I # C * CELLPHONE SHOPPER Project Proposal Graham Hunter | Marc Pelteret | Tshifhiwa Ramuhaheli Supervisor: Hussein Suleman 11 May 2007

I # C * Cellphone Shopper2 Introduction  Grocery shopping can be a nightmare  Some typical problems:  Difficulty in sharing the shopping list  One person adding something to the list and another wondering who added it and why  The buyer not knowing which brand of item to buy  Co-ordination: who does the shopping and when?

I # C * Cellphone Shopper3 Introduction  Key aim of project: make grocery shopping easier by using technology  Does not mean complete automation  Will use cellular telephony and the Internet  Goal: allow household to share and manipulate shopping list stored on central server  Via a Web interface or cellphone

I # C * Cellphone Shopper4 Proposed Solution: Key Features  Create, view, manipulate current list  Each list has an owner – control access and user operations  Annotation facility  Make items private ▪Put on list but shown only to those the user gives permission to  Add new products to database

I # C * Cellphone Shopper5 Proposed Solution: Key Features  View a full history of previous lists  Manage user information  E.g. preferences  Provide shop layouts and in-store shopping routes  Users can check items off the current list as they are bought

I # C * Cellphone Shopper6 Proposed Solution: Possible Features  Product suggestions based on users’ list histories  Community features  Inform others about various things  "State" management  Particularly management of lifetimes of products (to warn of expiration)

I # C * Cellphone Shopper7 Proposed Solution Tshifhiwa Marc Graham

I # C * Cellphone Shopper8 Methodology  Requirements Gathering  Important to know how different people shop based on the household they come from ▪Do user interviews  Usability Testing  Need to know if people can use the interfaces easily while mobile ▪Prototype Interfaces will be developed and tested

I # C * Cellphone Shopper9 Back-end  A Web Application with a database and an API through which the front-ends can access information stored in the database  Located on same machine as the Web server  Run on Tomcat  Will use SOAP to communicate information between modules.  Carries out the business logic

I # C * Cellphone Shopper10 Back-end: Success Factors  Retrieve information from the database on request from either interface  Translate data from the database to XML  Send and receive messages to/from both the mobile interface and the Web interface in XML  Perform statistical analysis on user data and present the results to either user interface

I # C * Cellphone Shopper11 Web Interface  Will be developed using modern Web- development techniques and technologies  Such as AJAX  Will be a combination of client-side and server-side programming  Will communicate with back-end using SOAP

I # C * Cellphone Shopper12 Web Interface: Key Success Factors  Features specified fully implemented  Interface: good aesthetics, easy to use  Good performance  Can bear acceptable workload

I # C * Cellphone Shopper13 Cellphone Interface  This will be implemented using J2ME  Communicate with the server via SOAP  Communication is over General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)  Provide basic features

I # C * Cellphone Shopper14 Cellphone UI: Key Success Factors  The features specified for the system are fully implemented and function properly  Users consider the interface to have good aesthetics and be easy to use  The interface performs operations in a acceptable timeframe  User achieve their tasks with a low number of clicks

I # C * Cellphone Shopper15 Joint Work  Gathering of user requirements  User studies  Design of database  Entity-relationship model  Design of communication protocols used between back-end and user interfaces  XML schema

I # C * Cellphone Shopper16 Deliverables  A back-end SOAP-based server  A database containing basic information, together with software to insert more information into the database  A Web-based end-user interface  A J2ME cellular phone end-user application

I # C * Cellphone Shopper17 Conclusion  Work allocation  Marc ▪Design and implement the Web-based end-user interface. ▪Perform the user evaluations of the interface  Tshifhiwa ▪Design and implement the cellular phone application. ▪Perform the user evaluations of the interface

I # C * Cellphone Shopper18 Conclusion  Graham ▪Design and implement the Web Application backend, which will provide an interface for communication between the user interfaces and the database ▪Implement and manage the database  Joint work ▪Gathering of user requirements ▪Design of the database ▪Design of the communication protocols used between the back-end and user interfaces

I # C * Cellphone Shopper19 Conclusion  Impact  Functionality that reduces the amount of time it takes to compile and manage a shopping list  Easily share information about shopping tasks between people leading to greater organization  Make shopping easier