Fundamentals of Software Development Assignment - Best Real Estate Agency

1. System background

Best Real Estate Agency is an all-Australian, family business and has been since the beginning. It is owned and managed by two generations of the same family. Our agents are experienced local property experts who know the local property market, and know and love their community. It's our local expertise and our way of dealing with clients that brings people back to Best Real Estate Agency. We're simply the experts in the art of real estate. When you choose Best Real Estate Agency Australia, you're not just choosing one agent. You're choosing a network of thousands, all working together to connect buyers with sellers.

2. Vision statements

Best Real Estate Agency CEO

I expect that this system will allow us to provide an exemplary level of service. We are in the very competitive real estate advertising market and so it is imperative that we are able to satisfy our clients' needs, quickly and efficiently. The system must be fully functional within the next 14 weeks in order to be ready for the next season.

Chief Financial Officer

We have a strict budget for this system and it is vital that there be no cost overruns. I will need a development cost plan showing the expected rate of expenditure over the next 14 weeks so that I can plan the required fund drawdowns from the line of credit we have established with our bank.

Real Estate Editor

I am the editor for the Real Estate section of our newspaper and will be responsible for managing the operation of the website once completed. I will need to access the system at any time and see up-to-the-minute details of the latest advertisements and monetary turnover. I will also need access to review and edit any advertisement that may not comply with our policies.

The system needs to be 100% reliable and secure. I need to know what provisions you are going to make to ensure this.

We will employ a small but competent staff. We expect that only minimal training on the system will be required. In order to ensure that they work effectively, your system must be user friendly, intuitive and fast. We cannot afford to inconvenience customers by having them wait too long for their account to be finalised and the bill to be printed.

3. System description

Best Real Estate Agency is a trusted real estate agency that can help you to navigate the process of buying residential as well as commercial property. It helps customers through every stage of the buying process, including finding a property within price range, organizing finance and conveyance in some cases. The agency also helps in planning the process of selling customers' property from start to finish. The first step in the sales process is to have customer's property assessed and this is carried out as part of no-obligation comprehensive appraisal service. This will help customers to determine a selling price for their property based on the condition of their home, the area where it is located, local price movements and other market factors. Next, the customer wants to reach the widest range of prospective buyers possible. The agency's agent can also help to determine the best way to sell property and arrange inspections and open home events to show it off at its best.

The agency can also help customers through every stage of the buying process, including finding a property within customer's price range, organizing finance and conveyance in some cases. The agency can also provide finance or home loan at a very competitive rate. It can help to find the loan that best suits customer's circumstances and arrange pre-approval so customer can confidently go property hunting. Once agency knows customer needs and financial situation, it will take buyer through the available options to perhaps save on interest and fees. The Best Agency provides conveyance and settlement teams that can assist the process of preparing documentation for property settlements. The service focuses on making the sale or purchase transaction a pleasurable experience rather than a stressful one. It helps in bringing in support and assistance from an expert or solicitor familiar with legal documents and legislation that can make the process easier.

The agency is very helpful to renters who are looking for a suitable property to rent. The renters should be able search their rental property online or should find about rental properties that meet their needs from agency's office. Once the renter has made his/her choice, he/she can quickly and easily complete the application and pay a deposit - usually equivalent to two weeks' rent, although this can vary from landlord to landlord. As soon as the renter's application has been approved, he/she will be able to prepare for move. On the day the renter signs the lease and will be expected to pay bond, as well as first rent payment.

Anyone should be able to use the Agency's website to search for properties for buy/sale or rent. The search feature should be easy to use, allowing the user to search by state, then by suburb, and then by property details consisting of the price range, type of property (house, apartment, studio or terrace), number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms and number of parking spaces. A search will result in a list of matching properties, showing a brief summary of each property (price, location, and a small part of the description). If the user clicks on a property from the search results, a full page is displayed for that property. The details shown on this page depend on whether the user searched for a property for rent or sale. In both cases, the following details are shown: price, property type, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and parking spaces, a description, and the advertiser's contact name and phone number. Additionally, in the case of a rental property, the bond should be displayed.

The customer should also be able to use the agency's website to advertise properties for sale or rent. A first time advertiser will need to register for an account. An account name and password must be chosen, and a contact email address and phone number supplied. Account names must contain alpha-numeric characters only. Before submitting these details, the user must read and agree to our advertisement policies. After agreeing and submitting these details, the user will be sent an email containing a link which the user must click on to confirm his/her email address.

Once the email address is confirmed, the account registration is finalised. A registered advertiser can login to the website and view a list of his/her currently running advertisements, which should display similarly to the visitor search results page. An advertiser can then either edit an existing advertisement in this list or add a new advertisement to this list. New advertisements cost $50 and will run for 2 weeks. In either case, the user is presented with a set of editable text fields representing all of the property details, and a button allowing the user to submit these details. If the submitted details were ok, then the website may need to ask for a credit card number and expiration date for billing purposes in the case that this is a "new" ad. Upon submitting the credit details, the credit provider will be contacted automatically and the $50 will be charged. If everything was ok, the new or modified advertisement will be published. The advertiser may remain logged into the system or may log out.

The agency's administrator can login and view statistics covering the monetary turnover and number of new advertisements published over the past hour, day, week, month or year. An administrator can view all parts of the website that a normal visitor can view, but will also see an additional option on the property details page, allowing the administrator to edit or delete that advertisement.

4. Deadlines and deliverables

The items to hand in, the date to hand them in, and the marks for each part, are shown below. The estimated workload for all parts, for each person on the team, is about 36-54 hours. The actual workload may vary by a factor of three due to individual variation.

4.1 Use Case Model (Objectives 1 to 6)

Identify all the use cases mentioned in the system description and draw a use case diagram, with all use case relationships. It has an expected workload of 8 hours for each group member. There can be approximately 10-20 use cases selected from this system description.

4.2 Use Case Descriptions (Objectives 1 to 6)

Describe 3 use cases using the format described in the lecture notes, showing all details for each use case; describe any included or extended tasks that are required by the stated use cases. It has an expected workload of 3-4 hours for each group member. Each use case should require at most 3 pages of text, and some may take less than one page.

4.3 Class Diagram (Objectives 1 to 6)

Design a design class diagram which shows, for each class in the system, the class name and attributes, plus the class associations, multiplicities and operations. Include any inheritance, composition or aggregation relations. It has an expected workload of 15 hours for each group member.

4.4 Sequence Diagram (Objectives 1 to 6)

Draw 3 sequence diagram which show all messages (method calls) between classes, including any parameters, and any value returned from a method call. It shows object selection, iteration, and object

4.5 Java Code (Objectives 1 to 6)

Write Java code for 3 methods of any one class or different classes in the class diagram. It has an expected workload of 10 hours for each group member.

4.6 Connection to Database (Objectives 1 to 6)

Connect one class or entity to MySQL database. Apply or show CRUD operations on one or two objects. It has an expected workload of 5 hour for each group member.

4.7 User Interface Design (Objectives 1 to 6)

Each group has to design user interface for three methods' data input and output. The design consists of a set of screen layouts that define the data input to and displayed on each screen. It has an expected workload of 5 hour for each group member.

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar