This section outlines what our design requirements are, we will explain how we will meet them in the next section.
Design Requirements
When we design the system, our main focus is on what the user wants. For our site however there are three groups of users that we need to meet the requirements of. We felt that in order to priorities what the fundamental requirement of these groups were, we need to address which group we see as the most important. These groups are:
Students
Landlords
Administrators
We decided that out of these groups the most important user to focus on was the students. The students are the reason that it felt necessary to create this site, making the current out dated system in to a modern eco friendly and more convenient system to use.
We therefore decided that the best step to take would be to individually look at the needs of each group of user, and prioritise a list of there needs.
Students
1. Searchable and filterable
2. Lots of information in search results, filterable
3. Communication – Hassle free, no cost, convenient
4. Booking system - its a unique function
5. General convenience
Landlords
1. Ease of use/simplicity/efficiency - vital, needs to be worthwhile
2. .ac.uk email required – offers security to Landlords
3. Convenient booking system, intelligent appointment availability
Administrators
1. Modularity - update site sections easily, take sections of the site down for maintenance without taking down entire site.
2. Approved ac.uk eMail - will make the site more secure, Legitimate email due to university Authorisation
Design Specifications
Design Specifications
This section aims to describe how we will meet the design requirements outlined previously.
Searching & filtering- All site stats (landlord details, addresses, price pcm, no. of rooms, ALL entered details) stored in a MYSQL DB any dynamic content stored in a MYSQL DB. We will be using PHP for scripting.
• When searching, provide ability to pick and choose which attributes of the house they are looking for is important to them. Such as number of bedrooms, a price range per month and check boxes for optional extras such as bills included, wireless router, double glazing etc. We will not force the user to specify an option for every box. Input from user generates query for MYSQL DB this means we can create standard queries and custom ones will be created for user’s that decide to use all the search filters.
• Search results will need to provide as much information as possible, and clearly. On search results, we will show the postcode/road name, price per month, number of bedrooms, and thumbnail picture of house.
• Extended search results can be displayed by clicking on the address of the property to reveal additional details, which will slide down without having to navigate away from the current search results page. We plan to use a sliding Div to achieve this.
• Search results can be organised by the clicking column heading of the search results. –AJAX (reorganise tables by clicking on price etc)
Integrated communications
This will use PHP and MYSQL (PHPBB) but messages fwd via email Means MAIL SERVER is requires which we WIL NOT provide but instead provide a facility within the installation process that allows the client to specify the Mail server details.
• Once a house has been found, a student can ask the landlord a question about the property by clicking a button on each properties page. This will then place a message in the landlords 'inbox', and also send a copy of this message to the landlords email account. When user sends a message to a landlord, message stored in DB, then a message will be sent by the mail server to the recipient with attached message.
• If a landlord/student replies to the automated email, the message will be 'picked' out of the email, stored in the users 'outbox' and sent to the destination user, again with email notification. We will achieve this by getting our software to check the Mailbox within mail server (specified by client in install) then create a numeric association between the sender and recipient i.e. random number locked to message and when recipient uses the “reply” option the message is automatically translated back into our software’s format due to the numeric Tag.
Integrated booking system
MYSQL PHP
• When landlord registers a property to be listed on the site using the wizard, they can specify a range of timeslots that they are available to give viewing times.
• students can then request a viewing time via the property listing
• an email is sent to the landlord informing them to either approve or deny the viewing time.
Ease of use
Aesthetics-CSS means that the client’s colour scheme, patterns, logo’s etc can be place simply by loading their settings into the CSS file.
• To encourage landlords to utilise this new system, it needs to be quick and easy. This will be facilitated by providing property listing wizards (to keep the listing simple), and an on-line manual which will document any operations that may be carried out by them.
University computer account link
We will do this by creating an option within the installation process that links the universities current user authentication DB to our login page. Alll that is needed is Server location (address) and when the login is attempted username and passwords are verified against the Universities’ current user account DB.
• Every student account on the student housing website will be linked to the students university account, through LDAP or similar functionality which could be swapped in or out for other code modules to support other external authentication methods.
• Only one account is allowed per student.
Code modularity
We will need brief access to the universities site and source code so that we may marry up our package to their system. We will use the same versions of scripting languages the university does and make sure that our code is W3C standards compliant.
• Searching & listing, booking system and communication system will function independently of each other.
• Each of the mentioned sections will be able to be disabled and enabled by the site administrators
• This will allow for easier site maintenance and upgrades without disabling the functionality of the whole site.
Our goals are easily achievable because the software, programming languages and techniques we have chosen to use are tried, tested and current.
Business Opportunity Analysis
Business opportunity analysis
Why the online based student housing list a benefit and how it appeals to the university and student
The online Student Housing list is all about making the task of finding new accommodation simpler for the student. To understand whether or not the online Student Housing list is a benefit we need to look at the improvements that are offered above the outdated paper based student housing list.
First and foremost the online Student Housing list is a list of houses that can be filtered in order for a student to find a property according to their preference. This in an everyday context has already been done and really doesn’t offer a huge benefit over any other housing search engine. However, the idea behind the online Student Housing list is that it will be totally localised.
What does this mean to the student?
This means that when a student at a particular university searches for a property according to their preferences, the results will contain houses from the local area and it is also guaranteed that every result is a student accommodation.
Why the online Student Housing list will be successful
The online Student Housing list has the opportunity to be a huge success because the idea behind it suggests ease to all of the potential user groups. However this said, the main saleability of the online Student Housing list is the localisation it implies to its users. This is where the online Student Housing list is a cut above the rest as it offers a hassle free service to the user groups, which again implies ease of use. Localisation in terms of the online Student Housing list means, that when the student user group looks for an accommodation, the results that are obtained from the search engine are all local properties.
As suggested previously, there will be a search engine on the site that will allow user to query exactly as to their requirements bringing up results that could be of potential use to the student user group.
One of the other fringe benefits of the online Student housing list is that it doesn’t take away the good features of the existing paper based housing list. One of the most important being, the university approves all the houses displayed. This is a service that is not offered elsewhere and gives the student user group a sense of security. This also benefits the landlords who put an effort in to ensuring their property is of a quality standard to advertise their property amongst others who put in the same effort.
The online Student Housing list offers a service that students are familiar with. As we are in a computer age where almost all paper based activities are being replaced with electronic based activities such as online bank statements and billing, it makes sense to make the paper based student housing list available to the student electronically as in this age most student will prefer it.
How the online Student Housing list compares to the older paper based method
The key way to assess the comparisons of the two sources would be to analyse the performance of both.
The paper based Student Housing list offered a jumbled list of houses that the university student housing company has approved. The list offers no sense of pattern and no more than a brief description and an address with contact details.
The online based Student Housing list has taken none of this out of the equation, but instead offers the same list but in a way that allows the user to query the list in order to filter out the unwanted clutter hiding away their potential future accommodation.
If a house is rented after the list has been printed the list is no longer current and therefore holds redundant data. This could lead to potential disappointment for the student user group.
The online Student Housing list offers a feature that allows a landlord to remove the property once the accommodation has been let therefore avoiding disappointment of the student user group. This means that the online Student Housing list will remain current as opposed to showing accommodation that are no longer available.
The online Student Housing list will also take this one step further offering online communication between the Student user group and the Landlord user group.
As a result of the performance comparison we can see that essentially the online Student Housing list offers everything that was available in the paper based method and more which makes it a much wanted improvement to the current system in place.
The weaknesses in the current paper based system
First and foremost the current system is out dated. The paper based system is being replaced with electronic based systems across the globe making delivery of documents much faster. By not embracing the current electronic age the current paper based student housing list offers very little ease of use to the Student user group.
The paper based list is expensive to produce. If the online Student housing list is implemented onto an existing running server at the university the student housing company has the potential to save money by not printing hundreds or even thousands of these paper based lists.
The current paper based system offers no form of search ability to make it easier for students to find exactly what they are looking for.
Whatthe current demand suggests
The current demand suggests that the student user group want something that is easier accessible and also something that allows the student user group to find exactly what they are looking for with a minimum of effort.
If students want an updated system, it will be likely that the university will want to implement it into their services.
