The project will entail the design and implementation of a hotel management system. This system is be designed to aid management and staff in the current hotel operations. This will cater to three main groups: management, front desk and kitchen staff. The main goals of this project is to automate their current system to be more convenient, accurate, reliable, and have pertinent information readily accessed by the staff at all times. This will also meet all the security and efficiency issues in found all systems.
Management's role in this system is to have complete control over all software functions. These functions will entail as follows:
The front desk staff will be responsible for the majority of the system functions: Room service orders will be processed through an online system and directed to the kitchen staff:For the hotel 's management and staff, the system will be user friendly with online help. This enables them to access information most readily, making operations more efficient and less problematic. The system's setup and design will make book keeping and operations more reliable. Thus sales records and customer accounts are more secure and accurate. Service to customer will be faster ane more accuate due to the fact that room availability can be accessed immediately upon request of the front desk staff. Also the fact that lists of reservations on a particular date may be printed out to ensure immediate processing of checkins and to prepare staff of large events or parties. Front desk will be able to create and maintain customer's accounts with ease. Messages directed to hotel residents will be registered on to the system to in order to ensure the maintained service from the hotel with their clients. Upon check out the front desk staff will be able to process the clients bill and change a method of if so desired by the client.
The system will be able to keep track and generate reports on sales from a given start date and end date for any period. This will benefit management by helping them with their accounting and financial forecasting. Management will also have control over the system where the can edit customer bills (through billing mistakes). Finally the food service will be able to receive a customer's order, forward the order to the kitchen, and upon process will be billed through the system to the customer's account.
The system will be running off of a series of workstations that will be networked off one server. The server will contain the database with an amalgam of hotel information (occupied /vacant rooms) , customer accounts and sales. This will be updated frequently remotely from the workstations. The server will reside in management's wing of the hotel with a an interface for access, maintenance, and upkeep. A second hard drive with mirrored information of the primary drive will ensure failure of the primary drive will not impede hotel operations until the drive can be replaced. As an added precaution a tape back up ( running 24 scheduled backup ) will be installed on the server.
The workstations will be installed into three locations, management wing, front desk, and food services. Each workstation will be outfitted with a card reader to activate (which also identifies staff access) the terminal. Frontdesk will have their workstation fitted with a cash box for processing bill payments. Food services will have a touch screen in order to process the orders. Printers will be outfitted at the front desk and the management stations.
Due to course limitations and lack of funding, the system will be a complete simulation of a real interface. There will be no actual printers, touch screens, card readers, cash boxes, or little phones with lights for messages. Things like reports or recipts will come up as a small window that simulates a report or recipt. Touch screens will be another window but the interface will be a mouse instead of a finger. Card readers will be simulated by entering the id numbers manually.
