Food And Beverage Decision Support System (FBDSS).
Food and Beverage Decision Support System
(FBDSS)
LONG MEI YIN
This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Bachelor of Information Technology.
FAKULTI TEKNOLOGI MAKLUMAT DAN KOMUNIKASI
KOLEJ UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA
2004
ii
ADMISSION
I admitted that this project title name of
Food and Beverage Decision Support System
is written by me and is my own effort and that no part has been plagiarized without
citations.
STUDENT
: ___________________________________ Date : ________
(LONG MEI YIN)
SUPERVISOR
: ___________________________________ Date : ________
(PN. MASLITA ABDUL AZIZ)
iii
DEDICATION
To my beloved parents...
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An endeavor like this would not have been possible without the blessings of
my parents. It is because of their dedication and support that I have been able to
study in KUTKM. The quality and success of PSM1 report is greatly dependant on
the motivation and direction provided by both supervisor and friends. It has been my
privilege to work under the mentorship of Pn. Zahriah Othman for assisting me
along the duration of Project I until she start taking holidays to deliver a baby. From
there Pn. Maslita Abdul Aziz started to take over responsibility of Pn. Zahriah to
mentor me for Project II development. Therefore, the hard work and caring support
from all will be appreciated.
I would like to thanks my friends mainly housemates because of their patient
and dedication in attending all my questions regarding the development of FBDSS
since Project I till Project II. They are, Lim Pei Ting, Beh Bee Ping, Lee San Ling,
Honey Chua Ee Sin, Lai Yeow Kit, Lee Hooi Hwang, Wong Ai Chan, Tan Chew Joo
and Yee Lang Eng.
I once again would like to express thank you to all who had helped me
through this project sincerely. To my family, without your constant support,
encouragement and prayers this work would have been extremely difficult. Thanks
for doing what parents do the best.
Last but not least, I would like to thanks KUTKM for giving me this
opportunity to do final project.
v
ABSTRAK
Tesis ini dibahagikan kepada dua bahagian, iaitu, Projek I dan Projek II.
Projek I dilaksanakan semasa di Semester Khas selama 8 minggu, manakala Projek
II dijalankan pada masa yang sama dengan Semester 7 iaitu selama 14 minggu.
Sistem yang dibangunkan ialah Sistem Pesanan Makanan dan Minuman (Food and
Beverage Ordering System) yang berasaskan Sistem Sokongan Keputusan
(Decission Support System) atau dikenali secara singkatan sebagai FBDSS (Food
and Beverage Decision Support System). Sistem ini dibangunkan untuk The Orange
Restaurant. The Orange Restaurant adalah sebuah restoran yang mengamalkan cara
pesanan makanan dan minuman secara manual. Objektif projek ini adalah untuk
membangunkan sistem yang mengamalkan proses pesanan sistematik dan juga untuk
menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi oleh pekerja dari The Orange Restaurant.
Masalah-masalah yang dihadapi adalah seperti kesilapan dalam mengambil pesanan,
kekeliruan dalam penghantaran makanan dan minuman kepada pelanggan, maklumat
mengenai makanan dan minuman yang dihidangkan, perkhidmatan dan sebagainya.
Kelebihan FBBDSS adalah ianya membekalkan sistem pesanan yang lebih
sistematik dan teratur kerana kesemua data/maklumat akan disimpan ke dalam
pangkalan data bagi meningkatkan prestasi pengurusan dalam The Orange
Restaurant. Pelanggan boleh mengambil pesanan makanan dan minuman berserta
dengan maklumatnya, pemberian nombor meja secara automatic dan mengubahsuai
pesanan secara lebih efisien melalui FBDSS. FBDSS juga berupaya untuk mencetak
bil pesanan pelanggan supaya pembayaran akan berjalan secara lebih lancar.
Justifikasi metodologi yang digunakan untuk membangunkan sistem ini akan
memastikan sistem yang dibangunkan adalah betul dan boleh dipercayai. Maka
dengan ini, model “Waterfall” digunakan sebagai panduan untuk membangunkan
FBDSS. Pendekatan teknik object-oriented dan unified modeling language (UML)
digunakan dalam pembangunan FBDSS. Skop yang terlibat adalah sepertix login,
pendaftaran, pesanan makanan dan minuman, pemilihan kawasan dan lokasi meja
dan lain-lain. Secara keseluruhannya, FBDSS telah meyelesaikan masalah yang
dihadapi oleh The Orange Restaurant.
vi
ABSTRACT
This thesis is divided into two parts; there are Project I and Project II. Project
I was carried out in Special Semester (8 weeks), while Project II in Semester 7. The
system being developed is Food and Beverage Decision Support System (FBDSS)
for The Orange Restaurant. The project objective is to perform a systematic ordering
process and to solve the problems faced by the staffs of The Orange Restaurant. The
problems that are mentions here are mistake in taking orders, mix-up during food
delivery to the tables, food and beverage information, services and so on. The
significance of the project is that it provides more systematic and organized ordering
system because all data will be kept in database so it can increase the level of the
management in The Orange Restaurant. Customer can orders food and beverage, get
their information, automatic table placement and modify orders more efficient with
FBDSS. FBDSS is capable to print orders report or better known as bill to keep track
of customer’s own orders to ensure billing processed was done smoothly. The
correct choice of methodology plays an essential role for the delivery of reliable and
correct software products. A “Waterfall” model is chosen to guide FBDSS and OO
approach technique and UML tool to develop FBDSS. Scopes areas of FBDSS are
login, register, ordering food and beverages, select table area and others. In
conclusion, the FBDSS had solved the problems face by staff of The Orange
Restaurant.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROJECT TITLE
i
ADMISSION
ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
iv
ABSTRACT
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
vii
LIST OF TABLES
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
xi
LIST OF ACRONYMS
xiii
LIST OF APPENDIX
xiv
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
1
1.1
Overview
1
1.2
Problem Statements
2
1.3
Objectives
3
1.4
Scopes
3
1.5
Contributions
5
1.6
Expected Output
5
1.7
Conclusion
6
CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW
7
2.1
Introduction
7
2.2
Fact and Finding
7
2.3
Conclusion
19
CHAPTER 3 : PROJECT PLANNING AND METHODOLOGY
20
3.1
Introduction
20
3.2
High-level Project Requirements
21
3.3
System Development Approach
23
3.4
Project Schedule and Milestones
27
3.5
Conclusion
29
viii
CHAPTER 4 : ANALYSIS
30
4.1
Introduction
30
4.2
Analysis of Current System
31
4.3
Analysis of To Be System
37
4.4
Conclusion
42
CHAPTER 5 : DESIGN
43
5.1
Introduction
43
5.2
Preliminary/High-Level Design
43
5.3
Detailed Design
67
5.4
Conclusion
101
CHAPTER 6 : IMPLEMENTATION
102
6.1
Introduction
102
6.2
Software Development Environment Setup
102
6.3
Software Configuration Management
104
6.4
Implementation Status
111
6.5
Conclusion
113
CHAPTER 7 : TESTING
102
7.1
Introduction
114
7.2
Test Plan
115
7.3
Test Strategy
117
7.4
Test Design
122
7.5
Test Case Results
133
7.6
Conclusion
137
CHAPTER 8 : PROJECT CONCLUSION
102
8.1
Observation of Weaknesses and Strengths
138
8.2
Proposition for Improvement
139
8.3
Conclusion
140
BIBLIOGRAPHY
141
APPENDIX
143
A
Gantt Chart
143
B
Sequence Diagram
145
C
Help File
155
ix
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE
PAGE
3.1
Software Justification for FBDSS development
22
3.2
Hardware Justification for FBDSS development
22
3.3
Project Milestone
27
4.1
Software Requirement for FBDSS development
40
4.2
Hardware Requirement for FBDSS development
41
5.1
FBDSS Input Specification
63
5.2
FBDSS Output Specification
63
5.3
Registration Form
67
5.4
Cashier Login Form
68
5.5
Administrator’s Form
70
5.6
Cashier Login Details Form
72
5.7
Table’s Adjustment Form
73
5.8
Order’s Adjustment Form
75
5.9
Main Course List Form
76
5.10
Side Orders List Form
77
5.11
Dessert List Form
78
5.12
Beverage List Form
79
5.13
Cashier Pick-Up Bills Form
81
5.14
Customer Information Form
84
5.15
Table Placement Form
85
5.16
Ordering Form
88
5.17
Modify Orders Form
94
5.18
Confirmation Form
97
5.19
FBDSS Entities Constraints
98
5.20
FBDSS Data Dictionary
99
5.21
FBDSS Database Relationship Types
99
x
5.22
FBDSS Database Attributes
100
6.1
Implementation Status for each module
112
7.1
Test Schedule
117
7.2
Levels of Software Testing
117
7.3
Test Case FB01 – Register
122
7.4
Test Case FB02 – CustomerInformation
123
7.5
Test Case FB03 – TablePlacement
123
7.6
Test Case FB04-DisplayMenuList
124
7.7
Test Case FB05 – AddItem
125
7.8
Test Case FB06 – DisplayItemOrdered
126
7.9
Test Case FB07 – Modify
126
7.10
Test Case FB08 – Confirm
126
7.11
Test Case FB09 – ModifyOrders
127
7.12
Test Case FB10 – ModifyDone
127
7.13
Test Case FB11 – Confirmation
128
7.14
Test Case FB12 – CashierLogin
128
7.15
Test Case FB13 – PickUpBill
129
7.16
Test Case FB14 – CloseBill
130
7.17
Test Case FB15 – CashierDone
130
7.18
Test Case FB16 – Add
130
7.19
Test Case FB17 – Delete
131
7.20
Test Case FB18 – Update
131
7.21
Test Data FB02 – CustomerInformation
132
7.22
Test Data FB03 – TablePlacement
132
7.23
Test Data FB05 – AddItem
132
7.24
Test Data FB09 – ModifyOrders
133
7.25
Test Data FB12 – CashierLogin
133
7.26
Test Data FB13 – PickUpBBills
133
7.27
Test Case Result
133
7.28
Test Summary Report
137
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO.
TITLE
PAGE
3.1
A simple waterfall methodology model
24
3.2
FBDSS Overview
27
4.1
Current Business System (Pictorial Diagram)
32
4.2
Definition of Internal and External Current
33
Business System for Orange Style Restaurant
4.3
Current Business System (Activity Diagram)
35
4.4
FBDSS Use Case Diagram
39
4.5
FBDSS Deployment Diagram
41
5.1
Boundary Classes in FBDSS
45
5.2
Control Class in FBDSS
46
5.3
Entity Classes in FBDSS
46
5.4
FBDSS Artifact Diagram
47
5.5
FBDSS Design Model
48
5.6
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-Basic
49
Flow
5.7
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-
49
Alternate Flow
5.8
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-
50
Exception Flow
5.9
FBDSS Class Diagram
51
5.10
Registration Form
52
5.11
Cashier login Form
52
5.12
Cashier Pick-up Form
53
5.13
Customer Information Form
54
5.14
Table Placement Form
54
5.15
Customer Orders Form
55
xii
5.16
Modify Orders Page
56
5.17
Confirmation Form
57
5.18
Administrator Form
57
5.19
Cashier List Form
58
5.20
Table List Form
59
5.21
Orders List Form
60
5.22
Menu List Form
61
5.23
Navigation Flows Diagram
62
5.24
Printed Bill Design
65
5.25
FBDSS Database Class Diagram
66
6.1
FBDSS Development Environment Diagram
103
6.2
FBDSS Real Environment Set up Diagram
104
6.3
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Setup
105
6.4
Step 1 in MySQL installation process
106
6.5
Step 2 in MySQL installation process
107
6.6
Step 3 in MySQL installation process
107
6.7
Step 4 in MySQL installation process
108
6.8
MySQL-Front installation step 1
108
6.9
MySQL-Front installation step 2
109
6.10
MySQL-Front installation step 3
109
6.11
Step 1 in installing MySQL driver
110
6.12
Step 2 in installing MySQL driver
110
7.1
Test Organization
115
xiii
LIST OF ACRONYMS
FBDSS
-
Food and Beverage Decision Support System
F&B
-
Food and beverage
DSS
-
Decision support system
UML
-
Unified Modeling Language
KUTKM
-
Kolej Universiti Teknikal Kebangsaan Malaysia
SDLC
-
Software Development Life Cycle
CASE
-
Computer Aided Software Engineering
WIA
-
Workforce Investment Act
FDSS
-
Frontline Decision Support System
USDOL
-
U.S Department of Labor
IT
-
Information technology
SPX
-
Sigma Operations Platform
RAD
-
Rapid Application Development
GIS
-
Geographic Information System
EMS
-
Emergency Medical Services
GPS
-
Global Positioning System
RAM
-
Random Access Memory
CD-ROM
-
Compact Disc Read Only Memory
DFD
-
Data flow diagram
OOA
-
Object-oriented analysis
PSM
-
Projek Sarjana Muda
xiv
LIST OF APPENDIX
LIST
TITLE
PAGE
A
Gantt Chart
143
B
Sequence Diagram
145
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Overview
The food and beverage industry has been a leading industry in the world. This
industry has become a core business among the human race. Food is an essential
nutrient for human body. There had been a lot of enhancement, modification and
modernization implemented on the food and beverage industry. The demands from
customers are becoming higher and higher each day. They had demanded the food to
be delivered faster, better service, less error and more varieties of creative food and
beverage to be offered. With the increased demand and popularized trend of eating
out especially at restaurant, an electronic system is indeed necessary to cope with it.
For the past decades, several companies had already developed systems to aid the
restaurant to manage the ordering process and stock management.
New systems can now connect everyone from the dining table to the food
vendor in an electronic supply chain. In the restaurant of tomorrow, guests give their
orders to a waiter attending a specific counter, where an electronic device will take
the orders details. The orders are transmitted to the kitchen, speeding service,
reducing errors, and in turn the waiter/waitress can spent more time with the
customers.
In advance of all these existing system, a Food and Beverage Decision
Support System (FBDSS) will be introduced here. The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
had approach LBlueg Sdn. Bhd. a software house company to develop software to
replace its management in customer ordering process, bill settlement and updating
menus. With a computer aided tools and a program, The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
are believe to have a more smooth and faster service with less errors.
2
In order to build this system successfully, best-practice business analysis and
project management methodologies are to be applied to facilitate exchange between
the project stakeholders, business users, developers, and testers, shorten the
development cycle, and deliver the product on time and within the budget.
Depending on the business’s needs, a combination of one or more of proven
methodologies matching the specific project/department needs are to be implemented.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) a business analysis methodology will be used to
define business requirements and problems. While in project planning, a standard
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models will be used, “Waterfall” or
Traditional method are the best recommended. “Waterfall” divides the project into
well-defined sequential stages with intermediate milestones. The final product is not
delivered until all phases are finished. More details referring to the models and
methodologies will be discussed in Chapter 3.
1.2
Problem Statements
In the food and beverage industry, the traditional taking orders and table
placement are merely made by waiters using paper and pen. Therefore, errors always
occur during the ordering process. The time taken to cook certain foods depend on
the type of food, cooking style and chef skills. Indeed, customer would loves to know
more about the food ingredients, the nutrients facts, cooking styles and others
information related to the food. With all these issues preventing the best of service
provided to the customer and to reduce human errors, FBDSS can solve the issues.
A prime challenge for front-line waiters is to determine which set of services
best meets the needs of customers who enter a restaurants, and to do this in a
consistent, rational, and effective manner. However, not all waiters may have
sufficient experience to make informed decisions for clients participating in the wide
variety of menus offered at the restaurant. The FBDSS is a set of ordering
management tools that is being developed to help customer successfully make the
best decisions to order their choice of food. The goal of these tools is to assist
customer in quickly assessing their needs in referring customers to services that best
meet their needs.
3
1.3
Objectives
The objective of building FBDSS is to provide a user friendly electronic food
and beverage ordering system that will directly communicate with the customer. In
order to make it operate efficiently and easy to understand, it will be built with a
decision support system, where it will help customer to decide on which table to be
seated based on number of seats needed and also preferences set by customers.
Besides that, it also manage the food and beverage system ordering process,
summarize of the orders with its prices and the total price for all the food ordered in a
list and print out the orders that will act as a bill.
While for The Orange Restaurant’s staffs mainly cashier, they will use the
FBDSS as an application to retrieve orders made by customers and settle the bill
when customer are to leave the restaurant. To make it a whole, an administrator can
use the FBDSS to add, edit and delete the existing records kept in the system
database. For example, to add new item into the menu list or edit customer orders,
add new cashier to enable them to login and to change their password.
There are eight objectives that should be met. Firstly, FBDSS aims to make
food and beverage ordering an electronic system. Secondly, to make food and
beverage ordering system an errors or faults free system. The thirds objective is to
decide for customer which table to be seated based on preference set by customer
themselves. While the fourth objective is to manage food and beverage list
systematically. Fifth, FBDSS also aims to calculate the price of foods and beverages
ordered by the system to minimize errors made by human. Lastly, FBDSS should
allow an administrator to manage the orders, tables, cashiers and menu.
1.4
Scopes
The focused of this project is on the decision support system that offers an
information models to help customer makes decisions. There are three modules and
sub-modules that will be created to make this system a real and operating system.
The modules are as follows:
4
i)
F&B ordering
This module includes the ordering process and table placement. The customer
login here and select table preference then orders through the system. The
user also can modify the orders taken before confirming it. When ordering
process done, it will summarize it and get confirmation from the customer
before print out the bill.
ii)
B i l l i ng
Upon leaving the restaurant, customer needs to settle their bill through
cashier. Cashier will retrieve their orders from the bill presented by the
customer and double confirm it with comparing the information printed on
the bill with the information display on the screen. Then, the cashier can close
the bill/order. It will automatically change the table status back to unoccupied.
iii)
Administrator
An administrator will be allowed to add, update or delete item from the
database. For example, administrator can add new item into menu list or add
cashier list to enable new cashier to login to the system or change orders
made by customer if there exist mistake when ordering.
This system can be implemented in a restaurant with certain layout condition.
First of all, the system works on counter/station base environment. The restaurant
will be design with only one door as entrance and exit. Upon entering the restaurant,
customer will be ordering their foods and beverages through a counter. The system
installed into the counters will assist customer to orders wisely as well as giving
description on certain foods and beverage. Basically, waiters only offer second
helping to the guest, cutleries, tables, clearing and delivering foods to the customer
table.
Other than those system related subject, the business process and DSS aspect
of theories and analysis should be done in order to get the system running accurately.
5
1.5
Contribution
The FBDSS will be a stand-alone system where the process of taking orders
will be done by the user/customer themselves. The importance of installing this
system into a restaurant is that the owner of the restaurant will benefit with a more
accurate orders, less error, lower man power wages and better services offered. In the
other hand, the customer will experience improved services from the restaurant’s
staff because they had lesser burden on taking orders. Other than that, information
provided by the system is more user-friendly, precise and complete. Therefore,
customer gets more satisfaction using this system to orders than the traditional ways
using paper and pen.
Other contribution of this FBDSS is that it is more informative, effective and
user-friendly. Customer will find it very helpful and easy to use. Information like,
time to cook various dishes, ingredients involve in cooking certain dishes and the
way to make it for example, grill, fry, steam or bake and also taste of the food.
1.6
Expected Output
When the system is fully developed, it will be implemented into The Orange
Restaurant. It is expected to make the ordering system easier and faster. These can be
seen especially during lunch and dinner time, which is the most busy operation hour
with the peak customers at that time. The change of situation and environment is the
most significance because in normal day one can see that the waiters and waitresses
will be busy taking orders from the customers. Once FBDSS implemented, all
customers will be seen taking orders themselves from the counter set inside the
restaurant using FBDSS. The operation of The orange Restaurant will be seems relax
and organized because the burden of taking orders was eliminated with the usage of
FBDSS, waiters and waitresses will be serving foods and beverages to the respective
tables, errors or misunderstanding between staffs and customers will be lessen
because the customer is ordering the food themselves using the system. Overall, the
operation of The Orange Restaurant will appear smooth and hassle free.
6
1.7
Conclusion
In this chapter, it is learnt that a Food and Beverage Decision Support System
will be develop for The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd. The “Waterfall” methodology
will guides in developing this system. Phases include in this methodology are
analysis, design, implementation, testing and maintenance. In the analysis phase,
technique such as interview and by observation is the best way to get up most
information for the system. While, object-oriented approach will be use in the
designing phase. The main function in this program would be the decision support
system.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
To facilitate the development of the system FBDSS, several case studies had
been gathered from various resources such the internet, online journals, library books
and others. The cases collected to be studied mostly are related to DSS approach
implemented in different field of studies. Various researches had been done to look
for some what similar system akin to FBDSS. In this Chapter 2, three case studies
will be review/discuss in the area of methodology, models involve, outcomes and the
reliability of the system.
The importance of reviewing other case studies is to realize its advantages
and weaknesses. Thus, it can use as reference while developing FBDSS.
2.2
Facts and Finding
In this sub topic we will discuss on research done from the facts and findings.
The facts and finding are divided into two categories which are Theory and Case
Studies.
2.2.1
Theory
This section consists of two topics discussion, decision support system (DSS)
and network architecture loacal area network (LAN). These two topics are chosen to
be discuss here because it is related to the system that are going to be built, the
FBDSS.
8
2.2.1.1 Decision Support System
Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized
information system that supports decision-making activities. DSS are interactive
computer-based systems and subsystems intended to help decision makers use data,
documents, knowledge and/or models to identify and solve problems and make
decisions. Using an organizing framework defines in DSSResources.COM there is
five major DSS types or categories:
i)
Communications-Driven DSS
ii)
Data-Driven DSS
iii)
Document-Driven DSS
iv)
Knowledge-Driven DSS
v)
Model-Driven DSS
Decision Support technologies are changing rapidly and a great deal of
innovation is occurring related to these types of systems. So, the proposed FBDSS is
base on Knowledge-Driven DSS. A Knowledge-Driven DSS base on the FBDSS
system means an intelligent system that contains information of foods and beverages.
It will be able to make decision for the customer on foods and beverage orders based
on information gather in the database which serves as the brain to the system.
FBDSS will suggest certain combinations of foods from the menus which is the best
choice to go around with the courses ordered by the customer. There will be also
information or reason presented with the combination or menus so that the customer
will understand the nature of the combination. In the end, after learning all the
objective and appropriate of the menus combination, customer can make their
decision wisely based on their taste and preferable choice.
2.2.1.2 Network Architecture
A local area network (LAN) will be use as the system network architecture in
the restaurant. LAN is a network architecture design to connect computers in the
same building. The LAN will include several workstations on the restaurant frontline
9
and cashier, kitchen and bar. A server will act as a database center to keep all the
data/information entered.
As in definition, a LAN is a group of computers and associated devices that
share a common communications line or wireless link and typically share the
resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example,
within an office building). Usually, the server has applications and data storage that
are shared in common by multiple computer users. A local area network may serve
as few as two or three users (for example, in a home network) or as many as
thousands of users (for example, in an FDDI network). Major local area network
technologies are:
i)
Ethernet
ii)
Token Ring
iii)
FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
Ethernet is by far the most commonly used LAN technology. A number of
corporations use the Token Ring technology. FDDI is sometimes used as a backbone
LAN interconnecting Ethernet or Token Ring LANs. Another LAN technology,
ARCNET, once the most commonly installed LAN technology, is still used in the
industrial automation industry.
Typically, a suite of application programs can be kept on the LAN server.
Users who need an application frequently can download it once and then run it from
their local hard disk. Users can order printing and other services as needed through
applications run on the LAN server. A user can share files with others at the LAN
server; read and write access is maintained by a LAN administrator. A LAN server
may also be used as a Web server if safeguards are taken to secure internal
applications and data from outside access.
10
2.2.2
Case Studies
There are three types of case studies being viewed to assist the development
of FBDSS. The first case study is the Frontline Decision Support System which is
designed for workforce development staff with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Second case study is the Customer-Focused Decision Support at OpSource which
focused on deploying best practices in account management and customer care
operation. The third and the last case study is the Decision Support for Fire and
Emergency Medical Services which discuss on Geographic Information System
technologies.
i)
Frontline Decision Support System (FDSS)
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 emphasizes the
integration and coordination of employment services. Central to achieving
this aim is the federal requirement that local areas receiving WIA funding
must establish one-stop centers, where providers of various employment
services within a local labor market are assembled in one location. This
arrangement is expected to coordinate and streamline the delivery of
employment-related programs and to meet the needs of both job seekers and
employers more effectively than did the previous arrangement.
Research to develop and pilot test a Frontline Decision Support
System (FDSS) for workforce development staff in one-stop centers had been
done with The U.S. Department of Labor co-operating with the W.E. Upjohn
Institute for Employment. The goal of FDSS is to assist staff in quickly
assessing and properly targeting services to customers. FDSS tools are being
tested in new WIA operating systems in the states of Georgia and
Washington. The study of this paper reports on the strategy, tools, and
implementation efforts in the pilot states. FDSS is comprised of two main
m odul e s :
(FBDSS)
LONG MEI YIN
This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Bachelor of Information Technology.
FAKULTI TEKNOLOGI MAKLUMAT DAN KOMUNIKASI
KOLEJ UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA
2004
ii
ADMISSION
I admitted that this project title name of
Food and Beverage Decision Support System
is written by me and is my own effort and that no part has been plagiarized without
citations.
STUDENT
: ___________________________________ Date : ________
(LONG MEI YIN)
SUPERVISOR
: ___________________________________ Date : ________
(PN. MASLITA ABDUL AZIZ)
iii
DEDICATION
To my beloved parents...
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An endeavor like this would not have been possible without the blessings of
my parents. It is because of their dedication and support that I have been able to
study in KUTKM. The quality and success of PSM1 report is greatly dependant on
the motivation and direction provided by both supervisor and friends. It has been my
privilege to work under the mentorship of Pn. Zahriah Othman for assisting me
along the duration of Project I until she start taking holidays to deliver a baby. From
there Pn. Maslita Abdul Aziz started to take over responsibility of Pn. Zahriah to
mentor me for Project II development. Therefore, the hard work and caring support
from all will be appreciated.
I would like to thanks my friends mainly housemates because of their patient
and dedication in attending all my questions regarding the development of FBDSS
since Project I till Project II. They are, Lim Pei Ting, Beh Bee Ping, Lee San Ling,
Honey Chua Ee Sin, Lai Yeow Kit, Lee Hooi Hwang, Wong Ai Chan, Tan Chew Joo
and Yee Lang Eng.
I once again would like to express thank you to all who had helped me
through this project sincerely. To my family, without your constant support,
encouragement and prayers this work would have been extremely difficult. Thanks
for doing what parents do the best.
Last but not least, I would like to thanks KUTKM for giving me this
opportunity to do final project.
v
ABSTRAK
Tesis ini dibahagikan kepada dua bahagian, iaitu, Projek I dan Projek II.
Projek I dilaksanakan semasa di Semester Khas selama 8 minggu, manakala Projek
II dijalankan pada masa yang sama dengan Semester 7 iaitu selama 14 minggu.
Sistem yang dibangunkan ialah Sistem Pesanan Makanan dan Minuman (Food and
Beverage Ordering System) yang berasaskan Sistem Sokongan Keputusan
(Decission Support System) atau dikenali secara singkatan sebagai FBDSS (Food
and Beverage Decision Support System). Sistem ini dibangunkan untuk The Orange
Restaurant. The Orange Restaurant adalah sebuah restoran yang mengamalkan cara
pesanan makanan dan minuman secara manual. Objektif projek ini adalah untuk
membangunkan sistem yang mengamalkan proses pesanan sistematik dan juga untuk
menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi oleh pekerja dari The Orange Restaurant.
Masalah-masalah yang dihadapi adalah seperti kesilapan dalam mengambil pesanan,
kekeliruan dalam penghantaran makanan dan minuman kepada pelanggan, maklumat
mengenai makanan dan minuman yang dihidangkan, perkhidmatan dan sebagainya.
Kelebihan FBBDSS adalah ianya membekalkan sistem pesanan yang lebih
sistematik dan teratur kerana kesemua data/maklumat akan disimpan ke dalam
pangkalan data bagi meningkatkan prestasi pengurusan dalam The Orange
Restaurant. Pelanggan boleh mengambil pesanan makanan dan minuman berserta
dengan maklumatnya, pemberian nombor meja secara automatic dan mengubahsuai
pesanan secara lebih efisien melalui FBDSS. FBDSS juga berupaya untuk mencetak
bil pesanan pelanggan supaya pembayaran akan berjalan secara lebih lancar.
Justifikasi metodologi yang digunakan untuk membangunkan sistem ini akan
memastikan sistem yang dibangunkan adalah betul dan boleh dipercayai. Maka
dengan ini, model “Waterfall” digunakan sebagai panduan untuk membangunkan
FBDSS. Pendekatan teknik object-oriented dan unified modeling language (UML)
digunakan dalam pembangunan FBDSS. Skop yang terlibat adalah sepertix login,
pendaftaran, pesanan makanan dan minuman, pemilihan kawasan dan lokasi meja
dan lain-lain. Secara keseluruhannya, FBDSS telah meyelesaikan masalah yang
dihadapi oleh The Orange Restaurant.
vi
ABSTRACT
This thesis is divided into two parts; there are Project I and Project II. Project
I was carried out in Special Semester (8 weeks), while Project II in Semester 7. The
system being developed is Food and Beverage Decision Support System (FBDSS)
for The Orange Restaurant. The project objective is to perform a systematic ordering
process and to solve the problems faced by the staffs of The Orange Restaurant. The
problems that are mentions here are mistake in taking orders, mix-up during food
delivery to the tables, food and beverage information, services and so on. The
significance of the project is that it provides more systematic and organized ordering
system because all data will be kept in database so it can increase the level of the
management in The Orange Restaurant. Customer can orders food and beverage, get
their information, automatic table placement and modify orders more efficient with
FBDSS. FBDSS is capable to print orders report or better known as bill to keep track
of customer’s own orders to ensure billing processed was done smoothly. The
correct choice of methodology plays an essential role for the delivery of reliable and
correct software products. A “Waterfall” model is chosen to guide FBDSS and OO
approach technique and UML tool to develop FBDSS. Scopes areas of FBDSS are
login, register, ordering food and beverages, select table area and others. In
conclusion, the FBDSS had solved the problems face by staff of The Orange
Restaurant.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROJECT TITLE
i
ADMISSION
ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
iv
ABSTRACT
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
vii
LIST OF TABLES
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
xi
LIST OF ACRONYMS
xiii
LIST OF APPENDIX
xiv
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
1
1.1
Overview
1
1.2
Problem Statements
2
1.3
Objectives
3
1.4
Scopes
3
1.5
Contributions
5
1.6
Expected Output
5
1.7
Conclusion
6
CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW
7
2.1
Introduction
7
2.2
Fact and Finding
7
2.3
Conclusion
19
CHAPTER 3 : PROJECT PLANNING AND METHODOLOGY
20
3.1
Introduction
20
3.2
High-level Project Requirements
21
3.3
System Development Approach
23
3.4
Project Schedule and Milestones
27
3.5
Conclusion
29
viii
CHAPTER 4 : ANALYSIS
30
4.1
Introduction
30
4.2
Analysis of Current System
31
4.3
Analysis of To Be System
37
4.4
Conclusion
42
CHAPTER 5 : DESIGN
43
5.1
Introduction
43
5.2
Preliminary/High-Level Design
43
5.3
Detailed Design
67
5.4
Conclusion
101
CHAPTER 6 : IMPLEMENTATION
102
6.1
Introduction
102
6.2
Software Development Environment Setup
102
6.3
Software Configuration Management
104
6.4
Implementation Status
111
6.5
Conclusion
113
CHAPTER 7 : TESTING
102
7.1
Introduction
114
7.2
Test Plan
115
7.3
Test Strategy
117
7.4
Test Design
122
7.5
Test Case Results
133
7.6
Conclusion
137
CHAPTER 8 : PROJECT CONCLUSION
102
8.1
Observation of Weaknesses and Strengths
138
8.2
Proposition for Improvement
139
8.3
Conclusion
140
BIBLIOGRAPHY
141
APPENDIX
143
A
Gantt Chart
143
B
Sequence Diagram
145
C
Help File
155
ix
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE
PAGE
3.1
Software Justification for FBDSS development
22
3.2
Hardware Justification for FBDSS development
22
3.3
Project Milestone
27
4.1
Software Requirement for FBDSS development
40
4.2
Hardware Requirement for FBDSS development
41
5.1
FBDSS Input Specification
63
5.2
FBDSS Output Specification
63
5.3
Registration Form
67
5.4
Cashier Login Form
68
5.5
Administrator’s Form
70
5.6
Cashier Login Details Form
72
5.7
Table’s Adjustment Form
73
5.8
Order’s Adjustment Form
75
5.9
Main Course List Form
76
5.10
Side Orders List Form
77
5.11
Dessert List Form
78
5.12
Beverage List Form
79
5.13
Cashier Pick-Up Bills Form
81
5.14
Customer Information Form
84
5.15
Table Placement Form
85
5.16
Ordering Form
88
5.17
Modify Orders Form
94
5.18
Confirmation Form
97
5.19
FBDSS Entities Constraints
98
5.20
FBDSS Data Dictionary
99
5.21
FBDSS Database Relationship Types
99
x
5.22
FBDSS Database Attributes
100
6.1
Implementation Status for each module
112
7.1
Test Schedule
117
7.2
Levels of Software Testing
117
7.3
Test Case FB01 – Register
122
7.4
Test Case FB02 – CustomerInformation
123
7.5
Test Case FB03 – TablePlacement
123
7.6
Test Case FB04-DisplayMenuList
124
7.7
Test Case FB05 – AddItem
125
7.8
Test Case FB06 – DisplayItemOrdered
126
7.9
Test Case FB07 – Modify
126
7.10
Test Case FB08 – Confirm
126
7.11
Test Case FB09 – ModifyOrders
127
7.12
Test Case FB10 – ModifyDone
127
7.13
Test Case FB11 – Confirmation
128
7.14
Test Case FB12 – CashierLogin
128
7.15
Test Case FB13 – PickUpBill
129
7.16
Test Case FB14 – CloseBill
130
7.17
Test Case FB15 – CashierDone
130
7.18
Test Case FB16 – Add
130
7.19
Test Case FB17 – Delete
131
7.20
Test Case FB18 – Update
131
7.21
Test Data FB02 – CustomerInformation
132
7.22
Test Data FB03 – TablePlacement
132
7.23
Test Data FB05 – AddItem
132
7.24
Test Data FB09 – ModifyOrders
133
7.25
Test Data FB12 – CashierLogin
133
7.26
Test Data FB13 – PickUpBBills
133
7.27
Test Case Result
133
7.28
Test Summary Report
137
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO.
TITLE
PAGE
3.1
A simple waterfall methodology model
24
3.2
FBDSS Overview
27
4.1
Current Business System (Pictorial Diagram)
32
4.2
Definition of Internal and External Current
33
Business System for Orange Style Restaurant
4.3
Current Business System (Activity Diagram)
35
4.4
FBDSS Use Case Diagram
39
4.5
FBDSS Deployment Diagram
41
5.1
Boundary Classes in FBDSS
45
5.2
Control Class in FBDSS
46
5.3
Entity Classes in FBDSS
46
5.4
FBDSS Artifact Diagram
47
5.5
FBDSS Design Model
48
5.6
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-Basic
49
Flow
5.7
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-
49
Alternate Flow
5.8
Select Main Course-Sequence Diagram-
50
Exception Flow
5.9
FBDSS Class Diagram
51
5.10
Registration Form
52
5.11
Cashier login Form
52
5.12
Cashier Pick-up Form
53
5.13
Customer Information Form
54
5.14
Table Placement Form
54
5.15
Customer Orders Form
55
xii
5.16
Modify Orders Page
56
5.17
Confirmation Form
57
5.18
Administrator Form
57
5.19
Cashier List Form
58
5.20
Table List Form
59
5.21
Orders List Form
60
5.22
Menu List Form
61
5.23
Navigation Flows Diagram
62
5.24
Printed Bill Design
65
5.25
FBDSS Database Class Diagram
66
6.1
FBDSS Development Environment Diagram
103
6.2
FBDSS Real Environment Set up Diagram
104
6.3
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Setup
105
6.4
Step 1 in MySQL installation process
106
6.5
Step 2 in MySQL installation process
107
6.6
Step 3 in MySQL installation process
107
6.7
Step 4 in MySQL installation process
108
6.8
MySQL-Front installation step 1
108
6.9
MySQL-Front installation step 2
109
6.10
MySQL-Front installation step 3
109
6.11
Step 1 in installing MySQL driver
110
6.12
Step 2 in installing MySQL driver
110
7.1
Test Organization
115
xiii
LIST OF ACRONYMS
FBDSS
-
Food and Beverage Decision Support System
F&B
-
Food and beverage
DSS
-
Decision support system
UML
-
Unified Modeling Language
KUTKM
-
Kolej Universiti Teknikal Kebangsaan Malaysia
SDLC
-
Software Development Life Cycle
CASE
-
Computer Aided Software Engineering
WIA
-
Workforce Investment Act
FDSS
-
Frontline Decision Support System
USDOL
-
U.S Department of Labor
IT
-
Information technology
SPX
-
Sigma Operations Platform
RAD
-
Rapid Application Development
GIS
-
Geographic Information System
EMS
-
Emergency Medical Services
GPS
-
Global Positioning System
RAM
-
Random Access Memory
CD-ROM
-
Compact Disc Read Only Memory
DFD
-
Data flow diagram
OOA
-
Object-oriented analysis
PSM
-
Projek Sarjana Muda
xiv
LIST OF APPENDIX
LIST
TITLE
PAGE
A
Gantt Chart
143
B
Sequence Diagram
145
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Overview
The food and beverage industry has been a leading industry in the world. This
industry has become a core business among the human race. Food is an essential
nutrient for human body. There had been a lot of enhancement, modification and
modernization implemented on the food and beverage industry. The demands from
customers are becoming higher and higher each day. They had demanded the food to
be delivered faster, better service, less error and more varieties of creative food and
beverage to be offered. With the increased demand and popularized trend of eating
out especially at restaurant, an electronic system is indeed necessary to cope with it.
For the past decades, several companies had already developed systems to aid the
restaurant to manage the ordering process and stock management.
New systems can now connect everyone from the dining table to the food
vendor in an electronic supply chain. In the restaurant of tomorrow, guests give their
orders to a waiter attending a specific counter, where an electronic device will take
the orders details. The orders are transmitted to the kitchen, speeding service,
reducing errors, and in turn the waiter/waitress can spent more time with the
customers.
In advance of all these existing system, a Food and Beverage Decision
Support System (FBDSS) will be introduced here. The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
had approach LBlueg Sdn. Bhd. a software house company to develop software to
replace its management in customer ordering process, bill settlement and updating
menus. With a computer aided tools and a program, The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.
are believe to have a more smooth and faster service with less errors.
2
In order to build this system successfully, best-practice business analysis and
project management methodologies are to be applied to facilitate exchange between
the project stakeholders, business users, developers, and testers, shorten the
development cycle, and deliver the product on time and within the budget.
Depending on the business’s needs, a combination of one or more of proven
methodologies matching the specific project/department needs are to be implemented.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) a business analysis methodology will be used to
define business requirements and problems. While in project planning, a standard
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models will be used, “Waterfall” or
Traditional method are the best recommended. “Waterfall” divides the project into
well-defined sequential stages with intermediate milestones. The final product is not
delivered until all phases are finished. More details referring to the models and
methodologies will be discussed in Chapter 3.
1.2
Problem Statements
In the food and beverage industry, the traditional taking orders and table
placement are merely made by waiters using paper and pen. Therefore, errors always
occur during the ordering process. The time taken to cook certain foods depend on
the type of food, cooking style and chef skills. Indeed, customer would loves to know
more about the food ingredients, the nutrients facts, cooking styles and others
information related to the food. With all these issues preventing the best of service
provided to the customer and to reduce human errors, FBDSS can solve the issues.
A prime challenge for front-line waiters is to determine which set of services
best meets the needs of customers who enter a restaurants, and to do this in a
consistent, rational, and effective manner. However, not all waiters may have
sufficient experience to make informed decisions for clients participating in the wide
variety of menus offered at the restaurant. The FBDSS is a set of ordering
management tools that is being developed to help customer successfully make the
best decisions to order their choice of food. The goal of these tools is to assist
customer in quickly assessing their needs in referring customers to services that best
meet their needs.
3
1.3
Objectives
The objective of building FBDSS is to provide a user friendly electronic food
and beverage ordering system that will directly communicate with the customer. In
order to make it operate efficiently and easy to understand, it will be built with a
decision support system, where it will help customer to decide on which table to be
seated based on number of seats needed and also preferences set by customers.
Besides that, it also manage the food and beverage system ordering process,
summarize of the orders with its prices and the total price for all the food ordered in a
list and print out the orders that will act as a bill.
While for The Orange Restaurant’s staffs mainly cashier, they will use the
FBDSS as an application to retrieve orders made by customers and settle the bill
when customer are to leave the restaurant. To make it a whole, an administrator can
use the FBDSS to add, edit and delete the existing records kept in the system
database. For example, to add new item into the menu list or edit customer orders,
add new cashier to enable them to login and to change their password.
There are eight objectives that should be met. Firstly, FBDSS aims to make
food and beverage ordering an electronic system. Secondly, to make food and
beverage ordering system an errors or faults free system. The thirds objective is to
decide for customer which table to be seated based on preference set by customer
themselves. While the fourth objective is to manage food and beverage list
systematically. Fifth, FBDSS also aims to calculate the price of foods and beverages
ordered by the system to minimize errors made by human. Lastly, FBDSS should
allow an administrator to manage the orders, tables, cashiers and menu.
1.4
Scopes
The focused of this project is on the decision support system that offers an
information models to help customer makes decisions. There are three modules and
sub-modules that will be created to make this system a real and operating system.
The modules are as follows:
4
i)
F&B ordering
This module includes the ordering process and table placement. The customer
login here and select table preference then orders through the system. The
user also can modify the orders taken before confirming it. When ordering
process done, it will summarize it and get confirmation from the customer
before print out the bill.
ii)
B i l l i ng
Upon leaving the restaurant, customer needs to settle their bill through
cashier. Cashier will retrieve their orders from the bill presented by the
customer and double confirm it with comparing the information printed on
the bill with the information display on the screen. Then, the cashier can close
the bill/order. It will automatically change the table status back to unoccupied.
iii)
Administrator
An administrator will be allowed to add, update or delete item from the
database. For example, administrator can add new item into menu list or add
cashier list to enable new cashier to login to the system or change orders
made by customer if there exist mistake when ordering.
This system can be implemented in a restaurant with certain layout condition.
First of all, the system works on counter/station base environment. The restaurant
will be design with only one door as entrance and exit. Upon entering the restaurant,
customer will be ordering their foods and beverages through a counter. The system
installed into the counters will assist customer to orders wisely as well as giving
description on certain foods and beverage. Basically, waiters only offer second
helping to the guest, cutleries, tables, clearing and delivering foods to the customer
table.
Other than those system related subject, the business process and DSS aspect
of theories and analysis should be done in order to get the system running accurately.
5
1.5
Contribution
The FBDSS will be a stand-alone system where the process of taking orders
will be done by the user/customer themselves. The importance of installing this
system into a restaurant is that the owner of the restaurant will benefit with a more
accurate orders, less error, lower man power wages and better services offered. In the
other hand, the customer will experience improved services from the restaurant’s
staff because they had lesser burden on taking orders. Other than that, information
provided by the system is more user-friendly, precise and complete. Therefore,
customer gets more satisfaction using this system to orders than the traditional ways
using paper and pen.
Other contribution of this FBDSS is that it is more informative, effective and
user-friendly. Customer will find it very helpful and easy to use. Information like,
time to cook various dishes, ingredients involve in cooking certain dishes and the
way to make it for example, grill, fry, steam or bake and also taste of the food.
1.6
Expected Output
When the system is fully developed, it will be implemented into The Orange
Restaurant. It is expected to make the ordering system easier and faster. These can be
seen especially during lunch and dinner time, which is the most busy operation hour
with the peak customers at that time. The change of situation and environment is the
most significance because in normal day one can see that the waiters and waitresses
will be busy taking orders from the customers. Once FBDSS implemented, all
customers will be seen taking orders themselves from the counter set inside the
restaurant using FBDSS. The operation of The orange Restaurant will be seems relax
and organized because the burden of taking orders was eliminated with the usage of
FBDSS, waiters and waitresses will be serving foods and beverages to the respective
tables, errors or misunderstanding between staffs and customers will be lessen
because the customer is ordering the food themselves using the system. Overall, the
operation of The Orange Restaurant will appear smooth and hassle free.
6
1.7
Conclusion
In this chapter, it is learnt that a Food and Beverage Decision Support System
will be develop for The Orange Restaurant Sdn. Bhd. The “Waterfall” methodology
will guides in developing this system. Phases include in this methodology are
analysis, design, implementation, testing and maintenance. In the analysis phase,
technique such as interview and by observation is the best way to get up most
information for the system. While, object-oriented approach will be use in the
designing phase. The main function in this program would be the decision support
system.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
To facilitate the development of the system FBDSS, several case studies had
been gathered from various resources such the internet, online journals, library books
and others. The cases collected to be studied mostly are related to DSS approach
implemented in different field of studies. Various researches had been done to look
for some what similar system akin to FBDSS. In this Chapter 2, three case studies
will be review/discuss in the area of methodology, models involve, outcomes and the
reliability of the system.
The importance of reviewing other case studies is to realize its advantages
and weaknesses. Thus, it can use as reference while developing FBDSS.
2.2
Facts and Finding
In this sub topic we will discuss on research done from the facts and findings.
The facts and finding are divided into two categories which are Theory and Case
Studies.
2.2.1
Theory
This section consists of two topics discussion, decision support system (DSS)
and network architecture loacal area network (LAN). These two topics are chosen to
be discuss here because it is related to the system that are going to be built, the
FBDSS.
8
2.2.1.1 Decision Support System
Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a specific class of computerized
information system that supports decision-making activities. DSS are interactive
computer-based systems and subsystems intended to help decision makers use data,
documents, knowledge and/or models to identify and solve problems and make
decisions. Using an organizing framework defines in DSSResources.COM there is
five major DSS types or categories:
i)
Communications-Driven DSS
ii)
Data-Driven DSS
iii)
Document-Driven DSS
iv)
Knowledge-Driven DSS
v)
Model-Driven DSS
Decision Support technologies are changing rapidly and a great deal of
innovation is occurring related to these types of systems. So, the proposed FBDSS is
base on Knowledge-Driven DSS. A Knowledge-Driven DSS base on the FBDSS
system means an intelligent system that contains information of foods and beverages.
It will be able to make decision for the customer on foods and beverage orders based
on information gather in the database which serves as the brain to the system.
FBDSS will suggest certain combinations of foods from the menus which is the best
choice to go around with the courses ordered by the customer. There will be also
information or reason presented with the combination or menus so that the customer
will understand the nature of the combination. In the end, after learning all the
objective and appropriate of the menus combination, customer can make their
decision wisely based on their taste and preferable choice.
2.2.1.2 Network Architecture
A local area network (LAN) will be use as the system network architecture in
the restaurant. LAN is a network architecture design to connect computers in the
same building. The LAN will include several workstations on the restaurant frontline
9
and cashier, kitchen and bar. A server will act as a database center to keep all the
data/information entered.
As in definition, a LAN is a group of computers and associated devices that
share a common communications line or wireless link and typically share the
resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example,
within an office building). Usually, the server has applications and data storage that
are shared in common by multiple computer users. A local area network may serve
as few as two or three users (for example, in a home network) or as many as
thousands of users (for example, in an FDDI network). Major local area network
technologies are:
i)
Ethernet
ii)
Token Ring
iii)
FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
Ethernet is by far the most commonly used LAN technology. A number of
corporations use the Token Ring technology. FDDI is sometimes used as a backbone
LAN interconnecting Ethernet or Token Ring LANs. Another LAN technology,
ARCNET, once the most commonly installed LAN technology, is still used in the
industrial automation industry.
Typically, a suite of application programs can be kept on the LAN server.
Users who need an application frequently can download it once and then run it from
their local hard disk. Users can order printing and other services as needed through
applications run on the LAN server. A user can share files with others at the LAN
server; read and write access is maintained by a LAN administrator. A LAN server
may also be used as a Web server if safeguards are taken to secure internal
applications and data from outside access.
10
2.2.2
Case Studies
There are three types of case studies being viewed to assist the development
of FBDSS. The first case study is the Frontline Decision Support System which is
designed for workforce development staff with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Second case study is the Customer-Focused Decision Support at OpSource which
focused on deploying best practices in account management and customer care
operation. The third and the last case study is the Decision Support for Fire and
Emergency Medical Services which discuss on Geographic Information System
technologies.
i)
Frontline Decision Support System (FDSS)
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 emphasizes the
integration and coordination of employment services. Central to achieving
this aim is the federal requirement that local areas receiving WIA funding
must establish one-stop centers, where providers of various employment
services within a local labor market are assembled in one location. This
arrangement is expected to coordinate and streamline the delivery of
employment-related programs and to meet the needs of both job seekers and
employers more effectively than did the previous arrangement.
Research to develop and pilot test a Frontline Decision Support
System (FDSS) for workforce development staff in one-stop centers had been
done with The U.S. Department of Labor co-operating with the W.E. Upjohn
Institute for Employment. The goal of FDSS is to assist staff in quickly
assessing and properly targeting services to customers. FDSS tools are being
tested in new WIA operating systems in the states of Georgia and
Washington. The study of this paper reports on the strategy, tools, and
implementation efforts in the pilot states. FDSS is comprised of two main
m odul e s :