Inventories, Unknowns, and a Dash of Trial-and-Error

"Inventories, Unknowns, and a Dash of Trial-and-Error"

This week marked the official beginning of a new chapter—system development. Cue dramatic music, heavy sighs, and plenty of “Wait, what are we doing again?” moments.

Together with our project lead, Mam Ynah, we kicked off the week with a meeting that was supposed to lay the foundation for the system. Supposed to. We were given the flow—a vague map of what was expected. No clear instructions. No diagrams. Just enough detail to make us dangerously curious but not enough to actually start coding. Me and Joseph looked at each other more than once with matching confused faces, mentally screaming: “So… what now?”

The system itself sounded simple. Just an inventory system, right? For the Dietary Department. But the deeper we looked, the more we realized: it’s “simple” in theory… not so much in practice.

This system wasn’t just about tracking supplies. It needed to manage inventory, deliveries, stock levels, and users. Oh, and here's the twist: it also had to function like an order system for hospital wards, which was something new entirely. Think of it as a restaurant inventory mashed with a hospital delivery portal. Neat, right? Also: terrifying.

We spent the rest of the week doing what any lost but determined devs would do—drawing up rough plans, brainstorming screens, sketching interfaces on scratch paper, and asking questions like detectives in a mystery novel. With little understanding of how the actual workflow in the dietary department really goes, everything felt like a trial-and-error puzzle. Try this. Scrap that. Ask again. Rethink. Repeat.

But even in the fog, one thing gave us confidence: our shared knowledge of how inventory systems generally work. It wasn’t much, but it was our starting point. We knew how stock movements should be tracked. We knew how user roles might be divided. And we knew how important it was to keep it all clear and efficient.

So here we are: at the starting line of something that could be great—or drive us crazy. But with teamwork, coffee, and lots of Googling, we’re hoping to turn this “simple-but-not-so-simple” idea into a working system.

After all, every system starts with chaos… and maybe a little bit of courage.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First in Queue

Image
"What is this feeling so sudden and new?" "My pulse is rushing, my head is reeling..." Just like the famous song from Wicked , an unexpected feeling washed over me last week. Was it a sigh of relief? A sense of excitement? Perhaps both—because we had finally been deployed. Being accepted as interns at the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center (BRHMC) is both an honor and a responsibility. Let me walk you through my first week as an intern in the IHOMP-IT Department. Day 1: Orientation and Introduction Our first day started around 9 AM. We met Madam Mich, one of the staff from PETRU. I already knew her a little since we had been exchanging emails and messages since December. There are four of us interns from BU: Lloyd, Alvan, Joseph, and me. Ms. Mich gave us a brief but insightful orientation, covering the basics and core values of BRHMC. At its heart, BRHMC is a tertiary hospital that not only provides healthcare services but also offers training opportun...
Read more

Preparing for the iHOMIS Plus Transition: A Week of Hardware Assessment and Planning

Image
Our week started with a meeting. The HOMIS team, led by Ma’am Annie, gathered for a brief discussion. The hospital is planning a major transition—from a locally based system to a web-based platform called iHOMIS Plus . This shift is a big change, as iHOMIS is managed by the Department of Health (DOH), and moving to the new system could be challenging, especially if the hospital’s existing hardware is outdated and incapable of handling the upgrade. With this in mind, our primary task for the week was to conduct a hardware assessment across all hospital departments. We needed to check the PCs and laptops currently in use, count the number of users , and assess whether additional hardware or upgrades would be necessary to accommodate the new system. I was assigned with Ma’am Lyca to assess laboratory areas throughout the hospital. We started our rounds, carefully inspecting the equipment in each section, noting the condition of the computers, network stability, and available storage...
Read more

iHOMIS PLUS: Manual

Image
iHOMIS PLUS: Manual  Our task for this week was to continue working on the IHOMIS Plus manual. We focused on refining the content, adding missing details, and ensuring the accuracy of the procedures documented. Our team conducted reviews and revisions, making sure that all system functions were well explained and that common user concerns were addressed. This process involved a lot of cross-checking with the actual system to ensure the instructions were clear and practical. As we progressed, we also incorporated visual aids such as screenshots and diagrams to enhance the manual’s usability. This step was crucial in making the document more user-friendly, especially for those unfamiliar with the system. Working on this project reinforced the importance of documentation in system development and implementation, as it serves as a guide for both new users and experienced personnel. By the end of the week, we had made significant progress in structuring the manual to be as comprehensive...
Read more