Design and Implementation of a Web-BDMS for Donor, Recipient, and Inventory Coordination

Blood plays a crucial role in the treatment of medical emergencies, surgical conditions, childbirth-related complications, injuries and chronic health conditions. Demand for blood can exceed available supplies, while its limited shelf life and unequal access to blood services increase the need for effective information management. This study presents the design and development of a web-based Blood Donation Management System (BDMS) for donor registration, recipient requests, blood inventory monitoring, donation history and administrative reporting. PHP handles server-side operations, MySQL manages data storage and Bootstrap supports a responsive interface. The system provides separate functions for administrators, donors and those submitting blood requests. Its inventory module records units added following donations and units issued in response to requests, while shortage alerts identify critically low stock. The application was developed using a sequential Waterfall approach encompassing requirements analysis, system design, implementation, testing, deployment and maintenance. Scenario-based black-box testing assessed administrator login, donor registration and record updates, blood request submission and tracking, inventory changes, links between donation history and stock records, and data retrieval. All ten reported functional test cases passed in the local demonstration environment. However, this evaluation established functional behaviour rather than operational effectiveness. System response times, notification delays, inventory accuracy, user satisfaction and other quantitative performance measures were not assessed. The application has also not undergone large-scale field deployment. The study therefore presents a low-cost administrative framework that may support future extensions, including geolocation, automated notifications, demand forecasting, interoperability and data-informed donor engagement.