Introduction
This report reflects on the business of AB Pty. Ltd. This is a pretty small business that functions without any technological help, to perform the delivery of products using truck transport. Since few months back the business was working fine, but when the business started receiving many delivery orders, it has been quite difficult to manage the same process. With a concern of the growth of the business, the company took help of the business analyst. The analyst concludes that the business faces problem mainly in management of delivering the products and keeping its count. Gradually, the total deliveries in a day has come down from five to three. Resulting in long pending list, where the customer find delay in the deliveries. Therefore, this report concentrates on implementing a smart application, to manage the inconvenience in the business workflow.
1. IBM Bluemix Services
This service is used for building the application where it is run, deployed and managed.
Go and check this URL,
https://idaas.iam.ibm.com/idaas/mtfim/sps/authsvc?PolicyId=urn:ibm:security:authentication:asf:basicldapuser
Next, login for creating application’s dashboard (Knorr, 2018).
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An application is developed using the cloud foundry application, which requires no infrastructure (Seshachala et al., 2018). After this for a Node choose SDK file. Then, open it and give host name for the application.
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It is required to create a database in DB MySQL, to ensure connection establishment for the database and proceed with deployment.
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As the connection gets established, the instance of the application begins. So the user must continue with configuration work next.
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The IBM Bluemix devops screen will enable to see the configuration file.
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As, the work of editing is done, go for the file deploying stage followed by a red button on the screen must be pressed. A pop-up window with file redeployment will appear, in case if the user wants to redeploy the file proceed with yes and if not opt the “Cancel” button.
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For opening GIT Repositorywindow one has to select, “OK” button. Follow the process by pressing a commit button. To commit use, “Commit” button.
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On the window screen’s left side, the modified information will be displayed.
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Complete the build and deploy stage and confirm the successful completion with a message stating the same.
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The successful application message is sent at the last execution.
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2. Problem
The business analyst concludes that this business faces problems in management of product delivery, such as dividing the deliveries, tracking, monitoring the work, keeping completed delivery counts and communication gap with the drivers. Moreover, the current workflow of the business is not organized and is not automated.
3. Proposed Solution
3.1. Requirements
The following are the requirements that will satisfy the customers of AB Pty. Ltd.:
i. Management of the whole workflow.
ii. Management of the deliveries.
iii. Communication system between the drivers and admin.
iv. An application that can track the movement of the truck, whenever required.
v. Updates on the deliveries.
3.2. Proposed System
The proposed solution is planned to have the following essential elements:
i. Mainly two zones like North-South and East- West are considered for dividing.
ii. The total number of deliveries are equally distributed to the trucks of the company.
iii. Constant monitoring of truck is ensured.
iv. Constant automated communication with the truck drivers is ensured.
v. Violations and completion of the daily assigned deliveries are alerted.
vi. Notifications are sent when required.
Thus, to accomplish this application, the help of IBM Bluemix services is taken. The Geospatial Analytics service is taken to help with location identification (Ibm.com, 2018).
4. Design Plan
The application’s design plan is as follows:
Step-1: Go to the website of IBM Bluemix and enter the login ID and Password to login as a user of the IBM Bluemix account.
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Step-2: Integrate both, IBM Bluemix services and Internet of Things (IoT).
Step-3: Configure IoT.
Step-4: The below listed information must be entered:
- Device Type
- ID of the Device
- Token
Step-5: API keys are generated with, the Add API option.
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Organization ID: rl79j3
Device Type: Vehicle
Device ID: XYZ
Authentication Method: token
Authentication Token: [email protected]
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Organization ID: rl79j3
Device Type: Vehicle
Device ID: XY
Authentication Method: token
Authentication Token: @Rk0&LQ+Vx8+4n&I2J
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Step-6: Ensure downloading of the starter kit to deploy it after configuration.
Step-7: Create the current project’s clone, using its repository and change the name of the file as follows, manifest.yml.
Step-8: Enter the below listed details after opening config or settings.jsr file and save the made entries:
- Device type, for iot_deviceType.
- Organization ID, for iot_deviceOrg.
- API key for iot_apiKey.
- Token and registered ID for iot_deviceSet
- Token of API key for iot_apiToken.
Step-10: Ensure to create Geospatial Analytics and don’t forget to configure it.
Step-11: Then, bind it with the starter kit, IoT’s help can be taken in doing so. Next, access this URL, https://app-name.mybluemix.net/GeospatialService_start
Step 12: Don’t forget that, the Alert option has to be finally activated. https://api.ng.bluemix.net will let the user to view the application.
5. Deployment Plan
In reference with the deployment, the following step is taken, where testing is considered as a significant part. The tests are conducted repeatedly by modify the properties of the application, until the satisfied results are reached, the tests will be carried out and dynamically the properties will be changed. The tests will revolve around, configuration, communication establishment and so on. The Set Property command is helpful throughout this testing stage (Ibm.com, 2018).
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6. Implementation Problems
Implementation problems were faced during the following stages:
- While creation of the Geospatial analytics.
- While configuring the application.
- While making modifications for the source code.
- While making modifications for the configuration code.
- While development of the application.
- While deployment of the application, where it was difficult to receive the required data from the other end (from the driver), in a remote place.
7. Self-Reflect
Telemetry data is used for visualizing the information of the company. The collected data of the company helps to understand the company’s functions. The problem of data collection is resolved by telemetry data and also by changing the properties of the application, to see the reflected results. Thus, this fact helps to reduce the currently followed functions without impacting on the company’s requirements and objectives. The new process will help to gather data even from a remote place.
Conclusion
The efforts of the business analyst and the ICT professional has led to help AB Pty. Ltd., with a proposed system which provides a smart application for managing all the product deliveries, notifications, updates, alerts, integration with IoT and vehicle tracking. Telemetry data is utilized for visualizing the information of the company. The proposed system is effective enough to increase the performance of the current process. The trucks can be monitored and tracked easily, with a smart application. IBM Bluemix is used for creating this application.
References
Ibm.com. (2018). Why IBM Cloud. [online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/why-ibm [Accessed 7 Jun. 2018].
Knorr, E. (2018). What is cloud computing? Everything you need to know now. [online] InfoWorld. Available at: https://www.infoworld.com/article/2683784/cloud-computing/what-is-cloud-computing.html [Accessed 7 Jun. 2018].
Seshachala, S., Team, C., Sabo, I., Team, C., Hawkins, A., Casalboni, A., Larkin, A., Casalboni, A., Badola, V., Sheehy, M., Casalboni, A., Casalboni, A., Clinton, D., Colangelo, A., Bellasio, S., Carlstroem, P., Sheehy, M., Casalboni, A., Cecaro, F. and Colangelo, A. (2018). Disadvantages of Cloud Computing | Cloud Academy. [online] Cloud Academy Blog. Available at: https://cloudacademy.com/blog/disadvantages-of-cloud-computing/ [Accessed 7 Jun. 2018].
