Business Report: Household Help Mobile Application Development Project

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Household Help mobile application, a platform designed to connect individuals needing household assistance with those seeking to provide it. The report begins with an executive summary and introduction, detailing the app's concept, which originated from a Victoria University assignment. It includes a stakeholder analysis, outlining the roles of the helper, hirer, and the application development company. The report defines the strategic vision and values of Household Help, emphasizing its commitment to community, trust, and open communication. It then analyzes the current status of the business, identifying key business drivers, processes, and both internal and external issues. The report also explores current technologies and projects the future status of the application, including tangible and intangible benefits like flexibility, ease of use, and improved customer relations. Finally, it outlines future developments such as database integration, location mapping, and payment options, concluding with a forward-looking perspective on the app's potential.

Versioning
Status
Executive Summary
Table of contents
1 Introduction
Company Background
Key Stakeholders
Vision and Mission Statement
Objectives
General
Specific
2 Current Status
Business Drivers
Key Business Processes
Key Issues (internal)
Key Issues (external)
Current Technologies
3 Future Status
Benefits
Tangible
Intangible

Executive Summary

Introduction
One can never get rid of Household work. It is something which can be delayed for a while
but eventually needs attention. We wanted to develop a Mobile Application that will cater to
everyone’s household needs. So sometimes it’s alright to outsource help, let go of guilt and
enjoy every second. Considering the modern life-cycle with busy work schedules of around
40 hours per week, it’s hard to find additional 17 hours, which is the average number of hours
spent on housework according to the research conducted by Sanjiv Gupta, associate professor
at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
The idea behind the Mobile Application was conceived in 2017 when an Assessment task
was given to the students of Victoria University for Executive & Mobile Computing Unit.
The task required the students to work in small groups to initiate, plan and develop a small
application for a mobile device. The idea was to help people earn more money, outsourcing
domestic work and allow people to enjoy their free time more. By having someone to do
things like laundry or washing dishes, one can use own time to help both themselves and
other people.
Stakeholder analysis
The people with interest and concern in this business would be The Helper, The Hirer and the
company who will develop the mobile application. The process begins when a Hirer posts a
task that needs to be completed. The Hirer can also ask for other details which might be
important to make a decision. The Helper can post their interest in completing the task and
mention their work rate per hour. The Hirer can decide whom to award the task based on the
Helper’s profile, task history and ratings. Once the Hirer decides, the platform allows a
private conversation between the two parties and the payment to be made. There is no joining
fee for the Hirer or the Helper to join Household Help. However, once the task is completed
and paid, a commission of 15% is be charged to the applicant per task.
Strategic Vision and Values
Our Vision
Household Help is a way of connecting people ready to work, with people who need work
done. It is a community platform that connects people who need to outsource task and find
local services, with people who are looking to earn money and ready to work.

It’s simple, go online or download the app and Household Help will take you from ‘things to
do’ to ‘everything’s done’.
Our Values
Household Help is a trusted community platform which help to build the future of
outsourcing and getting more done. As the Household Help community grows, our values are
vital to maintain our integrity in the marketplace.
Do stuff that matters. Our members aim to make a real difference in the community by
helping each other to earn more or get more done.
Walk the Talk. Trust is important to the Household Help community. Together we strive to
maintain marketplace integrity through reliability, authenticity and transparency.
Stay open. The two positive behaviours that are important to Household Help community are
communication and staying open.
Be human. Everyone matters in the Household Help community. It is important to
emphasize and can see from other person’s perspective along with being respectful and
having courtesy.
Play hard. The Household Help community likes to work hard and approach every task with
a smile.
Current Status
Business Drivers
Household Help is a mobile platform developed for helping out individuals in accomplishing
their issues associated with household chores. The accessibility of people using this platform
is one of the key business drivers. When a person is able to use and access a facility without
any sort of inconvenience or extra efforts then probability of future uses increases. The major
driver of Household help includes acquisition of trust of customers for the website. If
customers have trust and faith regarding the services they will acquire and the monetary
benefits then more users will be attracted towards the use of application. On the other hand,
delivery and compensation policies have to be strong and unbiased so that customers do not
face any sort of inconvenience. The pricing standards used by company in the processing of
requests are also one of the business drivers for this mobile application. The services should

not have any sort of surplus costs. If all these business drivers are considered accurately in
application then Household Help application will acquire respective position in the market.
Key Business Processes
<what are the key business processes we currently have in place?>
Key Issues (internal)
The aim to shape the future of outsourcing, this business has to come up with solutions of the
major internal issues. Since, entire operations are through mobile platforms, there are certain
complications present. These include lack of programming expertise. The processing of
mobile platforms is based on codes which are generated as JavaScript. If expertise is not
achieved then the execution of respective codes will be interrupted. As a result, the customers
shall experience difficulty in using the facilities of application. Further, this will reduce the
profit function of organisation. On the other hand, the second major issue existing internally
for the company is time constraint. The limitation of availability of time results in delay in
execution. This may create an excessive pressure on the company to meet the expectations of
both customers and the future goal. Hence, there has to be appropriate time management
attributes for overcoming the internal issues of Household Help mobile application
developers.
Key Issues (external)
Business cannot develop unless there are conflicts in both external and internal functioning.
There are certain external issues which hinder the functioning of current state. These include
adequate facilities to meet the supply. Often there are situations when demand doesn’t match
the supply or vice versa. In such situations, the company is facing an issue of lack of demand
but surplus supply. The household helpers have provided their information and posted to be
hired but there is no proper response from hirers. On the other hand, there is another external
issue faced currently. This is reliability of skills acquired by helpers according to the demand
of hirers. There is lack of proper verification and monitoring which results in reduction in the
reliability on helpers. There can be fake posts produced on the mobile application for
cheating the people that seek household help. Hence, these major external issues have to be
resolved by the company for gaining better hold over the situation.
Current Technologies
<What are the current technologies that your company or developing your expertise in the
technology?>

Future Status
Tangible Benefits
The tangible benefits associated with the developed mobile platform include the flexibility,
easy searching, improvised sales process and acquisition of unique identity. The Household
Help is a platform which enables users to either post their services or accomplish their
demands as a hirer. People are able to acquire flexibility in terms of their area of searching.
Since, this platform is internet based, there is wide variety of information available with their
search in context of household help in nearby locations. Further, the compatibility of
application on different operational platforms provides great accessibility. The use of these as
the basis of operation helps in reducing extra cost of acquiring resources and extra employees
for maintenance. The company shall acquire competitive advantage with the unique identity
because of a different concept and ease of communication. When customers are happy and
satisfied with the functionality of this application then business will experience respective
advantages or tangible benefits.
Intangible Benefits
The intangible benefits linked with the Household Help mobile application business are
accuracy and speed of performing the operation, reaching out more individuals in terms of
hirers and helpers, uniformity in reporting of global standards and better hold over the
customer response. When company aims to expand on a large scale then this kind of
operational method provides the benefits. the potential customers are easily reached through
advertisements. Furthermore, there is acquisition of accurate response from customers which
is dealt in time. It helps in building effective relations amongst customers and the company.
The sales standards are increased and there is better administration of data relating with hirers
and helpers. The use of mobile application platforms also helps in increasing the speed of
operations on a great scale. These intangible benefits help in developing better strategies for
the future and gaining higher position in the current operational markets.
Future Developments
- Database for account creation and data storage
- Location mapping
- Payment option
- Settings options