Lab 1 – VIPS Description
Running head:
LAB 1 – VIPS DESCRIPTION
Lab 1 – VIPS Product Description
VIPS Inc.
CS411
Janet Brunelle
February 11, 2009
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Lab 1 – VIPS Description
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Table of Contents
1
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
2
VIPS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................4
3
2.1
Key Product Features and Capabilities ........................................................................4
2.2
Major Components (Hardware/Software) ....................................................................5
2.3
Target Market/Customer Base .....................................................................................8
VIPS PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................9
3.1
Prototype Goal and Objectives ....................................................................................9
3.2
Prototype Architecture ...............................................................................................11
3.3
Prototype Features and Capabilties ............................................................................14
3.4
Prototype Development Challenges ...........................................................................15
GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................18
List of Figures
Figure 1. Real world product major functional component diagram .............................................6
Figure 2. VIPS prototype major functional component diagram..................................................12
Figure 3. VIPS prototype website process flow chart ..................................................................13
List of Tables
Table 1. Feature comparison between real world product and prototype .....................................11
Lab 1 – VIPS Description
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Lab 1 – VIPS Product Description
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INTRODUCTION
According to the US census (GIS Lounge, 2001), urban population densities are steadily
increasing. Parking in these areas has become a great burden. The effects of the population
growth are felt everywhere. One particular place parking is a burden is on urban universities. The
amount of incoming students and faculty place a big toll on limited parking resources. The
university parking offices must manage all parking patrons. These patrons vary greatly and
include students, staff, faculty and visitors. The universities subscription parkers demand a high
level of service, and the universties have developed a reasonable solution for their subscription
patrons. However, many universities have left out their visiting patrons. Visitor Interface for
Parking Services (VIPS) will solve the visitor element in this complicated parking equation.
Visitor parking is difficult to manage in a subscription-based environment, resulting in
visitor frustration and loss of revenue. Current visitor parking systems on university campuses
are complicated and ineffective at managing visitors. The current process at Old Dominion
University involves a customer finding a parking space close to the parking office. The customer
must then physically walk into the parking office to obtain a visitor pass. The evolution finally
ends with the customer walking back to their car and attempting to find parking close to their
destination. The visitor parking process is difficult and results in frustration by the visitor and the
university attempting to use an outdated process to handle modern visitor demands. James Long,
ODU Parking Services Director, stated ODU fields 15,000 visitor requests per year (J. Long,
personal communication, September 11, 2001). The demand for visitors is high and the process
currently does not effectively manage the demand.
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VIPS Inc. has a solution for these visitor woes. VIPS has designed a solution that will
seamlessly integrate into the universities current parking solution and provide the much needed
service to visitors. The VIPS solution will solve the current problems of managing visitors and
streamlining the process. Visitor Interface for Parking Services will provide an integrated system
to manage visitor parking for large organizations that utilize a subscription based parking
environment.
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VIPS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
VIPS will be a customizable add-on that integrates with whatever current parking
solution is in place at the university. The VIPS product is designed to manage the university's
visitor demands. VIPS will do this by providing interfaces with the university's current
technology. The VIPS system will allow visitors to register online and obtain a visitor pass to the
university. The visitor pass will allow the visitor access to the parking garages through
authenticated barcode access. The solution will also provide a means of faculty to register their
guests. The VIPS system stores all of the visitor data, which will allow for the development of
visitor trend analysis. The university will now be able to effectively and efficiently manage their
visitors with VIPS.
2.1
Key Product Features and Capabilities
Visitor Interface for Parking is an innovative parking solution system. VIPS will offer the
university's visitors the ability to reserve parking online. Since VIPS allows the visitor to register
online, there is no need for the visitor to waste trips going to the parking office. The VIPS system
will allow visitors to choose a garage they want to reserve a space in. VIPS will not guarantee a
specific parking space. The VIPS guarantee is there will be an available space in the garage. The
methodology VIPS uses to reserve spaces is an algorithm that calculates spaces available and
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spaces reserved. The university will be allowed to control the amount of spaces each garage has
that can be allocated to visitors.
The University must have access control in order for the system to guarantee spaces.
VIPS Inc. will recommend a gated garage be used for access control. The visitor pass will have a
printed barcode. The barcode will be scanned at the entrance of a gated garage to grant the visitor
access. Once a visitor is granted access, the database is updated and a current status of the garage
is available. The VIPS system will also integrate with the current technology in place, which will
ensure every time a car enters or leaves the garage a database is updated. The updated database
will ensure an accurate real-time status of the garage and ensure space reservations can be
accommodated. The database will also provide the university with the ability to use VIPS to
develop visitor trend analysis, to help predicate parking situations.
The VIPS system will also provide the university faculty with the ability to pre-register
their guests. This will lift the burden off of visitors and ensure a smooth interaction with
university guests. VIPS will have several authenticated user levels. The user levels will allow a
standard user, faculty user, and an administrator. The VIPS solution will also verify that the users
are valid. VIPS dedication to information security will ensure all users are authenticated and
permitted the proper access into the system.
2.2
Major Components (Hardware/Software)
VIPS is a system comprised of several hardware and software features. The major
advantage of VIPS is that it is adaptable to any parking system already in place. However, for the
purposes of this discussion, RFID access is assumed. VIPS uses the current technology to tailor a
unique approach to managing visitors.
Lab 1 – VIPS Description
Figure 1. Real world product major functional component diagram
Figure 1 illustrates the major functional components of VIPS. The light blue boxes
indicate hardware, and the dark blue boxes indicate software. The grey box indicates assumed
customer hardware, and the black box indicates assumed customer software. VIPS will tailor a
solution for all hardware a customer has in place. However, for the purpose of clarity, only the
RFID solution will be discussed.
The VIPS hardware will be comprised of garage components and servers. The garage
hardware will be used to ensure visitor access to the garage. The VIPS garage components will
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be a barcode scanner and an intercom. The barcode scanner will be placed at the garage entrance
and exit. The visitor will scan the barcode on the visitor pass upon entry and exit to the garage.
The intercom is in place in case a situation exists where the visitor needs to speak with somebody
at the parking office. The assumed customer hardware will be the hardware infrastructure and the
customer database. The hardware infrastructure is in place in the garage to facilitate the
customers handling of their subscription users. In this example, the hardware infrastructure will
include traffic counters, access gates, display boards, and a RFID system. VIPS will also require
several servers. The VIPS engine will run on a server, and a separate server will be required to
run the VIPS website. VIPS will also require a server to run the VIPS database. There also must
be a customer database server. This customer server will be used to generate user authentication.
If a customer database does not exist, VIPS will develop a database table to perform the
authentication. The client computer is used to represent any computer that is able to access the
Internet. The Client computer will be used to access the VIPS website and is only shown for
completeness.
VIPS will also require a fair amount of software to function. The dark blue boxes in
figure 1 denote the software that VIPS Inc. will generate. VIPS has three major software
components; VIPS engine, VIPS website, and VIPS database. The VIPS engine will be
responsible for scheduling the visitors; this is a redundant feature shared with the VIPS website.
This is to ensure there is space available and ensure that the garages have an accurate count. The
VIPS engine will also be responsible for generating all data reports and developing trend
analysis. The VIPS engine will be the crucial component in effective data mining. The major role
of the VIPS website is scheduling visitors and accepting reservations. The website will also be
capable of handling the payment for visitor passes. The website will be responsible for
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generating the unique barcode, to allow the visitor garage access. The last major software
component will be the VIPS database. The VIPS database will be designed using Oracle. The
database must store all visitor data and current garage data. The database must also allow both
the VIPs engine and website access. The last major software that VIPS Inc. will develop is the
communication channels between all of the components. There are several interfaces that must
be developed to ensure the smooth flow of data. The communication channels are represented by
the arrows in figure 1. The arrow heads indicate the direction of information flow. The main
communication points that need to be addressed are between the VIPS engine and the VIPS
database, the VIPS website and the VIPS database, the VIPS engine and the customer database,
the VIPS website and the customer database, and the VIPS engine and garage hardware. VIPS
will ensure the effective communication between these components.
2.3
Target Market/Customer Base
The VIPS product is designed to meet the needs of customers who provide a subscription
based parking environment where space is at a premium. Since space is at a premium in these
environments, dealing with visitors proves to be challenging. VIPS allows the customer to ensure
parking for their subscription users while facilitating adequate parking for their visitors. VIPS
will allow the customer to provide a better service by improving their visitor process.
VIPS initial market will be universities based in urban settings. These universities have
space problems and need creative solutions to meet their parking demand. VIPS has targeted
ODU as the first customer. ODU meets the criteria of a subscription environment and limited
space. ODU has met subscription based parking challenges and now, with VIPS, will meet their
growing visitor demand. VIPS Inc. has also identified a secondary market for urban business
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parking environments and possibly airports. The main focus of VIPS marketing will be
universities.
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VIPS PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION
The VIPS prototype will demonstrate the functionality of the visitor parking solution.
VIPS will use Old Dominion University’s parking environment to construct the prototype. The
prototype will demonstrate a functional website that allows visitor reservation. The website will
allow the visitor to print a barcode pass. The VIPS prototype will show both barcode and RFID
access to the garage. The garage hardware is going to be simulated. In the lab prototype, it is not
feasible to use a real garage; however, all of the database and reservation functionality will be
shown. In the VIPS prototype, the customer database will be emulated in the VIPS database. The
VIPS prototype will also forgo showing payment. The payment system will be tailored to meet
customer needs upon product delivery.
3.1
Prototype Goals and Objectives
VIPS Inc. will prove the VIPS real world product is feasible by providing an effective,
functional demonstration with a lab prototype. To meet this goal, VIPS has set out objectives.
The VIPS prototype will interface with RFID access control technology as well as provide
barcode access. The VIPS prototype will have secure Internet based registration though access
control. The VIPS website will generates a printable barcode pass. The prototype will use a
simplified database and prevent system abuse by emulating the customer database with a table.
The prototype is going to use a garage simulation that will show the barcode and RFID access as
well as demonstrate the arrival and departure of subscription users and visitors. The VIPS
database will be used to authenticate both subscription users and visitors. The VIPS prototype
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will also provide a test harness capable of manipulating data in order to show what-if based
scenarios. Finally, the prototype will show historical trends with a database report. VIPS will
successfully meet these objectives and prove the feasibility of the VIPS product.
There are some changes between the real world product and the prototype. These changes
have been made in order to build an acceptable prototype in lab conditions. The major change is
the garage hardware will be simulated. This change has been made due to the logistic
impossibility of using a garage to develop a lab prototype. The VIPS product will show all the
necessary functionality of the garage through the simulation. The garage access control will still
be shown, it will just be demonstrated thorough an input to the simulation. The other major
differences will involve the hardware. VIPS will prove the functionality with lab hardware and
not the ruggedized hardware the real world product would require. These changes will not affect
the functionality of the VIPS solution; they will just accommodate the restricted lab conditions.
Table 1 shows all the differences between the real world product and the prototype.
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Lab 1 – VIPS Description
Features
Read World Product
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Prototype
Hardware Implementation
Existing customer hardware
Barcode reader
Rugged outdoor barcode scanner USB Barcode scanner
RFID
Standard RFID 15ft range
Phidget RFID Kit
Intercom
2-way twisted pair
N/A
Router
Rugged outdoor router
Garage Simulator
VIPS Engine Server
Dell Power Edge Server
Gateway Laptop
VIPS Engine
Manages I/O between garage(s)
hardware and VIPS DB. Datamining
Manage I/O between Garage
Simulator and VIPS DB. DB
report.
VIPS Website
Registration of visitors and
reservation of garage space.
Manage payment info, validate
visitor eligibility with CDB.
Allow dept to reserve space for
visitors.
Register visitors, reserve garage
space, eligibility validation
VIPS Web Server
Dell Power Edge Server
Gateway Laptop
Visitor/Parking Office Computer Any web-enabled device
Gateway Laptop
VIPS DB
Garage Simulator
Oracle - large-scale multi-garage, Oracle 10g, Limited field,
Full detail tables
Implements Customer DB table
Customer DB
Black list built from Parking
Implemented as table in VIPS
Services info on students,
DB
faculty, etc
Table 1. Feature comparison between real world product and prototype
3.2
Prototype Architecture
The major functional components of the VIPS prototype are illustrated in figure 2. The
prototype is a simplified version of the VIPS real world product; however, the prototype does
retain the innovative functionality of visitor space reservation. In the prototype, the garage
hardware will be simulated and will accept the barcode scanner and RIFD inputs. As in figure 1,
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the dark blue boxes represent the software components, and the light blue boxes represent the
hardware components.
Figure 2. VIPS prototype major functional component diagram.
The hardware for the prototype will be scaled down from the real world product. The
VIPS engine server will be replaced by a gateway laptop; this replacement will not effect
functionality. The web server and the database server in the real world product will be replaced
by the ODU Computer Science (CS) department servers. The CS server will be used because it
is the best resource available to VIPS Inc. Finally, VIPS will use a gateway laptop as a client
computer. This will be used to test the VIPS website and registration system.
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The software in the VIPS prototype will also differ from the real world product The VIPS
engine will be required to handle the input/output from the garage simulation and be able to
access the database. The VIPS engine will also produce a database report that will be used to
show the capabilities of data mining. The VIPS database will use Oracle. However, the database
will be scaled down and will only include the necessary fields to prove functionality. The VIPS
website will also be scaled down. The website will be designed using PHP. The website will
have access control, but it will omit the faculty account. The process flow of the prototype
webpage is shown in figure 3. The website will generate a unique barcode pass, allow the pass to
be emailed, and allow the user to create an account. Finally, the prototype will have
communication channels and interfaces developed to allow all of the components to
communicate properly. The VIPS prototype will demonstrate the complete functionality of the
VIPS system, but it will do so at a scaled down level.
Figure 3. VIPS prototype website process flow chart
Lab 1 – VIPS Description
3.3
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Prototype Features and Capabilities
The major innovative feature of the VIPS solution is the online visitor reservation with
the ability to reserve a space. This reservation system will be controlled by the VIPS website. The
VIPS website will process the reservation request and verify with the VIPS database to ensure
there is space in the requested garage. If there is space, the website will verify if the user is
authorized. Once the reservation is authorized and complete, the VIPS engine uses an algorithm
in order to secure a space in the garage. The algorithm works by ensuring the total number of
spaces is not exceeded by the combination of subscription users and visitors. The VIPS database
will maintain the current count given as forwarded from the VIPS engine.
Once a visitor scans their barcode, the garage simulation will forward the barcode data to
the VIPS engine, and the VIPS engine will check the barcode against the database. If the Barcode
is authorized the VIPS engine will send a signal to the garage simulation to grant the visitor
access to the garage. Once the visitor is in the garage the VIPS engine updates the current car
count in the VIPS database. Now when a visitor departs the garage they will again scan their
barcode. The VIPs engine will receive the barcode and again update the VIPS database and send
a signal to the garage to lift the garage gate.
The VIPS engine will also manage the subscription users by verifying their RFID passes.
The system will work the same way as before, except the VIPS engine will verify RFID codes
instead of barcodes. The VIPS engine controls access with the RFID and barcodes. Therefore, the
engine will maintain the accurate count in the garage. An accurate garage count is critical to the
effective functionality of the VIPS prototype.
Lab 1 – VIPS Description
3.4
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Prototype Development Challenges
There are always risks when developing a prototype. The major risks the VIPS prototype
will face are mitigated to the best of VIPS Inc.’s ability. The most critical risk is if the prototype
will accurately translate into the real world product. VIPS Inc. will ensure prospective clients that
the prototype will mirror the real world product as much as possible. The major differentiation
will be the garage simulation. VIPS Inc. believes that simulated hardware is currently in use and
has been shown to be effective.
The next risk faced is the limit in the budget for the prototype hardware. VIPS will use
the best hardware available within the constraints given. This risk also effects the fact that the
garage is simulated due to the limitations of the lab prototype. This is a risk VIPS will have to
accept. As addressed before, it is just not reasonable to use an actual garage to prototype VIPS.
There will be great effort made to simulate the real world as accurately as possible under the
given constraints. VIPS Inc. believes this can be overcome and can accept this risk.. The major
simulated components are garage hardware, and that has already been proven in current parking
systems.
Since VIPS is an add-on product, the prototype will not be able to model all of the current
parking solutions. VIPS Inc. will model the most common solution, RFID, and accept that all can
not be modeled. RFID is a prevalent solution to parking managements systems. VIPS will prove
that it can interface with RFID and assume the interfaces can and will be built to meet the
customer’s needs.
The final prototype risk is that the database will not reflect all possible real life data
needed in the real world product. This is due to the constraints placed on VIPS Inc. The database
will be populated with a reasonable amount of test data. The test data placed in the system will
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be as close to real world data as possible. VIPS will work hard to correctly model real world data
in the database. The system functionality will then be processed and checked with the test data
from the database. There are many risks associated with developing a prototype and all can not
be overcome. VIPS Inc. is dedicated to modeling and testing the prototype in the best conditions
possible. VIPS Inc. will mitigate the risks as much as possible and accept the risks that can not be
mitigated.
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GLOSSARY
Barcode: The printed representation of data using lines; the barcode is read by a barcode reader
and the lines are converted back to the original data
Client Computer: Any computer capable of accessing the Internet; this is the computer used to
access the VIPS website.
Customer: The entity purchasing the VIPS product
Garage: A multiple leveled area used for parking cars
Hardware Infrastructure: The existing customer hardware used to support their parking
solution (i.e. Gates, Pneumatic Sensor, Display Board, etc.)
Interface: A communication channel between two programs or applications
Lot: A single level area used for parking cars
Oracle: A database management system used to develop relational tables
Parking environment: A large scale business or university that has several different garages and
lots that are used to handle several types of customers
PHP: A programming language used to build dynamic websites
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): An automatic identification system that uses radio
frequency to identify an item from a distance; in this case, a car has a RFID pass and it
can be read just by the car driving under a RFID reader
Subscription user: The everyday users of the customers parking environment
Visitor: The end-user of VIPS product
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REFERENCES
Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility. (n.d.). RFID Glossary. Retrieved Feb 10,
2009, from http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/rfid_Glossary.asp
GIS Lounge. (2001, April). U.S. Census 2000 - Population Trends Mapped. Retrieved Feb 10,
2009, from http://gislounge.com/us-census-2000-population-trends-mapped/
Greenwald, R. (2001, June). Introducing Oracle. In Developer.com. Retrieved Feb. 10, 2009,
from http://www.developer.com/db/article.php/1582621.
PC Mag. (n.d.). Definition of: bar code. Retrieved Feb 10, 2009, from http://www.pcmag.com
/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=bar+code&i=38421,00.asp#