HOTEL RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM USING RULE-

BASED

MAIZATUL IZZANI BINTI AHMAD

BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

(SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT)

UNIVERSITI SULTAN ZAINAL ABIDIN

2017

HOTEL RECOMMENDATION USING RULE-BASED

MAIZATUL IZZANI BINTI AHMAD

Bachelor of Computer Science (Software Development)

Faculty of Informatics and Computing

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia

MAY 2017

i

DECLARATION

I, Maizatul Izzani Binti Ahmad, Bachelor of Computer Science (Software

Development) hereby declare that this report is based on my original work except for

quotations and citations, which have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it

has not been previously or concurrently submitted for any other degree at Universiti

Sultan Zainal Abidin or other institutions.

________________________________

Name : Maizatul Izzani Binti Ahmad

Date : 14 May 2017

ii

CONFIRMATION

This is to confirm that this final year project entitled Hotel Recommendation System

has been prepared and submitted by Maizatul Izzani Binti Ahmad, with matric

number BTAL 14037560 and has found satisfactory in terms of scope, quality,

and presentation as a part of the requirement for the Bachelor of Computer

Science in Software Development in University Of Sultan Zainal Abidin

(UniSZA). The research conducted and the writing of this report was under my

supervison.

________________________________

Name : Pn. Maizan Binti Mat Amin

Date : 14 May 2017

iii

DEDICATION

I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who

has supported me to complete my final year project entitled Hotel

Recommendation System using Rule-Based technique successfully. I am

thankful for their aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive criticism and

friendly advice during this project work.

I express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Puan Maizan Binti Mat

Amin, who help in guiding me throughout my journey in finishing this

project. Under her supervision with a lot of advices, I was able to complete

this final year project successfully. Then, an honourable respect I present to

my family especially my parents for their understanding with my conditions.

I would also love to thanks all my friends and my course mates for

supporting me and gave me an aspiration to improve this project. I would like

to thank all the people for their help whether it was directly or indirectly to

complete this project.

iv

ABSTRACT

Malaysia is a beautiful country and has many tourist places. Malaysia in Asia

has always been a topic of interest among traveller and tourist who love and like to

visit in Asia. Problem occurs when tourists coming to Malaysia may spend a lot of

time looking for an appropriate hotel. It seems this problem need to be solved because

tourists will facing some difficulties such as time and energy consuming.

The proposed Hotel Recommendation System will help tourist to search hotel

and recommend the most suitable hotel regarding their requirement such as location,

expected budget and number of guest, room type and hotel’s activity. The user scope

for this system is for public user, hotel owner and admin. Public user can access the

system without register or login as member. This system is using Rule-Based

technique which allows developer to develop a system which depends on several

criteria to make ideal solution.

v

ABSTRAK

Malaysia adalah sebuah negara yang indah dan mempunyai banyak tempat-

tempat pelancongan. Di Asia, Malaysia sentiasa menjadi topik yang menarik di

kalangan pengembara dan pelancong yang suka dan suka dilawati di Asia.

Masalah berlaku apabila pelancong yang datang ke Malaysia menghabiskan

banyak masa mencari hotel yang sesuai. Masalah ini perlu diselesaikan kerana

pelancong akan menghadapi masalah seperti menghabiskan banyak masa dan

penggunaan tenaga untuk mencari hotel yang sesuai mengikut kriteria pengguna.

Sistem Cadangan Hotel yang dicadangkan ini akan membantu pelancong

untuk mencari hotel dan mengesyorkan hotel yang paling sesuai mengikut

keperluan mereka seperti lokasi, bajet, bilangan tetamu, jenis bilik dan hotel

aktivitinya. Skop pengguna untuk sistem ini adalah untuk pengguna awam, pemilik

hotel dan admin. pengguna awam boleh mengakses sistem tanpa daftar atau login

sebagai ahli. Sistem ini menggunakan teknik ‘Rule-Based’ yang membolehkan

pembangun perisian untuk membangunkan satu sistem yang bergantung kepada

beberapa kriteria untuk membuat penyelesaian yang ideal.

vi

CONTENTS

PAGE

DECLARATION i

CONFIRMATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ABSTRACT iv

ABSTRAK v

CONTENTS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES xvi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Problem statement 3

1.3 Objectives 3

1.4 Limitation of Work 4

1.6 Expected Result 4

1.7 Activity and Milestone 5

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Recommendation System 6

2.2.1 Hotel Recommendation System 7

2.3 Recommender System Approach 7

2.3.1 Collaborative Filtering approach

2.3.2 Content-Based approach

2.3.3 Knowledge-Based approach

2.3.3.1 Rule-Based

7

7

8

9

2.4 Table Comparison 11

2.5 Chapter Summary 14

vii

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

3.1

3.2

Introduction

Project Methodology

15

15

3.2.1 Phases in Iterative and Incremental Model 16

3.3 System Requirement 19

3.4 System Design 20

3.4.1 Framework Design 20

3.4.2 Context Diagram 22

3.4.3 DFD Level 0 24

3.4.4 DFD Level 1 26

3.4.5 DFD Level 2 31

3.4.6 DFD Level 3 32

3.5 Entity Relationship Diagram 33

3.6 Data Dictionary 35

3.7 Method and Algorithm 37

3.8 Chapter Summary 40

REFERENCES 41

viii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

2.1 First table in chapter 2 11

2.2 Second table in chapter 2 25

3.1 First table in chapter 3 19

3.2 Second table in chapter 3 19

3.3 Third table in chapter 3 35

3.4 Fourth table in chapter 3 35

3.5 Fifth table in chapter 3 35

3.6 Sixth table in chapter 3 36

3.7 Seventh table in chapter 3 37

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

2.1 First figure in chapter 2 8

2.2 Second figure in chapter 2 10

3.1 First figure in chapter 3 16

3.2 Second figure in chapter 3 21

3.3 Third figure in chapter 3 22

3.4 Fourth figure in chapter 3 24

3.5 Fifth figure in chapter 3 26

3.6 Sixth figure in chapter 3 27

3.7 Seventh figure in chapter 3 28

3.8 Eighth figure in chapter 3 29

3.9 Ninth figure in chapter 3 30

3.10 Tenth figure in chapter 3 31

3.11 Eleventh figure in chapter 3 32

3.12 Twelfth figure in chapter 3 33

3.13 Thirteenth figure in chapter 3 33

x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS / TERMS / SYMBOLS

CD Context Diagram

DFD Data Flow Diagram

ERD Entity Relationship Diagram

FYP Final year project

KBS Knowledge-Based

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Hotel is a place to stay for people when they want to make a travel. Traveller

usually faces the problem of difficult and time consuming for looking an appropriate

hotel. Nowadays, technology is growing in all over the world. With the development

of ICT at the time, people are more likely to use technology in all areas. But, on the

Internet, where the number of choices is overwhelming, there is need to filter,

prioritize and efficiently deliver relevant information in order to alleviate the problem

of information overload, which has created a potential problem to many Internet

users.

Recommender systems solve this problem by searching through large volume

of dynamically generated information to provide users with personalized content and

services [1]. This has increased the demand for recommender systems more than ever

before. Recommender systems are information filtering systems that deal with the

problem of information overload by filtering vital information fragment out of large

amount of dynamically generated information according to user’s preferences,

interest, or observed behaviour about item [1]. Recommendation systems have also

proved to improve decision making process and quality. With the rapid development

of network technology and the wide application of e-commerce, consumers are

increasingly interested in booking hotels online [4]. However, due to the growth of

hotel amount, users have difficulties in finding the desired hotel quickly.

2

The aim of this system is to generate a list of hotel based on several criteria set

by user. This system also provides additional features about hotel’s activity such as

adventure sport activity or relaxing. This system will recommend using rule-based

technique to generate list of recommended hotel based on user’s preferences. The

proposed online hotel recommendation system help tourists who visit Malaysia

included foreigner and local to find an ideal hotel based on several criteria.

3

1.2 Problem Statement

Problem arise when user have difficulty to plan a budget in choosing a hotel

because user need to research for each hotel prices. Thus, it will spend a lot of time

and energy consuming for manual search.

Other than that, users have problem of finding the appropriate accommodation for

holiday or business travel from the offer of several hotels with several properties

[Tom´aˇs Horv´ath, 2009].

Lastly, current systems are not emphasizing for hotel’s activity to user. Users

difficult to find an appropriate hotel based on their activity choices that offered by

hotels, such as adventure sport or relaxing activity. Most of current system just

showed the suggestion based on hotel’s prices and location.

1.3 Objectives

a) To design and develop a system that can generate a list of hotel based on user

preferences.

b) To implement rule-based technique to proposed system.

c) To evaluate the functionality of hotel recommender system.

1.4 Scope

The scope is going to outline the users and functions of this system. This web

based system focuses on public user, hotel owner and administrator who is responsible

in manage system. The system will address investigation steps on major phases of

recommendation

a) Public Users:

Able to enter location, expected budget, number of guest and hotel’s

activity

Able to search hotels

Able to view the list of hotel based on user preferences.

4

b) Hotel Owner:

Able to register account

Able to log in to the system

Able to add and update hotels details

Able to add and update hotel’s accommodation

c) Administrator:

Able to log in to the system

Manage Database

View list of registered hotel

1.5 Limitation of works

This system only able to recommend hotel based on available user preferences

only.

This system not provide for hotel’s booking.

1.6 Expected Results

a. Public Users :

Able to search an ideal hotel based on user’s preferences

Can view list of recommended hotel

b. System

Able to recommend an ideal hotel to user based on user’s preferences

5

1.7 Activity and Milestone

Activity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Discussion

and selection

of title

Registration

of project

title

Introduction

and detailed

problem

Literature

study

Proposal

progress

Presentation

and

Evaluation

Discussion

and

Correction

the proposal

Proposed

Solution -

Methodology

Proof Of

Concept

Seminar

Preparation –

Project

poster and

slide

Seminar

Registration

- Project

poster and

slide

Finalizing

Report of the

Proposal

Final Report

Submission

and

Evaluation

WEEK

6

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the research and technique that has been used by

existing recommendation system. Then, make a comparison among the techniques. It

also describes the methods or techniques suitable to be taken in the implementation of

this project. Many references and resources have been made in this chapter to help the

system meet the objectives of this system.

2.2 Recommendation System

Recommender systems help to searching through large volume of dynamically

generated information to provide users with personalized content and services. This

has increased the demand for recommender systems more than ever before. It is an

information filtering systems that deal with the problem of information overload by

filtering vital information fragment out of large amount of dynamically generated

information according to user’s preferences, interest, or observed behaviour about

item [1]. Recommender Systems have been widely used for product recommendations

such as books and movies as well as, it is also gaining ground in service

recommendations such as hotels, restaurants and travel attractions [2]. This project

purpose a recommender system for help users to make a selection hotel without

searching on blog or ask opinions from families and friends.

7

2.2.1 Hotel Recommendation System

Malaysia is a beautiful country and has many tourist places. There are a large

number of hotels in Malaysia, it may be difficult to tourists coming to Malaysia

because they may spend a lot of time looking for an appropriate hotel using their

preferences. Hotel Recommendation System will help tourist to search hotel and

recommend the most suitable hotel regarding their requirement such as location,

expected budget, number of guest and hotel’s activity such as adventure sport activity

or relaxing activity.

2.3 Recommender system approach

There three types of the most popular recommender systems approach which

are collaborative recommender system, content-based recommender system and

knowledge-based recommender system.

2.3.1 Collaborative Filtering approach

Recommendation is based on the items liked before by the other people with

similar tastes and preferences like in the past. Collaborative filtering is based on

neighbourhood of likeminded customers and similarity between items. Pearson

correlation or cosine similarity is used for the Neighbourhood formation scheme [1].

Collaborative filtering system collects more ratings from more users, the probability

increases that someone in the system will be a good match for any given new user.

However, a collaborative filtering system must be initialized with a large amount of

data, because a system with a small base of ratings is unlikely to be very useful [5].

The problem occur when the system do not have any data from other user to compare

with.

2.3.2 Content-Based approach

Recommendation is based on the items that have similar content and

characteristics to those the user liked before. A dataset that contains past user

transactions is split into training and testing set. It is all about theories of consumer

buying behaviour. Content based recommendations are independent of characteristics

8

of other users [1]. The system does not recommend the type of item that are different

from anything that user has already choose. Thus, problem will occur when user want

to try something new and system would never make it happen.

2.3.3 Knowledge-Based approach (KBS)

Recommendation is based on products based on inferences about a user needs and

preferences. Example for existing system using this approach is restaurant

recommender Entree (Burke, Hammond & Cooper, 1996; Burke, Hammond &

Young, 1997) makes its recommendations by finding restaurants in a new city similar

to restaurants the user knows and likes. The system allows users to navigate by stating

their preferences with respect to a given restaurant, thereby refining their search

criteria. A knowledge-based recommender system avoids some of these drawbacks. It

does not have a ramp-up problem since its recommendations do not depend on a base

of user ratings. It does not have to gather information about a particular user because

its judgements are independent of individual tastes. Figure 2.1 below shows the

development of a knowledge-based system:

Figure 2.1: Development of a knowledge-based system

The knowledge acquisition process incorporates typical fact finding methods

like interviews, questionnaires, record reviews and observation to acquire factual and

explicit knowledge. For this, techniques like concept sorting, concept mapping, and

protocol analysis are being used. The acquired knowledge should be immediately

9

documented in a knowledge representation scheme. For examples using rules, frames,

scripts and semantic network are the typical examples of knowledge representation

scheme. This project will use knowledge base (KBS) as recommender system

approach and using rules for knowledge representation.

2.3.3.1 Rule-Based

One of the most popular approaches to knowledge representation is to use

production rules into the system. Rule based also known as expert system that are

invented in the earlier 1970’s and are still in use until now. The definitions of rule-

based system depend almost entirely on expert systems, which are system that capture

the reasoning of human expert in solving a knowledge intensive problem. Instead of

representing knowledge in a declarative, static way as a set of things which are true,

the rule-based system represent knowledge in terms of a set of rules that tells what to

do or make a conclusion. A rule-based system can be simply created by using asset of

assertions and a set of rules that specify how to act on the assertion set. Rules are

expressed as a set of if-then statements, sometimes called IF-THEN rules. Rule

reasoning is process to derive a value for a conclusion. There are two means of

deriving conclusions. First, start with all the known data and progress toward the

conclusion by using data driven, forward chaining or forward reasoning. Second,

select a possible conclusion and try to prove its validity by looking for supporting

evidence by using goal driven, backward chaining, or backward reasoning. Figure 2.2

below shows an example for rule reasoning:

10

Figure 2.2: Example for rule reasoning

Rule 1

IF Surface = smooth

AND Fruitclass= vine

AND Color = green

THEN Fruit = honeydew

Each rule describes some characteristic of the different fruits through a series of

parameters, for example:

Fruit

Fruitclass

Seedclass

Parameters that represent the final answer are conclusions or goals.

Hotel Recommend System will use rule to describe some characteristic of the

different hotel through a series of parameters. In a nutshell, hotel recommendation

system will use rules for knowledge representation which is rule-based to provide the

problem-solving to this project.

11

2.4 Table Comparison

The table below shows the comparison among the techniques that have been studied:

Table 2.1: Table of comparison among technique

No Author Title Objective Technique/

Method

Advantages

1 Ferdaous

Hdioud,

Bouchra

bouchra

Frikh

and

Brahim

Ouhbi

(2013)

Multi-

Criteria

Recommen

der Systems

based on

Multi-

Attribute

Decision

Making

The aims of the study is to

use prediction phase, the

rating of an item for a

specific user is estimated

based on this user’s past

historical ratings, or the

content of a particular item

or the user profile. For

example movie rating.

Content

based

approach

-Have ability to

recommend new

items even if

there are no

ratings provided

by users

2 Prafulla

Bafna,

Shailaja

Shirwaikar

and

Dhanya

Pramod

(2016)

Semantic

Clustering

Driven

Approaches

to

Recommen

der

Systems

The purpose of the study is

using techniques for RS

which is Collaborative

Filtering systems that

analyse historical data of

wider set of users about

hotel.

Clustering is a widely used

data mining technique for

collaborative filtering

Semantic

based

clustering

using synset

groupings ,

collaborative

filtering.

-Measure

the quality of

cluster

-Personalized

recommendation

12

3 B. A.Gobin

and

R.K.

Subramania

n

(2007)

Knowledge

Modelling

for a Hotel

Recommen

dation

System

-To propose a simple

procedure for the

construction of the

knowledge model. UML

which is the

de facto language for

modelling in the software

engineering

arena

-To alleviate the problems

faced by KBS developers

due to the complex nature

of some methodologies

and also the lack of

standards for the

knowledge modelling,

Knowledge-

based

approach

-Presently

working on the

prototype of the

application that

will be used to

validate the

knowledge

model

4 Priti

Srinivas

Sajja and

Rajendra

Akerkar

(2010)

Knowledge-

Based

Systems for

Developme

nt

Describe all components

of knowledge-based

includes development and

structure of KBS.

KBS development

includes knowledge

representation using rules

based.

Knowledge-

Base

(Rule based

as knowledge

representatio

n)

-KBS act as an

expert on

demand without

wasting time

-Can save

money by

leveraging

expert,

-Allowing users

to function at

higher level

-Productive tool,

having

knowledge of

more than one

expert for long

13

period of time

5 Diana

Târnăveanu

(2012)

Knowledge-

Based

Decisions in

Tourism

Describe the

representation of

knowledge-based system,

steps have been taken in

order to transcend the

natural language

and achieve a symbolic

axiomatic language. Using

methods such as decision

trees or production rules

(If-then statement).

Knowledge-

Based

(production

rules)

- Offer support

by combining

reasoning and

human judgment

with computer

processing

-Can support

individual and

group decisions

- Cost reduction

14

2.5 Chapter Summary

This chapter discussing about how this project were first build from

research paper that has been researched to help in documenting this project.

Knowledge-based recommender systems perform a needed function in a world of

ever-expanding information resources. Knowledge representation scheme using Rule

based approach is one of the popular technique in helping the system in

making a decision. Rule based in much more easier to use rather than the

other approach because rule based only need the terms and conditions from

the users whereas the others are needing a complex calculation to calculate

something to make a correct decision for develop Hotel Recommendation System.

15

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter will discuss about the methodology that used to develop this

system. Hence, the iteration and incremental model is used for hotel recommendation

system and it also explains more detail about every phase that involve in this project

development to make sure this system can be accomplished successfully. Furthermore,

it also explains justification for the use of methods and technique as well as hardware

and software requirement during this project. Besides, this chapter contain Context

Diagram (CD), Data Flow Diagram (DFD) and Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) to

build this hotel recommender system.

3.2 Project Methodology

Methodology is a method used to develop a system. A good planning and

methodology must be used to accomplish the objectives of this project. Iterative and

incremental model has been chosen as the methodology to develop this system. The

benefits of iterative and incremental development are it has the opportunity and

improving the product step by step. Hence, it easier to manage risk and can track the

defects at early stages. This avoids the downward flow of the defects. Besides, in

iterative model less time is spent on documenting and more time is given for

designing. The flexibility of the model makes the project easy to implement at a very

16

little cost because of the frequency of new increments that are produced. Hence,

iterative and incremental model is saving of time and cost. Figure 3.1 below shows

the iterative model. This model follows eight main phase which are information

gathering (analysis), design, prototype, review, develop, implementation, testing

and maintenance.

Figure 3.1: Iterative and incremental model used in development methodology

3.2.1 Phases in Iterative and Incremental model

a) Initial and Planning Phase

During this phase, all the activities will be planned according to the given

period to complete the proposal of the system. Hotel Recommendation has been

selected as title of the project besides deciding the added value that wants to be used.

The planning phase is the most important phase since during this phased all the

planning on project development is properly planned. In the planning phase, the

detailed about this proposed system was discussed. Problem statements, objectives,

system’s scope and limitation of work were defined as well. The background analysis

of the Hotel Recommendation System was conducted by reviewing the journal about

the recommendation technique for recommendation system.

17

b) Requirement Phase

In requirement phase, the user and system requirement are identified in order to

develop a complete system. All the data related to the topic is collecting by referring

to the related system such as Trivago, Agoda, Kayak and Traveloka to gather

information and identify the weakness of these current systems. Some research has

been done to get overview about Rule-based techniques by referring to the internet,

newspaper and books.

c) Analysis and Design Phase

The requirement gathering information will help to gain an inspiration for design

in the analysis and design phase. Design phase is the phase where identify how to

build the system. The Context Diagram(CD), Data Flow Diagram(DFD) and Entity

Relation Diagram(ERD) and framework model are design to represent the detail in

order to describe the operation and flow of the system. Hence, make the system more

clear. During the system development, the interface is design with the connection to

the table database in MySQL PhpMyAdmin.

d) Implementation Phase

In this phase, all the informal specification is interpreted into formal specification

which required the design to be translated into code. Hotel Recommendation’s

interface is connected to the MySQL database. The implemented of the design is code

using HTML, PHP and JavaScript language. For system process development, the

implementation stage is focused more on Rule-based techniques and used to be code

using PHP language.

18

e) Testing Phase

In testing phase needs to be done to ensure that the system runs correctly . It is

important to ensure that the functionality of the system are meet the user requirement.

If the error found will be refer back to the background analysis, modelling and

implementation phase in order to understand the problem better and improve to make

a better system. Then the cycle of methodology is repeated until the project is well

functioning.

f) Evaluation Phase

During this phase, the system must be evaluated before deploy it to the end user. A

group of user will be asked to use the system and it is hoped that it will be user

friendly system. However, the problems occurred during the implementation phase

was effected the system which the system was not be evaluated until the last.

g) Deployment Phase

In this phase, the complete system is approved to release to the end user to

implement either the system correct functioning or not. Any changing or missed

requirement may force to redesign the system. This phase also was failed to carry out

if the system is not fulfil the requirement.

19

3.3 System Requirement

The requirement of hardware and software are the most important part of some

project because it will guide to the successful project. The hardware and software

requirements used in this project are shown in Table 3.1 and 3.2 below:

Table 3.1: Hardware used in this project

No. Hardware Specification

1. Laptop HP Pavillion

2. Processor Intel Core i5-2410M CPU (2.30 GHz)

3. Hard disk capacity 600 GB

4. Memory 4 GB RAM memory

Table 3.2: Software used in this project

No. Category Software

1. Database Management System

(DBMS)

phpMyAdmin

2. Application Database Software Xampp for phpMyAdmin

3. Application Software Notepad++

Workbench

20

3.4 System Design

Modelling and design are a diagram that built to scale which is represent the

detail in order to explain more about the system functioning in designing of database,

the interface that are build and the way of implementation method in this system.

System design is explained by Framework Design, Context Diagram (CD) and Data

Flow Diagram (Level 0,1,2 and 3).

3.4.1 Framework Design

A framework is a real or conceptual structure intended to serve as a support or

guide for the building of something that expands the structure into something useful.

A framework may be for a set function within a system and how they interrelate (the

layers of an operating system), the layers of an application subsystem (how

communication should be standardized at some level of a network).

The framework shown in Figure 3.2 below shows how the system will be

used by the user of this system which are user, hotel owner and the admin of

the system. The guest is needed to fill preferences of hotel accommodation which is

can be the location, number of guest, price per night and hotel’s activity. Hotel owner

is needed to login into the system. If they use this system for the very first time,

they need to sign up or register as a new hotel owner and then they can login

once after the registration is approve by admin. Then, hotel owner can login into

the system to manage accommodation for their hotel. By using the rule based

approach, system will receive user preferences insert by the user, then it will

generate the recommendation hotel from the database.

21

Figure 3.2: Framework for Hotel Recommendation System

22

3.4.2 Context Diagram

Figure 3.3: Context Diagram

The context diagram for the Hotel Recommendation System is shown in the

Figure 3.3 above. The Hotel Recommendation process is at the centre of the diagram.

The three entities (PUBLIC USER, HOTEL OWNER and ADMIN) are placed around

the central process. Fourteen data flows are involved in the interaction between the

central process and the entities. The PUBLIC USER entity has one incoming data

flow, LIST OF RECOMMENDATION HOTELS and has one outgoing data flows,

USER’S PREFERENCES. The HOTEL OWNER entity has three incoming data

flows that is FEEDBACK REGISTRATION, HOTEL OWNER DETAILS and

REPORT. It has three outgoing data flows, REGISTRATION DETAILS,

23

ACCOMMODATION, and HOTEL OWNER DETAILS. Finally, the ADMIN entity

has three of incoming data flows, REPORT LIST OF ACTIVE HOTEL and LIST OF

REGISTERED HOTELS. It has three outgoing data flows, LOGIN INFORMATION,

HOTEL CURRENT STATUS and APPROVE REGISTRATION HOTEL.

24

3.4.3 Data Flow Diagram (Level 0)

Description:

The DFD as Figure 3.4 above has three entities which are PUBLIC USER,

HOTEL OWNER, and ADMIN. The process that are involved in this system,

MANAGE USER, MANAGE HOTEL, MANAGE ACCOMMODATION,

MANAGE ADMINISTRATOR, ASSIGN HOTEL STATUS and REPORTING.

Figure 3.4: Data Flow Diagram

25

There are 4 data stored created in the system which is USER, HOTEL,

ACCOMMODATION and ADMIN.

1. ADMIN and HOTEL OWNER enter details to MANAGE USER which output

will stored into USER data store.

2. HOTEL OWNER enter hotel details to MANAGE HOTEL which output will

stored into HOTEL data store.

3. When HOTEL OWNER enter input the hotel details in data store, the details

will sent to ASSIGN HOTEL STATUS, generate LIST OF RECOMMENDED

HOTEL and REPORTING.

4. HOTEL OWNER enter accommodation in MANAGE ACCOMMODATION

then stored the detail in ACCOMMODATION data stored.

5. ADMIN enter admin details in MANAGE ADMINISTRATOR and save into

ADMIN data store.

6. ADMIN enter hotel status in ASSIGN HOTEL STATUS and the output will

store in HOTEL data store. The details will send to REPORTING.

7. HOTEL OWNER and ADMIN can view or get the report from REPORTING

that save in data store.

26

3.4.4 Data Flow Diagram (Level 1)

Difference from the DFD level zero, DFD level one is another level where the

main process in DFD level zero is being divided into a small part where we

can see what the main process actually is. Figure 3.5 until Figure 3.9 show

the every part of the main process in this management system.

Process 2: Manage user

Figure 3.5: DFD level 1 for Manage User

Description:

1. System provide a function to ADD new user and then stored in USER data

stored.

2. HOTEL OWNER and ADMIN can UPDATE their details that was stored

in USER data and the new updated user details can be retrieved.

3. HOTEL OWNER and ADMIN can get their details in USER data store.

4. HOTEL OWNER and ADMIN can GET user profile that can retrieved

from USER data store.

27

Process 3: Manage Hotel

Figure 3.6: DFD level 1 for Manage Hotel

Description:

1. HOTEL OWNER can ADD new hotel details then stored in HOTEL data

stored

2. A HOTEL OWNER can UPDATE their old details to the new one and stored

in HOTEL data store through update process.

3. HOTEL OWNER can get or view their details that can be retrieve from

HOTEL data store.

28

Process 4: Manage Accommodation

Figure 3.7: DFD level 1 for Manage Accommodation

Description:

1. HOTEL OWNER can ADD new accommodation details then stored in

ACCOMMODATION data stored.

2. A HOTEL OWNER can UPDATE their old details to the new one and stored

in ACCOMMODATION data store through update process.

3. HOTEL OWNER can get or view their details that can be retrieve from

ACCOMMODATION data store.

29

Process 5: Manage Administrator

Figure 3.8: DFD level 1 for Manage Administrator

Description:

1. ADMIN can ADD new admin details then stored in ADMIN data stored.

2. A ADMIN can UPDATE their old details to the new one and stored in

ADMIN data store through update process.

3. ADMIN also can delete their current details they do not want in DELETE

process then stored in ADMIN data stored.

4. ADMIN can get or view their details that can be retrieve from ADMIN data

store.

30

Process 6: Manage Hotel Status

Figure 3.9: DFD level 1 for Assign Hotel Status

Description:

1. ADMIN can ADD new hotel status then stored in HOTEL data stored.

2. ADMIN can UPDATE hotel old status to the new one and stored in HOTEL

data store through update process.

3. ADMIN can get or view hotel status that can be retrieve from HOTEL data

store.

31

3.4.5 Data Flow Diagram (Level 2)

Difference from the DFD level one, DFD level two is another level where the

process in DFD level one is being divided into a small part where we can see

what the main process actually is. Figure 3.10 below shows the part of process in

update user password.

Process Manage User

Figure 3.10: DFD level 2 for Manage User Process

Description:

1. A USER sends USER DETAIL to UPDATE PASSWORD process. The process

then sent USER DETAIL to USER data store.

2. A USER sends USER DETAIL to UPDATE EMAIL process. The process then sent

USER DETAIL to USER data store.

32

3.4.6 Data Flow Diagram (Level 3)

DFD level three is another level where the process in DFD level two is being

divided into a small part where we can see what the main process actually is.

Figure 3.11 below shows part of update user password process in verify user’s

password.

Process update user’s password

Figure 3.11: DFD level 3 for Manage User

Description:

1. A USER input USER OLD PASSWORD to VERIFY CURRENT PASSWORD

process. The process then sent USER OLD PASSWORD to USER data store.

2. . A USER input NEW PASSWORD to ENTER NEW PASSWORD process. The

process then sent NEW PASSWORD to USER data store.

3. . A USER input NEW PASSWORD to VERIFY NEW PASSWORD process. The

process then sent NEW PASSWORD to USER data store.

33

3.5 Entity Relationship Diagram

Figure 3.12: Entity Relationship Diagram (Reverse Engineering)

Figure 3.13: Entity Relationship Diagram

Manage

Manage

34

Entity Relationship Diagram as data modelling to development project. Data

modelling is needed because it can facilitate interaction among the designer,

application programmer and end-user. An entity-relationship diagram (ERD)

illustrates system’s entities information and entities’ relationship. ERD composed of 3

things such as identifying and defining the entities, determine entities interaction and

the cardinality of the relationship, as Figure 3.12 and 3.13 above.

Interaction of Admin and Hotel

One to many relationship

An admin can manage more than one hotel

But one hotel can be managed by only one admin at once

In Admin: adminId(PK)

In Hotel : hotel_id(PK)

Interaction of Hotel and Accommodation

One to many relationship

A hotel can manage more than one accommodation

But one accommodation can be managed by only one hotel at once

In Hotel : hotel_id(PK)

In Accommodation : hotel_id(FK)

35

3.6 Data Dictionary

Table 3.3: Database table for user

Attribute Type Length Explanation

userId VARCHAR 5 One ID can be own by only one

user.

password VARCHAR 10 Each user must have a password.

userType VARCHAR 2 Status whether the user is admin

or hotel owner

Table 3.4: Database table for Admin

Attribute Type Length Explanation

adminId VARCHAR 5 One ID can be own by one

admin.

adminName VARCHAR 50 Represents the name for admin

and Only character are allowed.

icNo VARCHAR 12 Represents identification card

number for admin and only

digits are allowed.

gender VARCHAR 6 Represents gender for admin

email VARCHAR 50 Represents email for admin

phoneNo VARCHAR 15 Represents phone number for

admin and only digits are

allowed.

Table 3.5: Database table for hotel owner

Attribute Type Length Explanation

hotelOwnerId VARCHAR 5 One ID can be own by one hotel

owner.

hotelName VARCHAR 50 Represents the name for admin

36

and Only character are allowed.

hotelAddress VARCHAR 30 Represents the address for hotel

postcode VARCHAR 5 Represents the postcode address

for hotel and only digits are

allowed.

city VARCHAR 30 Represents the city address for

hotel

state VARCHAR 30 Represents the state address for

hotel.

email VARCHAR 50 Represents email for hotel

phoneNo VARCHAR 15 Represents phone number for

hotel and only digits are

allowed.

totalRoom VARCHAR 5 Represents total hotel room

status VARCHAR 10 Represents hotel status

Table 3.6: Database table for Hotel Accommodation

Attribute Type Length Explanation

hotelOwnerId(FK) VARCHAR 5 One ID can be own by one

hotel owner.

noGuest VARCHAR 3 Represents number of guest

for hotel and only digits are

allowed.

price VARCHAR 10 Represents price for

accommodation.

roomType VARCHAR 20 Represents room type for hotel

activity VARCHAR 100 Represents activity that

offered

E.g. relaxing , adventure,

business travel

37

3.7 Method and Algorithm

Production rule to describe the systems that represent knowledge in the form of

rules. Rule-based systems normally use a working memory that initially contains the

input data for a particular run, and an inference engine to find applicable rules and

apply them. Rule-based technique used as powerful tools for making are recommender

system using If-then statement based on 5 criteria, which is location, number of guest,

price, room type and hotel activity. Example of Model Construction based on 5

criteria as Table 3.7 below.

Table 3.7: Example of Model Construction based on 5 criteria

Location No of

Guest

Room Type Price (RM) Hotel

Activity

Class

(Hotel)

Terengganu 2 Executive 150 Relaxing Manor

Beach

Resort

Terengganu

2 Executive 120 Relaxing Tiara Beach

Resort

Location

If location is Terengganu

Then list hotel in “Terengganu”

No of Guest

If no of Guest is 2

Then list 2 no of guest

Room Type

If room type is executive

Then list “executive” hotel room

38

Price per Night

If price per night is less than or equal to 180

Then list hotel <= 180p price per night

Hotel Activity

If hotel activity is relaxing

Then list hotel “relaxing” activity

If location is Terengganu

AND no of Guest are 2

AND room type is executive

AND price per night is less than or equal to 180

AND hotel activity is relaxing

THEN display list hotel executive hotel room for 2 no of guest at <=180 price per

night that have relaxing activity located in Terengganu

39

a) Algorithm

Start

Get user’s preferences

If (location==Terengganu && noGuest==2 && price<=180 &&

roomType== executive && hotelActivity== relaxing )

{

Display [location];

Display [noGuest];

Display [price];

Display [roomType];

Display [hotelActivity];

}

else

{

repeat the same process;

}

End

40

3.8 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, it described about project development model, system

framework, system modelling and design that contains Context Diagram (CD), Data

Flow Diagram (DFD) and Entity Relationship Diagram(ERD). Furthermore, it will

explain method or technique used for this project that will be implemented in the

development phase.

41

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