Introduction
Finding seats during lunch periods is always
difficult due to the common schedule of consuming lunch at the same timing,
even more so if a group of people are looking to seat with each other for their
meal. Sometimes seats are taken up by those who have finished their food and
are loitering around, or chatting away while occupying the seats that could be
used by others.
In SIT@Dover, there are two canteens where
students and staff commonly have their meals before their next lesson. However,
the canteens are always packed during lunch break due to the increasing
population of the student body in SIT. As a result, there are very few seats
available during said periods. Some students might even opt to skip out on
their lunch, which could lead to negative health effects. According to Hyatt
(2017), skipping lunch can lead to individuals being distracted from their work
and other effects such as “drowsiness, fuzziness, and fatigue”. As such, it is
crucial for SIT to address the lack of seats at the canteen during lunchtime.
According to a survey conducted, 96% of the
participants consume their lunch in the canteens within SIT campus, and 98% of
them will be in groups of two or more. Furthermore, 78% usually have to wait
for more than 5 minutes to get a seat during lunch break. As most people finish
their meals within half an hour, the turnover rates for the tables should be
high, yet the students and staff still have problems finding seats during peak
period. It has been observed that the cause of this issue is patrons are
hogging the seats after their meals.
There should be available seats in the two
canteens of SIT@Dover for students and staff members during lunch time,
removing the waiting time spent on finding a vacant seat.
Problem statement
There is a lack of seats at the canteens during
lunch period due to patrons who do not leave after consuming their meals,
resulting in students and staff members to be unable to find any available
seats. An online reservation system at SIT@Dover could facilitate the turnover
rate of seats in the canteens, helping students and staff members to cut
unnecessary time waiting for unoccupied seats.
Purpose statement
The aim of this report is to
propose to SIT department of state affairs the usage of an advanced booking
system for the canteens. This system will allow students to reserve a seat
without having to spend time waiting for a seat and manage the lunch crowd at
SIT@dover.
Current Implementation
The process of
finding a seat in the canteens of SIT@Dover is to find an available seat. If
the number of seats does not accommodate the number of people within a group of
patrons, then the patrons will have to wait for another seat to become vacant.
Upon finding a seat, students tend to leave their belongings behind, while
purchasing their food at the stalls, before heading back to the seat to consume
their meal.
Limitations
The students
are at the risk of having their belongings stolen when their bags are left
unattended at the seats while they are purchasing their food. Another
limitation is the patrons loitering after their meals, taking up the seats that
could be used by others during lunch period. As there is no regulations for
using the canteen facilities, people could use the seats for any purpose aside to
consuming their meals.
Benefits
It is
convenient as there is no system in place, people are able to head down to the
canteens at any time without prior planning.
Proposed Solution
The proposed
solution is for a system to allow students and staff members to reserve a seat
in advance. The reservation of seats will be independent to the current system
that is implemented in the canteens, making it an optional choice for patrons
to use to obtain a seat.
Technical
specifications
The system will
be integrated with SIT’s website, to allow for better management of the system.
As students and staff members are familiar with SIT’s website, it will be more
convenient for them to use the system as opposed to using an external platform
to reserve the seats.
A deposit will
be required to use the reservation system, which will be refunded if the users
do not abuse the system. A penalty will be incurred if people do not show up
after booking a seat through the system. Students and staff members need to use
their matriculation or staff ID to account for their usage of the system. Upon
arriving at the seats at the canteen, the user is required to scan their ID
card before going for lunch.
Benefits of
proposed solution
The benefits of
implementing an online booking system would be having little to no waiting time
to find seats at the canteen during lunchtime. The turnover rate of seats would
be at its optimal as patrons would have to adhere to their timeslot booked.
With the online booking app, the reserved seats would be able to hold the
maximum amount of patrons possible during lunchtime.
Limitations of
proposed solution
The online
booking system is limited to the tables that are reserved for the system. Thus,
only 20% of the total seats in the canteen will be used for the system in its
initial stage. In addition, there are still majority of seats which are not
subjected to the regulations of the system. As a result, the issue of seats
hogging will still be present in the regular seating plan. Scheduled
maintenance and updates will be required for the reservation system, preventing
users from accessing the system during such period.
