
8 Add new products The system should both the admin and the business owner add
new products
9 Add new sales The system should allow employees and the business owner to
record new product sales
10 View sales The system should allow users to view sale statistics as they are
recorded
11 Modify sales
information
Editing of the recorded sales should be allowed by the system
12 Record expenses The system should allow employees to record expenses as they
are incurred
14 View expenses The system should allow users to view expenses statistics as
they are recorded
15 Modify expenses
information
The system should be capable of allowing editing of the
recorded expenses
16 View reports Business owner, administrator should be capable to view
business processes reports on demand.
17 Share reports The system should allow business owner to share reports with
other employees, send via email, download pdfs, social websites
data sharing
18 Send Messages All the system users should be able to send messages via email,
sms
19 View send
messages
System users should be in a position to get their messaging
history
20 Download reports Generated reports should be exported as pdfs for download

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21 Login System users must be able to login to the system for better
interaction
22 Manage users The system should allow the administrator to manage system
users
23 Manage user rights System administrator should be able to edit users rights
24 View transaction
log
Each user should be in a position to view his/her system
transactions history
25 Search products During sales recording, the user should be able to search for
products from the data store
8.1.2.Non functional
Non-functional requirements are constraints on various attributes of system functions or tasks.
This system presents the following non-functional requirements.
Table 2: Non-functional requirements
# Requirement Brief description
1 System usability • The system should be easy to use and interact with
• The system must provide user friendly information and
in user friendly way to the user
• The system should provide easy to figure out
navigational links
2 System performance/
Efficiency
• The system information processing speed should be as
fast as the click of button
• Each task should be optimized to operate at the
relatively the same high speed
• Processing of reports and graph generation should be
fast
3 Availability The system should be available to all employees, admin’s,
business owners
System data should be available to the specific user on
demand
4 Security Each user should have a unique ID or username and
password in order to login to the system
5 Notifications The system be able to provide notifications about products
stock levels, new messages
8.2. Resources
8.2.1.Hardware
A Computer set: at least Pentium IV with the following minimum specifications:
i. 10GB Hard Drive
ii. 256MB Main Memory (RAM)
iii. 1.8GHz processor speed

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8.2.2.Software
The following software resources are necessary for the preparation of this project:
i. Netbeans 6.0/ Eclipse /JCreator or any other Java IDE
ii. Java SDK (Software Development Kit)
iii. Android SDK (Software Development Kit)
iv. Notepad++ 5.7 and above
v. Macromedia Fireworks 8.0 –for graphics development
vi. jQuery.js, highcharts.js, kScrit.js – JavaScript frameworks
vii. Xampp – latest version with php 5.3.8 or above
viii. Web browser – Internet Explorer 6 and higher, Mozilla 10.0.2, Google Chrome
ix. Windows XP sp1 and above, windows 7 any edition, windows vista, Linux
x. Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007
xi. Internet Connection
8.3. System design
8.3.1.Sample: Sales dashboard
Figure 1: Sales interface
9. ASSUMPTIONS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1. Assumptions
The following are the assumptions made throughout the whole project
i. Internet services are available
ii. Reliable hosting services are available
iii. The user has some knowledge of computer usage
iv. The business has a Point of Sale Software in place
v. The business operates in a distributed environment

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9.2. Conclusion
Remote business monitoring is in its infancy in Kenya. Some forms of monitoring of
employees is already been used by software houses that use job ticketing techniques.
The rise of business monitoring is expected to accelerate due to several factors key among
them cheap and reliable hardware (computers and smart phones/tablets) and internet
connections.
Business monitoring will range from monitoring of all business processes to monitoring of
business employees, data consistency, business processes evaluation, audit and planning of
business execution processes.
Business monitoring platforms will grant a competitive advantage to those that adopt them. This
research project provides a prototype for a web and mobile phone based remote business
monitoring system.
9.3. Recommendations
We recommend further research in security features to take care of authenticity and non-
repudiation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We very much appreciate the support accorded to us by Dedan Kimathi University of
Technology. Their state of the art computer labs did not just meet but surpassed our
expectations. Their students especially from the school of computer science and information
technology were more than willing to participate in the project especially in fact finding and
usability testing. For this we are grateful to the Vice Chancellor Prof P.N Kioni, the whole
academic division headed by Prof. G.K Muthakia (Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic
Affairs).
We also feel indebted to our families for continued support during the entire research period.
REFERENCES
[1] Smart phone spread-Smart phones, internet: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/427787/are-
smart-phones-spreading-faster-than-any-technology-in-human-history/, 2012 [Jan. 24, 2013]
[2] Gartner definition of BAM Business Activity Monitoring – monitoring business activities: internet:
http://www.gartner.com/resources/105500/105562/105562.pdf, 2002 [Jan. 24, 2013]
[3] BAM Architecture: More Building Blocks Than You Think - monitoring business activities , Internet;
http://www.gartner.com/id=354281, 2002 [Jan 24, 2013]
[4] Harambee SACCO –business fraud, Internet: http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Sacco-probe-on-
as-more-rot-uncovered/-/1006/1641158/-/139dk1dz/-/index.html, 2012 [Jan. 24, 2013]
[5] Spectofoft –Business Activity Monitoring software, Internet: http://www.spectorsoft.com/ , [Feb. 14,
2013]
[6] Workexaminer- Business Activity Monitoring software, Internet: http://www.workexaminer.com/
,[Feb. 14,2013]
[7] Apama DashBoard Studio- Business Activity Monitoring software, Internet:
http://www.progress.com/en/business-activity-monitoring-software.html, [Feb . 14, 2013]
[8] webMethods optimized for B2B-BAM software, Internet:
http://www.softwareag.com/corporate/products/wm/b2b/optimize_to_b2b/overview/default.asp
optimize for B2B,[Mar.20, 2013]

11
[9] webMethods for process- BAM software, Internet:
http://www.softwareag.com/corporate/products/wm/bpm/optimize_process/capabilities/default.asp ,
[Mar. 20, 2013]
[10] HP business monitoring software-BAM software, Internet: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/software-
solutions/software.html?compURI=1174783#.Ud7z09Iwf8o, [Mar. 20, 2013]
[11] Comparison of remote business control s/w-BAM software, Internet: http://monitoring-
software.findthebest.com/d/d/Business, [Mar. 20, 2013]]
[12] Mobile Business Intelligence – monitor business via mobile devices, internet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_business_intelligence, 2006 [Mar. 2013]
AUTHORS
Name: Ndau Mutinda Boniface
Mobile: +254 713 339 724, Interest: Software development, social media
Occupation: Researcher and application deve loper, IBEA Research,
www.ibeareseach.org
Name: Ephantus Kinyanjui Karari
Mobile: +254 721 374 616, Interest: Web and Mobile computing
Occupation: Lecturer & PhD Student; School of Computer Science,
DKUT (www.dkut.ac.ke), Nyeri, Kenya
Name: Kahuha Cyrus Kamau
Name: Kahuha Cyrus Kamau
Mobile: +254 722 808 500
Interest: Web and Mobile computing
Occupation: Lecturer, Department of Computer Science,
DKUT (www.dkut.ac.ke), Nyeri, Kenya

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