Project Draft: (8 or more pages of written text with at least 10
references)
All projects must be initially documented in a project draft report. The
document should be concise and include the following:
Cover Page with Honor Pledge (can be found on BlackBoard) Table of
Contents Objective of your project (similar to topic submission, but
now
including feedback from your faculty mentor and peer review) Client
(if applicable, background on the organization your project is creating
an IT solution for. Who is the organization and what
are there IT needs for this project). If no external client then use this
section to discuss what point of view, argument, or
thesis you plan to convey to the reader Content Advisor with
summary of qualifications (who is your faculty
member and what work have they done in this area) Project Plan (what
will you do and how will you do it, include a
planned schedule, how long do you anticipate each step will
take) Resources (do you need access to any IT resources such as
servers,
storage devices, cloud computing, special software? If so, how will you
obtain access? Will the organization provide these resources? Are they
free?)
Project Details – this is where you make your argument, support your
points with data and references, and provide a detailed
discussion of your capstone project. Describe what you have done with
the project up to
this point. What do you have left to do. Knowledge being applied
(which courses, background knowledge, or
prior experience might be applicable to this project? What might you
have to learn this semester to successfully finish this project?)
Risk factors (are there specific things that could negatively
impact your project? Are you dependent on an organization rolling
out a new product? What happens if that product gets delayed? What
happens if you need special resources and they are not available? What
issues and challenges might you run into this semester?). You should
also consider any risk factors for your client. For example, while your
solution may solve one technical challenge for the client, would it
introduce problems elsewhere in the organization? Would it eliminate
jobs? What would a full-scale production deployment of your solution
involve? Could the customer/client afford this?
Work to be performed by others (are you using software,
resources, or work provided by others? You need to make it very
clear what you will be doing and what others will be doing. It needs to
be clear that you are providing a significant amount of work this
semester. You are welcome to reuse and build upon other’s work.
However, it must be clear that you are significantly extending that
work.)
Reference Section – Your project must include at least 10
scholarly articles, technical web sites, or books related to your topic.
A “References” section should be at the end of your draft listing these
resources. Also, within the text you
should make reference to these resources. References should be used to
strengthen the argument you are making in your paper. All references
cited in the Reference section must be mentioned somewhere in the
text. An excellent source of scholarly materials is Marymount’s
Summon web site: http://marymount.summon.serialssolutions.com/#!/
1
Khalid Albuainain
IT-489
Dr. Narock
Marymount University
10.20.15
“I acknowledge that the Capstone Project is an independent study project to be completed
individually. On my honor, I have not received aid on my Capstone Project other than what was
provided by my faculty mentor and any persons explicitly cited in my work. I further acknowledge
that if I have given any aid to another student in this course, the instructor of this course was made
aware of my contributions.”
2
Table of Contents
Project Description
Project Objectives
Project Benefits
Project Risks
Project Activities
Analysis of Requirements
Specification
Architecture of the Software
Testing
Documentation
Training and Support
Maintenance
Project Costs
Conclusion
Works Cited
3
Project Description
The project proposes an app that will boost customer loyalty in a car washing business by
simplifying the hustle and bustle they go through when seeking a car wash. Through the smooth
service, the business is going to retain and increase its client base. Through the app, the
customers will be able schedule appointments, place order for services while the business will be
able to create a customer loyalty base and develop a customer feedback system where the
customers can raise issues like complains, comments on the services and suggestions on how to
improve or the kinds of services they felt were missing.
Car washing business, like any other business organization, operates in a volatile business
environment. The businesses have to adapt to the changes especially technological changes
sweeping the business world today. Nowadays, for an entity to remain relevant and competitive,
it has to embrace innovation and integrate it into its framework to ensure that clients are served
efficiently and effectively. Through a feedback system, the business and customers can exchange
information. This necessitates a development of an information management system within the
business. With the new possibilities that come with information management system, many
organizations have crumbled under the challenges the new system’s dispensation.
The project also will have a website that will disseminate important information tailored
to the needs of customers and ensure the services are delivered promptly. By evaluating the
shortcomings of the existing information, the proposed business will take into account the
concerns raised and use it to develop a comprehensive information system that eliminates all the
bottlenecks. From the streamlined information management system, assessment of issues that
4
involve customers, employees, products and services, and communication with other
stakeholders can be handled efficiently.
The main objective of the new app is to develop an excellent customer experience never
experienced before. Through its network, the app will be able to ensure that customer-business
relationship is given priority. By being in the forefront of innovativeness, the business will be
able to meet customer needs and deliver the services efficiently. The app should also be able to
function efficiently and avoid errors that may occur while placing customer orders, managing
client loyalty programs and maintaining capacity in line with anticipated demand.
Project Objectives
The main objective of this project is to design, develop, implement and test a car wash
business app to meet the needs of customers’ effectively, efficiently and timely. The app will
support the establishment, maintenance and management of customer information, making
effective orders and scheduling, managing the customer loyalty program and maintaining
customer feedback.
The project is also supposed to aid the business in decision-making, with appropriate
record keeping and data management so as to enhance statement generation to enlighten the
management regarding customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the app can be utilized as a platform
to enable payments for the car wash. Lastly, the data from the app can be employed to cautiously
to plan the future and guarantee that sufficient capacity is preserved to attend impending orders.
Thus, the app will be established with the wishes of the clienteles and the administration in mind.
Ultimately, when the business capacity is subscribed, the app can be used to plan at home service
for clients (Khanduja, 2009, pp. , 2009).
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Project Benefits
The obvious benefit is that the project is going to accrue profits. By offering quality services,
more customers will be attracted, and the client base will increase. This in return will be
increasing the profits. The cash washing centres will receive more traffic and be able to schedule
online for the services. Increased clientele in car washing centres means better remuneration for
the service men.
The app is also going to create employment opportunities for many people. From the
development of the app through to car washing, individuals are going to be employed to ensure
the business objective is achieved. Through the income earned, individuals can improve their
standards of living and develop the community around. The website will need someone to
maintain and update it frequently, orders need to be scheduled, and payments need to be verified
and any other responsibility will need someone to be in charge.
The app is also going to benefit clients seeking car washing services. By simply logging
into the app, they can scan for the available car washing centres, place an order, receive a
schedule and get the service conveniently. Clients who are new in town and need their cars
washed don’t need to know the town to be served. The app is going to locate for them the nearest
washing centres where they will receive the service. They can also check before hand the charges
for the service and prepare adequately to avoid embarrassment.
The other benefit of the app is that it gives clients flexibility. They can schedule for a car
wash anytime they want and be guaranteed that they will be served. They clients also have a
variety of service centres they can choose from and from the service catalogue, they can choose
6
the kind of service they want. Recent statistics shows that the average smartphone owner spends
at least two hours on his phone. While they may not be using the app, the split moment the app is
on their way while scrolling or scanning the devices can subconsciously market the product.
With hands-on information, loyalty programs can be digitized (Haselmayr, pp. , 2014).
Project Risks
Since the objective of the app is to provide online services, it’s going to utilize the services
of cloud providers. The risks, therefore, are likely to come from using the cloud. One of the risks
of using the cloud is that it denies the owner total control. By purchasing IT services from a
cloud provider, one lacks absolute control the over the computing assets the business requires to
function. If cloud service provider changes business or goes out of business or charged more, the
business is likely to suffer dire consequences by incurring more costs which will eat into the
profits. If the business doesn’t want to incur the cost, it’s going to shelve it to the clients who
may stop using the service.
The cloud providers are also not the same hence no flexibility to change to another
provider. One may remain stuck to only one provider even if the service is poor. This can be
attributed to the diverse hardware, software, settings, and configurations used by different
providers. Customized app can only function well in the environment it was designed for.
Changing the cloud provider means modifying the app which will take time and resources unless
cloud computing industry undergoes standardization (Lindner, 2013).
The data is usually protected by the cloud provider. This is risky because one is not assured
of the security of the data. Being a second party, cloud provider may not have the same
motivation of safeguarding the data as the owner. Data can be destroyed or lost. The hackers can
7
steal the data, information frozen by authorities or secret business information stolen. Many
providers use general encryption keys to manage the storage and backup of client data. This
means that hackers can easily infiltrate the cloud provider and access the data by cracking the
encryption.
Cloud providers serve many different clients with different volumes information. Given
their resources, they can manage to employ better security mechanism better than a small
organization. This means that the security of business data is in the hands of someone else. The
tendency to house data from different clients on the same servers means that the business
information may fall into the hands cyber criminals who had no intention of stealing such data.
Some of the providers don’t even allow their customers to do any inspection (Shrum and Murray,
2013, pg 1-3).
Project Activities
The project activity is the development of the app. The following are the stages followed in
creating the app.
Analysis of Requirements
The task of creating an app is to extract the requirements of the software. This requires
proficiency and knowledge in software engineering in order to identify deficient, vague or
ambiguous requirements.
Specification
This section is mathematically rigorous as it deals with the exact description of the software
to be written. Ideally, the successful requirements are written by understanding and adjusting
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applications that are already developed. The specification is most essential for an exterior
interface that must always remain stable.
Architecture of the Software
This is the abstract representation of the system. Architecture is concerned with ensuring
that software system meets the requirements of the product, in addition to ensuring that any
future requirements will be addressed easily (Brown, 2015).
Implementation
This where the design is executed through coding. It looks like the most obvious constituent
of the software engineering, but is actually demanding and forms the major part of the project.
How the project is going to be managed must be planned and key stakeholders involved. The
scope of the project must be defined and agreed upon. Since this phase may involve a number of
people, a schedule of tasks and datelines must be developed (Hallman, 2011).
Testing
This where sections of the software are tested to ensure they function as required. The app
is eventually tested too to check if it executes the functions designed for. The app usability and
consistency are also tested. The testing can be done in variety of devices like phone or tablets
and different operating systems. The main platforms include Android and Windows. At the end
of the testing process, the following task must be accomplished: functional testing, performance
9
testing, memory leakage testing, interrupt testing, usability testing, installation testing,
certification testing and security testing (Joseph, 2015).
Documentation
The interior design of software must be documented for future maintenance and improvement.
Training and Support
Most software projects fail to succeed because developers don’t recognize the of
importance user friendliness. It’s a huge loss of time and resource to develop a software nobody
is going to use; it is even sad if what it only takes is to train people on how to use them. Some
people, especially the senior citizens don’t adapt easily to change. They resist anything that alters
the norm and venturing into the new unaccustomed setting is unlikely. During deployment, it is
important to train software fanatics, then shifting the gear to the neutral users and eventually
incorporating the rest of the population. The users at first will have a lot of queries and software
glitches which leads to the subsequent stage of the software (Select Business Solutions, p. n.d.).
Maintenance
Maintaining and improving software to handle the newly exposed complications or new
desires can take more time than the original development of the software. It may be necessary to
add more code which may not fit the initial plan or become cumbersome to evaluate the
performance of the app. Of all the software development work, maintenance account for 60% of
the total input. A section of this is debugging. Maintenance can be considered as new work since
the system is adjusted to do different things (Flinders, pp. , 2014).
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Project Costs
The business proposed is purely software and may require no or little physical premises.
The expense that the business is going to incur is in marketing. This can be done by employing
agents to market the app, placing advertisement in media, making fliers or brochures or even
organizing trade fairs to sensitize the public of the existent of the product. Some amount will be
required to for training, maintenance and upgrading of the app, and also acquiring the services of
cloud provider.
The business will also have hire and train employees to handle queries raised clients and
in case of any problems or difficulty in the use of the app they can solve them or forward the
issues to the relevant authority. The employees will join customer service team which will
handle customer issues.
The main cost incurred in the project is the cost of developing the app. Developing a
good and reliable app requires a resilient abstract foundation, good preparation, brilliant
networks and talented individuals to do the design work and engineering stages. The app needs
in-depth research so as to avoid doing identical projects to ones already existing in the market.
The target group must be incorporated during the research process. Deciding the platform the
app is going to be built is also important. An excellent creative workforce is needed to develop
the software especially those with user experience, interface design, and visual design. The point
here is that highly skilled personnel must be hired (Mehra, 2014).
Conclusion
The cash wash business app is a noble idea that aims to bridge the gap between car washing
businesses and its clients. The objective is to automate services provided in car wash enterprises
through online orders, scheduling, payment and feedback management. The positive about the
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app is that in can be used across any country. Car washing centres only have to subscribe to the
service and they are included in the app community. Through the profit proceeds, the app
business can expand to newer grounds. Major towns and cities are the main targets as they have a
large number of vehicles hence good business for car wash. As business improves, additional
features can be added. Mobile washing services can be introduced. One of the major benefits of
having a mobile app is that all the information that one would like to share with customers is
right at their fingertips.
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Works Cited
Brown, S. (2015, September 12). Software Architecture. Retrieved october 14, 2015
Flinders, K. (2014, March 20). Application support and maintenance costs increase 29%. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Hallman, B. (2011, August 8). Key Success Factors For Implementation Projects. Retrieved October
14, 2015
Haselmayr, M. (2014, November 17). Here's Why Your Business Needs Its Own Mobile App. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Joseph, j. (2015, September 30). Testing Strategies and Tactics for Mobile Applications. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Khanduja, j. (2009, February 25). Top 20 End Objectives of any Software Project. Retrieved October
14, 2015
Lindner, D. (2013, January 21). Risks Introduced by Mobile Apps. Retrieved October 14, 2015
Mehra, S. (2014, November 11). The True of Building a Mobile App. Retrieved October 14, 2015
Select Business Solutions. (n.d.). What is a Software Development Process? Retrieved October 14,
2015
Shrum, S., & Murray, P. (2013, March 7). Common Risks of Using Business App in the Cloud. Retrieved
October 14, 2015, from US-Cert.
Sweet Temptations
Abeer Alhaidar
IT 489 Capstone
Final Paper
April 21, 2015
“On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment.”
Table of Contents
Objective ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Client ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Faculty Advisor .......................................................................................................................... 5
Project Plan................................................................................................................................. 6
Resources .................................................................................................................................... 8
Expected Outcomes .................................................................................................................. 9
Knowledge Being Applied...................................................................................................... 9
Risk factors .............................................................................................................................. 10
Work to be performed by others...................................................................................... 10
Work that been done ............................................................................................................ 11
Screen-shots of Sweet Temptations App ....................................................................... 12
Reference .................................................................................................................................. 14
2
Objective
The purpose of this paper is to outline a proposal for a new application,
which will help the customers to order faster in convenient time; as well as for the
employees to start on the orders as fast as they receive the order. Sweet
Temptations sells mini pastries and mini chocolates for big weddings and parties.
The App will be created to allow people to order from their phones at anytime and
from anywhere.
Included in this proposal are reasons why the App for Sweet Temptations
will be successful and profitable, an explanation of the audience that the App will be
trying to help customers to order, the importance of the app is what will have to do
in order to be better than its competitions, an extensive list of programs that will
drive the App’s success, and ways in which the App will add features besides
ordering.
Other minor topics that this proposal will touch on include how the
application will plan and schedule programs; how it will sell its App to advertisers,
and the tools that the App will use perpetually to evaluate its programming and use
of other media.
The evaluation of Sweet Temptations will be based on advertising revenue,
ratings, web traffic, and response of people who use the App, through filling out a
3
survey. Also, the evaluation will be based on the perspective of a business owner
and that is going to be done through trying multiple App development frameworks.
The Sweet Temptations App will focuses on what customers can order
anytime. This would be an interesting App because it will save customers time and
allow them to order. Customers can order and then pick it up or they can ask for
delivery.
There are different platform to build mobile Apps. This will save time and
money to build the App, such as, Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, and
AppMaker. These are good platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will
allow us to take a control of every detail of the app without coding.
Client
Sweet Temptations is a small business that produces chocolates, mini pastries
and different kind of desserts, and it was established in 2009. It is based in the
Middle East, Saudi Arabia. It is a Middle Eastern bakery that provides many kinds of
pastries, chocolates, and other kind of traditional desserts of the Middle East. Sweet
Temptations has a website that many people can place their orders online from
their home and come later to pick it up. This kind of business is popular in Saudi
Arabia and it satisfies consumer needs. Chocolates and mini pastries are kind of a
small business that is very popular back home. People back home prefer home
cooked pastries and any other kinds of desserts.
Since the Sweet Temptations has so many customers, it developed a website
that meets customers need, which consist of pictures of customers orders and their
4
total. The website has several taps that consist of home page, chocolate page, pastry
page, other dessert page, and contact us page. The website contains several pages
have same layout and design that will attract customers. All pages will be related by
URLs, which allows the audience to view the content. Each page will consist of
photos to allow the audience to see the desserts or pastries. Sweet Temptations
needs to develop a suitable way for their customer to order their goodies as
convenient as possible. There are IT needs to develop an App to improves and
increases their revenue, and to upgrade their websites. The Sweet Temptations will
have a mobile App, which would have the same styling as the website. For it to be
easier to contact Sweet Temptations, the phone numbers and email will be in
hyperlinks.
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Tom Narock
Dr. Narock is one of Marymount’s faculties who teaches a variety of
undergraduate course, including Web Development, mobile app development, and
data science. His research focuses on intelligent information systems and big data
problems. He developed applications to enhance search and retrieval within the
Earth Sciences and Data Science applications in the geosciences. Also, his research
interests were about semantic web and few other things. He is also active in
information technology professional societies and serves on the editorial board of
peer-reviewed journals.
5
Dr. Tom Narock has agreed to be my mentor to give instructions and
guidelines to follow.
Project Plan
Sweet Temptations will build a mobile app to save customers time to order
form their phones or tablets at anytime and anywhere. This proposal will touch on
include how the App will plan and schedule their programs; how it will sell its App
to advertisers, and the tools that the App will use perpetually to evaluate its
programming and use of other media.
Sweet Temptations will follow several steps to create a mobile app, but at
first, they have to define their goal such as what is it going to do? What part of life is
it going to make better? The Sweet Temptations App is going to offer customers to
order online through the app to save them time. Customers will be able to login to
their accounts, or to signup if they don’t have one. Also, they can save their order if
they are going to order the saved order every time and it is going to be called fast
checkout. In addition, the app will offer them visual images of different kinds of
dessert (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Another step that Sweet Temptations would do to visualize the app is by
developing sketches of the main features and appearance of the layout, and
structure of the application. These sketches will be used as reference for the
project. The sketch on the next page explains the layout of a personal account, and
about what it should look like on the iPhone or any other device (Haselmayr, n.d.).
6
Sweet Temptations
Username: __________________
Password: __________________
Signup
Login
Moreover, Sweet Temptations needs to do some research to find out whether
there are another apps doing the same thing. They can also look at other mobile
application’s design to inspire them and to find technical information from the app.
Also, they can find how to market and monitor their app (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Another step is to create a wireframe and storyboard. In the wireframe
phase, Sweet Temptation will create a prototype of their app by using prototyping
tools online. Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, and AppMaker, are app builder
prototypes. These are good platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will
allow Sweet Temptations to take a control of every detail of the app without coding.
It allows us to drag and drop all graphics and placeholders into their place. It also
allows us to add a working button to click, such as, the login and signup buttons
(Haselmayr, n.d.).
Then, Sweet Temptations will test their prototype. To test the prototype, the
app will be tried by Sweet Temptations’ family, friends, colleagues, and experts to
review the prototype. In this step, people will be able to evaluate and monitor the
app (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Last but not least, check the prototype for any errors and deliver it to
customers. The app will be updated if it needs and eliminate the errors (Haselmayr,
n.d.).
Resources
There are some resources that Sweet Temptations needs to in order to access
IT resources. Pttrns is one of the resources that is important. This resource has
more than 2,900 iPhone and iPad user-interface patterns, which could help Sweet
Temptations to have some ideas about the design. As an extra benefit from this, we
can alter one of the app designs that is offered. We can use iOS Fonts as one of the
resources, which is library of fonts. Another important recourse is App Icon
Template; it is a free Photoshop resource that can help Sweet Temptations to create
app icons for iOS, OS X and Android apps on the go. Sweet Temptations can use a
Lookback tool that will allow them to see how people use the app, so they can
improve it and check bugs (Varshneya, 2014). Furthermore, There are different
platform to build mobile apps. This will save time and money to build the App, such
as, Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, Appsbar, and AppMaker. These are good
8
platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will allow me to take a control of
every detail of the app without coding.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome of Sweet Temptations’ mobile app is that the app will
be created and ready to be used. Another outcome is that customers will be able to
have faster access to their accounts. Moreover, the app will increase the
performance and have good implementation.
The evaluation of Sweet Temptations will be based on advertising revenue,
ratings, web traffic, and responses of people who use the App, through filling out a
survey. Also, the evaluation will be based on the perspective of a business owner
and that is going to be done through trying multiple App development frameworks.
Knowledge Being Applied
The knowledge that is been used in this project is to have a good research.
This stage is important because it saves time to get inspiration for good designs. To
build a prototype we do not need to have knowledge in coding. We only need to
have knowledge of one of the app builder, which it will allow us to drag and drop
functions (Saccomani, 2013). This project will give me the opportunity to learn how
to build a mobile app prototype, by using app builder.
9
Risk factors
There are not significant risk factors that could affect Sweet Temptations. If
the mobile app was delayed then it will not affect them a lot. They will have to
extent the advertising time, which it will cost them more money (App Store Review
Guidelines, n.d.). If the mobile app got delayed, customer will still have the chance
to order through phone or by coming to the store. There might be a challenge that
could come across, is not knowing how to use the app builder prototype (Managing
Risks of the Mobile Enterprises, n.d.).
Risks
Mitigating Action
Not having a good advertising or
Try different ways to market the App.
announcement.
Not knowing how to use the app builder
prototype.
Mobile App got delayed.
-
Learn in how to do that in short time.
-
Hire an experienced individual.
Customers can order through phone, or by
coming to the store.
Work to be performed by others
Sweet Temptations is going to use a mobile app developer, which is going to
provide a prototype for their app. Also, there are some resources that are going to
be used such as, mobile app builder to build the app. A Lookback tool is to find out
how customers use the app and if they need to upgrade and debug the app. App
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Icon is one of the resources that will allow them to develop an icon for the app.
Work that been done
I built a prototype App for Sweet Temptations by using Appsbar and different
type of prototype apps builders. At the beginning, I have used BiznessApps,
however, it did not give me what I am looking for, from design, tabs, layout, and
tasks. When I did not find what I was looking for, I changed the app builder to
Appbar. I did not find what I am looking for because I have to pay some amount of
money to build the functionality that I need for the Sweet Temptations App.
There are some problems that I have faced when I build the prototype through the
Appbar.
•
Could not add to cart button.
•
Could not remove ad icons from all pages.
•
Could not change the layout to the way I wanted.
I have designed a logo for Sweet Temptations and I have edited the
app. One of peer-review suggests that I should remove storing account information
(login and signup). I was a good idea because it has to be by coding and the app
builder did not provide this function.
Figure 1 Logo
11
Screen-shots of Sweet Temptations App
Figure 2 About
Figure 3 Function Buttons
Figure 4 Address, Phone#, and Email
Figure 5 Menu bar
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Figure 6 Photos
Figure 7 Menu
13
Reference
Haselmayr, M. (n.d.). How To Build Your First Mobile App In 12 Steps: Part 1.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/10/30/how-tobuild-your-first-mobile-app-in-12-steps-part-1/
This article provides important steps that we can use to create our first mobile app
for Sweet Temptations.
Haselmayr, M. (n.d.). How To Build Your First Mobile App In 12 Steps: Part 2.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/11/14/how-tobuild-your-first-mobile-app-in-12-steps-part-2/
This article provides important steps that we can use to create our first mobile app
for Sweet Temptations.
Varshneya, R. (2014, September 17). 7 Resources That Can Help You Create a
Stunning Mobile App Design. Retrieved from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237516
This article helps Sweet temptation to create a stunning mobile app design, and it
provides some IT resources, such as, app icon template.
Saccomani, P. (2013, January 28). How To Build A Mobile App With No
Programming Knowledge. Retrieved from
http://www.mobiloud.com/blog/2013/01/build-app-with-no-programming/
This website show the required knowledge that is important to build a mobile app.
Managing Risks of the Mobile Enterprises. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://erm.ncsu.edu/library/article/manage-risks-mobile-enterprise
This article provides factors that define mobile trend and risks of mobile enterprise.
(n.d.). App Store Review Guidelines. Retrieved from
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#advertising
The Apple website provides interesting guidelines of advertising and how to protect
developer’s right.
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Varshneya, R. (2014, January 31). A Step-by-Step Guide To Building Your First
Mobile App. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231145
This article helps users to follow these steps to build their desired mobile app.
Rundle, M. (n.d.). Building iOS Apps From Scratch by Mike Rundle. Retrieved from
https://designthencode.com/scratch/
This article shows what App a Mac user could use to build a mobile app from the
scratch.
Ching, C. (2015, January 6). Code With Chris – iPhone and iPad Development
Tutorials. Retrieved from http://codewithchris.com/how-to-make-iphone-appswith-no-programming-experience/
This article shows users how to make an iPhone Apps with no programming
experience.
Webcast. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://apigee.com/about/resources/webcasts/build-your-first-mobile-app-3hours-html5-api-backend
This video shows people how to build their first mobile app in three hours with
HTML5 and an API Backend.
15
Alshuaibi 1
Lama Alshuaibi
Dr. Narock
IT-489
January 29, 2016
Creating an App for Clothing
A description of the Topic
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the process by which Alaneera intends
on creating for the developmental phases regarding the project, which is proposing an
application that increases branding and satisfaction concerns by both the customer and
the organization. The functional concept in which this application will fulfill is the
streamlining of a high tech high touch clothing collection systems that will have a
forward facing presence on the internet designed with usable interfaces. The object
oriented application will ensure Alaneera has a foundational cornerstone to create a
function process delivered in a reasonable scope.
Project Objectives
The business is about designing traditional Middle Eastern clothes and is now
utilizing Instagram for their marketing function, however, we lack the ability to track
sales effectively as well as a creating a customer database. Alaneera, brand name and
owner and co-owner Muneera both graduated from Marymount, however, Muneera
graduated within the fashion design aspect and Alana graduated graphic design and
material aesthetics. The application development will provide the organization with the
functional knowledge database through intuitiveness and innovativeness. This
application will also administer, gather, and calculate differentiating outcomes for the
survey that will accomplish the sales process.
Testable Hypothesis
Alshuaibi 2
The assumption derives from the lack of information that identifies our customers,
stores this data, and allows administrators to retrieve this identifying data. Sale is also a
concern as Alaneera is a legalized operations that entail accurate accounting, thus,
sales reports will also be furnished by the application. Alaneera intendeds on measuring
the current situational baseline to that of the assumptional outcome from the programs
implementation. For example, Alaneera will utilize customer feedbacks as well as our
administrator creativeness as methods of valuable information. The feedback process
will allow administrators to visual observe fluctuations within this baseline analysis.
.
What will you measure? What metrics could you use to demonstrate you found the best
solution? How will you know the customer is happy? How do we know you met the
customer’s objectives? If your project involves researching a topic and does not involve
much (or any) development, then what is your thesis? What position do you take on the
argument? What points will you try to convince the reader of when you write?
Faculty Mentor
My faculty member is Dr.Liu and she is also my advisor
Project Timeline
The project time line outlines the phased process of developing, implementing,
and analyzing the proposed application solution. Over the next few weeks, Alaneera’s
partners will gather information regarding bassline operation, develop the application as
an heighten upgradable and fixable software solution, while integrating customer activity
mapping.
Alshuaibi 3
Project Objectives
The objective is to collect data that will allow Alaneera to develop and implement
an innovative concept for an application that will track sales and identify customers.
Being in business for nearly 3 years now, Alaneera has identified internal incompatibility
within the business system, thus, requiring and installation of a new tracking application.
By accomplishing this project, Alaneera will increase customer satisfaction while
tracking personally identifiable information within the structured database that fits the
clothing line’s needs.
School of Business Administration
2015-16
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Number
IT 489-A
Course Title
Capstone Project
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
X
Summer Semester
Year
2016
Name of Instructor
Dr. Tom Narock
Meeting Day, Time, and Room Number
Students work independently and meet with instructor as needed
Final Exam Day, Time, and Room Number
No Final Exam for this course
Office Hours, Location, Phone
Monday 10am – 2pm 4040, Room 423 703-284-5935
E-mail and Web Site
tnarock@marymount.edu http://narock.github.io
UNIVERSITY STATEMENTS
Academic Integrity
By accepting this syllabus, you pledge to uphold the principles of Academic Integrity expressed by the Marymount University
Community. You agree to observe these principles yourself and to defend them against abuse by others.
Special Needs and Accommodations
Please advise the instructor of any special concerns or needs at the beginning of the semester. If you seek accommodation
based on disabilities, you should provide a Faculty Contact Sheet obtained through the Office of Student Access Services,
located in Rowley Hall.
Access to Student Work
Copies of your work in this course including copies of any submitted papers and your portfolios may be kept on file for
institutional research, assessment and accreditation purposes. All work used for these purposes will be submitted
anonymously.
Student Copyright Authorization
For the benefit of current and future students, work in this course may be used for educational critique, demonstrations, samples,
presentations, and verification. Outside of these uses, work shall not be sold, copied, broadcast, or distributed for profit without
student consent. Items submitted for this course also may be submitted to TurnItIn.com for analysis.
University Policy on Weather and Emergency Closings
Weather and Emergency closings are announced on Marymount’s web site, through MUAlerts, area radio stations, and TV stations.
You may also call the Weather and Emergency Hotline at (703) 526-6888 for current status. Unless otherwise advised by local media
or by official bulletins listed above, students are expected to report for class as near normal time as possible on days when weather
conditions are adverse. Decisions as to inclement closing or delayed opening are not generally made before 6:00 AM and by 3:00 PM
for evening classes of the working day. Emergency closing could occur at any time making MUAlerts the most timely announcement
mechanism. Students are expected to attend class if the University is not officially closed. If the University is closed, course content
and assignments will still be covered as directed by the course instructor. Please look for communication from course instructor (e.g.,
Blackboard) for information on course work during periods in which the University is closed.
1.
BROAD PURPOSE OF COURSE
This is the capstone course for students in the B.S. in Information Technology program and is designed to allow students
to work on their own, to simulate the work environment. Students have the opportunity to select their own project based
upon their Information Technology interests.
The course is based on the Real Project for Real Clients (RPRC) methodology and the student works with a client and/or
a Marymount University full-time faculty member selected by the student to reflect their area of study. The client may be
a Marymount faculty member or an external client such as a not-for-profit organization.
2.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this course students will be expected to:
INQUIRY OBJECTIVES
a.
b.
c.
d.
Formulate an appropriate information technology inquiry and provide context;
Gather, evaluate and use information or knowledge to support the inquiry topic;
Conduct research to provide the basis for the project work; and
Present and communicate the results of the inquiry project,
Outcomes of Writing Intensive Course
a. Students will produce written work appropriate to the discipline through a process that involves drafting and
revision based on feedback.
b. Students will produce focused and coherent texts that address a specific audience, move effectively between
generalizations and details, make honest use of sources, and engage complex ideas without distortion.
c. Students will produce texts that show careful attention to fluent sentence structure, grammatical correctness, and
proper documentation.
d. Students will identify a suitable subject for scholarly inquiry in the discipline, analyze appropriate primary and
secondary source materials, and support a focused thesis or argument in a clear and coherent product.
COURSE-SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
a. Gather, analyze, and communicate technical information related to a specific topic in information technology;
b. Demonstrate the ability to prepare a satisfactory project proposal in the information technology field for a real
client;
c. Demonstrate the successful completion of a project for a real client including a full understanding of the client’s
requirements;
d. Demonstrate the ability to seek out, identify and evaluate sources of valid, reliable and current information in the
information technology field including potential solutions;
e. Demonstrate the ability to construct a thorough, professional and properly documented final project report on the
completed project;
f. Demonstrate the ability to work independently with minimal supervision; and
g. Review a project critically and identify areas for improvement.
3. TEACHING METHOD
There are no regularly scheduled class meetings. Students will work independently on a topic of their choosing. Each student will
have a Topic Expert and the course instructor to periodically report to. Depending upon the topic, the course instructor may also be
the Topic Expert. The student and Topic Expert will establish a schedule for meeting and discussing the student’s progress as needed.
The student is responsible for submitting period deliverables to the course instructor via BlackBoard. All students are required to
give a final in-person presentation on their project during the final week of the semester. The course instructor will arrange
presentation times with students as the semester progresses.
4. GRADING POLICY
The project is graded as follows:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Topic Submission
Peer Review 1
Project Draft Submission
Peer Review 2
Final Project Report
Meeting with Instructor
Project Retrospective
10%
15%
10%
15%
30%
10%
10%
Students must receive C- or above to pass this capstone class.
The grading scale is as follows (points obtained):
93-100 A; 90-92 A-;
87-89 B+; 84-86 B; 80-83 B-;
77-79 C+; 74-76 C; 70-73 C-;
67-69 D+; 64-66 D; 60-63 D-;
0-59 F
12, February, 2016, is the last day to withdraw from a class without academic record
18, March, 2016, is the last day to withdraw from a class with a grade of W
5. CLASS SCHEDULE
The course is self-paced with ad-hoc meetings of faculty and students as needed.
The project has the following due dates:
Topic Submission
Peer Review 1
Project Draft
Peer Review 2
Final Report
Project Retrospective
Meeting with Instructor
Friday January 29, 2016 by midnight
Friday February 12, 2016 by midnight
Friday March 4, 2016 by midnight
Wednesday March 30, 2016 by midnight
Friday April 29, 2016 by midnight
Friday April 29, 2016 by midnight
To be scheduled between 3/14 and 4/25
In addition, the student will meet as needed with their Topic Expert and the course instructor and may interact with other
students through the Blackboard site and in ad-hoc meetings.
Submitting Assignments and Late Submissions
§
§
§
§
§
To receive full credit, all submissions must be submitted to BlackBoard by their due date
Each assignment builds upon the previous ones. As a result, all assignments must be submitted in order to receive an A.
Successful submission is the responsibility of the student. Verify that your submissions are actually available in
BlackBoard. In the case of BlackBoard technical difficulties then you should email your assignment to Dr. Narock. It is
your responsibility to ensure that the instructor receives all project deliverables by the above deadlines.
Late submissions will lose 2 points per day they are late
The Peer Review Assignment affects other students in the course and as such cannot be submitted late. Any Peer
Reviews not submitted on time will receive a grade of 0.
Requirements for deliverables are as follows:
Topic Submission: (3 pages of written text)
The topic submission is your chance to define your project. You should think about which aspects of Information
Technology most interest you and would motivate you for further study. An appropriate topic should either 1.) apply specific
Information Technology skills to a real-world problem or 2.) design, develop, and deploy a research study to evaluate
Information Technology. Some examples of the application project include identifying an organization with information
technology needs, designing a solution to those needs, and deploying a prototype of that solution. In previous semesters
students have created mobile apps and e-commerce sites for their organization. An example of a research study project is the
examination of digital currencies, such as BitCoin, investigating how they operate and should they be regulated.
The thing that is common to both of these project types is a testable hypothesis. All IT Capstone projects must have a
testable hypothesis. If you are deploying an IT solution for an organization, what are your expectations for success? How can
you show that other potential solutions are not better? How can you show that you met the customer’s needs? Examples of
testable hypothesis in this case is, for example, “my solution will be faster than the existing system and I will show this
through a side-by-side technical evaluation” or “my solution will better meet the customer’s needs and I will show this
through responses to a survey I conduct”.
If you are creating a research study, you still need a testable hypothesis or point of view to base your argument around. For
example, “BitCoin should be regulated” could be an appropriate starting point and your research and references would be an
attempt to validate this point. In the end, you may find that the references and evidence contradicts your original hypothesis.
That is ok. As long as your final paper and presentation clearly indicate why your hypothesis was not correct and what
you learned about the alternative point of view.
You should identify a full-time faculty member in the Information Technology department who will act as your content
advisor. Think about a topic and discuss with an appropriate faculty member and ask if they will be responsible for
supervising your work. Get approval from the faculty member that they are available to work with you this semester. Dr.
Narock, the course instructor, is also available to discuss and supervise topics.
Your Topic Submission must be 3 pages of written text that includes (2 points each)
1. A description of your topic – write as if you are introducing the topic to someone not familiar with it. What is the
background and history of this topic? Why is it important? What should a novice in this area be aware of?
2. Testable Hypothesis – What are your starting assumptions and expectations for this project? What will you
measure? What metrics could you use to demonstrate you found the best solution? How will you know the
customer is happy? How do we know you met the customer’s objectives? If your project involves researching a
topic and does not involve much (or any) development, then what is your thesis? What position do you take on
the argument? What points will you try to convince the reader of when you write?
3. Your faculty mentor – Which faculty member would you like to work with? Why? Document that you have
contacted that faculty member and they have agreed to work with you
4. Propose a timeline for your project. What do you need to accomplish to finish this project? How will you divide
up the semester to accomplish everything that needs to be done? How much time will you devote to each item
you need to finish?
5. What types of data and/or references will you need? What is your initial strategy for collecting data and
identifying relevant references?
Peer Review 1: (2 pages of written text)
Your job with the first peer review is to review a fellow classmate’s Topic Submission. All peer reviews will be
anonymous. That is, you will not know the author of the topic submission you are reviewing. The author will not know who
wrote their review. The objective of the peer review is place yourself in the position of an IT manager. Does the topic seem
feasible to you?
The Peer Review must contain
1. What is the author’s thesis or testable hypothesis? After reading the submission is it clear to you what the
author is attempting to do? Has the author clearly stated their stance/position on the issue and what they will
test or measure?
2. Is the document well written? You do not need to point out every grammatical error. However, you should
point out any logical errors and highlight a few grammatical and syntactical errors.
3. Is the timeline feasible? Given what the author described and the timetable they proposed, can this project
reasonably be completed in one semester.
4. Any comments for improving the project – such as resources to look at or ideas to try
Project Draft: (8 or more pages of written text with at least 10 references)
All projects must be initially documented in a project draft report. The document should be concise and include the
following:
Cover Page with Honor Pledge (can be found on BlackBoard)
Table of Contents
Objective of your project (similar to topic submission, but now
including feedback from your faculty mentor and peer review)
Client (if applicable, background on the organization your project is
creating an IT solution for. Who is the organization and what
are there IT needs for this project). If no external client then
use this section to discuss what point of view, argument, or
thesis you plan to convey to the reader
Content Advisor with summary of qualifications (who is your faculty
member and what work have they done in this area)
Project Plan (what will you do and how will you do it, include a
planned schedule, how long do you anticipate each step will
take)
Resources (do you need access to any IT resources such as servers,
storage devices, cloud computing, special software? If so,
how will you obtain access? Will the organization provide
these resources? Are they free?)
Project Details – this is where you make your argument, support
your points with data and references, and provide a detailed
discussion of your capstone project. Describe what you have done with the project up to
this point. What do you have left to do.
Knowledge being applied (which courses, background knowledge, or
prior experience might be applicable to this project? What
might you have to learn this semester to successfully finish
this project?)
Risk factors (are there specific things that could negatively impact
your project? Are you dependent on an organization rolling out a new product? What
happens if that product gets delayed? What happens if you need special resources and
they are not available? What issues and challenges might you run into this semester?).
You should also consider any risk factors for your client. For example, while your
solution may solve one technical challenge for the client, would it introduce problems
elsewhere in the organization? Would it eliminate jobs? What would a full-scale
production deployment of your solution involve? Could the customer/client afford this?
Work to be performed by others (are you using software, resources,
or work provided by others? You need to make it very clear what you will be doing and
what others will be doing. It needs to be clear that you are providing a significant
amount of work this semester. You are welcome to reuse and build upon other’s work.
However, it must be clear that you are significantly extending that work.)
Reference Section – Your project must include at least 10 scholarly
articles, technical web sites, or books related to your topic. A “References” section
should be at the end of your draft listing these resources. Also, within the text you
should make reference to these resources. References should be used to strengthen the
argument you are making in your paper. All references cited in the Reference section
must be mentioned somewhere in the text. An excellent source of scholarly materials
is Marymount’s Summon web site: http://marymount.summon.serialssolutions.com/#!/
Peer Review 2: (2 pages of written text)
You will be asked to peer review one project draft. Reviews will be anonymous. You will not have the name of the student
whose paper you are reviewing. You will also not be told who reviewed your paper. Thus, you can feel free to be honest and
critical. The purpose of the peer review is to assess how well other students have made their case. Do they make a convincing
argument? Do the results of the evaluation support their claims? Details on how to provide a proper review will be made
available via BlackBoard.
Final Project Report: (at least 8 pages of written text and 10 references)
Figures and tables are encouraged. However, figures and tables cannot be used instead of written text. Papers
containing full page and multi-page figures will receive reduced credit.
If your project involves mobile app development, web page development, or any other type of software development,
then you must submit all code in addition to your 8 pages of written text.
Your final project report is to revise and extend your Project Draft. It should accomplish 3 things:
1. Completion of what you set out to do this semester
2. Revision of the project draft text to include information on things that have been done since the draft was submitted
3. Revision of the project draft text to address comments made by the peer reviewers
Meeting with the Instructor:
Each student is required to set up a brief (about 15 minute) meeting with the course instructor sometime between March 14
and April 25. During this meeting the student will present the current status of their project and answer questions. In doing
so, students will demonstrate they are proficient in their chosen topic and defend their research.
Project Retrospective:
A short one- to two-pages of analysis of how you did or did not meet the timeline for the plan, what was harder/easier than
expected, what “gaps” you felt there were in your undergraduate program which may have impacted your performance on the
project, and what you learned from the project.
6. REQUIRED TEXT
None
1
Khalid Albuainain
IT-489
Dr. Narock
Marymount University
10.20.15
“I acknowledge that the Capstone Project is an independent study project to be completed
individually. On my honor, I have not received aid on my Capstone Project other than what was
provided by my faculty mentor and any persons explicitly cited in my work. I further acknowledge
that if I have given any aid to another student in this course, the instructor of this course was made
aware of my contributions.”
2
Table of Contents
Project Description
Project Objectives
Project Benefits
Project Risks
Project Activities
Analysis of Requirements
Specification
Architecture of the Software
Testing
Documentation
Training and Support
Maintenance
Project Costs
Conclusion
Works Cited
3
Project Description
The project proposes an app that will boost customer loyalty in a car washing business by
simplifying the hustle and bustle they go through when seeking a car wash. Through the smooth
service, the business is going to retain and increase its client base. Through the app, the
customers will be able schedule appointments, place order for services while the business will be
able to create a customer loyalty base and develop a customer feedback system where the
customers can raise issues like complains, comments on the services and suggestions on how to
improve or the kinds of services they felt were missing.
Car washing business, like any other business organization, operates in a volatile business
environment. The businesses have to adapt to the changes especially technological changes
sweeping the business world today. Nowadays, for an entity to remain relevant and competitive,
it has to embrace innovation and integrate it into its framework to ensure that clients are served
efficiently and effectively. Through a feedback system, the business and customers can exchange
information. This necessitates a development of an information management system within the
business. With the new possibilities that come with information management system, many
organizations have crumbled under the challenges the new system’s dispensation.
The project also will have a website that will disseminate important information tailored
to the needs of customers and ensure the services are delivered promptly. By evaluating the
shortcomings of the existing information, the proposed business will take into account the
concerns raised and use it to develop a comprehensive information system that eliminates all the
bottlenecks. From the streamlined information management system, assessment of issues that
4
involve customers, employees, products and services, and communication with other
stakeholders can be handled efficiently.
The main objective of the new app is to develop an excellent customer experience never
experienced before. Through its network, the app will be able to ensure that customer-business
relationship is given priority. By being in the forefront of innovativeness, the business will be
able to meet customer needs and deliver the services efficiently. The app should also be able to
function efficiently and avoid errors that may occur while placing customer orders, managing
client loyalty programs and maintaining capacity in line with anticipated demand.
Project Objectives
The main objective of this project is to design, develop, implement and test a car wash
business app to meet the needs of customers’ effectively, efficiently and timely. The app will
support the establishment, maintenance and management of customer information, making
effective orders and scheduling, managing the customer loyalty program and maintaining
customer feedback.
The project is also supposed to aid the business in decision-making, with appropriate
record keeping and data management so as to enhance statement generation to enlighten the
management regarding customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the app can be utilized as a platform
to enable payments for the car wash. Lastly, the data from the app can be employed to cautiously
to plan the future and guarantee that sufficient capacity is preserved to attend impending orders.
Thus, the app will be established with the wishes of the clienteles and the administration in mind.
Ultimately, when the business capacity is subscribed, the app can be used to plan at home service
for clients (Khanduja, 2009, pp. , 2009).
5
Project Benefits
The obvious benefit is that the project is going to accrue profits. By offering quality services,
more customers will be attracted, and the client base will increase. This in return will be
increasing the profits. The cash washing centres will receive more traffic and be able to schedule
online for the services. Increased clientele in car washing centres means better remuneration for
the service men.
The app is also going to create employment opportunities for many people. From the
development of the app through to car washing, individuals are going to be employed to ensure
the business objective is achieved. Through the income earned, individuals can improve their
standards of living and develop the community around. The website will need someone to
maintain and update it frequently, orders need to be scheduled, and payments need to be verified
and any other responsibility will need someone to be in charge.
The app is also going to benefit clients seeking car washing services. By simply logging
into the app, they can scan for the available car washing centres, place an order, receive a
schedule and get the service conveniently. Clients who are new in town and need their cars
washed don’t need to know the town to be served. The app is going to locate for them the nearest
washing centres where they will receive the service. They can also check before hand the charges
for the service and prepare adequately to avoid embarrassment.
The other benefit of the app is that it gives clients flexibility. They can schedule for a car
wash anytime they want and be guaranteed that they will be served. They clients also have a
variety of service centres they can choose from and from the service catalogue, they can choose
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the kind of service they want. Recent statistics shows that the average smartphone owner spends
at least two hours on his phone. While they may not be using the app, the split moment the app is
on their way while scrolling or scanning the devices can subconsciously market the product.
With hands-on information, loyalty programs can be digitized (Haselmayr, pp. , 2014).
Project Risks
Since the objective of the app is to provide online services, it’s going to utilize the services
of cloud providers. The risks, therefore, are likely to come from using the cloud. One of the risks
of using the cloud is that it denies the owner total control. By purchasing IT services from a
cloud provider, one lacks absolute control the over the computing assets the business requires to
function. If cloud service provider changes business or goes out of business or charged more, the
business is likely to suffer dire consequences by incurring more costs which will eat into the
profits. If the business doesn’t want to incur the cost, it’s going to shelve it to the clients who
may stop using the service.
The cloud providers are also not the same hence no flexibility to change to another
provider. One may remain stuck to only one provider even if the service is poor. This can be
attributed to the diverse hardware, software, settings, and configurations used by different
providers. Customized app can only function well in the environment it was designed for.
Changing the cloud provider means modifying the app which will take time and resources unless
cloud computing industry undergoes standardization (Lindner, 2013).
The data is usually protected by the cloud provider. This is risky because one is not assured
of the security of the data. Being a second party, cloud provider may not have the same
motivation of safeguarding the data as the owner. Data can be destroyed or lost. The hackers can
7
steal the data, information frozen by authorities or secret business information stolen. Many
providers use general encryption keys to manage the storage and backup of client data. This
means that hackers can easily infiltrate the cloud provider and access the data by cracking the
encryption.
Cloud providers serve many different clients with different volumes information. Given
their resources, they can manage to employ better security mechanism better than a small
organization. This means that the security of business data is in the hands of someone else. The
tendency to house data from different clients on the same servers means that the business
information may fall into the hands cyber criminals who had no intention of stealing such data.
Some of the providers don’t even allow their customers to do any inspection (Shrum and Murray,
2013, pg 1-3).
Project Activities
The project activity is the development of the app. The following are the stages followed in
creating the app.
Analysis of Requirements
The task of creating an app is to extract the requirements of the software. This requires
proficiency and knowledge in software engineering in order to identify deficient, vague or
ambiguous requirements.
Specification
This section is mathematically rigorous as it deals with the exact description of the software
to be written. Ideally, the successful requirements are written by understanding and adjusting
8
applications that are already developed. The specification is most essential for an exterior
interface that must always remain stable.
Architecture of the Software
This is the abstract representation of the system. Architecture is concerned with ensuring
that software system meets the requirements of the product, in addition to ensuring that any
future requirements will be addressed easily (Brown, 2015).
Implementation
This where the design is executed through coding. It looks like the most obvious constituent
of the software engineering, but is actually demanding and forms the major part of the project.
How the project is going to be managed must be planned and key stakeholders involved. The
scope of the project must be defined and agreed upon. Since this phase may involve a number of
people, a schedule of tasks and datelines must be developed (Hallman, 2011).
Testing
This where sections of the software are tested to ensure they function as required. The app
is eventually tested too to check if it executes the functions designed for. The app usability and
consistency are also tested. The testing can be done in variety of devices like phone or tablets
and different operating systems. The main platforms include Android and Windows. At the end
of the testing process, the following task must be accomplished: functional testing, performance
9
testing, memory leakage testing, interrupt testing, usability testing, installation testing,
certification testing and security testing (Joseph, 2015).
Documentation
The interior design of software must be documented for future maintenance and improvement.
Training and Support
Most software projects fail to succeed because developers don’t recognize the of
importance user friendliness. It’s a huge loss of time and resource to develop a software nobody
is going to use; it is even sad if what it only takes is to train people on how to use them. Some
people, especially the senior citizens don’t adapt easily to change. They resist anything that alters
the norm and venturing into the new unaccustomed setting is unlikely. During deployment, it is
important to train software fanatics, then shifting the gear to the neutral users and eventually
incorporating the rest of the population. The users at first will have a lot of queries and software
glitches which leads to the subsequent stage of the software (Select Business Solutions, p. n.d.).
Maintenance
Maintaining and improving software to handle the newly exposed complications or new
desires can take more time than the original development of the software. It may be necessary to
add more code which may not fit the initial plan or become cumbersome to evaluate the
performance of the app. Of all the software development work, maintenance account for 60% of
the total input. A section of this is debugging. Maintenance can be considered as new work since
the system is adjusted to do different things (Flinders, pp. , 2014).
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Project Costs
The business proposed is purely software and may require no or little physical premises.
The expense that the business is going to incur is in marketing. This can be done by employing
agents to market the app, placing advertisement in media, making fliers or brochures or even
organizing trade fairs to sensitize the public of the existent of the product. Some amount will be
required to for training, maintenance and upgrading of the app, and also acquiring the services of
cloud provider.
The business will also have hire and train employees to handle queries raised clients and
in case of any problems or difficulty in the use of the app they can solve them or forward the
issues to the relevant authority. The employees will join customer service team which will
handle customer issues.
The main cost incurred in the project is the cost of developing the app. Developing a
good and reliable app requires a resilient abstract foundation, good preparation, brilliant
networks and talented individuals to do the design work and engineering stages. The app needs
in-depth research so as to avoid doing identical projects to ones already existing in the market.
The target group must be incorporated during the research process. Deciding the platform the
app is going to be built is also important. An excellent creative workforce is needed to develop
the software especially those with user experience, interface design, and visual design. The point
here is that highly skilled personnel must be hired (Mehra, 2014).
Conclusion
The cash wash business app is a noble idea that aims to bridge the gap between car washing
businesses and its clients. The objective is to automate services provided in car wash enterprises
through online orders, scheduling, payment and feedback management. The positive about the
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app is that in can be used across any country. Car washing centres only have to subscribe to the
service and they are included in the app community. Through the profit proceeds, the app
business can expand to newer grounds. Major towns and cities are the main targets as they have a
large number of vehicles hence good business for car wash. As business improves, additional
features can be added. Mobile washing services can be introduced. One of the major benefits of
having a mobile app is that all the information that one would like to share with customers is
right at their fingertips.
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Works Cited
Brown, S. (2015, September 12). Software Architecture. Retrieved october 14, 2015
Flinders, K. (2014, March 20). Application support and maintenance costs increase 29%. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Hallman, B. (2011, August 8). Key Success Factors For Implementation Projects. Retrieved October
14, 2015
Haselmayr, M. (2014, November 17). Here's Why Your Business Needs Its Own Mobile App. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Joseph, j. (2015, September 30). Testing Strategies and Tactics for Mobile Applications. Retrieved
October 14, 2015
Khanduja, j. (2009, February 25). Top 20 End Objectives of any Software Project. Retrieved October
14, 2015
Lindner, D. (2013, January 21). Risks Introduced by Mobile Apps. Retrieved October 14, 2015
Mehra, S. (2014, November 11). The True of Building a Mobile App. Retrieved October 14, 2015
Select Business Solutions. (n.d.). What is a Software Development Process? Retrieved October 14,
2015
Shrum, S., & Murray, P. (2013, March 7). Common Risks of Using Business App in the Cloud. Retrieved
October 14, 2015, from US-Cert.
Sweet Temptations
Abeer Alhaidar
IT 489 Capstone
Final Paper
April 21, 2015
“On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment.”
Table of Contents
Objective ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Client ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Faculty Advisor .......................................................................................................................... 5
Project Plan................................................................................................................................. 6
Resources .................................................................................................................................... 8
Expected Outcomes .................................................................................................................. 9
Knowledge Being Applied...................................................................................................... 9
Risk factors .............................................................................................................................. 10
Work to be performed by others...................................................................................... 10
Work that been done ............................................................................................................ 11
Screen-shots of Sweet Temptations App ....................................................................... 12
Reference .................................................................................................................................. 14
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Objective
The purpose of this paper is to outline a proposal for a new application,
which will help the customers to order faster in convenient time; as well as for the
employees to start on the orders as fast as they receive the order. Sweet
Temptations sells mini pastries and mini chocolates for big weddings and parties.
The App will be created to allow people to order from their phones at anytime and
from anywhere.
Included in this proposal are reasons why the App for Sweet Temptations
will be successful and profitable, an explanation of the audience that the App will be
trying to help customers to order, the importance of the app is what will have to do
in order to be better than its competitions, an extensive list of programs that will
drive the App’s success, and ways in which the App will add features besides
ordering.
Other minor topics that this proposal will touch on include how the
application will plan and schedule programs; how it will sell its App to advertisers,
and the tools that the App will use perpetually to evaluate its programming and use
of other media.
The evaluation of Sweet Temptations will be based on advertising revenue,
ratings, web traffic, and response of people who use the App, through filling out a
3
survey. Also, the evaluation will be based on the perspective of a business owner
and that is going to be done through trying multiple App development frameworks.
The Sweet Temptations App will focuses on what customers can order
anytime. This would be an interesting App because it will save customers time and
allow them to order. Customers can order and then pick it up or they can ask for
delivery.
There are different platform to build mobile Apps. This will save time and
money to build the App, such as, Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, and
AppMaker. These are good platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will
allow us to take a control of every detail of the app without coding.
Client
Sweet Temptations is a small business that produces chocolates, mini pastries
and different kind of desserts, and it was established in 2009. It is based in the
Middle East, Saudi Arabia. It is a Middle Eastern bakery that provides many kinds of
pastries, chocolates, and other kind of traditional desserts of the Middle East. Sweet
Temptations has a website that many people can place their orders online from
their home and come later to pick it up. This kind of business is popular in Saudi
Arabia and it satisfies consumer needs. Chocolates and mini pastries are kind of a
small business that is very popular back home. People back home prefer home
cooked pastries and any other kinds of desserts.
Since the Sweet Temptations has so many customers, it developed a website
that meets customers need, which consist of pictures of customers orders and their
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total. The website has several taps that consist of home page, chocolate page, pastry
page, other dessert page, and contact us page. The website contains several pages
have same layout and design that will attract customers. All pages will be related by
URLs, which allows the audience to view the content. Each page will consist of
photos to allow the audience to see the desserts or pastries. Sweet Temptations
needs to develop a suitable way for their customer to order their goodies as
convenient as possible. There are IT needs to develop an App to improves and
increases their revenue, and to upgrade their websites. The Sweet Temptations will
have a mobile App, which would have the same styling as the website. For it to be
easier to contact Sweet Temptations, the phone numbers and email will be in
hyperlinks.
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Tom Narock
Dr. Narock is one of Marymount’s faculties who teaches a variety of
undergraduate course, including Web Development, mobile app development, and
data science. His research focuses on intelligent information systems and big data
problems. He developed applications to enhance search and retrieval within the
Earth Sciences and Data Science applications in the geosciences. Also, his research
interests were about semantic web and few other things. He is also active in
information technology professional societies and serves on the editorial board of
peer-reviewed journals.
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Dr. Tom Narock has agreed to be my mentor to give instructions and
guidelines to follow.
Project Plan
Sweet Temptations will build a mobile app to save customers time to order
form their phones or tablets at anytime and anywhere. This proposal will touch on
include how the App will plan and schedule their programs; how it will sell its App
to advertisers, and the tools that the App will use perpetually to evaluate its
programming and use of other media.
Sweet Temptations will follow several steps to create a mobile app, but at
first, they have to define their goal such as what is it going to do? What part of life is
it going to make better? The Sweet Temptations App is going to offer customers to
order online through the app to save them time. Customers will be able to login to
their accounts, or to signup if they don’t have one. Also, they can save their order if
they are going to order the saved order every time and it is going to be called fast
checkout. In addition, the app will offer them visual images of different kinds of
dessert (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Another step that Sweet Temptations would do to visualize the app is by
developing sketches of the main features and appearance of the layout, and
structure of the application. These sketches will be used as reference for the
project. The sketch on the next page explains the layout of a personal account, and
about what it should look like on the iPhone or any other device (Haselmayr, n.d.).
6
Sweet Temptations
Username: __________________
Password: __________________
Signup
Login
Moreover, Sweet Temptations needs to do some research to find out whether
there are another apps doing the same thing. They can also look at other mobile
application’s design to inspire them and to find technical information from the app.
Also, they can find how to market and monitor their app (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Another step is to create a wireframe and storyboard. In the wireframe
phase, Sweet Temptation will create a prototype of their app by using prototyping
tools online. Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, and AppMaker, are app builder
prototypes. These are good platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will
allow Sweet Temptations to take a control of every detail of the app without coding.
It allows us to drag and drop all graphics and placeholders into their place. It also
allows us to add a working button to click, such as, the login and signup buttons
(Haselmayr, n.d.).
Then, Sweet Temptations will test their prototype. To test the prototype, the
app will be tried by Sweet Temptations’ family, friends, colleagues, and experts to
review the prototype. In this step, people will be able to evaluate and monitor the
app (Haselmayr, n.d.).
Last but not least, check the prototype for any errors and deliver it to
customers. The app will be updated if it needs and eliminate the errors (Haselmayr,
n.d.).
Resources
There are some resources that Sweet Temptations needs to in order to access
IT resources. Pttrns is one of the resources that is important. This resource has
more than 2,900 iPhone and iPad user-interface patterns, which could help Sweet
Temptations to have some ideas about the design. As an extra benefit from this, we
can alter one of the app designs that is offered. We can use iOS Fonts as one of the
resources, which is library of fonts. Another important recourse is App Icon
Template; it is a free Photoshop resource that can help Sweet Temptations to create
app icons for iOS, OS X and Android apps on the go. Sweet Temptations can use a
Lookback tool that will allow them to see how people use the app, so they can
improve it and check bugs (Varshneya, 2014). Furthermore, There are different
platform to build mobile apps. This will save time and money to build the App, such
as, Good Barber, Appy Pie, BiznessApps, Appsbar, and AppMaker. These are good
8
platforms to build iPhone and Android apps, which will allow me to take a control of
every detail of the app without coding.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome of Sweet Temptations’ mobile app is that the app will
be created and ready to be used. Another outcome is that customers will be able to
have faster access to their accounts. Moreover, the app will increase the
performance and have good implementation.
The evaluation of Sweet Temptations will be based on advertising revenue,
ratings, web traffic, and responses of people who use the App, through filling out a
survey. Also, the evaluation will be based on the perspective of a business owner
and that is going to be done through trying multiple App development frameworks.
Knowledge Being Applied
The knowledge that is been used in this project is to have a good research.
This stage is important because it saves time to get inspiration for good designs. To
build a prototype we do not need to have knowledge in coding. We only need to
have knowledge of one of the app builder, which it will allow us to drag and drop
functions (Saccomani, 2013). This project will give me the opportunity to learn how
to build a mobile app prototype, by using app builder.
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Risk factors
There are not significant risk factors that could affect Sweet Temptations. If
the mobile app was delayed then it will not affect them a lot. They will have to
extent the advertising time, which it will cost them more money (App Store Review
Guidelines, n.d.). If the mobile app got delayed, customer will still have the chance
to order through phone or by coming to the store. There might be a challenge that
could come across, is not knowing how to use the app builder prototype (Managing
Risks of the Mobile Enterprises, n.d.).
Risks
Mitigating Action
Not having a good advertising or
Try different ways to market the App.
announcement.
Not knowing how to use the app builder
prototype.
Mobile App got delayed.
-
Learn in how to do that in short time.
-
Hire an experienced individual.
Customers can order through phone, or by
coming to the store.
Work to be performed by others
Sweet Temptations is going to use a mobile app developer, which is going to
provide a prototype for their app. Also, there are some resources that are going to
be used such as, mobile app builder to build the app. A Lookback tool is to find out
how customers use the app and if they need to upgrade and debug the app. App
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Icon is one of the resources that will allow them to develop an icon for the app.
Work that been done
I built a prototype App for Sweet Temptations by using Appsbar and different
type of prototype apps builders. At the beginning, I have used BiznessApps,
however, it did not give me what I am looking for, from design, tabs, layout, and
tasks. When I did not find what I was looking for, I changed the app builder to
Appbar. I did not find what I am looking for because I have to pay some amount of
money to build the functionality that I need for the Sweet Temptations App.
There are some problems that I have faced when I build the prototype through the
Appbar.
•
Could not add to cart button.
•
Could not remove ad icons from all pages.
•
Could not change the layout to the way I wanted.
I have designed a logo for Sweet Temptations and I have edited the
app. One of peer-review suggests that I should remove storing account information
(login and signup). I was a good idea because it has to be by coding and the app
builder did not provide this function.
Figure 1 Logo
11
Screen-shots of Sweet Temptations App
Figure 2 About
Figure 3 Function Buttons
Figure 4 Address, Phone#, and Email
Figure 5 Menu bar
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Figure 6 Photos
Figure 7 Menu
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Reference
Haselmayr, M. (n.d.). How To Build Your First Mobile App In 12 Steps: Part 1.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/10/30/how-tobuild-your-first-mobile-app-in-12-steps-part-1/
This article provides important steps that we can use to create our first mobile app
for Sweet Temptations.
Haselmayr, M. (n.d.). How To Build Your First Mobile App In 12 Steps: Part 2.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/11/14/how-tobuild-your-first-mobile-app-in-12-steps-part-2/
This article provides important steps that we can use to create our first mobile app
for Sweet Temptations.
Varshneya, R. (2014, September 17). 7 Resources That Can Help You Create a
Stunning Mobile App Design. Retrieved from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237516
This article helps Sweet temptation to create a stunning mobile app design, and it
provides some IT resources, such as, app icon template.
Saccomani, P. (2013, January 28). How To Build A Mobile App With No
Programming Knowledge. Retrieved from
http://www.mobiloud.com/blog/2013/01/build-app-with-no-programming/
This website show the required knowledge that is important to build a mobile app.
Managing Risks of the Mobile Enterprises. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://erm.ncsu.edu/library/article/manage-risks-mobile-enterprise
This article provides factors that define mobile trend and risks of mobile enterprise.
(n.d.). App Store Review Guidelines. Retrieved from
https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#advertising
The Apple website provides interesting guidelines of advertising and how to protect
developer’s right.
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Varshneya, R. (2014, January 31). A Step-by-Step Guide To Building Your First
Mobile App. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231145
This article helps users to follow these steps to build their desired mobile app.
Rundle, M. (n.d.). Building iOS Apps From Scratch by Mike Rundle. Retrieved from
https://designthencode.com/scratch/
This article shows what App a Mac user could use to build a mobile app from the
scratch.
Ching, C. (2015, January 6). Code With Chris – iPhone and iPad Development
Tutorials. Retrieved from http://codewithchris.com/how-to-make-iphone-appswith-no-programming-experience/
This article shows users how to make an iPhone Apps with no programming
experience.
Webcast. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://apigee.com/about/resources/webcasts/build-your-first-mobile-app-3hours-html5-api-backend
This video shows people how to build their first mobile app in three hours with
HTML5 and an API Backend.
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