Property Management System
1 CPSC 662
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Project Overview 2
1.2. Problem Statement 2
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1. Study of Existing System 3
2.2. Proposed System 3
3. REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
3.1 Functional Requirement Analysis 4
3.2 Non Functional Requirement Analysis 4
3.3 Hardware & Software Interfaces. 5
3.3.1 Hardware Interfaces 5
3.3.2 Software Interfaces 5
3.4 Communication Interfaces 5
4. PROJECT DESIGN
4.1 Entity Relationship Diagram 6
4.2 Extended Entity Relationship Diagram 7
4.3 Relational Model 8
5. IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
5.1 Output Screens
6. TESTING
6.1 Test Cases
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW
Property Management System is a Web Application which is mainly designed for
students of Clemson University who are looking for off-campus accommodation. The
primary problem that students face while doing so is the sheer amount of information
which is available on a variety of websites that is at their disposal. It is deemed to
overwhelm them.
Our application provides a one stop solution to this problem by combining all sites
data on a single platform and constricting the search criteria to those that people look
for. Also, the search results are designed to be given to the user in such a way so that
all the records can be filtered and only the desired set of listings can be obtained.
A user can also register if he/she has rooms to rent. Their contact information is
displayed with the registered listing when viewed.
Other than a user, a property manager can also register and post listings on the
website. This enables direct involvement of the property management of the website
which simplifies the renting process for a student.
The application is run on the local server using Apache Tomcat 7. The database is
accessed using MySQL.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Everybody needs a place to live whilst studying which is closer to their University.
On-campus housing is limited and expensive. So, some students, mostly
internationals, choose to live off-campus. These students, who usually do not have
any prior knowledge about life in their new University, will be lost trying to look for a
place to live.
There are a lot of property management websites, but each property management has
a different website. For example, Craigslist focuses on user-based listings, where an
individual advertises his listing, whereas Foothills Property Management has a
website that displays the apartments that are managed by them. There is no single
website which integrates both these functionalities. There is no single place where a
student can compare the location, rent and how far the place is from the university on
a single platform. Instead, the student needs to go through various websites to choose
their apartment of liking. This predicament is resolved on our website. Our project
intends to create a single website that gives a novice student every detail needed that
would make the process of searching for accommodation less tiresome.
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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 STUDY OF EXISTING SYSTEM
The most popularly used property management website is Clemson off Campus
Housing. It displays the housing available near the University with the Property
Management Company details. This website has some deficits which are as follows:
Students searching for rooms have to go through a great deal of stress before
actually coming in contact with the Property Management Company.
The search criteria are ambiguous.
The listings are also limited since there is almost no direct involvement of the
property management.
Hence, the students are confined to contacting the property management as the only
means of getting even the common details of the rooms, like utilities or furnished. The
property management companies have to be contacted for every small detail, which
can be cumbersome for both the parties. Currently, no other website offers a
comprehensive listing of available rentals in and around Clemson (i.e. Property
Management listings and individual listings posted by Users).
2.2 PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system is designed to overcome the outdated listings and search
problems, as experienced in the previous system .Our database system has a complete
listing of all the rentals which includes the listings of the respective property
management companies along with the individual listings posted by tenants (if they
have a room to rent in the apartment or so on). The payment methods are also
mentioned so that the students wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of contacting
the property management company repeatedly over finance. The requirement of SSN
associated with most searches is eliminated by making it non mandatory; so as to help
International students.
Our property management system involves three types of users:
Administrators responsible for the maintenance and moderation of listing entries
on the website.
The User, usually the student, is given specific privileges. A Registered user can
post /edit their own listings or view all listings. An unregistered user can only
view the listings.
The Property manager acts as the third party in this system. They are given special
privileges where they can add their respective listings, edit the lease start and end
date and edit all information for their listing.
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These above features allow the database to be updated regularly and up to date with
listings. This enables the students to immediately view/register for a listing when it is
available. These above features are not present in the existing system.
CHAPTER 3
REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
3.1 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
This section gives a list of the functional requirements applicable to the Property
management system.
Interface Requirements:
Jakob Neilsen’s rules for good User Interface states that a design is deemed good if
the user is required to remember as little as possible. Apart from recalling the
registration ID and password (if the user is a registered user or admin or a property
manager), user should not need to remember anything else. The GUI chosen should
be simple and effective such that any user will be able to navigate his way through the
application easily. User should not have to invest any brain power in operating the
system.
Input Requirements:
The input requirements states what data can be entered into the system and by whom.
The Administrator has the privilege of entering and deleting listings. Also,
administrator is responsible for the authorization of the users. The users and the
property managers are allowed to register on the website .The unregistered users are
allowed to view only the listings and cannot enter a listing or modify one.
The listings can be posted by the registered user and the property managers. The
property managers are given more privileges like they can edit the start and end lease
date whenever possible and the mode of contact.
The registered users are given privileges where they can upload a listing to the
website giving specific mandatory information about the listing. They can edit or
modify that particular listing at any time .They can also specify whether a particular
room in an apartment is empty, number of beds / bathrooms, how far is the place from
the university, what is the rent for the place, etc.
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3.2 NON FUCNTIONAL REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
Usability and accessibility
It is the responsibility of the administrator to ensure that the records in the database
are updated. When the end of the lease is near, he has to make sure if the tenants are
going to continue the lease, it has to be reflected in the website. There is nothing more
frustrating to the user than finding wrong information. This happens all the time with
property management websites. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the administrator
to ensure that this does not happen by ensuring that only available listings are
displayed at any particular time.
The application is designed in such a way that any interested party will be able to get
the information they want, but not so much so as to compromise the integrity of the
second party. A user will be able to simply view the listings available and not do
anything else unless the listings are posted by them.
Security Requirements
The administrator is responsible for the user’s accessibility into the database.
Password verification is used to ensure that there is no manipulation of the system.
3.3 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE INTERFACES:
3.3.1 Hardware Interfaces:
Hardware Interfaces Server Side:
Operating System: Linux 14.04
Processor: Pentium 3.0 GHz or higher
RAM: 256 Mb or more
Hard Drive: 8 GB or more
Client side:
Operating System: Windows XP or above, MAC or UNIX.
Processor: Pentium III or 2.0 GHz or higher.
RAM: 256 Mb or more
3.3.2 Software Interfaces:
Database:
MySQL
Application:
JSP (Java Server Pages)
HTML
CSS
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Server
Apache Tomcat 7
3 .4 Communication Requirements
Client (customer) on Internet will be using HTTP/HTTPS protocol.
Client (system user) on Internet will be using HTTP/HTTPS protocol.
CHAPTER 4
PROJECT DESIGN
4.1 Entity Relationship Diagram:
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4.2Extended Entity Relationship Diagram:
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4.3 Relational Data Model:
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OUTPUT AND TEST SCREENS
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CONCLUSION
Thus the system implemented is found to be more robust and updated over its
predecessors.Eventhough this is a significant improvement,there is also room for more
improvement such as implementing more security features and also making the website
premium for certain users for certain privileges.This system can actually be implemented for
a test run if given a chance.