Developing an E-catalog for Autoland’s car dealership business

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

Developing an E-catalogue for Autoland’s car dealership business:
Where an E-catalogue can provide quick access to information

By: Jean-Luc Palmyre

Supervisor: self-study

University of Seychelles | Computing and Information Systems | 15/05/2017
SRN: 120299364

PAGE 1

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

Table of Contents

Table of Figures.................................................................................................................................... 4
1.0Summary......................................................................................................................................... 6
2.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................................... 7
3.0Literature Review ........................................................................................................................... 9

3.1Does E-Catalog influence customer retention and attraction? .................................................. 9
3.2Should Seychelles encourage the use of E-catalogues?............................................................ 10
3.3The effect of E-catalogue as a marketing tool for car dealership business .............................. 10
4.0Methods........................................................................................................................................ 11
4.1Research Methodology ............................................................................................................. 11

i) Action research ....................................................................................................................... 11
ii) Survey ..................................................................................................................................... 12
4.2 Development methodology ..................................................................................................... 13
4.3 Choice of Tools ......................................................................................................................... 14
4.4 Evaluation Methodology .......................................................................................................... 14
5.0Results........................................................................................................................................... 15
5.1Action Research......................................................................................................................... 15
5.2Questionnaire survey ................................................................................................................ 23
5.3Interview ................................................................................................................................... 30
5.4System Requirements ............................................................................................................... 31
5.5Design........................................................................................................................................ 33
5.5.1UML Diagram...................................................................................................................... 33
5.5.1.1Use case Diagram ............................................................................................................ 33
5.5.1.2 Activity diagram.............................................................................................................. 35
5.5.1.3 Entity Relationship diagram ........................................................................................... 36
5.5.1.4Interface Design .............................................................................................................. 37
5.6Implementation......................................................................................................................... 44
5.7Prototype Testing...................................................................................................................... 66

PAGE 2

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

6.0Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 79
6.1Feedback from user testing (past and potential clients) .......................................................... 79
6.2 Feedback from company representative (Mr. Mein) after testing .......................................... 81
6.3Improvement work on the prototype that could be undertaken after feedback..................... 82

7.0Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 83
8.0Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 84

8.1Appendix A _ permission letter & project plan......................................................................... 84
8.2Appendix_B Interview Transcript.............................................................................................. 86
8.3Appendix_C Questionnaire surveys .......................................................................................... 88
8.4Appendix_D Code listings from other sources.......................................................................... 91
8.5Appendix_E Code listings written by myself ............................................................................. 98
9.0 References ................................................................................................................................. 117
10.0Evaluation ................................................................................................................................. 119

PAGE 3

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Action research cycle .......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 2: Waterfall model................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 3: Autoland's showroom facility.............................................................................................. 14
Figure 4: Honda motorcycles flyer ..................................................................................................... 15
Figure 5: Honda cars flyer .................................................................................................................. 15
Figure 6: Location of showroom shown in leaflet.............................................................................. 16
Figure 7: Display of detailed specification.......................................................................................... 18
Figure 8: Display of product image .................................................................................................... 18
Figure 9: Display of site map not working.......................................................................................... 18
Figure 10: Search facility of E-catalogue ............................................................................................ 20
Figure 11: Outline of the E-catalogue ................................................................................................ 20
Figure 12: Vehicle details with image ................................................................................................ 21
Figure 13: specification details........................................................................................................... 21
Figure 14: Result of Q1 in survey for past clients............................................................................... 22
Figure 15: Result of Q2 in survey for past clients............................................................................... 23
Figure 16: Result of Q3 in survey for past clients............................................................................... 24
Figure 17: Result of Q4 in survey for past clients............................................................................... 25
Figure 18: Result of Q5 in survey for past clients............................................................................... 25
Figure 19: Result of Q1 in survey for potential clients....................................................................... 26
Figure 20: Result of Q3 in survey for potential clients....................................................................... 27
Figure 21: Result of Q2 in survey for potential clients....................................................................... 27
Figure 22: Result of Q4 in survey for potential clients....................................................................... 28
Figure 23: Result of Q5 in survey for potential clients....................................................................... 28
Figure 24: Use case diagram for user................................................................................................. 32
Figure 25: Use case diagram for administrator.................................................................................. 33
Figure 26: Activity diagram................................................................................................................. 34
Figure 27: ERD (entity relationship diagram) ..................................................................................... 35
Figure 28: Design of Main menu index page...................................................................................... 36
Figure 29: Design of view product...................................................................................................... 37
Figure 30: Design of about page ........................................................................................................ 38
Figure 31: Design of login page .......................................................................................................... 39
Figure 32: Design of Main admin page............................................................................................... 40
Figure 33: Design of add product page .............................................................................................. 41
Figure 34: Design of Upload image page............................................................................................ 42
Figure 35: Screenshot of product view .............................................................................................. 60
Figure 36: Screenshot of home page ................................................................................................. 60
Figure 37: Screenshot of product view in another category.............................................................. 61
Figure 38: Screenshot of search result page ...................................................................................... 61

PAGE 4

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

Figure 39: Screenshot of Admin main page ....................................................................................... 62
Figure 40: Screenshot of admin login page........................................................................................ 62
Figure 41: screenshot of upload image page ..................................................................................... 63
Figure 42: Screenshot of add product page ....................................................................................... 63
Figure 43: Screenshot of about page ................................................................................................. 64
Figure 44: result of Test survey Q1 .................................................................................................... 78
Figure 45: Result of Test survey Q2.................................................................................................... 79
Figure 46: Result of Test survey Q2.................................................................................................... 79
Figure 47: Permission letter from the company to access data......................................................... 83
Figure 48: Gantt chart ........................................................................................................................ 84
Figure 49: Questionnaire survey 1 ..................................................................................................... 87
Figure 50: Questionnaire survey 2 ..................................................................................................... 88
Figure 51: Questionnaire survey 3 ..................................................................................................... 89

PAGE 5

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

1.0 Summary

The car dealership business in the Seychelles is becoming more popular among
business enthusiast with the ever growing economy and development on our little
islands. However, mostly all the car dealership companies are using paper based
marketing and also paper based work to showcase and store information about their
fleets.

The aim of this project was to provide an online solution to showcase information for
Autoland and its available fleet as to facilitate quicker and ease of access to
information by developing an E-catalogue system. This would in return reduce the
use of paper based work which will reduce paper waste pollution to help keep my
country green.

By observing similar systems, through action research, interviews and questionnaire
surveys undertaken the main problems at Autoland were identified and lead to the
system requirements which was set out to obtain the best results possible from the
system. The designs chosen was a reflection of the requirements obtained through
the research. I came up with a consistent layout in order to facilitate ease of
navigating for information on the website.

The main features which was developed for the system was mainly the search facility
for the users. This would make it easier to find specific information through the
catalogue itself. The other feature was a classified display of information by
categories of different vehicles. A feature for the admin to easily update the E-
catalogue was also created. This was to facilitate deletion of data, upload new data
and images in the E-catalogue without having to go to the backend of the system.
This also provided a digital way to store information about Autoland’s available
vehicles on sale.

The prototype was tested by a group of past clients and potential clients of Autoland
and also the person who will be the administrator of the system. An evaluation in
terms of feedback was received after testing which was positive but like any system
contained curtained flaws and the feedbacks pointed out how to make the prototype
better through further development.

Keywords: E-Catalogue, Web based, car dealership, PHP, MySQL, database, HTML.

PAGE 6

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Aims and Objectives

The aims of this project is to research and be able to:
 Provide an online solution to showcase information about Autoland and its available
fleet.

The purpose is to also be able:
 Answer how can an E-catalogue influence customer attraction and retention through

literature review.
 To design an e-catalog website for Autoland Seychelles which can in return convert

visitors to customers.
 Have a dynamic site which uses a database system to store its information through

secure means.
 To make the process of displaying and updating information more efficient and

digitalised.
 Facilitate quick access to information.
 To come up with a prototype so that the company and a group of audience can test

so that we can evaluate the feedback for further development.
 Contribute to encourage the use of e-catalogue to help keep a greener Seychelles

by minimising the use of paper

PAGE 7

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final report

These are the objectives I intend to meet in order to achieve my stated aims and the
deliverables to make sure the project achieves the stated objectives:

1. Literature Review
This will help me to justify the purpose of such a project. This will also help
me answer whether an E-catalogue can help towards customer attraction and
retention.

2. Following the waterfall model for the software development process for designing
and developing the Autoland e-catalog.
I must schedule and plan all my work before starting the software
development process. This waterfall process must be strictly followed from
start to finish to meet my aims above.

3. Produce a prototype of the e-catalog according to the company’s requirement so that
a group of audience can evaluate and provide some feedback needed for further
development later on.
Design a web-based catalogue system which will be a prototype in which
users can browse different categories of vehicles by brands or by specific
search criteria. Clients can check availability of this car hence will facilitate
access to information.

4. Create a database system which stores information about the different vehicles.
The database system will reduce redundant data through normalisation. The
purpose of the database system should be to eliminate the use of paper and
file storing system that is currently in use, therefore this will help meet the
aim to reduce the use of paper for contributing towards a greener Seychelles.
This database system should also provide security of information through
access control.

PAGE 8

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

3.0 Literature Review

3.1 Does E-Catalog influence customer retention and attraction?

Due to the massive increase in the use of internet which amounts to 30.2% of the
world’s population this has made it that today internet is the biggest place to
conduct business and this has resulted into a massive interest over the years about
e-marketing (Muryjas and Muryjas, 2013). Given the number of global internet
users it is not surprising to find that interest in electronic marketing (e-marketing)
has exploded in recent years. (Haitham Alshibly and Kamal Qteishat, 2015) notes
that “68.1% of the variance attributed to customer retention can be attributed to
electronic catalogues” among five other front end applications. The author argues
that companies should focus on e-catalogues when trying to build a foundation
for customer attraction and retention since loyalty being such an important issue
which is imperative for success. (Schmitz and Leukel, 2005) states that electric
catalogues have become a cornerstone for conducting e-business transactions
stating the reason being that E-catalogues form the basis for buying decisions.
From my understanding, to guarantee long-term success there needs to be a
balance between acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones. Therefore,
the platforms which has been put to place using e-commerce has resolved the
hindrance of place and time by doing things virtually and directly. This can help to
improve the services to existing customers. Improving on these services could be
achieved through strong customer feedback through the E-catalogue since it is
easily accessible and you can remain anonymous. This can help the business to
raise its game in order to also be attractive to new customers. (Haitham Alshibly
and Kamal Qteishat, 2015) States that the cost of being of being able to retain
customers is 6 times more using traditional marketing, hence, costs can be
reduced using E-marketing instead.

PAGE 9

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

3.2 Should Seychelles encourage the use of E-catalogues?

The main characteristic of Seychelles is its environment, which the government
places big emphasis on its preservation. One main benefit of E-catalogue is the
fact that it reduces the use of paper considerably. Since car dealers are mainly
using magazines, a computerized version would cut the costs of those printouts
and also help preserve our environment by reducing pollution. According to the
world counts website, we use 1 million tons of paper everyday around the world.
“The paper industry is the third largest consumer of energy and is one of the
world’s major greenhouse gas emitters” (The World Counts, 2016). Therefore, by
going green we reduce the amount of waste going to the landfilled hence reduce
the amount of pollution and more importantly we reduce the amount of trees
needed to be cut down to manufacture paper. In regards to going green, E-
catalogue can help also to promote the use of hybrid cars in Seychelles. According
to the Seychelles news agency website, Minister Jean-Paul Adam stated that fuel
consumption is accounted for the country’s biggest expense (Vannier, Ponzo and
Uranie, 2015).

3.3 The effect of E-catalogue as a marketing tool for car
dealership business

According to (Catalogues4business.co.uk, 2015) 59% of sales which has been
made for car dealers, customers have acquired the information through an E-
catalogue. The survey has also shown that E-catalogues also cuts down business
costs and saves space in the dealership showrooms, wider selection of products
on display but the buyer is only able to view it on a computer screen. (Barkholz,
2012) shows that the dealer manager of Parker Johnstone's Wilsonville Honda has
seen his dealership business rise to number 2 in Portland. This has been because
of a shift from print advertising to digital advertising. According to (Automotive
News, 2015) new car buyers 90% of the time goes online to browse and research
for information about dealer and their vehicles before making a move for a
purchase.

PAGE 10

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

4.0 Methods

Note: For this section some of the materials was re-used from my PPR since I had
already completed them.

4.1 Research Methodology

i) Action research

My action research will be divided into two parts, firstly it would be the research about
the Autoland company’s current situation when it comes to marketing and providing
updated information, how they are currently doing things. Acquiring customer reviews
from past clients which would help identify and reflect the existing problems on the
current business process.
Secondly, a site visit of the showroom facility and location would help me determine if it
is time consuming or efficient to travel back and forth to the marketing office which can
reflect the value and purpose of the option to make a deposit and if the E-Catalogue will
reduce the workload of staffs and the time consumption involved.
Below is an illustration of my action research plan:

Reflect and Problem
share Identification

evaluation Devise a plan

Collect and Act to
analyze data implement

my plan

Figure 1: Action rReesseeaarrcchhcpylcalne

Figure 1: Action Research plan

PAGE 11

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

ii) Survey

This survey will be broken down into three parts:

1. Interview: Interview will be conducted during the requirements and data
gathering stage of the project and also during the stage of evaluation. This will
be important as it may provide very useful data, knowing that being confident
is one of my main qualities as a person. Through direct interaction of an
unstructured interview I plan to get the right information that I need especially
when it comes to a truthful and frank evaluation of the prototype I will be
presenting.

2. Observation: An observation of current existing systems of e-catalogs will be
conducted. This will be done by visiting the KIA Seychelles website which is the
only car dealer for now which is using a website to market their fleet in the
Seychelles. It will give me an idea of functionalities they are already using
hence, help in finding an innovative idea to differ what they have on offer. I will
also browse to see an example of an E-catalogue online to observe it
functionalities and design.

3. Questionnaires: The questionnaire survey will be very important in order to
interpret, analyse and gather different views of potential user for the system.
The group of people I will be targeting are those who have already made an
inquiry to purchase a vehicle from Autoland and also past clients of Autoland.
These group of people would vary of different ages and also areas on the island
to have a better understanding of what type of design to come up with to
satisfy atleast maximum users. The questionnaires will help for define the
functional requirements of the E-catalogue. The result of the survey could
represent the potential user’s view of how accessible are information about
Autoland and what they offer.

The questionnaires will be designed using www.surveymonkey.com

(Refer to Appendix C to view questionnaires)

PAGE 12

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

4.2 Development methodology

For the development I have chosen to use the system life cycle process of waterfall model
because since the full scope of the project is known in advance and it is also small,
progress can be easily measured.

 Waterfall model allows me to have clear goals at each stage of development with
a schedule and deadlines provided for each deliverables.

 Using the waterfall model will ensure discipline in task completion because a start
and end point is set for each stage. The process will be divided into five phases like
illustrated below.

 Before starting the software development design errors get picked up so that it
reduces time wastage during the implementation stage.

Information
gathering and

project
planning

Analyse needs
and

requirements

Define and
design solution

Implementation

Testing

Figure 2: Waterfall model

PAGE 13

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

4.3 Choice of Tools

 Front-End Application

For designing the front-end of the E-catalogue I will be using HTML to make my
own design and layout of the website. Since I already have some experience with
HTML this will reduce the time spent learning to write the codes. There’s a lot of
help online for HTML if any difficulty arises for example w3schools provide quite
a good aid for it.

 Database and server side scripting

The server I plan to install locally will be the WAMP server. It is free and easy to
use and supports Apache server, PHP and MySQL versions. Wamp will allow me to
create dynamic website and be able to test it locally. It automatically installs
everything and you can easily switch from offline to online. PHP will be the server
scripting language that I am going to use and this will allow me to connect and
manipulate my database with the front-end. For this part, to minimize the time
spent on coding I will be re-using codes from a third-party which is,
www.sourcecodester.com where individuals share free source codes for re-use.
Reusing the source codes made available by this third-party is in accordance to
their terms and agreement which states “users have permission, to view, copy,
edit or modify any content which has been submitted.” (Free source code,
tutorials and articles, 2017) I’ve chosen to use MySQL to construct and manage
my database mainly because of the familiarity and easy to write queries with
useful online support. MySQL is also free to use.

4.4 Evaluation Methodology

For the evaluation of the final product I intend to select groups of people to test
the prototype and give me a feedback through questionnaires in which they will
select from satisfaction to dissatisfaction on the different features available. The
groups of people I have so far are the current customers of Autoland and potential
customers, 7 individuals in each category. I will present this information in terms
of a percentage pie chart to see if the system is successful among users or not and
why do I think so according to the info gathered. This will also help determine
whether the prototype has been successful or not. The representative of the
company will also evaluate the product and will give a feedback whether it has
met the basic requirements set in the requirements analysis phase. This will be in
the form of a critical evaluation. The website will be made live from my server
locally for users to test.

PAGE 14

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.0 Results

5.1 Action Research

The action research undertaken was to evaluate the existing business process of
Autoland. A visit to the Autoland offices was made to identify the existing prob-
lems on the business process.

5.1.1 Problem being undertaken

The problem being solved here is the use of magazines, flyers and other paper
based form of marketing which is currently being used by Autoland. These
things are not always accessible to everyone in the public hence tends to limit
their market segment. Autoland also has no database to store data about
vehicles which they are marketing they are instead doing a lot of paper work.
This creates costly fees for the company when it comes to marketing and also
information is often lost in manual filing systems. This increases workload for
the staff and also makes it more difficult to be consistent with information.

Spacing at their showroom facilities is also a cause for concern with limited
space to store all the vehicles available in stock. This is what justifies the plan
of using an E-catalogue to showcase all the available vehicles and its infor-
mation online. This would limit the need to have all vehicles stored inside the
showroom for display and it will help target a larger audience.

F1ig.u1reAu3t:oAlauntodlasnhdo'ws rsohoomwrfoaocimlityfacility

PAGE 15

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

F1i.g2uHreon4d: aHomnodtaormcyoctloerscfylcyleers flyer

Fi1g.u3rHeo5n: dHaocnadras cfalyresrflyer

PAGE 16

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Fig1u.4reLo6c: aLtoicoantioofnsohfoswhroowomrooomn lsehaoflwetn1in leaflet

PAGE 17

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.1.2 Observing similar systems

After conducting some research, I have found out that only KIA Seychelles is
using a website as a marketing tool in the Seychelles when it comes to car
dealership business. They in fact are using both paper based marketing and
e-marketing techniques to promote their business. I have visited their web-
site and gathered information about its content and also the way they are
presenting information.

Link:

http://www.kia.sc/

1. Catalogue based: No

Basically a front end marketing website for KIA without any library
which list the available cars they have to offer. No search facility to
be able to specifically search for a vehicle to check availability.

2. Specification of vehicle: Some

Only the length of parts of the car are given. A notice which says
“Contact your local dealer for current information”. This means that
this website may be just a template from the KIA official website
abroad.

3. Display of vehicle: Yes

There is a gallery which displays interior and exterior view of the ve-
hicle.

4. Site map: Yes, but not working

Location of the KIA sales office in Seychelles is supposed to be dis-
played by viewing a site map. This is the only feature which seems
to be specifically for KIA Seychelles. Though upon clicking this fea-
ture does not respond or happen to be working.

5. Price: No

Price of vehicle is not displayed at all.

6. Advertisements: No

Since it is a site for s specific brand no other forms of external ad-
vertisements are displayed.

PAGE 18

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 8: Display of product image

Figure 7: Display of detailed specification
Figure 9: Display of site map not working

PAGE 19

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

The next step was to observe a current e-catalogue website available online. This was to
have an idea of what am I expected to deliver, atleast the basic functionalities which is
needed. Upon browsing a bit I stumble on www.automobile-catalog.com . This site is an
e-catalogue of cars produced worldwide since 1945.

1. Catalogue based: Yes
Contains lists of motor vehicles from A-Z. A search facility is available to query for
a specific vehicle.

2. Specification of vehicle: Yes
A very much detailed specification of each vehicle given.

3. Display of vehicle: Yes
The vehicle is display upon selection. No fancy gallery just one image on display.
The list is organised in order by their brand name.

4. Price: No
No price is displayed for the vehicles

5. Advertisements: Yes
The left and right margin is reserved for advertisements in the form of banner ads.
This sis a way to generate revenue.

PAGE 20

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 11: Outline of the E-catalogue

Figure 10: Search facility of E-catalogue

PAGE 21

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 12: Vehicle details with image

Figure 13: specification details

PAGE 22

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.2 Questionnaire survey

5.2.1 Overview

This is showing an overview of results from the questionnaire survey con-
ducted. The questionnaires were distributed among 2 groups of people, 7 in
each group. One group consisted of past Autoland customers and the other
is a group of people who are future potential customers. The return rate was
actually 100% with everyone willing to take the survey. The results will show
the current view of accessible information from Autoland and secondly the
system requirements they wish the new system to have.

5.2.2 Survey for past clients of Autoland

Q1. How did you access information for your previous
purchase from Autoland?

Magazines, 10%

Newspaper Ads, 5%

E-mail, 15%

Call-in, 20%

Walk-in, 50%

E-mail Call-in Walk-in Newspaper Ads Magazines

Figure 14: Result of Q1 in survey for past clients

The results of this first question shown in figure 14 above indicates that most past
clients (50%) obtain info about the products on offer from Autoland through visit-
ing the sales office. This shows that the other methods being used was not so ef-
ficient to reach all possible clienteles. It also shows that paper based marketing is
becoming less popular with the targeted audience with the figure above showing
only 5% of people developed an interest through newspapers and only 10%
through magazines and leaflets. The high percentage of walk-in and call-in meth-
ods show that the client are having to find information rather than the information
finding them. A failure in the marketing approach to tackle this can be noted here.

PAGE 23

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Q2. Did you try searching online for information?

No, 15%

Yes, 85%

Yes No
Figure 15: Result of Q2 in survey for past clients

The results here show that these clients tried searching for details of vehicles on
offer online. This means that there is an audience to capture here with an online
marketing tool or e-catalogue. The e-catalogue should generate interest in all
types of age groups and also the internet is the main source of media used in this
modern day world would increase the market segment for the business.

PAGE 24

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Q3. Would you have prefered to buy your vehicle online?

Yes , 5%

No, 95%

Yes No
Figure 16: Result of Q3 in survey for past clients

This results from figure 16 shows that these past clients do not feel at ease with
an online purchase yet. 95% said they would not have preferred to purchase their
vehicle online. Therefore, this tells us that we do not need to offer the facility for
online purchases yet. Since E-commerce is not well established in Seychelles it will
also be difficult to go about maintaining this service. People do not yet trust an
online payment method let alone when dealing with large sums of money like for
a car dealership business would be dealing with.

PAGE 25

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Q4. Should Autoland consider investing in an online
catalogue?

Yes, 19%

No, 81%

Yes No
Figure 17: Result of Q4 in survey for past clients

Figure 17 indicates that 75% of the past clients think an E-catalogue would have
been useful and thus should consider investing in one. It also shows that there is
a market out there waiting for the business to bring the information to them ra-
ther than them having to go and look for it.

Q5. Was it time consuming travelling to the Autoland
sales office?

Yes, 17%

No, 83%

Yes No
Figure 18: Result of Q5 in survey for past clients

Figure 18 indicates most of the clients thought it was time consuming to travel to
Autoland. This means by using an E-catalogue to showcase the products and have
useful information could limit the amount of times they have to travel there and
also avoid unnecessary travel.

PAGE 26

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.2.3 Survey for potential clients of Autoland

Q1. How likely are you to visit an online catalogue before
going to the sales office?

Not at all, 5% Extremely likely, 13%
slightly likely, 10%

Moderately likely, 12%

very likely, 60%

Extremely likely very likely Moderately likely slightly likely Not at all

Figure 19: Result of Q1 in survey for potential clients

The result of this question in the survey shown in figure 19 above has shown that
the reason why an online catalogue is needed for Autoland to move forward in
their business. An E-catalogue will capture a larger audience and will generate a
much greater interest for potential customers and will give a massive competitive
advantage in the car dealership business within the Seychelles. New customers a
more likely to go online as the first step towards getting information about what
they are deciding to buy, hence, an E-catalogue can make this decision easier for
them.

PAGE 27

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Q2. Do you think the facility to deposit an amount of
money for a car will be ideal?

Yes, 6%

No, 94%

Yes No

Figure 21: Result of Q2 in survey for potential clients

Again here with the potential customers, they show clearly their lack of trust towards an
online paying method. This means that this function will definitely not be included in the
system.

Q3. Which one will most likely influence your buying
decision

Availability, 21% Brand,
15%

Specs, 20%

Price, 42%

Colour, 2%

Brand Specs Colour Price Availability

Figure 20: Result of Q3 in survey for potential clients

The buying decision of customer and how it is influenced it is very important to know what do the
customers expect from you. This will determine what is the main requirement in terms of
information needed to be displayed on the website to attract these potential clients. In this
survey, it has shown that the price is the most influential factor which decides the buying decision
of this group of people.

PAGE 28

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Q4. Do you know where the Autoland
showroom or sales office is located?

Yes, 30%
No, 70%

Yes No

Figure 22: Result of Q4 in survey for potential clients

This survey here has shown that the potential customers do not really know where
Autoland is located. Therefore, the website would need to contain details of the
address and also a map to guide them.

Q5. Do you know what type of vehicles Autoland is
selling?

Yes,
10%

Some, 35%

No, 55%

Yes No Some
Figure 23: Result of Q5 in survey for potential clients

The result of this question from the questionnaire shows that most people are
not aware of what are the type of vehicles up for grabs at Autoland. The results
also show that 35% of replies has some idea about it. Thus, the E-catalogue
would pay particular attention to vehicle information.

PAGE 29

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.3 Interview

The interview with Mr. Mein was conducted on 15th Jan 2017. The purpose of the
interview was to talk about the problems being faced by Autoland and also the
constraints regarding the current marketing methods being used. Firstly, he was
asked about the current methods to store information regarding the vehicles they
import. Mr. Mein pointed out that currently no digitalised system is being used to
store this information and everything is currently paper based. The traditional
methods have been in used since their existence 10 years ago and no effort was
made to modernise the way things are done at the company, though they do have
a plan to move to a modern method soon but in the meantime nothing is concrete.

Advertising plays a big role in this car dealership business says Mr. Mein. He stated
that currently only paper based advertisement is being used by the company to
advertise the vehicles on offer. This has been a big cost for them since they also
sometimes do TV advertisements. This tends to limit the size in term of target
market they actually capture attention of potential customers. Mr. Mein also
stated that the main approach people take in order to get in touch or find
information despite the amount spent on marketing is by visiting the Autoland’s
sales office located at providence and also mainly through telephone
communications.

The price was mentioned as the main information which usually affect or decide
the buying decisions of clients. Therefor this is a requirement which must be
present on the e-catalogue. He also mentioned that if successful the company
would in the future use this website for advertisement revenue purposes.
Therefore, a space would need to be allocated where banner and can be placed.
He also mentioned that since they deal with multiple brands, there logo would
atleast need to be displayed on the website per contract agreements.

(For the full interview transcript see Appendix B)

PAGE 30

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.4 System Requirements

Following the conclusion of research and its analysis which I conducted through
questionnaire, interview, action research and observation, we can now determine
the system requirements based on these results for the e-catalogue prototype
system. The requirements are the basic non-functional and functional
requirements which the system must have in order to have an impact and
contribute towards customer attraction and also solve the problem of information
storage about the vehicles available.

5.4.1 Functional Requirements

 The website should contain information about the company’s
contact and location.

 It should have all the available vehicle stored into a database and
this is displayed on the websites interface (Dynamic website).

 Vehicles should be displayed accordingly in different categories of
vehicles.

 Image of every vehicle should be displayed for viewing upon
selection.

 Price of vehicle must be displayed accordingly.

 A search facility should be made available for users to search the
catalogue.

 An administrator page should be available on the website for the
admin to make changes.

 Admin must be able to upload new vehicle data and this is
automatically recorded into the database.

 Admin must be able to delete data.

 Space for banner advertising purpose in the future.

 Brands on offer must be displayed

PAGE 31

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.4.2 Non-functional requirements

 Security: To log into the administrator or manager page of the
website must require authentication of username and password.

 Availability: The website must be online at all times and can be
viewed on any type of device.

 Performance: Website must be responsive and quick with no lags
and most importantly user-friendly.

PAGE 32

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.5 Design

5.5.1 UML Diagram

UML diagrams will be used to visualize an overview of the main
functions of the system which will be used by a user. This will show an
interaction and how the system will flow.

5.5.1.1 Use case Diagram

Figure 24: Use case diagram for user

The objective of the e-catalogue is to develop a web based system to display the
available vehicles offered by Autoland with a database where all information
about the vehicle is stored. This use case diagram in figure 24 above is to show
what the user can do by interacting with the system. They can firstly, view the
categories of vehicles on offer. Secondly, view the vehicle itself along with its price
tag. The system will also allow the user to search the e-catalogue. The user is also
able to view contact and location details of Autoland.

PAGE 33

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 25: Use case diagram for administrator

The system also caters for an administrator to update the catalogue. This use
case diagram above in figure 25 is showing how this administrator will interact
with the system. Firstly, it’s a must for any user to update the system to be
authenticated. After Login the admin can enter new vehicle data, delete
vehicles, upload new vehicle image and delete vehicle images.

PAGE 34

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.5.1.2 Activity diagram

The activity diagram is to show how internally the system is interacting. I
have designed an activity diagram for the administrator part of the website
only as for the guest user there is no functions which they operate apart
from viewing information.

The figure 26 below shows the activity of the administrator operations for
the website. Firstly, the admin has to login with his/her credentials, the
system has to check with the database whether it is a match or not. After
successful login, the admin can now operate the functions. To delete a
product, the admin must view the product list and then delete the data. To
add a new vehicle, the admin must open add new vehicle function and input
information the add I to the database by clicking an add button. To upload a
new image, the admin must open the upload function, then browse for the
image on local machine and then upload image to system. Finally, the admin
must logout of system after performing transactions.

Figure 26: Activity diagram

PAGE 35

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.5.1.3 Entity Relationship diagram

Figure 27: ERD (entity relationship diagram)

The E-catalogue system will need a database to store information about
the vehicles and user admins so this ERD diagram will be to demonstrate
the relationship of the tables which are needed for the system. This will
meet the aim of storing vehicle data for Autoland and solve the problems
or redundant data and reduce the use of paper.

The database will comprise of three tables; 1. Categories, 2. Products, 3.
Users.

1. The categories table will consist of the different categories of vehicles
Autoland offer. It will have only two attribute of ID and category Name.
ID will be a unique field of integer while Name will consist of the data
type varchar as shown in figure 26 above.

2. The Products table will consist of different vehicles which Autoland is
selling. Since this prototype will only consist of basic information about
the vehicles to start, the table will have only five attribute; ID, Name,
Code, Price, Category ID (this will be a foreign key corresponding with
the categories table with a one to many relationships whereby one
category has many vehicles and vehicles has only one category.)

3. The Users table will a single table on its own which is design to store
usernames and passwords for login purposes of the admin to access
the website.

PAGE 36

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.5.1.4 Interface Design

Space for
advertising

Figure 28: Design of Main menu index page

After the analysis and info gathered through interview with the company’s
representative, my design decisions were chosen to reflect it. According to Mr. Mein in
the interview he indicated that the company may well try and get a revenue through
banner advertising if the website becomes successful in the future. The prototype
design caters for such thing by leaving a left and right margin for future use for
advertising. This is accordance to the observation made on the www.automobile-
catalog.com E-catalogue website. The interface of the main menu will be the same
style for all the other web pages for the prototype to give consistency and not to distract
from the main information. The company is displayed in the header with the company’s
moto below it as a form of sticky mechanism which will indicate to visitors what the
website is about. The categories of vehicle will be listed in a sidebar. This side bar will
also consist of the search facility, link to the about page and admin page. In the footer
the logos of the brands which Autoland is representing will also be on display as
requested by the company for copyrights and licensing reasons. The background will be
a dark image, the page body will be white, header and footer grey. This will represent
simplicity! The menu labels in the side bar should be well visible.

PAGE 37

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 29: Design of view product

When the user selects a vehicle, the image of the vehicle will be displayed as re-
quired. This design reflects the product view function showing where the image
and vehicle name will be displayed. As you can see the header, footer and sidebar
remains consistent only the body of the page changes. This will facilitate naviga-
tion and for the users as they will always find the main menu and functions in the
same place.
As you can see here, the layout of the web page will remain the same despite
clicking on a new function or menu item. This is because it will make the user fa-
miliar with the website’s design which is unique to the Autoland brand. The con-
sistency therefore is very important here in terms of colours to be used and im-
agery to be able to establish this unique and recognisable experience.

PAGE 38

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 30: Design of about page

The about page according the information gathered should display the company details
which include contact details and address of Autoland. A map will also be displayed to pin
point to this location to facilitate the client’s life is they don’t know exactly where the
sales office and showroom is located. This page will be another form of sticky mechanism
whereby it will be a sign of open communication to the users whereby they can easily
access phone numbers and e-mail addresses of any interested user. This may lead to
visitors turning into potential or future clients as I found out through my literature review.

PAGE 39

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 31: Design of login page

This is the authentication page whereby the administrator will use to log into the system
to update the website. The design is simple with a text box for username and password
input and a button to login.

PAGE 40

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 32: Design of Main admin page

This design represents the main page for administrator. The design provides
facility to delete records of vehicles and also provide links to add product page
and upload image page. The records of the vehicles under each category will be
listed in a table as shown in the figure 32 above. I’ve chosen to display it in a table
so that it keeps things in order to prevent any human errors. The delete button
will also be next to each record so that it is easier to recognise what record the
person is deleting.

PAGE 41

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 33: Design of add product page

This is the design of the page which the administrator uses to add a new product.
Text boxes are available to insert information for cod name and price which
corresponds to the fields in the database. A drop box is placed to select the
category of the new vehicle. The add button will be necessary to perform the
action needed. And a link to view the new vehicle added is placed below.

PAGE 42

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

Figure 34: Design of Upload image page

The upload image page will have the facility to browse for an image, and upload it
to the directory. The list of images currently in the directory will be viewed in the
left in the body as displayed in the figure 34 above. The upload and browse but-
tons will be there to perform the required functions. Another simple design to
facilitate the life of the admin.

PAGE 43

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.6 Implementation

5.6.1 Main coding aspects of the system

For the full code listing please refer to the appendices. There I have also
indicated which parts of the code has been reused (Refer Appendix D)
and from which source, also the codes the have been written by myself
(Refer Appendix E).

5.6.1.1 Index.php

The index page is the first page to be loaded when the website is vis-
ited by the user. Therefore, its first task is to check whether all the
required php files which connects to the database to pull the required
information is available. Then it will execute its function by first con-
necting to the database in PhpMyAdmin.

After the required files are seen, Index.php will go to into the folder
product catalog and look for the files ‘product_view’ and ‘product_list’
to display the functions of these php files. This in return will list the
categories and products on the page after retrieval.

PAGE 44

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.6.1.2 Product_list.php

The Index.php file will be using the product_list.php file to display infor-
mation about the categories and vehicles available on the main webpage. This
will be done by displaying information in; 1. Header 2. Sidebar and 3. Footer.
These 3 are all separate php files which will have their own function to do.
The product_list.php main function is to organise what information are dis-
played and how they are displayed.

As you can see here in this part of the code, php calls the header.php file from the folder
view. This header is always displayed at the start of the page. Then it organises the side-
bar by creating the main menus on display. The category menu will have the different
categories listed below it. All the sub-menus will be as links which when clicked will display
the requested information. Iv coded the search menu so that it will display with a text box
and a search button below so that search can be conducted from the main page rather
than redirecting to another.

PAGE 45

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

This part of the code shows the program displays all the available vehicles for each
category. Its function is to display all the vehicles for the specific category which
is chosen. For example, if category SUV is chosen, then a list of all the vehicles for
SUV will be displayed. It will be displayed as links which the user can select to view
the vehicle. The footer page is call upon at the end and this should always be dis-
played at the bottom of the page.

PAGE 46

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report
Relation to design:

Vehicles listed
under the selected
category

Menus and
Submenus
displayed on
the sidebar

PAGE 47

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.6.1.3 header.php

This is a straight forward function which displays the company logo and moto
in the header page. This header page is linked in all the other pages so that it is
always on display. For this no php codes is involved, I’ve coded it with pure
html but saved as a php file.

Relation to design:

PAGE 48

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.6.1.4 footer.php

This has a quite similar function to the header.php file by which it is displaying
the logo of the brands available at Autoland and also the copyright. The footer
is linked to all the other pages as it is always displayed at the bottom of each
page. It is also coded using pure html.

Relation to design:

PAGE 49

Jean-Luc Palmyre SRN:120299364 CO3320 Final Report

5.6.1.5 product_view.php

Its function is to display the vehicle image and price according to the vehicle
selected by the user. The image has the same name as its product name to
make it easier for the program to identify them.

Relation to design:

PAGE 50