Overview Of Online Car Rental Systems

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

1.1.1 Overview of Online Car Rental Systems

"If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business" – Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft (September 2011).

An online car rental system allows a person to book/reserve a vehicle with/without payment on one end while the company staff handles the transactions, on the other via the Internet. Online Car Rental Systems are used mostly in developed countries such as England and Australia where electronic commerce has been fully accepted in the society. Famous companies such as Europcar from United Kingdom, has gained popularity since the business used the technologies available to expand and provide more facilities to their customers.

The basic functions of an online car rental system are to keep tracks of vehicles, staff, customers and booking. It provides useful information to the staff such as giving daily reports of vehicles to be delivered/picked up and acts as a vehicle management system by monitoring the use and price of the vehicles.

1.1.2 Problem Context

Malaysia is a developing country where almost all businesses are automated. Even car rental companies use on-site database to store their daily transactions. But it is surprising that 95% of companies approached, were not very enthusiastic in turning their business to online although it can bring them a lot of benefits. It is also seen that when a car rental company tried to do it, it was not successful and therefore became inactive.

"Are the available car rental systems in Malaysia reliable enough, to manage all the transactions, while ensuring security of the company and the customers?"

Malaysian companies were not satisfied with the quality of online car rental systems that are being offered to them and the ones that are very good happen to be costly and unprofitable to their businesses.

This is where the idea of building Online Rent-A-Car System in Malaysia, hereafter referred to as ORAC, was born. ORAC is an online car rental system that will bring a revolutionary change in the car renting business in Malaysia. It hasn’t been associated to any company name but can be integrated in any company where it will handle effectively the transactions of the whole system. Though online car rental systems happen to be very common around the world, ORAC will be a complete, i.e. secure and reliable system for use.

1.1.3 Description of Problem Area

Existing car rental systems are fully functioning but when security, reliability, safety and privacy is concerned, it is disappointing after doing the evaluation of the existing systems. The main concerns of the companies are classified as security issues, public safety, law and regulations, time concerns and losses in the business.

Security is a fundamental aspect in the world of electronic business and it deals with money. Existing car rental systems have flaws in matters of security. Having come across many car rental websites which have integrated payment systems but are not able to provide HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) protocol are endangering the customer as well as the company. These websites can easily be hacked and all the banking details of both parties can be retrieved. This is a foremost concern that has to be catered for in an electronic business.

Public Safety is a prime concern for any responsible human. The issue related to public safety is the control of the legal papers of a driver. Existing car rental companies have until now not given consideration to the flaw that the websites do not provide authentication of the license and IC/Passport of the person booking the car. It is a must for a driver to have a license while driving any car so that not to endanger the lives of pedestrians. If any mishap occurs, it may result in death of people and as well destroy the image of the company.

Law and Regulations of Malaysia state that the cost to bear in case of road accidents is fifty per cent from the company and the driver while the company can be dragged to court if the driver did not have license. Providing cars on rent to illegal drivers is not safe and these systems are absolutely not recommended if identity of a driver cannot be authenticated by the company.

Time concerns result from the fact that booking have to be made a minimum of 48 hours prior to the time of delivery which is not time effective for the customers. Customers who need cars urgently won’t be able to receive one on time. This discourages people from using the systems and therefore not flexible enough for use.

Existing car rental businesses have to bear a lot of costs. If they use a doubtful system with much loopholes it can lead to losses in the business instead of profit and may even lead to bankruptcy. Additional costs are risky according to businessmen therefore, they prefer not taking the risk of involving more costs.

1.1.4 Rationale

ORAC has been basically proposed to be built in Malaysia due to various reasons. The main one being that the amount of tourists and students coming over to Malaysia have increased greatly and most of them wish to rent cars with legal companies at reasonable prices to go around the country and secondly, to provide a more secure and reliable system to users (both company and customers) and for the benefit of the country by introducing concepts of documents upload for the booking process (local/international driving license copy, IC/Passport Copy).

The Car Rental System will be designed for many reasons that will help to promote a car rental system of quality. Quality here specifies for a software that will cater for the needs of both the company and the customers, along with the benefits of the country.

1.1.5 Target Audience

The users involved in the system would be the manager and staff of a car rental company, and the general public who rent vehicles from these companies. We will get the group of three/four persons to do the usability test and give feedback on the system to be built. The manager and staff will also require doing the usability testing as most of the features will be for their use. Group interviews/workshops will be held often with staff and questionnaires will be the main and most efficient data gathering methods used in order to conduct this research.

1.1.6 Potential Benefits

The qualities of the system identified will be categorized in five main factors that a system should have. This includes "Saving Time", "Space Reduction", "Reduced Cost", "Reliability" and "Security". The five factors are the quality factors that are compulsory for a web-based car rental system. The tangible benefits are "Space Reduction" and "Reduced Cost" while the others are considered as intangible benefits. In order to identify the benefits of each shareholder with the system, we have categorized them in three main groups which are the company, the customers and the general public.

The Time-Saving factor advantages both the customers and the company. Looking around for phone numbers/emails/locations of car rental is time consuming. With the introduction of the Online Rent-A-Car System, it will be 24-hour available to the users and also for the company who have just to check the bookings daily and deliver the car to the named location after payment has been made by the users. Moreover, the users can make their booking even one day prior to the delivery time which is a very big advantage to the company that gain clientèle.

Space Reduction can be one of the biggest advantage for the company. The company does not require a showroom at different locations to be able to display its vehicles for rent. In this case, it needs only a plot of land where the cars would be kept and maintained by the appointed staff.

Reduced Cost applies for the company and for the customers, whereby the company would have to pay less tax, and lesser staff that it requires for a showroom and makes a larger margin of profit. As for the customers, they will be charged only depending on the area where they have asked for delivery and the amount required for the rental.

Reliability is concerned with the company and the general public. By law, it is not allowed to rent a vehicle to a person who is not carrying a valid license. This system provides this facility to the company whereby the customer has to provide a copy of his driving license and IC/Passport copy via the system itself for him to be able to book the vehicle. The company will still reserve the right of cross verification of the documents given in the process. Moreover, on delivery of the vehicle, the IC and Driving License will be checked again to make sure no fraud has been carried out.

Security is concerned with the company and the customers, which is linked to the instant payments methods online and SMS confirmation codes/Email notification messages in order to verify the phone numbers/email addresses of the users. This provides authentication and encryption facilities whereby the customer's banking details shall be encrypted, which is not even accessible to the company.

1.2 SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

1.2.1 Scope of Proposal

"The scope of a system defines the boundaries of the system to be built". In other words, the assumptions used and the different features to be considered before building up the system have to be pre-defined in order to have a system of quality For this car rental software, the assumptions made are as follows:

This system is for use by only one company which will be maintained by the staff.

The company has different branches in Malaysia.

The customers will be charged according to terms and conditions specified.

The different features of a car rental system to be included will be:

Managing details of Vehicles

Managing Staff details

Managing Customer Details

Producing Daily, weekly and monthly reports

Booking of Vehicles

1.2.2 Out of Scope

The "Out of Scope" sections describes the parts of the system that form part of the existing systems but cannot be included because of the amount of time dedicated in building up the system. It is as follows:

Vehicle Management System – This is a management system on its own whereby the insurance details, servicing details, mileage and other vehicle details are maintained.

Staff Log – It is used to keep track of who signed in at what time and how many transactions did each one handle.

Customer Feedback Page – This is to gain feedback of customers on the system so as to know which features should be improved in the future.

No mobile application version will be created for this car rental system.

Since time is limited and the list of deliverables is already bulky, it is next to impossible to complete these stated parts in the time limit given for the project. One or two may be included only if at the end of the project, there is still sufficient time to code the above mentioned section.

1.2.3 Aims of the System

The aims of ORAC will be to improve cost-handling activities so that the company profit margin increases while decreasing the labour cost, taxes and it becomes easier to handle have control on the employees. Secondly, it helps promote safety of people, security and therefore keeps integrity of confidential customer data. Moreover, the company transactions will comply with all the Law and Regulations of Malaysia, reducing to the maximum number of frauds occurring through verification processes. Finally, owner of can have a centralised based whereby all the staff can work and have different locations to keep the vehicles.

1.2.4 Objectives of System

Objectives are more specific statements about what ORAC will be able to do after completion of the system.

The first objective is to reduce cost of the system by centralising all the data which requires less staff under a more controlled environment.

Secondly, ORAC should reduce the risk of fraud occurring as it uses document upload feature for verification of license and IC/Passport purposes, making a system complying with Rules and Regulations of Malaysia.

Together with a safe website, ORAC is meant to provide security and guarantee of user data integrity and confidentiality, thus reassuring users that their personal details are in safe hands, by using a secure Instant Payment Notification system, called Paypal Sandbox Configuration.

ORAC has to be a time saving website as it uses a Real Time Notification System where a notification is issued to the staff to verify and authenticate users on the spot.

Another objective of ORAC is to prevent spams from registering by using features called Email Verification links and SMS Verification Codes to verify authenticity of users.

Last but not least, having a simple interface with minimum data to fill up to encourage more people to use the system for booking is very necessary.

1.2.5 Deliverables

"Deliverables is concerned with the detailed features to be included in the software that solve the problems mentioned in the description of problem area section". The deliverables have been broken down into three different categories which are the "core", "additional" and "special" features.

The "core" features are as follows:

Provide login interface for the customers, staff and manager of the company.

Allow manager to manage (view, add, edit, delete, save) details of staff.

Allow staff to manage (view, add, edit, delete, save) details of vehicles.

Allow staff to manage (view, blacklist) details of customers.

Allow customers to manage (view, edit, save) their own details.

Allow staff to print their daily, weekly and monthly reports about vehicles and bookings' details.

Allow customers to view, choose vehicle and make their booking.

The "additional" features are those which help to enhance security for both customers and company:

Document Upload for passport/IC copies and valid international/local driving license for booking.

Email and SMS verification and confirmation for customers' authentication.

A notification page for the staff as soon as a booking is made a tag to booking page by the staff who is checking the authenticity of the customer.

A manual that will help the company staff to learn how to use the system and explain the functioning of the software in details.

The "special/extra" feature for this software will be the instant payment method which is of high level security and help to protect the confidential details of the customers and make sure that the company receives its payment before making any delivery to its customers.

1.2.6 Hardware and Software Requirements

Hardware:

The minimum hardware specifications for building up this project will be as follows:

>> Processor: Core 2 Duo – 2.0 GHz

>> Random Access Memory – 1 GB

>> Keyboard

>> Mouse

>> Router

Software:

The software required in order to build the system is as follows:

>> Documentation : Microsoft Word 2007/2010

>> Planning : Microsoft Project 2013

>> Diagram Generation : Microsoft Visio 2013/EDraw

>> Coding : Netbeans 7.2

>> Database Management System (DBMS) : MySQL Workbench 5.2

>> Server-Side Scripting : PHP 5.2

>> Client-Side Scripting : JQuery

1.2.7 Learning Objectives

By doing this project, it will allow me to improve my programming skills in PHP, JQuery and MySQL. Secondly, through the design process of this project, it will help me to learn how to design a database with a strong Entity-Relationship Diagram whereby the database has to be completely normalised for the proper running of the system. Secondly, I have never used MySQL and it will be very interesting to explore the features of MySQL Workbench. Moreover, I will learn time management which a a big achievement for any professional as I have to complete the project in the given time space (approximately seven months) till the submission deadline along with handling of my other modules of my final year. Finally, through the research that has to be made for the project which has just started, it will help me learn a lot of things in programming which can be known only by research and increase my knowledge about the flexibility of a programming language and the many things that can be done through programming.

1.3 PROJECT PLAN

The project plan gives a detailed description of how ORAC development is going to proceed. The project plan is divided into three parts, namely the Plan for ORAC’s Development, the General RAD Methodology Plan and the Timeline showing the paths through which the documentation has been done.

1.3.1 Plan for ORAC’s Development

ORAC’s development consists of six stages namely:

Project Research

In order to gain more explicit knowledge and understanding of the topic, online trusted resources, conference papers, magazines, books and data gathering methods (namely survey and interviews) will be used. Domain Research will be done basically on the problems identified upon analysis of similar existing systems and the technologies to be involved in the new system to be built. On the other side, technical research will be carried upon the software which is most suitable to be used to create ORAC.

Analysis

In analysis, the project aims and requirements are defined at a more specific level with full collaboration of stakeholders and external users of the system. Surveys among external users and interviews with internal stakeholders will be conducted in order to find out about the functional requirements of ORAC so as to be more specific and prevent conflicts among requirements.

Design

Since ORAC is using RAD Methodology, system illustrations and processes will be designed using CASE Tools and Unified Modelling Language (UML) Diagrams. The interfaces of the design will be designed using storyboards which will give a better understanding of the system to the reader.

Implementation

After the design stage is completed, the development of ORAC will start. The server side scripting will be done using Hypertext Processor (PHP), while the client side scripting will be done using Java Script library, namely JQuery and the database will be developed using SQL Development Tool in MySQL Workbench.

Testing

When the system will be completed, testing will be carried out in order to remove all the bugs and to have an error-free, fully functional website and this will be done by a group of external users and internal stakeholders before release of the system.

Documentation

Documentation of ORAC gives a detailed description of the processes involved during the development, while compiling the research data and preparing a professional document for the system as a whole. Moreover, a manual for operating the system will be created so that users do not have any problem in manipulating the website.

Note: The Gantt Chart for Plan of ORAC’s Development is attached in Appendix B.

1.3.2 General RAD Methodology Plan

This plans the work during the different phases of the RAD Methodology by describing the work needed to be done in each section of the RAD Methodology as described below:

Requirements Planning

It is the Concept Definition Stage, where business functions and data subject areas that the system will support and determines the system’s scope (Barbara T., 2010).

User Design

It is the Functional Design, consisting of a detailed analysis of the business activities related to the proposed system to outline the design of the system (Barbara T., 2010). This phase requires to provide detailed structure of the project and to design the interface and discuss with the staff in order to make amendments before continuing the project.

Construction

The construction phase is known to be time consuming as it is the stage where the system has to built with all the listed requirements.

Implementation

It is the stage requiring the testing of the system by some programmers, general users and selected staff of some car rental companies that will allow me to find errors and debug the program accordingly.

1.3.3 Time Plan for Investigation Report

The Timeline for this document to be built is given in the following timelines in order to show the creation of the report for ORAC.

Figure : Timeline for Chapter 1 to Chapter 3 (Source: Author)E:\desktop 2013\MY FYP\22-12-2012 Docs\Documentation\Detailed Gantt for IR - Part 1.jpg

Figure : Timeline for Chapter 4 to Chapter 6 (Source: Author)E:\desktop 2013\MY FYP\22-12-2012 Docs\Documentation\Detailed Gantt for IR - Part 2.jpg

1.4 SUMMARY

The Introduction talks mainly about the problems and the advantages of giving birth to ORAC. This section also listed out the requirements, aims and objectives of ORAC and the detailed planning of the processes to be undergone. The next section discusses and evaluates facts about the current similar systems, with research in depth and gives out conclusion.