The Emergency Issues Communication

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Creating an environment that is enabling, favorable and sustainable to residents has always been something several companies, real estate agents and landlords desire to achieve. It’s perhaps the very first step in realizing customer loyalty and making sure residents get value for their money.

Whenever residents are comfortable with the management services offered, not only does this build assurance, it also fosters long term bonding and further establishes stronger customer relations. Once this is achieved, landlords are able to maximize customer attraction while at the same time yield profits which are significantly higher and consistent over a given time frame.

It’s unfortunate that several companies tend to overlook this fact and hence end up not creating an enabling environment for them to practice their services hence tend to have poor yields from a business perspective and also fail to establish interpersonal relations with the residents. The end result is that residents tend to have a dark outlook of the management and feel like they don’t get enough service and value for what they pay as rental money.

Living in a world where technology is the main bridging factor, it would certainly be a polite gesture if companies tried to address the problem at hand using an appropriate means in order to yield value, create better business bonds and also sustain a positive corporate image. In this case, residential management could be approached by a means that is both cost effective and at the same time which yields greater value to both the residents and the management.

According to Forbes, Real Estate as a field of business is rapidly growing globally at a rate of 19% per annum (compound annual growth rate) and thus there is need to effectively ensure that residential management is topnotch and of the best quality in order to offer better returns. The move follows the rapid transition from Rifle Living class to High-rise living strata and is further highlighted by the global need to simplify and make work easier at the least cost of business.

The need for effective and efficient systems has always been a quest that man intends to understand and perhaps execute even more. Whenever one is able to save time addressing a task or a problem at hand, the yield is great since it also saves them money at the end of the day. This approach to residential management combined with the principle of standardizing residential management has further led to the establishment of property management laws and regulations in order to ensure the process is undertaken in a manner that abides with the law of the land.

This project is hereby set to develop an Online property management system that will not only bridge the gap between the residents and the management but also realize unparralled operational efficiency, improved resident satisfaction, address the issue of green sustainability as a milestone in the 21century and at the end of the day realize resident loyalty as the topmost agenda.

Problem Description

In most, rather all Apartments in Kenya, Front end Day to Day Management tasks are normally carried out manually. This trend has been the case over the years and apart from it being time consuming, it has also led several counts of misunderstanding between the residents and the management.

It’s also observed that important bulletins such as Emergencies, Repair briefings, Service Contacts, Electricity & Water Disconnection Dates are normally addressed through the notice boards which are susceptible to malice and natural harm thus impairing messages for the intended target audience. In particular cases, it has led to the landlords incurring more money by hiring third parties such as agents in bid to solve the problem; but this has further led to:

Poor service provision – from unaddressed service requests ranging from lifts maintenance, litter collection, and apartment Maintenance to parking allocations.

Lacks of accountability & safety - Most agents are never easily accessible since they manage multiple properties concurrently.

Overall loss of residents loyalty and privacy - Each tenant’s need is specific and needs to be addressed directly to the property owners who in most cases live on a separate point of presence other than where the apartment complex is located.

Development of an Online Property Management System is necessary in order to mitigate some of the current challenges being faced in the modern world within the real estate market and most importantly in Kenya. Some of the main challenges in the real estate market include:

Inefficient Information Relay - Notice boards within apartments are susceptible to malice and natural harm thus a barrier to communication.

Poor Service Provision - Tenants are unable to post and track service requests.

Lack of Accountability & Safety - Since most agents manage multiple properties concurrently, they hence tend to neglect their respective work domains.

Lack of Prime Information Sources – Tenants find it hard to find local service hosts, emergency numbers and even prime advertisement platforms.

Manual Retrieval of Documents – This leads to an increase in the time incurred to find a document and also overlooks both security and privacy.

Excessive usage of Print paper – Repetitive printing leads to increased overhead costs in general.

Lack of Communal Bonding – It’s hard for tenants to find other tenants with the same interests, views and service exchange provision options which is important since Kenya has a large number of indigenous tribes and it’s in the best interest of the Landlords to promote harmony and a sense of well-being among all.

There is hereby the need to address this issue and make sure that residential management occurs in a manner that is satisfactory to the residents and likewise cost effective for the management.

Objectives of the System

In order to address the shortcomings listed above, there is the need to develop an online property management system that will seek to address the issues herein as well address problems that might arise in the future.

The online system will be accessible to all the registered residents within a particular apartment and it will serve as a platform for information interchange and relay in the collective role of establishing residents’ loyalty while offering a credible interface with the management.

The system will facilitate communication between the residents and the management in the sole purpose of ensuring that they are able to address their needs in timely fashion as well as address the stated drawbacks that are currently being faced in the real estate market.

Aside this, the online property management site will seek to address the issue of inefficient information relay, service provision, accountability and moreover community bonding.

Functionality

Core

The end user of the online property management system will be able to do the following;

Update their respective profile details within the system.

Check for any outstanding bills and statement records within the system.

Post and track service requests online.

View the online Notice board and community briefings.

View the online directory which will have of all important numbers at the residence.

Advertise for a service online after it has been approved by the management.

The administrators will have access to all records and serve to oversee control.

Enhanced Feature

Residents who subscribe for email updates will get online rent reminders that serve to notify them their payment due dates are fast approaching.

Special Feature

The system will have an SMS feature which will serve to notify the tenants of any information updates regarding the well-being of the apartments. The updates will range from important notices, rent reminders to breaking news. This feature will be based on user preference as well as subscription. The main objective herein will be to ensure that the residents can access the online system in a way that is fast, convenient and reliable in the general process of realizing efficiency.

Project Scope

The goal of this project is to develop an online system that is able to interface between the residents and their respective management. Though, the management might vary from sole owners such as landlords to third parties such as agents, the system will offer the general flexibility of addressing both cases while being able to work with utmost efficiency.

The proposed system in not only set to abide to the current standards of residential management, it will also seek to preside over new sets of management techniques while still being able to offer the flexibility that is needed by its end users.

Since the system has a varied target audience, key standards of interfacing will be implemented to ensure that not only does the system prove to be effective it also offers the desired processing capabilities of a similar standard. This will be the most challenging part in building the system.

The system to be developed will also seek to combine the latest standards in social networking with the laid down set principles of computing in order to offer the end user an experience which is memorable and resilient. All in all, the system will seek to yield a breakthrough in residential management and aid the collective process of enhancing customer loyalty.

Similar Systems

There are a number of property management systems out there which have already been developed though they tend only to address the purchase and leasing of houses to prospective clients/residents. The emphasis of the systems tends to be on the commercial end of management and they don’t address residential management in specific terms.

Although this is the trend, the systems which have been developed tend to use an old approach to addressing residential management and in the long run prove not to be cost effective to the landlords and agents. On the other hand, a few of the systems which have been adopted also tend to be too expensive and rather require trained user personnel for commercial usage.

This has been the case since the growth rate in the real estate sector is surprisingly high and the major developers tend to bet on gaining commercial value first thus overlooking residential management. It so has been the case to the point that third parties such as agent have also been faced with the need to have a means of managing residents that is fast and effective.

The need to address property management through the development of online systems is further necessitated by the need to keep up with technological advancements and making sure that efficiency is realized at the end of the day. It has also been a trend in the real estate market for residents to look for more incentives in their respective residential homes such as additional security and fast access in order to yield value for money.

Once the system is deployed, it will be substantial and quite beneficial since there is the need to address the problem of residential management in a way that is fast, flexible and cost effective. Among the benefits the system is set to yield include:

Emergency Issues communication – Community alerts, notices and other relevant information will now be communicated easily and efficiently via SMS or Email.

Convergent Billing – Unified billing will be introduced to the residents in order to offer uniformity on the billing procedure used in current residential management structure.

Increased Customer loyalty – Online service posts and respective tracking options will be available to residents at the click of button thus simplifying communication.

Improved Efficiency – Landlords and third parties alike will have the flexibility of using the system in order to improve management as well as optimize operational costs.

Confidentiality of information – This will be realized through the restricted access of data on the database whereby only administrators will have full system control.

Encourage Bonding– Online service posting and tracking as well as an online directory among the residents will is set to exponentially foster well-being and communication.

Improved Resident Retention – This will be a bonus to the landlords and the agents alike since it will build a reputation that is resilient and priceless for their business domain. It should be noted in a field of business that is growing exponentially; this is the general desire of companies out there.

Intangible benefits will include:

Overall resident’s satisfaction on service.

The maintenance a Competitive edge over other mainstream property agents.

The realization of the Global goal of Green sustainability which is both a regulatory and legal compliance measure in the modern face of service provision.

Project Assumptions

In order for this system to be built to principle and utmost measure, a few assumptions are taken into consideration before commencement. The assumptions include;

There is a stable internet connection within the residential quarters to foster online access.

The residential management team will all have full access and control over the system.

Target Audience

Stakeholders of the online property management portal are varied and will include primary users, who are the residents in a particular residential apartment complex, who will be using the system to address their issues to the management as well as keep track on an array of data items.

The other category of direct users will include the management which might consist of landlords and third party users such as agents who will serve as the main administrators of the online portal with an overall premium management capability. This constraint not only addresses the need for security on data access, it also facilitates site moderation and future configuration management.

The last category of users is the vendors. The stakeholders mentioned herein will serve as merchants within the residential premises and must be registered and approved by the landlord before they can transact and offer any services within a particular apartment or residence.

It should be noted that in the future, the system could feature an extend list of stakeholders who use the system in order to enact residential management thus there will be need to look into configuration management during the abstraction stage of development. This will offer flexibility and seek to realize cost effectiveness to the landlords and third parties who use the system.

Conclusion

According to Professor Chris Eves, School of Urban Development, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, QUT, Queensland, Australia, Property management requires an understanding of infrastructure management, service life planning and quality management.

Today, people are beginning to realize that effective property management in high-rise residential property can sustain the property value and maintaining high returns on their investment. The continuous growth of high-rise residential properties indicates that there is a need for an effective property management system to provide a sustainable high-rise residential property development. All in all there exists the need to address residential management in a way that is modern, cost effective to the landlords and moreover efficient for all parties concerned.

It’s also to be noted that for a future casing point, the system should also seek to address upcoming issues such as portfolio management, inventory and online payment since they all serve as incentives for the greater good of property management in general. The developer seeks to address the objectives highlighted herein in the course of developing the CrestCourt Property Management Portal.

Literature Review

Overview

In order to address the problems listed in the previous chapter, there will be the need to develop an extensively feature rich system that provides an interface between the residents and the management in the sole process of realizing efficiency and cost effectiveness. The system to be developed should be well accessible through a variety of web browsers and the developer should ensure that the system is robust and is able to run to the desired degree.

An in depth study and analysis of previously developed systems which address residential management will need to be conducted in order for the developer to bridge the gap between the problems that are currently being faced in the market and also to assist the developer in conforming to the market standards of development. Among the standards include design patterns to various technologies that are currently being implemented in residential management.

Once this is achieved, the developer stands at a vantage point throughout the development.

Domain Research

Property Management Systems

The need to have control over leased property has always been something man has seeked to understand and practice since time immemorial. This can date back to the mediaeval times when the romans established a legal system that catered to address land legislation and property that was to be built afterwards for the sole purpose of ensuring there was control. Land and commercial property was under the jurisdiction of lords who later came to be addresses as Landlords and had legal control over their respective residents who presided on their land.

In the modern world this principle has significantly changed due to factors such as the industrial revolution, economic tides, rural to urban migration, urbanization and the rapid rate of population growth. However, systems have been developed to address residential management especially in the modern suburbs and high-rise strata areas the world over.

From the towering apartment suites in London to the commercial suburbs of South Africa, residential management is of utmost concern to the modern day landlords and due to current government legislation, management is being practiced in one way or the other. This measure serves a commercial end value in that the landlords will seek to attract more prospective residents while at the same time yields market benchmarks in residential management.

A study by KPMG on real estate management shows that, the need for increased automation and efficiency is the main aspect that fuels the need to come up with property management systems in the modern world. The study also reveals that there is a significant shift to outsourcing though the residential management bodies still find it necessary to have a system at hand thus channeling investments in the IT sector. All in all the need to redefine residential management is evident and there is need to address access, security, speed and cost likewise.

Domain Research

After conclusive research and analysis of property management systems that have already been developed, it’s noted that at least all property management systems will typically have the following distinctive 4 key features:

The ability of tenants to Post Requests.

The ability of tenants to View Notices.

The ability of tenants to View Reports.

The ability of tenants to View Payments.

However due to the need to maintain a competitive edge in the market in the sole process of ensuring that a particular product is the most efficient for use, other additional features have been variedly added into the main components of the system. Such features could be bespoke in that they are tailored to address a specific market need or they could be native in the main system. Notable lists of other key features that have been implemented include:

Online Market Portal.

Online Suggestion Box.

Online Newsfeed Update.

Online Community Calendar.

Online Lost & Found System.

Similar systems or implementations

Conclusive research of the property management systems that have already been developed shows that systems developed can be further divided into two main categories:

Mobile based – App Based.

Web Based – Operating Online.

Mobile Based implementations

Rent Tracker Pro

This mobile based implementation has actually been developed as Mobile App which offers an extension to residential management through the use of a smart phone. The application has been standardized and runs on most of the available smartphone platforms.

The app is able to take advantage of mobile computing and serves to link residents with their respective management. This implementation however lacks most of the considerable essential features due to its domain as an app. Some of the drawbacks of the app include not providing reports for the users due to the constraints that come with mobile development.

Real Estate Genie

This is also a mobile based implementation that serves to address residential management and has been implemented through the use of a smartphone. The app features almost all of the essential domains to address management through its only limitation is that it’s only tailored to run on Apple based devices thus it can only be used on the iPhone.

The application however offers most of the key essential features of residential management which include the storage of leases, viewing reports and also an instant chat wizard that is able to provide the user with a one on one communication channel with the management.

Perhaps the key feature to understand and borrow a leaf during the development of the CrestCourt Property management portal is how well the application is able to integrate a list of features while at the same time offering flexibility through customization to the user.

Palace

This is a mobile based implementation that also serves to address residential management and is implemented as an app. Like the previous app –the real estate genie, it offers an array of features thought its main drawback is that it’s only available for Apple based smartphones.

However, there are a few noteworthy features to note on this app that might serve to improve the efficiency of the system to be developed. Among these include a feature that enables prospective residents to view house plans of apartments that are being managed by a common Landlord.

This feature might prove to be of great commercial value to the management team since it offers an avenue to freely advertise their services and also enables them to increase their portfolio credibility. Another key feature would be the fact that it readily offers social integration thus extending their market reach and also saving the developer a ton of development time.

Conclusion

The mobile based approach is actually quite a leap in as afar as utilizing the readily available technological resources though there is need to ensure that the services within the application are readily accessible to all smartphone users without the restrictive barrier of integration. Other key factors to bear in mind during development would be to ensure that they address security, seamless usability and the prospect of configuration management for incremental development.

Other than that, the apps should offer seamless ease of use and regular service updates in order to keep up with the market standards as well as address the issues brought forward by user reviews. It’s also to be noted that due to the enormous shift into mobile computing in the modern world, development of a commercial mobile app would also perhaps be essential both to the management and the residents since it would further target more users as well as keep a competitive edge in the market for property owners.

Web Based implementations

Property-Ware

This is a web based residential management system that has been developed commercially and seeks to offer management. The system offers tenant management which includes all the basic features such as profile updating, request posting and tracking as well as a number of management features such as accounting and inventory management.

The application however leaves a lot to be desired in terms of usability, customization and cost of purchase. To address usability, it’s noted that the system is perhaps not as user friendly as it’s required to be; given that it’s supposed to be used by a varied audience. This is an area of concern since usability serves as a design principle that governs ease of use within a system.

The other issue that stands out is customization. Unlike the mobile app which offers configuration settings which allows the user to fine-tune the features to their degree of choice, this system doesn’t thus proves to be static in the sense that the end users need to adjust to it. Lastly is cost, given that residential management can occur from a scale of 0 up to 10,000+ there is need to ensure that the cost is significantly affordable to facilitate mass usage.

Buildium Property Manager Edition

This is also a commercially developed residential management system that seeks to address management by offering perspective residents a portal which is able to interface with the management. This online system offers a number of standard features and includes the provision of an online help utility in the body of the main system.

The application however suffers the drawback of having the need to hire an administrator who is proficient with system technicalities since the operational complexities of the system are indeed diverse. A notable feature would be the integration of online payment into the system that proves to be quite a delicate scope of operation. Though the main system is able to deliver, it’s mandatory to ensure that online payments are secure and that they are reliable to the residents.

Conclusion

The rapid growth of both online and mobile based property management systems indeed coincide with the statistics highlighted earlier on regarding the rapid growth rate of the real estate market. In general, there is the need to develop systems that are able to utilize the resources available in the sole purpose of offering the residents a reliable avenue of management.

The developer will critically analyze the systems mentioned herein and further address their respective drawbacks in the process of developing the CrestCourt Property Management Portal. The developer seeks to come up with an online portal that utilizes the blueprint of the already developed systems and even provide better functionality and flexibility in the long run.

Technical Research

The development of the CrestCourt Property management portal will feature 2 main components:

A front end that will serve as an interface for the stakeholders of the system.

A Back end that will serve as a database for storing user data and information.

The development of this system will require both a web development language as well as integration tools which will facilitate the implementation of additional components such as a database and 3rd party application programming interfaces for the additional features. The developer is hereby set to base research in the following areas of development:

Methodology.

API’s integration.

Database Selection.

Software Design Tools.

Web Programing Language.

Methodology

Overview

A development methodology comprises of a number of aspects which include tools, techniques and a set of routines that serve as a blueprint for the developer in the goal of making a system. It comprises of procedures which are clearly defined and set in a logical order in order to achieve a complete system. A good methodology also highlights documentation as one of its domains.

The British Computer Society (BCS) provides a very fitting definition of an information systems methodology by stating that its "A recommended collection of philosophies, phases, procedures, rules techniques, tools, documentation, management and training for developers of information systems" (Maddison, 1983).

Comparison of Methodologies

A clear methodology will not only serve to ensure that the developer is able to utilize the right tools and techniques for development, it will also serve to offer a means on checking or rather ensuring that each of the individual routines implemented are up to standard. In this section, the developer will seek to highlight the differences within some of the common methodologies that are already being used in the market in order to choose the most viable option for developing the system. Development methodologies can mainly be categorized into 4 main models;

Traditional Methods e.g. Waterfall System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Model.

Evolutionary Methods e.g. Spiral Lifecycle Model.

Incremental Methods e.g. Rapid Application Development (RAD).

Agile Method.

Comparison Table

Waterfall System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Spiral Lifecycle Model

Rapid Application Development

Agile Development

Basic Principle

Divides the project into sequential and in most cases, sets of overlapping phases.

(Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

Divides the project into four sets of quadrants:

(i) Seeks to determine the objectives, alternatives and constraints of the iteration.

(ii) Evaluates all alternatives as it identifies all the possible set of risks.

(iii) Develops and verifies deliverables from the iteration.

(iv) Plans for the next set of iteration.

(Boehm, 2000).

Purposely set to provide a blueprint for developing applications that need to be developed at a fast pace for delivery.

The Business requirements must first be clearly understood before commencement of the project. (Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

Processes herein are iterative and seek to develop and deliver the project using the least amount of time.

The Processes herein are developed hand in hand with the next piece of software. (Mundok, 2002).

Focus

Planning, Time schedule, budgeting and implementation of the entire system at once (Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

Primary focus is set on assessing Risk in order to minimize overall project failure.

Rapid project development due to the need of delivering project in the least amount of time (Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

Flexibility in development, Extensive customer/user involvement in order to achieve overall customer satisfaction in the long run (Mundok, 2002).

Analysis

Most of the methodologies emphasize on saving time while offering the developer flexibility.

Waterfall System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Spiral Lifecycle Model

Rapid Application Development

Agile Development

Strengths

1. Ensures there is both quality and reliability of the end project that is being developed.

2. Ideal for Project Managers that are less experienced and Project teams whose main composition might be changing in the course of development (Wakefield and Yeates, 1994)

1. Addresses risk effectively and broadly.

2. The model will easily support other methodologies hence proving its dynamism and extended development flexibility. (CMS, 2008)

1. It’s Fast, Efficient and offers accuracy in both development and delivery.

2. Realizes and enhances User / Designer Communication.

3. Offers clear and standard documentation.

(Wakefield and Yeates, 1994)

1. Develops Systems at a very fast pace.

2. Offers unparralled development flexibility while still being able to incorporate any arising needs of an organization. (Mundok, 2002)

Weaknesses

1. Costly and offers no development flexibility.

2. Highlights problems during the testing phase.

3. Doesn’t offer back tracking during development.

(Wakefield and Yeates, 1994)

1. Doesn’t offer reusability due to customization of each project.

2. Requires a Project manager who is very skilled in order to handle the project.

3. Ends up borrowing heavily from other methodologies.

1. Overlooks quality due to the rapid rate of development.

2. Not suited for developing systems which are pure computational or implementing complex database structures

(Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

1. Organizational structure might be a limitation.

2. Frequent Delivery and the high frequency of user acceptance Testing (Wakefield and Yeates, 1994).

Analysis

Highsmith and Cockburn (2001) report that the changing environment in business also affects software development and in order to satisfy the customer, development time has resulted to be top priority while developing systems. This has in turn led to the commercialization of different development methodologies to provide flexibility while ensuring development time is minimal.

The major difference between the traditional approach and the agile approach is that the former is static and highly sticks to the laid down routines of development thus not being able to offer flexibility to both the developer and the end user in case of user acceptance testing. Agile development on the other hand is able to address both design and development in concurrent fashion hence reducing the time of development quite drastically.

It’s also to be noted that the traditional approach mainly focuses on aligning the development processes chronologically thus not being able to address new needs while agile development is keen to address flexibility and development time. The Agile methodology is able to address changing sets of user requirement throughout the development of the project and still being able to run other steps concurrently. This perhaps is the most unique feature that serves as a stronghold to this development methodology.

Conclusion

Each organization is unique in its philosophy, functioning and protocol. A methodology that has worked for developing one system may not necessarily work for another. It is also important to understand that before choosing a particular methodology, it’s essential to find out what the underlying principles and philosophy of the system before embarking on development.

Sometimes it may not be feasible for an organization to just pick any one of the methodologies and adapt itself, so in that case, it would be best to pick and choose the features from the various methodologies that work best for the organization and implement those in the team. This process might involve the combination of one or more routines in order to yield flexibility.

It’s important to note that the AGILE development methodology works best in self-motivated development teams where each member of the team offers to get a portion of the work done using their expertise and knowledge in the area. A conducive atmosphere fosters communication thus enables the developers to freely contribute, ask questions, and openly discuss impediments that underlay the project.

Selection and Justification

After complete analysis of the stated methodologies, the developer has chosen AGILE for the development of the CrestCourt Online Portal mainly due to the fact that it’s able to cater for any set of arising requirements while still offering unparralled development flexibility. Requirements might involve anything from the implementation of new features to the revision of features that have already been developed but not meeting the exact user requirements and business needs. Apart from that one other reason the developer has chosen this methodology is due to the time frame that is given to complete the final project which is 9 months.

The ability of this methodology to offer reviews after every sprint/iteration further helps the development team to re-evaluate the course of the project sooner and hence deviations from the project baseline are addressed earlier on thus saving time and money. This holds even if the work produced at the end of each development sprint has deviated significantly from the baseline.

This methodology also proves to be the most convenient for the developer since its test driven and ensures that there is productive yield after the end of each phase. This methodology has further proved that it’s able to address the needs stated earlier on and thus is the most effective approach towards developing the CrestCourt Online Portal. The Agile development methodology features within itself a list of other frameworks which serve to implement incremental development. Amongst this include:

Scrum.

Crystal.

Extreme Programming (XP).

Feature Driven Development (FDD).

Adaptive Software Development (ASD).

Dynamic System Development Methodology (DSDM).

After a thorough analysis of each of the methods stated above, the developer has decided to implement DSDM for the development of the project due to the fact that it offers both dynamism and flexibility when developing a system where the time constraint is short and limited.

It’s also to be noted that DSDM focuses on frequent delivery of products, with assumption that to deliver something "good enough" earlier is always better than to deliver everything "perfectly" in the end. By delivering product frequently from an early stage of the project, the product can be tested and reviewed where the test record and review document can be taken into account at the next iteration or phase. Effort is thus laid in realizing critical functionality.

In all in all, DSDM also tends to focus on establishing a reliable communication avenue between the stakeholders involved in system development and this is illustrated through the regular meetings between the developer and the supervisor that serve to shed new light during project development. Stakeholder relations are further complemented through the engagement of the developer with the end users during the data gathering stage of developing the system.

Phases of Implementation

The DSDM framework consists of three sequential phases. The phases herein include:

Pre-Project

Project Lifecycle

Post-Project.

The pre-project consists of project initiation activities. The project life-cycle consists of 5 main activities which are - Feasibility study, Business study, Functional model iteration, Design and builds iteration and implementation. The post-project usually consists of project documentation and sign-off (DSDM Consortium, 2006). The following chart further highlights the steps that the developer will take towards development.

Phase

Activity

Outcome

Pre-Project

Commencement

& Planning

1. Identifying the Objectives of the system.

2. Identifying the Scope of the System.

3. Getting the mandate to develop the System.

The supervisor serves as the immediate stakeholder herein.

Project Lifecycle

Feasibility Study

1. Outline Project Plan – Gantt Chart (later to be updated within the Appendix).

Business Study

1. Definition of users, sub-processes, information requirements and functionality.

2. System architecture definition.

Functional Model Iteration

1. Process Modeling – DFD’s, Activity Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams, Use-Case Diagrams

2. Information Modeling – ERD.

Design and build iteration

1. Prototyping – Storyboards.

2. Testing – Test Plan.

Implementation

1. Delivering the System.

Post-Project

Completion

Documentation of the Project

Programming Languages

In order for the developer to come up with a system that is able to match the requirements stated herein, a good understanding of the programming practices will be required. The following sections will provide an in depth look and further analysis to the tools required.

Web Programming Language

The system to be developed needs both to be robust as just as much as it’s seamless in functionality to the user. The developer should ensure that the system is able to capture the user’s understanding as well as run with utmost ease. Integration of all the tools and features should be uniform throughout its execution in order to enable the user to adapt to the system with ease.

It’s important to note that there are a number of factors to be considered when choosing a suitable programming language for development. Some of these factors include:

Ease of Learning – A good programming language should be well understandable to the developer in order to ease development and to ensure that the developer is able to cope with the system being developed effectively. Better understanding of the programming language will also enable the developer to develop the system quicker.

Speed of Development – One of the most unique and a useful feature in modern programming languages is the ability to re-use code through objects and classes. This principle enables the developer to use class instances to address common problems instead of writing new code thus enhancing development time.

Performance – It’s arguable that performance is machine dependent though at the end of the day, there is need to ensure that a developer is able to utilize a particular programming language in order to write the most efficient set of algorithms.

Support – A good programming language should be able to support other third party tools such as API’s and scripts in order enhance the developing experience. Support can also be understood as the need to have a reliable source which provides relevant answers and solutions to constraints that might arise during development.

Aside from the need to meet these goals, the programing language to be used, should seek to offer developer flexibility and unparralled processing since the online system will be used by a large number of end users. There are a number of web programming languages that can be used to develop this system. Some of the languages include:

PHP.

HTML.

ASP.NET.

JavaScript.

PHP

This is a server side dynamic web scripting language that is open source, secure and incredibly fast in execution. It serves to create content that is highly customized while offering the developer with the simplicity of design and implementation.

One of the reasons that makes it widely known and used by developers the world over is due to its ability to run on a number of platforms as well as supporting varied tools. PHP doesn’t have a specific development tool and can also be readily placed within the body of HTML.

PHP doesn’t use a lot of the system’s resources so it runs fast and doesn’t tend to slow other processes down. It is typically used as an Apache module, written in C, so it loads and executes quickly. It works well with other software and can be quite fast. PHP is also fairly stable and since it is open source, the PHP community works together to fix any bugs. The community offers technical support and continuously updates the code further expanding PHP’s capabilities (Robin Nixon, 2005).

Perhaps the major drawback of using PHP is the fact that it doesn’t offer exception handling which is of utmost importance especially when developing systems that will be set for multiple user interaction. An arguable point to highlight is the fact that the language doesn’t offer a clear distinction between design and implementation thus proves to be static for the developer since it might prove to be time consuming and expensive to maintain in the long run.

HTML

This is a client side, mark up web development and scripting language. It serves perhaps as the building block of most web scripting and a development language since its client side and is the oldest in design standard. Apart from it being simple in understanding, it’s also well interpretable and offers integration to a variety of other platforms for the purpose of realizing efficiency.

A more robust and updated version of the language (HTML5) is already in use in the market and has greatly streamlined the efforts of offering interoperability amongst different platforms and working stations. Like PHP, it too doesn’t have a specific development tool and is free.

HTML5 is an ongoing cross-industry endeavor that hopes to reach through the mass market by standardizing the browsing experience. Its revision from earlier versions has enables the language to support a number of features while still offering an unparralled user experience. Aside this, the language also seeks to introduce new capabilities such as offline database storage which might prove to be efficient since the systems to be developed will run faster.

Perhaps the major drawback towards using HTML solely for web development is the fact that it doesn’t offer reliable security and cannot produce dynamic output alone, since it is a static language. Aside this, it’s important to highlight that it’s mandatory for the developer to further understand the use of tags since deprecated tags appear often(mostly from a third party styling tools such as CSS) and at times replace the original work of the HTML tags.

ASP.NET

This is a server side dynamic web development language created by Microsoft as a successor to the earlier version ASP that provides a fast, approachable, and lightweight way to combine server code with HTML to create dynamic web content, connect to databases, add videos, link to social networking sites, and also facilitates the inclusion of many other features that enable a developer build sites using the latest web standards. ASP.NET is able to a large number of components and has significantly addressed security in development. It’s also important to note that since the language is written to ease development and increase efficiency, the coding syntax is implemented in a way that the developer is able to utilize a minimal set of methods and routines in order to achieve the intended function.

Due to the nature of the language being server side and also the fact that it is able to integrate HTML, systems developed tend to be fast in execution thus proving to be lightweight. Aside this, ASP.NET is able to integrate API’s – Application Programming Interface and SDK’s(Standard Development Kits); meaning that the language can implement methods and routines that have been developed from a different party other than Microsoft and still offer unparralled processing.

The ability of this platform to integrate both API’s, Common languages and SDK’s proves to be the main factor in deciding to use it in the course of developing the system since the system to be will require the integration of an Email notification feature. At the end of the day, flexibility of ASP.NET will also serve to address both security and interoperability. In addition, ASP.NET also conforms to a three tier architecture meaning it’s able to address both design and implementation thus configuration management in future occurs with ease. This is necessary since the CrestCourt Property Portal is a system that is set to be used by varied end users and constraints will be put in place to ensure that the system can be customized to yield flexibility.

After an analysis of the above web programming languages, the developer is set to design the system using ASP.NET. The following are the core factors that lead to choosing ASP.NET:

Caching - This will enhance the overall performance of the site developed since data creation, fetching and storage routines will occur at faster speeds.

Security - This feature will ensure data safety is addressed and implemented since the database will be storing private and confidential resident’s details.

CSS Support – This feature will ensure that the developer has the freewill to include an array of styles to the body of the web system in order to enhance usability and design.

Exception Handling – This feature offers data validity and will enable the developer to address run time errors that might occur when the system is being used by the users.

Great Tool Support - This feature enables the developer to use different sets of API’s and SDK’s during development thus realizing flexibility and maximizing performance.

Developer Experience – This is an added advantage due to the fact that the developer has worked on various systems before using ASP.NET as the main tool of development. Experience is essential since it puts the developer at ease during development.

Database Selection

Behind a great website, there's always a great database. Databases keep the data that makes your website work, and power features such as user accounts and content management increase the efficiency of the system. In order to develop a system which offers storage of information, a Database Management System has to be implemented.

Many factors affect which database to use, from the personal preferences of the developers to the constraints of the economic situation of the project that is to be developed. Some of the main factors to consider include:

Price – The database chosen by the developer should be affordable in order to keep all costs at a minimum at the end of the day. In this case since the developer is a student hence the database to be used would be preferable if were open source.

Performance – The database chosen should be able to cope with data traffic and still offer robust performance, safety and reliability. In this case, since the online system to be developed is going to be used by a large number of end users, data binding should be lightweight in order to maximize data processing and overall efficiency.

Support & Integration– The database chosen by the developer should have extended user and developer support from the manufacture in order to realize flexibility. In this case, the database should have a variety of configuration tools available since the development time of the system is limited and still needs to be interfaced with a website.

Programming Language – The database chosen should be simple in language structure and compatible with a number of web development languages present in the market. In this case, the database should be compatible with ASP.NET and preferably if it’s a Microsoft Product in order to ensure that there is seamless interconnectivity.

Requirements Specification – The database chosen should be able to address the needs stated by the users in the collective process of ensuring that the DBMS is topnotch.

A research done by Enterprise Strategy Group in November, 2006 discovered that there were more than 50 critical security vulnerabilities in MY SQL Server as compared to none on Microsoft SQL Server (Orgen, E., 2006). This study was done due to the surge in the amount of attacks web systems have been facing in the recent past.

The developer is hereby set to do an analysis on both MY SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server in the collective process of identifying a suitable database. In order to yield a common ground and prevent bias in the analysis, the developer will also match the analysis with a third DBMS system, Oracle.

Database Comparison Table

The following tables will highlight the differences amongst the 3 most common DBMS software(s) available with the goal of identifying the most suitable for development.

Name

Price

Entry Level Features

Performance

Oracle

Standard Edition Costs $5800.00

(Licensing deals are complex and are restricted to large organizations)

Supports only the ACID framework and Transactions. Other editions offer more but for a much higher price.

Offers both Brute Force and Encryption Support.

Can Handle Data Domains as Objects.

MY SQL

Open Source

(Free)

Supports only the ACID framework and Unicode

Offers Encryption but doesn’t offer brute force support.

Doesn't handle Data Domains.

Microsoft SQL Server

Standard Edition Costs

$500(Licensing deals are available and most favorable to colleges and learning centers)

Supports the ACID framework, Referential Integrity, Transactions and Unicode.

Offers both Brute Force and Encryption.

Can Handle Data Domains as Objects.

Name

Integration

OS Support

Integrity

Oracle

Offers both Temporary and Materialized view on Native Tables.

Can run on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

Recovery Manager (RMAN) supports hot backups for Oracle database servers.

MY SQL

Only Offers Temporary views on Native Tables.

Can run on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

No online backup built-in.

Microsoft SQL Server

Offers both Temporary and Materialized view on Native Tables.

Can run only on Windows and Linux.

Offers Online backup in newer and most recent versions.

Conclusion

From the analysis above, the developer has decided to use MS SQL Server for the development of the system. Aside this, APU as a college has been officially licensed by Microsoft to use the platform legally, so no costs whatsoever will be incurred purchasing the software.

Software Design Tools

These are tools that highlight the procedures and routines that are carried out during system development. They serve to illustrate what actions and processes are implemented at each stage of development in order to enable the developer to keep an account of the project milestones and deliverables during development. Aside this, software design tools also offer a convenient and reliable way of backtracking just in case there is an error with the design flow.

The two most commonly used designing tools for system design are Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Data Flow Diagram (DFD). Due to the nature of the system to be developed, the developer needs to use a tool which can integrate object oriented concepts in order to ease the design process as well as favor the methodology that the developer chose before.

Since DFD’s only indicate information flow from different modules, using UML will prove to be better for the developer since it not only shows how the information flows, it also indicates the sequence in which the activities within each module are structured. This will be important and favorable for the developer since it will facilitate complete visualization of the system.

It’s also to be noted that UML is better placed for interfacing systems which are complex in nature of their requirements, object oriented and which have a significant number of constraints within the modules. Aside this, UML is also able to highlight the functionalities that are being developed at each stage in the project. There are more than 9 types of diagrams that can be implemented in UML; however, the developer has chosen to only use Class Diagrams, Use-Case Diagrams and Sequence Diagrams. Selection of the three was based on developer experience.

Academic Research

One of the features that the developer hopes to integrate into the body of the system will be an Email and SMS Sending Utility. The SMS feature works by utilizing a global gateway server which processes information from a website (sender) and routes it to the target mobile device (recipient). Communication between the native browser and the gateway server works by utilizing the application programming interface kit that is provided by the service provider in order to route the information. This means the gateway also has the capacity to route the same information to multiple sets of users at the same time depending on how the logic is structured.

The main thing the developer needs to ensure is that the gateway server is able to communicate efficiently with the local server that routes the information to the cellphone since different companies use different exchange protocols and ports. Aside this, the developer will need to use a gateway that is preferably free, easy to incorporate and integrate with the local mobile exchange carriers here in Malaysia for the purpose of demonstration.

After conclusive research, the developer identified clickatell to be amongst the best options since it provides scripts that can integrate the ASP.NET development framework and offer reliability.

Research Methods

Overview

Research enables the developer to have a broader point of view in the topic of interest and also seeks to find more information regarding a particular area of study. This process enables the developer to get an overall sense of the constraints and requirements that need to be analyzed before developing the system. The two main types of research include:

Primary Research.

Secondary Research.

Primary research seeks to find information which is measurable, observable and replicable and which the developer is not aware of in the beginning. This type of research is also known as field research since the immediate audience that provides the developer with information is mainly composed of the primary stakeholders of the system.

Perhaps the best approach to conducting primary research will be to implement fact-finding techniques in order to not only enhance the scope of the research but also to ensure that the data obtained is conclusive and serves in the best interest of ensuring that the system to be built, follows the best development approach.

In the case of building the CrestCourt Property Management Portal, the developer implemented questionnaires for fact finding. This is because questionnaires are more objective and enable the developer to gather responses from a general audience in a standardized way. Aside this, questionnaires have an edge over other fact finding techniques such as carrying out interviews since they don’t require any formal concession between the parties involved. An in depth discussion of the different fact finding techniques will be discussed herein:

Fact Finding Techniques.

Fact finding techniques are basically the routines that are to be followed in the collective process of searching for information regarding a particular subject matter. These techniques provide the developer with a range of options which are viable for implementation depending on the type of information to be gathered, the target audience and also the time needed to analyze feedback.

This process involves the primary users of the system providing relevant information to the developer for the sole purpose of ensuring the most effective system is built. It’s also important to note that it is possible to combine one or more techniques while conducting primary research for the sole purpose of maximizing the relevancy of the information provided by the general audience.

According to Wakefield and Yeates (2004), the most common fact-finding techniques used are:

Interviews.

Observation.

Questionnaires.

Searching Records.

Document Analysis.

Questionnaires

This method of fact finding is perhaps considered the best approach for fact finding since it’s able to yield information from a wide audience. The audience in this case could be from a large geographical location hence they tend to be more effective.

Questionnaires also prove to be easy when doing the analysis of the data provided since it can be further be represented in form of compact tables, charts, graphs and even percentage analysis. They also tend to greatly reduce the extent of bias while conducting any given field research and tend to be familiar with many people since at least at one point, everyone has encountered a scenario of a questionnaire seeking information on a particular field.

The developer decided to use this approach since it’s less intrusive to the target audience and it makes them yield information with ease and having not to think of being monitored or controlled. In the case of developing the CrestCourt Management Portal, the target audience is the residents; In order to maximize the effectiveness of the questionnaire; a large number will focus on residents and will be structured in the simplest manner in order for the questions therein to be easily comprehendible and relatable with the target audience. Minimalism of open ended questions will also be implemented in order to seek specific information from the audience.

This is essential since it will ease the time involved in deploying the questionnaires while at the same time offering the developer more time to analyze the data provided. Aside this, other basic measures will also be adhered to such as offering anonymity to the audience as they provide the developer with the information. Some of the other advantages of using questionnaires include:

Flexibility – Questionnaires offer information in a standardized way.

Precision – They target a specific audience and are easy to administer.

Relevance – Most questionnaires are structured to provide information that is related and focus is mainly on one area of research thus tend to be more effective in implementation.

Accessibility - Questionnaires can be sent to a wide audience and still obtain relevant data, aside this most people (target audience) have encountered questionnaires before.

Cost Effectiveness – Advances in the technological front have also made it possible to carry out questionnaire surveys online. This not only saves the developer money, it also greatly saves on analysis since most service provided offer online analysis tools as well.

Analysis

Analysis

Analysis serves as a measure of quantifying specific information with the sole purpose of obtaining relevant information. The information hence serves as a base point which enables the developer to abstract and visualize the system to be developed in the most efficient way.

Analysis serves as the core principle that enables a developer to categorize and even quantify data obtained during primary research in order to develop a system that addresses the constraints and moreover which is able to meet the user requirements at the end of the day.

The developer in this case seeks to perform an analysis of the data that was yielded through the use of questionnaires with the main aim of drawing information which will prove reliable and essential towards the development of the CrestCourt Online Property Portal.

Analysis of Questionnaires

The Developer came up with two sets of questionnaires that were to serve as the basis of primary research. The first questionnaire was targeted towards the primary users of the system which in this case are residents. The questionnaire was distributed to a large set of audience in order to ensure that the data obtained was tertiary while at the same time being discrete.

The audience who were given the first type of questionnaire ranged from students, support staff, local vendors, and lecturers to white collar executives. The second type of questionnaire was more detailed and was mainly targeted towards the secondary users of the system to be developed. The audience in this case included property management executives to local condominium owners.

The developer saw the need to classify the questionnaires in order to yield more conclusive data during analysis both from a general and technical point of view. This is essential since the developer will be able to interface the system in a way that it is flexible among a variety of users while at the same time being intuitive to the secondary users who in this case is the management.

Copies of these two questionnaires are attached herein and can be viewed in the appendix.

Analysis of Questionnaires

Type A: Primary User Questionnaire.

Question 1: Who do you prefer addressing your residential concerns to?<