ONLINE RESTAURANT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CASE STUDY: MASANA RESTAURANT

By

A Project Proposal Submitted

Supervisor

July, 2021
Table of contents

Contents
DECLARATION.........................................................................................................................................i
APPROVAL..........................................................................................................................................ii
DEDICATION......................................................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................................................iv
ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................v
List of Figures....................................................................................................................................vi
List of Tables....................................................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER ONE........................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background of the Study.............................................................................................................1
1.2 Problem Statement......................................................................................................................3
1.3 Objectives of the Study................................................................................................................3
objectives..........................................................................................................................................3
1.3.1 General Objective.....................................................................................................................3
1.3.2 Specific Objectives....................................................................................................................4
1.4 Significance of the Study..............................................................................................................4
1.5 Scope of the Study.......................................................................................................................5
1.5.1 Geographical Scope..................................................................................................................5
1.5.2 Content Scope..........................................................................................................................5
1.5.3 Time Scope...............................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO.......................................................................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................................6
2.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Definition of Major Terms............................................................................................................6
2.1.1 Information System..................................................................................................................6
2.2 Review of Related Existing Systems.............................................................................................6
2.2.1 Online Restaurant Management System..................................................................................7
2.2.2 Online Reservation System.......................................................................................................8
2.2.3 e-Restaurant Management System..........................................................................................9
2.2.4 Restaurant Information System..............................................................................................10
2.3 Comparison between the Reviewed Systems and the Proposed System..................................11
2.4 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER THREE..................................................................................................................................13

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METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................................................13
3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................13
3.2 Methodology.............................................................................................................................13
3.3 Explanation of the Phases Involved...........................................................................................14
3.3.1 Requirements Gathering and Analysis....................................................................................15
3.3.1.1 Face to face Interview..........................................................................................................15
3.3.1.2 Observation.........................................................................................................................15
3.3.1.3 Questionnaire......................................................................................................................16
3.3.1.4 Sample Size Determination..................................................................................................16
3.3.1.5 Sampling Technique.............................................................................................................17
3.3.1.6 Data Analysis........................................................................................................................17
3.3.2 Quick Design...........................................................................................................................17
3.3.3 Build Prototype.......................................................................................................................18
3.3.4 User Evaluation.......................................................................................................................18
3.3.5 Refining Prototype..................................................................................................................18
3.3.6 Engineer Product....................................................................................................................19
3.4 Ethical Considerations...............................................................................................................19
3.5 Anticipated Limitations..............................................................................................................20
References.......................................................................................................................................21
APPENDICES.........................................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX I. FINANCIAL BUDGET.....................................................................................................23
APPENDIX II. TIME BUDGET.............................................................................................................24
APPENDIX III. DATA COLLECTION TOOLS.........................................................................................25

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Abstract

Online restaurant information management system is defined as a simple and convenient way
for customers to purchase food and drinks online without having to go to the restaurant
physically. In this project, the researcher will in detail analyse current systems used at
Masana restaurant so as to come up with the best solution. Food, drinks and beverages
information management continue to pose a big challenge to Masana restaurant and its
customers at the business level and proper information is not given to the customers in time.
Using the paper based system creates a lot of challenges like papers getting
torn/lost/misplaced/burnt/stolen which leads to data and information loss, too much
turnaround time to generate receipts and reports by the cashier, too much storage space for
keeping the books and customers spending too much time and money to come to the
restaurant to make or take their orders which is inconvenient especially for the working
people or people who have limited time to come to the restaurant.

It is from this situation that motivated the researcher to develop an online restaurant
information management system that will help customers to order for food, drinks and
beverages online and as well as knowing which food is available at what time of the day, to
help Masana restaurant to save time while generating receipts, reports, and electronically
retrieving and managing information at anytime from anywhere, to help Masana restaurant to
reduce on costs incurred while buying receipt books, to help Masana restaurant to advertise
their restaurant online hence increasing their customer base which will provide ordering and
reservation services online to the customer that will enhance food and beverages ordering
information management at Masana restaurant.

The researcher will use mixed research method throughout this project as the best research
methodology. The researcher hopes that this approach will lead to the success of the project
and solve the problems currently faced.

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the background of the study, problem statement,
objectives of the study, scope of the study and the significances of the study.

Online restaurant information management system is defined as a simple and convenient way
for customers to purchase food and drinks online without having to go to the restaurant
physically (Armstrong, 2017). According to Parvin (2015) e-commerce is the buying and
selling of goods over the internet and these goods also involve food, drinks and beverages.
He further suggested that the way of doing things in the 21st century should purely go online
so as to reduce strain on the physical buildings hence reducing on some unnecessary costs.

Lwin et al, (2019) posted a consumer insight on customer’s tastes and preferences of physical
restaurants and online restaurants and 70% of the consumers’ response were that they prefer
online restaurants over physical restaurants. They further said that online restaurants is the
way to go since the current nature of work is very busy and they hardly get time to go and
dine thus prefer to go online and order for food and drinks and they are delivered to their
offices or places of work. The researcher agrees to this consumer insight given the current
situation of covid-19 globally which has left most of the physical businesses closed and
therefore businesses and people have to change their lifestyle and their way of doing things
so as to strive in hard times like this pandemic and most of all to remain on top of the game
by giving the best to their customers regardless of the pandemic or other difficult times but
because of other various benefits offered by the internet and computers.

According to Ismail and Abdullah (2019). Online order and delivery services provide extra
channels for potential revenue to businesses and also create a huge consumer base that is easy
to manage and determine their preferences.

1.1 Background of the Study

Restaurants offer a variety of food, drinks and beverages which are eaten by various
customers from various locations who use various forms of communication for their daily
businesses. These modes of communication involve e-mail, phone calls, social media like
Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp among other communication channels. These modes of
communication should be better managed for daily businesses to thrive amidst all odds
(Fagbola, 2014).

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Internationally forexample in India, most restaurants offer online food ordering which helps
its clients to get served from wherever they are at any time (Binjia, 2016).

Regionally forexample in Kenya, 45% of the restaurants offer online food ordering support
which makes it easier for customers to get served from anywhere they are at all time and the
restaurants staying on top of the game (Nellius and Smith, 2017). This system does not help
the restaurant owners to manage customer orders who physically come to the restaurant
whereby the cashier manually generates the receipt for each customer which is tedious and
time consuming (Connolly and Begg, 2017).

Nationally that is in Uganda, a few restaurants offer online support such as ordering for food,
drinks and beverages, which leaves most people not served on the benefits of online food
ordering and as well as restaurants losing customers because they can’t meet their customer
needs (UBOS, 2018). The report further suggests that the few restaurants which offer online
food ordering do not avail to the customers which food, drinks and beverages are available at
what time hence not efficient enough to help customers know what to eat before making their
orders or physically coming to the restaurant.

Locally that is at Masana restaurant, the current procedure followed for food, drinks, and
beverages information management is paper based whereby a customer has to physically
walk in to the restaurant and the waiter or waitress asks the customer what they want to eat or
drink. The customer says what he/she wants to eat or drink and if the customer’s menu is
available, the waiter or waitress writes it on a piece of paper and passes it on to the cashier to
generate a receipt for the customer and the waiter or waitress proceeds to the kitchen to
prepare the customer’s order while if the customer’s menu is not available, the customer
either chooses another menu or goes back and this process is repeated for all customers on a
daily basis. This kind of system is inconvenient, time consuming and risky to the customers
since they have to use a lot of time and money to come to the restaurant to check if what they
want to eat or drink is available. This system is time consuming for the cashier to generate a
receipt for each customer, prepare a report of what foods, beverages and drinks that have
been consumed on a daily, monthly and even annually basis. This system consumes a lot of
storage space to keep all the books of accounts. This system is prone to errors like generating
a receipt that doesn’t reflect the money that matches with what the customer consumed hence
loss to the restaurant.

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This system is prone to data and information loss since papers can be
torn/lost/misplaced/burnt/stolen or even eaten by rodents like rats and hence the restaurant
loses its books of accounts for future reference and better decision making. This system is
hard to use to determine which foods, drinks and beverages are consumed more or less at
what time so as to be able to make the right decision at the right time.

1.2 Problem Statement

Food, drinks and beverages information management continue to pose a big challenge to
Masana restaurant and its customers if not well managed at the business level and proper
information given to the customers in time. Using the paper based system creates a lot of
challenges like papers getting torn/lost/misplaced/burnt/stolen which leads to data and
information loss, too much turnaround time to generate receipts and reports by the cashier,
too much storage space for keeping the books and customers spending too much time and
money to come to the restaurant to make or take their orders which is inconvenient especially
for the working people or people who have limited time to come to the restaurant.

It is from this situation that motivated the researcher to develop an online restaurant
information management system that will help customers to order for food, drinks and
beverages online and as well as knowing which food is available at what time of the day, to
help Masana restaurant to save time while generating receipts, reports, and electronically
retrieving and managing information at anytime from anywhere, to help Masana restaurant to
reduce on costs incurred while buying receipt books, to help Masana restaurant to advertise
their restaurant online hence increasing their customer base.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study will be categorised into two that is general objective and specific
objectives.
1.3.1 General Objective
To provide ordering and reservation services online to the customer that will enhance food
and beverages ordering information management at Masana restaurant.

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1.3.2 Specific Objectives
1. To study the existing systems by conducting relevant literature review so as to
generate the system requirements.
2. To design and develop an online restaurant information management system.
3. To test and validate the developed system so as to ensure that it satisfies the user
requirements.

1.4 Significance of the Study

1. This study will help Masana restaurant to manage information electronically which
will reduce on the storage space that has been consumed by the paper based system.
2. This study will help Masana restaurant to improve their marketing strategies since the
proposed system will have a website that will show case their services and products to
customers hence increasing their customer base thus increased profits.
3. This study will help Masana restaurant to save time while generating receipts and
reports for both the customer and the restaurant owner for management decisions
respectively.
4. This study will help Masana restaurant to eliminate data redundancy since the records
will be computer based and all the information will be in one place.
5. This study will help Masana restaurant to easily retrieve and manage their restaurant
information from anywhere and at any time.
6. This study will help Masana restaurant to get customer feedback about their food,
drinks and beverages through customer feedback online thus improving customer
satisfaction.
7. This study will help Masana restaurant to reliably maintain customer reservations
hence ease of use and reduce the number of no shows.
8. This study will help Masana restaurant to conveniently and timely manage customer
reservations hence fewer mistakes with customer reservations and orders.
9. This study will help Masana restaurant to know which food is consumed most and at
what time so as to be able to give it the best as well as to know which food is
consumed less so as to reduce on its quantity or finding out why it is consumed less so
as to make the best decisions.
10. This study will help customers to make orders online without physically coming to
the restaurant which will save time and costs to the customer thus greater customer
experience.

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 11. This study will help customers to know the menu of the food, drinks and beverages
prepared daily and what food is available at what time so as to be able to know what
they will eat before going to the restaurant which will increase their preference even
before going to the restaurant and as well as saving time and money.
12. This study will help the researcher to partially full fill the requirements for the award
of Diploma in Computer Science of University of Saint Joseph Mbarara once this
study is successful.
13. This study will equip the researcher with various skills ranging from communication
skills through data collection and analysis to web systems development, configuring
and management.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The scope of the study will be broken down into three parts that is geographical scope,
content scope and time scope.

1.5.1 Geographical Scope

This study will be conducted at Masana restaurant located in Bushenyi municipality,
Bushenyi town in Uganda. Masana restaurant is located along Bushenyi - Kasese road in
western Uganda.

1.5.2 Content Scope

This study will focus on developing an online restaurant information management system that
will help its staff to store and retrieve its restaurant information electronically and also clients
will be able to make orders for their menu using their smartphones and computers.

1.5.3 Time Scope

This study will take a period of five months that is from June to October 2021. This period
will help the researcher to collect data, analyse this data, design and develop an online
restaurant information management system that will meet the user requirements.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher will review, read, analyse, and understand the relevant
literature in relation to online restaurant information management system so as to come up
with the best state of the technology online restaurant information management system that
will meet and exceed user requirements at Masana restaurant. This chapter will involve
definition of terms, review of related existing systems with their advantages, loopholes and
the researcher’s input to solve the loopholes in them, and a comparison of the reviewed
systems and the proposed system.

2.1 Definition of Major Terms

This study will review various definitions as related to information systems since this is an
information system project study so as to give more information and details pertaining what
is being studied so as to gain more understanding of this study.

2.1.1 Information System

Silver et al. (2015) defined an Information System as one that includes software, hardware,
data, people, and procedures. Zheng (2016) provided another system view of information
system as one which also adds processes and essential system elements like environment,
boundary, purpose, and interactions while the Association for Computing Machinery defines
"Information systems as focusing on integrating information technology solutions and
business processes to meet the information needs of businesses and other enterprises. It is
from this point of view that the researcher agrees with these scholars that an information
system is defined as a collection of hardware, software, data, people and procedures that
work together to produce quality information.

2.2 Review of Related Existing Systems

In this section, the researcher will present a review of the related existing systems together
with their advantages, loopholes and the researcher’s input on how to solve the loopholes in
each reviewed system.

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2.2.1 Online Restaurant Management System
According to El-Gazzar (2015), online restaurant management system is a web based
application that helps customers to place their orders online for what they want to eat and is
delivered to them wherever they are provided if it is in their reach according to their terms
and conditions. Online restaurant management system provides services to its customers
online ranging from viewing menus and other services like free Wi-Fi, juice, cocktail, and
other soft drinks (Hevner et al, 2017). Online restaurant management system was developed
to help customers to make their orders online so as to provide convenience to them. This was
aimed at saving customer’s time and extra costs of transport involved in the process. A
customer accesses the restaurant’s system online by searching the restaurant’s domain name
and accesses the services (Carzaniga, 2017). If the customer feels like making an order of
what he/she wants to eat, he/she fills the form and the order is placed and in a short time the
food is delivered to him or her. The online restaurant management system’s main objective
was to provide convenience to customers to order for their meals online without too much
hustle. Online restaurant management system used prototyping methodology. The online
restaurant management system was able to provide some of their services online like
customers placing orders, generating reports and contacting the restaurant management for
further inquiry or assistance. This online restaurant management system is user friendly and
interactive. However, this online restaurant management system has some loopholes like not
being able to update its daily menu of what services are available such as food and beverages
at what time. It only has a full day’s menu regardless whether the service is available or not.
Forexample if customers increase and a certain meal is finished, it still remains on the today’s
menu hence causing inconsistencies and inconveniences to customers on what menu is
available at a given time of the day.

Therefore, the researcher will ensure that the proposed online restaurant information
management system helps customers to make reservations online and place orders online,
generate reports, implement a user friendly, interactive and responsive interface as this
reviewed system. However, the researcher will ensure that the proposed system will
consistently update its every day’s menu at all the time so as to give the best and convenient
services to its customers throughout all the time of the day to overcome the major challenge
in this reviewed system.

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2.2.2 Online Reservation System
According to Onashoga (2017), online reservation system is a web based system that
provides online services like table reservations, conference hall reservations, party venues
reservations and guest rooms reservations to customers from anywhere in the world at all
time. The online reservation system was developed to solve the problem of too much
turnaround time spent by customers to place their reservations. The online reservation system
was able to allow customers make their reservations online conveniently, affordably and
safely, it has a very user friendly interface. The online reservation system’s main objective
was to provide efficient, fast and convenient reservation services to customers online. The
online reservation system used incremental prototyping development methodology
throughout its execution. The online reservation system is able to provide reservation services
to customers online. The online reservation system is able to provide reservation services
online (Kholief, 2017). However, this system faces a major challenge whereby customers
who physically come to the hotel to make instant reservations are not captured in this system
but are rather recorded on paper which creates a drastic problem to the online reservation
system. The paper based system allows the client to occupy or use the same service that could
have been reserved by a client using the online reservation system hence causing collision of
customers at the hotel all claiming to have booked the same service if it happens that both the
customers reserved the same service at the same time and day.

Therefore, the proposed online restaurant information management system is similar to this
reviewed system like it will be efficient, fast, convenient, and user friendly. However, the
proposed system will solve the problem of both reservations made at the restaurant and online
to be captured in the same system so as to eliminate collision of same service reservation by
different clients at the same time and same day hence increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

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2.2.3 e-Restaurant Management System
e-Restaurant management system is a web application that allows customers to access hotel
and restaurant services online (Okonkwo, 2015). According to Badawy (2016), this system
allows customers to make bookings and reservations online of what meal they want to eat and
which table they want to occupy, which service they want to use at a future date like gardens,
conference halls, guest room(s). The e-Restaurant management system was developed so as
to allow their customers make reservations of their preferred services online. It was aimed at
improving customer efficiency and experience eliminating the inconvenience of dealing with
waiters and waitresses on phone calls.

The e-Restaurant management system was developed to allow customers to deal directly with
the restaurant’s management. The main objective of e-Restaurant management system was to
eliminate the process of customers dealing with waiters and waitresses via phone calls and
text messages. The e-Restaurant management system was developed using the waterfall
model system development methodology. The e-Restaurant management system is able to
help customers make their reservations online. The e-Restaurant management system has
helped the restaurant’s waiters and waitresses to become efficient and consistent at work
since they don’t have to spend too much time taking customer reservations via phone calls
and text messages hence better results which has improved on the customer base. The e-
Restaurant management system helps customers to make their reservations online, get
information on various services offered by the restaurant. However, the e-Restaurant
management system is not user friendly since it is not direct to customers who do not have
enough skills in navigating the internet and those who don’t have time to such for links and
so on, it is also hard to generate reports at the restaurant for management.

Therefore, the proposed online restaurant information management system will ensure that
customers are able to make bookings and reservations of the services they want, eliminate
customers from directly interacting with the waiters and waitresses in regard to place their
orders, get access to information on various services offered by the restaurant which is
similar to this reviewed system. However, the proposed system will implement a user
friendly interface that is direct, fast, reliable, responsive and interactive so as to ease its use
hence increasing customer experience and acceptance to use the online services thus
increasing sales for Masana restaurant, the proposed system will also provide easy and fast
generation of electronic reports for decision making and management purposes.

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2.2.4 Restaurant Information System
According to Connolly and Begg (2017), restaurant information system is a web based
system that allows customers to access information about a restaurant. This system allows
customers to access all restaurant information online and customers can also reserve their
preferred services. This system was developed to help in management of payments by
customers online. It was aimed at improving online payments for services reserved. During
the development of this restaurant information system, the agile development methodology
was employed. This system helps customers to make payments using mobile money services,
sends a confirmation e-mail of payment to the customer. Although this system helps
customers to access services online, make payments electronically, and send a confirmation
e-mail of payment, it is inconvenient to customers who may wish to pay using credit cards
since it is not able process payments using credit cards. Furthermore, the process of paying
using mobile money is also inconvenient since the customer fills the reservation form and the
system generates a reference number and a transaction ID which the customer then dials the
USSD code of their mobile phone operator network to access mobile money services and
then uses the generated reference number and transaction ID to accomplish the payment and
then returns to the system to verify, authenticate and complete payment.

Therefore, the proposed online restaurant information management system will help
customers to access the services online, make payments online, and send a confirmation e-
mail of payment like this reviewed system. However, the proposed system will ensure that
payments are convenient to all customers by ensuring that the system is able to process credit
card payments using visa card, Master card and PayPal. This system will also ensure that
mobile money payments are very convenient, secure, fast, and reliable by using the online
payment system whereby the customer upon filling the reservation form provides their
contact that they wish to use to process the payment and the system will be able to process
the calculated amount on the provided customer’s contact and the customer will only be
required to confirm the payment by entering their mobile money PIN once payment is
verified and successful hence eliminating the process of using mobile money USSD service
code and returning to the system to complete payment.

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2.3 Comparison between the Reviewed Systems and the Proposed System
In this section, the researcher will tabulate the characteristics of the reviewed systems against
the proposed system.

CHARACTERISTIC SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM PROPOSED

1 2 3 4 SYSTEM
Online reservations YES YES YES NO YES
Daily menu updates NO NO NO NO YES
Convenient, efficient, YES YES NO NO YES
reliable and fast
User friendly interface YES NO NO YES YES
Capture of physical NO NO NO NO YES
reservations in the
system
Easy access to YES NO NO YES YES
information on various
services
Easy and fast reports YES NO NO NO YES
generation
Easy and fast receipts NO NO NO NO YES
generation
Guide in decision YES NO NO NO YES
making
Minimizing the risks YES NO NO YES YES
of losing information
in case of fire
outbreak and theft
Time saving and cost YES NO NO NO YES
effectiveness
Web based YES YES YES YES YES
Data integrity YES NO NO YES YES

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2.4 Conclusion
As regards to the reviewed existing systems, they are not able to; (1) provide an updated
every day menu, (2) process convenient and secure online payments, (3) generate reports, and
(4) generate electronic receipts. The researcher hopes that the proposed system will address
the above challenges. This system will improve and automate the daily operations of Masana
restaurant with up to date information and services all the time to its customers, the proposed
system will help the cashier to electronically generate a customer’s receipt with ease and
faster, the customers will be able to access the restaurant online and finding out which menu
is available and at what time of the day plus making their orders and they are delivered from
wherever they are provided it is within the reach of the restaurant’s delivery terms, sending a
confirmation e-mail upon successful payment and in case the payment fails, the customer will
also be sent an e-mail guiding them on how to complete their payment or getting further
assistance.

The proposed online restaurant information management system will be user friendly,
interactive, agile and responsive on all mobile devices and computers since customers use
different computing devices to access the internet and this will enable the customers to access
the restaurant by using either smart phones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers. This
system will also provide marketing benefits to Masana restaurant since it will incorporate
within it a website that will be accessed on the web hence increasing customer base and better
marketing strategies provided by the internet.

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 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the researcher will present the research methodology that is; system
development methodology, data analysis, data collection tools and techniques, target
population, sample size, area of study, research ethical considerations, and anticipated
limitations during this study.

3.2 Methodology
Methodology takes on different definitions according to different scholars. Boston and
Addison (1994), defined it as a codified set of practices accompanied by training materials,
formal educational programs, worksheets and the diagramming tools that may be repeatedly
carried out to produce software. The methodology includes the methods, procedures, tools
and techniques used to collect and analyse information. The researcher will use prototyping
as the methodology for the system development as the guiding steps in designing and
development of the online restaurant information management system. Prototyping
methodology is a software development process which allows developers to create portions
of the solution to demonstrate functionality and make needed refinements before developing
the final solution. With this prototyping methodology, the researcher will be able to come up
with prototypes which will be used to evaluate and validate the system before developing the
final system, i.e. checking if the system returns every day menu, allows customers to make
reservations and place their orders, send a payment confirmation e-mail. This will be
achieved through the different phases of prototyping methodology as described later in the
next sections. This methodology is used when the business process is likely to be changed as
the project proceeds or when the project sponsor has little idea of what system is to be built.
The Analysis, Design, and Implementation phases are performed concurrently and this results
into a system prototype that will be reviewed by the project sponsor throughout the project
execution process. The cycle is repeated continually based on the sponsor’s comments until
the prototype successfully meets the requirements. The last prototype will then be called the
system. Prototyping development needs only initial basic analysis and design phases.
However, as the result, important system functions may not be recognized until somewhere in
the middle of the project timeline. Thus there is a possibility to alter the initial design
decision and start all over again from the beginning.

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This methodology will be used because of the following reasons (Tutorialspoint.com, 2016);
1. Prototyping methodology focuses on increased user involvement of the product even
before its implementation.
2. Prototyping methodology can deliver the system quickly to users.
3. The working model of the system is displayed hence the users get a better
understanding of the system being developed.
4. Quicker user feedback is available leading to better solutions, missing functionality
can be identified easily and incorporated in the subsequent prototypes.
5. Confusing or difficult functions can be identified and removed or rectified.

Figure 3. 1 showing the software prototyping methodology (Tutorialspoint.com, 2016)

3.3 Explanation of the Phases Involved

In this section, the researcher will detail what will be done in each phase, how it will be done
and it will be done so as to meet the project’s requirements as seen in chapter one.

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3.3.1 Requirements Gathering and Analysis
In the requirements gathering and analysis phase, the researcher will conduct various studies
so as to make a successful research study. It is in this phase that the researcher will do data
collection about the user requirements, software and hardware requirements, data analysis,
target population and sample size concerning the case study. The researcher will carry out
paper-based planning detailing all requirements of the system, collaborating with the system
users. Data collection methods to be used include:

3.3.1.1 Face to face Interview

The researcher will conduct a face to face interview at Masana restaurant with the cashier,
waiters and waitresses so as to examine the current system of restaurant information
management. The benefits of the existing system and the challenges of the current system, the
requirements of the proposed system will be carefully collected so that the benefits are
incorporated in the proposed online restaurant information management system and the
current challenges eliminated or reduced. Face to face interview method will be used to find
out the user’s requirements and opinions about the proposed online restaurant information
management system especially interactivity, user friendliness, system security and
confidentiality as well as privacy by the end users. Face to face interview will be done orally
and will provide open ended questions where the interviewee will respond appropriately.
Face to face interview method will be used because it is cheap to use especially in areas that
need more detailed technical evaluation like the kind of reports to be generated and their
format since it may not easily be achieved using the questionnaire method, face to face
interview method will also be used to find out the benefits of the existing system as well as
the challenges faced. At the end of the face to face interview, the researcher expects to collect
information about the current systems used, challenges faced and requirements of the
proposed system.

3.3.1.2 Observation
This method will be instrumental in collecting primary data. In this case, the researcher will
be able to collect data through seeing the various documents, receipts, among others
available. Through observation, the researcher will notice the business/organization
processes, such as how customers make orders and reservations, how receipts are generated if
any. This method will be used because it is cheap and effective since the researcher will use
one day to carry out personal observation at the restaurant, it also enriches the researcher with

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first-hand information that will be the determinant factor in the modelling of the research
problem, user interface, system functionality and database models.

3.3.1.3 Questionnaire
The researcher will also employ questionnaire method as a basic data collection tool to
collect data. In this case, the researcher will design a questionnaire with different kinds of
questions concerning the existing system as well as the existing operations in the
organization. The stake holders, proposed users will have to fill in their answers. Data will be
compiled and later analysed as discussed in the next section. The questionnaire method will
be used because it is cheap and reliable to collect data from scattered sources. Questionnaire
method will also be reliable to collect data from the customers since questionnaires can be
sent to them and once filled they can be sent back making it affordable and reliable for the
researcher.

3.3.1.4 Sample Size Determination

This research study will be carried out at Masana restaurant particularly focusing on waiters,
waitresses, cashier, manager and customers. According to Solvin’s formula, this method will
be used when you want to determine the average number of variables that may not be clearly
known in total in the study size.

Solvin’s formula = N/1+n(e2)

Where;
N = Population size
n = Sample size
e = Degree of freedom
that is e = 95%

Summary of the Sample size by using a Tabular method

Title Target Population Formula Sample Size

Manager 1 N/1+n(e2) 1
Cashier 1 N/1+n(e2) 1
Waiters 4 N/1+n(e2) 2
Waitresses 7 N/1+n(e2) 4
Customers 200 N/1+n(e2) 105
Total 213 113

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Table 3. 1 Showing Sample Size

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3.3.1.5 Sampling Technique
In this study, the researcher will use mixed method research design that is both quantitative
and qualitative techniques so as to come up with the best thesis as far as online restaurant
information management system is concerned. This will be because the study involves both
respondents that can be best for qualitative technique and quantitative technique forexample
data collection from the customers will be quantitative since it will be collected using
questionnaires whereas the data from the waiters, waitresses and the manager will be
qualitative since it will be collected using interview method and the data collected through
personal observation will be both quantitative and qualitative from both the workers and the
customers.

3.3.1.6 Data Analysis

In the data analysis stage, the researcher will use various tools to analyse the collected data as
well as the findings. The data collected using face to face interview method will be analysed
qualitatively using text descriptions while the data collected using questionnaires will be
analysed quantitatively using statistical methods that is pie charts and tables to give a clear
interpretation of the collected data and findings of the study using MS Excel and the data
collected using personal observation will be analysed using both qualitative and quantitative
techniques since the data will involve both statistics and descriptions to generate meaning and
extract proper requirements for the development of the system.

3.3.2 Quick Design

The system designing stage will consider the requirements identified in the approved
requirements gathering and analysis phase. For each requirement, a set of one or more design
elements will be produced as a result of interviews and prototype efforts. This will focus on
yielding a high end online restaurant information management system that is user oriented. In
this phase, the researcher will design forms, tables, database, and interfaces using Sublime
Text and MySQL Workbench because the study will be structured programming thus will be
able to meet the system and user requirements.

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3.3.3 Build Prototype
Information gathered from quick design will be modified to form the first prototype, which
represents the working model of the required system. The researcher will use various
programming and scripting languages to produce the complete working system. The
researcher will develop the prototypes using Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) for designing and
styling the user interfaces, hypertext pre-processor (PHP) for data validation and submitting
user data to the database, hypertext mark-up language (HTML) to create user data input
forms and tables, JavaScript (JS) to provide a more interactive and secure system, MySQLi to
create a database connection, inserting and retrieving information to and from the database.
These various programming and scripting languages will be used because they are open
source thus free to download and use, the researcher has enough expertise to use them and
more so, the system will be web-based hence performing well with various web browsers.

3.3.4 User Evaluation

The researcher will deliver the developed prototype to the proposed users for evaluation. All
the comments and suggestions as well as recommendations from users will be documented
for effect in the next prototype. It is in this phase that testing will be done, the researcher will
use various techniques to assess the functionality of the developed online restaurant
information management system.

Unit testing will be performed by the developer before the setup is formally tested. Unit
testing will be performed by the developer on the individual units of source code assigned
areas. The goal of unit testing will be to isolate each part of the program and show that each
individual parts are correct in terms of requirements and functionality.
The unit testing will be aimed at finding out if the system is able to take customer orders and
make reservations or generate receipts in the system and if it can be accessed over the internet
on all mobile and computing devices since it will be web-based.

3.3.5 Refining Prototype

During this phase, the researcher will effect the comments, suggestions as well as
recommendations from users to have a better prototype. After the comments, suggestions and
recommendations from the user have been refined, the prototype is again evaluated and this
process continues until the user requirements are achieved. After the requirements have been
achieved, integration testing will also be carried out which will involve combining the units
and then testing if the units work together as a system.

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The test that will be performed will be the bottom up integration testing which involves unit
testing then followed by tests of progressive higher level combinations of units called
modules or builds. This will aim at finding out if the various prototypes achieve the main
goal if combined into a single system.
The system will also be tested using user acceptance testing to find out if it meets the user
requirements as suggested during user evaluation. More ideas will be shared about the
application and more tests can be performed on it to determine its accuracy and the reasons
why the project was initiated. Acceptance tests are not only intended to point out simple
spelling mistakes, user errors or interface gaps, but also to point out any bugs in the
application that may result in system crashes or major errors in the application that may cause
downtime. By performing acceptance tests on an application, the developer will deduce how
the application will perform in production. This will aim at ensuring that the final product can
be accepted by the end users by meeting and exceeding user requirements and specifications.
3.3.6 Engineer Product
After all the phases have been conducted thoroughly and users accept the system, the
researcher will implement the system to ensure that it meets the user requirements. This will
be done by hosting the system on the server and performing various system hosting
configuration operations on the server and client side machines such that the system can meet
its user requirements and perform its main objective. The final system will be evaluated
thoroughly followed by the routine maintenance on regular basis to prevent large-scale
failures and minimizing downtime.

3.4 Ethical Considerations

During this study, the researcher will ensure that research ethical considerations are adhered
to in all phases of data collection, analysis and use without violation of any law or moral
theory.

The researcher will seek consent from the respondent before carrying out data collection with
them to ensure that social and personal privacy is upheld and respected.

The researcher will ensure that respondents’ responses are treated with utmost integrity and
confidentiality and ensure that their respondents are not disclosed to any third party.

The researcher will seek clearance from the university research department to go and carry
out data collection.

The researcher will ensure that humans and animals are given respect to autonomy.
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3.5 Anticipated Limitations
During this study, the researcher may encounter challenges like limited time to carry out data
collection, limited resources like money to fund various activities like buying stationery,
transport fare to go and carry out data collection, failure to obtain sufficient data from
respondents, failure to access respondents in case they are in areas that is inaccessible, the
researcher may encounter bias from respondents declining to fill the questionnaires siting that
they don’t have time among others.

xxiv
References
1. Armstrong Wang (2017). Asynchronous Adoption Patterns of Online Services.
Proceeding of the 38 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Pearson
Education Limited.
2. Binjia Kuehnhausen (2016). Online orders for goods and services. Technical report,
Anderson University.
3. Carzaniga A. (2017). Design and Evaluation of web based notification services. ACM
Transactions on Computer Systems, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 332–383.
4. Connolly T. and Begg C. (2017). Database Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to
Building Databases 2nd Edn. Addison-Wesley
5. El-Gazzar R (2015). Agent-based on online restaurant management systems.
International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 4(4), 25-30.

6. Fagbola T (2014). “Computer-Based Test (CBT) System for University academic

enterprise examination”. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research
volume 2, issue 8, August 2014.
7. Hevner et al (2017). Online restaurants or Offline restaurants summit in Nigeria.
February 2017.
8. Ismail N, Abdullah H (2019). Adoption of online reservation system in Malaysia.
Procedural, Social and Behavioural Sciences, 172, 336–343. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.
2015.01.373.
9. Kholief (2017). Advantages and disadvantages of online reservation systems. Journal
of Computer Engineering, 11(3), 19–31.
10. Lwin et al (2019). Journal of public health management and practice: JPHMP. Sep-
Oct; 13(5):481-5.
11. Nellius and Smith (2017). Performance of private and government operated
restaurants and hotels. Ministry of Trade Kenya. HK Printers and Stationers Ltd.
12. Okonkwo Johnson (2015). A generic web based event notification system using XML
and HTML. In Lagos university, Networking Workshop.
13. Onashoga S (2017). Online reservation systems. 21st International Conference on
Systems Engineering. doi: 10.1109/icseng.2017.81
14. Parvin S. (2015). An Effective e-commerce system for beauty and cosmetics in urban
areas of Bangladesh. IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering, 17(5), 15–19.

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15. Silver et al (2015). Information systems Vs Networking systems. International
conference Harvard University. Pp. 23-29.
16. Uganda Bureau of Statistics - UBOS (2018). Technical report on the performance of
local and private industries in rural areas. Kampala – Uganda 13(04) vol. 7.
17. Vastenburg M (2015). Considerate home notification systems: A user study of
acceptability of notifications in a living-room laboratory. International Journal of
Human-Computer Studies, 67(9), 814-826.
18. Zheng (2016). Relational database based systems Vs Network database based
systems. 4th Ed. Prentice Hall.

xxvi
 APPENDICES
APPENDIX I. FINANCIAL BUDGET
No. Item Quantity Rate (Ugx) Amount (Ugx)
1. Printing 30 pages 500/= 15,000/=
2. Transport 10 times 10,000/= 100,000/=
3. Meals 10 times 5,000/= 50,000/=
4. Data bundles 20 times 5,000/= 100,000/=
5. Stationary Papers, pens 30,000/= 30,000/=
7. Airtime 20 times 2,000/= 40,000/=
8. Binding 2 books 10,000/= 20,000/=
11. Total Cost 355,000/=
Table 1 Showing Financial Budget

xxvii
APPENDIX II. TIME BUDGET

No. ITEM PERIOD (MONTHS)

JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT

1. Topic selection and data collection

3. Data analysis

4. Chapter one

5. Performing corrections

6. Proposal writing

7. Performing collection

10. System development

11. First system presentation

12. System testing

13. System implementation

14. Project termination

Table 2 Showing Time Budget

xxviii
APPENDIX III. DATA COLLECTION TOOLS
INTERVIEW GUIDE

This is the interview guide that will be used by the researcher to gather data about online
restaurant information management at Masana restaurant.

Introduction
I am Atuhwera Prossy, a student of Diploma in Computer Science at University of Saint
Joseph Mbarara. As required by my course, I am conducting a research study about Online
Restaurant Information Management System. I request you to kindly avail me with the
appropriate and rightful information that will enable my research study a successful one.
Thank you

1. What meals and services do you give to your customers?

2. What are some of the ways you use to take and manage customer orders and
reservations in your restaurant?

3. What are some of the benefits you enjoy while taking and managing customer orders
and reservations in your restaurant?

4. What are the challenges you face while taking and managing customer orders and
reservations in your restaurant?

5. Do you think the method you use is easy, secure, and time saving for information
creation, storage, retrieval and management?

6. Do you think that all your customers own smartphones or computers?

7. In your own opinion, do you think that developing an online restaurant information
management system which allows customers to make their orders and reservations
online and the cashier to easily and electronically generate receipts and reports could
help prevent the challenges currently faced at Masana restaurant?

8. What are your suggestions and or opinions about the proposed system?

9. Conclusion.

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Below is the questionnaire that will be given out to the customers at Masana restaurant for
data collection about the proposed online restaurant information management system.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear customer, kindly fill this questionnaire to the best of your knowledge to help me
accomplish the requirements for my course as one of the requirements for my graduation. I
am carrying out a research study under the research topic “ONLINE RESTAURANT
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM” to improve online orders and information
management at Masana restaurant.

Your information will only be used for academic purposes

“TICK WHERE NECESSARY”

A. PERSONAL INFORMATION

1. Name…………………………………………………………………...……… (Optional)

2. Gender a). Male b). Female

3. Home district ………………………………………………………………………..………

B. GENERAL INFORMATION

4. Which system is used at Masana restaurant for taking customer orders, reservations and
generating receipts?

a) Book/Paper
b) Computer
c) Both computer and a book

5. What are the benefits of this system?

a) It is easy to use
b) It is affordable

Others specify………………………………………..…………………………………………

6. What are the challenges of this system?

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 a) Slow and Inconvenient
b) Loss of information
c) Expensive and Unreliable

Others specify…………………………………...………………………………………………

9. Do you think that developing an online restaurant information management system which
allows you to place your order and reservation online will solve the challenges you have
selected above?

a) Yes
b) No

Any other recommendation ……………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Thanks for your co-operation

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