Question

The tablet-based menu app aims to replace the conventional menu system. The customers will be able to order meal on tablets. The app will provide the customer with the complete menu offered by the restaurant/hotel. The customers can check description of the menu item and check ratings given by previous customers. The app will also show a large image for better knowledge of the dish, and the cost of the item. The app will also allow the customer to pay by the credit card.

a) Identify all the possible use cases and develop at least 2 of them.

Answer 1

The following figure demonstrates the basic architecture of our system. Understanding the other intricacies and details of the system will become a lot easier if one goes through this figure, before diving into the rest of it. The system will consist of the following main components: The backend, which is made up of the web server and the database, and the frontends that include both the patron frontend (delivered as a native mobile application) and the administration or the kitchen frontend (delivered as a web application). This system is based on the very popular Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. MVC is most commonly used in websites, very popular and tried and tested. None of the frontends directly “talk” to the database. They instead rely on REST ful web services that can be used to perform CRUD operations on the database.

The most important components of this system are the database and the patron frontends or the tablet applications. Providing value to both the business and its patron is an important objective, but we believe that one follows the other. Following that belief, the customer is given a whole lot of importance. The following demonstrates the flow of our tablet application the patron will be presented with a tablet, running the Android OS. This tablet will be synchronized with the database running on our centralized cloud powered servers.The menu data, upon synchronization, is stored on locally on the tablets so that the user, i.e. patron, need not wait for the menu to be downloaded from the servers. This will allow faster access to the menu. The user can then browse the menu however they want to, sorting the items on various dimensions like price, popularity, ratings, etc. The user can also click through to view more information about any item like nutritional information, ingredients, trivia and any other content that the restaurant administration may feel like including. The user can also view personalized recommendations for items that they may like. This is one of the most important aspects of our system that not only enhances the customer experience but can also help increase revenue for the business. While browsing through the menu, the customer may add items to his/her order. This process is commonly known as “building the order”. After the order is built and read, the user may go ahead and place the order. The staff will automatically and almost instantly be notified about the new order so that they can act on it. If the establishment allows, the user may even track the status of their order so that the customer may know when to expect their food and drinks to land up on their table.