Friday, January 31, 2020

Marketing Strategies of Newspapers Essay Example for Free

Marketing Strategies of Newspapers Essay The newspaper market, like other markets have become competitive to the extent that survival requires a lot of creativity and innovation in the way the business is conducted. This is the situation in which the three major newspapers on the Zambian market, i.e the Post, the Times of Zambia, and the Zambia Daily Mail newspapers find themselves. Currently, the Post newspaper is the market leader with a market share of eighty percent (80%), the Times of Zambia newspaper and the Zambia Daily Mail, together with the rest of the other newspapers share the remaining twenty percent (20%). For this study, the focus is on three newspapers, The Post which is a privately owned newspaper and the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail which are stated owned newspapers. The difference in performance amongst these three newspapers has also been reflected in the differences in the readership of the three (3) newspapers which is indicated below. Source: Synovate Research Center 2005 For any of these papers to gain competitive advantage and long term profitability, there is need to come up with a proper business approach. One such approach is a proper understanding and management of the common business parameters like the quality of the product, the pricing of the product, the distribution of the product, and the promotion of the product. A newspaper firm can then formulate appropriate differentiation strategies based on the above parameters which are commonly known as the four ‘Ps’ of the marketing mix (Kotler, 2003:15). The discrepancies in the market share prompted the researcher to look at the business management aspect of the three newspapers, i.e.how they were applying and using the four ‘Ps’ of the marketing mix. The aim was to determine how the three newspapers were utilizing the elements of the marketing mix in order to gain competitive advantage on the Zambian market. Essentially, this is a comparative study which looks into how the three newspapers were utilizing the marketing mix to increase their market shares. The study was expected to reveal the differences in the usage of the marketing mix and show whether this had a significant impact on the market shares of the three papers. This is not withstanding the fact that the performance of an entity is dependent on the various functional areas of business management. However, in this particular case, what was being put to test was the functional area of marketing, and in this case the application of the elements of the marketing mix. The liberalization of the Zambian economy in 1991 saw the emergence of various entities on the Zambian market. This included the print media. The Post newspaper is one such paper that emerged as a private owned newspaper. Prior to 1991, there were mainly two dominant papers, i.e. the Times of Zambia, and the Zambia Daily Mail newspapers. For this study, the focus was on one private newspaper, i.e the Post newspaper, and the state owned newspapers, i.e. The Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail newspapers. Currently, on the Zambian market, the Post newspaper is the market leader with a market share of eighty (80%) percent by far surpassing the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail which fall into the remaining twenty (20%) percent. This poses the question of why should a newly born newspaper, i.e the Post Newspaper, out match the old newspapers like the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail newspapers. Obviously, the market share has to do with the acceptability of the paper. And from a business management point of view, this acceptability is dependent on the paper’s marketing strategies which are based on the marketing mix. Hence the reason for the research in this area. The history of each of the above stated newspapers is as follows: †¢The Times of Zambia newspaper The Times of Zambia is a national daily newspaper published in Zambia. During the colonial period this newspaper was known as The Northern News. It was founded in 1944 as a twice-weekly newspaper aimed at a European readership, owned first by Roy Welensky and then by the South African newspaper chain Argus. Argus then sold the paper to Lonhro, under which it was renamed the Times of Zambia on 1 July 1965. Lonhro had just bought out Heinrich Brewery which had briefly operated a daily, The Zambia Times and weekly Zambia News. Criticism of the government under the editorship of Dunston Kamana in the early 1970s and the change of the government to a one party state led to the purchase of Times of Zambia by the United National Independence Party (UNIP) government who then appointed its own editor, Vernon Mwaanga, in 1972. When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in November 1991, it went to court claiming UNIP had illegally taken over the newspapers. The courts found in favour of the MMD, and ruled that the papers ownership be transferred to the Zambian Government. The Times of Zambia is now owned by the Zambian Government. After the independence of Zambia in 1964, the print media was run by the private sector with Times of Zambia then been published by Lonrho and the name Daily then Central African Mail was run by Scott and Astor. In 1969 it was purchased by the ruling United National Party (UNIP) (Banda, 2004). In 1983, the newspaper industries along with most other industries were nationalized as part of government’s humanism. The two newspapers were then turned into government companies and heavily subsidized by the government. In 1990, there was the introduction of multiparty government and an open, market –driven economy. Privately owned newspapers were reintroduced and according to the National Archives (2003) 137 publications, both newspapers and magazines, were registered between 1991 and 2002. Most of the registered newspapers were either aborted or died soon after the first few issues. The cover price of the newspapers has remained the same in Zambia at K3000.00 with new newspapers coming in and offering a lower price and then failing to survive all together. The other sources of income for newspapers are through the advertising which has grown with newspapers getting more and more expensive. This case research is intended at studying the various marketing strategies used by newspaper companies in Zambia and how they can increase competiveness. My aim is to find out the current marketing strategies of the major newspapers in Zambia, namely The Post, Daily Mail, Times of Zambia, The Guardian and The Mirror. The purpose of the study is to understand the current marketing strategies and come up with recommendations to increase competitiveness in this sector. 1.2 Background to the study After the introduction of the multi-party system and the subsequent liberalization of the economy, in Zambia, in 1991, the country saw the emergence of various types of privately owned newspapers in addition to the two regular newspapers, i.e The Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail. In all, the mid 1990s, there were several privately owned newspapers in addition to the two regular state owned newspapers stated above. What transpired is that some private newspapers came and went, whilst the two state owned newspapers have failed to be competitive and increase their market shares, but they have survived through Government subsidies. However, one privately owned newspaper, the Post Newspaper, has continued to grow its market share and today it is the market leader in its relevant market. The question of interest to the researcher is to determine the type and effectiveness of the marketing strategies that the Newspapers are using to increase their market share in the relevant markets. 1.3 Research Problem  Since the Liberalization of Zambia’s economy in 1991, several private newspapers have emerged to join the already existing state owned ones. However, most of the privately owned newspapers have collapsed, and the two state owned ones are failing to increase their market, but are surviving on Government subsidies. But one private newspaper, the Post, has continued to thrive to become the market leader. There is still very little competition in this industry with only a few as newspapers surviving and one major newspaper The Post is getting 80% of the market share (Banda 2004). Given this background, the researcher wants to determine the type of marketing strategies newspapers use, and the extent to which these marketing strategies are effective. Consequently, this will help the managements of the newspapers to improve their marketing strategies so as to provide quality services to their customers, and thereby increase their market share and competitivene ss.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Eulogy for Mother :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Mother Daughter of Teresa, granddaughter of Josefa, my mother, Natividad was born in El Paso, Texas on December 24th, 1921. She always told us that she was responsible for the rest of her sisters being born in this country. The family was on its way back to Mà ©xico because PD had closed the mine and was sending workers back to Mà ©xico. The family never got there because of my mother’s birth. She was the only one in her family who was not born in Morenci and although she made sure people knew she was born in Texas, she was very proud to be a â€Å"Morenci girl.† When I asked family members to describe my mother, they used many of the same terms: a private person, very shy, meek, humble, a caregiver, religious, loving, simple tastes, stubborn, intelligent, unassuming, frugal, timid, serious, modest, always put others ahead of herself, and most of all, she did not like being in the limelight. For their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Mama didn’t want us to make a big fiesta. We finally got her to agree to a simple renewal of their vows with only the immediate family present. For her eightieth birthday, we planned a big party with all the extended family invited. Again, she nixed the idea and we finally got her to agree to a small celebration with only her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The party was planned for last Saturday when everyone could come from California, Nevada, and Texas. When I talked to her on her birthday, she told me, â€Å"Can we cancel the party? I feel too weak.† I told her I would not cancel it but postpone it until she felt better. Today we are all here to celebrate my mother’s 80 years of life. It’s not the party we had planned for, and there are many more people than my mother would have been comfortable with, but we’re all here to honor her memory. I know, Mama that you didn’t like to be i n the limelight but today, like it or not, the spotlight is on you. My mother was the fifth child of Teresa and Wenseslado. That put her in the middle of a family of ten children, nine of which survived to adulthood. Maybe being in the middle of such a large family accounted for her demeanor but I think it was also part of her nature.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

As Said by Mark Twain

Eiffel Tower, built in 1889 and named after its designer and engineer Gustave Eiffel is one of the most famous architectural structure in the world. ————————————————- Eiffel Tower is observation & radio broadcasting tower, it is 324 meters tall, and tallest building in Paris, also second tallest in the whole of France. It was also tallest man-made structure of the world from 1889 to 1930. Stonehenge, United Kingdom Stonehenge is an amazing structure built of standing stones in a circular form.It is one of the most ancient structures of the world, believed to built before 2000 B. C. Stonehenge has been destroyed several times, and the present day structure is believed to be remains of the structure built in 1600 B. C. ————————————————- Stonehenge is owned by Th e Crown and is also a  UNESCO  World Heritage Site. It is managed by English Heritage and National Trust. Saint Basil's Cathedral, Russia Saint Basil's Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox Church built in 16th century in Moscow. It is operated as State Historical Museum and is a property of Russian Federation.The design of the building forms a shape like that of flame of bonfire rising to the sky. ————————————————- Saint Basil's Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy Leaning Tower of Pisa is a unique structure, leaned at one side. It is campanile in the Italian city of Pisa. ————————————————- The Tower is 56. 70 high, 4. 09m wide and leaned at 3. 99 degrees. The construction of the tower started in 1173 and was completed in 1372. T he tower has eight stories, including chamber of bells.It was not planned originally as a something like this, but during the construction it started leaning, and today although it weighs more than 14,000 metric tons, miraculously and proudly stands as one of the most beautiful structures of the world. Statue of Liberty, United States of America The  Statue of Liberty  is a sculpture of Libertas, Roman Goddess of Freedom, situated in United States of America. The statue designed by Frederic Bartholdi, was a gift from People of France to USA. The statue was inscribed on July 4, 1776, on the date of American Declaration of Independence.There is a broken chain at the feet of the statue, representing icon of freedom of United States. ————————————————- The statue is 93 meters high and has more than 3 million visitors annually. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Christ The Redeemer, Brazil Christ The Redeemer, located in Brazil, is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it is also the fifth largest statue of Jesus Christ, and largest Art Deco statue in the World. ————————————————- Built between 1921 and 1931, The statue is 39. 6m. tall, 30m wide, and weighs over 600 tonnes.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Online property management system - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 24 Words: 7156 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Study and Develop of an online property management system for City 2 Property Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts literature review mainly on the studies of online property management system to find out how property management works on the internet. The author also focuses on the technologies and tools involved in making online property management system more efficient. 1.2 Online Property Management Online property management basically contains most of the business method that renovate to the internet. It is the management of property management using online tools. When online property management implemented, it make many things like booking keeping, collecting rental fees, managing properties and contact with clients more easy and efficient. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Online property management system" essay for you Create order Online property management is simple and usually do not require any high performance or complicated application to work on. Usually, many real estate company in Malaysia still prefer paperwork instead of using property management system to enhance their operation. One of the reason is the preference of paperwork and not use to working on system when think about working using a system. Therefore, less complicated interface and process in online property management system give advantages to those who considering on implementing system work into their business. And for this reason, it encourages online property management system to a higher demand level in online business nowadays. 1.3 Supporting Technologies One of the advantages of online property management system is the usage of available technologies that are provided to all users that enhance their online business operation. Other than some common technologies that are usable in all business that provide different usage and advantage to the business, there are also some technologies that provide great advantage on online property management business. 1.3.1 Google Map Google map is a web mapping service application powered by Google. It provide mapping service that show a geographical mapping just like a dynamic country map, it provide the street name and route in many different view and also paths travel by own vehicle, foots or public transport. One of its supports towards property management is to show the direction from one location towards another, as well as showing the shortest route among few paths. All these benefits support users to find out the exact location of a place, and also make users know more about the places surrounding the targeted location in case they want to know more or when they are lost. 1.3.2 Visual Tour Visual tour is a new snapshot technology that able to capture numerous of pictures in a room or environment, using visual tour software and photo stitching software to stitch all the pictures together and produce a 360 degree virtual home view. This technology tend to provide a visual home tour to the property buyers by showing how is the inside of a property looks like when buyers does not need to travel all the way to the property location but using the internet to enjoy a tour just like when they are exactly in the building. To produce a visual tour video, a RTV tour builder kit contains of a camera and custom rotator mount on the side of the camera is needed. To start capturing, place the tripod on a best capturing spot, usually on the middle of a room, then manually rotate the camera one side to another from left to right, and then from top and bottom until every view of that room is being taken. Upon completing the capturing process, a visual tour software by overlapping the sides of all images together to utilize a 360 degree panaromic images. Lastly, the completed visual tour video need to upload to the RTV tour server through the internet to allow tour video automatically customize with owners banner, logo or photos, and then features like hyperlink to post into their websites, google map, and others will be added and send back to the owner. 1.3.3 Other Supporting Tools There are other technologies or tools supporting online property management as well. These tools are not mainly for online property management but also benefit the system operation like other businesses do. * Search function Search function is a common tool that filter information according by using a keyword enter by user and match data available in the current system, and display or show to the users Usually property buyers tend to have a property expectation in their mind before looking for agents to locate the property they want, search function in a system allow buyers to go through some simple steps to find out if theres any property that match their expectations or requirements, instead of searching all the properties one after another. * Mortgage loan calculator A mortgage loan calculator is to calculate the loan needed to pay by a property buyers per months. It usually require user to input some basic information like property value, interest rate, years and down payment to obtain the loan result. This is a simple tool that requires very little effort in developing but requires a correct formula to obtain the accurate result. * Reminding tools A reminding tool usually require user to enter a task name and an expired date. Upon reaching the expired date, user will receive a notification regarding the task. Property agents benefits from reminding tool in various ways. Collecting rental fees is an important process when properties are rented. Sometimes delay rental fees can be quite troublesome and if does not handle carefully, a delay rental fees could be forget or paid rental fees may not recorded properly. Therefore, the task of a reminding tool not only notify user regarding incomplete task but also ensure user about completed task. * Looking for agent Usually it is a good idea to record agents information in a system to allow buyers to look for a particular agent. In a system, not only agents brief personal and contact information could be found, buyers can also found the agents available listing. In case there are buyers who prefer a particular agent service and listing in that area, they can contact the agent directly without contacting the company or other agent. * iExpert A simple Question and Answer (QA) in a system that contain questions ask by the user regarding property issues, and can be answered by other users and working agents. It work like a forum but much more simple than it, it only require user to enter a question if he or she has one, or choose to view all available questions and answer any question if they know. 1.4 Summary As a summary of this chapter, the author has understood how online property management system work compares to real time business. More importantly, the author had conduct studies on the technologies that support online property management system which offer great advantages to the user when using the system. Chapter 2: Analyze Existing Websites 2.0 Overview In this chapter, the author visit and investigate several existing real estate websites to gain understanding in common features and also how other real estate websites manage their information. The author focuses more on some feature that is unique for real estate websites. The author also tend to list out some of their strengths and weaknesses to gain knowledge about pros and cons when manage a real estate business online. 2.1 ThinkProperty ThinkProperty is a free property service website that allows all real estate agents in Malaysia to post their property listing for free. It is owned by Think Media Sdn Bhd and was launched at October 2007. Powerful tools in ThinkProperty make properties more manageable and easier to search. It tends to provide great advantage to the sellers and buyers. 2.1.1 ThinkPropertys Features 2.1.1.1 Member features i) Managing properties Users are requiring registering as a member in order to use the features offer to all members. Register link can be found under login or the side navigation regarding all the features on the right. By clicking on registering, user will navigate to a page listing eight benefits to become a member. On the bottom on the page, user can click on Register now button to register as member by filling up the registration form and upon completing the form, user need to validate their account through e-mail. Then user will be successfully registered as a ThinkPropertys member and allow to login using the registered username and password. Once login, user can see their registered name and a dropdown list contain all available members features on the login interface. The dropdown list contains auto post back function, which means when user selects any option within the drop down list, user will automatically navigate to the page according to the selected option. For features under Create new listing, users will be direct to a form to submit the property they want to add. When they have done submitting it, the added property can be found in features under Manage my listing. User can check back their added listing anytime they want, and can choose to modify the information or delete the added listing. In My properties and My Auctions page, user can choose to filter the order of the listings by selecting property type, posted duration and other option. In property wanted, user can submit a wanted property to the moderator and wait until further notification. Usually agent will notify user by e-mail or contact number regarding the property they want. ii) Personal Profile Some of the information in a member personal profile is filled up during registration, while most of the information is blank. The information in personal profile included user type, company information, contact information, and websites. All this information will be useful if some other user need to find out more about a particular user for some business issues. This will be needed especially in the forum. User will be allowed to use the forum to post new thread or answer to any existing thread when they had become member. Providing all this information will be convenient to other member as well as the agents in case they need to contact the member. Other than entering their personal information, user can upload picture and video of themselves. Added picture will be shown in the profile page when it is viewed. As for video, user need to click on the video button located on the left side to view video in a new pop out. Brief information of the properties owned will also show in this page, as well as latest 10 posted threads in the forum can also be view by clicking on the Forum button. All this function is to ease other member in finding out more about a particular member. iii) Think Mail Think mail serve as a mailing service for members to receive messages sent by other member or agent. This is a simple service to read and delete mails; however it does not support sending message here. User need to go to another member page and click on the Message button to send him or her Think Mail message or e-mail message. Other than this, user can set his or her e-mail alert option. This service is to receive property alert message in case user got use any service like property wanted and awaits agent finding. 2.1.1.2 Forum Just like other forum, ThinkProperty forum contain all types of topic discuss about buying properties, selling properties, property investment, finance issues and much more. Only registered member are allowed to post any question on the suitable thread and await other member to reply or reply to any existed thread. With the support of a forum, all members can get more help and information regarding property issues and problems, and also get to know more about agents and people from other place. A forum also serve as another way to obtain information and solving problem, otherwise user can only communicate to the moderator by using customer support and sending messages. 2.1.1.3 Customer Support In ThinkProperty, there are three ways to obtain supports. First is to use the most common method like many websites do, using the feedback form to send question and awaits reply from the moderator. Second is to use the forum to post new question and awaits replies from other member and moderators. Third is to use the live help desk located on almost every pages on the top right, right below of the main menu navigation. Live help desk is an instant messaging service. When click on it, a new window will pop up and there will be someone there to answer any question asks by the user. This is one effective way to obtain answers instantly without waiting like other two customer support. However, live help desk is not always available to be use. There is no specific time when it is available, but user can found it available many times in a day. 2.1.1.4 Viewing Properties To view the available properties, user has to enter a desire location in the search box on the top of the website. This is a more direct way to find property around an area, instead of viewing all properties from other places at one page. While entering data into the searching box, a drop down that contain some location that match the entered data will show to let user navigate quickly if the target location is within the drop down. When random data being entered, especially when input character is less than 3, location that is not related to the entered data will show. Otherwise, it will show no result match in the drop down. A Display map check box under the search box is to indicate navigate user to view all properties page with its detail or navigate to Google map that shows the entered location and properties contain on that area. 2.10 shows an example of Google map result when display map is checked. The red house symbol below shows the properties that are available around the area. When mouse hover on one of the red symbol, a small dialog box pop out and show brief information about the property. User can click on the click on the bottom of the box to see more information about that property. Without checking the Display Map, when a location is selected, it will navigate to a page that shows all properties with some information located in that searched place. For example, 2.11 shows all properties available in Damansara when user enters Damansara in the search box. On the left side of the page, there is one filtering function to sort the wanted property details. By clicking on any of the filtering option, the function of it will show and allow user to choose or enter related information 2.15 shows the bottom of the property page. Google map of a particular property will be show if the property has information about it. At another side will be the seller information. In case user interested to find out more, they contact using the provided information or use the form below to e-mail the seller. In case user found that a particular property is not available anymore but it is still tag as available, user can simply click on the link beside the red icon below to notify the unavailability of this property to any user that view this property later. When user had done with one property, user can always choose to go back to all the property listing or simply click on the next button to view another property, or click on the previous button to view visited property before this, this two buttons located on top of the view all listings page. 2.1.1.5 Find Agent ThinkProperty does not offer a direct page to view all agents features. To find an agent, user needs to click the Find Agent link above the search box and then choose either find agent by area or by name. In case user knows any particular agent name and hoping for their service, they can try this search box to locate the agent to see all their posted listing. This also eases users when they know the agent name and where they work, but did not have any contact information about the agent. This may not work only if the target agent is not a member of ThinkProperty website. 2.1.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.1.2.1 Strengths * Simple, user-friendly interface. Overall web pages do not contain much unnecessary things. Simple looking and direct way to navigate to pages provide good browsing experience to users * Less complex function and process. Most of the process like job application form, submitting properties, searching functions are step by step methods and does not consist of much complicated process, this helps in reducing user confusion when using ThinkPropertys website * Good functionality and features. Sufficient features to provide good properties searching and managing experience * Good customer support service. Contain of more than one types of customer support feature for the purpose of increase efficiency in providing helps to the users when browsing ThinkProperty 2.1.2.2 Weaknesses * Risk might be unavoidable. ThinkProperty may not responsible for any information risk like fake agent or propertys information as they have no control over agents or members information * Searching function is the only way to view all properties and agents. As searching for properties and agents only depends on the searching box provided, first time user may not know how to find property and agent information. 2.2 iProperty During Jan 2009, iProperty was declared as the top property portal in Malaysia by Google Ads Planner. Operating their business in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Philippines allow clients from different states to use their service. For further development, they are working towards capitalize the property market and maintain their top leading position and continue working on online property advertising. (Sorensen, 2009) 2.2.1 iPropertys Features 2.2.1.1 Members Features Like other websites to use all the features offer to members only, user has to proceed to registration and approved as a member first. Before login, there will be several links under login like My shortlist, My Property Ads and others, but when user click on those link without login, they will be directed to the login page, which contain registering and forgotten password feature. To register, user just has to click on Register Now link located on the top left side of every page or under the login field on login page and navigate to the registering page. Upon submitting the form, user will receive a random generated password in their registered e-mail, user has to use that password and registered username to login, and then they can choose to change the password later on. i) Create Personal Profile Upon registering as member, user can choose to create their personal profile. This feature is optional, other than letting the agents to know more about them when using iPropertys service like property wanted and property ads, it also allow other member to find out more about a particular agent through iExpert. ii) My iExpert iExpert is a service designed to ease the sharing of property information sharing among members. All users are allow to use iExpert to search and view questions and answers provided by the members, however, only members are allow to post new questions and answer existing questions. It serves like a partial forum but does not contain much feature like forums do. iii) My Property Wanted Like other property website, iProperty offer a property wanted feature to all members only that allow them to submit a form consist of the property requirement a buyer want, and let the agents to perform a property search to find available property match the buyer requirement and notify buyers about it. Members who use this feature will keep property wanted information in their profile. 2.2.1.2 Viewing Properties The New Property Review button contain under the drop down of New Properties located on top of the main menu navigation direct users to the latest property listing in iProperty. User can choose to view different types of property by months by selecting from a list box on the right side of the main title. This is one of the ways to view property owned by iProperty. Another way of finding properties is to use the searching function located on top of the page under the main menu or view properties through related developers or agents. Viewing a property consist of several parts. The first part is the propertys review that contain of long description of the particular property. It consists of some pictures regarding the property with describing the surrounding, environment and facility to attract the interest of people to know more about it. The second part is the propertys specification. This page usually of one picture regarding the property and all details like address, property type, land title, tenure, land area, price range, posted date, and side information which are nearby transportation, schools, and amenities. Next part is viewing the property gallery. This page usually consists of photo gallery taken by camera about the property environment. Visual tour will also available in this page if the particular property has any video about visual tour. Map is available in most of the properties to show the location of a property and also direction to approach to it. For those properties that has Google Map details, a map will be provided as well. Lastly, user who interested in a property can register to it using a provided form to let the agent to contact and brief user about further information. Other than property specification, there are extra corner for sending enquiry to the agents or related person, sending enquiry to the developers and also a home loan calculator provided by Maybank with the information of preferred MPF, interest rate, loan years that is already provided according to the property and the monthly repayment result is provided automatically to the user. 2.2.1.3 Visual Tour iProperty provide visual tour service for user to experience a virtual visiting property experience. Visual tour video can be found on the bottom of each property under gallery view. However, not all properties provide visual tour service. User can found properties that contain visual tour service on the Visual Tour link under new properties on the main menu navigation. 2.2.1.4 Find an Agent Finding an agent in iProperty only require a click on Find An Agent button located on top of the page in main menu navigation. From this page, user can see their name, contact number, e-mail and self description. On top of it, there is a search agent function to find an agent by name, state and area, or user can filter all agents according to the first alphabet of their name. By clicking on their name, user will direct to their page that contain all of the listing they hold. User can also send a message to a particular agent in their page by submitting a form above the holding listing. 2.2.1.5 Search Function There are basically three types of search function depend on each pages. Different types of search function shown in different page for different purpose. 2.29 show a search function located on the main page and new project page. There are sufficient data for user to specify the searching information to obtain better matching property. User can click on Advance Search to have more option to search. Alternately, user can choose to filter properties according to different state by clicking By Area or different country by clicking on Overseas. The second searching function is searching agent function. This feature available only in Find An Agent page and the concept is the same with normal searching function. User just has to input the agents name, area or state, or choosing the first alphabet of their name to find a particular agent. The third searching function located on Home Service page. This searching function use to search for available furniture or home products. 2.2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 2.2.2.1 Strengths * Rich supporting technologies. iProperty consist of several tools like Google Map, Visual Tour, and some other function that make their service very efficient. * Detail properties information. All properties information included location map, floor plan, transportation and amenities nearby, image gallery and other related information provide information more than what the clients want to know. 2.2.2.2 Weaknesses * Too much information in a page may be unnecessary. Most of the pages contain a lot of information even if it is not related to the page. Users may found it confusion on information that is related or none-related to what they need. 2.3 Summary In this chapter, the author analyze some existing real estate company websites. As understanding features they use to enhance their operation is the main priority in this objective, the author has more knowledge on developing a real estate websites, as well as some of the strengths and weaknesses, to be learnt and avoid when developing an online property management system. Chapter 3: Conduct Interview and Survey 3.1 Overview In this chapter, the author conducts interview and surveys to the head of City 2 Property and also some agents who are experience in real estate business. The author uses this two fact finding method to determine the user requirement of the proposed system and the agents expectation towards it. In the end, the author will record the fact finding result and present on this chapter. 3.2 Interview The author decided to conduct an interview to the head of City 2 Property, Mr. Koo Kam Swee, because he is the most suitable person that understands the requirement or the needs of this proposed system. The interview question will be produce base on the purpose of understanding what will Mr. Koo expect the proposed system can do and how it benefits the business operation and the agents in the company. All the interview questions and answers show below contain main questions and some new questions that were asked during the interview. 3.2.1 Interview Questions and Answers 1. What give you an idea of using a website for your business? (To understand the purpose of the proposed system towards the company) Our companys operation mostly depends on paper work as we have already used to it. We never thought about creating a website until I realize the advantage of a website that can help people from the outside to access to our service faster and anytime even after our operation hour. Therefore, creating a website like other real estate company helps the customers to reach us easier. Author finding: The author uses this question to find out the interviewee main purpose of having this proposed system. The author now understand that the manager get the idea that online business provide fast and easy ways to interact with clients, therefore he decide to implement a website for the company. 2. Without a system, what types of problem your company and the agents faces? (To understand how should the proposed system benefit the company) As I mention, most of our works depend on paperwork. Upon completing a document work, if require sending to clients or others, we need to send through letters, awaits receiving, and finally reply back to us. The overall process takes up a great amount of time. If there is a website, we can shorten the time of this type of process so that we can complete a task much faster. Author finding: From above statement, the author understands that the manager hope that the proposed system can benefit by completing a task faster using electronic mail instead of delivering letters which is very time consuming. 3. Other than that, what are other problems exist? For instant, what you think other real estate company with websites benefits compare to your company? (To understand more on the benefits of the interviewee expect towards the proposed system) Having a website for the company nowadays is a type of competitive advantage. I know some of the other real estate company having their own websites, this give them the advantage of allowing clients to reach them easier, meanwhile this become a disadvantage for us as we lack of this service to offer to the clients. Author finding: Spontaneous question continue from the second question, the author try to find out more about the expectation of the manager that the proposed system can benefit the company. The author gives an example of other real estate competitive to make interviewee to think more critical on the benefits he expects. By the answer of the interviewee, the author know that the manager expect the proposed system can be a competitive advantage when compete with other real estate company. 4. For the website, what features you expects most? In another words, what feature you think is the most important in the entire website? (To understand what feature the interviewee concern the most) The most important part in the website would be allowing people to view our properties. We hope that people who view our properties using the website can know all the details of a property when they access the page. Author finding: The author wanted to know what is considering as the most important feature in the proposed system. The answer given shows that the manager expect viewing properties as an important feature that should put effort on for the purpose of allowing the users to know the full details of a property. 5. Other than viewing propertys details, what other feature you hope to be implemented to make viewing properties a better experience for the users? (To make the interviewee consider more on the functionality of the concerned feature) To be able to view propertys picture with all the details, this would be good enough. Additionally, I hope the website can handle some clients services like sending enquiry about a property or provide information about our contact so that their can call us or send message to us whenever they need our service. Author finding: A spontaneous question follows by question number 4. The author trying to make the interviewee think more on adding some functionality that can make viewing properties better for the users. But the manager does not have too high expectation on other function about it, and suggest other feature regarding serving clients by receiving enquiries and mail from them using the proposed system. 6. Will you expect people to be able to register as a member of City 2 Property website? If yes, what do you hope to benefit from this feature? (To understand what the manager think about member system and how to benefit from it) Possible. Having members in our website help us know more about them, in case we want to contact them using mobile phone, we may be able to locate their contact information through the website. Author finding: The author finds out that the manager does not have high expectation on the member system as well. The manager hopes that this feature can be used to find out the members contact information so that the agent can contact them when necessary. 7. If a member system is implemented, what you think about allowing members to sell their properties using the website? (To understand what the manager think about selling properties online) I guess this should be no different than clients call up to offer their properties to us. If what I think is correct, then this function can benefit to us in some ways. Author finding: Since the manager accept selling properties online, treating it just like how they buy properties from the clients using phone call, offer clients to sell properties online should not have much problems. 8. Do you think including home guide information like buying home for first timer, rental information, home financial information and others as guiding information is important? (To know the importance of home guiding information towards their company) I think that would help a lot. All this information often ask by our clients before deciding to talk about buying or renting properties. That will be time when clients call up and ask all about all these questions but in the end did not think about our property. So I think putting this service into the website can be supportive to all users. Author finding: The author know that clients asking for home guidance is one of the important part in their business as the agents often receive clients call up just to know all those issues, implementing a home guidance in the website can directly help.in reducing calling up for home guidance only. 9. What you think about implanting apply for job in the website? (To find out if the manager wants to allow applying jbo online or not) In case people want to apply for job, they often call up to me or introduce by some agents in the company. How do applying for job work using online? Author finding: The author understand that the manager does not really know applying for job applicable or not, or the manager never even thought about this. So the author think explanation to the manager is necessary. 10. Applying for job online has become more common nowadays as many people tend to use this method to send resume and personal information online and get notification to receive interview or rejection, with this way a company can receive resume directly from people. Do you think this is a good idea? Sounds like not a bad idea. In that case, I think receiving resume using the website and their contact information is a must so that we can call them up after reading their resume. Author finding: The author know that apply for job online does not cause much trouble to the operation, as long as the job application process does not take up much unnecessary steps and complicated process. 3.2.2 Interview Summary As a summary of the interview, the author understand that the manager do not have high performance expectation on the proposed system but only expect the system to be able to serve the clients online like how they do usually is the main requirement. Anyway, the author will try to suggest more and help the manager to consider more on some other ways of improving the proposed system to make it serve clients even better. 3.3 Survey Upon completing interviewing the manager, the author use survey to perform fact finding on several agents in City 2 property. The author choose survey as second fact finding method because this method is a more efficient way of gathering information when there are multiple people to respond to it. The purpose of this survey is to find out what will the agent expect in the proposed system, as well as the opinion of having a new system to perform their usual tasks. 3.3.1 Survey Question Survey for Developing website for City 2 Property real estate Note: The purpose of this survey is to understand the opinion and comment about developing a new website for City 2 Property company from agents who are working in this company. This survey contains only 5 objective questions and a comment which is optional. Agent Name: Date: Survey Questions: 1. Do you think developing a website for the company is a good idea? A. Good B. Bad C. No comment 2. If a website is developed, do you think it will affect the operation a lot? A. Yes B. No 3. If you are going to use this new website to complete some of your usual work. Do you think you might not be able to use to it? A. Yes B. No 4. Is your works depending a lot using the computer or some systems? A. Yes B. No 5. Which one you prefer most even if there is a website to complete your task? A. Using the website B. Not using the website 6. Your comment about the new website: (Optional) THE END OF SURVEY Thanks for your time. 3.3.2 Survey Answers 1. Do you think developing a website for the company is a good idea? 2. If a website is developed, do you think it will affect the operation a lot? 3. If you are going to use this new website to complete some of your usual work. Do you think you might not be able to use to it? 4. Is your works depending a lot using the computer or some systems? 5. Which one you prefer most even if there is a website to complete your task? 3.3.3 Survey summary As a summary of the survey, the author finds out that majority of the agents got no problem or even agree to implement this new website into their usual task. However, not all agents totally agree to the idea of using this new system as a way to do the work. So the author has to bear in mind that making the system simple to use and less challenge even for those who are not good in computer skill as one of the objective during development of the system to ease the agents. 3.4 Summary In this chapter, the author put a little effort in using interview and survey as method of fact finding to find out the user requirement and comment on the proposed system. The user has understood the user expectation in the proposed system and what type of things they need and does not need. All this information helps a lot in determine the correct usage towards the users. Chapter 4: System Design 4.1 Overview In this chapter, the author begin to sketch the web page layout, list down the system hierarchic chart to determine each related page, and finally draw out the flow chart of all processes to ensure the data flow is correct. 4.2 System Hierarchical Chart 4.3 Web Page Layout After some consideration for deciding how the interface looks like, how to place the components, contents, header and footer, as well as other issues, the author illustrate and design a complete interface with colors using Adobe Photoshop CS3. However, base on some change of plan later, the earlier designed interface is slightly different from the current page layout that is going to be used in the proposed system. 4.4 System Structure Flowchart 4.4.1 User Login Module 4.5 illustrate a user login flowchart module. To login, user will have to enter their user name and password, the next process will be validating user name and password tn ensure user is a registered member or admin, then user will be direct to different page according to user type. 4.4.2 Member Module 4.6 illustrate the member flowchart module. Upon login success as a member, user can select to view their list of wanted property if there is any, and then edit or delete any of their wanted property. User can also view their personal profile, in case they want to change their profile, they can do so by clicking edit profile button located in viewing profile page. 4.4.3 Registration Module 4.7 illustrate a registration flowchart module. When user clicks on registering, user will be navigate to the registering page. User has to fill up all the proper field data to successfully register as a member. If any data is incorrect or improper, user will be notify and stay at the same page until all data had entered correctly. Upon validation successful, user will be registered as a member and can choose to create a personal profile or proceed to home page. If user choose to create profile, 4.4.4 Staff Module 4.8 illustrate a staff flowchart module. When user successfully login as a staff, user will be direct a page to choose any function of a staff can do. 4.4.5 Members Edit Profile Module 4.9 illustrate members edit profile flowchart module. If user accesses this page for the first time, all the fields will be empty; otherwise, if user enter his or her own information before, all the data will be available in the text fields. User just has to modify the data and click on the edit button, if the all the data is proper, then editing information will be success, otherwise, user has to ensure the data is proper. 4.4.6 Members Add New Wanted Property Module 4.10 illustrate members add new property wanted flowchart module. When user choose to add new wanted property, user has to enter all the wanted propertys information, upon submitting, if no error spotted, user will have a new wanted property record. 4.4.7 Members Edit Wanted Property Module 4.11 illustrate members edit wanted property flowchart module. When come to this page, all the fields will be filled up with the particular propertys information. User just has to modify whichever information he or she want to change and choose submit. If no error spotted, the wanted propertys information will be successfully edited. 4.4.8 Members Remove Wanted Property Module 4.12 illustrate members remove wanted property module. To remove a wanted property, user has to go to view all wanted property page and select remove button on particular wanted property, then user will be navigate to a page with the particular property information and to confirm removing or not. If user chooses to remove the property, the removed property will be disappearing from the users wanted property list. 4.4.9 Staffs Add New Property Module 4.13 illustrate staffs add new property flowchart module. To add new property, user has to fill up the adding new property information, upon submitting, entered information will be checked to ensure proper information entered. If no error spotted, new property information will be added. 4.4.10 Staffs Reply Message Module 4.14 illustrate staffs reply message flowchart modules. User need to view the message and select to read a message in order to reply back. 4.4.11 Staffs Edit Property Module 4.15 illustrate staffs edit property flowchart module. When user views all available properties, user can choose to edit a particular property by modifying its data. Upon completing, all data will be check and if no error spotted, the particular property information will be successfully edited. 4.4.12 Staffs Remove Property Module 4.16 illustrate staffs remove property flowchart modules. When viewing all available properties, user can choose to remove a property. When chosen to remove a property, user will be asking to confirm removing or not. 4.4.13 Mortgage Loan Calculator Module 4.17 illustrate mortgage loan calculator flowchart module. To use the calculator, user has to enter all the proper data into the related field, if any improper data spotted, a message contain the error information will be display, and user are require to re-enter the data again to get the right result. 4.4.14 Apply for job Module 4.18 illustrate apply for job flowchart module. To apply for job, user has to fill up all the information required, if no error spotted, applying for job will be successful. 4.4.15 Property Wanted Module 4.19 illustrate property wanted flowchart module. User has to fill up a form using proper information and upon submitting, all information will be checked. If not error spotted, apply for property wanted will be success. 4.5 Summary In this chapter, the author list clear about the design and data flow of all the processes that will be apply in the proposed system. All the designs will be use as a reference for the author when creating the function and linking them to one another.