Indyflix Movie Rentals: Problems and Proposed System

Executive summary
The report provides an overview of Indyflix movie rentals which are based out in Melbourne,
Australia. They currently have 5 stores and are looking to expand further both digitally and
physically. Although their business is based on an outdated model, they’re a growing profitable
business. This report talks about the problems they are facing with their current IT system and
how can it be overcome by developing a new system. As such, the report talks about the
business, it’s competitors and provides an overview of the problems faced by them. The report
would then present a proposed system with the help of process table, functional and non-
functional requirement list and diagrams.
Introduction
Indyflix is a Melbourne based company. Their core business in to movie rentals. Although their
business model is quite old and that such businesses who were popular in the 1990s has largely
been defunct, Indyflix is thriving and growing. This is because they are into the niche business of
loaning independent movie, music and gaming. Viewers who are bored from mainstream movies
and music and also those who are passionate about independent movies and music are the prime
customers of Indyflix. However, their business management system as well as their website is
quite limited technologically. It not only creates issues and problems in their day-to-day
business, but is also restricting them now that they are growing exponentially. As a result, they
wish to upgrade their business management system along with their website with modern
technologies and principles allowing them to grow further and also help their customers be
served better by them.
Company/Organization Background
Australia is one of the major earning sources for International movies including Hollywood and
Bollywood. This is also primarily because of the large expat community and cosmopolitan nature
of Australia. In 2017, Movies accounted for nearly 53.2% of the video rentals in Blu-Ray and
DVDs which increased by 3% from the previous year. According to Screen producers Australia,
Independent films employee hundreds of thousands of practitioners, producers, employees,
actors and member with an annual production activity amounting to 1.7 Billion AUD. It is
evident that feature films are a major part of the entertainment industry in Australia and also that
people are interested in Independent films.
Live TV currently is the major video-based entertainment channel in Australia. However, there is

a major undercurrent that shows consumers migrating to on-demand based subscription
providers in Australia. As a result, Live TV and Hollywood are not the mere competitors of
Indyflix, it is also the on-demand streaming services. These streaming services include YouTube,
YouTube Premium, Netflix, ABC iView, Stan, Amazon Prime and Foxtel. Apart from them
Quickflix is also a major video rental and on-demand streaming service provider based in
Australia. So, it’s evident that Indyflix has a lot of strong and powerful competitors. However,
the major advantage with Indyflix is that they are operating in a niche segment. This niche
segment is about curating movies from independent producers and filmmakers. Since they have
become a reputable brand in this segment, over a period of time, they will have strong brand
recognition and reputation for the same.
Current (Manual) Process
• Customer’s details are taken manually on a piece of paper from the customer and then
again fed into the system.
• The customer has to walk into the store, get his card validated in order to borrow a
movie. At the same time, the store assistant must check for the customer’s dues or any
other issues before lending the movie (Pomffyova and Bartkova, 2016).
• The overdue movies report is generated every day and the assistant has to call each
customer to notify them for the same.
• New movies are ordered from suppliers after creating a purchase order. Movies are also
monitored manually so that appropriate stocks are kept.
• If a movie is reserved for a customer and as and when it arrives, the customer is contacted
on their phone by an assistant.
Functional Requirements of the New system
Website
• Dynamic catalog of movies – Realtime and automatic updating of movies in stock.
• Search – Ability to search for movies.
• Review and Parental guidance – Ability to add parental guidance and review for movies
only if they own it.
• Profile – Online filling of form and creation of user profile (Ahmad, Belloir and Bruel,
2015).
• Notifications – Automatic notifications of movie due and unpaid amount dues.
• Shopping cart - Ability to add a movie to a shopping cart and place and order.
Administrator
• Automatic posting of customer details by customers or online-filing of customer details by
store administrators.
• Customer only needs to provide a short ID to get themselves validated or can use in-store

checkout to automatically check themselves out.
• Automatic generation of required reports (Jamshed, 2014).
• Automatic updation of inventory and sending of notification to the Suppliers.
• Centralized database system combining all stores and online website.
• Automatic reminders and notifications being sent to customers
• Ability to edit customer’s profile and ability to view their past orders and wish list.
Non-functional requirements
• The design and interaction of the website should be based on Nielsen design principles
and other golden rules of user interface design.
• The fonts and texts should be legible to both administrators and customers.
• The system should provide error reports and alert users making syntactical mistakes.
Documentation
Data dictionary
Logical data Data Dictionary for the following processes
Movie_Rent = customerID + customerContactNo + customerName + { movieID }
Return_Movie = Date_of_Return + Return_Time + {movieID}
(Tewary and Kosalge, 2013)
Data element description
DATA DICTIONARY – MOVE RENT
Field Name Caption Data Type Field
Size
Format
Movie_Rent Autonumber 6 000000
customerName First_Last Text 50 Identify movie
type and brand
customerID NumericID integer 6 000000
customerContactNo MobileNo Text 10 0000 0000 00
DATA DICTIONARY – RETURN MOVIE
Field Name Caption Data Type Field Size Format
Return_Date Date 10 dd/mm/yyyy