Future Tech Inventory management system

Most small businesses in Zambia still track their stock the old-fashioned way � paper records, notebooks, or a basic Excel sheet. It works, up to a point, but it breaks down quickly once the business grows. Items get double-counted, stock cards go missing, and staff waste time digging through files just to find out how many units are left on a shelf. This project looks at solving that problem by building an Inventory Management System backed by a proper relational database.

The system was designed to handle the day-to-day realities of stock control: recording new items, updating stock as goods come in and go out, keeping supplier details on hand, and pulling up reports when management needs them. The database itself was built using standard design practices � an entity-relationship model was drawn up first, then the tables were normalized up to third normal form (3NF) to cut down on repeated data and keep things consistent. SQL was used throughout, from creating the database and tables to writing the queries that power the search and reporting features.

Once built, the system was tested against common scenarios � adding stock, searching for a product, updating quantities, and removing discontinued items � to confirm it behaved as expected. The end result is a tool that should cut down on stock-taking errors, save time when looking up inventory, and give business owners a clearer picture of what's actually on their shelves