Data Structures and Algorithms for Inventory Management

This article discusses the importance of data structures and algorithms in inventory management. It explains the choice of variables, keys, and ranges for efficient inventory operations. It explores the algorithms for insertion, deletion, search, update, and sorting operations with examples. It also provides recommendations for proposed changes in inventory management. The article is relevant for students studying Data Structures and Algorithms, Inventory Management, and related courses.

Data Structures and Algorithms
Student Name
Kent Institute Australia
Data Structures and Algorithms
DSAA204/ BIT 204
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Introduction
In any organization it is good to understand how data structures are maintained and
organized. In this case, data structures may be defined as a way of data collection and
organization in a way that it will be able to perform operations on such gathered data in a way
that is effective. This is all about rendering some of the data elements by defining the
relationships to have a better organization and much reliable storage. An algorithm can be
defined as the finite set of steps or instructions which may be logic so that one can be able to
complete a certain task which is predefined.
In understanding an algorithm one must be able to know the input, output, definite, finite
and how correct the step. In understanding the search and sort algorithms to apply one must be
able to know the complexities caused by time and space such as the instructional data and
environmental (Baker and Inventado, 2014). In this case study, the inventory system need to be
created and one has to decide some of the appropriate variables, keys and ranges to be applied in
developing the system.
The report is a way to try to give suggestions to the company when they will be
developing the system considering they have merged with another company there need to be
some changes in their current inventory system as the data space will be large and thus requiring
change in variables, ranges which will in turn change the operations applied (Lafore, 2017).
Nevertheless, in this concept it will help one to be able to explain the inventory operations as
well as the algorithms for such operations.
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Choice of variables, keys and Ranges
Data structures and algorithms (DSA) is applied in many categories such as using the
following algorithms;
 Search
 Sort
 Insert
 Update
 Delete
The inventory will need a data structure so that it can be able to search data, to search them in
a speedy way and much more be able to handle multiple requests.
Variables
In any data structures and algorithms, variables are usually applied in storing the information
that is to be referenced and modified or manipulated in a PC (Michalewicz, 2013). In this case
they may provide a way in which data can be labelled using a descriptive name so that the
programs can be understood in a more clear way by the readers or programmers. In this way, the
variable can be considered as a container that will hold the inventory information. In this
inventory there exists different variables and the following can be named as follows.
 Product_Name
 Product_price
 Product_type
 Product_Manufacturer
 ProductExpiry_Date
In this case one can assign the given variables different values depending on the
strings attached to the variable in terms of storage may it be an integer, character or
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Data Structures and Algorithms
strings of character. The following examples shows how the following variables can be
assigned values.
Irb: 001> Product_name = ‘oil’
Product_Manufacturer = ‘Toyota’
Range and Keys
This inventory seems to use the hash table that will be storing data in an
associative manner. In this case, data will be stored in a format that looks resembles that
of an array list where in this case, each value will have own its unique index value and
thus when it comes to accessing data it will be speedy if the desired data is known. Keys
are ranges are applied in a hash table and thus making it becomes a data structure where
the insertion and the operations such as search will be very much fast irrespective of the
data size. In this case there are more 25,000 household items and about 1500 food items
and this with this hash table techniques with concept of keys and ranges to identify the
variables it will be easy to define and get what is required. The figure below shows what
goes behind the hash table.
Figure 1 hash table diagram
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Data Structures and Algorithms
This technique is used in converting the range of all the key values in to index ranges
of any given array. In this case, one has to use a modulo operator in getting the range of
all the key values. In this case, many lessons are learnt on the importance of choosing the
best data type as well as variables with the best range or key values. If such are selected
wisely the following will help one in maintaining the following in the inventory.
 Every data type will be highly optimized for the available storage space in the DB. A
good example is fixing the width field like that of product manufacturer to be 20
characters which will in deed take about 20 bytes versus the 0 bytes in some of the Dbs.
 Every data type may it be linear, B-Trees, arrays as it is in our case, will also be
optimized for the database operations and functions as well as the commands (Berztiss,
2014).
 Another importance is that each data type should have a meaning in the metadata and
thus allowing the others to be able to understand immediately what the data will be
expected in a given data field, Dbs. And tables for instance CHAR, VARCHAR and
NUM among others.
Specifications of Inventory Operations
In any inventory control systems, this is usually responsible for the system to have
operations that optimal operations of the processes of inventory for most automotive companies.
Ideally, for the inventory control to manifest itself in a target with confliction that will represent
the inventory in general. In such a case where such operations are applied this principle will be
called Stock Keeping units which based on the optimization of the inventory. Some of the
specifications that need to be addressed in this concept of inventory operations are such as the
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Data Structures and Algorithms
processes that triggers the change in time in the inventory system. Nevertheless, this will
vindicate that the processes features will have to be disregarded.
Another concept is that when the character of the customers varies, the demand in the
inventory system will influence the operation of all other system processes. If the values of such
parameters that controls the system are set dynamically, then the adaptive dynamic inventory
control system will be able to determine the optimum values which are actual in consideration to
the changes that takes place in the inventory system operations as a whole.
In this case of the inventory they will use some operations in making the
inventory interactive and friendly as well as speedy. Some of the operations are such as
create, selection, destroy, update, search, sort, and merge among others. Selection
operation is an operation that usually deals with one being able to access a given
particular data within a given data structure. The Update operation in this case of the
inventory will be applied in modifying the data in any given data structure.
Merging operation and since in this case two companies have merged then there
will be a need to combine the data items between the two companies which may have
sorted list which are different and make them to be a single sorted list owned by one
merged company. Another operation is Search operation that helps one in finding the
desired data such as the product_name or Product_type among others in the list of data
items stored in the data structure. Sort operation is also another type of operation that
helps in arranging all the data items in a given particular and ordered manner which can
be either ascending or descending order.
Choice of algorithm for each Operation and justification of such algorithms
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Data Structures and Algorithms
In this case of Inventory as the two companies with products which are stored in
large numbers and thus requiring a very large storage space the following major
operations will be highly applied in creating to retrieving the desired data in this category
(Van Der Maaten, 2014). The operations as discussed above are transverse, insertion,
deletion, search, sort and update.
Insertion Operation
In this operation one usually inserts one or even more than data elements into a
given array. On the basis of any requirements, one new element may be added at the
beginning, also at the end or in any given array index. The algorithm in this case will be a
linear unordered array of the Max elements.
Example,
In this case, let LA represent the concept of Linear Array which in this case it is
Unordered and N and be always a positive integer (+) where K<=N. The following
screenshots explains the algorithm where the ITEM is inserted in to K position of Linear
Array.
Example of the above algorithm being implemented in C Programming
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Output
In the above screenshots the concept of Insertion operation and algorithms to be
applied have been explained in details and thus in this case of inventory, it will be wise to
understand the array well so that one know where to insert the data or elements.
Deletion Operation
This refers to one being able to remove or delete any element in existence from
the given array and being able to re-organize all the elements of arrays (Goodrich,
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Tamassia and Goldwasser, 2014). The algorithm in this case we can consider as the one
above in Insertion operation.
Example,
In this case, let LA represent the concept of Linear Array which in this case it is
Unordered and N and be always a positive integer (+) where K<=N. The following
screenshots explains the algorithm where the ITEM to delete in to the Kth position of the
Linear Array.
Example of the above algorithm being implemented in C Programming
Output
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Data Structures and Algorithms
In this case the Linear Array “LA[2]=5 has been deleted and thus showing that
one data element not visible after deletion”. The same case is supposed to be for the case
of the inventory in case a product has been sold it is supposed to be deleted in the store
and thus prompting them that it needs to be added.
Search Operation
This operation is usually used in performing a search array element on the basis of
the value or index (Mehlhorn, 2013). The algorithm can be explained and justified as
follows. In this case, let LA represent the concept of Linear Array which in this case it is
Unordered and N and be always a positive integer (+) where K<=N.
Example,
The following will be the inventory search algorithm in finding an element with
the value of the item that uses the sequential search.
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Example of the above algorithm being implemented in C Programming
Output
The screenshots shows the algorithms in searching the element in a given array
elements. The idea was to find how many elements and the algorithm gets five elements
at position three as shown in the output results.
Update Operation
This type of operation usually refers to one being able to update any element in
existence from the original array at any given index.
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Data Structures and Algorithms
The algorithm in this case follows the same procedure as that of the other three operations. In
this case, let LA represent the concept of Linear Array which in this case it is Unordered and N
and be always a positive integer (+) where K<=N.
Example,
Example of the above algorithm being implemented in C Programming
Output
As seen above on the results the linear array LA[2]=5 has been updated to
LA[2]=10. The same case should apply in the inventory where one in case there is
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Data Structures and Algorithms
additional of stock one can update using the same concept in all ways.
Sorting Algorithms
This type of algorithm is applied when want to rearrange the given arrays or the
list of elements according to the operator of comparison used in all ways (Bäck, Fogel
and Michalewicz, 2018). In this case of the inventory, the selection sort can be applied in
the manner that the algorithm is sorted by an array where one repeatedly finds the
minimum element thus considered as the ascending order from the array that is unsorted
and putting it at the beginning.
In this case, each iteration of the sort selection , the element which is the smallest
will be considered to be in ascending order that is from the from a subarray that is
unsorted which is picked and thus moved in to another sorted subarray.
Example,
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Proposed Changes
Ideally, since the company are merging into becoming one big company, then
they have to agree on changing their existing data structures in to one which is easy and
can be easy for all of them to understand the data stored and how such data can be
accessed or retrieved. Data storage is a very big concept that makes it easy for one to
understand all the concepts in all ways. There before they were dealing with about the
300 household products and 200 food items where this now has been added in to 25,000
items and 1500 food items thus making the inventory to be more complex and thus
requiring them to understand the operations in terms of the variables needed to be stored
so that the set algorithms can cater for everything in case a need a rise.
In this case, the first recommendations is to apply the creation, updation,
insertion, transversal, sorting and searching algorithms. In this case it will not be possible
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Data Structures and Algorithms
to find one product at a time by going through all of them and thus a search algorithm for
fast and easy retrieval of a product can be done. In knowing if the stored products have
been sold or maybe they need to be refilled then such algorithms such as the update,
deletion, creation, and sort will need to be addressed efficiently. In such cases if such are
understood and worked upon, then the complexity in time, space and environment will be
eradicated and thus concluding that the inventory meets the company needs and
objectives.
List of references
Bäck, T., Fogel, D.B. and Michalewicz, Z. eds., 2018. Evolutionary computation 1: Basic
algorithms and operators. CRC press.
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Data Structures and Algorithms
Baker, R.S. and Inventado, P.S., 2014. Educational data mining and learning analytics.
In Learning analytics (pp. 61-75). Springer, New York, NY.
Berztiss, A.T., 2014. Data structures: theory and practice. Academic press.
Goodrich, M.T., Tamassia, R. and Goldwasser, M.H., 2014. Data structures and algorithms in
Java. John Wiley & Sons.
Lafore, R., 2017. Data structures and algorithms in Java. Sams publishing.
Mehlhorn, K., 2013. Data structures and algorithms 1: Sorting and searching (Vol. 1). Springer
Science & Business Media.
Michalewicz, Z., 2013. Genetic algorithms+ data structures= evolution programs. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Van Der Maaten, L., 2014. Accelerating t-SNE using tree-based algorithms. The Journal of
Machine Learning Research, 15(1), pp.3221-3245.
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