MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

DEVELOPING AN ONLINE WEB BASED RESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM FOR IDEAL HOSTELS

ACASE OF IDEAL CLASSIC AND IDEAL PLATINUM

BY

NAMES REG NO CONTACT

NALUBWAMA SHAKIRAH 15/U/17735/PS 0755088465

NAMAGEMBE CHARLETE 15/U/17824/PS 0758399911

NANSUBUGA NADIAH 15/U/18224/PS 0706137348

GAKU HANIFA 15/U/15418/PS 0703560385

KIGENYI OBEDI 15/U/16025/PS 0753310661

SUPERVISED BY

MR. MUTEBI BASHIR

(ACADEMIC SUPERVIOR)

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS

SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELORS
DEGREE OF BUSINESS COMPUTING OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

DECEMBER, 2017

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 DECLARATION
We, the undersigned, declare that to the best of our knowledge, this project report is our original
piece of work, and has never been published and/or submitted for any award in any University or
Higher Institution of Learning.

NAMES REG NO SIGNATURE DATE

NALUBWAMA SHAKIRAH 15/U/17735/PS

NAMAGEMBE CHARLETE 15/U/17824/PS

NANSUBUGA NADIAH 15/U/18224/PS

GAKU HANIFA 15/U/15418/PS

KIGENYI OBEDI 15/U/16025/PS

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 APPROVAL
This project report has been submitted with my approval as supervisor and my signature is here
appended:

SIGNED ………………………... DATE …………………………

MR. MUTEBI BASHIR

(ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR)

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 DEDICATION
This report is dedicated to our dear parents, sisters and brothers for their unending support they
have offered us till now

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to acknowledge the support of the following persons towards the successful
completion of this project proposal.

Our family members especially our parents for the financial and psychological support which
enabled us write this project, for the encouragement to never give up, we cannot thank you
enough but may the almighty God bless you abundantly.

We also acknowledge our academic supervisor Mr. Mutebi Bashir for the guidance and support
accorded to us during the writing of this proposal. We pray for God’s mighty blessing upon your
life.

Lastly, our friends who have been a source of comfort and inspiration to us, your kind words
have always made us write an extra page and above all, the GOD almighty for the gift of life and
enabling come this far.

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 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
This chapter will cover the background of the study, statement of the problem, general
objectives of the study, specific objectives of the study, scope of the study and the
significance of the study.

1.2 Background of the study

E - Commerce is a type of business model, or segment of a larger business model, that
enables a firm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typically the
internet. Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: business
to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business
(Manzoor, 2010). It can be thought of as a more advanced form of mail-order purchasing
through a catalog. Almost any product or service can be offered via ecommerce, from
books and music to financial services and plane tickets (Plant, 2000). According to
Rajput, (2000) E-commerce is conducted using a variety of applications, such as email,
fax, online catalogs and shopping carts, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), File Transfer
Protocol, and Web services. Most of this is business-to-business, with some companies
attempting to use email and fax for unsolicited ads (usually viewed as spam) to
consumers and other business prospects, as well as to send out e-newsletters to
subscribers. E-commerce provides an around-the-clock availability, the speed of access, a
wider selection of goods and services, accessibility, and international reach (Carter,
2002). It’s perceived downsides include sometimes-limited customer service, not being
able to see or touch a product prior to purchase, and the necessitated wait time for
product shipping.

Ideal is one of the hostels that accommodate students of Makerere University Business
School that is expected to expand and increasingly grow with anticipation that over time
the university will continually receive more and more students. Due to high demand of
the services, more students overwhelm the Ideal staff and the entire process and services
are bound to be flawed and inconsistent or be full of errors and mistakes. It is against this
back ground that a group of aforementioned students propose to develop a web based
reservation and management system. The proposed system is a web application with a
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 consideration that web based applications have evolved significantly over recent years
and with improvements in security and technology there are plenty of scenarios where
traditional software desktop based applications and systems could be improved by
migrating them to a web based application. Web based applications offer competitive
advantages to traditional software based systems allowing businesses to consolidate and
streamline their systems and processes and reduce costs.

1.3 Problem Statement

A lot of time is lost by students on queues and by Ideal staff who attend to them the
whole day during room booking and allocation exercise. Much time is also lost in
searching and retrieving record and files for students and other records like daily
expenses. Some of the records may eventually get lost and many errors committed during
these processes. This imposes the condition that this process can only take place when the
students physically come to the hostel for the Entire Process to be valid. However,
developing a web based application will enable valid data to be captured online since it
will have inbuilt data validation functions. These records will need keen follow up, and
will be available when required with preciseness, accuracy and specificity as expected.

In general, the proposed system will address the following problems:

a) Time wastage on queues

b) Errors in the allocation process

c) Loss of data due to lack or inappropriate set of paper based backup

d) Overdependence on labor-intensive and manual operations while cheap and

efficient technology is available

e) Limitation in access and flow of information to various individuals both locally

and remotely.

f) Unnecessary efforts and resources are directed to some tasks while there is more
appropriate and cheap alternative to provide self service

g) Some activities may go undocumented whereas technology provides the

capability to capture users activities in the audit log and system log

The new system is bound to correct and spot-on issues such as:

i. Cases of students staying in rooms when they may have not paid for it or used
inappropriate procedure in acquiring a room.

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 ii. Minimize or discourage corruption dealings between the custodian and students
iii. Ensure that no student feels underserved or served inappropriately by ensuring
that the first come first served principle is upheld unless otherwise the student is
entitled to privileges enabling him or her to preserve a room in advance or
considered with higher priority, example students with disabilities.
iv. The system will track and automatically display rooms that are supposed to have
been vacated otherwise calculate the appropriate daily fee or penalty imposed to
students who do not comply with the rule and regulations of the hostel to check
out from the rooms on time as well as automatically displaying rooms that are not
yet booked.
v. The system can also help administer disciplinary actions to students who do not
comply with the rule and regulations by burning such students from booking
rooms or barn them from doing so for a given period of time
vi. Tracking loss ,breakages and damages to some of the facilities installed
specifically in rooms by keeping and managing record with appropriate reports
vii. Monitor and record the daily expenses involved in cleaning hostels and any other
activities carried out under the custodians department.
viii. Increase efficiency of the hostel staff by reducing time spent on serving students
during room allocation.
ix. The system can be hosted to make it accessible to the students anywhere so that
room reservation would not necessitate physical presence of a student.

1.4 General Objective

The new proposed system aims at achieving the following objectives:

i. Reduce time wasted on queues by providing self-service internet enabled options

ii. Minimize or eliminate errors that are common with pen and paper technology

iii. Provide backup of data and information on computers (which provide relatively
cheap, “unlimited storage space”) with no or minimal data entry

iv. Minimize unauthorized access, modification or erasure of data and information in

documents and reports by use of password authentication and defining appropriate
users access level

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 v. Increase the efficiency of staff by automating tasks such as creating summary of
allocation and auto generating of similar documents or reports that can simply be
created after performing a search

vi. Provide quality information that is reliable, accurate and timely readily to
facilitate knowledge-based decisions

vii. Provide the capability of long time data reservation by archiving which may be of
need for reference in the future without need for physical storage space in store
rooms or saves and cubicles

viii. Provide telecommuting services such that the Ideal staff will be able to access,
update office information remotely while enabling students to book rooms
remotely as well

ix. Reduce expenses and costs related to labor-intensive and manual activities by
automation and shifting services to users to provide self service capabilities

x. Optimize staffing levels since less number of employees are required to work with
the system and some tasks are given to the end users i.e. students

1.5 Specific Objectives of the Study

i. To reduce time spend on queues or eliminate instances of time wastage
ii. To increase efficiency in Ideal hostels
iii. To reduce time spend while allocating rooms to students
iv. Provide self-service option for students
v. To provide backup of Ideal hostels information about students both in computer
and hard copy from printed report

1.6 Scope of Study

1.6.1 Subject Scope
The study will aim at developing Web based Booking and management system for Ideal
hostels.

1.6.2 Geographical Scope

The study will be carried out in kataza where Ideal classic and Ideal platinum hostels are
located.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study will enable Ideal to computerize and create a web based system for hostel
management activities; thereby attaining efficiency and effectiveness.

The study will enable the researchers to improve on their knowledge in online and web
based system designing.

The study will ensure that the researchers attain the minimum qualification for the award
of a Bachelors’ Degree in Business Computing

This study will also serve as a reference for future research in form of literature review.

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 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction.
The chapter reviewed literature from different authors about e-commerce. It reviews
literature on E-commerce related terms benefits challenges and website requirements.

Hostels, accommodation and housing services have grown to be one of most popular and
favorite business option. Cities, towns, business centres, shopping places and schools are
examples of places where this business has flourished. This positions a challenge on how
to efficiently handle or manage these facilities.

Modern businesses are rediscovering the ancient mantras for success in corporate world
and blending them with contemporary marketing practices. Long term survival and
competitive advantage can only be attained by establishing an emotional bond with the
customers. A shift is taking place from marketing to anonymous masses of customers to
developing and managing relationships with more or less well known or at least some
identified customers (Gronroos, 1994).

This section shall provide general literature on Automation particularly hostel services
industry and its link with customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and business
performance followed by literature on computer systems and service quality in details.
The ‘gap model’ shall be introduced and literature on service guarantee, service recovery,
and complaint management shall be provided. This would lead to the privacy issues
related with management in the service industry.
Many computer or automated systems have been developed to keep up with the
increasing demand for better and efficient way of managing these facilities than manual
systems that are hard to work with and inflexible. Most of these systems are web based
systems. Examples that are discussed in this section include those that have been
implemented at universities and colleges. However, there are others that have been
implemented outside the learning environment namely bookhostels.com technology who
brag to power over 500 affiliate websites worldwide, including the Web Reservation
owned sites www.hostelworld.com and www.hostels.com and internationally renowned
travel sites such as Studentuniverse.com.

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2.1 What is ‘A web based reservation and management system’?
In the context and scope of this project, hotel and hostel may be used interchangeably
with the former assuming the wider context of hostels outside learning institutions whilst
later focuses more on the schooling environment Ideal hostels being the case of study for
this project.

A hotel manager or hotelier is a person who holds a management position within a hotel,
motel, or resort establishment. Management titles and duties vary by company. In some
hotels the title hotel manager or hotelier may solely be referred to the General Manager of
the hotel. Small hotels usually have a small management team consisting of three or
fewer managers while larger hotels may have a large management team consisting of
managers of various departments and divisions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality).

To better answer the question above within the confines of scope of study, one needs to
focus hostel facilities in schools, colleges and universities as a service industry and
students as the customers that make up the market for these entities.

Typically, any service oriented industry that focuses its business in line of provision of
accommodation and hostel facilities would require proper management of the facilities to
optimize the utility of its users and at the same time create concordance and harmony
between the users end and management end.‘ A web based reservation and management
system’ is an online system that handles student’s data of interest to the management to
ease the manual slow processes.

2.2 Advantages of web based applications

Cross platform compatibility.

Most web based applications are far more compatible across platforms than traditional
installed software. Typically the minimum requirement would be a web browser of which
there are many. (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape to name but a few). These web
browsers are available for a multitude of operating systems and so whether you use
Windows, Linux or Mac OS you can still run the web application.

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More manageable

Web based systems need only be installed on the server placing minimal requirements on
the end user workstation. This makes maintaining and updating the system much simpler
as usually it can all be done on the server. Any client updates can be deployed via the
web server with relative ease.

Highly deployable

Due to the manageability and cross platform support deploying web applications to the
end user is far easier. They are also ideal where bandwidth is limited and the system and
data is remote to the user. At their most deployable you simply need to send the user a
website address to log in to and provide them with internet access.

This has huge implications allowing you to widen access to your systems, streamline
processes and improve relationships by providing more of your customers, suppliers and
third parties with access to your systems.

Secure live data

Typically in larger more complex systems data is stored and moved around separate
systems and data sources. In web based systems these systems and processes can often be
consolidated reducing the need to move data around.

Web based applications also provide an added layer of security by removing the need for
the user to have access to the data and back end servers.

Reduced costs

Web based applications can dramatically lower costs due to reduced support and
maintenance, lower requirements on the end user system and simplified architecture.

By further streamlining your business operations as a result of your web based

application additional savings can often be found.

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 ‘Web based system’ tries to achieve the following in relation to management of the
hostel or boarding facilities:

2.2.1 Service Guarantee or system availability

An organization tries to balance its customers’ expectations with the delivered service. A
service guarantee promises the customers a certain service quality and backs up such
promise with a payout, making services more ‘tangible’, reducing the perceived risk of
purchasing a service.

“A service guarantee makes the customer a meaningful promise and specifies a payout
and an invocation procedure in case the promise is not kept. Each of these elements is
equally important in making a guarantee successful” (Looy, Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003)

The key elements of this definition are discussed below:

2.2.2 The Promise

Through introduction of a service guarantee, an organization makes a credible promise to
its customers. This promise is a credible one in a European context, where shorter lead
times are highly desirous by customers (Looy, Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003). In defining
a promise, a company should be careful not to promise what would be expected anyway.
This may negatively signal that service failures are likely to be expected. Some promises
are limited in scope i.e. guarantee only less important service aspects or are highly
conditional, excluding all major causes of service failure. For example, Lufthansa
guarantees that its customers will make their connecting flights if there are no delays due
to weather or air-traffic control problems. Ironically, these two problems cause in total 95
percent of all flight delays. Furthermore, the guarantee is applicable only if all flights
including connecting flights are with Lufthansa (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The presence
of a service guarantee can support the perception of service reliability, which is one of the
most critical determinants of customer satisfaction. However, sometimes a guarantee may
give out a negative message, indicating that service failures may occur due to customers
wondering why it is necessary to provide a guarantee. For example, Lufthansa promises
its customers that their luggage will arrive with them. However, this created the
perception that lost luggage is more a problem with Lufthansa than its competitors

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 (Lufthansa airlines, 1987). The effectiveness of communicating a service guarantee also
depends on the source of the message, especially if the form has a history of service
problems, making it difficult for a service firm with bad service reputation to send out
credible message.

2.2.3 The Payout

In a situation where promises are not kept, the customer shall receive a payout which will
encourage the customer to communicate all service failures, which has a double effect:

 Service recovery: The customer who claims his payout is less likely to defect or
spread a negative word of mouth. Hence, service recovery becomes a possibility.
 Service quality improvement: Each claim represents valuable information about
quality errors and their possible causes, but the avoidance of future payouts
functions as an incentive to all staff to participate in improvement projects.

In order to achieve service recovery, the payout has to be meaningful to customers. It

should not only make up for all the damage and inconvenience suffered but also make the
customer ‘whole.’ For example, the payout offered by the Dutch bus service organization,
“Interliner,” makes their customer ‘whole’ by guaranteeing that their passengers will
reach their connecting flights and buses. A refund would not adequately compensate the
passenger who missed a connection. Therefore, any passenger who would have to wait
for more than fifteen minutes for a connection due to delay by Interliner would be taken
to his destination by taxi at Interliner’s expense (www.interliner.nl). A payout can also be
too high. For example, in India atleast, Domino’s Pizza offers customers its pizza free of
charge if they were not delivered within thirty minutes from ordering.

2.2.4 The Invocation Procedure

The final aspect of the service guarantee is the invocation procedure. Invoking a
guarantee should be either easy or proactive. For example, supermarkets Hoogvliet
(Netherlands) and Match (Belgium) promise short queues at their checkouts. If all tills
are not manned and if some customer is the third one (Hoogvliet) or the fourth one
(Match) in the queue, he does not have to pay (Hoogvliet) or receives a significant
discount (Match). An example of unconditional satisfaction guarantee which is easy to

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 invoke is that of Superquinn’s Goof Card System. Superquinn is the leading super
marketing chain in the Greater Dublin area. Periodically, customers who participate in the
loyalty saving system called ‘Superclub’ receive a ‘Goof Card’. Each time Superquinn
‘goofs’ i.e. produces a service failure, the customer simply has to point it out to any
member of staff, and he shall receive thirty bonus points worth £1. The guarantee offers
unconditional satisfaction guarantee as customers are able to define the goof themselves,
however, for further help to customers, Superquinn lists ten examples of goofs. The
invocation of PTT Telecom’s guarantee for example is proactive as well. After each
connection or repair, PTT Telecom makes an after-sales call to the customer trying to
assess customer’s satisfaction. If there is a failure of promise, the customer is
immediately informed of the payout (Looy, Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003).

2.2.5 Complaints management.

Customers complain under one or both of the conditions: their expectations being
underperformed to a degree that falls outside their zone of tolerance or unfair treatment.
Complaints management process should be developed to take a positive view of customer
complaints. Customers who complain provide an opportunity for the service firm to
identify root causes of problems as well as win back unhappy or dissatisfied customers to
retain their future value (Buttle, 2005). A complaints management process should allow
company to capture complaints before customers spread a negative word-of-mouth or
take their business elsewhere (Buttle, 1998). Up to two-thirds of customers who are
dissatisfied do not complain to the organization (Richins, 1983). However, they may
complain to their social networks. Dissatisfied customers are likely to inform twice as
many people about their experience than customers with a positive experience (TARP,
1995 in Buttle, 2005). According to Wilson (1991), only 4 percent of the dissatisfied
customers actually complain, providing valuable feedback to the company. The
remaining 96 percent choose to simply leave the business and go elsewhere. Companies
choose to deal with complaints efficiently to bring about customer retention, continuous
improvement in service quality and build a customer- focused organization (Looy,
Gemmel & Dierdonck, 2003).

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 The customers choose not to complain for some reasons listed in table 1 below.

Table 1: (Wilson, 1991 and Buttle, 2005)

They do not know how to register a complaint They believe complaining will be useless
because the company don’t care about them
or their complaints
They believe it is not worth the time or They fear retribution. For example, many
trouble people are reluctant to complain about the
police
Figure 2

2.2.6 Do all customers want a relationship with their service provider?

It is clear that companies want relationships with customers, and the same way, the hostel
manager would go a long way to effect this through the use of the blog system that
provides a platform on which both students and the administrators (employees of Ideal
hostels) can post to in a way to discuss issues which may be of relevance to the hostel
issues or even any other personal level discussions. In a business to customer context,
relationships may be sought when the customer seeks benefits over and above those
directly derived from acquiring, consuming or using the service. The benefits include
recognition, personalization, power, risk reduction, status and affiliation (Buttle, 2004).
Examples of each such benefit are mentioned below

 Recognition: A customer may feel more valued and important when

recognized and addressed by name
 Personalization: For example, over time, a hotel manager may understand
a customer’s particular preferences or expectations
 Power: For instance, some of the power asymmetries in relationships
between banks and their customers may be reversed when customers feel
that they have personal relationships with their bank officers and
managers.

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  Risk reduction: Risk may be in the form of performance, physical,
financial, social or psychological. High levels of perceived risk are
uncomfortable for many customers. A relationship has the ability to
reduce, or even eliminate risk. For example, a customer may develop a
relationship with a garage to reduce the perceived performance and
physical risk attached to having a car serviced. The relationship provides
the assurance that the job has been skillfully accomplished and the car is
safe to drive.
 Status: For example, customers may feel that their status is enhanced by a
relationship with an organization, say, the Hilton.
 Affiliation: people’s social needs can be met through relationships. For
example, many people join particular forums or associations to be a part of
a community.

However, there are some customers who would be satisfied with the service quality and
perhaps decide to be loyal, but not want a relationship as such with the supplier for
privacy issues. It is a known fact that suppliers wish to increase their sales to customers.
In order to know and analyze their customers, companies collect extensive data on their
customers through various channels. One popular rather common channel is through
loyalty programs and cards. Examples include Tesco loyalty cards, Hilton honors
program, British Airways frequent flyer cards, etc. The companies provide some benefits
to customers and collect data like contact name, history of purchase, money spent in the
past on company’s services, etc. However, if the data is mishandled or incorrectly
handled, it can destroy the trust and loyalty in the relationship. (Vargas, 2006)

Privacy and data protection are key concerns of customers, who are increasingly
concerned about the amount of information that organizations have about them and the
uses to which information is put. In reality, most customers are unaware of the quantity
of information available to companies. Some customers may wish to simply not join any
loyalty programs in order to secure their privacy and prevent intrusion into personal
information.

Examples of systems already implemented:

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2.2.7 Example: Local perspective
Makerere University Business School has an implementation of such a system. The
system allows students to register for certificate, diploma, bachelors and masters
programs remotely hence does not necessitate physical presence of the students in order
to do so.

Makerere University business school also has MUBSEP portal which serves
administrators and students internally and externally. From the student’s perspective,
students are required to login using their respective student numbers as their user name
and mubs as the initial password. After login, the student can go ahead and register online
in the various course units otherwise if the student has already registered, the application
displays the student’s personal information, results, and financial status with the
University. It also implemented an E-learning platform which enables students to access
learning and exam time tables, notes, assignments, discussions among others. Students
are simply provided with an easy to create usernames using their first and last names and
password as an initial password.

2.2.8 Global perspective

DEEKSHA SYSTEMS PVT.LTD Is a software development company based in India
which is dedicated to serve. Educational institutes and provide complete management
solution to schools and colleges since 2004. The company has recently unlashed whole
package for Hostel management. The Hostel Management System (HMS) is composed
of the following modules:

i. Room Allocation - It maintains different type of room allocation (single rooms,

double rooms etc.) depending on student choice.
ii. Mess / Canteen Management System - It takes care of mess joining,
discontinuation, billing etc.
iii. Inventory Management System - It will control the allotment of table chair,
beds etc. to rooms
iv. Hostel Account Management System - Separate hostel account can be
maintained for each student. It will be linked with central account system as well.

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 v. Fee and fine collection - Any fine or fee can be collected, receipt can be issued
through the system
vi. Reports - Waiting list, allocation list, mess joining report, Fine report, due list etc.
can be generated by the system.

The developers of the system however, insist that the above features are only
suggested features for any hostel management system, actual features of your product
depend on the outcome of the requirement analysis only.

2.3 Synopsis
This section has provided available literature about hostel and hostel service industry.
The gap model explained shall be a strong basis for explaining the dark side of
automation of these services. Privacy issues shall be given importance as well. The
student’s perception of service quality for example is to be given supreme priority by the
hostel management team. It is important how students perceive the service quality to be.
This kind of data can be made available by analyzing the patterns in the booking process
that may establish preferences. What students receive and how they receive
corresponding to their expectations helps them judge the service quality to a large extent.

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