Package Management System

My teammate Ahaan Goswami and I are building an app for Bennett University that will help the admin department of courier services to give the package of students in a more effective manner.

Why are we doing this?

Currently, at our university, a register is used to keep track of all the orders. This is time-consuming for both the admin, who must write the package no., student name, and for students, who need to write their details such as enrolment no., etc. A physical register also makes it troublesome and time-consuming for students to scroll through when they try to find their past orders. This whole process more often than not causes overcrowding in the area, something which should be avoided, especially considering these times. Since Bennett is in a remote place, drivers often get a low internet connection. As a result, the package is left in the courier room for hours before the student is notified. At the end of the semester, a list of students who have not collected their package is put in the courier room. However, by that time the package may not be of any use to the student. Especially the gifts sent by family or relatives of the student during the festive seasons. The formation of this list is also done after counting the number of couriers and noting down the student name manually which is a hassle to make.

So what are we doing to improve this situation -

This project is an attempt to remove the need to register in our package room and reducing the time and energy spend by both admin and students to deliver/receive the package. We are building an app in the android studio based on flutter that uses dart as a language.

The app will contain a simple and minimalistic UI. It would be something that everyone can understand and there would be no training required for that. The data will be stored in firebase where we have created databases that will hold all the student data like name, email, and enrollment number that is entered by admin. A unique QR code will be generated every time and will be sent to the email address of the student.

The student has to click on the link and they will be redirected to a site where they can see their QR code. The admin to open the scanner in the app we are proving and using the camera in their smartphone admin can scan the code and the package number will appear. They can see the package number and give them to respective students.

User Interface -

While thinking about the design of the user interface for our project, we wanted to keep it simple yet familiar. We also wanted to make sure that all functionalities were easy to understand, especially for non-programmer’s/ tech enthusiasts. Keeping this in mind we kept the design very minimalistic, and only displayed the buttons and options that are required at a particular time. Nothing more, nothing less. We are using a dual-tone design to make our app more appealing rather than using a simple background. Making it dual makes the design more contrasting and appealing. The design is self-explanatory. We are making this app for admin use and form and functionality are both important to us. So, we will not be losing any functionality but still will have a great design.

Delivered Solution -

We were able to deliver on what we promised. We have a working app that is made for admin. The app is based on flutter that uses dart language. The data is stored on the cloud that would remove the use or register on the campus. The admin just needs to mark the package with a number and based on the details provided in the label of the package ordered by the student. The admin can send an email to the student through an email that will contain the link to the QR code. The student just needs to click on the link and show the QR code to the admin. The admin to open the scanner in the app we are proving and using the camera in their smartphone admin can scan the code and the package number will appear. They can see the package number and give them to respective students.

Future Work -

We plan to add new features in the future like using AI/ML for predicting how many packages are going to come to university approximately. We are also going to add a new view for students where instead of email students will have to sign up in the application and will receive the QR code there only.

To further help the admin by reducing/automating the number of details that they have to enter manually.

Make an app for students where they can just sign up and they will get their QR codes there.

Resources Used -

Challenges faced -

1. We had no idea how to develop an app. In a previous project, we have to build a website but those were based on java. We took flutter as a challenge we had no idea how to use dart language. So, our lack of knowledge in the field may cause some problems.

2. There is a lack of documentation as there is not a lot of support for a flutter. It is a new technology relatively as it was launched in May 2017.

3. We were going to use AWS to store our database but due to lack of support for a flutter, we had to use Firebase.

4. QR code generation was done but it would not go as an email because it uses a different format and not PNG format that could be sent through e-mail to anyone. So, we had to send it as a link to the student’s email address.

5. As coronavirus is going on we faced a lot of issues as days would just pass by without the track of time. There were travel restrictions that the team members were not able to meet and discuss issues.

6. We were dependent on the internet and due to excessive usage many ISP’s were not able to handle that load and as a result, no one was getting a stable connection making it even tougher to have communication between team and mentors.