Plagiarism Notice for APU and Staffordshire University The following Investigation Report has been completely outsourced and it is not suitable for any academic use. This investigation report has been fully outsourced and submitted to Mrs.
Yusnita Binti Yusof. The student does not have adequate knowledge of both software development and theory aspect of this thesis which can be evaluated through plagiarism meeting sessions with the student. In order to acquire for information and proof of plagiarism (such as the material, logs, etc.) please directly contact
[email protected].
Page | 1
Table of Contents Acknowledgement...................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 1: Introduction to the study.............................................................................4 1.1 Project Background............................................................................................. 4 1.2 Problem Context................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Rationale.......................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Potential Benefits................................................................................................ 8 1.4.1 Tangible benefits........................................................................................... 8 1.4.2 Intangible benefits......................................................................................... 8 1.5 Target Users....................................................................................................... 9 1.6 Scope and Objectives........................................................................................... 9 1.6.1 Aims.......................................................................................................... 9 1.6.2 Objectives.................................................................................................... 9 1.6.3 Deliverables............................................................................................... 10 1.6.4 Nature of Challenge..................................................................................... 11 1.7 Overview of this report and Project plan..................................................................11 1.8 Project Plan..................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2: Company background and structure............................................................14 2.1 Company background......................................................................................... 14 2.2 Company Structure............................................................................................ 14 2.3 Products and Services offered by APU....................................................................15 2.3.1 Services offered by APU that uses the system......................................................15 Chapter 3: Literature review..................................................................................... 16 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 16 3.2 Domain Research.............................................................................................. 16 3.2.1 Online Ordering.......................................................................................... 16 3.2.2 Online Queueing......................................................................................... 17 3.2.3 Online Food Spotting.................................................................................... 17 3.3 Technical Research............................................................................................ 18 3.3.1 Similar Systems.......................................................................................... 18 3.3.2 Architecture............................................................................................... 23 3.4 Conclusion...................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 4: Business Case.......................................................................................... 27 4.1 Description of the Current System.........................................................................27 4.2 Description of the Proposed System.......................................................................28 4.3 How does the proposed system addresses Porter’s Five Forces......................................29 Page | 2
4.4 Cost Benefit Analysis......................................................................................... 32 4.4.1 Return on Investment.................................................................................... 32 4.4.2 Payback Analysis......................................................................................... 33 4.4.3 Present Value Analysis.................................................................................. 34 Chapter 5: Development Methodology.........................................................................35 5.1 Selected System Development Methodology............................................................35 5.2 Explain each phase of the system development methodology chosen...............................36 5.3 Justification..................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 6: Primary Research..................................................................................... 40 6.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 40 6.1.1 Questionnaires............................................................................................ 40 6.2 Questionnaires Design........................................................................................ 41 Chapter 7: Requirements Validation............................................................................45 7.1 Analysis of Data............................................................................................... 45 7.2 Conclusion...................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 8: Conclusions and Reflections.......................................................................67 References:............................................................................................................. 68
Acknowledgement I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this report. A special thanks to our final year project coordinator, Mr. Dhason, who had given us suggestions, tips, and encouragement especially in writing this report.
Page | 3
I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the important role of my supervisor, Mrs. Yusnita Binti Yusof for providing me with a lot of assistance throughout the progress of completing this investigation report.
Page | 4
Chapter 1: Introduction to the study 1.1 Project Background Food and Beverages Queue Purchasing system for any restaurant especially for new established restaurant is very complex and complicated. Basically, this Food and Beverages Queue Purchasing System is a sub system which has to be integrated and operated as a part of whole operational system. Apart from that, this is a system where purchasing of food items like steaks, burgers, noodles, bakery and dairy products, seafood are conducted virtually. In other words, this means that when a person arrives at the cafeterias only to find out that he/she needs to wait as there are other people queuing using their gadgets, the World Wide Web (www), and other methods to enter a virtual queue prior to arrival. During the wait, the persons are free to roam and will only get notifies at their gadgets when his/her food approaches. So, as a student in A.P.U, the developer has realized that the cafeterias or the restaurants either in both the main building or in Enterprise 3 is not running properly and is not as efficient as what you think. With my specialism in Business with Information Technology (BIT), the developer hereby to create a system that is being mainly developed for A.P.U students, lecturers and even staffs. This system is known as Food and Beverages Purchasing System. This Food and Beverages Purchasing System is generally an internet-based website that works well on both Wi-Fi and cellular data. One of the main features in this system is convenient, fast and easy to use format. It has almost all of the benefits that a student, lecturers or even staffs would definitely want.
Page | 5
1.2 Problem Context Ever since queue ticketing system has been created, it eventually allows multiple transaction profiles to be handled fairly and impartially for all waiting customers (Crowd, 2011). However, this also brought limitations to the system. Integrating a new system into an existing one is the most troublesome part for most organization. It is because that each system is developed under different platform, techniques and by different personnel. As a student, the developer would said that A.P.U’s cafeteria is currently using the traditional linear queueing system which involves a single cashier or service counter and a single line. Normally, students are supposed to stand in a single line to wait for their turns either to pay or to order. However, when there are more and more students coming in, this would eventually leads to a delay during the whole processes. This delays are somehow refers as waiting. Waiting is psychologically painful because it causes us to renounce more productive and rewarding ways of using our time and because it may increase the investment that we have to make to obtain a product or service (Schwartz, 1975). According to a study conducted by (Bernd H. Schmitt, Columbia University), the study of waiting and delays may affect consumers' perception of the quality of a service as well as their overall evaluation of the service. The next problem faced by most of the students in A.P.U were the environment of the university. As A.P.U was located in a small environment with not much restaurants compared to Taylors and Monash universities.
So, students would normally spend their time in
cafeterias chilling and lounging around. This would definitely causes other students having difficulties to find a place to settle and have their lunch. Next, the developer have also noticed students nowadays have difficulties in choosing what to eat during lunch. This is because one of the main reason which I have mentioned earlier was due to the small environment which A.P.U was located and due to a limited choices of restaurants. Other than that, A.P.U consists of 3 main buildings with three different faculties:-Faculties of Business, Faculties of Engineering and Faculties of Computing. As these three faculties were all located in 3 different places, so we as a student understands the struggle walking and taking vans from one building to another during hot and rainy seasons. Besides that, we also knew that food in A.P.U cafeteria (main building) is overpriced. For example: Plate of rice with a chicken and two sausages costs around RM8.50. So, if students were caught in a heavy Page | 6
rain during lunch time or the food is too expensive. Chances of not walking from one building to another and skipping their lunch are extremely high.
Page | 7
1.3 Rationale The project that is being proposed is titled “An Online Food and Beverages Queue Purchasing System”. This is the proposed solution to solve the above problems. This online food and beverages queue purchasing system will be a web application which allows students, lecturers and staffs to purchase, to make orders, to do food spotting as well as online-queueing via an online portal. By using this system, APU cafeteria will definitely improve on its services. The main advantages would be queueing without wasting time. Furthermore, by implementing this system in APU cafeteria, this would leads to lesser misunderstanding between the students and the workers working in the cafeteria as all preferences are specified directly by the students, so there is no room for confusions or misunderstanding. Other than that, using this system also benefits the cafeteria as they are able to save money on printing the menus as well as having a flexible way in changing their menus as often as they need. The system will also be able to notify the students, lecturers or staff when his/her food approaches. This will definitely reduce the workload of the cafeteria workers. Students, lecturers or staffs who are satisfied with the efficiency of getting things done will surely come back to the cafeteria again. According to a study done by (Ismail and Mohd Shah, 2014), shown that repeat customers are largely influenced by their direct experiences of dining at the particular restaurant. Most of these repeat customers are more likely to have a good experience during their visit.
Page | 8
1.4 Potential Benefits For the outcome of the web application, it gives two types of benefits which are classified into 2 types: Tangible and Intangible benefits. The tangible benefits refers to things that can be control by the developer and on the other hand, intangible benefits refers to things that cannot be control by the developer and require more user feedback. Below the developer has listed both the tangible and intangible benefits of the online food and beverages queue purchasing system 1.4.1 Tangible benefits a)
When systems are automated this benefit is obvious as automation can save manual process time. Therefore, it leads to productivity gain which allows the cafeteria
b)
workers to do more work. APU cafeteria does not need to hire more workers for the sake of helping the
c)
businesses which able to save up money and time. APU cafeteria does not need to print out menus for the sake of presenting the food
d)
and beverages. Reduce the workload of cafeteria workers. Cafeteria workers no longer needed manually to take down the orders of the students, lecturers and staffs as orders are all made through online.
1.4.2 Intangible benefits a)
Students, lecturers and staffs orders are much clearer and concise as their preferences are specifically made through online, so this leads to lesser misunderstanding and
b)
confusions. Helping students, lecturers or staffs saving their time which is a valuable thing, rather
c)
than waiting in a line to order his/her foods. Food spotting services provided for students, lecturers or staff to track out the nearby
d)
restaurants and where are the exact places to find it. Much convenience for students, lecturers and staff to order their food online during a rainy season and on the other hand, delivering of foods is also provided.
Page | 9
1.5 Target Users The main focus of the system is to allow students, lecturers or staffs to purchase their food and beverages virtually. In other words, he/she would be given 3 options to either place their order online from the website, to place their order through online queueing or to do a quick food-spotting with geo-location. This actually ease the students, lecturers and staffs as they are free to roam around and at the same time to ease the frustrations of students, lecturers and staffs who needs a precise direction on where and what to eat during their lunch session. This web based application system works well on both Wi-Fi and cellular data and can only be used by students, lecturers and staffs from A.P.U. 1.6 Scope and Objectives 1.6.1 Aims
To create the propose system that allows students, lecturers or even staffs to purchase
their foods and beverages virtually at the palm of their hand. To create the propose system that no longer require physical queuing line. To create the propose system that enables you browse images of food instead of reviewing the restaurants.
1.6.2 Objectives
To develop a website that allows students, lecturers or staff to purchase food and
beverages online or virtually. To conduct online queueing where students will be notified via an online ticket which
are required to be identified upon arrival. To enable real time food spotting/ guiding and where are the exact places to find it. To enable food delivery system for users (integrated with all of the cafeterias in APU).
Page | 10
1.6.3 Deliverables The Food and Beverages Queue Purchasing System allows students, lecturers or staffs to order food online as long as their electronic gadgets are connected to the Internet (Wi-Fi or Cellular Data). By using this system, students or lecturers from one building no longer needed to travel from one place to another just for the sake of purchasing food or for the sake of queueing. After ordering their foods from the website, students or lecturers are given the options to deliver their food or an online-queueing. By delivering their food, a delivery fees will be charged and on the other hand, online-queueing where the students or lecturers are free to roam around and will only get notifies at their gadgets when his/her food approaches. Apart from that, students, lecturers or staff would also be able to use the feature of food spotting which were developed into the system where real time food spotting / guiding are enable and where are the exact places to find (Phil Lempert, 2013).
A) Below are the cores functions of the system will be achieved before delivering: Allow students, lecturers or staffs to login and logout from the system. Allow students, lecturers or staffs to search for the types of food available from the
system. Allow students, lecturers or staffs to a comment or feedback into the system.
B) Besides that, the additional features of the system are as follows: Allow students, lecturers or staffs to purchase food and beverages online or virtually. Allow students, lecturers or staffs to use the feature of food spotting and where are the
exact places to find it. Allow students, lecturers or staffs to que online where there is no longer physical
queueing. Enable students, lecturers or staff’s orders being delivered to them.
C) Apart from that, special features of the system will be added if there is extra time: Allow students, lecturers or staffs to keep track of their food orders. Record user actions with a logs file.
1.6.4 Nature of Challenge First of all, fulfilling user browsing experiences will be the main challenges in developing my project. One of the main reason is due to different users viewing the web application in Page | 11
several different screen resolution and in several different browsers. The next challenge would be due to time constraints. As a final year student, we were given a period of 9 months to complete our project. Therefore, if time were not being managed properly, the quality of the project as well as the researches will be affected. Other than that, choosing the right programming language is also another factor that would affect in developing my project. This is because that if the programming language were wrongly chosen or which you are not familiar with, it will eventually doom your project to almost certain failure or make the rate of success much more difficult. Lastly, documentation skills also refers to a challenge in developing and structuring my project. As a developer, it’s always important to have reliable documentation to guide throughout our work as we may be sometimes supporting multiple applications at the same time. So, with good documentation skills works can be done efficiently and effectively. 1.7 Overview of this report and Project plan Overview of the report will briefly describe what each chapter will be covering:i)
Chapter 1 is about the introduction to the study. Basically, it includes project background information on the proposed system, project context, rationales and Potential benefits. Potential benefits includes tangible and intangible benefits. Other than that, it also consists of target users, scope and objectives, aims,
ii)
objectives, deliverables and lastly the nature of challenges faced by the developer. Chapter 2 describes the company that will be going to use the proposed system. Meanwhile, an organizational chart will also be shown who the users are that will
iii)
be affected by the system. Chapter 3 contains a literature review which gives explanation of the technology to be used by the developer and how each one assists one another. Besides that, the
iv)
developer also discuss the similar system that are currently available in the market. Chapter 4 describes the current system business models, business environment, industry forces and competition. Besides that, it also describes the proposed system which consists of how the new proposed system addresses the SWOT analysis, PEST analysis or PORTER’s FIVE analysis. Along with that, it also
v)
includes cost calculation and return analysis. Chapter 5 discuss the methodology that the developer plans to apply during the system development. Justification about the researcher’s choice and the overview of diagrams concerning the methodology will be shown. Other than that, the
Page | 12
developer will further explains how the chosen methodology will be applied vi)
during the system development. Chapter 6 explains the primary research where data gathering and analysis. The design of the research which includes the questionnaires and their objectives are
vii)
also stated in his chapter. Chapter 7 describes the analysis of data and how various research methods affect
viii)
the decision to either retain the requirement or making chances. Chapter 8 concludes about the proposed system. It summarizes the achievement in this project and at the same time, future areas or future improvements are also suggested.
1.8 Project Plan The project plan is the important tool to keep the project on course at all times and submitting the project on date before the due date. With this project plan, it ensures that all activities are fairly done accordingly throughout the project without missing any of the topics related to the projects. In this project, the developer would be using Microsoft Project and the name of the project plan created by the developer is known as a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is used to display information about various types of tasks or phases of the project, for example: how the tasks are being related to each other and how long does each task are needed to progress.
Page | 13
Figure 1.0: Gantt Chart
Page | 14
Chapter 2: Company background and structure 2.1 Company background The Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Originally established as the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT) in 1993 and the Asia Pacific University College of Technology & Innovation (UCTI) in 2004. APU is amongst Malaysia’s Premier Private Universities, and is where a unique fusion of technology, innovation and creativity works effectively towards preparing graduates for significant roles in business and society globally. With an international student community from more than 110 countries studying in its Malaysian campus, APU offers a truly cosmopolitan learning environment which prepares students well for the global challenges which lie ahead. 2.2 Company Structure APU’s structure consists of 4 different faculties, namely: School of Computing and Technology, School of Engineering, School of Business & Management and School of Accounting, Finance and Quantitative Studies. All of these faculties, two is located in the main campus, one would be located in Enterprise 3. The distance between these two buildings is very near. The last faculties would be located in Mines. To travel to Mines, students were allowed to take the APU shuttle bus service to get there and it's free. Next, APU have 3 cafeterias: - 1 located at the main campus and 2 at enterprise 3. Cafeteria 1: Located at the ground floor of main campus. In this cafeteria, it serves selfservice mixed rice, and many kinds of dishes. Besides that, students were also able to order other ala carte food such as fried rice and noodle as well. The prices are still considered reasonable. In this cafeteria, many kind of dishes are being served during the morning, but will left not much till lunch time. Cafeteria 2: Located at the ground floor of enterprise 3. In this cafeteria, it serves mostly Malay foods such as Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak. Cafeteria 3: Located at the first floor of enterprise 3. In this cafeteria, the food being served is almost similar with the one above. However, it does serves some Arabian food as well as Malay foods. The food in this cafeteria is somehow expensive compared to the other 2 cafeterias.
Page | 15
However, if students were still not satisfied with all of the cafeterias inside TPM. There is still another large food court inside TPM, namely: Technoflex Food court. This food court is near to enterprise 1 / 2 and sells a variety of dishes including Arabian and Western food. 2.3 Products and Services offered by APU APU offers a broad range of programmes such as Computing, Technology and Engineering, as well as programs in Business, Accounting and Banking & Finance. Besides that, APU also offered a specialized Language Centre, Asia Pacific Language Centre (APLC). APLC offers a wide range of quality English language courses which are specifically designed to improve English in a warm, friendly and professional learning environment. It is APU’s aim to nurture and encourage innovation through our programmes, with the intention of producing individuals who will learn, adapt and think differently in new and better ways. 2.3.1 Services offered by APU that uses the system Here at APU, not only the educational experiences were being offered by the university but also includes a wide range of social, sporting, academic facilities and cultural activities on campus. For example: auditoriums and classrooms, convenience shop, IT and engineering labs, library, shuttle bus services, cafeteria and etc. Cafeteria, popularly considered the best food outlet in the whole Technology Park Malaysia (TPM). The cafeteria serves a wide range of halal Asian and western food. It is located on the ground floor adjoining the Social Space and is frequently patronised by employees from our neighbourhood companies in TPM. The cafeteria is opened from 7:30 AM to 7:45 PM. It is also popular with part-time students who can get meals before going for evening classes. As a student, I would said that APU’s cafeteria is currently using the traditional linear queueing and traditional ticketing system which involves a single cashier or service counter and a single line. For example: To order food, students are supposed to stand in a single line and after that workers in the cafeteria will give you a piece of paper which is also known as a ticket, that consist of a waiting number. This number ticketing system dispense one ticket at a time and leave the ticket to be pulled when a new student order his/her food. Meanwhile, to organize the line of students as they wait to be served. After that, the waiting number will be displayed on a small television and students are require to collect his/her food at the counter.
Page | 16
Therefore, to avoid this kind of complicated system, a new proposed system must be developed to address the current situation. This new proposed system is known as the Food and Beverages Purchasing System. It is convenient, fast and easy to use format. It has almost all of the benefits that a student, lecturers and staffs would definitely want.
Chapter 3: Literature review 3.1 Introduction The literature review basically refers to the overview written of major writings and other sources on a selected topic. Sources covered includes journal articles, books, government reports, Web sites, etc. In each sources, the literature review usually provides a description, summary as well as an evaluation. It is usually presented as a distinct section of a graduate thesis or dissertation (Booth, A., Papaioannou, D., & Sutton, A., 2012). A literature review contains a critical analysis and the integration of information from number of sources, as well as a consideration of any gasps for future research (Manalo & Trafford, 2004). 3.2 Domain Research 3.2.1 Online Ordering As stated by Chris Cornell, 2009, he mentioned that nowadays people are living in a world where living is an issue, as they don’t have any time to even live. Besides that he also mentioned that this had gave birth to the e-commerce where people felt happy to follow the click and order procedure. This as well applied to the food industry. According to Cowen and Company, they had also conduct another research. In this research, mentioned that online ordering now represents 30% of the daily takeaway ordering. The main reasons provided by Cowen and Company through online ordering are convenience. To proof how convenience online ordering is, Gloriafood has conducted a study. According to this study, it shows that 69% of customers order food online using mobile phone whether they stuck in traffic, riding a bus or on a break. Anyone can easily place an order, as opposed waiting until to get home r starting to call. Through online ordering, there would be no misunderstandings and frustrations. On the other hand, through phone conversations, misunderstandings can be happen quite easily. Usually due to the noise, either in a restaurant or on the other end of the line, all it takes is a mistakes that frustrate the customer and to compromise the order.
Page | 17
However, through online ordering, customers can specified directly make their preferences. Therefore, there is no room for confusions or misunderstandings. Next, according to Lin Grensing-Pophal, 2013, mentioned that the CEO of Boston’s Pizza (Andrew Borsk), mentioned that the decision of moving to online ordering was due to the reason of customer-focused decision. They knew that had to be in the online game because world is changing rapidly and that is where customers nowadays are heading to. Borsk also mentioned and at the same time adding points as an added benefit to online ordering. He mentioned that that, “When somebody self-selects their food it is less likely for miscommunication versus talking to a server where things can get missed or misheard.” 3.2.2 Online Queueing According to Perry Kuklin, director of Marketing and Business Development for Lavi Industries, a leading provider of public guidance and crowd control solutions, including stanchions, in-line merchandising, and electronic queuing, mentioned that: “Most people feels like waiting in line is a waste of precious time. And the annoyance and boredom that can build in customers who must wait is dangerous for any business. Results in a long line can lead to losing customers as well as to damage the business’s reputation”. Kuklin also stated that “Start of a transaction is the end of the wait – This can be as simple as filling out paperwork before reaching the counter, looking at a menu while waiting, etc.” So, why not let your customers browse the website or other promotional offers while they wait for a specific campaign? Or, let them peruse the menu while waiting to book a table online? 3.2.3 Online Food Spotting According to a report by Nation’s Restaurant News, found that diners are more likely in using technologies as it relates to their dining. Other than that, according to Kevin Kent, 2016 stated that mobile-local network xAD and call measurement provider Telmetrics have also conducted a study and in this study shows that through mobile search behaviour, people are more likely to search the Internet for food using their phones or tablets. At the same time, these mobile-local network provider and call measurement provider also added that people who search for food online has a 90 percent conversion rate. The study has also confirmed that location and decision timing indeed have a significant influence on mobile purchase behaviour, it also revealed distinct behavioural differences between people who are searching for restaurant information and those who are looking for travel information or automotive
Page | 18
services information. Restaurant consumer activity is much more locally driven and far more urgent than these two other categories. According to a statement by Marissa Tarleton, chief marketing officer, North America at RetailMeNot, mentioned that as consumers get helps for dining choices with their mobile devices, it is imperative that restaurants market to diners via mobile. She also added that mobile marketing technology is a form powerful medium when comes to serving the right dining content, in the right location and at the right time. When done well, mobile has the ability to drive more diners to their doors and keep them coming back. 3.3 Technical Research Firstly, the aim of this project is to develop a web based system for food and beverages online queueing as well as to order-purchase food online. It is a system which gives user 3 options either to place their order online from the website or to place their order online through online-queueing or to do food spotting. The reason to develop this web-based system is due to the problem faced by the cafeteria in the restaurant. The problems would be long queueing issues, difficulties in finding places to eat, low place sitting for students during lunch time. Therefore, this system will help and overcome all mentioned problems which students, lecturers and staffs are currently facing. 3.3.1 Similar Systems In this segment, similar systems that are already available for users to download and use will be discussed. The systems mentioned are as follows: McDonald, Foodspotting, SmartQueueing, and Mobile-Q. Below are some examples of food restaurants which have already been using the similar system and how does the similar system operate. a) McDonald's Organisation In 1940, Richard and Maurice McDonald started their business as a barbecue restaurant. In 1948, hamburgers was later used as a production line principles. In 1955, businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent. He then subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. Today, McDonald's Organisation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Page | 19
Online ordering system for McDonald According to Paypers, McDonald’s France has developed an online platform, which include an ordering system and a wallet. This is to provide consumers a customized ordering experience, so they can have their food and eat it exactly what they want according to their preferences. This platform is available online and as a mobile application app (Robbie Pyburn, 2015). By doing so, consumers can access the information wherever they are. The app homepage allows customers to view all McDonald’s branches in the particular area. Customers can then select which branch they wanted to order from, place their order and pay online in advance using Worldline Wallet. Then the customers will receive a unique QR code that can be used in the particular McDonald restaurant on the same day, either to pick up or to dine in. During the process, the app will collect customised data on the customer, which will be used for targeted customer offers and cross-sales in the future (Robbie Pyburn, 2015).
Figure 2.0: McDonald’s Mc Do Ordering App
Page | 20
b) Foodspotting Foodspotting is a visual guide to good food and where the exact places to find it. Instead of reviewing the restaurant, you can recommend dishes and see what food spotters recommend wherever you go (Phil Lempert, 2013). The main feature of this application is allowing users to recommend specific menu items using photos so that other can see those menu items not just deciding on where to eat, but what they want to order. When you first open Foodspotting, you will be presented with a food photo. This actually is a great move to the apps developers. Showing what the app is about is a much pleasant experience rather than being asked to create an account and login before you can familiarize yourself with anything. The photo which you are greeted is actually just the first dishes captured by smartphones of hungry people just like you. The tiny globe on the top right corner will allow you to look at snapshots of food on a map. You can tap on any dish that looks appetizing to find out more about that particular meal and restaurant. Tapping the “more info” button will provide you with information regarding how many people recommend the particular dish and how many others would like to try it. Photography skills can be rated and if the food photographer was feeling extra frisky that day, you might just find a mini-review to accompany the photo of the food. Figure 3.0: Food Spotting Page | 21
c)
Mobile-Q Mobile-Q is a third-generation queuing system that enables customers to get a ticket at the nearest branch through their smartphones and remotely queue for their turn while continuing their activities. This ticket solution eliminates crowds and improve customer flows by allowing customers to join queue before they arrive. Meanwhile, customers are also able to real-time queueing information to keep track of their turn. Mobile-Q also enables customers to enter queue or book appointment with just a few clicks. This mobile queueing app provide real-time service tickets for desired service locations and shows the estimated waiting time. This is to ensure that customers don’t miss their turns. The main feature of Mobile-Q are to eliminate crowded areas and physical waiting line. Other than that, Mobile-Q also provides SMS notifications and online booking appointment. Mobile-Q is an integrated queue management software that meets the demands of the new digital customers. It is easy, convenient and saves customer’s precious waiting time. It is perfect to: Give appointments to manage customer traffic Deliver targeted messages and offers to customer Collect customer feedback about service experiences Provide real-time queuing information to customers
Page | 22
Figure
4.0:
Mobile-Q
3.3.2 Architecture a) McDonald's Online Ordering System
Page | 23
Figure 5.0: Architecture of McDonald’s Online Ordering System
The figure above shows an architecture of McDonald’s Online Ordering System. Firstly, the customers go into McDonald’s official website. After registering, the customers will be directed to a page where they are able to browse the menu by selecting category buttons. Once the customers select an item,
they can now customize their food according to their
personal preferences. After that, customers can then proceed with checkout and a booking number will automatically be provided. This booking number are given for the ease of customers to track their food (Matthew Volenec, 2012).
b) Foodspotting
Figure 6.0: Architecture of Foodspotting’s system
The figure above shows an architecture of Foodspotting system. To satisfy the cravings of a growing class of food lovers who value good food over service, cost and ambience, Foodspotting will be a visual local guide that lets you find and rate dishes, not just restaurants. To create this rich collection of foods and where to find them, Foodspotting will harness foodspotters’ desires to collect, compete and be good at something. As a multiPage | 24
channel platform that spans web, mobile and real life, Foodspotting integrates seamlessly with existing behaviours while adding a game-like dimension to them. At the same time, foodspotters can show off their sightings across social networks, participate in food scavenger hunts, earn and award blue ribbons to dishes they love and become dish “champions.”Restaurants can just as easily post specials, menu updates and communications to the public “foodstream” by paying a small fee. Lastly, foodseekers can find whatever they’re craving and see what’s good at any restaurant. They can find and follow dishes, restaurants and trusted foodspotters to stay on top of the latest sightings and specials.
c) Mobile-Q
Figure 7.0: Architecture of Mobile-Q queueing system
The figure above shows an architecture of Mobile-Q queueing system. Firstly, customer enters a virtual queue by taking a ticket using mobile queueing app. Then, while waiting to be served, customers are engaged using digital signage solutions and informational queue displays with promotional messages and queue information. Then the workstation terminal software and hardware is used by customer service personnel to call customers, transfer them and provide service. Once served, the customer records their experience through feedback units. Lastly, managers access real time business intelligence reports and dashboards through a centralized reporting system ensuring all service levels are met.
Page | 25
3.4 Conclusion In conclusion, each system stated above have their own uniqueness and strengths that would greatly improve the future of online food and beverages queue purchasing system. With McDonald’s online ordering system, it enables the customers to order at any point of the day. This gives the customer a larger time framework to work with and has helped the restaurants to increase their sales many times. Other than that, with McDonald’s online ordering system, all you need to know is one website address and for the restaurant owners(McDonald), all they have to do is display their menus on the websites and the customers will automatically come to them. In other words, this online ordering system is ease of use. Whereas for Foodspotting, it helps connect eaters with good food. Foodspotting is powered by people who take pictures of their food, so deciding where to go and what to get is as easy as browsing images of dishes at local restaurants. Lastly, as for Mobile-Q, it function as a platform in managing queues and have the expertise to transform the frenzied service areas into smartly designed modules to streamline customer flows and helps to manage queues efficiently.
Page | 26
Chapter 4: Business Case 4.1 Description of the Current System The current system in APU’s cafeteria is currently conducting its work manually which means that all activities taken place in that cafeteria is using the traditional way such as counting for stock, transaction activity involving getting money from the students, queueing which particularly involve a single line and a cashier, taking order manually from the students and all other daily works which takes place in the restaurant. By using the manual current system, it will result to human errors as well as data inaccuracy which will bring losses of business to APU’s cafeteria. Currently, as a students in APU, the developer had did some research on the workflow of APU’s cafeteria staffs. The APU’s cafeteria staffs are finding their job getting bored because of the environment surrounded by them and sometimes due to the overloading of work as all activities are conducted manually. Therefore, it makes their work hard and at the same time, to finish it on time as well as getting it perfectly done the way it is supposed to be done. Besides that, the researcher had also found that the cafeteria’s staffs are sometimes not being friendly to the new students of APU. Students who were not from Malaysia are getting much expensive foods compared to those students who were from Malaysia. For example: 2 different chicken dishes and 1 vegetable costs about RM 9-10. Next, another problem of the current system faced by most of the students, lecturers and staffs were the environment of the university. As A.P.U was located in a small environment Page | 27
with not much restaurants compared to Taylors and Monash universities. Therefore, students have difficulties in choosing what to eat and would normally spend their time in cafeterias chilling and lounging around. According to the journal of
Evaluation of Food Choice
Behaviour in Development and Validation of Health and Taste Attitude Scales stated that food choices is a process that includes various factors that made it very complex. Besides that, it also stated that food choices of an individual are more likely to be affected by internal and external factors. Internal factors include psychological factors of an individual to make foods choices. This statement was then again supported and stated that food choices will be affected by the food, the individual as well as the environment.
4.2 Description of the Proposed System The proposed system being offered to APU cafeteria will overcome the limitation of the current system by the following points:
It will be convenient to the students, lecturers, staffs as well as the employees of the cafeterias. The proposed system will be convenient to students, lecturers, staffs as well as the employees of the APU cafeterias as currently the employees of the cafeterias find it difficult to work because of overloaded of work. One good example would be taking order manually from the students which may sometimes leads to data inaccuracy. This often happens when taking too much order from the students at the same time during peak hours. Standing on the students, lecturers and staffs point of views, they would find the proposed system convenient and amazing as currently they will spent a long time in queueing while ordering their food but the proposed system enables them to order online directly from the proposed website. Besides that, if the students, lecturers and staffs felt like taking a lazy day off, they could just surf the website, order their food through online and request for a delivery service which the current system did not have such services.
Saves students, lecturers and staffs time The proposed system would also save students, lecturers and staffs time as the current system is using the traditional line queueing which involves a single counter and a Page | 28
single line. Normally, students stand in a single line to wait for their turns either to pay or to order however in this proposed system, students order their food through online and will be notified through their gadgets when his/her food approaches. During the process, student are free to roam around. Besides that, this proposed system also provide useful information to students, lecturers or staff by showing how many people are in the queue and the estimated time how long each person has been in the queue. By doing so, this would even provide additional benefits to the students, lecturers or staff as it enables to fully utilize their time instead of waiting continuously for the sake of ordering their food.
Automated foodspotting The proposed system also contain a feature that the current system is lacking off. This proposed system enables students, lecturers and staffs to find dishes online instead of reviewing a restaurant. The features is known as foodspotting. Foodspotting makes finding food easier by letting you see the food around you. As mentioned in Chapter 2, there were 3 cafeteria in APU: - 1 located at the main campus and 2 at enterprise 3. However, eating the same dishes over and over again will eventually makes the person sick. According to a study conducted by Marygace Taylor, found that people who ate the same food over and over again were likely to be less healthy than those who ate a variety of food. With the proposed system offered to APU cafeteria, this actually provide students, lecturers and staffs an opportunity to search for nearby restaurant and to discover what are the desirable dishes for them out there. Besides that, if any of the students, lecturers or staffs are some so-called “foodseekers” and have difficulties in choosing what to eat during lunch. By using this proposed system, it eventually helps these foodseekers to browse their cities and regions to see which restaurants are the best and nearest around them.
4.3 How does the proposed system addresses Porter’s Five Forces In 1979, Porter's Five Forces Model were developed by Michael E Porter of Harvard Business School. The model were being developed as a simple framework used to assess and evaluate the strengths and competitive position of a business organisation. Competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market are two main factors that determine the five forces which the theory is being based on. In a real life business situation, Porter’s five Page | 29
forces help to identify where power lies. This benefits in understanding both the strength of an organization’s current competitive position, and the strength of a position that an organisation may look forward to move into.
Below is a diagram showing the Porter’s Five Forces:-
Figure 8.0: Porter Five Forces Model
Bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers provide the raw material needed to provide a good or service. In other words, a strong relationships with suppliers must be maintained. Depending on the market dynamics, suppliers may be in the position to control terms, set prices and set availability timelines (Martin, 2014). Besides that, powerful suppliers have the ability to increasecosts without affecting their own sales volume or reduce quantities that they sell. For example: For APU cafeteria, the fewer the supplier the more power the get in supplying foods to the students, lecturers and staffs. In other words, because of a lack of alternates, they may be able to increase prices without losing any sales. Bargaining power of buyers Page | 30
If buyers are important to the company, they tend to have more powers over an industry. This may be if the industry is such that buyers either buy in bulk, or can easily switch to another supplier (Martin, 2014). For example: In APU cafeteria, if the food and drinks sold is similar to its competitors with no differentiation, then there are chances that APU cafeteria may need to let the supplier dictate terms in order to avoid losing the customer. In other words, the availability of existing substitute product, the more bargaining power of buyers. Threat of new entrants A competitive threat to a business may not be from existing players currently in the market but also potential new entrants into the market. If the business is profitable or attractive in a long term manner, then it will be attractive to new companies. However, if there are barriers in place, news industry can easily enter the market and change the industry dynamics (Martin, 2014).. For example: APU cafeteria need more capital investment in order to compete with the others cafeterias located in TPM. Moreover, for new entrants who would also like to enter the market must have a clear and concise strategy to overcome the situation, either with better technology or producing high quality dishes. Threat of substitute products Substitute products are those that exist in another industry but may be used to fulfil the same needs. The more substitutes that exist for a product, the larger the company’s competitive environment and the lower the potential for profit (Martin, 2014).. An example of this is that if the substitute dishes cooked by other cafeterias is priced lower or the substitute technology used is much advanced and was able fulfils the needs, then it may ended up attracting students, lecturers and staffs towards it thus reducing the sales in APU cafeteria. Rivalry among existing competitors One important force that Porter describes is the degree of rivalry between existing companies in the market. If there are more companies competing with each other, the resulting competitive pressure will mean that prices, profits and strategy will be driven by it (Martin, 2014). For example: If all of the existing cafeterias inside TPM was able to offer equally attractive dishes as well as the technology used as the APU
Page | 31
cafeteria, then the students, lecturers and staff will go to the existing cafeterias if they did not get a good deal from APU cafeteria.
4.4 Cost Benefit Analysis A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project or decision (UPENN, 2007). A CBA helps predict whether the benefits of a project or decision outweigh its costs, and by how much relative to other alternatives. 4.4.1 Return on Investment Costs: Hardware (Computers, Databases,
Servers,
Licenses) Software, Installation fees, Updating system System Analyst fees, Maintenance fees Overhead expenses (insurance, legal fees, telephone
bills,
utilities) Total Costs: Benefits: Reduction
in
operating costs Reduction in hiring costs Extra Sales revenue captured Improve
efficiency,
response
time
Year 0 $
Year 1 $
Year 2 $
Year 3 $
Year 4 $
Year 5 $
Year 6 $
Total $
50,000
30,000
20,000
8,000
-
10,000
-
40,000
10,000
-
-
5,000
-
1,000
17,000
7,000
5,000
3,000
4,000
2,000
4,000
22,000
12,000
10,000
7,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
129,000
59,000
35,000
18,000
15,000
16,000
7,000
150,000
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
40,000
30,000
30,200
3,0000
28,000
27,000
35,000
20,000
19,000
2,0000
22,000
18,000
17,000
21,000
21,000
11,000
11,500
12,000
11,900
12,000
12,500
31,200
21,200
11,800
12,000
22,400
21,700
21,500
and Page | 32
productivity Total benefits:
112,200
81,200 Costs
Year 0 129,000 Year 1 59,000 Year 2 35,000 Year 3 18,000 Year 4 15,000 Year 5 16,000 Year 6 7,000 Total
73,500
76,000
Cumulat ive Costs 129,000 59,000 94,000 112,000 127,000 143,000 150,000 814,000
80,300
77,700
90,000
478,700
Cumulat Benefits 112,200 81,200 73,500 76,000 80,300 77,700 90,000
ive Benefits 112,200 81,200 154,700 230,700 311,000 388,700 478,700 1,757,000
Figure 9.0: Return on Investment ROI = (Total benefits – Total costs) x 100 / Total Costs ROI = (1,757,000 - 814,000) x 100 / 814,000 ROI = 115.847%
Page | 33
4.4.2
Payback
Analysis
Payback Analysis 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 Year 0
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Cumulative Costs
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Cumulative Benefits
Figure10.0: Payback Analysis The figure above shows a payback analysis for Year 0 to Year 6. 4.4.3 Present Value Analysis Present Value Table Period
2%
s
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
1
0.980
0.961
0.943
0.926
0.909
0.893
0.877
2
0.961
0.924
0.890
0.857
0.826
0.797
0.769
3
0.942
0.889
0.840
0.794
0.751
0.712
0.675
4
0.924
0.854
0.792
0.735
0.683
0.636
0.592
5
0.906
0.822
0.747
0.681
0.621
0.567
0.519
6
0.888
0.790
0.705
0.630
0.564
0.507
0.456
7
0.870
0.760
0.665
0.583
0.513
0.452
0.400 Page | 34
8
0.853
0.730
0.627
0.540
0.467
0.404
0.351
9
0.837
0.702
0.592
0.500
0.424
0.361
0.308
0.270 0.676 0.558 0.463 0.386 0.322 Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Benefits: 112,200 81,200 73,500 76,000 80,300 77,700 90,000 Present Value 1.000 0.893 0.797 0.712 0.636 0.567 0.502 Factor (12%) Present Value 112,200 72,511.6 58,579.5 54,112 51,070.8 44,055.9 45,180 10
Costs: Present Value Factor (12%) Present Value Net Present
0.820
129,000
59,000
35,000
18,000
15,000
16,000
7,000
1.000
0.893
0.797
0.712
0.636
0.567
0.502
129,000
52,687
27,895
12,816
9,540
9,072
3,514
Total $
437,709.8
244,524
193,185.80
Value
Figure11.0: Present Value Analysis
Chapter 5: Development Methodology A system development methodology is a framework used to plan, structure, and control the process of developing an information system (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2005). Over the years, large variety of frameworks have been evolved, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. One system development methodology might not necessarily be suitable for used by all projects. Each methodologies is best suited for specific kinds of projects depending on various technical, organizational, project and team considerations. 5.1 Selected System Development Methodology The ideal methodology for a web based application system would be the “Iterative Development Methodology”. In Iterative methodology, processes starts with a simple implementation of small software requirement and iteratively enhances the evolving versions until the complete system is implemented and ready to be deployed.
Page | 35
An iterative model does not start with a full specification of requirements. Instead, development begins by specifying and implementing just part of the software, which is then reviewed in order to identify further requirements. This process is then repeated, producing a new version of the software at the end of each iteration of the model (Amir Ghahrai, 2008). Following is the diagram of Iterative model:-
Figure 12.0: Iterative Model Iterative model and Incremental development is a combination of both iterative design or iterative method and incremental build model for development. "During software development, more than one iteration of the software development cycle may be in progress at the same time." and "This process may be described as an "evolutionary acquisition" or "incremental build" approach." The key to successful use of an iterative software development lifecycle is rigorous validation of requirements, and verification & testing of each version of the software against those requirements within each cycle of the model. As the software evolves through successive cycles, tests have to be repeated and extended to verify each version of the software.
Page | 36
5.2 Explain each phase of the system development methodology chosen
Figure 13.0: Iterative Model Development Process Iterative model consists of the following repeating four phases in sequence:
A Requirements phase, in which the software requirements are being gathered and analysed. In order to produce a complete and final specification of requirements, Iteration should eventually result in requirement phase (Amir Ghahrai, 2008). During this phase, requirement involving user stating the expectations of the system are being gathered. For example: who will use the system and how the system will be used. After that, the analysing are being conducted by the developer to ensure that each requirement can be included in the system without causing breaks or problems with the system functionality (Noel Ransom, 2007).
A Design phase, in which a software solution is designed to meet the requirements. The design may be a completely new design or an extension of an earlier design. In system design, it is the most crucial phase in system development. It is also where logical design are being converted into physical design (Amir Ghahrai, 2008). For example: The programming language and the hardware and software platform in which the Food and Beverages queue purchasing system will run are also decided. Data structure, control process, equipment source, workload and limitation of the system, Interface, documentation, training, procedures of using the system, taking backups and staffing requirement are also decided at this stage.
Page | 37
An Implementation and Test phase, where software is coded, integrated as well as being tested. In this case, before implementing the new system into APU’s cafeteria, a test run must be conducted to check if all bugs are being removed. Then the output of the test run are being compared to check if it’s matched the expected results (OER Nios, 2005). After having the test run done, implementation begins. This is the stage of a project which theory is turned into practice. For example: acquisition and installation of hardware and software, user training, user documentation as well as the system documentation.
A Review phase, is usually being run at the end of each project phase. In this phase, the reviewer completes a phase review form describing the progress of the project during the project management review. At the same time, recommending whether or not it should be continue to the next project phase. If being approved, next project phase can be commenced. If approved, the next project phase can begins. For example: Risk and issues that has the highest priority in APU’s cafeteria new system must be recorded and documenting the outcome of the review, for approval.
For each cycle of the model, whether the software produced by the cycle will be discarded, or kept as a starting point for the next cycle sometimes referred to as “incremental prototyping”, a decision has to be made. Eventually a point will be reached where the requirements are complete and the software can be delivered, or it becomes impossible to enhance the software as required, and a fresh start has to be made. The first three phases of the example iterative model is in fact an abbreviated form of a sequential or Waterfall Model of development. Each cycle of the model produces software that requires testing at the unit level, for software integration, for system integration and for acceptance. As the software evolves through successive cycles, tests have to be repeated and extended to verify each version of the software. Page | 38
In Iterative model, several strengths are being found within the methodology. They are:
In iterative model, before beginning to build the product and defining the design solution for the entire product, high-level design of the application can be created. Later on, it also enable us to design and build a sketch version out of that, and then evolved the design based on what had been built.
In iterative model, we are building and improving the system step by step. Hence, we are able to track the defects or imperfection at early stages. This is to avoid the down flow of the defects.
In iterative model, reliable user feedback are provided. When presenting the sketches of the system to the user, we could effectively ask for their feedback and at the same time, asking them to imagine how the product will work.
In iterative model, less time is spent on documenting and more time is given for designing.
5.3 Justification From the perspective of the developer, the adoption of iterative model is empowering, enabling the developer to actively and aggressively attack project risks and challenges in whatever was being judge to be the most appropriate manner (Ian Spence, 2005). Managing iterations by setting clear objectives and objectively measuring results (and not dictating activities) ensures that they are free to find the best way to deliver results. From a student perspective, the introduction of clear, meaningful objectives, combined with the ability to review demonstrable results, allows those who will Page | 39
ultimately use the new software to take an active role in the project and share its ownership with the developer. Iteration has a lasting impact upon all of the business people involved in the project and fundamentally changes the way that they specify, pay for, and realize the business benefits of system solutions (Kurt Bittner, 2005).
Chapter 6: Primary Research 6.1 Introduction Primary research is defined as factual. Other than that, it also refers to a person who wrote first-hand accounts who was part of the study. Methods used by the researchers may be differ depending on how the experiments or study are being run but it typically follows the scientific method. Another way to think of primary research is that it is typically an original research (Devin Kowalczyk, 2015). Page | 40
Primary research basically focuses on the information that the researcher is collecting and not referring to any previous works of others. In this research, the researcher will be focussing only on questionnaires as the main source of data collection. At the same time, the researcher will also be targeting at 200 respondents from APU which includes students, lecturers and staffs of APU. This is because that by using questionnaires, the researchers would be able to compile the answers of the participants in order to know how they behave or thinks. For example: Giving out questionnaires questions to the participants to ask about their preferences for taste, price and services. The target participants would be only focussing on the students, lecturers and staffs of APU. Lastly, these questionnaires would be distributed to the participants before the final analysis would be done. 6.1.1 Questionnaires According to James P. Key, a questionnaire is a method used in obtaining the feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or attitudes of some of individuals. Questionnaires as a data collecting instruments, could be either structured or unstructured. The main objectives of using questionnaires as a data collection method is to gather information about the people’s attitudes, thoughts, as well as their behaviours. Below section outlines the advantages and disadvantages of using questionnaires as a data collection method:The advantages of questionnaires: 1. Practical-A good way to find out the attitudes, thoughts, and behaviours of a large group of people. 2. Large amounts of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short period of time and in a relatively cost effective way 3. Limited affect to its validity and reliability and can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people. 4. The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily measured. 5. Can be analysed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research
Page | 41
6. When data has been measured, it can be used to compare with other research methods and can used to measure change. The disadvantages of questionnaires: 1. There is no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being. 2. There is no way of telling how much thoughts a respondent has put in. 3. The respondent may be forgetful or not thinking within the full context of the situation. 4. People may read differently into each question and reply based on their own understanding (interpretation of the question). 5. There is a level of researcher imposition, meaning that when developing the questionnaire, the researcher is making their own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not important. Therefore may lead in missing something that is important. 6.2 Questionnaires Design 1. How many years have you been studying in Asia Pacific University? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to know capture the demographic profile of the participants. 2. Did you begin your college/university here or did you transfer here from another institution? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to know if the students are familiar with Asia Pacific University. 3. What is your classification in Asia Pacific University? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the students are doing their courses in Asia Pacific University. In other words, to find out if the students are APU’s students.
4. Which campus’s cafeteria do you use the most? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the students knows how Page | 42
many cafeterias are there inside TPM and how many of these cafeterias were under Asia Pacific University. 5. How often do you visit the campus’s cafeteria? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the students had their meals in the cafeteria or outside the campus. 6. What cultural food items would you like to eat in the cafeteria? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the participants prefer local foods or international foods. 7. In general, how would you describe the taste of cafeteria food? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the thoughts of the participants towards the foods in cafeteria. 8. In general, how do you think the cafeteria food is? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the healthiness of cafeteria’s food. 9. If you don’t eat in cafeteria, why? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the reason why students do not have their meals in the cafeteria. 10. Is there enough variety in each week’s menu? If No, please specify. Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out how many type of dishes do they served in each week. 11. What are the problems you faced at any other cafeterias? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out which problems does the participants faced most likely at other cafeterias in order to correct it in APU’s cafeteria.
12. Do you think you have enough time to eat during the meal period? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out are there sufficient time for the participants to eat during the meal period. 13. Do you think the ordering system works well? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the ordering system in APU’s cafeteria have any issues. 14. Is there always enough food available when you order? Page | 43
Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the amount of food being served to the participants is it enough. 15. Approximately how many minutes does it take to get through the line? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the estimated time of queueing. 16. Do you feel you have enough time to buy and eat your lunch? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the estimated time to pay and to eat the food. 17. If improvements could be made, what would be your priority? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out from the views of the participants what can be improved in the near future. 18. What changes would you suggest to improve the food served in the cafeteria? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out what are the other ways to improve the services of food served in the cafeteria. 19. In addition to the food itself, what changes (for instance in the cafeteria) would improve the overall dining experience? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the overall dining experience and the ways to improve it.
20. How do you prefer in ordering food from APU’s cafeteria? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out the patterns of the participants whether they interest in ordering food online or going directly to the counter.
21. Do you think people fear to order online because of security? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if people scared to order online because of fear of security like privacy. 22. If new system were to applied, what do you think if APU’s cafeteria has its own online food and beverages queue purchasing system? Will it be convenient for both customers and staffs of the restaurant? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out if the proposed system will be convenient for both customers and staffs of the restaurant.
Page | 44
23. Do you have any thoughts on how to improve/ implement a new system? Objectives: The purpose of this question is to find out which areas needs improvement or implementation in services of APU’s cafeteria.
Chapter 7: Requirements Validation 7.1 Analysis of Data According to Shamoo and Resnik (2003), data analysis is the process of systematically applying statistical and/or logical techniques to describe and illustrate, condense and recap, and evaluate data. As stated in chapter 6, the researcher will be targeting at 200 participants which includes students, lecturers and staffs of APU.
However, due to a certain
misinterpretations, the researcher was only able to target 35 participants by the whole of 200 participants. Therefore, analysis of data were conducted based on the 35 participants.
1. How many years have you been studying in Asia Pacific University? Answers 1 year 2 year
Response 14% 43% Page | 45
3 year 4 year
29% 14%
Response 1 Year
14%14%
2 Year 3 Year
29%
4 Year
43%
Figure 14.0: Years studying in Asia Pacific University Analysis: From the figure above, 14% responded that they had been studying in APU for only a year and 43% said that they had studied in APU for 2 years. Next, about 29% of the students responded that they studied in APU for 3 years. Lastly, 14% said that they were doing engineering courses and were currently in their final year.
2. Did you begin your college/university here or did you transfer here from another institution? Answers Started here Transferred from another institution
Response 80% 20%
Page | 46
Response Started here
20%
Transferred from another institution
80%
Figure 15.0: University status Analysis: From the figure above, 80% responded that they had been studying in APU since the day they joined the university. However, on the other hand, 20% said that they transferred from another institution due to high cost of tuition fees, given scholarships and etc.
Page | 47
3. What is your classification in Asia Pacific University? Answers Certificate Diploma Foundation Degree Masters
Response 5% 30% 20% 40% 5%
Response Certificate
5% 5% 40%
Diploma
30%
Foundation Degree Masters
20%
Figure 16.0: Education status Analysis: From the figure above, majority of the students are doing their degree compared to others. 40% of the students responded they are currently doing their degrees. On the other hand, 30% were doing diploma and the other 20% were from foundations. Lastly, 5% responded that that were doing their certificate and the masters.
Page | 48
4. Which campus’s cafeteria do you use the most? Answers TPM
ENTP 3 Mines Technoflex foodcourt (ENTP 4) None of the above
Response 70% 20% 7% 3% -
Response TPM
7%3%
ENTP 3 Mines
20%
Technoflex foodcourt (ENTP 4)
70%
None of the above
Page | 49
Figure 17.0: Campus’s cafeteria students prefer the most Analysis: From the figure above, 70% of the students responded that they usually have their meals in TPM while the second highest where students usually had their meals would be in ENTP 3. 7% of the students said their classes are usually held in Mines, therefore they usually have their meals there. Lastly, only 3% of the students said that meals in TPM, MINES and ENTP 3 are incredibly terrible, so they choose to walk to Technoflex foodcourt which is located at ENTP 4 to have their meals.
5. How often do you visit the campus’s cafeteria? Answers Daily
Response 100%
3-4 times a week
-
Weekly Never
-
Page | 50
Response Daily 3-4 times a week Weekly Never
100%
Figure 18.0: Student visiting campus’s cafeteria Analysis: From the figure above, 100% of students replied that they visit campus’s cafeteria every day. As long as classes were held, they will definitely visit the cafeteria.
Page | 51
6. What cultural food items would you like to eat in the cafeteria? Answers Chinese
Response 47%
Mexican
15%
Malay Pakistani Indian Others
30% 3% 5% -
Response Chinese Mexican
5% 3% 30%
Malay
47%
Pakistani Indian Others
15%
Figure 19.0: Student choices of cultural foods Analysis: From the figure above, about 47% of the students prefer Chinese foods. 15% said they prefer Mexican. 30% said Malay and 3% prefer Pakistani food. Lastly, only 5% of the students prefer Indian food.
Page | 52
7. In general, how would you describe the taste of cafeteria food? Answers Delicious
Response -
Pretty Good
20%
Average Not good Very bad
60% 20% -
Response Delicious
20%
20%
Pretty Good Average Not good Very bad
60%
Page | 53
Figure 20.0: Taste of cafeteria foods Analysis: From the figure above, 60% of the students said the food in cafeteria is average. 20% said that it was pretty good and the other 20% said it was not that good.
8. In general, how do you think the healthiness of cafeteria food? Answers Very healthy
Response -
Healthy
60% 40%
A little healthy Not healthy
Response Very healthy Healthy A little healthy
40% 60%
Not healthy
Page | 54
Figure 21.0: Healthiness of cafeteria foods Analysis: From the figure above, 60% of the students said that the food in cafeteria is a little healthy as there are plenty of vegetable dishes compared to meat dishes. However, there were also 40% of the students complaining that the food being served is not healthy at all.
9. If you don’t eat in cafeteria, why? Answers Lazy
Response 20%
No idea what to eat
30%
Prepared food from home
2%
Going out for lunch Food taste horrible
30% 20%
Page | 55
Response Lazy No idea what to eat
37% 2%
24%
37%
Prepared food from home Going out for lunch
Figure 22.0: Why students choose not to eat in cafeteria Analysis: From the figure above, Students were giving out answers why they don’t have their meals in cafeteria. 30% of the students said that they have no idea what to eat and the other 30% mentioned that they usually had their meals outside TPM. 20% said that the taste of the food is horrible and some were giving out answer like “lazy” as a reason why they don’t have their meals in cafeteria. Lastly, 2% of the students usually girls said that they prepared food from home.
10. Is there enough variety in each week’s menu? If No, please specify.
Page | 56
Answers Yes
Response 100%
No
-
Response Yes No
100%
Figure 23.0: Food Varieties Analysis: From the figure above, all of the students who did the questionnaire questions said that they were more than enough choices in each week’s menu.
11. What are the problems you faced at any other cafeterias? Answers Food is expensive Not enough seating No problem at all
Response 20% 10% 70%
ResponseFood is expensive
20% 10% 70%
Not enough seating No problem at all
Page | 57
Figure 24.0: Problems faced by students at other cafeterias Analysis: From the figure above, 70% of the students were happy with the cafeterias. However 30% of the students complained. 20% said that the food in the cafeterias is too expensive and 10% said that they could hardly find a place to sit during lunch hours. 12. Do you think you have enough time to eat during the meal period? Answers YES NO
Response 90% 10%
Response 10%
YES NO
90%
Figure 25.0: Time to eat during meal period Analysis: From the figure above, 90% of the students said that they have more than enough time to eat during the meal period. Only 10% of the students disagrees with it.
13. Do you think the ordering system works well? Answers YES
Response 40% Page | 58
NO
60%
Response YES NO
40% 60%
Figure 26.0: Ordering system status/performance Analysis: From the figure above, 40% said that the ordering system works well in the cafeteria. However, 60% of the students disagrees with it. Some complained that it takes too long to queue as well as to order. Besides that, some even complained that the numbering system being displayed are sometimes not functioning.
14. Is there always enough food available when you order? Answers
Response 80% 20%
YES NO
Response YES
20%
NO
80%
Page | 59
Figure 27.0: Food availability Analysis: From the figure above, 80% of the students agrees that there are always enough food when they ordered. However, another 20% of the students disagree with the statement above. They said that food are always not enough due to very limited and small portions.
15. Approximately how many minutes does it take to get through the line? Answers 3 mins 4 mins 5 mins 6 mins More than 10 mins
Response 10% 10% 10% 20% 50%
Response 10% 10% 50%
10%
3 mins
4 mins
5 mins
6 mins
More than 10 mins
20%
Page | 60
Figure 28.0: Students getting through the line Analysis: From the figure above, 50% of the student waited for more than 10 mins during a queue. However, some were saying that they waited for only 3 -6 mins to get through the line.
16. Do you feel you have enough time to buy and eat your lunch? Answers
Response 50% 50%
Yes No
Response Yes
No
50%
50%
Page | 61
Figure 29.0: Time availability for students to buy and eat their lunch Analysis: From the figure above, 50% of the student agrees and the other half of the student disagrees with that. 50% of the students disagree that there isn’t enough time to buy and to eat lunch because they said that time given in between the lunch hour and the class starting is very short. Therefore, this causes them having not enough time to buy and to eat their lunch.
17. If improvements could be made, what would be your priority? Answers Service
Response 20%
Food
10%
Price
60%
Facility/Cafeteria
10%
Page | 62
Response 10% 20%
Service Food Price
10%
Facility/Cafeteria
60%
Figure 30.0: Improvements to be made Analysis: From the figure above, 60% of the students said to change the price of the food as it is too expensive. Secondly, 20% of the students request to improve the services in the cafeteria. Next, 10% of the student said to improve on the foods as well as the facility of the cafeteria.
18. What changes would you suggest to improve the food served in the cafeteria? Page | 63
Answers Add more counters Establish e-card payments Coupons Online delivery/ordering
Response 10% 30% 40% 20%
Response Add more counters
20% 10% 30% 40%
Establish e-card payments Coupons Online delivery/ordering
Figure 31.0: Changes to improve the food served in cafeteria Analysis: From the figure above, students had given few examples to improve the food served in the cafeteria. For example: Adding more counters, establishing e-card payments, using coupons and to implement online delivery or online ordering.
Page | 64
19. In addition to the food itself, what changes (for instance in the cafeteria) would improve the overall dining experience? Answers Setting up more tables and chairs
Response 20%
Special rooms for event gathering. E.g.: Birthday party Setting up televisions
and
other
electronic gadgets Others (Design, layout, Furniture and etc.)
30% 40% 10%
Response Setting up more tables and chairs
10%
40%
20%
Special rooms for event gathering. E.g.: Birthday party Setting up televisions and other electronic gadgets
30%
Others (Design, layout, Furniture and etc.)
Figure 32.0: Changes to improve the overall dining experience
Page | 65
Analysis: From the figure above, 40% of the students suggested that television should be implemented in the cafeteria. Next, 20% of the students said that more seating arrangement should be made as some students were not able to find a place to settle during lunch hours. Besides that, 30% of the students stated that cafeteria should provide special rooms for students for different types of occasions as currently the events are all held within the same area. Lastly, 10% of the students said that to improve the overall dining experience in the cafeteria, some designs or special layout regarding the cafeteria’s floor plan could be made.
20. How do you prefer in ordering food from APU’s cafeteria? Answers Counters Online delivery/ordering
Response 30% 70%
Response Counters
30%
Online delivery/orderin g
70%
Figure 33.0: Student’s preferences in ordering food Analysis: From the figure above, 70% of the students prefer to order food online. This is because that through online ordering, it makes the students to order virtually at nay locations at any time they want. However, 30% of the students prefer to order Page | 66
their food through the counter as it is much convenient for them as it doesn’t require them to sign up for an account.
21. Do you think people fear to order online because of security? Answers
Response 30% 70%
Yes No
Response
30%
Yes No
70%
Page | 67
Figure 34.0: Security issues Analysis: From the figure above, through the data that the researcher has been collected, there are 70% of the students are not afraid to order online because of security. This is because that based on the perspectives on majority of the students, they mentioned that food ordering are different compared to online buying and selling. It basically just ordering food online rather than approaching the counter for the sake of ordering. To them, it’s something new and they wished the system to be implemented in the cafeteria. However, 30% of the students disagrees with that. They stated that online ordering still requires your email for verification purposes. Therefore, they have chosen not to implement online ordering in the cafeteria.
22. If new system were applied, what do you think if APU’s cafeteria has its own online food and beverages queue purchasing system? Will it be convenient for both customers and staffs of the restaurant? Answers Yes
Response 80%
No
20%
Page | 68
Response 20%
Yes No
80%
Figure 35.0: APU’s cafeteria online food and beverages queue purchasing system
Analysis: From the figure above, 80% of the student agreed if the new system had been implemented into APU cafeteria. It would definitely be an increase of profit in the cafeteria. Other than that, it would definitely made the life of the students as well as the cafeteria’s staff convenient and at the same time works can be done in a much efficient way. On the other hand, 20% of the student says NO as the system its way too complicated and troublesome.
23. Do you have any thoughts on how to improve/ implement a new system?
Page | 69
Answers Observe staff works Interview staff about their work Send out questionnaire about working practices Inspecting problems that the current system created Allocating tasks to the staff solely based on their skills and availability
Response 40% 20% 20% 10% 10%
Response
10% 10%
40%
20%
Observe staff works
Interview staff about their work
Send out questionnaire about working practices
Inspecting problems that the current system created
Allocating tasks to the staff solely based on their skills and availability
20%
Figure 36.0: Thoughts on improving and implementing a new system
Analysis: From the figure above, majority of the students suggest that observing how the staffs work would be the best idea to improve a new system. Secondly, 20% of the students suggest interviewing the staffs about their work would also improve the new system. Next, another 20% of the students suggested that by sending out questionnaires about the staffs working practices. Lastly, 10% of the students stated that inspecting problems that the current system creates which the solution could be implemented into the new system. Another 10% of the student agreed that by allocating tasks to the cafeteria’s staffs based on their skills and availability could also improve in the new system. 7.2 Conclusion Based on the analysis of the questionnaires, the researcher has realized that by using questionnaires as a data collection method, questionnaires are able to provide a relatively Page | 70
cheap, quick and efficient way of obtaining large amount of information from a large group of people. However, a main problem that occurs with questionnaires is that respondent may lie or bend the truth to look good so that they may have a positive image of themselves. For example: One of the questions in the questionnaire is asking if the students have enough time to buy and eat their lunch. Based on the analyse data, 50% of the students responded with a “YES” and the other half of the students responded with a “NO”. From the statement shown, the researcher knew that some of the students were answering the questions just for the sake of answering. This may somehow ended with a wrong evaluation or results. If more time were given, the researcher will fully focus on the 200 participants instead of getting the results based on the 35 respondents. Besides that, the researcher will also believe that the answer given by the respondents is not lying but giving out the truth. This is maybe somehow due to the bad survey design of some questions. For example: Asking questions regarding the taste of the food or the services which happened too long ago for accurate memory. Therefore, people might forget and ended up with inaccurate responses because the respondents don’t remember the truth. Other than that, it may also due to the respondents who are in a hurry or annoyed which causes them to lie or bend the truth. Lastly, the researcher would retain the information provided by the respondents and at the same time making changes to the design of the questions.
Chapter 8: Conclusions and Reflections The overall conclusion of this proposed project, would be the 3 main core functions which includes placing order online from the website, placing order through online queueing and to Page | 71
do food-spotting. Currently, the APU’s cafeteria is using the traditional way of queueing which involves a cashier and a single line which makes the work difficult to the staff of the restaurant. Hence, the proposed system will overcome the current problem of the restaurant. At the same time, it will also be convenient to both the staff of the restaurant as well as to the APU’s students, staffs and lecturers. As for the staffs of the restaurant, it will definitely ease their work and for the students, lecturers and staffs of APU, they will be updated on what’s the latest news or what’s currently going on in APU’s cafeteria. Also, if more time were given to do this project, the developer will conduct more research on online services and at the same time, developing another features for APU cafeteria which allows students, lecturers and staffs to have an online chat services with the APU’s cafeteria staffs. Lastly, the developer was able to obtain valuable information about the various technologies that could benefits the proposed system. Meanwhile, the information collected from the respondents played an important role in strengthening the purpose of having the proposed system. During the investigation phase, the researcher was able to collect sufficient information about the online ordering system of MCD, foodspotting as well as the Mobile-Q queueing system.
Page | 72
References: Adweek.com. (2016). Survey: 25% of People Have at Least 1 Restaurant App on Their Phone. [online] Available at:
[Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Alison.com. (2016). The Design Phase: the processing requirements | The design phase | Diploma in Project Management | ALISON. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Anon, (2016). [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Apu.edu.my. (2016). APIIT Education Group | Asia Pacific University (APU). [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Behance.net. (2016). Behance. [online] Available at:
[Accessed
27
Nov. 2016]. Communications, E. (2016). Benefits of Online Ordering Go Beyond Increased Sales. [online] Hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com. Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Page | 73
Cgma.org. (2016). Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis - CGMA. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Dube-Rioux, L., Schmitt, B. and Leclerc, F. (2016). Consumers' Reactions to Waiting: When Delays Affect the Perception of Service Quality. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Ghahrai, A. (2016). Iterative Model in Software Development and Testing. [online] Testing Excellence. Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Gloriafood.com. (2016). What are the advantages of online food ordering. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Google Books. (2016). Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research. [online] Available
at:
id=61fLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA407&lpg=PA407&dq=study+of+repeat+customers+in+a+resta urant&source=bl&ots=wVXyAv2uki&sig=wBa04CDzISym072EgLnZOYXVPbA&hl=en&s a=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=study%20of%20repeat%20customers%20in%20a %20restaurant&f=false> [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Ibm.com. (2016). What is iterative development?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Istqbexamcertification.com. (2016). What is Iterative model- advantages, disadvantages and when to use it?. [online] Page | 74
Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Kent, K. (2016). 85 Percent of Hungry Mobile Users Searching for Food Go On to Complete a Purchase. [online] ReviewTrackers. Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Learning, I. (2016). 9. The advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires. [online] Libweb.surrey.ac.uk. Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Library.concordia.ca. (2016). How to write a literature review · Help & Writing · Concordia Libraries. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Library, Teaching and Learning | Te Wharepūrākau. (2016). What is a literature review? Library, Teaching and Learning | Te Wharepūrākau. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Method123.com. (2016). Phase Review - Project Reviews. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Oer.nios.ac.in. (2016). Phases of System Development Life Cycle - NIOS. [online] Available at:
Page | 75
[Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Okstate.edu. (2016). Data Tools. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Ori.hhs.gov. (2016). Data Analysis. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Medical Daily. (2016). Is It Unhealthy To Eat The Same Thing Everyday?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Pyburn, R. (2016). McDonald’s France McDo Online Ordering App. [online] Public Spend Forum Europe. Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Resources, H., insights, I., quotes, I., business, S., hubs, S., tips, C., Training, E., search, J., development, P., Contributor, B., Kaumba, H., Narayan, B., AlBadah, R. and John, M. (2016). Porter's Five Forces Model | Strategy framework. [online] Cleverism. Rodell, B. (2016). No One Wants To Use Your Stupid Restaurant App. [online] L.A. Weekly. Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016].
Page | 76
Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. www.tutorialspoint.com. (2016). SDLC - Iterative Model. [online] Available at: < https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sdlc/sdlc_iterative_model.htm> [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Study.com. (2016). Requirement Gathering & Analysis Phase in SDLC | Study.com. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Study.com. (2016). Primary & Secondary Research: Definition, Differences & Methods Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 Nov. 2016]. Supermarketguru.com. (2016). The App Review: Foodspotting - Articles on Smart Grocery Shopping. [online] Available at: [Accessed 13 Nov. 2016]. Virtual Online Queuing System | Queue-it. (2016). Playing with Fire: Understanding the Psychology of Queuing [Infographic] - Virtual Online Queuing System | Queue-it. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Wavetec. (2016). Mobile Queuing and Virtual SMS App | Wavetec. [online] Available at: Page | 77
[Accessed
22
Nov. 2016]. Wavetec. (2016). Virtual Queuing System by Wavetec. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. WebstaurantStore. (2016). Take a Number Dispensers, Tickets, and Kits. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016]. Web2expo.com. (2016). Foodspotting: A Foodie-Powered Field Guide: Web 2.0 Expo New York 2009 - Co-produced by TechWeb & O'Reilly Conferences, November 16 - 19, 2009, New York, NY. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 Nov. 2016].
Page | 78
