The vast majority of medium and large apartment complexes do not use computer systems to manage individual apartment rentals and information relating to renting apartments. Currently apartment managers use antiquated means to track apartment rentals such as paper filing systems, 3 X 5 cards, and pen and paper ledger systems. These types of recording systems introduce significant risks to the apartment complex record system such as, misfiling, incorrect entries, and incorrect calculations. These mishaps can cost the apartment complex thousands of dollars in lost revenues and wasted time.

The new apartment rental system will greatly simplify the record system used today by allowing managers to focus on managing the apartment complex rather than bookkeeping and record tracking. This system will allow apartment managers to accurately track and integrate data related to apartment rentals, occupancy rates, turnover rates, and walk in foot traffic. In addition, the system will integrate all components of the apartment rental process to include, deposit tracking, renter information, apartment unit information, and perspective renters. Integrating the data into one application will allow apartment managers to have all the data pertinent to the entire rental process at their finger tips, and using the integrated reporting tools apartment managers will be able to make informed decisions based on all the data rather than the individual components. The reporting component of the apartment management system is not in the scope of this design.

Finally, the apartment management system will store data including information about the apartment complex, tenants, and prospective tenants. In addition, it will store information about the apartment rental units including, maintenance status and occupancy status.

Requirements Specification

The data storage method will be a suitable database that has the capability to create dynamic queries. Dynamic queries allow the user to create reports on the fly.

Please see below for a listing of all system requirements.

Req. #		Requirement Entry Date or Change date	Req. Criticality		Req. Area	Description of Requirement
1		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Maintenance	Track rental unit maintenance information
1.1		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Maintenance	Store Maintenance Information Age of Paint Age of Carpet Linoleum age Overall apartment condition
2		8/1/02	Must		Apt. Unit Rental	Store Occupancy Information Date Occupied Date Vacated
3		8/1/02	Must		Apt. Unit General	Store Apt. type Number of bedrooms Number of baths
3.1		8/1/02	Must		Apt. Unit General	Store Parking Information Covered Uncovered
4		8/1/02	Must		Apt. Tenant Info.	Store Tenant Information Name Social Security Monthly Salary Make, Model, License Number on Veh, Drivers License Number Current Employer Unit Number Occupied Occupancy Date
5		8/1/02	Must		Inquiry Information (Walk in traffic)	Store Walk in traffic information Name Current Address Phone Number Interest Level
6		8/1/02	Must		Deposit Tracking	Store Deposit Information Amount of deposit Who left the deposit Deposit for which unit
7		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Ledger
7.1		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Ledger	Credit Entries (Payments)
7.2		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Ledger	Debit Entries (Charges)
7.3		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Ledger	Unit Number
7.4		8/1/02	Must		Apartment Unit Ledger	Unit Deposits
8		8/1/02	Must		Credit Report	Store Credit information - it is out of scope to model the credit reporting agency – only store the information returned from the credit reporting agency.
9		8/1/02	Must		Reporting Module	Allow the apartment manager to run several different types of reports based on selection criteria.
10	10/10/02		Must	Reporting Module			Allow the apartment employees to run several differenc

Use Case Diagram

Use Cases

UC 1 – Run Credit Report
Primary Actor
Office Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Accesses the apartment rental system to access the prospective tenants credit report – wants accurate reliable information. Perspective Tenant – wants financial credit accurate and reliable
Preconditions
Rental applicant supplied the rental agent accurate information
Postconditions
Rental agent is supplied with the prospective tenant’s financial credit report that will assist the apartment manager to approve or reject the rental application
Main Success Scenario
Rental agent or apartment manager accesses the Apartment Rental system and enters the rental applicant’s information. Once the rental applicant’s credit report is displayed the rental agent prints out the credit report and gives it to the apartment manager for approval.

UC 2 – Check Unit Availability
Primary Actor
Apartment Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Wants to check the availability of a unit. This could be a unit that is either occupied or unoccupied.
Preconditions
The unit number is a valid unit number in the apartment complex
Postconditions
Rental agent or apartment manager has entered a valid apartment number and the information about that apartment is displayed on the screen
Main Success Scenario
The rental agent or apartment manager enters a valid apartment number in that Apartment Rental System, and the system returns the status of the apartment.

UC 3 – Enter Foot Traffic
Primary Actor
Office Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Wants to collect the perspective renter’s information Perspective Tenant – wants to view an apartment
Preconditions
None
Postconditions
Rental agent or apartment manager has successfully entered the perspective tenant’s information in the Apartment Rental System.
Main Success Scenario
Rental agent greets the perspective renter, and request that the perspective renter fills out an information card. Once the card is filled out, the rental agent enters the information into the Apartment Rental System.

UC 4 – Check Unit Status
Primary Actor
Apartment Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Wants to check the Status of a unit. This could be a unit that is either occupied or unoccupied.
Preconditions
The unit number is a valid unit number in the apartment complex
Postconditions
Rental agent or apartment manager has entered a valid apartment number and the information about that apartment is displayed on the screen
Main Success Scenario
The rental agent or apartment manager enters a valid apartment number in that Apartment Rental System, and the system returns the maintenance status of the apartment. This includes the life of the paint, life of the carpet, and other maintenance related information.

UC 5 – Analyze Rental Application
Primary Actor
Apartment Manager
Stakeholders and Interests
Apartment Manager– Wants to analyze the rental application to make sure that it meets the requirements to admit the rental applicant as a new tenant.
Preconditions
The apartment manager has the rental application, and it contains all the information necessary.
Postconditions
A decision has been made by the apartment manager to accept or reject the rental application.
Main Success Scenario
The apartment manager pulls up the rental application in the Apartment Rental System that contains all the information necessary to make a decision to accept or reject the new applicant. The apartment manager analyzes the rental application, and makes a decision to accept or reject the rental application.

UC 6 – Balance Deposit Ledger
Primary Actor
Apartment Manager
Stakeholders and Interests
Apartment Manager– Wants to keep track of all deposits left by perspective renters. Wants to make sure that all deposits left balance the total amount of deposits on hand.
Preconditions
Deposits have been left by perspective renters that are logged in the system.
Postconditions
The deposit ledger balances with what is currently on hand.
Main Success Scenario
The apartment manager starts the deposit ledger component of the apartment rental system, and compares the amount that the deposit ledger indicates with the amount on hand. Additionally, the apartment manager accounts for the number of deposits left with what the system indicates. Once the manager is satisfied, the manager logs out of the deposit ledger component of the Apartment Rental System.

UC 7 – Run Reports
Primary Actor
Office Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Accesses the apartment rental system to run the reports.
Preconditions
Information in the system is accurate and up to date.
Postconditions
The report the rental agent or apartment manager requested is displayed on the screen – the new report can either be viewed on the screen or printed out on the printer.
Main Success Scenario
Rental agent or apartment manager accesses the Apartment Rental system and accesses the reporting component of the system. Either a predefined report or a custom report is selected a run. Once the report has completed, the user can either view the report on the screen or print out the report on the printer.

UC 8 – Enter Rental Application
Primary Actor
Office Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Accesses the apartment rental system, and enters the rental application into the system so that it can be viewed electronically and saved.
Preconditions
The rental application is complete.
Postconditions
The information on the paper rental application has been entered into the system.
Main Success Scenario
Rental agent or apartment manager receives a rental application from a perspective tenant, and checks it to make sure that all information is filled in and complete. The apartment management system is then accessed, and the information on the paper rental application is entered into the system. Once the information has been entered into the system, the information is saved.

UC 9 – Check Tenant Information
Primary Actor
Office Employee
Stakeholders and Interests
Rental Agent or Apartment Manager– Accesses the apartment rental system, and accesses the tenant information component.
Preconditions
All the required information has been entered into the system about the tenant.
Postconditions
The tenant information is displayed on the screen.
Main Success Scenario
Rental agent or apartment manager accesses the apartment rental system, and enters the name of the tenant and the unit number of the tenant and presses enter. Once the tenant information is displayed on the screen – the data can either be viewed on the screen or printed out on the printer.

Proposal phase Class Diagram

Class Model Narrative & Explanations

Unit Status Relationship

Unit status is an aggregate of ExternalStatus and InternalStatus. I made this design decision because the internal status and the external status of an apartment unit is actually part of that UnitStatus, and ExternalStatus and InternalStatus could not exist without the class UnitStatus. In addition, the class model is easier to understand when designed this way.

Apartment Contact Relationships

When creating the relationships for Apartment Contact I decided to use inheritance for Prospective Renter and Tenant because both Prospective Renter and Tenant are both apartment contacts, and meet the requirements of the “Is A” relationship.

The rest of the relationships in the class model are simple relationships that do not require explanations.

Class Responsibility and Collaboration Cards (CRC)

Apartment
Store Internal and external Unit status	UnitStatus
Store Apt. Info.
Store Deposit Information	Ledger
Store Rent Payment Information	Ledger

Prospective Renter
Store Personal Info.	Apartment Contact
Store Date Visited
Store Interest Level

UnitStatus
Store Unit Condition
Store New Paint Date
Store New Carpet Date
Set New Paint Date
Store the status of the unit
Get Apartment Number	Apartment
Store External Status of unit	Contains External Status Class
Store Internal Status of Unit	Contains Internal Status Class

RentalApplication
Store Tenant Personal Information	Apartment Contact
Store Credit History	Credit Report
Store Previous Rental History

Ledger
Get Apartment #	Apartment
Get Deposit Amount	Line Item
Set Deposit Amount	Line Item

CreditReport
Store Personal Info.	Apartment_Contact
Store Credit report
Store Credit Information	Apartment Contact

Line Item
Store Amount – Value	Ledger
Store Item Number	Ledger

Apartment_Contact
Get Apartment Number	Apartment
Store Personal Information	Tenant :: or Foot traffic
Store # of people living in the unit
Store the move-in date
Store Credit History	RentalApplication :: CreditReport
Store Type of Contact
Get deposit amount	Ledger

Tenant
Store Personal Info.	Apartment_Contact
Get Apartment Unit	Apartment

Sequence Diagram 1 – Apartment Manager Enters a Rent Payment

Sequence Diagram 2 – Maintenance Worker Checking Unit Status

Scenario 1 – For Use Case Analyze Rental Application

The apartment manager Jim Smith logs into the Apartment management system by entering his user name “JimMgr” and his password “********”. The Apartment Management System validates Jim’s user name and password, and the initial screen is displayed for Jim to select what he would like to do next. Jim selects the option “Analyze Rental Application”. The Analyze Rental Application screen is displayed, and Jim enters the Social Security number of the applicant( “234-45-6789”). The system validates that there is a rental application in the system that matches the Social Security number entered, and successfully displays the applicant’s rental application. Jim then analyzes the rental application for the minimum qualifications that consist of;

1. Applicant must make at least $1200.00 per month

2. Applicant must have been at their current job at least 12 months

3. Applicants references must be verifiable

If the rental applicant meets all the following criteria then Jim approves the application, and the initial screen “Analyze Rental Application” is displayed again. At this point Jim logs out of the analyze rental application, and the approved rental application is sent back to the rental agent for applicant notification.

Scenario 2 – For Use Case Check Unit Status

The maintenance supervisor, Sally Long logs into the apartment management system by entering her user name “SallyMaintSup” and her password “********”. The Apartment Management System validates Sally’s user name and password, and the initial screen is displayed for Sally to select what she would like to do next. Sally selects the option “Check Unit Status” from the main menu. After making her selection from the main menu, the apartment management system requests the unit number. Sally enters unit “654”, and the maintenance information for unit “654” is displayed on the monitor. Sally is interested in the date the unit was last painted and if the unit is occupied. Sally notes the information and logs out of the system.

Apartment

Prospective Renter

UnitStatus

RentalApplication

Ledger

CreditReport

Apartment_Contact

Line Item

Apartment_Contact

Tenant

Apartment_Contact

Scenario 2 – For Use Case Check Unit Status