ISOM 221

Information Systems Analysis and Design

Fall 2008/2009

Team Project Final Report

Group Name: L1-07

Group Members: AU, Kai Hin Alfred
CHAN, Pui Shu Grace
LAU, Chor Ken Elvis
LAU, Wing Ki Winnie
PUN, Chun Yiu Andy
TSANG, Hang Fung Napo

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 Table of Contents
Project Drivers
1. The Purpose of the Product 3
2. Clients, Customers and other Stakeholders 4
3. Users of the Product 5
Project Constraints
4. Mandated Constraints 9
5. Naming Conventions and Definitions 10
6. Relevant Facts and Assumptions 10
Functional Requirements
7. The Scope of the Work 11
8. The Scope of the Product 12
9. Functional Requirements 14
Non-Functional Requirements
10. Look and Feel Requirements 23
11. Usability Requirements 23
12. Performance Requirements 23
13. Operational Requirements 24
14. Maintainability and Portability Requirements 24
15. Security Requirements 24

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Project Drivers

1. The Purpose of the Product

The user problem

When buying clothes, people sometimes do not know which clothes to
choose or which clothes can best fit their clothes that they have bought before. In
order to help solve this problem and enhance the shopping experience of buying
clothes of customers, Clothes Recommendation System will be implemented.

Background to the project effort

To enable this system to work, the company has to first set up a membership
club for regular customers. Individual accounts can then be established for each
member to record their purchasing pattern. In the system, customers can input
their personal information, like height and weight. This data can help analyze the
clothes that customers need. Also, from the purchasing history, the system can
learn about the preferences of the customers. Thereafter, it can make customized
suggestions to members on the clothes that they may like.

Goals of project
Implementing this Clothes Recommendation System, company can
understand customers’ preferences easier. Therefore, the company can choose
to produce those favorite clothes more so as to reduce the cost of scarping the
unsold inventories or the cost of storing these products. They can also improve
the customer satisfaction and increase the sale volume by the customized
suggested clothes, which are suitable for the customers and they are likely to buy
the products.
Moreover, the company can reduce 15% of costs on marketing research
stages.
The key functionalities of our system are handling recommendation requests
and sending personal newsletters. Customers can request the clothes
recommendations through the Internet or the terminals in the shops. The system
will then generate the suggestions based on the information mentioned above.
The personal newsletters would be sent periodically, which contain the suggested
new arrivals.

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2. Client, Customers and other Stakeholders

Customer
Customers are the major stakeholders of the system. After registering as
a member of the clothes company, the customer can receive customized
clothes recommendation through the system. They can also receive personal
newsletter which is generated by the system. And the personal newsletter will
contain the new arrival that match with them.

Clothes Company
The clothes companies would be another key stakeholder. It is because the
companies can increase both the sales volume and customers’ satisfaction by
implementing this system. They may also reduce 15% of costs on marketing
research. Therefore, the system can create more profit for the companies.
Moreover, the system also helps the company to enhance the brand name as
well as to achieve a better competitive position by the customized service

Sales Staff
Those sales staffs are also benefited from this system. The system can
improve their productivity, since they can save time to ask for necessary
customers’ preference. Also the system can help the staff to improve the
customers’ satisfaction because of the right clothes they can suggest to the
customers.

Fashion Designer
The fashion designer classifies clothes in the company clothes database
into different categories. The fashion designer determines the types of clothes
recommended to customers by designing the matching principle for the
matching system to match the clothes and the customers. In addition, having
the system, they can spend less time on determining customers’ preference,
and also they can produce more popular clothes.

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3. Users of the Product

List of Actors:
1. Customer
2. Matching System
3. Company Sales Database
4. Customer Database
5. Company Clothes Database
6. Purchasing History Database
7. Technicians
8. Fashion Specialist

Actor Specification
Actor Name: Customer
Type: Primary Personality: I, R Abstract: No
Role Description:

A customer is a person who has opened a membership account or would like to open an
account. The customer is the main reason for the existence of clothes recommendation
system. The customer interacts with the system to obtain recommendation through
company webpage or terminals inside the shops. The customer also receive personal
newsletter generated by the recommendation system.
Actor Goals:

 Open membership account

 Manage account information, including their preferences and basic information
 Request clothes recommendation
 Receive Personal Newsletter
Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-001 Set up membership account

 UC-002 Retrieve customer data
 UC-003 Request recommendation
 UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter

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 Actor Specification
Actor Name: Matching System
Type: Secondary Personality: E, R Abstract: No
Role Description:

A matching system is a system which matches the data of the clothes with different
customers. The system retrieves data from different systems and actors and sends the
result to the clothes recommendation system. This system is used to match the clothes
with the customers, based on their style, physical appearance, etc.
Actor Goals:

 Provide the matching result to the recommendation system

Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-003 Request recommendation

 UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter

Actor Specification
Actor Name: Company Sales Database
Type: Secondary Personality: E Abstract: No
Role Description:

A company sales database stores data about the company sales. The company sales
database provided information about the popularity of the recommended clothes. This
information is required because the clothes recommendation is listed in the order of the
clothes popularity.
Actor Goals:

 Identify the popularity of the recommended clothes

Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-003 Request recommendation

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 Actor Specification
Actor Name: Customer Database
Type: Secondary Personality: E,R Abstract: No
Role Description:

A customer database is a database which stored the data of the customer. The customer
database exists because storing the customers’ data can help the system to provide the
most suitable service to them. Customer can also edit the data through the web or
terminals. And the system also gets the customer’s email address from this database in
order to provide personal newsletter to the customer.
Actor Goals:

 Update the database

 Record customers’ account
 Provide data to the system, eg email address and customers’ physical characteristics
Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-001 Set up membership account

 UC-002 Retrieve customer data
 UC-003 Request recommendation
 UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter

Actor Specification
Actor Name: Company Clothes Database
Type: Secondary Personality: E, R Abstract: No
Role Description:

The company clothes database is a database that stores the clothes items that the
company sells, including shirts, skirts, socks, etc. When there are new clothes, the
database will be updated. This database works with Purchasing History Database to
provide information for Matching System.
Actor Goals:

 Keep the up-to-date information on all the clothes that company has
 Provide source to the matching system
Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-003 Request Recommendation

 UC-004 Update Company Clothes Database
 UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter

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 Actor Specification
Actor Name: Purchasing History Database
Type: Secondary Personality: E, R Abstract: No
Role Description:

A Customer Purchasing History Database is a database which records each and every
purchasing history of an individual customer. This system is crucial for the Matching
System, which compares latest stock to customer’s purchasing history, preference, advice
from Faison Specialists and more. The database provides valuable sources to creating
meaningful matching results for Customers.
Actor Goals:

 Record purchase from Customers

 Provide source to the Matching System
Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-003 Request Recommendation

 UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter

Actor Specification
Actor Name: Technicians
Type: Secondary Personality: E Abstract: No
Role Description:

A technician is a person who is responsible for the supporting work of IT and machine
related things. They include the terminals and the company webpage. He maintains the
system so that the system can function normally. He also needs to update the system,
both hardware and software from time to time.
Actor Goals:

 Ensure the normal performance of the system

Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-005 Maintain Terminals and Webpage

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 Actor Specification
Actor Name: Fashion Specialist
Type: Secondary Personality: E Abstract: No
Role Description:

A fashion designer is a person who updates company clothes database and determines
the matching principle. The fashion designer classifies clothes in the company clothes
database into different categories. Each category of clothes fits people of a particular
physical characteristic. The classification of clothes allows the matching system to match
clothes to customers according to their physical characteristics.
Actor Goals:

 Classify clothes into different categories

Use Cases Involved with:

 UC-004 Update Company Clothes Database

Project Constraints
4. Mandated Constraints
 Security is one of the constraints of the system. The clothes
recommendation system has to make use of a lot of customers’
personal details in order to make clothes recommendations.
Therefore, a high security has to be maintained in the system in
order to protect the customers’ privacy. The security will be using
SSL.
 Since the system requires the Company Sales Database which is
created by other system within our company. The Company Sales
Database must have enough sales information for our system to
process the popularity of the recommended clothes.
 Customers should have network connections and web browsers with
Java installed in their personal computers.
 All staffs are well-trained to teach new customers about this system.

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5. Naming Conventions and Definitions
 Company Sales Database
A company sales database stores data about the company sales. This
database is created by other systems inside the company. The
company sales database provided information about the popularity of
the recommended clothes.
 Company Clothes Database
The company clothes database is a database that stores the clothes
items that the company sells, including shirts, skirts, socks, etc. When
there are new clothes, the database will be updated. This database
works with Purchasing History Database to provide information for
Matching System.
 Customer Database
A customer database is a database which stored the data of the
customer. The customer database exists because storing the
customers’ data can help the system to provide the most suitable
service to them. This database also provides email address for the
system to generate personal newsletters.
 Purchasing History Database
A Customer Purchasing History Database is a database which records
each and every purchasing history of an individual customer. This
database is also created by other systems within our company. This
database will be updated when the customers bought new clothes by
other systems. This database should have enough information for our
system to process the matching.

6. Relevant Facts and Assumptions

 The system can be accessed through both the Internet and the
terminals in the shop. Since one way of accessing the system is
web-based method, customers can login to our system anytime
anywhere.
 If customers purchase the clothes in our system through the Internet,
they can choose to pick up the clothes at our physical shops or can
have a deliver service, which belongs to another customer service
system inside the company.

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 The online payment in our system is provided by other trustful 3rd
parties, such as HSBC. And our system is not obligated to any
transaction problems.

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 Functional Requirements
Functional
7. Requirements
The Scope of the Work
7. The Scope of the Work

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8. The Scope of the Product

List of Use Cases:

1. UC-001 Set up membership account
New customers set up their own accounts through the Internet or
terminals inside the shops.
2. UC-002 Retrieve Customer Data
Existing customers can update or change their personal data and
their own preferences from time to time.
3. UC-003 Request Recommendation
Customers request personal clothes recommendations from our
system.
4. UC-003 A1 Request Recommendation Alternative for Sold Out
Company does not have enough inventories for the recommended
clothes that customers would like to buy.
5. UC-003-E1 Print Receipt Discount Coupon
Customers would like to print the transaction receipts or they would
like to print the discount coupon for them to use next time at our
physical shops.
6. UC-004 Update Company Clothes Database
Fashion specialists classify the new clothes purchased into different
categories of clothes and then update the clothes into the Company
Clothes Database according to the categories.
7. UC-005 Maintain Terminals and Webpage
Technicians repair the terminals and web servers when they are
broken down or errors occurred. And they also make necessary
updates to the hardware or software from time to time.
8. UC-006 Send Personal Newsletter
The system generates personal newsletters, which contain the
recommended new arrivals and other pre-written fashion articles,
twice a month. Then, system sends them to the customers’ email
addresses.
9. IUC-001 Log in and Verify Customer
System handles customers’ login and verifies them by checking the
password entered.

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8. The Scope of the Product

9. Functional Requirements

Use Case ID UC-001

Use Case Set up membership account
Actors Customer[P], Customer Database[S]
Description New customers browse webpage, enter personal data, enter login
name and password and receive confirmation of registration.
Pre-conditions Webpage is shown with welcome screen
Flow of Events 1 The system requires the customer to enter his/her personal data.
2 Customer enter their personal data
3 The system checks whether the customer have registered before
from customer database.
4 If the customer have registered before
4.1 The system shows the message that the customer have
registered before.
4.2 Go to step 1
5 Customer database send back the message that the customer
have not registered before.
6 The system requires customer to enter the log in name and
password.
7 Customers enter the log in name and password
8 The system checks if the log in name is used
9 If the log in name is used

7. The Scope of the Product

9.1 Go to step 7
10 The customer database send back the message that the log in
name is not used
11 The system sends the customer data to the customer database
12 The system shows the confirmation message of registration to
the customer.
13 The system shows the homepage
Post-conditions The registration is accepted by the system
Alternative flows Customer already registered, log in name used
Priority High
Non-Functional The personal data should be encrypted.
Requirements
The system should be ready for people to register most of the time
Assumptions The customer understands the languages we use in the webpage.
Source Questionnaires, Document Analysis

Use Case ID UC-002

Use Case Retrieve Customer Data

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Actors Customer[P], Customer database[S]
Description Existing customers may change personal data, fill in types of clothes
they want and preferences on clothes.
Pre-conditions Screen of editing personal information is on.
Flow of Events 1. Include IUC-001 Log in and Verify Customer.

2. System asks if the customers want to change personal data

3. If customer wants to change previous saved data
3.1System shows previous customer’s personal data
3.2 System requires the customer to fill in what types of
clothes they are seeking, like jacket, vest, sweatshirt,
cardigan, tee shirt, shirt, polo shirt, jeans, pants, dress, etc
3.3Customer enters the types of clothes he wants
3.4 System requires the customer to fill in preferences the
customer wants, like long-sleeved, short-sleeved, hooded,
wrinkled, slim-typed, baggy, newly arrived, etc
3.5 Customer enters the preferences of clothes he wants
3.6 Customer enters other data that he would like to change.
3.7Customer confirms all the changes.
3.8System saved the new data and sends back updated data
to Customer Database
Post-conditions Main menu is on again
Alternative flows /
Priority High
Non-Functional All required information, like weight, height, clothes types and
Requirements preferences, are “correct & truth” so that system can generate right
recommendations later.
Assumptions Customer’s basic information will not have much change but their
preferences on clothes will change from season to season.
Source Market Analysis

Use Case ID UC-003

Use Case Request Recommendation
Actors Customer[P], Matching System[S], Customer database[S],
Purchasing history Database[S], Company sales database[S],
Company clothes database[S]
Description Customer logs in, requests for clothes recommendations.
System displays the suggested clothes to customer.
Pre-conditions The main menu is displayed with clothes recommendation option.
Flow of Events 1. Include IUC-001 Log in and Verify Customer.

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 2. System displays a choice menu.
3. Customer selects for a clothes recommendation
4. Customer inputs some primary constraints, such as type of clothes.
5. System retrieves necessary data including customers’ preferred
clothes types, physical characteristics, company purchased clothes
from Customer Purchasing History Database and Customer
Database and Company Clothes Database respectively.
6. System sends all the retrieved data to the Matching System for
processing the recommendations
7. Matching System sends back the recommendation results.
8. System retrieves sales data from the Company Sales Database.
9. System calculates popularity of recommended clothes based on
sales data and sorts the received recommendation results in
decreasing order of popularity.
10. System displays recommended clothes.
11. If Customer inputs some additional constraints, such as the price
range of the clothes.
11.1 System removes the irrelevant results from the list.
11.2 Go to step 10
12. Customer chooses clothes for purchase.
13. If the clothes are sold out, execute to UC-003-A1.
14. Customer enters the transaction details.
15. If Customer wishes to print the transaction receipt and discount
coupons for next time, extend to UC-003-E1
16. Thank you screen is on.
Post-conditions The main menu is displayed again.
Alternative Flows Company may not have enough inventories at that time.

Customer want to print receipts or coupons

Customer adds more constraints while recommending clothes.
Priority High
Non-Functional The system can display 100 recommended clothes items for one
Requirements customer at one time.

The system can generate the recommended clothes list within 2

seconds.
Assumptions The customers’ purchase records and details for their physical
characteristics are available
Source Customer Services Manual

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Use Case ID UC-003-A1
Use Case Request Recommendation Alternative for Sold Out
Actors Customer[P], Matching System[S], Customer database[S],
Purchasing history Database[S], Company sales database[S],
Company clothes database[S]
Description The clothes that the customer has chosen are short of inventories.
Customer needs to place a special order for buying the clothes.
Insertion Point UC-003; flow 17
Pre-conditions System notices that the chosen clothes is sold out at that time.
Alternative Flow 1. System informs customer that the clothes is out of stock
of Events
2. System asks customer of whether to reserve the clothes
3. If customer chooses to reserve the clothes
3.1 The clothes is automatically reserved
3.2 The system displays an acceptance screens and sends notification
email to customer when the clothes is available
3.3 Go to step 4
4. The system reminds manager to place an order for the sold-out item
Post-conditions The main menu is displayed again.
Priority High
Non-Functional Sold out items will be repurchased less than a week.
Requirements
Assumptions /
Source Customer Services Manual

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Use Case ID UC-003-E1
Use Case Print Receipt Discount Coupon
Additional Actors /
Description Allows customer to print the transaction receipt and the discount
coupons for them to use next time.
Extending Use Case UC-003 Request recommendation
Extension Point UC-003; flow step 20
Guard Condition Transaction Receipt and Discount Coupon printing options are
chosen and enabled.
Flow of Events 1. The system ask the customer if he/she would like a printed
transaction receipt and discount coupon

2. If customer wants a transaction receipt

2.1 Print statement
2.2 Go to step 3
3. If customer wants a discount coupon
3.1 Display different types of discounts coupons
3.2 Customer choose one desired discount coupon
3.3 Print the chosen discount coupon
Post-conditions Return to UC-003 and continue on flow step 21
Alternative Flows /
Priority Medium
Non-Functional Statement and discount coupons can be printed out within 20
Requirements seconds
Assumptions /
Source Interview of customer services

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Use Case ID UC-004
Use Case Update company clothes database
Actors Company Clothes Database[S], Fashion Specialists[S]
Description Fashion specialists classify new clothes and update the detailed
information to Company Clothes Database according to the
categories.
Pre-conditions Company has purchased new clothes
Flow of Events 1. New clothes arrive

2. System sends acknowledgments to the fashion specialists.

3. Fashion specialists classify the new arrivals into different
categories of clothes.
4. If the new arrivals are classified to be a new category
4.1 Fashion specialists create a new category
4.2 Acknowledgments are sent to the front-line shops
4.3 Go to step 5
5. Fashion specialists definite the suitable targets for each clothes
and write a short description about the clothes.
6. Fashion specialists update those clothes with the detailed
information into Company Clothes Database according to the
categories.
Post-conditions Those new clothes are sent to the physical stores.
Alternative Flows The new arrivals are classified to be a new category
Priority Medium
Non-Functional System allows many fashion specialists to input the new arrivals’
Requirements information at the same time.
Assumptions Fashion specialist can correctly categorize all new clothes
Source Business Operation Manual

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Use Case ID UC-005
Use Case Maintain Terminals and Webpage
Actors Technician[S]
Description Technician repairs the terminals and web servers, and makes
necessary updates to the hardware or software.
Pre-conditions Terminals or web servers occur errors or broken down
Flow of Events 1. System sends acknowledgements to technician

2. Technician checks the problems of terminals or web servers

3. Technician repairs the terminals or web servers by replacing
some hardware or reinstalling the software.
4. If the errors cannot be fixed immediately
4.1 Technician informs the head office for replacement
4.2 Technician places a notice to both staff and customers
4.3 Go to step 6
5. Technician reconfigures the terminals or web servers according
to the latest company’s policies
6. Technician documents the errors details and sends a copy of the
documentation to the head office for reference.
7. Technician allow customer to use the terminals or to access the
web servers again.
Post-conditions Terminals or web servers are repaired and updated
Alternative Flows Errors cannot be fixed immediately.
Priority Medium
Non-Functional The system can send acknowledgements to technicians within an
Requirements hour when errors occurred
Assumptions Technician performs system maintenance monthly
Source Interview, Document Analysis

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Use Case ID UC-006
Use Case Send Personal Newsletter
Actors Customer[P], Customer Database[S], Matching System[S],
Company Clothes Database[S], Purchasing History Database[S]
Description Bi-weekly Newsletter is distributed to customer. Content of
newsletter includes personalized recommendation and pre-written
fashion articles.
Pre-conditions System meets the scheduled time to distribute the newsletter
Flow of Events 1. System retrieves mailing list of customers who have subscribed
to newsletter.

2. System retrieves customer data and new arrivals information for

matching from Customer Purchasing History Database,
Customer Database and Company Clothes Database.
3. System sends all the retrieved data to Matching System
4. Matching System sends back recommendation results.
5. Recommendation results are embedded into pre-written
newsletter templates.
6. System prepares and distribute newsletter to customers.
Post-conditions System has sent the emails to customers.
Alternative flows /
Priority Medium
Non-Functional The system prepares newsletter at least bi-weekly.
Requirements
The appearance and the content of the newsletter should be
attractive to customers as a way to promote the store instead of
spamming customers.
Assumptions Customers have email address for receiving newsletter.

Customers have set up accounts and input necessary information

for the recommendation process to be feasible.
Source Customer Services Manual, interviews with managers

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Use Case ID IUC-001
Use Case Log in and Verify Customer
Description Customer logs in; system verifies the customer and checks the
password.
Including Use Cases UC-002 Retrieve Customer Data;
UC-003 Request recommendation
Pre-conditions System notices that customer entered into webpage or terminals.
Alternative Flow of 1. System asks customer to input account number and password.
Events
2. Customer enters account number and password.
3. If account number does not exist or password is incorrect
3.1 If customer enters incorrect password 5 times
3.1.1.Customer account is locked for an hour.
3.1.2.The process ends and main menu displays again.
3.2 System displays error message.
3.3 Go back to step 1
4. System displays the welcome back message.
Post-conditions System is back on the next flow step right after this included use
case was invoked.
Alternative Flows Customer inputs wrong account numbers or passwords
Priority High
Non-Functional The system can verify the customer for login within 2 seconds.
Requirements
Assumptions Customer can understand the language we used.
Source Operational Procedures Manual

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NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

10. Look and Feel Requirements

10.1 Interface:
The system should be simple and user-friendly. It should contain clear
instructions to guide users. This shortens the time for the customers and
staff to learn how to control the system.
10.2 Style:
The system should have a stylish design. This helps to create a more
fashionable image of the company.

11. Usability Requirements

11.1 Ease of use/learning:
The system must be simple. People with little computer background
should also be able to operate the system without difficulties. This allows
the system to serve a greater range of customers
11.2 Personalization:
The system can provide customized clothes recommendation to
customers. The selection criteria will be based on the customers’
purchase history, their physical characteristics and preferences.
11.3 Access considerations:
The online purchasing system can only be accessed by registered
members and administrators. This ensures that the personal information
of the customers is protected.

12. Performance Requirements

12.1 Speed:
The system can update all databases real time so that both customers
can staff can get the most updated information from the databases.
The Matching system should be able to give clothes recommendation to
users within 2 seconds.
12.2 Availability:
The system must be available 24 hours through the internet; so that the
users can order the recommended clothes at any times that they want.

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13. Operational Requirements
13.1 Technical Environment:
The system must be able to retrieve and integrate data from various
databases. This is because the clothes recommendation is made based
on many different data (e.g. customers’ preference, purchasing history).
Therefore the system should be able to process a large amount of data.
13.2 Physical Environment:
The system must be accessible through web browsers and the terminals
in the stores. This allows users to assess to the system more easily and
brings them convenience.

14. Maintainability and Portability Requirements

Regular maintenance would be carried out by the technicians. Regular
maintenance can keep the system in a good repair so that when the
customer need to access through the machine or the Internet and the
administrators need to retrieve data from the customer, they can do in a
very smooth way. Another advantage would be that the data can be kept
well and would not be lost. We have a disaster recovery plan. If the
servers are damaged and data cannot recover, we will use the backup
data which is stored separately to recover the lost.

15. Security Requirements

15.1 Access:
Customers would have their own login name and password. They can
use their login name and password to access their own account but not
the others. Only the administrators have the right to access the
customers’ data and are authorized to login into the database.
15.2 Privacy:
SSL would be used when data are being transferred over the Internet in
order to prevent unauthorized people to retrieve the data so that
customers’ privacy can be protected.

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