Track: Graduate Student Paper Competition

Abstract

Cloud computing's popularity has been dominant in the IT industry over the past year. One of the widely-used cloud platforms among the business organization is the Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), an integrated cloud-based service that offers real-time document collaboration and increased cloud storage capacity. In this paper, the cloud platform was utilized to create an online computer-based information system (CBIS) for utilities data management and processing to eliminate work handoffs and prevent human error throughout the utilities billing information processing for a property management services company. The proposed CBIS, called UBIS (Utilities Billing Information System), also aims to automate the traditional manual generation of forms and reports required in the utilities data processing. The first three phases of the SDLC Waterfall Model were used as a guide in developing the proposed online CBIS - systems planning, systems analysis, and systems design. In the system review, five manual processes are identified that can be automated, and four out of these five processes are also considered unnecessary work handoffs. The use case diagram, system flowchart, and dataflow diagram (DFD) were used in the system design. The four work handoffs were eliminated in the system testing, and the five manual processes were automated successfully through the UBIS using Google Workspace. The criteria analysis using a scoring model is used to evaluate the proposed UBIS and the traditional system. Results show that the UBIS is the better system overall by scoring higher in 6 out of 8 criteria based on the company's business model.