Online Vehicle Rental System

This project is being considered in order to reduce and totally eliminate loss of customers to competitors, and save the company from folding up. The current system is manual and it is time consuming. It is also cost ineffective, and average return is low and diminishing. Currently, customers can call or walk-in in order to rent or reserve a vehicle. The staff of the company will check their file to see which vehicle is available for rental. The current system is error prone and customers are dissatisfied. The goal of this project is to automate vehicle rental and reservation so that customers do not need to walk-in or call in order to reserve a vehicle. They can go online and reserve any kind of vehicle they want and that is available. Even when a customer chooses to walk-in, computers are available for him to go online and perform his reservation.

When he choose to reserve by phone, any of the customer service representatives can help him reserve the vehicle speedily and issue him a reservation number. The VRS will maintain the database of all vehicles the company has. It will also keep track of all vehicle reservation and return. Reports will be generated bi-weekly. Reports for the Accounts Manager will detail the cost incurred to maintain each vehicle and revenue accrued on each vehicle. Reports for the Maintenance Manager will detail the present mileage of the car in order for him to take care of the vehicle servicing, and when each vehicle will be due for tag renewal.

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 State of Knowledge
A Vehicle rental or car hire agency is a company that rents out vehicles for short periods of time (generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks) for a fee. Vehicle rental agencies primarily serve people who have a car that is temporarily out of reach or out of service, for example travellers who are out of town or owners of damaged or destroyed vehicles who are awaiting repair or insurance compensation. Because of the variety of sizes of their vehicles, car rental agencies may also serve the self-moving industry needs, by renting vans or trucks, and in certain markets other types of vehicles such as motorcycles or scooters may also be offered. The existence of car rental services has overcome the problems of transportation services.

For those who unable to buy their own car or vehicle, car rent services give many benefits for them to travel for any purposes. With advanced in technology, it creates great opportunities to implement Online vehicle rental system which improves and enhances the car rental service operations. Online vehicle rental system helps users to select the suitable car to rent based on the important requirements. Besides that, Online Vehicle Rental system increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the vehicle rental service organization in order to run their business operations and management.

1.2 Objectives of the Study
•To automate Vehicle Rental and reservation so that customers do not need to walk-in or call in order to reserve a vehicle, but instead they can go online and reserve any kind of vehicle they want and that is available. •To come up with an automated Vehicle rental System that will maintain the database of all vehicles the company has. It will also keep track of all vehicle reservation and return. •The automated system will show the details of the present mileage of the vehicle and when the vehicle was last serviced. This will help the customers make proper decisions when choosing the vehicles. •To come up with a rating system for customer satisfaction analysis. 1.3Significance of the Study.

To the Company
An automated Vehicle Rental System will simplify the work of the company staff when dealing with clients because the clients will not have to come physically to their office to rent or reserve a vehicle. It will be easy for the company staff to keep track of available, reserved or rented vehicle so as to avoid the confusion of reserving one vehicle for two clients which is a common problem when using manual systems

To the Client/customer
The customer will not have to travel to the company offices for Him to reserve of rent a vehicle. He will do so at the comfort of his home or office.

1.4Problem Statement
Currently the system being used is a manual one where clients have to come physically into the office in order for them to rent or reserve a vehicle. The system poses a number of challenges that include:- 1.Time consuming

In the current system, clients have to come to the company offices physically in order to rent or reserve a vehicle which is a waste of time. When there are many clients to be attended to it may take long for the company staff to serve all of them.

2.Error Prone
The company staff are very likely to make errors when using the current manual system, for example it is very easy to reserve one car for two clients, under charge or overcharge a client. 3.Cost

The operating cost of the current System is high but with the implementation of the Automated System only a few no of staff will be able to run the System.

1.5 Proposed solution
The problems of the current System will be addressed by the development of an online vehicle rental and reservation System so that customers do not need to walk-in or call in order to reserve a vehicle. They can go online and reserve any kind of vehicle they want and that is available. Even when a customer chooses to walk-in, computers are available for him to go online and perform his reservation. When he choose to reserve by phone, any of the customer service representatives can help him reserve the vehicle speedily and issue him a reservation number. The Online Vehicle Rental System will maintain the database of all vehicles the company has. It will also keep track of all vehicle reservation and return. The automated system will show the details of the present mileage of the vehicle and when the vehicle was last serviced. This will help the customers make proper decisions when choosing the vehicles.

1.6 Project Justification
The need of this System is justified by several reasons, some of these are; •Increase efficiency – Currently, customers can call or walk-in in order to rent or reserve a vehicle, the proposed system will solve this problem by enabling customers to go online wherever they are and rent or reserve a vehicle. This way customers will not have to waste time and reduce travelling costs. •Storage of information: due to the use of database the need to store large amount of paper work will be reduced greatly. •Accessibility: The system will ensure that the information needed is available for the customers who require the information at all times. •Security: The system is only updated by the Company staff so it is secure and hence no possibility of double reservation.

1.7 Research Questions
1)How will the new System help in keeping a record of all vehicles the company has and keep track of all vehicle reservation and return? 2)How will the new system facilitate the clients work when reserving and renting vehicles from the company? 3)What will the system do to keep track of vehicles, the vehicle details e.g if a vehicle is reserved or not, when last serviced?

1.8Assumptions
•The system will only be used by company staff (Administrators), each one of them having his/her own username and password to reserve a vehicle for a client.

CHAPTER 2

2.0LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1Introduction
Getting Around Kenya
Kenya Transport and Travel Options
Getting around Kenya is easy once you know your options. Flying, getting a car hire, using the train system, taking a taxi or experiencing Kenya’s popular public transport system are all viable options for your Kenya travel. Car Hire in Kenya

If you want control and flexibility in your Kenya travel, then getting a car hire will certainly allow you the freedom to travel and explore your surroundings. If you can drive and find your way around, hiring or renting a car in Kenya is a convenient way to travel around the country. Cars are readily available for hire at the airport and from car rental companies in all major cities across Kenya. If you prefer not to do the driving, you can always hire a car with a driver and save on the insurance cost while benefiting from the knowledge and services of a local driver. 2.2 Case Study : Rent-A-Fine Car Ltd, Nairobi.

Rent-A-Fine Car Ltd was founded in 2002 and operates a fleet of quality vehicles that meet diverse customer needs. In a relatively short time, the company has evolved into a nationwide provider of tailored and affordable solutions of mobility services. Comfort, reliability and value for money, crucial factors in the car rental business, are an integral part of their service, and are the foundations on which their service reputation has been built. Their team of dedicated service professionals continues to place special focus on designing flexible solutions to meet their customers’ varied mobility needs. The company’s partnership with tour operators, hotels, airlines, and roadside assistance services is testament to this flexibility while demonstrating their commitment to assisting in the continued growth of the industry in Kenya.

Moving from mobility service provider to strategic business partner, the company provide added value services, such as chauffeur services and airport transfers, and are working closely with customers in order to provide integrated solutions.

Which just goes to show that when it comes to putting customers first, Rent A Fine Car are quite happy to go out of their way to ensure our customers are happy.

CHAPTER 3

3.0Research Methodology

The models that will be used for the system are:

1)Entity Relationship diagrams(ERD)

ERD is a diagram that forms the basis upon which the ER tables of the System are going to be designed and implement. They also indicate the nature of their relationships.

2)Class Diagrams
A class Diagram indicates the main entities in the system, represented by classes, some of their attributes and operations. The entities are : •Vehicle
•Company Administrator
•Customer

3)Use case Diagrams

A use case diagram shows the interaction between the Systems and the entities external to the System. These external entities are called actors. Actors represent roles which may include human users, external Hardware or other Systems. The two actors in the Vehicle Rental System are – Administrator and Customer

3.1Data Collection and Analysis

The following are the methods that will be used for collecting the required data for analysis.

a)Questionnaire:
Questionnaire facilitate information gathering from many people. Mainly questionnaires will be used on clients who come to the company to rent a vehicle asking them how the manual system is and what recommendations they would want integrated in the new proposed system.

b)Observation:
Another method I would use to gather information is to visit the various vehicle rental companies and observe and get meaningful information on how they carry out their daily services for their clients. The information will greatly assist in the creation of an efficient system. 3.2 Resources and Tools Required For The Project

Software
Microsoft word 2010, Windows 7, wampserver 2.0b, Dreamweaver 8.0, Edraw, Argouml, Adobe flash cs3, Web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer 5.0 and Mozilla). Basic computer facilities will be used in developing the system for report preparation Hardware requirements

Standard Pentium computer, flash disk, CPU 2.4 GHz, RAM 352MB

PROJECT SCHEDULE:

Month
1Month
2Month
3Month
4Month
5Month
6Month
7Month
8
Identification of the Problem
Proposal Development
Requirement Elicitation
Feasibility Study

Analysis

Design

Coding

Documentation
Submission of The Project

Key

Scheduled time in Months

References:
use the Harvard style.