JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

(KITALE CAMPUS)

(BACHELOR OF BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)

PROJECT PROPOSAL

PROJECT TITLE: HOSTEL MANAGER

BY:

LAISIKWA WAMULA OLIVER

HD232-C008-0279/2011

Presented in the partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree in Bachelorof Business

Information Technology

SUPERVISOR: M/S JEPKOECH

DATE: 08 November 2022

Declaration

I hereby declare that the content of this document as a proposal ofmy final year project entitled ‘Kibabii University College HostelManager’ in the field of Information Technology – a Bachelor’sdegree course in the faculty of SHRD (Business InformationTechnology) is my own research work that has not been presentedpreviously as a project for a degree in another university and thatany content that may have been included from other sources has beenduly referenced.

Written and presented by

Name: ______________________________________________________________

Reg. No: ______________________________________________________________

Signature: ______________________________________________________________

Date: ______________________________________________________________

SUPERVOSOR

M/S JEPKOECH

Lecturer, Information technology

J.K.U.A.T – Kitale Campus

Sign…………………………….Date………………………………….

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Table of content

Declaration........................................................i

Table of content..................................................iiList of abbreviations:.........................................iii

List of Figures.................................................ivList of Tables..................................................iv

Abstract...........................................................v1.0 Chapter one: introduction......................................7

1.1 Description of Problem Area.................................71.2 Objectives/Terms of Reference...............................8

Specific functionalities of the system..........................91.3 Project Schedule & Resource Requirements...................10

1.3.1 Deliverables............................................111.3.2 Registration module.....................................11

1.3.3 Room allotment module...................................111.3.4 Transaction module......................................11

2.0 Chapter three: Literature review..............................132.1 What is ‘Hostel manager’?..................................13

2.2 Advantages of web based applications.......................142.2.1 Service Guarantee or system availability................15

2.2.2 The Promise.............................................152.2.3 The Payout..............................................16

2.2.4 The Invocation Procedure................................162.2.5 Complaints management...................................17

2.2.6 Do all customers want a relationship with their service provider?.......................................................17

2.2.7 Example: Local perspective...............................192.2.8 Global perspective.....................................19

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2.3 Synopsis...................................................20

3.0 Chapter five: Research methodology............................213.1 Introduction...............................................21

3.2 Research design.............................................213.3 Challenges:.................................................21

3.4 Foreseen problems...........................................223.6 Plan and schedule for the remainder of the project..........22

3.3 Data collection procedure...................................223.4 Software Development Model..................................23

3.5Primary Sources..............................................233.5.1 Questionnaire............................................23

3.5.2 Interview................................................233.6 Secondary Sources..........................................24

3.6.1 Internet.................................................243.6.2 Books....................................................24

3.8Hardware specification.......................................243.9Software specification and configuration.....................24

3.8.1 PHP TRIAD................................................243.9.2 PHP......................................................25

3.9.3 phpMyAdmin...............................................253.11Project budget..............................................25

4.0 Chapter seven: Summary and conclusion.........................264.1Summary......................................................26

4.4 Conclusion..................................................26References........................................................27

List of abbreviations:ICT- Information and Communication Technology

ISPs- Internet Service Providers

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RAM- Random Access Memory

DBMS – Database Management System

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List of FiguresFigure 1: Gant chat...............................................10Figure 11: Water fall development model...........................23

List of TablesTable 1: List of activities, duration and respective deliverables. 10Table 2:(Wilson, 1991 and Buttle, 2005)...........................17Table 6: Budget...................................................25

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Abstract

Kibabii University College has two major hostels Muliro for malestudents and Masika for female students. Others include the blocksand Runda Hostels which are a series of hostels majorly for malestudents. The blocks are named alphabetically from A to E making atotal of 5 hostels mainly for male students. Runda has over 10hostels, some of which are given to the university staff. At pickseasons when the number of students is expected to rise, theuniversity can also lease other private hostels around it like hillsview hostels and St. Joseph Hostel in order to accommodate theincreased number of students. Management and administration of theseboarding facilities is currently done by manual system thatessentially entails filling and appending signatures on form printouts given from the Housing department prior to confirming that thestudent has paid the relevant fees.

Manual processes are usually very slow, tedious, prone to errors andrequires more personnel hence expensive than if the process isautomated. The manual process is also faced with other challenges,such as double booking, loss of documents relating to particularstudents and so on. HOSTEL MANAGER provides a simple web basedinterface that presents easy hostel booking commands and otheradministrative commands to simplify and make the whole processquick. It is estimated that the system can work 10 times better interms of speed since the previous system would take approximatelyfive to ten minutes while the proposed system can reduce it to lessthan a minute.

In a wide scope or view, the hotel industry today has beenrecognized as a global industry, with producers and consumers spreadaround the world. The use of hotel facilities such as: room,restaurant, bar, nightclub or health club; are no longer considereda luxury. For many people these services have become an integralcomponent of lifestyle. Moreover, in the last two decades, demandfor and supply of hospitality services beyond that of thetraditional services intended for travellers have escalated thegrowth of the hospitality industry globally, leading to intense

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competition in the market-place. One of the greatest challengesfacing hotel organizations today is the ever-growing volume and paceof competition. Competition has had major implications for thecustomer, providing increased choice, greater value for money andaugmented levels of service.

Additionally, there is little to distinguish one hotel’s productsand services from another. Thus it has become imperative for hotelorganizations to gain a competitive advantage. There are twostrategies most commonly used by hotel managers in order to gain acompetitive advantage, which are low-cost leadership through pricediscounting and developing customer loyalty by providing uniquebenefits to customers. Hotels that attempt to improve their marketshare by discounting price run the serious risk of having a negativeimpact on the hotel’s medium- and long-term profitability. As aresult, it is quality of service rather than price that has becomethe key to a hotel’s ability to differentiate itself from itscompetitors and to gain customer loyalty. Getty and Thompson (1994)studied relationships between quality of lodging, satisfaction, andthe resulting effect on customers’ intentions to recommend thelodging to prospective customers. Their findings suggest thatcustomers’ intentions to recommend are a function of theirperception of both their satisfaction and service quality with thelodging experience. However, satisfying customers alone is notenough, since there is no guarantee that satisfied customers willreturn to purchase. It is now becoming apparent that customerloyalty is significantly more important than customer satisfactionfor success.

To summarize, the shift in the sales and marketing landscape requires the hotel companies including schools and any other learning institutions with boarding facilities to be as advanced as technology will allow in managing their customer relationships, daily operations and management in general. “There will be a sea change from management of customer data to management of customer relationships”. “Hotel companies must carefully consider how they store, track, analyze and act upon every aspect of their relationships with their guests and booking customers.” The emphasisshould be on using the data intelligently to predict consumer

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behaviour, such as loyalty and usage patterns, and to use the customer knowledge to anticipate the customer needs or problems (EURHOTEC, 2000). Such kinds of analysis can easily be managed by automating manual systems and in this context; the ‘HOSTEL MANAGER’ is such a solution.

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1.0 Chapter one: introduction

1.1 Description of Problem AreaHousing department is one of the sections in Kibabii UniversityCollege that is expected to expand and increasingly grow withanticipation that over time the university will continuallyreceive more and more students. More students to serve underthis department may overwhelm the staff and the entire processand services are bound to be flawed and inconsistent or be fullof errors and mistakes.

Additionally, the fact that the University has the subjugationto run its operation as an independent University rather thanbeing a campus under Masinde Muliro University of Science andTechnology (MMUST) automation of its operations is very vitalconsidering that some of such operations were earlier carriedout at (MMUST).

The proposed system is a web application with a considerationthat web based applications have evolved significantly overrecent years and with improvements in security and technologythere are plenty of scenarios where traditional softwaredesktop based applications and systems could be improved bymigrating them to a web based application.

Web based applications offer competitive advantages totraditional software based systems allowing businesses toconsolidate and streamline their systems and processes andreduce costs.

A lot of time is lost by students on queues and by the housingdepartment staff how attend to them the whole day during roomallocation exercise. Much time is also lost in searching andretrieving record and files for students and other records likedaily expenses. Some of the records may eventually get lost andmany errors committed during these processes.

This imposes the condition that this process can only takeplace when the students physically come to the University forthe Entire Process to be valid. However, the application

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enables valid data to be capture online since it has inbuiltdata validation functions. These records need keen follow up,and should be available when required with preciseness,accuracy and specificity as expected.

In general, the proposed system addresses the followingproblems:

a) Time wastage on queues

b) Errors in the allocation process

c) Loss of data due to lack or inappropriate set of paperbased backup

d) Overdependence on labor-intensive and manual operationswhile cheap and efficient technology is available

e) Limitation in access and flow of information to variousdepartments and individuals both locally and remotely.

f) Unnecessary efforts and resources are directed to sometasks while there is more appropriate and cheapalternative to provide self service

g) Some activities may go undocumented whereas technologyprovides the capability to capture users activities inthe audit log and system log

The new system is bound to correct and spot-on such issues as:

i. Cases of students staying in rooms when they may have notpaid for it or used inappropriate procedure in acquiringa room.

ii. Minimize or discourage corruption dealings between thehouse keeping department staff and students

iii. Ensure that no student feels underserved or servedinappropriately by ensuring that the first come firstserved principle is upheld unless otherwise the studentis entitled to privileges enabling him or her to preservea room in advance or considered with higher priority,example students’ leaders or students with disabilities

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iv. The system will track and automatically display roomsthat are supposed to have been vacated otherwisecalculate the appropriate daily fee or penalty imposed tostudents who do not comply with the rule and regulationsof the department to check out from the rooms on time.

v. The system can also help administer disciplinary actionsto students who do not comply with the rule andregulations by burning such students from booking roomsor bar them from doing so for a given period of time

vi. Tracking loss ,breakages and damages to some of thefacilities installed specifically in rooms by keeping andmanaging record with appropriate reports

vii. Monitor and record the daily expenses involved incleaning hostels and any other activities carried outunder housekeeping department.

viii. Increase efficiency of the house keeping department staffby reducing time spend on serving students during roomallocation

ix. The system can be hosted to make it accessible to thestudents anywhere so that room reservation would notnecessitate physical presence of a student

The web based system is suitable for solving such problems dueto advantages outlined below:

1.2 Objectives/Terms of Reference

The new proposed system aims at achieving the followingobjectives:

i. Reduce time wasted on queues by providing self-serviceinternet enabled options

ii. Minimize or eliminate errors that are common with penand paper technology

iii. Provide backup of data and information on computers(which provide relatively cheap, “unlimited storagespace”) with no or minimal data entry

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iv. Minimize unauthorized access, modification or erasureof data and information in documents and reports byuse of password authentication and definingappropriate users access level

v. Increase the efficiency of staff by automating taskssuch as creating summary of allocation and autogenerating of similar documents or reports that cansimply be created after performing a search

vi. Provide quality information that is reliable,accurate and timely readily to facilitate knowledge-based decisions

vii. Provide the capability of long time data reservationby archiving which may be of need for reference inthe future without need for physical storage space instore rooms or saves and cubicles

viii. Provide telecommuting services such that the staff inthe house keeping department will be able to access,update office information remotely while enablingstudents to book rooms remotely as well

ix. Reduce expenses and costs related to labor-intensiveand manual activities by automation and shiftingservices to users to provide self servicecapabilities

x. Optimise staffing levels since less number ofemployees are required to work with the system andsome tasks are given to the end users i.e. students

Specific functionalities of the system

i. To reduce time spend on queues or eliminateinstances of time wastage

ii. To increase efficiency in the house keepingdepartment

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iii. To reduce time spend while allocating roomsto students

iv. Provide self-service option for studentsv. To provide backup of the housing department

information about students both in computerand hard copy from printed reports

1.3 Project Schedule & Resource Requirements

The table below summarizes the major activities undertaken fromthe initiation of the project till the end.

Table 1: List of activities, duration and respective deliverables9

Activity Duration Deliverable1. Selecting the project

title10/5/13-11/5/13 Project Title

2. Writing proposal 11/5/13-1/5/14 Project proposal3. User requirement

specification1/5/14 -1/10/14

System requirements

4. Start data collecting data and analysis

1/10/14-1/31/14 Statistical presentations e.g. pie charts and graphs

5. Developing concept model

2/2/14 -2/10/14

DFDs, sequence diagrams

6. Developing design 2/10/14-2/20/14 System Design7. Selecting suitable

tools2/20/14-3/2/14

8. Coding and development of User interfaces

3/2/14 -7/7/14

Dummy system

9. System Testing 3/10/14-5/12/14 Functional system10.

Writing system documentation and report

5/13/14-7/15/14 Final report

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# Task Name Assigned To Start End Dur

Project Summary 10/5/13 7/15/14 2021 Selecting the project title cover page 10/5/13 11/5/13 222 Project proposal Writing proposal 11/5/13 1/5/14 443 User requirement specification System requirements 1/5/14 1/10/14 54 Start data collecting data and analysisStatistical presentations1/10/14 1/31/14 165 Developing concept model DFDs,sequence diagrams 2/2/14 2/10/14 66 Developing design System Design 2/10/14 2/20/14 97 Selecting suitable tools 2/20/14 3/2/14 78 Coding anddev't of User interfaceDummy system 3/2/14 7/7/14 919 System Testing Functional system 3/10/14 5/12/14 46

10 Writing system documentation andreport Final report 5/13/14 7/15/14 46

Figure 1: Gant chat

1.3.1 Deliverables

This system consists of three modules. Each of the modules isbriefly described in the sub-titles below:

1.3.2 Registration module

The room allocation system uses the already existing details ofstudents in a database. The details include the registrationinformation that is captured in the process of admission orregistration of students. However, this module providesalternative if such details are not available in a database.The module captures important data items particularlyregistration number, gender and their respective names. Suchdetails are made use of during room allotment to ensure that;

i. Only registered students can be allocated roomsii. Students are allocated rooms and hostels based on gender

to avoid allocating male and female students in the sameroom or hostel unless it is explicitly verified.

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iii. Enable easy identification of particular students fromunique data items such as registration number

1.3.3 Room allotment module

This module mainly consists of algorithms and logic that workspertinently with the registration module described above toachieve the following tasks:

i. Looping through program counters while executingparticular SQL commands to check the rooms availabilityduring room allocation

ii. Provides a dynamic search option to verify that a studentbeing allocated a room is registered.

Note:

Point two above applies only if a student decides to book room at the housekeeping department where allocation process has to verify registration details. However, if the process is done by the student himself or herself, then searching is not necessary because they can only bookroom after logging in to the system.

1.3.4 Transaction module

This module helps in tracking daily expenses incurred in activities like buying detergents, repairs made in rooms and buying of other tools used in carrying out daily cleaning. Thismodule allows the administrator to add an activity in various categories based on the frequency they are carried out e e.g. daily, weekly, fortnightly etc.

The module also provides interface with each level of users to enable them to report breakages concerning room or office equipment and such like items. Once reported, the senior housekeeping officers who are the administrators can authorize repairs and replacements as deemed appropriate.

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2.0 Chapter three: Literature review

Hostels, accommodation and housing services have grown to be one ofmost popular and favourite business option. Cities, towns, businesscentres, shopping places and schools are examples of places wherethis business has flourished. This positions a challenge on how toefficiently handle or manage these facilities.

Modern businesses are rediscovering the ancient mantras for successin corporate world and blending them with contemporary marketingpractices. Long term survival and competitive advantage can only beattained by establishing an emotional bond with the customers. Ashift is taking place from marketing to anonymous masses ofcustomers to developing and managing relationships with more or lesswell known or at least some identified customers (Gronroos, 1994).

This section shall provide general literature on Automation particularly hostel services industry and its link with customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and business performance followed by literature on computer systems and service quality in details. The ‘gap model’ shall be introduced and literature on service guarantee,service recovery, and complaint management shall be provided. This would lead to the privacy issues related with management in the service industry.Many computer or automated systems have been developed to keep upwith the increasing demand for better and efficient way of managingthese facilities than manual systems that are hard to work with andinflexible. Most of these systems are web based systems. Examplesthat are discussed in this section include those that have beenimplemented at universities and colleges. However, there are othersthat have been implemented outside the learning environment namelybookhostels.com technology who brag to power over 500 affiliatewebsites worldwide, including the Web Reservation owned siteswww.hostelworld.com and www.hostels.com and internationally renownedtravel sites such as Studentuniverse.com.

2.1 What is ‘Hostel manager’?

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In the context and scope of this project, hotel and hostel maybe used interchangeably with the former assuming the widercontext of hostels outside learning institutions whilst laterfocuses more on the schooling environment TTUC being the caseof study for this project.

A hotel manager or hotelier is a person who holds a managementposition within a hotel, motel, or resort establishment.Management titles and duties vary by company. In some hotelsthe title hotel manager or hotelier may solely be referred tothe General Manager of the hotel. Small hotels usually have asmall management team consisting of three or fewer managerswhile larger hotels may have a large management team consistingof managers of various departments and divisions(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality).

To better answer the question above within the confines ofscope of study, one needs to focus hostel facilities inschools, colleges and universities as a service industry andstudents as the customers that make up the market for theseentities.

Typically, any service oriented industry that focuses itsbusiness in line of provision of accommodation and hostelfacilities would require proper management of the facilities tooptimize the utility of its users and at the same time createconcordance and harmony between the users end and managementend.‘Hostel manager’ is a web based system that handlesstudent’s data of interest to the management to ease the manualslow processes.

2.2 Advantages of web based applications

Cross platform compatibility.

Most web based applications are far more compatible across platformsthan traditional installed software. Typically the minimum requirementwould be a web browser of which there are many. (Internet Explorer,Firefox, Netscape to name but a few). These web browsers are availablefor a multitude of operating systems and so whether you use Windows,Linux or Mac OS you can still run the web application.

More manageable

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Web based systems need only be installed on the server placing minimalrequirements on the end user workstation. This makes maintaining andupdating the system much simpler as usually it can all be done on theserver. Any client updates can be deployed via the web server withrelative ease.

Highly deployable

Due to the manageability and cross platform support deploying webapplications to the end user is far easier. They are also ideal wherebandwidth is limited and the system and data is remote to the user. Attheir most deployable you simply need to send the user a website addressto log in to and provide them with internet access.

This has huge implications allowing you to widen access to your systems,streamline processes and improve relationships by providing more of yourcustomers, suppliers and third parties with access to your systems.

Secure live data

Typically in larger more complex systems data is stored and movedaround separate systems and data sources. In web based systems thesesystems and processes can often be consolidated reducing the need tomove data around.

Web based applications also provide an added layer of security byremoving the need for the user to have access to the data and back endservers.

Reduced costs

Web based applications can dramatically lower costs due to reducedsupport and maintenance, lower requirements on the end user system andsimplified architecture.

By further streamlining your business operations as a result of your webbased application additional savings can often be found.

‘Hostel manager’tries to achieve the following in relation tomanagement of the hostel or boarding facilities:

2.2.1 Service Guarantee or system availability

An organization tries to balance its customers’expectations with the delivered service. A serviceguarantee promises the customers a certain service qualityand backs up such promise with a payout, making servicesmore ‘tangible’, reducing the perceived risk of purchasinga service.

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“A service guarantee makes the customer a meaningfulpromise and specifies a payout and an invocation procedure incase the promise is not kept. Each of these elements isequally important in making a guarantee successful” (Looy,Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003)

The key elements of this definition are discussed below:

2.2.2 The Promise

Through introduction of a service guarantee, anorganization makes a credible promise to its customers.For example, PTT Telecom promise to connect new telephoneswithin three working days and to fix telephone lineswithin a day and a half. This promise is a credible one ina European context, where shorter lead times are highlydesirous by customers (Looy, Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003).In defining a promise, a company should be careful not topromise what would be expected anyway. This may negativelysignal that service failures are likely to be expected.Some promises are limited in scope i.e. guarantee onlyless important service aspects or are highly conditional,excluding all major causes of service failure. Forexample, Lufthansa guarantees that its customers will maketheir connecting flights if there are no delays due toweather or air-traffic control problems. Ironically, thesetwo problems cause in total 95 percent of all flightdelays. Furthermore, the guarantee is applicable only ifall flights including connecting flights are withLufthansa (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The presence of aservice guarantee can support the perception of servicereliability, which is one of the most criticaldeterminants of customer satisfaction. However, sometimesa guarantee may give out a negative message, indicatingthat service failures may occur due to customers wonderingwhy it is necessary to provide a guarantee. For example,Lufthansa promises its customers that their luggage willarrive with them. However, this created the perceptionthat lost luggage is more a problem with Lufthansa thanits competitors (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The

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effectiveness of communicating a service guarantee alsodepends on the source of the message, especially if theform has a history of service problems, making itdifficult for a service firm with bad service reputationto send out credible message.

2.2.3 The Payout

In a situation where promises are not kept, the customer shallreceive a payout which will encourage the customer tocommunicate all service failures, which has a double effect:

Service recovery : The customer who claims his payout isless likely to defect or spread a negative word of mouth.Hence, service recovery becomes a possibility.

Service quality improvement : Each claim representsvaluable information about quality errors and theirpossible causes, but the avoidance of future payoutsfunctions as an incentive to all staff to participate inimprovement projects.

In order to achieve service recovery, the payout has to bemeaningful to customers. It should not only make up for all thedamage and inconvenience suffered but also make the customer‘whole.’ For example, the payout offered by the Dutch busservice organization, “Interliner,” makes their customer‘whole’ by guaranteeing that their passengers will reach theirconnecting flights and buses. A refund would not adequatelycompensate the passenger who missed a connection. Therefore,any passenger who would have to wait for more than fifteenminutes for a connection due to delay by Interliner would betaken to his destination by taxi at Interliner’s expense(www.interliner.nl). A payout can also be too high. Forexample, in India atleast, Domino’s Pizza offers customers itspizza free of charge if they were not delivered within thirtyminutes from ordering.

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2.2.4 The Invocation Procedure

The final aspect of the service guarantee is the invocationprocedure. Invoking a guarantee should be either easy orproactive. For example, supermarkets Hoogvliet (Netherlands)and Match (Belgium) promise short queues at their checkouts. Ifall tills are not manned and if some customer is the third one(Hoogvliet) or the fourth one (Match) in the queue, he does nothave to pay (Hoogvliet) or receives a significant discount(Match). An example of unconditional satisfaction guaranteewhich is easy to invoke is that of Superquinn’s Goof CardSystem. Superquinn is the leading supermarketing chain in theGreater Dublin area. Periodically, customers who participate inthe loyalty saving system called ‘Superclub’ receive a ‘GoofCard’. Each time Superquinn ‘goofs’ i.e. produces a servicefailure, the customer simply has to point it out to any memberof staff, and he shall receive thirty bonus points worth £1.The guarantee offers unconditional satisfaction guarantee ascustomers are able to define the goof themselves, however, forfurther help to customers, Superquinn lists ten examples ofgoofs. The invocation of PTT Telecom’s guarantee for example isproactive as well. After each connection or repair, PTT Telecommakes an after-sales call to the customer trying to assesscustomer’s satisfaction. If there is a failure of promise, thecustomer is immediately informed of the payout (Looy, Gemmel &Dierdonck, 2003).

2.2.5 Complaints management

Customers complain under one or both of the conditions: theirexpectations being underperformed to a degree that fallsoutside their zone of tolerance or unfair treatment. Complaintsmanagement process should be developed to take a positive viewof customer complaints. Customers who complain provide anopportunity for the service firm to identify root causes ofproblems as well as win back unhappy or dissatisfied customersto retain their future value (Buttle, 2005). A complaintsmanagement process should allow company to capture complaints

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before customers spread a negative word-of-mouth or take theirbusiness elsewhere (Buttle, 1998). Up to two-thirds ofcustomers who are dissatisfied do not complain to theorganization (Richins, 1983). However, they may complain totheir social networks. Dissatisfied customers are likely toinform twice as many people about their experience thancustomers with a positive experience (TARP, 1995 in Buttle,2005). According to Wilson (1991), only 4 percent of thedissatisfied customers actually complain, providing valuablefeedback to the company. The remaining 96 percent choose tosimply leave the business and go elsewhere. Companies choose todeal with complaints efficiently to bring about customerretention, continuous improvement in service quality and builda customer- focused organization (Looy, Gemmel & Dierdonck,2003).

The customers choose not to complain for some reasons listed intable 2 below.

Table 2:(Wilson, 1991 and Buttle, 2005)

They do not know how to registera complaint

They believe complaining will beuseless because the companydon’t care about them or theircomplaints

They believe it is not worth thetime or trouble

They fear retribution. Forexample, many people arereluctant to complain about thepolice

Now, we shall move into the section of the literaturereview where we shall highlight the privacy issue withCRM.

2.2.6 Do all customers want a relationship with their service provider?

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It is clear that companies want relationships withcustomers, and the same way, the hostel manager would go along way to effect this through the user of the blogsystem that provides a platform on which both students andthe administrators (employees on the house keepingdepartment) can post to in a way to discuss issues whichmay be of relevance to the hostel issues or even any otherpersonal level discussions. In a business to customercontext, relationships may be sought when the customerseeks benefits over and above those directly derived fromacquiring, consuming or using the service. The benefitsinclude recognition, personalization, power, riskreduction, status and affiliation (Buttle, 2004). Examplesof each such benefit are mentioned below

Recognition: A customer may feel more valued andimportant when recognized and addressed by name

Personalization: For example, over time, a hotelmanager may understand a customer’s particularpreferences or expectations

Power: For instance, some of the power asymmetriesin relationships between banks and their customersmay be reversed when customers feel that they havepersonal relationships with their bank officers andmanagers.

Risk reduction: Risk may be in the form ofperformance, physical, financial, social orpsychological. High levels of perceived risk areuncomfortable for many customers. A relationship hasthe ability to reduce, or even eliminate risk. Forexample, a customer may develop a relationship witha garage to reduce the perceived performance andphysical risk attached to having a car serviced. Therelationship provides the assurance that the job hasbeen skilfully accomplished and the car is safe todrive.

Status: For example, customers may feel that theirstatus is enhanced by a relationship with anorganization, say, the Hilton.

Affiliation: people’s social needs can be metthrough relationships. For example, many people join

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particular forums or associations to be a part of acommunity.

However, there are some customers who would be satisfiedwith the service quality and perhaps decide to be loyal,but not want a relationship as such with the supplier forprivacy issues. It is a known fact that suppliers wish toincrease their sales to customers. In order to know andanalyze their customers, companies collect extensive dataon their customers through various channels. One popularrather common channel is through loyalty programs andcards. Examples include Tesco loyalty cards, Hilton honorsprogram, British Airways frequent flyer cards, etc. Thecompanies provide some benefits to customers and collectdata like contact name, history of purchase, money spentin the past on company’s services, etc. However, if thedata is mishandled or incorrectly handled, it can destroythe trust and loyalty in the relationship. (Vargas, 2006)

Privacy and data protection are key concerns of customers,who are increasingly concerned about the amount ofinformation that organizations have about them and theuses to which information is put. In reality, mostcustomers are unaware of the quantity of informationavailable to companies. Some customers may wish to simplynot join any loyalty programs in order to secure theirprivacy and prevent intrusion into personal information.

Examples of systems already implemented:

2.2.7 Example: Local perspective

University of Nairobi in Kenya has an implementation ofsuch a system built with php as the server side scriptinglanguage. The system allows students to book roomsremotely hence does not necessitate physical presence ofthe students in order to do so. Appendix 1shows the logininterfaces.

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A student is required to login using their respectiveregistration number as their user name and national IDnumber, passport number, KCSE Index number or registeredmobile number as the initial password. After login, thestudent can go ahead and book a room in the varioushostels otherwise is the student has already booked aroom, the application displays the student’s personalinformation.

2.2.8 Global perspective

DEEKSHA SYSTEMS PVT.LTD.Is a software development companybased in India which is dedicated to serve  Educational institutes and provide complete management solution to schools and colleges since 2004. The company has recently unlashed whole package for Hostel management. The Hostel Management System (HMS) is composed of the following modules:

i. Room Allocation - It maintains different type of room allocation (one seater, 2 seater etc.) depending on waiting list.

ii. Mess / Canteen Management System - It takes care of mess joining, discontinuation, billing etc.

iii. Inventory Management System - It will control the allotment of table chair, beds etc. to rooms

iv. Hostel Account Management System - Separate hostel account can be maintained for each student. It will be linked with central account system as well.

v. Fee and fine collection - Any fine or fee can be collected, receipt can be issued through the system

vi. Reports - Waiting list, allocation list, mess joining report, Fine report, due list etc. can be generated by the system.

The developers of the system however, insist that the above features are only suggested features for any college management system, actual features of your product depend onthe outcome of the requirement analysis only.

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2.3 Synopsis

This section has provided available literature about hostel andhostel service industry. The gap model explained shall be a strong basis for explaining the dark side of automation of these services. Privacy issues shall be given importance as well. The student’s perception of service quality for example is to be given supreme priority by the hostel management team. It is important how students perceive the service quality to be. This kind of data can be made available by analysing the patterns in the booking process that may establish preferences.What students receive and how they receive corresponding to their expectations helps them judge the service quality to a large extent.

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3.0 Chapter five: Research methodology

3.1 IntroductionImplementation is the stage in the project where thetheoretical design is turned into a working system. It alsoentails giving confidence on the new system for the users thatit will work efficiently and effectively. It involves carefulplanning, investigation of the current system and itsconstraints on implementation, design of methods to achieve thechangeover, an evaluation of change over methods. Apart fromplanning major task of preparing the implementation areeducation and training of users.

3.2 Research designThe implementation process begins with preparing a plan for theimplementation of the system. According to this plan, theactivities are to be carried out, discussions made regardingthe equipment and resources and the additional equipment has tobe acquired to implement the new system. After the system isimplemented successfully, training of the user is one of themost important subtasks of the developer. For this purpose usermanuals are prepared and handled over to the user to operatethe developed system. Thus the users are trained to operate thedeveloped system.

Both the hardware and software securities are made to run thedeveloped systems successfully in future. In order to put newapplication system into use, the following activities should betaken care of:

i. Preparation of user and system documentationii. Conducting user training with demo and hands on practiceiii. Test run for some period to ensure smooth switching over

the system

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3.3 Challenges:Login and user validation with session management may be a bigchallenge especially if there is a difference between thedevelopers testing server or local server and the remoteserver.

Example:

1. Php functions may work differently across php versions e.g.how to initialize session id is different based on phpversion.

if (PHP_VERSION >= 5.1) {

session_regenerate_id(true);}else {

session_regenerate_id();}

If not taken in to consideration, sessions may not workcorrectly.

2. Some functions may have been modified or phased out in someversions

3. Different browsers manipulate sessions differently, somebrowsers will still display session variables even afterthey are destroyed

3.4 Foreseen problems1. Local server or testing server and remote server may not

be setup similarly. Developers may only work with localserver for testing purposes and during development andthereafter the application may fail to work correctly.This is because of differences in php versions that mayexist between the local server and remote serve. This isa problem because some functions may have been modifiedor phased out in some versions.

2. The user population are made of people who use variedrange of different types and versions of operatingsystems some of which are never updated and may not

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support new technologies. Windows xp for example does notsupport Internet explorer 6 and later versions of IE. Thesupport for new technology in such browsers may thereforebe of no use e.g. some of the old browsers do not supportJavaScript and hence may not work correctly with jqueryand other JavaScript plugins and libraries

3. The advantages that came with these later versions ofbrowsers such as plugins and tools to help debug andextend programming capability may be seen as good fordeveloper. However, the danger and truth is the developercannot control the preferences of users; mayberecommendations may help to some extent. Therefore asdevelopers embrace new technology, there is a bigchallenge to take care of those who are still dependantsof earlier technologies and a great deal of browsercompatibility is required.

Example:

Browsers handle session variables differently andthose that are at a beta stage of development maywork erratically and could be unsafe. However, userswill still go for them

3.6 Plan and schedule for the remainder of the projectThe schedule for the entire project still remains as scheduledin chapter four. System development which entirely involvescoding would be complete by February 2013 and the system willbe ready for testing.

3.3 Data collection procedure

The data required will be collected by the developer to enabletailoring of relevant objectives and find the main changes thatcan implemented. This is the most crucial part since thedevelopment of a new system should only be founded on reasonsthat the relevant users or an organization entity will performbetter under the new system. However, this can only beexplained from research and its finding that should involveunearthing, scrutinizing, evaluating and analysing the field

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data. In order to do so, the developer engaged the followingmethods discussed in the subsequent sections.

3.4 Software Development ModelThe water fall software development model was chosen by thedeveloper. The outline of the development and implementationdetails is as shown in the figure below.

Figure 2: Water fall development model

3.5Primary Sources

3.5.1 QuestionnaireThe researcher intends to use a questionnaire to the staffmembers in the housekeeping department and students. Theinterview will be carried out verbally to the prospectivesample population with a series of predefined list ofquestions to help the developer make references and coverextensively on the topic of study. However, wheneverpreferred by the responded, an open ended questionnaireshall be provided to be filled for the fulfilment of theobjectives of the project and according to the researchsubject. The questions include both closed-ended and open-ended to give the respondent complete freedom of response.Self-administered questionnaires are prepared and hand-

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delivered to the respondents for them to fill in. Theinstrument is aimed at assisting the researcher to come upwith satisfactory answers of how to implement the projectand the attitude of stakeholders toward the idea ofadopting the proposed system.

3.5.2 InterviewThe developer will also carry out an interview to searchfor additional information from the housekeeping the staffand management staff to come up with a more concretereport that help to know more about problem the projectwill eliminate or reduce their impact. The researcherintends to gather information on the user preferences,interests, attitudes and goals in relation to theinteraction with the system used. This will also includethe respondents’ interaction history with the currentsystem. This will be in terms of the tasks performed inthe past or in progress, goals attained as well asfeatures used.

3.6 Secondary Sources

3.6.1 InternetThe internet helps the researcher in establishing trendsand success or failure if any in similar systems that havealready been implemented. This also gives confidence tothe developer and gives the impression that the idea isrelevant, sponsors are also motivated and eliminateddoubt, and hence the development and implementation iswell supported with the stakeholders who have sufficientinformation about the venture. It will help in revealingwhat has been happening all along on housekeeping andmanagement systems the impact of the introduction of thenew system. This acted as a very rich source ofinformation for the project research.

3.6.2 BooksThe library provides profound details about the generalproject initiation, project processes and activities andthe implementation process. Such details are available insome of the books available and may provide othernecessary details such case studies

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3.8Hardware specificationThe following is a list of computer hardware specificationsthat are suggested by the developer as the minimum requirementsfor a computer to efficiently run the system.

i. Processor: Pentium IVii. Processor speed: 1.6 GHziii. Memory: 512MBiv. Hard drive: 80 GBv. 1024 * 768 Resolution Colour Monitor

3.9Software specification and configurationi. Operating system:Microsoft windows 2000,windows XP or

later versionii. PHP Triad (PHP, MySQL, Apache, and PHPMyAdmin)iii. Notepad ++ code and text editor

3.8.1 PHP TRIADPHPTriad installs a complete working PHP/MySQL serverenvironment on Windows platforms. Installs PHP, MySQL,Apache, and PHPMyAdmin.

3.9.2 PHPIs a scripting language originally designed for producingdynamic web pages. It has evolved to include a command lineinterface capability and can be used in standalone graphicalapplications. While PHP was originally created byRasmusLerdorf in 1995, the main implementation of PHP is nowproduced by the PHP Group and serves as the de factostandard for PHP as there is no formal specification. PHP isfreesoftware released under the PHP License; however it isincompatible with the GNU General Public License

3.9.3 phpMyAdminThis s an open source tool written in PHP intended to handlethe administration of MySQL over the World Wide Web.

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phpMyAdmin supports a wide range of operations with MySQL.Currently it can create and drop databases,create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, executeany SQL statement, manage users and permissions, and managekeys on fields, while you still have the ability to directlyexecute any SQLstatement, phpMyAdmin can manage a wholeMySQL server (needs a super-user) as well as a singledatabase. To accomplish the latter you’ll need a properlyset up MySQL user who can read/write only the desireddatabase.

3.11Project budgetThese documents will provide the necessary data to feed into thebudget line items. The accuracy of the budgets requires thatattention be given both to individual expense per item. The budgetgoal, is to the extent possible, directly map the project expense toactual costs within 10 per-cent difference if there be anydisparity.

Table 3: Budget

ITEM PRICE(KSHs)

UNITS TOTAL(KSHs)

Backup device (Portable hard disk)

5,000 1 5,000

Modem 3,000 1 3,000Antivirus software

3,000 1 3,000

Printing Costs 5 per page Over 300 pages 1500Photocopying Costs

2 per page Over 200 pages 400

Travelling Costs - - 2,000Airtime - - 1,500Miscellaneous - - 3,000

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4.0 Chapter seven: Summary and conclusion

4.1Summary The adoption of the proposed system by the University willincrease efficiency, effectiveness, adeptness, productivity andmore importantly, it will reduce the outlays and overheadsincurred in terms of the number of personnel required toeffectively and meritoriously carry out the task.

The system takes care of events that a hostel can be old,damaged or in any other way, be rendered useless or unusable.The system simply removes the hostel from the booking list by aclick on a button. It also gives the system uses theflexibility of removing particular rooms from booking list inthe event that the rooms may be reserved for other purposeslike storage.

Furthermore, the system is sufficiently scalable and morefunctions and capabilities can still be accommodated in thesystem if suggested by the users or any other stakeholderincluding the developer or the University management.

The developer proposes that the system be integrated in anyother automated system that handles students’ data. Forexample, this system uses some of the students’ registrationdetails and if there exists any automated students’registration system or if it can be developed in future, thenthe people involved should make an effort to create commonoperating environment like similar DBMS, database tables andallow each of such systems to update and modify the databasewithout conflict or resulting any other database errors.

In his view, the developer recommends that most of theoperation that are currently manual or partially automatedshould with time automated and let to operate on web platformdue to the advantages attributed to web based systems comparedto desk top applications.

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4.4 Conclusion The System will assist to register and maintaining masterinformation and generating various reports. The main users ofthe project are Students and instructor Members.

The purpose of implementing this project is to understand thedata modelling concepts that is used in a real time scenarioand to implement a fully functional database system whichinteracts with a front end interface.

This project can also be expanded in terms of scope ofcoverage. It may not necessarily be confined in the schoolenvironment. Hostel services are also offered outside thelearning environment in which there are similar operations tothe once discussed concerning schools, colleges anduniversities.

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References

i. DEEKSHA SYSTEMS PVT. LTD, 2012 Hostel management system, India, viewed 11th October 2012 http://computers.indiabizclub.com/ profile/892984~deeksha _systems_pvt._ltd.~pune

ii. University of Nairobi, 2012, University of Nairobistudents’ portal, Kenya, viewed 5th October 2012,http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/

iii. Roger S. Pressman, 2001, Software Engineering (FifthEdition): McGraw-Hill

iv. Avison D E, Fitzgerald G, 2002 Information SystemsDevelopment , McGraw-Hill

v. Bluebearsoft, 2012, Students’ management system,viewed 4th October 2012,http://www.bluebearsoft.com/student-management-system.htm

vi. J. D. Naumann, G. B. Davis, and J. D. McKeen, “Determining information requirements: A contingency method for selection of a requirements assurance strategy,” The Journal of Systems and Software 1,273-281 (1980)

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