Computerized Payroll System Using Android Technology

Computer Science Project Material with Source Code Included

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation of a computerized payroll system for an organization. This system is based on an android database system recognized by android devices together with a high level language (Java Android) which allows the creation of use interfaces and database access in one application. The system is implemented by combining some syntax of structure query language (Sq2) and SQLite which is an android Database System recognized by Android devices. The software is designed and implemented using Dalvik Virtual Machine which is a kind of Java Virtual Machine specially designed and optimized for Android. The final deliverable was a simple android payroll system and I was able to learn a new programming language, Java Android. In addition, the software can also be improved in terms of the calculations it can do, and more flexibility in the rates used in calculations per employee. The study will aid in reducing errors, fraud, increase speed and also aid growth in organizations if successfully implemented.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

A payroll is a company’s list or records of its employees, which is often used to refer to the total amount of money that a company pays to its employees.

A payroll system is software which organizes and arranges all the tasks of employee payment and the filing of employee taxes (Wikipedia). These tasks may include keeping tracking of hours, calculating wages, withholding taxes and deductions, printing and delivering checks and paying employment taxes to the government. Payroll software plays several roles for the user, the employees and the company, such as: giving you supper easy ways to manage employee calendar (e.g, sick leave, absences and overtime), gives you latest tax updates you when by notifying you when the updates arrive, allows you to quickly and easily generate payslips for all your employees, serves as a reminder. Payroll also makes deductions from employees’ wages for taxes, wage garnishment, health and life insurance, spending accounts and retirement investments. Payroll works with your accounting department to ensure that wage deductions and other payroll expenses are paid and properly reported.

1.2. Statement of Problem

Manual systems of payroll always put pressure on people to be correct in all aspect of their work. With manual systems the level of service is dependent on individuals and this puts a requirement on management to run training continuously for staff to keep them motivated and to ensure they are following the correct procedures. It can be all too easy to accidentally switch details and end up with inconsistency in data entry or in hand written orders. This has the effect of not just causing problems with customer service but also making information unable be used for reporting or finding trends with data discovery. Reporting and checking that data is also a problem and can be time consuming and expensive.

Other problems caused by the manual payroll system are:

Inconsistency in data entry, room for errors, miskeying information.
Large ongoing staff training cost.
System is dependent on good individuals.
Reduction in sharing information and customer services.
Time consuming and costly to produce reports.
Lack of security of data.
Duplication of data entry.

1.3. Objective of Study

The objectives of this study is:

To design a computerized payroll system for an organization,
To design a computerized system for calculating basic salary and allowance of staff.
To design a computerized payment platform.
To design a system that accurately stores employee data and retrieves payment history when needed.
To design a computerized system for tracking vacation time, maternity and paternity leave.

1.4. Significance of the study

The study will aid in reducing errors, fraud, increase speed and also aid growth in organizations if successfully implemented. Manual payroll systems in organizations will be totally eliminated with this computerized system in place. The study will also serve as a guide to other student researchers who may want to conduct further research on the subject matter. Findings and recommendations from this system will aid in developing newer versions to serve optimally.

1.5. Scope / Limitation of the Study

The scope of this study is centered on the design and implementation of an epayroll system using android technology.

Limitation

Financial constraint

Insufficient fund tends to obstruct the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint

The researcher will at the same time engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.6. Definition of Terms

A payroll:

Is a company’s list or records of its employees, which is often used to refer to the total amount of money that a company pays to its employees.

A payroll system:

Is software which organizes and arranges all the tasks of employee payment and the filing of employee taxes.

Payslips:

A note given to an employee when they have been paid, detailing the amount of pay given and the tax and insurance deducted.

Employer:

A person or organization that employs people.

Employee:

A person employed for wages or salary, especially at nonexecutive level.

W-4 tax form:

Is a form completed by an employee to indicate his or her tax situation (exemptions, status, etc.) to the employer. The W-4 form tells the employer the correct amount of tax to withhold from an employee’s paycheck.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS): A United States government agency that is responsible for the collection and enforcement of taxes.

Social Security Administration (SSA):

Is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors’ benefits.

Chapter Six

Conclusions and Furtherwork

6.1 Summary

The main aim of this project was to put what we learnt in our Software engineering class into practice. The payroll system designated to me me to fully exercise the techniques of XP. The final deliverable was a simple android payroll system and I was able to learn a new programming language, Java Android. In addition, I was able to apply the knowledge of OOP learnt in our Java classes to another language thereby giving us a better understanding of OOP.

6.2 Overview and Interpretation of Results Attained

I was able to attain my set objectives, and this helped me gain confidence in writing my own code and my own applications.

In addition, the use of serialization was an experimentation to cut down the time taken in designing the front-ends and back-ends of applications separately. With the OOP approach and serialization, I only concentrated on designing the objects/ classes, and then just serialized them on disk. So we did not spend any time on designing how to store data.

6.3 Recommendations on Future Improvement

There is always room for improvement, and the software we created can also be improved on. This is especially because I had to create it within a limited time. With more time, the software can be improved to include security and different types of users. This would be the first step in making the software network-enabled, and eventually web-enabled. This was my original after-thought to programming the software, and I had chosen XML. In addition, the software can also be improved in terms of the calculations it can do, and more flexibility in the rates used in calculations per employee.

Get Complete Project Material