Each employee who will be working at the front desk will be issued a pass-card that must remain in their possession. To enter the system, the front desk employee will have to swipe the card. If the system is unused for more than 5 minutes, the terminal will lock and require another swipe of the card to continue. If a different pass-card is swiped at any time, the existing user will be logged out and the owner of the new card will be logged in. Before finishing a shift or leaving the desk for an extended period of time, the clerk should logout completely.
No pass-card (Hardware too costly), just enter user id's. We would even be satisfied with generic id's for each level (i.e., Manager, Clerks and Cooks) or a split, for example first three digits are generic and last three are individual. Our staff are also concerned that the 5 minute time-out might be too quick. Perhaps the default time could be longer or the could be set by the user.
The system described will be very simple and fast to use, while adequately protecting hotel records from illegitimate access.
Upon successful entry into the system, all front desk staff members will have access to the following functions of the booking system:
We are a bit concerned that having four different choices might make it a) harder to train people and b) too inflexible. Could this be a bit more like filling out the forms?
The four system functions listed above will be displayed in a task bar at the top of the front desk's screen. The desk staff will use a mouse and/or keyboard to select a function (ie. reservations) and display its' options on a pull-down menu (ie. cancel..).
The ability to perform multiple tasks (maximum of four) at the front desk will be needed. Although it is rare for a clerk to perform two identical tasks (such as two reservations), it will be useful to have access to all functions at any given time. For example, the user will be able to interrupt a lengthy task, such as taking a reservation, to perform a simple task of checking if a guest is currently registered in the hotel. The reservation information would remain until the user returned to finish the task. If the user presses the button corresponding to the task he is already performing, it will be reset to an initial state, accompanied by a warning that unsaved information will be lost.
(i) Reservations:
If the user selects this function from the main task bar, the pull-down menu will provide the options - New, View/Change, Delete, Daily List.
If the New option is chosen, the clerk will first have to locate an available room. This screen will be divided into two sections. At the top of the screen, the user will enter information for the type of room requested (arrival date, length of stay, number of rooms needed, number of beds per room, smoking/nonsmoking, etc.) and start a search. On the bottom of the screen, a scrollable list of all the available rooms that meet the given criteria will be listed. If a room is not available for the requested day, the user will be informed and given the option to change any of the criteria. When a list of rooms has been found, the user will be able to highlight one of the rooms and then click on Reserve (or Cancel). Also, if a guest requests a specific room, the clerk can enter the room number to verify its' characteristics and availability.
The room availability search must be available in other areas of the system as well. Make sure you can enter partial information for the room search. For example, searching with no criteria must be possible. Default for length of stay should be one day.
After a room has been found and the clerk has pressed the Reserve button, a new window will be displayed that will resemble the guest registration form used by the hotel. The room number, check in date, and projected check out date will appear. The guest information will be entered by selecting the appropriate field and typing the data (name, address, phone number). Once the form is complete, the user can press the Confirm button (or Cancel if the guest changes his/her mind). When a reservation is successfully stored, an appropriate message is displayed. The previous window, which allows the user to search for an available room, will be reset and displayed.
Is it possible to toggle between fields using a TAB or return or something? Always using point and click might be annoying. We must be able to enter room deposit here(i.e., partial payment). We must be able to accept payment before the guest checks in.
The user can select the View/Change option from the pull-down menu if a confirmation of reservation is requested or any related information is changed (ie. arrival date). The user will enter the guest's name and arrival date to display the reservation information. If changes are made then the user must select the Save Changes button.
If the Delete option is chosen, the user will enter the guest's name and arrival date. The information displayed will be confirmed and the Delete Reservation button pressed. The user will be asked to confirm their actions before it is processed.
The Daily List options on the reservation's pull-down menu will let the user view and/or print all the reservations for a given day. This will allow the hotel staff to be prepared to greet their guests.
(ii) Check In:
This function on the main task bar will allow the desk clerk to process a customer checking into the hotel. The pull-down menu for this function will provide the clerk with the following options - With Reservation, Without Reservation, Daily List.
Again, we need to be able to deal with group reservations.
If the customer informs the desk clerk that a reservation was made then this option (With Reservation) will be chosen. The clerk will have to enter the customer's name and the system will search by this and the current date. If the reservation is located then the clerk will confirm with the guest their mailing address and check out date. Additional information (number of additional guests and their names, make and license number of any vehicles on the hotel property) will also be entered. The method of payment will be required. When the credit card option is chosen, the system will ask the clerk to enter in the card number. If the guest chooses to pay by cash or cheque, the system will calculate the room cost and request a payment at the time of check in. These funds will not be processed until the guest checks out of the hotel. After all the required information has been entered, the clerk will press the Confirm button (or Cancel if a problem is encountered).
The front desk clerk will choose the Without Reservation option for any guest who is checking into the hotel without prior arrangements. A window that allows the clerk to locate a room will appear. Once a room is chosen, a guest information window will be displayed and filled in. This process is similar to the New Reservation process except additional information will be entered because the guest is actually checking into the hotel.
Daily List is the final option for the Check In function. The option will allow the clerk to view and/or print a list of all the quests that checked in on any given day.
(iii) Registered Guests:
This functin on the main task bar will be used for any inquiries related to guests who are currently staying in the hotel. The pull-down menu for this function will provide the clerk with the following options - View/Edit, Messages, Partial Payment, Print All.
The View/Edit option on the pull-down menu will be used by the clerk to locate any information about a guest in the hotel. If a guest would like to register an additional vehicle or add an addtional person's name to their room then the clerk will be able to edit this information. The clerk will also have the option to print a detailed report on any guest in the hotel by pressing a Print button, which will be located at the bottom of this window.
If a message is received for a guest in the hotel the clerk will choose the Messages option on the pull-down menu. The clerk will enter in a room number and/or name to locate information about the guests. If any special instructions have been left by the guest related to messages these will be displayed. The clerk will connect the person calling to the room. If there is no answer to the call an electronic voice mail system will interrupt. The caller will be able to leave a message for the guest. Once the message is in the system, an indicator in the room will be triggered. When the guest arrives back to the room, they will be able to retrieve their messages from the phone. (For this project the message will be typed into a box in the bottom half of the message window. The following information will need to be entered: name of message recipient, name of message sender, time and ate of message, and the message body. Once a guest receives the message, the clerk will press the Delivered button to delete it from the system.) If a message is recieved for a guest who has not arrived at the hotel and checked in then it will be entered into the comments section of their reservation form.
For our purposes, the elaborate voice-mail system is unnecessary. The system you will implement is fine.
Guests in the hotel may decide to make a partial payment on their hotel bill or change their method of payment. The desk clerk will choose the Partial Payment option on the pull-down menu. Once the payment has been entered, the clerk will press the Print button to obtain a receipt (or Cancel stop the process).
The Print All option on this menu will allow the desk clerk to print a list of all the guests registered in the hotel for any given day.
(iv) Check Out:
This function on the main task bar will allow the desk clerk to process a guest checking out of the hotel. This will be a fast and simple procedure. The pull-down menu for this function will provide the clerk with the following options - Process Payment, Daily List.
The Process Payment option will be chosen if a clerk wants to settle a hotel bill with a guest who is leaving. The clerk will be prompted for the room number and then information about the guest will be displayed in the top half of the window. The actual check out date will be automatically inserted. All charges for the room will appear in a scrollable list in the bottom half of the window and a list printed for the customer to view. The list of charges will include basic room charges, room service, and phone charges. A subtotal of all charges, applicable taxes, deposit, partial payments, and total amount outstanding will be shown. Also, there will be three buttons on the botton of the window - Payment, Cancel, Confirm.
If there is no disagreement over the final bill, the clerk will press the Payment button and enter in the customer`s payment. To complete the check out process the desk clerk will press the Confirm button. The system will display a warning if full payment was not received and then print a detailed final bill for the guest.
We assume you mean "accept" when you say confirm. We want to be sure that the system will maintain account information for any accounts with a balance remaining.
The Daily List option for the Check Out function will allow the clerk to view and/or print a list of all guests scheduled to check out on any given day. This will allow the housekeeping staff to be prepared.
Note: For this assignment, all print jobs will be displayed on the screen.
(i) Room service ordering:
The users of this part of the system will be the kitchen staff members who are responsible for taking room service orders over the telephone. Each of these users will be assigned a card. When this card is swiped the card number will be recognized by the system and will take the users to the kitchen staff section of the system.
A simple password will suffice here.
This will consist of a screen divided into two sections: one will display information about the guest and the other will display a scrollable on-line menu of food items served in the hotel, together with their prices.
The information section will already consist of the date and time. The user's name, who is taking the order, will be recognized through the assigned card number. The hotel room number will be entered by the user which will cause the name of the guest to appear automatically.
The next heading will consist of a pop up menu containing the names of the order delivering staff members. The user will be able to highlight and click on the appropriate name.
The pop-up menu is exactly what we want but we don't want to enter the delivery person at this time. We want to decide on the delivery person when the food is ready.
The following section of the screen will consist of a scrollable table for menu items ordered and their prices. At this point the user will move to the second part of the screen.
In order to select, the user will highlight and click on the menu item ordered, which will cause the same item and its price to appear in the table on the adjacent screen.
Under the table will be a section where text can be typed in by the user. This section will be used for any special requests made by the guests for eg. food allergies.
The bottom of the table will consist of three buttons: Cancel, Total and Confirm. In order to delete an item from the scrollable table the item can be highlighted and the 'Cancel' button clicked. When the 'Total' button is clicked the subtotal amount, the tax and the grand total of the order will be calculated and dislplayed on the screen. Upon confirmation from the guest to proceed with the order the 'Confirm' button will be clicked which will pass all the menu items to the kitchen computer display for preparation together with the room number and the section of special request. The screen will then be cleared for next order.
(ii) Room service billing:
The users of this part of the system will be the cooks in the kitchen. The screen will display one order at a time in order to prevent cluster and confusion. This will consist of the room number, which represents each order, together with special request section. Adjacent to this will be the menu items ordered. Once the order is prepared a Done button at the bottom of the screen will be clicked. This will cause the next order to appear on the screen. If there are no more orders an apprpriate message will be displayed. The total figure will automatically be added to the guests account and the bill will be printed. This bill will consist of three copies. One for the front desk, one for the guest and one for the kitchen staff.
The cooks should be able to view all of the orders not one at a time. An efficient cook looks ahead at all orders and plans it so several are being prepared at once. For example, when a cook puts a piazza in the oven, it takes a long time to bake. The cook will work on other orders in the meantime.
One useful feature of the system is to reduce user typed input. Therefore there will be only two instances where the user will type in input. One will be the hotel room number of the guest ordering room service. If the room number typed is not valid then an appropriate error message will appear on the screen. However, an incorrect room number can be reconfirmed since the name of the guest will appear automatically on the screen when the room number is entered. The second input is the text section of special request. Here the user will be able to type anything the guest requests, therefore error checking will not be required.
One way to solve both the display problem and the delivery problem would be to print out the orders when they come in. The cooks could use the paper bills instead of the touch screen to view orders and the room service waiter who delivers the order could initial it.
This part of the system will also be able to access all other functions within system.
(i) Report Generation
Report generation will be accomplished through a screen divided into two sections. The upper section will contain a set of radio buttons from which users can choose the type of report they want and two input boxes in which the user will supply the start and end dates for the report. Once the user has supplied the appropriate input, they will select a "Generate Report" button and the report will appear in the lower section of the screen. The lower section will also contain buttons which will allow the user to either print the report or save it to a file. At any time should the users wish to create a different report, they simply modify the input in the upper section and select the "Generate" button again.
The report will be formatted as per the customer's requirements, and the lower section containing the report will have a horizontal scrollbar if the report is wider than the section or a vertical scrollbar if the report is longer than the lower section.
We only need reports by months. No need to go by days.
When you say "customer's requirements", we assume you mean the management team. Only the management team needs these reports.
The program will expect a type of report to be selected, and will advise the user to select a type of report (from the radio button choices) in the form of an informative error message.
The program will also expect two dates: a start date and an end date. Both dates must be valid dates. The start date must not precede the date on which the system was implemented. The end date must be at least one day prior to the day of the report generation, that is a report being created on 15 Jan 96 must have an ending date no later than 14 Jan 96.
(ii) System Updating
One of the flexability features of this systems is the administrator's ability to control any data within the system that can, will or might change. This data includes, but is not limited to:
All of the updating will be done through a window which will contain the appropriate input boxes. The program will do bounds checking where possible, though in some cases it will be impossible to determine whether or not the input is valid (such as the sales tax fields). In the case where bounds checking can be done and where input is invalid, a informative error message will appear, explaining what went wrong and how to avoid the error next time.
(iii) Bill Updating
In the case where changes are required to be made to charges on a hotel guest's bill, it can be easily done by anyone with manager access. Modifying a bill will be done through a window divided into 2 sections. The upper section will contain input boxes to select the hotel guest whose bill the user wishes to modify. On the right hand side of the upper section will be a list of all guests currently staying at the hotel. This allows the user to quickly select a guest via the list box, if the user knows the name of the guest. If not, a room number will be required to be entered.
Bounds checking will be done on the input such that, the room number must be a valid room number within the hotel. Should an invalid entry be inputed, the system will provide an appropriate error message, and offer resolutions to the problem as necessary.
L. Bouchard calls the front desk wants to reserve a non-smoking double room, for stampede week. The already logged in clerk selects New from the Reservation menu. The clerk enters the room criteria and the message `no non-smoking, double room for this time is available' appears. The clerk then removes the non-smoking restriction, and two rooms appear. He verifies that it is alright with the customer, picks a room, and press Reserve. Now the personal information is entered and the Confirm button is pressed. The reservation is complete.
2. Change a Reservation
A week later the front desk clerk has from call from Madame Bouchard. She needs another room for the same week and it is to billed together. The clerk presses View/Change under the Reservation heading. The last name is entered, and the reservation appears. The appropriate information is changed, the clerk picks an additional room, and presses Save.
3. Check In
The Bouchard family comes to the front desk to check in. The clerk selects With Reservation from the Check In menu. She enters the name and the reservation information is displayed. Various information is confirmed and other adminstration tasks (register vehicles, etc..) are performed. A method of payment is recorded and the Confirm button is pressed. The Bouchards are shown to their room.
4. Check Out
When the Bouchards are ready to leave the desk clerk selects Check Out from the main task bar. The clerk selects the option of Process Payment, and when prompted puts in the correct room number. He verifies that the information is correct, prints out the bill by selecting print, and then with confirmation selects the Payment button. After the visa bill is signed he makes sure the billing is correct on the computer and presses Confirm to complete the check out procedure.
The manager wants to change the room service menu. He wants to add two new items and edit one. He log's in to the computer terminal and goes to the change menu option. He then clicks on the item he wants to change and types in the new description of the item and the price. He then enters the description of the new items and the price on emtpy slots. He then presses the done button and the new information is stored on the room service database.
2. Change Bills
The manager wants to edit the bill on a customers account. He log's in to the computer terminal and goes to the edit account menu option. He see's the descrition of the items and cost of the items the customer has ordered. He clicks on the room service cost and changes the amount. The total of the customers account is then changed. He then saves the changes to the customer database.
3. Generate Reports
The manager wants to generate a report for the room service total in a specific time period. He clicks on the Generate reports option and enters the menu. He presses the room service total button and enters the starting date and ending date and presses the done button. A report is generated and lists all transactions between the dates specified.
4. Change Room Designation
The manager wants to change the room designation. He enters the change room designation menu after logging in to the terminal. He then enters the room number designation he wants to change. He see's the data associated with the room, including number of bed's, smoking/non-smoking. He changes the data within the room and saves the new information to the room database.
