Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Atinda Kemunto
Atinda Kemunto
AND BROKERS
BY
BCS/12761/62/DY
AND
BCS/1I 145/62/DY
December 2009
DECLARATION
We, Atinda Kemunto Evangeline and Gakumo Benjamin Mathara hereby declare to
the best of our knowledge that this graduation project is our original work and that it has
The literature and citation from other people’s work have been dully referenced and
Signed:
~ ____
STUDENT
Date ~. -~≥.E~
Signed:
STUDENT
Date C_
University supervisor.
Signed:
SUPERVISER
Date
To our beloved parents who gave us their undivided attention and shown
Without the support of the following people, carrying out this project would have proved
to be an impossible task:
Madam Esther Wabule our supervisor who offered immense guidance throughout the
project.
Our beloved parents Mr. and Mrs. Gakumo and Mr. and Mrs. Atinda who gave us their
undivided attention and shown unlimited support and contribution, both financially and
morally to the success of this project. Also to our brothers and sisters and to our loved
friends Sally, Moses. Habiba, and Catherine for the generous support they gave us.
We would also like to thank our colleagues who gave support in the actual
implementation of the project and the staff workers at Avrack Real Estate Agent and
Brokers who gave us vital information for this project and last but not least to God
Rapport relationship
Latter recent
IT information technology
DB database
OS operating system
DESR .1) IMPI IM \ I ATION OF ONI I\F RI U S IATF M \‘~ \UENIE\ SY’~ rFI VIjI
BY 0 OF) B \\ ; \ FINI) S K
LDST OF TABLES
Table 4. 1 Account Details 35
Table 4.2 Landlord Information 36
Table 4.3 Tenant Personal Details 37
Table 4.4 User Details 37
Table 4.5 Prospective Tenant 38
With the advent of digital age, it is inevitable for Real estate’s organizations to reinforce
security measures to protect data form loss, unauthorized viewing or corruption. ~l’he need to
secure stored data and data on transit in a network birthed, and also to ensure data is
incompatible file formats and fixed queries among other limitations of paperwork.
The gist of this project revolves around data sharing, security issues pertaining to
authentication. It explores Real estate Management System that has been used for data
sharing and security systems that ensure control and management in the session they use the
system. This is necessary especially for landlord/landlady applications on the ~‘rvrack real
estate agents and brokers’ services and tenants’ applications on available rental or residential
premises available in the systems. The AVRACK REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND
BROKERS SYSTEM has been implemented using macromedia and wamp. It’s a form of
property management System that has been customized for agents and brokers for their
landlords/landladies.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers the introductory view of the project, it involved the introduction of
the entire project, background of the project, statement of the problems that results to a
project, objectives of the study that was obtained on project completion, research
questions of the study, scope of the study that shows how far the project covered,
significance of the study, justification of the study and conceptual framework, not
Real estate is often one of the largest capital investments a company will make, and
The project was dedicated to improving the services offered by property management
system, in this case being the AVRACK Real Estate Agents and Brokers. This system
was aiming at improving online reservation. which was viewed as part of an ongoing,
long-term process involving and improving AVRACK Real Estate Agents and Broker’s
rent payments, submit maintenance requests and view their account status online through
resident payment. This reduced paper work which was so cumbersome to maintain and
store.
Property management system was a system that has been used over years in most
developed world countries and now it is extending to most the third world countries.
Discovering of this system has brought about new and innovative way to perform
AVRACK Real Estate Agents and Brokers was established over two decades ago by Mr.
Sighn Smith in Nairobi Kenya which is a strategic and centralized point to offer equal
services to most of its branches, at the time it had few residential premises, as it
developed many landlords registered their buildings because they needed good
Property management system was a system which had faced quite a number of probleni~
for \ears now, which led to poor management and inefficient services to its clients. This
made the system to lag behind other competitive systems in terms of development. When
landlord work as individual, it become difficult tbr them to get their houses occupied as
they can’t access the tenants easiv. on the other hand tenants also get it hard and tiresome
to trace vacant houses to rent. As a result advertisement of the houses was expensive t~
carr~ out. Rents are delayed due o late payments. There was no restriction to data access
)I SI(\ .0 IMPLI~MI “~TAI ION 01 0i~I INI~ RI ~ \l\\ ~G1 MEN sYSTI \l 2
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in the current system hence important data is not securely kept and there was no backup
of the records. There was also a lot of paper work due to minimal computerization this led
to long queues because it was normally slow, inefficient and inaccurate. Management was
To create a system that serves the property management organization right, by giving it
To produce end product which is a web based system that enhances ability
a real communication?
organization?
The study was about property management system and was conducted at AVRACK real
estate agents & brokers in Nairobi, Kenya as from May 2009 to October 2009. It was
clients and the landlord will be able to access their accounts with the agency.
The respondents of this system include management. employees, current tenants and also
prospective applicants.
~ The other researchers used the findings of the study as future references for future
work.
The organization used the end product to offer the best efficient and accurate
were apply for their services and this resulted to creation of employment and
o The tenants used the system for online reservation hence saving them from going
• Prospective property buyers were able to buy property on sale online thus saving
The proposed system enabled the prospective clients to place their reservations
o The system reduced paper work, because shared database have to replace it and
• The system offers easy access to real-time data for real-time decisions. made
The concept of this system was that of an integrated web-based system specifically for
online for vacant rooms or apartment’s so there is no need for the tenants to go to the
agency’s offices. Also it was to give information on available apartments or rooms and
also it was to give information to present tenants on there accounts on rental issues. Fhe
system incorporate a decision support system of decides who was granted his or her
reservation request basing on the rules and regulations of the agency and the rule of law.
It has also given the management board a chance to verify the number of the accepted
reservation request and given the number of occupants per house. The application has!
On the other hand it was to allow prospective landlords to apply online to the agency’s
office, in request for tenants who are looking for vacant rooms. Landlords were to get
information on the status of their houses weather occupied or vacant, paid or have some
Also it allowed prospective property buyers to view available properties for sale and also
So that this concept can he realized the following was designed and implemented using
There is:
agency and that of the tenants, landlord and buyers was created
using PFIP.
purchase.
below.
2. Payment details.
3. House details.
4. User Details.
6. Buyer details
rejected.
2. Information and details of services offered by the agency and also the
details, landlords’ details, and number of houses each landlord has the
details of each apartment and also tasks reports. property available for
sale.
This report is about AVRACK Real Estate Agents and Brokers property management
system that allows residents to apply for their reservation requests online. All the
information concerning the project has been detailed in the subsections: introduction,
background to the study. statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research
questions, scope. significance, justification of the study and we also highlighted the
conceptual frame work of the system. The study was clear when thorough investigation in
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers what other scholars have said about the study title. This involved
reading what other studies in the same Held have revealed and in addition identifies a case
includes the tools that were used in the research and the system development
methodology.
Much has been said by authors from developed countries. However regardless of this
growing technology in developing countries like Kenya not many publications have been
done. Therefore the main purpose of the researcher was to contribute to the knowledge in
this topic.
In America, Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies is the North American leader in real
estate software, services and solutions that help real estate offices realize their full
potential. They have been in the business since 1989 pioneering real estate technologies
and are in over 5,000 offices throughout North America. ‘They believe that if you know
more about your client’s business than they do, they will look to you for guidance’. says
This review accommodated the understanding the area of study, the application of the
web based database system, data collection methods, its design methodology and the tools
On the past the real estate industries have been using their agents who are situated in
different countries. The agents have offices; whereby all the relevant information about
the real estate and its facilities is available. The information is usually available in colored
brochures containing all the information and all the maps. This is a very expensive way of
management system putting in mind that the brochures are expensive to produce and the
staff in the different offices are paid and also the premises is usually rented.
Such problems aggravates more when it comes to accessing the clients who are very far
from this agents, most of them have to move from a very far to reach the agents offices
and to add on that the offices are usually congested. This can be made much easier by
having a common pool of information for all the customers, this is only possible by
putting up a website which consists of all the activities and services offered and also an
tln any given year, 20% of the tenants and landlords might come up for lease renewal:
there is quite a lot of paperwork to deal with on a monthly basis. Historically, all our
leases have been on paper. Thats pretty common in retail.” (Jewett, 2001). As seen the
industry faces the problem of lack of information backup since the work is done through
paperwork which proves 10 be bulk when it comes to storage area of the files. This was
solved through the creation of a centralized database thus creation of backup was possible
DI-SIGN AND INN ~MI ~TATIO~ ~ INI RIAi i~STA I MA~AGI ME~ [ SYSTEM 1 1
BY GAKUMO U \NI ) ATINIT
and the paperwork was reduced.
The system was designed to provide customers with full-featured, web-based property
management system which developed to handle all property management needs and to
create a product that allows property owners to organize their properties, maximize
profits and avoid costly management errors. Due to the competitive world property
management automation has increasing grown in most organizations and companies thus
the need for it in AVRACK Real Estate Agents and Brokers. Other organizations which
have adopted this modern technology include; hotels, vehicle managements and tours and
travel agencies.
2.4.1 Questionnaires
prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are
often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case. The
large group of people so as to gather data from them. It is mainly used when a group of
Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap.
do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and
often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. However. suc~i
fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for
For the lower cadre level the researcher will use questionnaires based on the time and
money available, this method is cheaper and saves time and also gives honest answers.
2.4.2 Interviews
research. The aim of this approach is to ensure that each interviewee is presented with
exactly the same questions in the same order. This ensures that answers can be reliably
aggregated and that comparisons can be made with conlidence between sample subgroups
Structured interviews are a means of collecting data for statistical surveys. In this case the
Interviewers read the questions exactly as they appear on the survey questionnaire. The
choice of answers to the questions is often fixed (close-ended) in advance, though open-
A structured interview also standardizes the order in which questions are asked of survey
respondents. so the questions are always answered within the same context. This is
important for minimizing the impact of context effects, where the answers given to a
survey question can depend on the nature of preceding questions. Though context effects
can never be avoided, it is often desirable to hold them constant across all respondents.
Interviews are a fact finding method where the interviewer interacts with the interviewee
The researcher will use exploratory approach and interview in depth the key managers
closely connected with the customer care and reservation management. This is the best
because it’s rich in information accuracy compared to questionnaires. though it’s very
2.43 Observation
It’s a method of data collection where the researcher goes to the organization and
observes what happens. It gives first hand information about how activities are carried
out. Its time consuming because you have to watch and see before you understand and it
may be so many times. Its one limitation is that people do not like to be observed and
It’s a fact finding method where you collect copies of blank and completed documents
during data collection. They contain the operations that take place in the organization.
information used by people in their work, input and output from the processes they carry
out and also determine statistics analysis of documents in order to find out patterns of
The chosen softv are methodology for the development of the information system shall be
the classical S>stem l)evelopment Life cycle (SDLC’,. it is a step by step development
procedure as depicted by (Ian Soinmerville. 2001). 1 his is also known as the waterfall
(Aaronso&s, 2002). the SDLC breaks up the s’:ps f developing software into
visually depicted as being separate. the whole process of software development is highly
dependent on the other phases of the SDLC. The process of software development can be
summarized as follows:
L Need
Planning
N \__
Analysis
~gn
Implementation
Need Stage
The need for a new system is determined by the inadequacies of the existing which, as
have been determined by the statement of the problem stage. the needs of the system
arose from failures of the current system such as data redundancy and lack of data
Planning Stage
Planning of the system occurs after identification of the value of having an efficient
information system. It involves determining the requirements of both the user and the
system and noting the functions the system is expected to accomplish after it has been
developed.
The analysis phase serves to determine what shall the system need for its inception as
well as how viable is the prospect of developing the new system. This accomplished by
carrying out a cost benefit analysis of the proposed information system. This phase is
aimed at ensuring the new system shall meet its objective and that of the organization
considering its implementation shall benefit from the desired system. It will also
Design Stage
After the analysis phase comes the design of the system which covers the development of
the system in depth. It is here that all aspects of the program shall be determined. Design
of the structure of the database, the user interfaces, input forms, reports and the tables is
done here. The values to be held by the tables are stated. This is followed by the
Implementation of the developed software program is the sequel to the design phase. It
involves transformation of planned ideas into work and putting into use of the developed
system. Integration amounts to assembi ing the application from the set of components
that were developed and tested separately. The real estate management system shall
conform to the following hierarchical structure that shall oversee the collection of
System maintenance is the set of activities that are performed after the system is
maintenance), and improving, changing or adding reatures and qualities to the software
(perfective maintenance).
Retirement Stage
Retirement stage involves ending the process of system development life cycle. After the
JAD centers on a structured workshop session and brings together business area people
project and improves the quality of the final product by focusing on top front position of
Prototyping
Turban, decision support systems and intelligent systems argue that prototyping is a
process of building a quick and dirty version of the systems. It aims at building a system
in a series of short steps with immediate feedback from the users to ensure that
development is preceding correctly longest folh\\ by design, the analysis and planning
least.
Lack of knowledge about the application area can lead to delays in completion of the
project. There is need to read and understand the application area from relevant sources.
Design good questionnaire and interview questh ~ can be under estimated. Ample time
It is software that enables users define, create and maintain databases and also provides
controlled access to database. This system will have database in which all the data
captured online can be stored and later retrieved from the agency. A database is a shared
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is software that manages computer resources and provides
processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and
internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the system. An operating
system performs basic tasks such as controlling and allocating memory, prioritizing
system requests, controlling input and output devices, facilitating computer networking
Solaris. Windows is most popular on desktops while Linux is most popular in server
environments. Linux, Mac OS X and MS Windows all have server and personal variants.
With the exception of Microsoft Windows, the designs of each ol earlier mentioned OSs
were inspued by, or directly inherited from, the UNIX operating system. UNIX was
developed at Bell Labs beginning in the late 1960s and spav~ncd the development of
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/operating systems ).
Browsers
A browser is an apelication program that provides a way to look at and interact with all
the information on the WWW. Technically, a web browser is a client prouram that uses
hypertext transfer protocol (11 TT P) to make requests o ~ web servers throughout the
Internet on behalf ol the browser user (CMC, 2001). The researcher will use windows
Design Tools
For a user to use this application online there must be an interface which he should be
working in. Will rise Macromedia dream weaver to create the WebPages, this software is
very easy to use and also its very flexible because you can use it create different
interfaces, and also we have experience in the use of this software and that makes us to
prefer using it, According to Susanna, 2004, PHP is a loosely coupled programming
Hardware
Hardware here we will classify it as a functional specification that the computers using
Hardware Specification
RAM (memory) 1 GB
Monitors 1 7” TFT
methodology, design techniques and development tools with the help from various
literature books and finally come up with an efficient and effective system. This could he
with the help of the literature review introduction, scope, theoretical review, data
collection methods, appl ication area, development methodology and development tools.
METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives the details of the project design, methods, instruments, data collection
and analysis and presentation, development tools, operating systems, feasibility analysis,
project plan and schedule and risk assessment. It mentions the project limitations and was
In the database design, MySQL (database management), PHP for windows was used to
design the tables, forms and relationships between the tables and the creation of reports.
Avrack has different units; we have the maintenance, finance and management
departments. For them to be well efficient there must tenants and landlord to attend to and
this can only be possible if the real estate management system is efficient. The offices are
organized in three parts; the top managers, operation managers and the staff
A number of stakeholders were approached and their systems studied to give an insight of
how each sub-system functions to come up with a problem definition. The following
departments’ staff was studied sales, marketing, finance and management, others to be
studied includes current and prospective tenants, landlords and also property buyers.
A sample of the population to be studied was the following: marketing 10, sales 8,
finance 5, management 5, current tenants 20, prospective tenants 10, current landlord 10,
This method was very useful especially where the required information was not easily
obtained due to restrictions imposed on the obtaining of such information that was
3.6.1 Observations
Observation involved visiting the offices where the information was kept and take note of
what was going on and then come up with conclusion. Observation included where the
researchers went and pick bits of information they required. By observing this pattern, it
was possible to define from the information they picked their role and possibly come-up
This involved physical contact with direct questions posed to the people being
investigated and therefore identifying requirements and gathering ideas and opinions, The
interviews were mainly structured type with specific questions asked. This was suitable
Our research was also included examining and analyzing invoices, customer forms.
receipts, magazines, reports and journals and also the financial statements.
This proved to be a useful fact finding technique to research the application and problem.
Documents such as journals, magazines, lecture notes, reference hooks and the internet
including user groups and bulletin boards provided good sources of relevant information.
3.6.4 Questionnaires
This method involved written questions sent to the targeted group to acquire information
that may not be obtained from the above research methods. It proved to be useful as it
provided ample time for the respondents to collect relevant information and send the
The primary data was to be obtained from customers and staff of the real estate
allocation task in process while secondary data was collected from the books filled by
staff during the process of reservation, operating procedure manuals and some specific
internet search
REQUIREMENTS
The data collected was to be checked, coded and edited, table were to be drawn and data
The queries was to be formulated, all the schematic representation of the DB was to be
After gathering and analyzing the information, we designed a new system that overcame
the problems highlighted in the statement of the problem since the proposal was for a data
This was how the electronic form on the website looked like:
The tables
Figure 3. 1 orms
For the database containing all the information about the real estate management system
> It provided criteria of a customized application that would meet specific needs,
We would prefer it, because it was suitable for web application performance and
PHP
> Allows you to test your codes as you work/write them out,
Windows vista
This is software that controls the execution of programs and that provides services such as
resource location. scheduling. input& output tools and data maI~agement (William 2003)
o Reliability, able to controls operation of mysqi for a long time without failure.
o Compatibility, it integrates well with MYSQL & PHP which effect the operation
of the mysqi
This refers to a program that allows a person to browse the www by navigating from site
There are many types: Mosaic (Netscape), Opera, Windows Explorer, Mozilla Firefox
The researcher used internet explorer 8. which was compatible with other browsers. The
main reason being its platform independent, that is, it interprets data regardless of the type
of computer the document was created from or being sent from and to. (Barbara et al,
2000)
Before hand we had to go back to chapter one and analyze the project statement of
objectives, and produce a document that emphasizes the need for the new system. its’
This tackled the project, what it was to do, how it was to function, its’ output value visa
The first stage that takes place in this methodology is the feasibility study. The main
objective of the fl~asibi1ity stud~ was to establish whether the information system can
were to establish the companys case for the information system and it enabled us, who
are the developers of the system to select from a range of l~asibility options. The major
deliverables at this stage are current physical datafiow model, requirements catalogues
There are different types of feasibility analyses that we carried out. These were:
tends to check if the developers have the technical expertise to design and build this
solution. The hardware, software and other components to be used for development of
this system by use of PHP for the front end and MySQL for the database.
o Operational feasibility: This tends to find out if the solution fulfills the users’
requirements; it also checks if the system will fit into the operations of the company; it
finds out how the solution will change the users’ work environment and how do users
Cost effectiveness of a project or solution takes into account costs and benefits. Thus it is
called cost benefit analysis. Costs can be divided into development costs, (one-time costs
to set up a system) and operating costs (ongoing costs after system has been placed in
operation). Operating costs are either fixed (same or nearly the same every month,
quarter, year, etc.) or variable (vary in proportion to some usage factor - i.e. production
costs, hourly workers wages. supplies, etc).Beneflts can he divided into tangible benefits
(those that are easily quantified - change in savings for the comoany after the system is
implemented) and intangible benefits (those which are almost impossible to quantifiv -
This will underline each activity to be taken and assign each activity its time frame as
System. specification T
Designing —l
Unit testing
Documentation.
System testing.
File conversion
Training
0 4 8 13 24
Duration (weeks)
This was to identify any risk that would probably occur and hon much they would affect
i. I evel of corporation from the top management related to researcher( level of his
n orks’ importance>
ii. lack of knowledge on the technological skills needed to design and implement the
S\ stem.
questionnaires.
Thus the researcher will take due preparation on the technical skills.
In all, this chapter should be the most intriguing part of all design phases: it has clearly
shown the use of techniques and tools of designing and developing the new system for
It has given a glimpse to the working of the new system by showing the relation through
use of designed forms reports and the standardized forms for interface interaction of the
system to be.
4.0 Introduction
This chapter deals with the conceptual, logical and physical design of the online property
management system. It deals with the preliminary design then the detailed design. It is
well described with diagrams which will facilitate the users’ understanding of the new
Management
a Employees
• current Tenants
Prospective Tenants
for the creation of the new system since 5 members of the management out of 6 members,
10 members of the employee fraternity out of 13 members, 20 current tenants out of 30,
20 prospective tenants out of 25. So it was wise to develop the system because it would
Tv
Radio
Billboards
Newspaper
internet
Most of our respondents on the issue regarding advertisement they favored internet as the
media of advertisement since it has a wide coverage of the masses. Thus the system
developed catered for the need of creating a system that will be widely used via the
internet.
hardware and the software architecture, components, modules and data for a system to
techniques united by regulated interaction to form an organized whole. In other words this
chapter describes the hardware and the software which will be used to develop the
system.
This phase follows the analysis phase. After the analysis phase has been completed
successfully, this phase uses the information already obtained in system analysis and it
produces a design specification for the new system by building its representation. It
normally involves two broad stages namely; logical design or physical design. At this
stage the interaction between users and the developers is key to a successful system which
will meet the required information requirements determined by the system analysis.
4.3.1 DBMS
It is specialized computer software available from computer vendors that is used to create
access, control and manage the database. The core of DBMS is often called database
engine. The engine responds to specific commands to create database structures and then
A system analyst designs the structure of the data in terms of record. fields contained in
They host internet and intranet websites. Ehey communicate with fat and thin clients by
XML). Some web servers are specificall) designed to host c-commerce applications such
A new computerized online property management system was developed with the
capability of storing a vast piece of data information. The main difference between the
old system and new system is that data capturing and processing is computerized and that
computers are used instead of papers or hooks. It requires less storage space, it is also
much more efficient since it can generate results within minimum time and with minimal
flaws.
In this section each process is explained precisely including inputs, conditions /logic
outputs and data stores associated with each process. The functionality of the new system
4.4.1 Input
into the computer system using a keyboard by just t~ ping it. Required details about a
given activity like the filling in details of a new tenant. landlord or any payment done at
this stage.
Data manipulation and processing is in different forms for example updating and editinu
to make it legible to the admission of nc\\ tenant or a new landlord and users. Data is
changed into information and saved awaiting retrieval for the purpose of generating
Looking at storage, data is automatically stored on the hard disk. Backups are regularly
created to some other external disks to avoid loss ol data like backup tapes. It can be
updated or edited and these changes are stored into the system. Data can also be
4.4.3 Output
Data processed into information is output inform of reports generated from the database
and presented to the management for evaluation lbr decision making. Specific data can
also be output depending on the request given for example the number of tenants in a
certain building.
This is concerned with the conversion of logical record structures to a data model
supported by data base management system identifLing the entities and their matching
Transforms the logical design material into real computer work by designing the
Under physical database design the following are to he accomplished: designing database
space requirements, designing user views. designing security mechanism. considering the
The follo\\ing are the data stores which are the back end of the database; they are tables
date
date
method
name name
location location
purpose purpose
charges charges
length length
width ~ width
height ~ height
name
agreement
needed
charges
— Nation~tlity
National i~~t
payment method
method
picture
agreement
L~
These are Diagrams that are used to model the flow and transformation of data through a
system
Level 0 DFD summarizes the flow of data from the user’s point of view. processing done
4.6.1 Level 0
User aputs
person~~
Data
Display Information
4.6.3 Level 1
This describes in details the flow of data right from the data entry point, processing.
storage through to the reports its much detailed as compared to the Level 0 DF[) shown
above
OS! ‘~\\ \tt \1t~ \!tON(it- ~t!\ \~ SVOI ‘~t~\\ t-~tE-’J ~YS,t~5t 4()
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homepage~php
YES
Figure 4. 5 flowchart
4.7 IMPLEMENTATION
The website was technica1l~ pu up using muerornedia Dreamweaver and the database
Macromedia Dreamweaver is a truly superb piece of software; it enables rapid and easy
for development of web applications. It is a great step forward because it incorporates the
server-side development tools plus some new features. such as built-in support for PHP
This was preferred because the website was dynamic and the built in support for PHP
which makes it a reality to connect to the database and also retrieve the data stored in the
DB.
This is a computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients
(user agents such as web browsers), and serving them HTTP responses along with
optional data contents, which usually are web pages such as HTML documents and linked
objects.
It was used because it’s an open source which is easier to get and it can also handle large
amount of requests without using a lot of system resources. It also has loaded extensions
1-laying finished the system design. the researcher went on to system testing,
implementation and evaluation in which overview of the entire system was done. It
combines all concepts that led to the de\cloprnent of the HTML code.
The system was used experimentally to make sure that the system does not fail. To ensure
that the system runs according to its specifications, special data was used for processing
Unit testing is a software verification and validation method where the programmer gains
confidence that individual units of source code are fit for use. A unit is the smallest
unit is a class, which may belong to a base/super class, abstract class or derived/child
class.
The goal of unit testing was to isolate each part of the program and show that the
individual parts were correct. A unit test provided a strict, written contract that the piece
Integration testing (sometimes called Integration and Testing. abbreviated ‘I&T’) is the
activity of software testing in which individual software modules are combined and tested
as a group. It occurs after unit testing and before system testing. Integration testing takes
as its input modules that have been unit tested, groups them in larger aggregates, applies
tests defined in an integration test plan to those aggregates. and delivers as its output the
The purpose of carrying out integration testing was to verify tyinctional. performance and
reliahibty requirements placed on major design items. Ihese design items’, i.e.
testing. success and error cases being simulated via appropriate parameter and data inputs.
system to evaluate the system’s compliance with its specified requirements, System
testing falls within the scope of black box testing, and as such, should require no
System testing was performed on the entire system in the context of a Functional
is an investigatory testing phase, where the focus was to have almost a destructive attitude
and tests not only the design, hut also the behavior and even the believed expectations of
This is the instruction manual that was designed to provide information to those
responsible for operating and using the new system. It was also used in user training for
guidelines.
This is the first page a user will visit. It is also known as the Home Page. It also gives
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This is the navigational page for the administrator of the system after
login.
This page is used by the users of the system to navigate through the
system.
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On this page visitors to the online system view properties for rent.
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This chapter covered analysis of the data collected about the system, design of the system
which included the logical and physical design of the system showing clearly the
preliminary system and the detailed system. Then it shows the implementation of the
system.
5,0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers discussion of ~hat has been done throughout the project. also
recommendations, cone lusion and future works.
5~ IDISCUSSION
The aim of developing the system was to enable prospective tenants to view properties
online and be able to book for rooms; also it was aimed at landlords being able to access
their details online and the management being able to conduct their services online. All
the aims were achieved by following the selected development process and development
tools.
The Real estate management system is recommended for implementation and updating
should be done at as the need arises since the organization experience changes in terms
MYSQ[. has been used thus the functionality of the whole system has been affected
because languages give a lot of operational flexibility such that any other orgamsation can
take the same system. edit it and use it for their own institution.
The system developed can be considered to have achieved most of the objectives that
were set out as stated in the first chapter. [he main objective was to come up with a
system that will make the management of properties process in Avrack easier because the
former system was done manually and wasted resources. The online sytem has improved
the way of dealing with the tenants and landlord records because they are stored in the
On designing the online real estate management system the following activities were
done:
1) A study of the management in the Avrack Real Estate Agent and Brokers offices
in Nairobi
Thus we can conclude that the system is reliable, productive and dependable.
As the developers of the real estate management system we would recommend future
developers during the evolution of th~ system to cover some fields that were not covered
in the development of the system suco as inclusion of online electronic payment and use
of online maps such as Google maps to direct prospective tenants to directions of their
new homes
2. Clifton. H.D. (2000). Business Information Sistems. Sixth Edition. Sutcliffe. Alistair:
5. John Q. Walker and Jeffrey T. Hicks, Chapter One: Building a Business Case for
7. Lynda Weinnmann and William Weinnmann (1998). Creative HTML Design, New
Riders Publishing
10. Fhomas A. Powell (1999). iJie complete Re/crence f/JAIL. Second Edition, McGra\\
liii! companies.
Publishing Company.
12. Barbara Kimenyi & Norman Gates 2000 Learning PHP and MySOL
13. Capron Whitney & Johnson mundia 2002 Complete E( ommerce Book Design Build
14. Christopher Schmitt, Mark Trammell, Ethan Marcotte. I)unstan Orchard and Todd
Dorniney. 2005 Pro/bssional CSS Cascading Style Sheets for 14 L’h Design
16. I)avid powers, 2006 PHP Dynamic web design made easy
17. Gerald V. Post (2002). Database Management Systems Designing and Building
18. lan Sommerville (2001). Software Engineering 6th Edition: Pearson Education Asia. -
19. Jeffrey I. Whittin, Lonnie. D Bentley, Kevin C Dittman. System Analysis and Design
5th Edition
20. Jon Duckett. 2005 Accessible XFITIvIL and C~SS Web Sites Problem - Design —
Solution
21. Joshua Jewett. CIO. Family Dollar Stores Inc 2001 Principles of property
22. lorne Wallace. President.1989 Database system Management. 5th edition pg413-435
23. Richard V~ agner. 2006 Web design be/öre and a/icr niakcovers
25. 1 urbrnan \aronson~s. 2002 The Real Business of Web lk’sign 1st edition pg 2 1-23.
26. ~usanna davidsen and everyl Yankee. 2004 1C~hsiie dL sign with the patron in mind
27. ~
QUESTIONNAIRES
COMPANY QUESTIONNAIRES
Study questionnaires for the senior management, staff, tenants and landlords of
AVRACK Real Estate /\gents & Brokers Nairobi, Kenya. Please fill the questionnaire
with the experience and information you have on real estate management.
1. Respondent
4. Do you think the pricing of same services by your competitors affects the way the
e) Internet.
op
6. With the creation of online real estate management system do you think it will
Yes No
7. If no why?
8. Does your current system offer fast retrieval of information when required? And
collections?
9. Generally how vvould you rate the current system performance in relation to data
10. How would you rate your current real estate information keeping system and what
Yes No
Yes No
13. If No which management specialists do you turn to (real estate agencies)? Give
15. Which is the major conflict you experience with he use of the agencies?
16. Do you think the agencies use the same ideas to meet the demands of different
prope~ies? Yes No
Sample Code
<?php
Suser$ POST[”username”l:
Spassword$ POST[”password”j;
Sserver locaihost”;
$username’root’:
$pass
failed” mysqlerrorQ);
Squery- SELLCT
Jelse{
if($priviledge==’O’)
echo <script>
</script>:
echo ‘<script>
~/script>’:
echo ‘<script>
windov~ location—”adimin.php?username=’.$user. “;
</script ~:
}
else if($priviledge “4)(
echo ‘<script>
</script >‘:
}
else{
setcookie( user’.Susername,timeQ+6O*6O~”/L_va1uationI”):
echo ‘~script>
K/script
}
}
}
Closing connection
mysqlclose($con):
?>
<?php
echo $POST[’firstname’I~’<br~<br>”:
echo “ADDRESS:
echo “BLOCKS
echo S POST[’blocks’].”<br><br>”:
echo “UNITS
echo S POST[’cost_price’] .
echo “PICTURE : “;
echo S POST[’picture’] .
echo “TAX :
I/getting f~rom inputs and storing those inputs into the variables
$Inamc SPOST[’lastname’];
$blocks~ S POST[’blocks’];
$units $ POST[’units’]:
I/connection string
$server=”localhost”;
$username=”root”:
$pass=~”;
failed” .mysqlerrorQ):
echo “connected”;
mysqi select db($db~$con) or die( “the database selection has failed” .rnysql crror()):
$sql~”insert into
mysqlquery(Ssql) or die( “the sql quer~ has fai led<br>” rn~ sql error(~));
I/closing connection
mysqlclose($ con);
if($FILES[”file”][”error”J > 0)
{
echo “Return Code: “ $ FILES[”flle”l[”enor”] “<br I>’;
}
else
{
if (file exists(”upload “ S Fl LES [ “tile”] [“name” 1))
“upload!” $FILES[’file”][”narne”]);
.
<?php
$server=”localhost”;
$username=”root”;
if( ~conn)
}
m\ sql select dh(”real estate manager’ .$conn):
echo”<center><table border=’l’>
<tr>
<th>Landlord Account</th>
th>First Name</th>
<th>Address</th>
th>Home Phone</th>
</tr>”:
echo “~tr>”:
Screenshots
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