Undergraduate Final Year Project Proposal

Project Title: Development of a Vehicle Hiring System Mefolo Kgabutle Bsc (HONS) Business Information Technology Banner ID: 000628326

Overview KRM Transport and Logistics Pty Ltd is a company that hires Vehicles according to their categories and class to other industries or individual entities. This company started being small but through innovation and skills it has grown to a well-known organization in the transport industry, in particular. The Management of this company decided to propose a fully-functional system to be developed in order to support the business needs so that they can reach their objectives with ease and within the structured set of milestones. The requested system should be connected to a database which can handle a workload of records to be stored about clients. The system should be able to keep track of all vehicles that are hired, available for hire and those that are returned. At this point in time records are stored through a manual file-based system to manage and store records of clients so as they requested a computerized system to be designed and built to a standard that will manage and handle large chunks/amounts of business information and should also incorporate an enhanced backup and recovery facilities in case of any data loss of their business information. The fact about computerized systems is that they are fast, effective and efficient. KRM proposed a system that will substitute their current ways of running their business manually which also incorporates security features as each employee will have a unique log-in password and user name.

KRMs new proposed system will be connected to a database containing the following information: KRM Staff details. KRM Customer details. KRM Hiring details. KRM Vehicle details (Model, Name, Price, Availability etc).

Description of deliverables A fully functional system which is connected to a database. The database should be able to perform CRUD (Create, retrieve, Update, Delete) activities. An active GUI (Graphical User Interface) will be designed with all required functional keys to enable specified users to perform business activities in order to achieve their business objectives. The system will be only used by: KRM Sponsors (Management Board). Sales Personnel. Supervisor. System developers and Administrators.

The proposed system is intended to perform the following functionalities: Allow CRUD (Create, retrieve, Update, Delete) activities to be performed by relevant users. System should allow specified users to log into the system using unique passwords and usernames as part of the system security. (Authorization) Delete and Update records in the database about the vehicles. View vehicle records (Hired/Available). Must display vehicle categories (Car, Bus, truck). Allow Input Vehicle details to ensure instant and manageable vehicle tracking through the systems navigation.

Input Sales person details so that when a vehicle is hired the system can automatically print the specified sales person who processed the hiring procedure.

Must print reports of hired vehicles. Perform aggregate and arithmetic functions of hiring rates.

Only the Management and System Administrators will have a complete access of the systems whole and the organizational information. Since they are authorized users they will manipulate all the data using CRUD procedure. Others (Supervisors and Sales Personnel) will only be authorized to view specified details about the organizations client-hiring.

Aim To develop a fully functional Application connected to a Database containing Vehicle Hiring Information for KRM Transport and Logistics. Key Words Vehicle, Hiring, Project Management, Database, Development, System Analysis, Application, Specification, System design, System Evaluation, Prototype, Resources, Support. Objectives 1. Organize meetings with KRM Management. Activities Encourage active user-involvement to ensure success of the project deliverables. Discuss business rules and constraints. Discuss project deliverables. Make a research about Vehicle Hiring systems. Gather all business processes.

Collect endorsements and objectives of KRM Management. Discuss all the required resources for the systems development.

Deliverables Systems Requirements document. Initial Report. Literature review.

2. Develop a Vehicle Hiring Relational Database to store all records about vehicles. Activities Identify relevant entities that are going to be included in the database and how the database will be manipulated. Map the relationships. Ensure Cascade and Referential Integrities.

Deliverables Conceptual Data Model. Relational Schema of all tables. Entity Relationship Diagram.

3. Design and Code a GUI and connect it to the Database. Activities Identify key functionalities of the system. Create log-in screen for authorizing users. Declaring variables correctly according to their data types. Demonstrate programming skills. Present correct lines of code. Develop system security. Develop a functional prototype covering all functions of the system.

Deliverables Functional prototype.

4. Test the Application. Activities First, Start by testing parts of the system. (Unit Testing) Ensure easy and maintainable debugging of errors. Check system requirements against final product. Ensure system compatibility. Test the application with sample data.

Deliverables Final product with all required documentation.

5. Implement the system. Activities Train users. Ensure system meets its requirements.

Deliverables Fully functional system with no errors.

6. Ensuring Back-up and Recovery of data. Activities Since restoring data depends on the type of backup, Off-line backup will be recommended. Periodically copying the database and log-files to an off-line/alternative storage area. Collect snapshots of the database at a fixed, known point in time. Commit/Abort all ongoing transactions. Pause all database writes. Force a checkpoint. Copy all database files to the backup location.

Determine which/all database files have been written during the lifetime of the current logs. Copy the last log-file to your backup location.

Deliverables Restoring lost data, should it become lost. Log file.

Product Related deliverables. System Requirements specification document. User requirements document. Use-case diagram, Class diagram, Data Flow diagram, Conceptual Data model, ERD. System Prototype. System security.

Planning. (V-Model) The recommended approach/methodology that is going to be used is the V-Model. First, all the requirements will be gathered analyzed and after they are specified, relevant deliverables will be provided as end-products of the development. The stages will be followed chronologically until the intended system is tested and implemented. The stages in the methodology are as follows, Requirements specification, Requirements analysis, Functional specification, Design specification, Program specification, Coding, Unit Testing, Integration testing, System testing, Acceptance testing, Implementation.

Project Planning (Gantt chart timelines) Task Number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Task Name
Develop Project brief Attend first project class Develop project proposal Appointment with lecturer Review and edit proposal Identify project requirements Develop WBS Develop Risk analysis and

Duration
5 days 1 day 15 days 1 day 7 days 1 day 5 days 3 days

Containment 9 10 11 12 13 Plan and develop Database Plan Application Develop GUI Develop functional Application Go for assessment with 7 days 5 days 3 days 30 days 1 day

Moderators 14 15 Review final product Submission 2 days 1 day

Milestones
Activity
Develop Project Initiation Document Wait for confirmation from lecturer Attend Project Lectures Develop Project Proposal Proposal Review Literature review Interim Report Develop application plans Plan, design & implement database Develop functional application

Date
14/05/2010 6/05/2010 14/05/2010 28/05/2010 15/06/2010 23/07/2010 26/07/2010 20/07/2010 26/07/2010 4/08/2010

Resources Required resources Source of relevant information

Internet Library IT development Guides.

Required Resources:

Software

Operating System (Windows 7) Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (C#) Microsoft office suite (MS Access, Word) Microsoft project Computing Resources

Hardware

Monitor. System case. Keyboard, Mouse and removable storage media Storage Devices (hard drives, CDs, etc)

Risk Analysis Risk

Change Requirements Specification in

Category
Technical

Impact
Heavy

Probability
Low

Prevention
Involve throughout development Users the

Time management

Human

Heavy

Medium

Develop Contingency plans

Initial References
Success in your project by Philip Weaver Database Systems Fifth Edition by Thomas Connoly , Carolyn Begg Information Technology Project Management Fifth Edition by Kathy Schwalbe Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for Programmers Second Edition by Paul I.Deitel and Harvey M. Deitel Business Information Systems Fourth Edition, by Paul Bocij, Andrew Greasley and Simon Hickie