User Needs

Project Information
Project : Dorm Keeper

Agreed Goals
The Dorm Keeper is a database system that is supposed to replace the current
manual way of keeping track dormitory transactions.

The initial agreed goals of the system include registering a resident, printing of
Statement of Account (printout of SOA should already contain date, name, fees
and its corresponding amounts, and total), reporting a violation committed by a
resident, registering a resident’s appliance(s), viewing and printing monthly
summaries of all the violations, appliances, and payments, and keeping a log for
transients.

Because of the difficulty posed by the physical absence of the client, we were
compelled to agree on a rough and limited description and functionalities of the
project. There are still some ideas regarding what the project must achieve
which await the agreement the client and the end users before coming into play.
Should they agree to any of these ideas, it will be appended here.

Environment
What is the system’s physical environment?
Dorm Keeper is a web application that will run in a desktop PC located at the
computer room of the dormitory. Aside from three resident desktop PC’s, the
said room also accommodates laptops of the residents from time to time.
Lighting is sufficient. Ventilation only comes from when the windows of the room
are open. Users of the system are in near proximity to the residents who also
use the computer room, hence privacy is compromised.

What is the system's technology environment (hardware and software)?

Dorm Keeper will run on a Pentium IV. RAM is 128MB excluding a 32MB shared
memory for the internal video card. A 17-inch monitor that is set on a 1064x768-
 pixel resolution and 32-bit color quality will be used. The PC is using Windows XP
Professional Edition as its operating system.
Stakeholders/Actors
Dormitory Staff
A dormitory staff is usually a student assistant who is also a resident of the
dormitory. Dormitory staffs are computer literate and are more or less familiar
with the Internet and the applications it support – especially HTML based
applications which are very similar to this system.
Key Needs:
1. Easily find information about a resident
2. Convenient way of finding a stored information about a resident
3. A user-friendly user-interface to facilitate issuing of Statement of
Accounts, reporting violations, registering appliances, and keeping logs
for transients
4. Logically organized flow of links/modules

Dormitory Staff > Dormitory Manager

The dormitory manager is an employee of the university. Like other dormitory
staffs, a dormitory manager is computer literate and familiar with the
applications it supports. There are undertakings in the dormitory that only
dormitory managers can do such as preparing monthly summaries and evicting
a resident.
Key Needs:
1. Convenient way of preparing and printing of monthly summaries
2. Module for deleting/inactivating a resident account
3. Conveniently change the rates of dormitory fees, appliance fees, and
other fees

Notes from Interviews and Brainstorming

12 December 2007, Mrs. Liwayway Dumagco
Mrs. Dumagco (client) requests for a prototype of the project. The development
team and the client agreed that because her physical unavailability, the
 prototype will be sent to her email for her to comment on and eventually
approve. The development team can also request additional information from
her temporary substitute as a dormitory manager.

12 December 2007, Gerrick Villarama

Because transactions in the dormitory usually come in bursts, e.g. dorm
reservations, monthly payments, etc, the system should be able to run in more
than one machine to cater such undertakings.

12 December 2007, Rommel Bulalacao

We (the developers) must consider the possible break down of the machine in
which our system will run. It is then advisable to secure our database using a
more robust backup storage.

User Stories
Confirming a violation report
Mrs. Dumagco logs in and finds reports about violations that occurred a night
after she left for home. Because the reports contain information such as who
issued the violations and when the violations were committed, she then
summons and confirms these reports from the student assistant who is on-duty
at the time mentioned in the reports.
Facilitating transactions with a transient
Carla is visited by her mother and decided to stay at the dormitory as transient.
So, she asked the student assistant for a room. Before her mother checks out,
they receive a Statement of Account for the service.

Performance and Capacity Needs

After the first semester of service, the system will be able to reach the following
capacity:
• 5 MB max disk space for the resident profiles, summaries, and transient
transactions
• 500 leaves of 8.5” x 11” book paper for the printouts of Statement of
Accounts and summaries