PROJECT CASE STUDY. Platform to connect pet owners with pet sitters globally with competitive feature of multiple booking. a MobiLyte Case Study

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1 PROJECT CASE STUDY Platform to connect pet owners with pet sitters globally with competitive feature of multiple booking a MobiLyte Case Study Authored by: MobiLyte Inc.,

2 PROJECT SUMMARY Brief Looking to be part of the massive pet care industry is an application that facilitates acquiring of pet care services online. The application includes a website, ios and Android applications, as well a comprehensive administrative panel. The system is designed to help services seekers locate pet care providers based on the types and duration of services required. The project s core remains a website, from where both users are able to register and set up their profiles. There on, the system relies upon Google API, Stripe Payment Gateway and social media APIs to achieve the business requirements. The System Environment Third Party API Mobile App Database Administrative Panel

3 OPERATING ENVIRONMENT Operational Specifications Mobile Platform ios 7-10 Android Gingerbread - Marshmallow Web Cross Browser compatible with: IE: 9 onward Firefox: 49.2 onward Safari: 8.2 onward Server Requirements To handle: 1500 transactions per second via web To handle: 5000 users A New Approach to Pet Care The platform is to be a P2P exchange portal that enables a user to engage in purchase of pet care services online. The application would enable users to make transactions via Stripe, and credit cards. A pet owner would be able to request for various services as rendered by the pet care providers. Using the criteria of pet care services required, distance between service seeker and provider, as well as availability of services provider, a match is found. Once the service seeker is able to ascertain he wishes to hire the professional, the required person would be intimated, and hired. The users would register on the system via a website and the app. These processes are aided by Facebook social authorization, which reduces burden on the system.

4 WEB PLATFORM Operational Specifications Web Cross Browser compatible with: IE: 9 onward Firefox: 49.2 onward Safari: 8.2 onward Server Requirements To handle: 1500 transactions per second via web To handle: 5000 users concurrently Design & Graphics Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator Pet Care Simplified To meet the unique requirements of the system, both user types register on the system. The service seeker would provide information about himself and his pets. Similarly, the sitter user, who provides the pet care services, would register on the system, and would provide information pertaining to the type of facilities, their availability and their total capacity to handle the various services they can provide. Using the above data, the service seeker would be able to find a suitable service provider. Both users would be able to schedule timings, and then engage in monetary exchange via the system. All this information is displayed in an easy to follow manner via the administrative panel, from where the admin can also control various important aspects of the website. This includes, but is not limited to web content, user management, transaction overview, etc.

5 WEB PLATFORM Functional Specifications Web To permit a service seeker to register information regarding himself information regarding his pets To allow the user to search for service providers To permit the user to book a service provider To permit the user to engage in meet and greet session To permit the user to make payments Getting the best for your Pet The environment requires that its users register on the system to be able to engage in the primary objective of hiring pet care professionals. This entails that the service providers being brought on need be verified. To this end, the system is layered with multiple verification modules. Starting with the need to verify a user s address and phone number, to acquiring assured credentials via Facebook, the system extends to confirming the details regarding capabilities and infrastructure as input by the service provider are in place. All this information is validated by the administrator, who leverages 3 rd party background checking services. As the system is provides standardized inputs for both service seekers and service providers, it makes it very easy for the system to provide accurate search results. Standardized information on the service seekers part includes: Standardized profile information Standardized guest house information Standardized pet information While, for the service user, the information that is standardized revolves not only around the user s profile, but mainly regarding the services the user is able to provide. Standardized information on the service providers end includes:

6 WEB PLATFORM Functional Specifications Web To permit a service provider to register information regarding himself information pertaining to their infrastructure information regarding their sitter profile To provide information regarding skill To provide information regarding skills and accreditation Getting the best for your Pet 1 Standardized profile information Standardized infrastructure information Standardized sitter profile information Standardized skill and accreditation information Standardized services and rates as per web platform definitions Standardized availability and capacity information As all information required has been standardized, this allows for a comprehensive search functionality, using which the service seeker is able to locate the exact type of pet care expert required. The search parameters that make this functionality very efficient include For when the service seeker is going out of town: Boarding Services House Sitting Services Drop in Visit For when a service seeker is available at his home: Day or Night Care Services Training Services Recreational Services Grooming Services Driver Services

7 WEB PLATFORM Functional Specifications Web To permit a service provider to register information regarding himself information pertaining to their infrastructure information regarding their sitter profile To provide information regarding skill To provide information regarding skills and accreditation Getting the best for your Pet 1 Once the pet owner has found the service provider he would like to book, he is able to request a booking as per the schedule made available by the sitter. This takes both users into a chat like module, wherein they can iron out the requirements, and set up a final deal. The pet owner would make required payments up front, while the sitter would only receive the payment after their deal has been honored. This ensures that the payments due to any user are completed in a timely manner. The sitter user also has access to a scheduling module, where in they are able to specify all the services they are able to provide, when they are able to provide them, and how many pets they can take on for a given service on a given day. This allows the system to automatically make available or consider a sitter as pre-occupied. This scheduling is a complex functionality of vital importance to the system, as it drastically reduces the chances of unsuccessful bookings, and therefore system redundancy. Ensuring fair payment terms, authentication of transactions, and delivery of payments into appropriate accounts as per multiple use cases, is an automated affair. The admin need not authenticate every transaction, as the system takes into consideration every possible scenario for which a payment should be made, and is able to adjust the fee charged by the system.

8 PROJECT APPROACH PROJECT APPROACH Agreement on terms Elicitation of requirements and documentation Finalization of solution Project Planning Design & Development Quality Assurance Deployment TEAM STRUCTURE Project Manager Project Owner Development Support: Sr. Business Analyst Business Development Exec Development Team: Sr. Web Developer Associate Web Developer QA Engineer Graphic Designer Informed Decision Making The approach towards project management at Mobilyte Inc. is one geared to generate outstanding results with minimal time and cost to client. The fine-tuned project execution places emphasis on planning so that objectives are clearly defined along with time lines. The process begins with Business Analysis, wherein an analyst garners information from the client. This involves understanding of the business objectives, as well as real world implications of the project. A problem statement is defined, to solve which a solution is proposed. Upon detailing the solution, documentation is generated, which accurately records every piece of information that the system needs to take into account while being developed. Documents in the form of wireframe, functional, system and business requirements are shared with the client for feedback and approval. The development team along with the project manager generate a feasible project plan. The prime objective of the project plan is to implement core functionality at the earliest so that all major roadblocks are identified and tackled at the earliest stage of the project, thereby reducing risk. Timely updates on design, development is a key factor in MobiLyte s approach towards client satisfaction. Quality assurance is a key aspect of ensuring project success. Every deliverable till final deployment is thoroughly tested by MobiLyte s excellent quality assurance team.

9 PROJECT EXECUTION STEP I Project Initiation Agreement on terms Elicitation of requirements and documentation Finalization of solution Solution Creation Project initiation is about ensuring the scope and scale of the task at hand is understood clearly. Clear understanding of business processes and requirements enables the team to create a solution that provides real world value to the client. To this end, for Strategy Games, the vision of how the system to be built fit into the complete environment was heavily discussed. Post discussions a problem statement was established, to solve which the proposed solution of a layered system wherein the roles of the Website, and the Administrative Panel were understood. Details of how the website and admin panel would interact in providing control and usability to both front end users as well as the administrator were clarified. The final deliverable for MobiLyte were defined to be: Project Documentation Wireframe Functional Requirement Document Flow Chart Requirement Traceable Matrix CakePHP 3.0 based website Administrative Panel

10 PROJECT EXECUTION Strategy Games a mobilyte Case Study STEP II Project Development Project Planning Design Project Planning for Success Documentation created by Business Analysts is shared and clarified to the development team. Based on the information required team members created a Project Plan. This plan is to outline the time required to build every minute detail into the system as per the Functional Requirement Document and the Functional Traceable Matrix. The project plan approached the required tasks in an agile framework. Backlogs were identified, and milestones were established. Scrums listing out functionality to be achieved in a given time frame were generated such that time for QA, debugging and deployment was accounted for. Project plans are thereon used to chart the progress of the project. The very first task for project development is finalizing the design. Designs are based on answers received from standardized questionnaires filled by the client and the wireframe provided by the business analyst. The designs generated by the team are sent for rounds of feedback and approval from the client. During this exercise, the development team is able to set up the required environments, and get a head start on database architectures.

11 PROJECT EXECUTION STEP III Project Development Development Quality Assurance Deployment Software Engineering For the development of the environment, a considerable amount of time was spent in Research and Development, to bring on board technical skills necessary. Time was spent in analyzing data strings, to understand their data consumption rates. Further, time was required to understand the design language and their best possible user interface, so that the best UX could be achieved. Third party APIs used had to be researched as well, so that scenarios for each possible interaction from the user end can be addressed in an industry compliant manner. Further, in development a major roadblock encountered was live testing of the environment as the team developed. The challenge faced here was replicating the large amounts of data that the system must be ready to manage.