PT Matahari Department Stores Tbk has stores all over Indonesia, which calls for an integrated Point of Sales (POS), which will help oversee data from one centralized source. The POS should be able to increase time efficiency, minimalize errors, help with analysis, and monitor sales data. This demand inspired Pandu Aryo Bagaskara, a student of SISTECH 2014, to make a dashboard information system, which will monitor the work of Matahari’s POS.
“The system I constructed is really useful to save time, making it more efficient and effective, and increasing trust in the data available. Before this, each system check was done manually. However, each time a data is sent, we cannot know whether it is successfully sent, or if the data contains the right information. It also takes a relatively long time. With this integrated system, errors can be minimalized earlier, and the data should be more trusted. The checking process can also be done in real-time,” Pandu explained.
This system is part of Pandu’s final thesis as an UPH SISTECH student. He admitted that he had faced overwhelming challenges in the process, because of how new the project was to him. However, Pandu worked relentlessly, with full determination. This project has made him much better of a problem solver and a hard worker; he had to come to the office earlier and worked long into the night.
“The programming language and the technology I used – I was new to all of these. I didn’t think to make this system at first, because users only need a program that lets them verify their data. However, things change, and the demands turn out to be quite rigorous. I came in to work at 7 each day, even though the working hours start at 8. There is a point where I was completely hopeless, but I had no choice but to finish my project,” he said.
The 3-4 months are made easier, though, by his supervisor and all the advice he gave him.
“I approached my lecturers a lot, asking them for advice. UPH also had a specific class for Logical Thinking. This is very important – it helps me to make better decisions. I have to see my program from a user’s perspective – I have to ask myself, “If I were the user, is this program easy for me to understand?”, Pandu explained.
At the end, however, all Pandu’s hard work pays off. The system turns out to be highly useful for the MDS IT team.
“The supervisor was amazed – they benefit a lot from the feature that lets them see all sales data and cashier data all in one place. I am thrilled because I can help them. At first, it was hard to propose an idea when I am far from familiar with it, but through this experience, I learn that truly nothing is impossible,” Pandu reflected. ™