Development of a real estate agency management system:

Ilorin as a case study

by

OYEDEJI OLUWATIMILEHIN SAMUEL

10/30GC080

Information and communication science,

University of Ilorin, Ilorin Nigeria.

July, 2013.

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 ABSTRACT

In developing countries like Nigeria the performance of real estate remains

unsatisfactory as many residential; commercial and Office spaces are unoccupied

due to the fact that Real-estate agents cannot be consulted with ease and at one

convenience. Acquiring an apartment in Ilorin as a case study has been one of the

most stressful task in the past few years, take for instance the process of acquiring

an apartment you have to call an agent, then meet with him/her at a time that is

convenient for him, if at all you get through to seeing him, you now need to pay

for a form that entitles you to see the properties at hand, then, the agent takes you

to see an apartment and if you don’t like that one he takes you to see another one

and if at the end you don’t like it. He calls another partner of his, and then you

now start virtually the whole process with the new agent after wasting your time,

financial recourses, transporting the agent around.

The study will evaluate existing real estate management systems and provide a

remedial solution to challenges identified from various real estate management

systems by developing a real estate management web application. The system will

enable clients to view the properties of their choice without necessarily going on a

hunt for a property, in other words clients can always be in the comfort of their

room, offices etc to check out images of the apartment on the websites as to the

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one of their choice and on a weekend or a free day venture to checkout for the

apartment.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As a result of certain private information expert agents may mislead their clients

by exaggerating the costs or difficulty of a solution, providing unneeded services,

or otherwise distorting the information to maximize the expert’s own payoff. For

example, a lawyer may argue that his services are necessary in preparing a simple

will, even though the lawyer would use the same off-the-shelf software a client

could buy. An auto mechanic may suggest overhauling the entire engine when

only a small part needs replacing. A travel agent may only mention flights on

airlines which pay the highest commission rates to travel agents for booking.

(Levitt and Syverso 2009). Because of specialization, individuals rely heavily on

the advice of experts in making decisions. A defining characteristic of

transactions involving the hiring of an expert is the informational advantage

enjoyed by the expert relative to the client seeking advice.

Real-estate agents list property for sale and show prospective buyers homes and

apartments that are on the market and in the location and price range desired. The

basic job of an agent is to bring buyers and sellers together and to see the

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purchase transaction through the negotiations, agreement and closing. The agent

must network extensively and know laws and procedures governing property

transactions. Therefore this project focuses on achieving the task of a Real-estate

agent via a web application.

This aspect of business in real estate industry involves/engages on letting of

property, sale and purchase of Real Estate Assets on behalf of clients. They are

involved in listing properties for sale. Real estate agencies hit balance satisfaction

between buyers and sellers, as they approach each sales opportunity with victory-

victory.

A real estate broker/real estate agent is considered to be one who acts as an

intermediary between sellers and buyers of properties and makes an attempt to

discover sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy. (Ajaero 2013).

One thing that prompted this project is the question: How Do I Find a Property

without Using a Real Estate Agent? When you are looking for property to

purchase, working with a real estate agent comes with advantages and

disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that your interests are represented in the

purchase of the property--and the service, to you as a buyer, is free. One

disadvantage is that in order to view homes, you must find time not only in your

schedule but in the agent's schedule as well. When you have time, you can work

on your own to find property, without the aid of a real estate agent.

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Currently on the Internet there are many websites that offer some information on

selling or renting homes in the country. They include: photos of the property,

general location, price guide, size and general description. While this is useful

information, for potential buyers it doesn’t allow them to see map description to

the property.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The performance of real estate remains unsatisfactory as many residential;

commercial and Office spaces are unoccupied due to the fact that Real-estate

agents cannot be consulted with ease and at one convenience.

Acquiring an apartment in Ilorin as a case study has been one of the most stressful

task in the past few years, take for instance the process of acquiring an apartment

you have to call an agent, then meet with him/her at a time that is convenient for

him, if at all see get through to seeing him, you now need to pay for a form that

entitles you to see the properties at hand, then, the agent takes you to see an

apartment and if you don’t like that one he takes you to see another one and if at

the end you don’t like it. He calls another partner of his then you now start

virtually the whole process with the new agent after waiting you time, financial

recourses, transporting the agent around. Critically looking at this problem a

system is developed to enables clients to log on to website to check out for

properties, the user can always check images of the apartment that picks his or her

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interest before setting out to check the apartment. This reduces the cost of calling

agents, cost of checking the house or apartment, the cost of transporting for you

and the agents to the property location and you might end up not liking the

apartment. This system also reduces stress of setting out to look for agents, and

going about from one agent to the other to search for apartments.

The Development of this system will enable clients to view the properties of their

choice without necessarily going on a hunt for a property, in other words clients

can always be in the comfort of their room, offices etc to check out images of the

apartment on the websites as to the one of their choice and on a weekend or a free

day venture to checkout for the apartment.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

This project aims at achieving the following objectives:

 To design a web application that saves cost, time and easy to access for

search.

 To design a web application that improves client to business relationship.

 To design a web application that client and business stress and increase

productivity.

 To design a web application that clients can always view/ find properties

of their choice even from their comfort zone.

 To put an end to the stress of manual contacting a real estate agent.

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  To help client have a feel of an apartment, property for lease or sale

without see a real estate agent.

 Inquire about properties without any finding fees.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

It's always interesting to see a successful real estate agent or broker working hard

and long to keep their information systems updated, their listing information

accurate and closing transactions on track. ( Kimmons, 2009)

A defining characteristic of transactions involving the hiring of an expert

is the informational advantage enjoyed by the expert relative to the client seeking

advice. As a result of this private information, expert agents may mislead their

clients by exaggerating the costs or difficulty of a solution, providing unneeded

services, or otherwise distorting the information to maximize the expert’s own

payoff. For example, a lawyer may argue that his services are necessary in

preparing a simple will, even though the lawyer would use the same off-the-shelf

software a client could buy. An auto mechanic may suggest overhauling the entire

engine when only a small part needs replacing. A travel agent may only mention

flights on airlines which pay the highest commission rates to travel agents for

booking.

When managing a real estate agency management manually, if your client is

selling non owner occupied property, you should inquire about whether she

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intends to do an exchange. Once, your client indicates her intention to participate

in an exchange, inform the other parties to the contract about the exchange so that

they can anticipate the few simple things they need to do in the transaction, but

with this project once a client intends to sell or acquire a property all he or she

needs to do is to upload details of the property and if one is interested in buying

or renting the apartment the entire person needs to do is to fill a simple form.

In this project, we focus on designing a platform to cub such act, and the

relationship between a real estate agent and a home seller. The real estate agent is

likely better informed about the value of the house and the state of the local

housing market than is the seller. (More formally, this information advantage

might be thought of as the agent having a more accurate signal of the distribution

of likely offers on the house.) .The agent has strong incentives to sell a house

quickly, even at a substantially lower price, and thus may encourage clients to

accept sub-optimally low offers too quickly. It improves marketing of properties.

It taps into the potential of the internet. People can easily make decision from the

information gotten on the internet. Potential customers and interested persons can

contact the establishment and also make enquiries. Since the establishment is on

the internet, information can be gotten at any time (i.e24/7).It also serves as a

form of advertisement. By providing accessible information that show case their

services. It enhances feedback mechanism

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This simply means that customers can comment on their services without

necessary knowing the identity or data of such persons.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The development of the application is centered on creating an e-business platform

(TEAMELET : An agency management system) for people to gain access to

updates in the world of real estate and help clients to view and search for

properties from a variety of properties. The scope of study would cover all the

processes involved in acquisition of property from searching for property via

location, property specification etc. To contacting us at TEAMELET, making

payment and issuing of receipt. This task would be achieved by using HTML

(5.0), PHP, Javascript and MySql to develop the web based application. The

project will be hosted temporarily on XAMPP local host server until after the

designing process is completed.

1.6 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Considering the time constraint and minimal resources available, the system was

developed concentrating on certain areas in Ilorin, Kwara state. Also, the full

functionality of the system cannot be attained yet but could be added in the future

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as there will be room for scalability. Users or clients can only view properties of

their choices and contact real estate managers but no real physical contact at the

beginning of the search process. Users/ client can only gain access to this

platform if they are connected to the internet. The description on properties on the

websites may not fully satisfy the client, some will prefer seeing someone.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

As the world population increases every second, our urban areas are increasingly

being faced with the problems of inadequacies of basic facilities such as good

housing as a result of over population, rural-urban migration, etc. Hence, there is

an increase in demand for the construction/setting up of new houses. (Mwangi

and Kuria, 2011). Majority of the people in our today’s world want to sell a

property or house rely entirely on a real estate companies, individual brokers,

newspapers or, more recently but to a lesser degree, the Internet. Unfortunately

these sources do not provide an effective way to transmit all the necessary

information that a customer needs in order to make an informed decision better

than the Internet which more effective. For instance the newspaper provides the

price, the size, the number of rooms and the exact location’s name. However

information such as, whether it is close to my work place, map description, if

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there is any principal road access nearby will not be available on the newspaper

advertisement.

2.2 A HISTORY OF REAL ESTATE

Real estate and land are among the oldest asset markets with which humans have

had extensive experience. The significance of agricultural, residential and

commercial real estate assets in mankind’s history can scarcely be exaggerated.

Social structure, marriage institutions, inter-state relations and, more broadly,

socio-economic organization have been affected by and simultaneously have

influenced the nature and functioning of real estate markets. ( Bardhan and

Edelstein, 2007). The complex interaction of real estate markets with social,

political, cultural and economic institutions through the ages, combined with the

impact of technological changes, makes the task of assessing what is or was

known, unknown and unknowable in real estate economics and real estate

investment a particularly daunting task. ( Bardhan and Edelstein, 2007)

Real estate is a significant investment asset class, a major contributor to economic

worth and forms a significant and growing part of cross border direct investment.

Hence, it is in the interest of national governments, the valuation profession and

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the public that the pricing of real estate is carried out reliably, consistently and

transparently ( Nakatudde, 2004) Over time societal and civilization advances

outside the immediate ambit of real estate have significantly impacted the latter.

For instance, the development of property rights for land created the first

“defensible property” and marks a seminal moment in real estate markets, in

terms of engaging a primary historical element of a fundamental uncertainty

involving the trinity of (a) usage, (b) the benefits accruing from usage, and (c)

their appropriation. Housing is a mixed consumption-investment good, and the

attributes of commercial real estate are a function of derived demand. ( Bardhan

and Edelstein, 2007). The creation of specialized real estate was another

development that impacted real estate markets in a non-foreseeable way.

Separation of commercial and residential real estate was brought about by the rise

of professionalization as well as by organizational imperatives. (Bardhan and

Edelstein, 2007)

2.3 THE NEED FOR REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

SYSTEM:

The role computer based management information systems can play in real

estates is quite large; the unprecedented population growth coupled with

unplanned developmental activities has led to urbanization, which lacks

infrastructure facilities. Part of the problem with today’s urban structure is that it

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was built at a time when planning awareness was substantially different from

today. ( Vijayanand and Venigandla, 2003) Consequently, in trying to retrofit

existing system to achieve today’s urban performance objectives, a major issue of

concern today in the survival of our cities is the problem of real estate

management. Real estate information management system is the essential part for

a real estate enterprise and is very important for the decision-makers and

managers.

In order to pose questions in finding a home acceptable to all family at the right

place at the right cost; a real estate management information system with an

appropriate decision support system is necessary.

The task of real estate management and facility management is experiencing

major change. Today, technology is breaking down the walls of how these tasks

have traditionally been conducted. In more and more organizations business

practices are evolving in such a way as to integrate new technologies as never

before. (Vanderwerf, 2001).

It is imperative to note that even Up to now it's been a very difficult road for the

real estate and facilities professional, because the software packages relied upon

were simple point solutions that did not cover the whole real estate process. Some

existing software was large and cumbersome, and wasn't specifically tailored to

real estate, meaning it didn't handle real estate processes particularly well; on top

of that it was often very expensive and difficult to use.

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It has been reported that in order to remain competitive while also addressing the

needs of clients and tenants, the real estate industry is embracing a variety of

technology applications ranging from management information systems, Web-

based and wireless programs and building security.

“Another important factor in security technology is the need for user-friendly

systems.The more complicated the system, the more likely the operator won't be

able to maintain

It.” says Gene Sandburg, chairman of Kastle Systems, one of the largest security

technology providers in the real estate industry. ( Viator, 2001).

2.4 REAL ESTATE AGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

DEFINITION

One definition of management is 'the guidance and control of action', and a

system is defined as a 'set of components interconnected for a purpose'. So you

could argue that a management system is: 'A set of components, interconnected

for the guidance and control of action'. This suggests that the 'interconnection' has

been planned for a reason, and that the purpose would not be achieved without the

'interconnection', in other words a management system is a proven framework for

managing and continually improving your organization's policies, procedures and

processes.

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Real estate management systems are the system that deals with the management

of the lands and properties (land and anything that is permanently affixed to it).

Fixtures include buildings, fences, and things attached to buildings, such as

plumbing, heating, and light fixtures) in an organization. This includes gathering

requirements, purchasing equipment and software, distributing it to where it is to

be used, configuring it, maintaining it with enhancement and service updates,

setting up problem-handling processes, and determining whether objectives are

being met. Systems management is usually under the overall responsibility of an

organization’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). The department that performs

systems management is sometimes known as management information systems

(MIS) or simply information systems (IS). (Rouse, 2006).

2.5 TYPES OF REAL ESTATE AGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN

USE

 AGENTOFFICE: AgentOffice® automates critical real estate tasks and

gives you 24/7 productivity from the office, at home or utilizing your

mobile and handheld devices. An All-In-One Real Estate Solution

Designed to Boost Productivity, Profitability and Sales. Keep your clients

up-to-date , Have more time to prospect, Keep accurate records, Never

overlook a detail that keeps a sale from closing, Never lose a client's

phone number again, Never miss an appointment to show a house

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 This all-inclusive agent productivity suite delivers powerful tools to:

Manage contacts

Track activities with a choice of pre-formatted and customizable plans

Track appointments, deadlines and to-do lists

Develop professional-quality letters, flyers, postcards and brochures

Create impressive Competitive Marketing Analysis— CMA

presentations

Manage all of your online communications in one central location

Save contact information from Internet leads and follow-up with a

single click

Synchronize AgentOffice with networks, home PCs, laptops and

handheld devices.

 REALESTATE.COM: The home listings you find on RealEstate.com

are from multiple listing services (MLSs) nationwide - the same listings

services that real estate agents and brokers use. The MLS provides the

most up-to-date and comprehensive set of home listings in a market.

Whether you're looking for a quick and easy way to find a home or just

casually browse homes for sale, you've come to the right place.

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 RealEstate.com features for-sale property listings across the United States,

including new construction houses, foreclosed homes and Rentals.

 REALESTATESITES.COM: RealEstateSites.com offers real estate

website design and so much more. Their solution includes everything you

need to market and sell your properties online. Their listing promotion

tools are second to none and are built into our program so you can easily

and effectively market your listings across a myriad of different platforms

including mobile, online classifieds (craigslist), print, signage, property

portals, social media and more. RealEstateSites.com offers real estate

website that is easy to use, designed by agents for agents and clients! They

offer the BEST features like instant market reports, neighborhood

information and recently sold homes, and the BEST designs, for the

LOWEST price.

 RENT.COM: Rent.com offers real estate services to clients by finding a

property that has the $100 reward card icon, most of them do. Tell the

leasing office you found them on Rent.com when you visit. Note it on

your guest card and application.

 TOLET.COM.NG: Tolet.com.ng is a web based real estate application

that is mainly used for finding properties in Lagos, Nigeria, with this

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 system users can search for listings available within their surroundings.

ToLet.com.ng is an online lettings agency, they make property lettings

easy, we do the dirty work, and you reap the benefits.

2.6 REAL ESTATE AGENCY MANAGEMENT AND ITS USE IN

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Real estate agents undertake a diversity of activities related to the selling and

leasing of residential and commercial property. Many agents specialize in areas of

practice such as residential sales, residential property management, commercial

and industrial leasing and sales, representing buyers, rural sales and more. Real

estate agency management system has contributed a lot in our environment by

making acquisition of properties easy for individuals from different part of

Nigeria and the world at large. Students can now take advantage of this system to

acquire hostels of their choices from any part of the world provided there is

internet access. In light of this, a specially designed real estate agency

management system would serve as a platform for individuals take for instance in

the university of Ilorin where we have limited hostels for students, students

during their session break period can always book view apartments of their choice

without necessarily coming down to the school area to seek accommodation.

  

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2.7 OVERVIEW OF REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Real Estate Development can be very exciting, creative, and profitable. An

experienced developer may have the opportunity to borrow all of the development

costs. However, there are real risks associated with Real Estate Development

because risks and returns are directly related, and expected high returns usually

indicate high risks.

The developer’s first task is to select a target market. A developer has an

advantage if he is an area where he has conducted business for a number of years.

The success of some people depends on much on personal relationships as one’s

skills. (Gumbs, 1993)

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the method used to develop the system which includes:

data gathering, analysis, design tools and development. Many methodologies exist

such as waterfall, but agile software development was chosen as the methodology

for developing the proposed system.

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Figure 1 Pictorial representation of Agile project life cycle

Agile software development methodology will be used for the design of this

system because it is based on iterative and incremental development, where

requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing,

cross-functional teams. It promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development

and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible

response to change; it is a conceptual framework that promotes foreseen

interactions throughout the development cycle. In other words, agile software

development is a group of software development methods based on the iterative

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and incremental development, the simple ability to revisit the “phases” of

development dramatically improves project efficiency (Szalvay, 2004).

Agile methodology is made up iterations from the planning phase (Requirement

breakdown, prioritization, and iteration schedule) to the feedback phase

(demonstration, retrospect) to the implementation (designing and coding, test

driver development, pair programming, integration testing) phase and finally to

the Testing phase (automated, functional, manual, regression).

3.1 PLANNING: The planning phase requires the gathering of information

that sum up to building the system. Time was taken to think of an effective way to

ensure that the objectives of the project were properly addressed. Measures that

were taken in other to ensure that the proposed system addresses every loop hole

in the manual process of acquiring listings. This measure involves thinking and

organizing (e.g. observations, interviews e.t.c) the activities required to achieve

the full execution of the system.

3.1.1 REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS

The system must be a secure site with 3 types of roles: clients, agents and

administrator. Clients must be able to search for listings uploaded by agents via

the location, price range etc. Administrator must be able to register agents and

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give them access to the system. The administrator must be able to view the

agents’ profiles and agents: upload listings.

Develop a small number of web pages that use data from a mysql database,

The administrators must be able to perform the following functionalities:

 Add, edit and delete listings.

 Register Agents.

 View agents’ profile.

 Get feedback.

 Access, edit system

 View all enquiries, and be able respond to them. e.t.c

3.1.2 USER REQUIREMENT OF THE NEW SYSTEM

The following requirements shall be expected from the proposed system:

 The system would enable users to search for listings.

 The system would contain images that will enable users to view different

elevation view of the property they wish to acquire.

 The system would provide a map description of listings uploaded.

3.1.3 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

Here are the functions the proposed system is expected to perform:

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 1. The system would reduce client and business stress and increase

productivity.

2. The system would enable clients to always view/ find properties of their

choice even from their comfort zone.

3. The system would monitor customer’s relation which includes the

frequency of their visits, needs and wants through the means of a database

and also to receive feedbacks.

4. The system would enable clients to make easy decisions from the

information gotten on the internet.

5. With the system in place potential customers and interested persons can

contact the establishment and also make enquiries.

3.1.4 NON FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED

SYSTEM:

1. The system would be easy to use for all employees and users would adapt

easily.

2. The system would be upgradeable.  

3. The system would be easy to maintain.

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 4. The system would be compatible on all web browsers and mobile phone

browsers.

5. The system would be scalable.

3.1.5 ECONOMIC REQUIREMENT

An amount of approximately N45, 000 is the development cost of the project of

the project. A breakdown of the development cost analysis goes below:

BREAKDOWN RATE/DESCRIPTION COST(N)

Domain Registration 1 year registration 5000
Hosting 1 year hosting 20,000
SSL Registration 1 year registration 10,000
Miscellaneous N10,000 N10,000
Total N 45000

Table1: Development cost breakdown

3.1.5.1 COST MODEL OF THE SYSTEM

The Whole life cycle cost of products comprise all costs attributable to a product

(system), from conception to those customers incur throughout the life of the

product, including the costs of installation, maintenance and disposal.

SURVEY DESCRIPTION COST (N)

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 Domain Registration/ 1 year

Installation registration 35,000

Hosting / 1 year hosting
SSL Registration/ 1 year

registration
Maintenance Support and performance
40,000
operations / 1year
Support Agent registration and operation 20,000

fee per annum.

Disposal Sale of system or contracting Confidential
Table 2: costs model to a system.

NOTE:

Agents will have to register to use this system for all business activities, and a

registration fee of 20,000 per annum will be paid for the registration. The

administrator is the personnel to register the agents. With this cost model the

registered agents will be given certain privileges but will be restricted from doing

certain things like uploading other description images and map description details

of the property uploaded. (The agent will be given the privilege to upload the

property image on the renting page).

3.1.2 PRIORITIZATION: The most important work throughout the designing

of this system is always listed for the top of the list, less important work is ranked

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lower, for the case of this design rated the write up first and the design was given

less priority till when the documentation got to chapter three.

3.1.3 ITERATION SCHEDULE: Developing this software in iterations

means that the work will be divided into incremental stages such that the software

progressively had more working features at the end of each iteration. Ideally, you

have something to show the customer even after the first iteration. Iterations

enabled me to receive feedback early so that I can make corrections on time.

3.2 FEEDBACK: This iteration comes after the planning phase where reports

or comments are expected from different sources.

3.2.1 DEMONSTRATION: The main purpose of this iteration is to get

feedback from the business owners, sponsors, development management, and

customers on the efficiency and effectiveness of the software in this feedback will

be gotten from my supervisor, some lecturers and some students.

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Figure 2 GUI prototype of the system

3.2.2 RETROSPECT: Retrospective moment is a moment of reflection held at

the end of an iteration, it is the show of the system prototype worked on so far.

3.3 IMPLEMENTATION: This iteration involves:

3.3.1 DESIGNING AND CODING: design comes before coding; the design

phase is the process of creating of a plan for a system. The coding phase is the

iteration process of writing codes for the functionality of the system.

3.3.1.1 TOOLS USED

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The tools to be used for the development of the proposed system and the task they

perform:

1. PHP (Hypertext preprocessor): PHP is a popular general-purpose

scripting language that is especially suited to web development. This is a

scripting language embedded in HTML to design the frontend of the

application.

2. MySql SERVER: MySQL is the world’s most popular open source

database, enabling the cost-effective delivery of reliable, high-

performance and scalable Web-based and embedded database

applications. This is a DATA manipulating language used to design the

backend.

3. XXAMP SERVER

4. JAVASCRIPT: A scripting language used on the application to enhance

interactivity.

5. HTML: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the main markup

language for creating web pages and other information that can be

displayed in a web browser.

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 6. CSS: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for

describing the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of a

document written in a markup language.

3.3.1.2 DESIGN FEATURES OF THE DATABASE:

The database will created after defining the table and the fields that will be

contained in the tables. This process includes defining the data types of the data to

be stored in each field in the tables. Definition of the relationships between the

various entities in the database (One to One, One to Many, Many to Many).In the

development of this software there is need for data integrity and availability

which explains the creation of relationships between various tables in the

database. The table below describes the data contained in the database record.

Field Name contains the attributes of an attribute, type describes the data type of

the data to be stored in the table, and the Length specifies the number of character

to be stored. Among other tables below is a representation of the clients table and

the property table.

Agents Table

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Figure 3: Representation of Agent’s Table

Property’s Table

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Figure 4: Representation of Property’s Table

3.3.1.3 DATAFLOW DIAGRAM OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

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The diagram below shows the flow of activity of the application

Figure 5: Context diagram of the system.

3.3.1.4 CLASS OF USERS

There shall be three (3) classes of users for the application. They are as follows:

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 1. Clients (Users of the application)

2. Experts (Agents using the application)

3. Administrator (Responsible for the updating and uploading of content on

the application as well as managing the database section of the

application)

3.3.1.5 FRONT END/USERS VIEW

This is the general view of the application for the clients to gain access to view

the properties available for sale, rent etc. A user would only have access to the

front end of the application which means they will only be privileged to view

properties, contact the expert via a form but they cannot change the content of the

application.

3.3.1.6 BACK END/ ADMINISTRATOR VIEW

This is the view where users with the administrator right can create, retrieve,

update and delete the content on the application. The administrator would have

basic programming skills in HTML, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL server in other

to have such right and enable the effective running of the application. This is so

because the changes that would be implemented on the application through an

authoring tool such as Dreamweaver, Notepad++ etc, and the database

management would be done through MySQL server.

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3.3.1.7 ENTITY RELATIONSHIP

The collection of tables of data is called a database. Entity relationship model is

used here to obtain a conceptual model of data used in this case study, in other

words it is a data model for describing a database in an abstract way.

3.3.1.8 ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM

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Figure 6: Entity relationship diagram of the system

3.3.1.9 USE CASES

35
Figure 7: Use case diagram of the system

From the use case diagram above: Clients that logon to the website will be able to

search for listings, post requests, view listings. The Agents will be registered by

36
the administrator: they will be able to upload listings and images, update listings

and retrieve listings. The administrator will be able to manage database, register

agents and among others manage system.

3.3.2 TEST DRIVER DEVELOPMENT: Test-driven development (TDD) is

a software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short

development cycle: first the developer writes an (initially failing) automated test

case that defines a desired improvement or new function, then produces the

minimum amount of code to pass that test, and finally refractors the new code to

acceptable standards.

3.3.3 PAIR PROGRAMMING: Pair programming increases software quality

without impacting time to deliver. It is counter intuitive, but two (2) people

working at a single computer (in this case pair programming will be carried out

with my supervisor) and it will add as much functionality as two working

separately except that it will be much higher in quality.

3.3.4 INTEGRATION TESTING: is the testing process that will be carried

out to verify if two or more modules interact and produce result that satisfies its

original functional requirement or not.

37
3.4 TESTING: This iteration process will deal with executing the system

with the intent of finding software bugs (errors or other defects).The following

are the different types of test that could be executed under this methodology but

for the purpose of this design regression, manual, and functional test were

conducted.

3.4.1 AUTOMATED: Automation test is the use of special software for the

testing process, it is the best way to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and

coverage of your software testing, it Improves accuracy, it increase test coverage

to help improve software quality, tests can run automatically whenever source

code changes are checked in and notify the team .

3.4.2 FUNCTIONAL:  is a quality assurance (QA) process and a type of black

box testing that bases its test cases on the specifications of the software

component under test. Functions are tested by feeding them input and examining

the output, and internal program structure is rarely considered Functional Testing

usually describes what the system does.

3.4.3 MANUAL: is the process of manually testing software for defects, it

takes over the role of an end user and test the Software to identify any un-

expected behavior or bug. Manual tests are repeated often during development

38
cycles for source code changes and other situations like multiple operating

environments and hardware configurations.

3.4.4 REGRESSION:  this test is performed to make sure that previously

working functionality still works, after changes must have been made elsewhere

in the system most especially any time a modification was made on the

implementation within a program. Regression testing tests fixed bugs promptly,

the bug itself might be fixed but the fix might create other bugs, write a regression

test for each bug fixed.

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 INTRODUCTION

39
System implementation refers to the fourth phase of the systems development life

cycle, in which the information system is programmed, tested, installed and

supported. System implementation comes immediately after the system has been

designed and confirmed good for implementation.

Implementing a new system can be done in a number of ways which includes:

direct, phased, pilot or parallel running.

Direct implementation:

This usually takes place on a set date; it involves the direct implementation of an

old system with the new one. Often after a break in production or a holiday period

so that time can be used to get the hardware and software for the new system

installed without causing too much disruption.

Advantages:

 The most rapid of all the strategies, provided it works!

 Less risk of confusion between old and new systems.

Disadvantages:

 Most stressful for the users - the old system has gone so there is no going

back if they have difficulties.

40
  Most difficult to train staff on as the new system was not in place to learn

on before the changeover.

 Most stressful for the developers - all the data and files from the old

system will have to be converted ready for use on the new one.

 Most risky - if the new system does not work properly then there is

nothing to fall back on.

Phased implementation:

This implementation is a changeover process: the new system is brought in in

stages (phases).  If each phase is successful then the next phase is started,

eventually leading to the final phase when the new system fully replaces the old

one.

Advantages:

 Very structured, each phase can be fully evaluated before moving onto the

next one.

 Lower risk, a well planned and controlled introduction of the new system.

 Easy to train staff, they learn new skills on each phase as it is introduced.

Disadvantages:

 Slower than direct implementation.

41
  Although each phase is easy to evaluate, you have to wait until all the

phases are complete before you can evaluate the whole change over.

Pilot implementation:

In this type of system implementation, the new system replaces the old one in one

operation but only on a small scale. If successful then the pilot is extended until it

eventually replaces the old system completely.

Advantages:

 Easy to control, the pilot can be halted at any time.

 Easy to evaluate because the new and old systems are both running.

 Low risk, if a small-scale pilot fails then not too much has been lost.

 Easy to train staff by letting them learn new skills on the pilot system.

Disadvantages:

 It can be slow to get a pilot to completely replace the old system.

 A pilot may not show up problems that a full-scale implementation

would. This is because a system can work well as a small-scale pilot but

has difficulties when it is scaled up to a full operating system with more

realistic volumes of data to be processed.

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Parallel running implementation:

This type of implementation the old and the new system are both used alongside

each other, both being able to operate independently. If all goes well, the old

system is stopped and new system carries on as the only system.

 Advantages:

 If there are initial problems with the new system then the old one can still

be used.

 Both systems can easily be compared.

 Easy to train staff by letting them learn new skills on the parallel system.

 Easy to evaluate because the new and old systems are both running.

Disadvantages:

 Expensive - both systems are being run as fully operating versions so both

are doing the same job.  This may mean duplication of staff and hardware.

 Some risk - there is a greater chance of confusion or errors if the two

different systems are being run side-by-side.

4.2 USER MANUAL

43
Documentation is made available in the application for users (Agents) to know go

about the system and know how to effectively sue it. The documentation covers a

brief information about the developer, how to get started with the application.

4.3 SYSTEM INTERFACES

The system has got three different ends to it which is the normal user side, the

agent’s side and the administrators end. The normal side and the agents end will

be discussed in this chapter.

This landing page comprises of changing images of

Figure 8: Index page
various images and a caption briefly describing the
image.

INDEX PAGE: This is the landing page that the users would be directed to on

logging on to the system. A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure 8 above.

44
 The buying page contains list of areas in Ilorin that contain
Figure 9: Buying page
available listings. Each of them link to a page containing
information about listings in the location.

BUYING PAGE: This page is a link from the index page: this page is where

buying of properties will be conducted that is users interested in buying properties

can do that on this page. A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure 9 above.

45
Figure 10: Selling Page

SELLING PAGE: On this page user wishing to sell properties can do that here.

A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure 10 above.

List of properties iavailable for

listings, their images, description and
Figure 11: Renting Page the price tag is stipulated. This page
is subject to updates from agents.

46
RENTING PAGE: This page is generally for properties that have been uploaded

for rents by the agents. That is any user who wants to rent an apartment can visit

this page. A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure 11 above.

On this page
(financing page),
users have a
privileges to
advertise on this
page.

Interested users
for adverts can
always fill the
advert form.

Figure 12: Finance page

FINANCE PAGE: This page give an insight of the interesting benefits of

investing in real estate management. A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure

12 above.

47
 The contact page
serves a feedback
page to all users
visiting the website;
they can fill the form
with thoughts from
their mind.

Figure 13: Contact Page

CONTACT PAGE: This is an interactive feedback page where users can share

their view on the application with the administrator. A screenshot of this page is

shown in Figure 13 above.

This search form is more or less the

essence of this system that is why it
is appended to every page in this
system. Users can always fro listing
depending on the search query they
intend to use.

Figure 14: Search Page

48
SEARCH: On every page in this system there is a search form to enable users

search for listings available. A screenshot of the search is shown in Figure 14

above.

On the Agents side there are a couple of pages but the login form page and the

dashboard will be discussed.

This is page gives access to

agents by entering their first
name and their password as
assigned to them by the
administrator.

First name
Password

Login button

Figure 15: login form

AGENTS PAGES

LOGIN FORM: This is the page where existing or registered agents supply their

login details. The site was secured such that on clicking on the URL the Agent

will be prompted to login (via the interface above) and for flexibility purpose

according to ten Heuristics of Nielson J (1993) for both experienced and

inexperienced users.

49
 Outputs Agent’s name
Welcome Agent Oyedeji
Logout
Agent dashboard: The agents
can:View Personal details

Upload new listings

Map description

Update description

View registered agents

Figure 16: Agent dashboard

DASHBOARD: After the agents must have logged in successfully he/she is

directed to this page. A screenshot of this page is shown in Figure 16 above.

Link to
Dashboard
Logout button
Agent’s image

Agent’s profile

Figure 17: Agents profile

AGENT’S PROFILE: The above page outputs the agents profile details.

50
Figure 18: Record showing listings uploaded by Agents

Figure 19: Record showing feedback message posted by users

51
4.4 PROGRAM TESTING AND RESULTS

This testing is carried out on the entire system in other to check if the developed

system matches the specification set before development. Each interface of the

system is tested individually with relation to the corresponding table in the

database where applicable. After each part has been tested, the application as a

whole is tested to check the performance and functionality of the application as

expected.

Execution based testing and non execution testing are the two types of testing

used in accessing this system. Execution based testing is the process of inferring

certain behavioral properties of each table in the database. Non execution testing

for the specification and this involved validation. Validation helped to determine

whether the application as a whole satisfied the specification or objectives.

52
4.5 SCREENSHOTS ON TESTING

Figure 20: Error on validated html page

Notice that the html page has some errors.
On validating one of the HTML pages, there are errors on the page as seen above.

Result from the revalidation of the html page is

Figure 21: Error corrected, output after revalidation
output above.

53
Figure 22: Screenshot of one of the validated CSS pages.Notice indicating that the CSS
script is free from error

4.6 ACCESSIBILITY REVIEW [TESTING] OF THE SYSTEM

According to Section 508 Standard of Software’s Application and operating

systems (1194.21) a web site (web content) must be made accessible to people

with vision impairment. Web "content" generally refers to the information in a

Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such.

Also Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) defines Web accessibility as enabling

“people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the

web, and contribute to the Web “(WAI, 2005).

54
Since accessibility is really all about the user, the best way to know whether the

system is accessible is to test it with real people. The end goal of this review in

both usability and accessibility; is to discover how easily people can use a web

site and feed that information back into improving future designs and

implementations.

4.6.1 REVIEW TESTING

The review testing was carried out by selecting sample pages from the site (which

include the home page and two other most important pages from each section)

and then testing it on the three different web browsers to access the accessibility

of the texts and images on different browsers.

However to carry out the test, a Test plan and Test log was drafted in tabular form

as shown below:

Test What is How Expected Result Date Actual Acti

No being Result on

Tested Tak

en
1 Displayed View on Display the texts 22-06- The images

text and internet and images as 2014 and text

55
 images on explorer 7.0 designed with the were -

Teamlet editors. displayed

home page as with the

screen editors. this

is being

demonstrat

ed figure
2 Displayed View on Display the texts 22-06- The images

text and internet and images as 2014 and text

images on explorer 7.0 designed with the were

the agents editors. displayed

dashboard as designed -

page with the

editors.

This is

being

demonstrat

ed figure.
3 Displayed View on Display the texts 22-06- The images

text and internet and images as 2014 and text

images on explorer 7.0 designed in the were

Administr Design with the displayed -

56
 ator editors. as designed

dashboard with the

page editors, this

is being

demonstrat

ed figure
Table 3: Test plan and Test log of the index page on three various browsers

Figure 23: Teamlet homepage as viewed via Google Chrome.

57
Figure 24: Teamlet homepage as viewed via Internet Explorer

Figure 25: Teamlet homepage as viewed via Mozilla Firefox.

58
4.6.2 BLACKBOX TESTING

4.6.2.1 SEARCH

For the effectiveness of the system; search was incoporated in other to make

listings in the database accessible. Figure 14 is the interface for the search process

and the results for the search is displayed below:

Figure 26: Search result

4.6.2.2 AGENT’S REGISTERATION AND PROFILING:

The admin has the sole privilee to register agents into the system,the agents will

just need to fill a form which will contain necessary information and the

username and password which will be used to access the system.The figure below

explains more:

59
Figure 27: Administrator registers agents

After the agents have been registerred, the administrator can always look up

profiles of registered agents via the unique union ID generated when registering

the agent.

In the area
1 marked 1,
the Union ID
“12345” was
provided

Figure 28: Admin inputs agent union ID

60
If the union ID provided in the area marked 1 from the figure above is contained

in the database, the profile it matches will be outputed like this:

Figure 29: Admin page displaying specific agent profile

But if the administrator wants to get more than one agent’s data (profile) at a go, a

page represented in the figure 30 below carried out hat function:

61
Figure 30: Admin page outputting registered agents

4.6.2.3 AGENT UPLOAD LISTINGS

One major function of the registered agents is to upload and update listings where

necessary, the figure below gives a pictorial representation of the upload listings

page:

62
 1
2
3 4
5
6

Figure 31: Agents Upload listings page

From the figure above that label 1 denotes the Agent first name, label 2 denotes

the listing image (the image description of the property to be uploaded), label 3

denotes the price of the property, the label 4 denotes the number of bedroom(s)

the property to be uploaded has, the label 5 denotes the number of bathroom(s),

the label 6 denotes the area or location of the property uploaded (e.g fate, G.R.A

etc.), and the label 7 denotes a comprehensive description of the property

uploaded by the agent.There are scenarios where by the agent must have uploaded

a listing and there happens to be an update in the property details uploaded, the

agent can easily and quickly effect such changes via the page in Figure 31.

63
Figure 32: Agent Update listings page

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 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 INTRODUCTION

This is the final chapter of the project work with the topic “design and

implementation of a real estate agency management system” This chapter

contains the summary, conclusions and recommendation.

5.2 SUMMARY

The design and development of the real estate agency management system has

been presented as “Teamlet”. It shows that the internet system is a system that

connects literally billions of people to communicate with each other worldwide

almost instantaneously. Being the largest network we have in our time the system

“Teamlet” was developed to integrate clients with agents of real estate and enable

them to rent, buy or sell houses at their conveniences. The system has made it

easier for the agency organization to showcase its services and also provide

information link between potential/existing clients.

5.3 CONCLUSION

The design and implementation of this project information and knowledge

gathered from clients or individuals seeking apartments, a conclusion was drawn

65
which is that It can be seen that the design has closed the gap between the

Agencies and the potential/existing clients. It gives room for clients to cut through

the tedious manual process of acquiring apartments and properties, it also reduce

three types of cost which are search cost, processing cost and transaction cost.

However, loading time was quite long; the design also enables potential

customers (clients) and interested persons to contact the agency in charge for

enquires and feedback mechanisms. It is observed that some pages required more

time to load due to the graphics attached to them.

5.4 RECOMMENDATION

In respect to the above conclusion I hereby recommend that the system be

employed by various agency organizations as it will not only pull traffic, be an

avenue of marketing multiple properties to a wider audience at a time but it will

also help clients to view the various properties and pick one that best picks their

interest, and reduce the stress of going from one agents office to the other, from

one apartment to the other, it will also reduce cost on the client side.

66
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