32555 Fundamentals of Software Development

Autumn 2018
Assignment: Best Real Estate Agency
This assignment is worth 50% of the total mark; it has seven parts, worth 10%, 5%, 10%, 5%,
10%, 5% and 5%. It is done in a group of three students.

1. System background

Best Real Estate Agency is an all-Australian, family business and has been since the beginning.
It is owned and managed by two generations of the same family. Our agents are experienced
local property experts who know the local property market, and know and love their
community. It's our local expertise and our way of dealing with clients that brings people back
to Best Real Estate Agency. We're simply the experts in the art of real estate. When you choose
Best Real Estate Agency Australia, you're not just choosing one agent. You're choosing a
network of thousands, all working together to connect buyers with sellers.

2. Vision statements
Best Real Estate Agency CEO
I expect that this system will allow us to provide an exemplary level of service. We are in
the very competitive real estate advertising market and so it is imperative that we are able to
satisfy our clients' needs, quickly and efficiently. The system must be fully functional within
the next 14 weeks in order to be ready for the next season.

Chief Financial Officer

We have a strict budget for this system and it is vital that there be no cost overruns. I will
need a development cost plan showing the expected rate of expenditure over the next 14 weeks
so that I can plan the required fund drawdowns from the line of credit we have established with
our bank.

Real Estate Editor

I am the editor for the Real Estate section of our newspaper and will be responsible for
managing the operation of the website once completed. I will need to access the system at any
time and see up-to-the-minute details of the latest advertisements and monetary turnover. I will
also need access to review and edit any advertisement that may not comply with our policies.
The system needs to be 100% reliable and secure. I need to know what provisions you are
going to make to ensure this.

We will employ a small but competent staff. We expect that only minimal training on the
system will be required. In order to ensure that they work effectively, your system must be user
friendly, intuitive and fast. We cannot afford to inconvenience customers by having them wait
too long for their account to be finalised and the bill to be printed.

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3. System description

Best Real Estate Agency is a trusted real estate agency that can help you to navigate the process
of buying residential as well as commercial property. It helps customers through every stage of
the buying process, including finding a property within price range, organizing finance and
conveyance in some cases. The agency also helps in planning the process of selling customers’
property from start to finish. The first step in the sales process is to have customer’s property
assessed and this is carried out as part of no-obligation comprehensive appraisal service. This
will help customers to determine a selling price for their property based on the condition of
their home, the area where it is located, local price movements and other market factors. Next,
the customer wants to reach the widest range of prospective buyers possible. The agency’s
agent can also help to determine the best way to sell property and arrange inspections and open
home events to show it off at its best.

The agency can also help customers through every stage of the buying process, including
finding a property within customer’s price range, organizing finance and conveyance in some
cases. The agency can also provide finance or home loan at a very competitive rate. It can help
to find the loan that best suits customer’s circumstances and arrange pre-approval so customer
can confidently go property hunting. Once agency knows customer needs and financial
situation, it will take buyer through the available options to perhaps save on interest and fees.
The Best Agency provides conveyance and settlement teams that can assist the process of
preparing documentation for property settlements. The service focuses on making the sale or
purchase transaction a pleasurable experience rather than a stressful one. It helps in bringing in
support and assistance from an expert or solicitor familiar with legal documents and legislation
that can make the process easier.

The agency is very helpful to renters who are looking for a suitable property to rent. The renters
should be able search their rental property online or should find about rental properties that
meet their needs from agency’s office. Once the renter has made his/her choice, he/she can
quickly and easily complete the application and pay a deposit - usually equivalent to two
weeks' rent, although this can vary from landlord to landlord. As soon as the renter’s
application has been approved, he/she will be able to prepare for move. On the day the renter
signs the lease and will be expected to pay bond, as well as first rent payment.

Anyone should be able to use the Agency’s website to search for properties for buy/sale or rent.
The search feature should be easy to use, allowing the user to search by state, then by suburb,
and then by property details consisting of the price range, type of property (house, apartment,
studio or terrace), number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms and number of parking spaces. A
search will result in a list of matching properties, showing a brief summary of each property
(price, location, and a small part of the description). If the user clicks on a property from the
search results, a full page is displayed for that property. The details shown on this page depend
on whether the user searched for a property for rent or sale. In both cases, the following details
are shown: price, property type, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and parking spaces, a
description, and the advertiser's contact name and phone number. Additionally, in the case of a
rental property, the bond should be displayed.

The customer should also be able to use the agency’s website to advertise properties for sale or
rent. A first time advertiser will need to register for an account. An account name and password
must be chosen, and a contact email address and phone number supplied. Account names must
contain alpha-numeric characters only. Before submitting these details, the user must read and

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agree to our advertisement policies. After agreeing and submitting these details, the user will be
sent an email containing a link which the user must click on to confirm his/her email address.
Once the email address is confirmed, the account registration is finalised. A registered
advertiser can login to the website and view a list of his/her currently running advertisements,
which should display similarly to the visitor search results page. An advertiser can then either
edit an existing advertisement in this list or add a new advertisement to this list. New
advertisements cost $50 and will run for 2 weeks. In either case, the user is presented with a set
of editable text fields representing all of the property details, and a button allowing the user to
submit these details. If the submitted details were ok, then the website may need to ask for a
credit card number and expiration date for billing purposes in the case that this is a “new” ad.
Upon submitting the credit details, the credit provider will be contacted automatically and the
$50 will be charged. If everything was ok, the new or modified advertisement will be
published. The advertiser may remain logged into the system or may log out.

The agency’s administrator can login and view statistics covering the monetary turnover and
number of new advertisements published over the past hour, day, week, month or year. An
administrator can view all parts of the website that a normal visitor can view, but will also see
an additional option on the property details page, allowing the administrator to edit or delete
that advertisement.

4. Deadlines and deliverables

The items to hand in, the date to hand them in, and the marks for each part, are shown below.
The estimated workload for all parts, for each person on the team, is about 36-54 hours. The
actual workload may vary by a factor of three due to individual variation.

4.1 Week 5, 13 April (10 marks)

Use Case Model (Objectives 1 to 6)

Identify all the use cases mentioned in the system description and draw a use case diagram,
with all use case relationships. It has an expected workload of 8 hours for each group member.
There can be approximately 10-20 use cases selected from this system description.
Marking Criteria:
Suitable Use Cases/Actors/Links: 7
Include/Extend/Generalization relationships: 3

4.2 Week 5, 13 April (5 marks)

Use Case Descriptions (Objectives 1 to 6)

Describe 3 use cases using the format described in the lecture notes, showing all details for
each use case; describe any included or extended tasks that are required by the stated use cases.
It has an expected workload of 3-4 hours for each group member. Each use case should require
at most 3 pages of text, and some may take less than one page.
Marking Criteria:
Preamble: 1.5
Mainline: 2
Extensions: 1.5

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4.3 Week 8, 11 May (10 marks)
Class Diagram (Objectives 1 to 6)

Design a design class diagram which shows, for each class in the system, the class name and
attributes, plus the class associations, multiplicities and operations. Include any inheritance,
composition or aggregation relations. It has an expected workload of 15 hours for each group
member.
Marking Criteria:
Suitable Classes: 2.5
Suitable attributes and types: 2.5
Appropriate Associations: 2.5
Suitable Operations: 2.5

4.4 Week 8, 11 May (5 marks)

Sequence Diagram (Objectives 1 to 6)

Draw 3 sequence diagram which show all messages (method calls) between classes, including
any parameters, and any value returned from a method call. It shows object selection, iteration,
and object creation and / or destruction. It has an expected workload of 5 hours for each group
member.
Marking Criteria:
Appropriate Control Flow: 3
Correct Notation: 2

4.5 Week 12, 8 June (10 marks)

Java Code (Objectives 1 to 6)

Write Java code for 3 methods of any one class or different classes in the class diagram. It has an
expected workload of 10 hours for each group member.
Marking Criteria:
Reasonable method logic: 3
Specific correct parameters: 2
Executable code: 5

4.6 Week 12, 8 June (5 marks)

Connection to Database (Objectives 1 to 6)

Connect one class or entity to MySQL database. Apply or show CRUD operations on one or two
objects. It has an expected workload of 5 hour for each group member.

Marking Criteria:
Appropriate Code: 2.5
Executable code: 2.5

4.7 Week 12, 8 June (5 marks)

User Interface Design (Objectives 1 to 6)

Each group has to design user interface for three methods’ data input and output. The design
consists of a set of screen layouts that define the data input to and displayed on each screen. It
has an expected workload of 5 hour for each group member.

Marking Criteria:

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 Appropriate Screen Layout: 2.5
Executable input/output: 2.5

5. Group and individual marks

The assignment is done in groups of three. When you hand in the final part of the assignment,
you must rate each member of the group on how much that person has contributed to the
overall mark; the form is included at the end of this document. The contribution of each team
member is written on the form, and each person signs the form. The individual mark is the team
mark weighted by the individual contribution. You must fill in and sign the form; if you do not,
then your assignment mark will be zero. Any group experiencing problems that cannot be
resolved within the group should contact the Subject Coordinator as soon as possible. In
extreme cases, the Subject Coordinator may withdraw a problem student from a group. That
student must then find another group, or work alone. No complaints will be heard after the
submission date.

6. Academic Conduct
The solution should be the original work of the members of your team. No collaboration is
allowed with any other person. You are not permitted to discuss your solution with, or show it
to, any student outside your team. The Faculty penalty for proven and serial misconduct of this
nature is zero marks for the subject, as stated on the Subject Outline.

7. Assignment Submission and Return

You build a system specification by delivering seven documents, where each document builds
on the previous one; the timing and deliverables are described in section 4. For each part
 submit a soft copy (word or pdf format) of the assignment on UTSOnline.
 The assignments will be marked approx. in two weeks’ time.
 No late submission is accepted. Failure to submit assignment on time will result in penalty
(10% of marks obtained will be deducted per day).

8. Special Consideration

Special cases are to be discussed and considered by the subject coordinator. If any student’s
performance in an assessment item or items has been affected by extenuating or special
circumstances beyond his/her control (work problems, family problems, or health problems),
then he/she may apply for Special Consideration. Information on how to apply can be found at
http://www.sau.uts.edu.au/assessment/consideration.html.If you are requesting an extension of
time of one week or less to submit an assignment you should contact your subject coordinator,
do not formally apply for special consideration.

9. Minimum Requirements
In order to pass the assignment, each student must get more than 50% of the total assignment
mark.

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Appendix A: Individual contribution to the assignment

Fill in and submit this form with the last part of the assignment in week 13.

The group mark is multiplied by an individual weighting to calculate the individual mark.
One way to allocate marks is to give each member of the group an initial weighting of 100. If a
member of the group has contributed more than the others, then that person's weight is
increased and the weights on the other members are decreased so the total weight is always
100*n, where n is the number of people in the group (normally three). No person can score
more than 60 marks for the assignment; any marks above 60 will be ignored.

The following table must be filled in and signed by every member of the group, and
submitted with the final part of the solution in week 13. No individual mark will be given until
this form has been signed and submitted.

Group number:

Student id, name Weight Signature

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