Online Movies Rental System: the Case of Blockbuster

Luna W.L. Chen Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, National

Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Abstract. With the rapid development of the Internet, consumer demands for more convenient services. The largest movie rental business Blockbuster didn't provide more convenient movie rental services, that made Blockbuster file for bankruptcy in 2010. Thus, the purpose of this study is to create more convenient rental environment for customers by developing an online movies rental system.

Keywords. Online Movies Rental System, Online Platform

Introduction

Blockbuster was the world's most famous movie rental chain enterprise. With the rapid progress of the Internet, customers want more convenient services, but Blockbuster didn't provide more convenient movie rental services. Customers need to go to store to rent movies. Besides, if they return movies late, they need to pay heavy fines. These made the largest movie rental business Blockbuster file for bankruptcy in 2010. Therefore, this study aims to develop an online movies rental system with online rental, online movies and online shopping functions to create more convenient rental environment for customers.

The research process is shown in Figure 1. First, establish research topic. Then, create As-Is failure behavior model. Next, create To-Be model including behavior model, object model and organization model. And then, develop the system. Finally, make the conclusions. The tools used in this study are shown below:

1. INCOME: Create As-Is and To-Be model. 2. SQL Server: Save system data. 3. ASP.NET: Develop online movies rental website. 4. XML: Export receipts. 5. Android application: Develop online movies mobile application.

Establish research topic

Create As-Is model(Use INCOME)

Create To-Be model(Use INCOME)

Develop online movies rental system(Use SQL Server, ASP.NET, XML and Android application)

Make conclusions

Figure 1. Research Process

1. As-Is Model

1.1 Failure Behavior Model

In the As-Is failure behavior model, first, customer needs to go to store. Then, go through the rent movies process. After customer rents movies, he goes home and watches the movies. Next, customer needs to go to store again. Finally, go through the return movies process and leave the store. The structure of model is shown as Figure 2. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 1 and Table 2.

Figure 2. As-Is Failure Behavior Model

Table 1. The Detail of Objects in As-Is Failure Behavior Model Object Description Customer Someone who wants to rent movies. Customer in store(1) Customer who is in the movies rental store. Customer in store(2) Customer leaves store(1) Customer who leaves the movies rental store. Customer leaves store(2) Customer with movies Customer who has already watched the movies and wants to return the movies.

Table 2. The Detail of Activities in As-Is Failure Behavior Model Activity Description Enter store(1) Go to the movies rental store. Enter store(2) Rent movies process Go through the rent movies process.

Go home and watch movies Go home and watch the movies which have rental time limit. Return movies process Go through the return movies process.

The drill down of rent movies process is shown as Figure 3. In this process,

customer will ask staff to find the movies he wants or find the movies by himself. After that, customer rents these movies. Then, movies rental store will record the rental information. Next, customer pays for movie rentals and gets the receipt and movies. Finally, he leaves the store. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 3 and Table 4.

Figure 3. The Rent Movies Drill Down Process

Table 3. The Detail of Objects in the Rent Movies Drill Down Process Object Description Customer with movies Customer who finds the movies he wants. Rental Info. Including customer basic information, movies information and rental information. Receipt and movies Something which customer will get after he pays for movie rentals.

Table 4. The Detail of Activities in the Rent Movies Drill Down Process Activity Description Ask staff to find movies Ask staff to find movies which customer wants. Find movies in store Find movies without someone's help. Rent movies Rent the movies. Pay Pay for movie rentals. Leave the store Leave the movies rental store.

The drill down of return movies process is shown as Figure 4. In this process, if customer returns movies in time, the staff will take movies back and record the return information. Then, the return process is completed and customer leaves the store. On the other hand, if customer returns movies late, the staff will record the overdue information and ask the customer to pay the fines. After that, customer gets the receipt. Finally, the return process is completed and customer leaves the store. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 5 and Table 6.

Figure 4. The Return Movies Drill Down Process

Table 5. The Detail of Objects in the Return Movies Drill Down Process Object Description Rental Info. Including customer basic information, movies information and return information. Overdue movies Info. Including customer basic information, movies information and overdue information. Receipt The receipt which customer will get after he pays the fines.

Table 6. The Detail of Activities in the Return Movies Drill Down Process Activity Description Return movies in time Return all the movies to the store in time. Return movies late Return the movies to the store late. Pay fines Pay the fines which are about overdue movies. Complete the return Complete the return process.

2. To-Be Model

2.1 Behavior Model

In the To-Be behavior model, first, customer has to go through the login process to login to the system. There are two processes in the system: one is rental process and the other is shopping process. After customer goes through one of processes and doesn't need the other service, he leaves the system. The structure of model is shown as Figure 5. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 7 and Table 8.

Figure 5. To-Be Behavior Model

Table 7. The Detail of Objects in To-Be Behavior Model Object Description Customer Someone who wants to rent movies. Customer in system Customer who is in the online movies rental system. Customer leaves system Customer who leaves the online movies rental system.

Table 8. The Detail of Activities in To-Be Behavior Model Activity Description Login process Go through the login process. Rental process Go through the rental process. Shopping process Go through the shopping process.

The drill down of login process is shown as Figure 6. In this process, customer will browse the system first. If customer is new member, he has to register account. The system will record the member information. After that, customer can login to the system. On the other hand, if customer is old member, he can login to the system directly. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 9 and Table 10.

Figure 6. The Login Drill Down Process

Table 9. The Detail of Objects in the Login Drill Down Process Object Description New member Customer who already has the account. Old member Customer who doesn't have account. Member Info. Including customer basic information and account information.

Table 10. The Detail of Activities in the Login Drill Down Process Activity Description Browse system Browse the system to find the movies which customer wants to rent. Register account Register new account. Login to the system(1) Login to the online movies rental system. Login to the system(2)

The drill down of rental process is shown as Figure 7. After customer finds and chooses the movies he wants, system will check his member level. If customer is free member, system will ask him to pay for service. After customer pays for service, he can rent and watch movies online. On the other hand, if customer is paid-up member, he can directly rent and watch movies. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 11 and Table 12.

Figure 7. The Rental Drill Down Process

Table 11. The Detail of Objects in the Rental Drill Down Process Object Description Movies Info. Movie information which customer chooses. Free member Member who hasn't paid for service. Paid-up member(1) Member who has paid for service. Paid-up member(2)

Table 12. The Detail of Activities in the Rental Drill Down Process Activity Description Find movies Find the movies which customer wants on system. Check member level Check if the member has paid for service or not. Pay for service Pay for the rental service. Watch movies online(1) Rent and watch movies online. Watch movies online(2)

The drill down of shopping process is shown as Figure 8. First, customer finds and chooses the movies he wants to buy. Then, customer makes an order and pays for order. System will record order information. After shipping, customer receives the movies. The details of objects and activities are clarified in Table 13 and Table 14.

Figure 8. The Shopping Drill Down Process

Table 13. The Detail of Objects in the Shopping Drill Down Process Object Description Movies Info. Movie information which customer chooses. Order Info. Including customer basic information and movies information. Confirmation of payment The information about payment.

Table 14. The Detail of Activities in the Shopping Drill Down Process Activity Description Find movies Find the movies which customer wants to buy on system. Make an order Place an order for movies. Pay for order Pay for the order. Shipping Ship the movies to customer.

2.2 Object Model

The object model is shown as Figure 9. There are three main focus areas in the data tables: (1) member information (2) movies information (3) order information. The related data tables of member information, movies information and order information are listed in Table 15.

First, illustrate the data tables about member information. The main table is "Member" table, including member account, member password, member name... etc. Besides, the time when member pays for service will save in the column "MB_PaymentDate." And the service expiration time will save in the column "MB_ServiceExpirationDate." In addition, system will save the clicks of each movie from each member. The column "MB_C0Hot", "MB_C1Hot" and "MB_C2Hot" save the clicks of the first category movies, second category movies and third category movies from member. Meanwhile, "Member" table generates the connection with the "MemberRole" table through the foreign key. The role names of member are saved in "MemberRole" table. In addition, a member has only one role, so the relationship between "Member" table and "MemberRole" table is one to one.

Next, illustrate the data tables about movies information. The main table is "Goods" table, including movie name, selling price, stock... etc. The column "GD_Hot" saves the clicks of each movie from members. Meanwhile, "Goods" table generates the connection with the "Category," "GoodsLevel," "GoodsState" and "Supplier" table through the foreign keys. A movie only belongs to one category, one movie level and one stock status. And a movie only has one supplier. Hence, the relationships between them are one to one.

Finally, illustrate the data tables about order information. The main table is "OrderList" table, including order time, receiver name, total price... etc. "OrderList" table generates the connection with the "Member" table through the foreign key. An

order only belongs to one member. Therefore, the "OrderList" and "Member" table is one-to-one relationship. In shopping process, when member adds the movie into cart, member ID, movie ID and quantity will be saved in "ShoppingCart" table. "ShoppingCart" table generates the connection with the "Member" and "Goods" table through the foreign keys. A cart data only belongs to one member and has one movie, so the relationships between them are one to one. After member places an order, order ID will be create. Order ID and member ID will be saved in "OrderList" table. Each movie ID and quantity which the member buys will be saved in "OrderDetail" table. Order ID will also be saved in "OrderDetail" table. "OrderDetail" table generates the connection with the "OrderList" and "Goods" table through the foreign keys. An order detail data only belongs to one order and has one movie, so the relationships between them are one to one.

Figure 9. To-Be Object Model

Table 15. Related Data Tables of the Three Information Information Related data tables name Member information Member, MemberRole Movies information Goods, Category, GoodsState, GoodsLevel, Supplier Order information OrderList, OrderDetail, ShoppingCart

2.3 Organization Model

There are five departments including purchasing, customer service, information technology, accounting and transportation department. All departments belong to the top management department. The organization model is shown as Figure 10.

Figure 10. To-Be Organization Model

3. System Introduction

This section introduces the system functions and demonstrates the system.

3.1 Website

When customer first comes into the system, he can view the movies in homepage (see Figure 11) and go to register (see appendix A, Figure A-1). If customer is already a member, he just has to login. After customer login, there are six functions in the member page including "modify member information," "pay for service," "online movies," "online shopping," "cart and payment" and "order information," see Figure 12. The detail of each function is illustrated in appendix A.

The special part in member page is that system will recommend movies which customer may like by recording the clicks when customer clicks on each movie. Besides, there also shows the top ten popular movies (see Figure 13).

About administrator page, there are six functions including "member information management," "add new movie," "movie information management," "order information management," "popular movies statistics" and "popular categories statistics," see Figure 14. The detail of each function is also illustrated in appendix A.

The special part in administrator page is that administrator can view the clicks of each movie and also the popular ratio of each category in "popular movies statistics" page (see Figure 15). In addition, in "popular categories statistics" page, administrator can view the clicks of each category from each member (see Figure 16).

Figure 11. Website Homepage

Figure 12. Member Page

Figure 13. Popular and Recommended Movies

Figure 14. Administrator Page

Figure 15. Popular Movies Statistics Page

Figure 16. Popular Categories Statistics Page

3.2 Android Application

Because it is too complicated to connect SQL Server in the new version of Android, this study only creates the function of online movies to present a situation that customer can rent and watch movies at any time. First, customer can view the latest new movies in homepage (see Figure 17). And customer can register or login (see appendix B, Figure B-1 and B-2). Then, customer can find movies by selecting movie category (see appendix B, Figure B-3). Next, customer can view the movie information and watch the movie online (see appendix B, Figure B-4 and Figure B-5). Besides, when customer watches the movie, the mobile screen will automatically turn into horizontal mode. The detail of this Android application is illustrated in appendix B.

Figure 17. Android Application Homepage

4. Conclusion

With this online movies rental system, customers can rent and watch movies at any time in any place. This system creates more convenient rental environment and provides more efficient services for customers. In the future, if the mobile application is developed more completely, it will bring more benefits to both customers and companies.

Appendix A

The detail of website functions will be illustrated below.

Register

If customer is a new member, he has to register account. After customer keys in all the data, he can click "Confirm" button to create a new account. The special part in register page is customer can select birthday by calendar. Besides, customer can quickly change month in calendar by selecting "Year" and "Month" in DropDownList (see Figure A-1).

Figure A-1. Register Page

Modify Member Information

In "modify member information" page, customer can edit his member data including member password, member name, address ... etc. Customer also can upload a new profile photo in this page (see Figure A-2).

Figure A-2. Modify Member Information Page

Pay for Service

In "pay for service" page, if customer is a free member, he can pay for the online rental service here. After customer selects the service and keys in the credit card information, he changes to a monthly member (see Figure A-3). The member state will be shown in "modify member information" page (see Figure A-4).

Figure A-3. Pay for Service Process

Figure A-4. Member State Information

Online Movies

In "online movies" page, customer can select category or input keyword to find the movie (see Figure A-5). Then, he can rent and watch movies and doesn't need to return. If customer is under age, the system will not allow him to watch R-rated movie (see

Figure A-6). Besides, if customer selects a category, there will show the popular movies which are in that category.

Figure A-5. Online Movies Page

Figure A-6. R-rated Movie Alert Message

Online Shopping

If customer loves some movies, he can buy the DVD in "online shopping" page (see Figure A-7). And there also shows the recommended and popular movies in this page. The shopping cart will be shown in the bottom.

Figure A-7. Online Shopping Page

Cart and Payment

In "cart and payment" page, customer can key in the data. Then, check the input data and place an order (see Figure A-8). After customer places an order, the system will

send an E-mail to customer (see Figure A-9). Customer can view the order detail in the E-mail.

Figure A-8. Order Process

Figure A-9. Order Detail in E-mail

Order Information

In "order information" page, customer can view all orders (see Figure A-10). And he also can view each receipt (see Figure A-11).

Figure A-10. Order Information Page

Figure A-11. Receipt

Member Information Management

In "member information management" page, administrator can edit each member data (see Figure A-12). Besides, administrator can find member by selecting role.

Figure A-12. Member Information Management Page

Add New Movie

In "add new movie" page, administrator can key in a new movie data (see Figure A-13).

Figure A-13. Add New Movie Page

Movie Information Management

In "movie information management" page, administrator can edit each movie data (see Figure A-14). Administrator can select category or input keyword to find the movie.

Figure A-14. Movie Information Management Page

Order Information Management

In "order information management" page, administrator can view all orders and details. Besides, administrator can change order status by checking the checkbox (see Figure A-15).

Figure A-15. Order Information Management Page

Popular Movies Statistics

This function has been illustrated in "3.1 Website."

Popular Categories Statistics

This function has been illustrated in "3.1 Website."

Appendix B

The detail of Android application will be illustrated below.

Register

After customer clicks "register" button in the homepage, he can key in data in the "register" page (see Figure B-1).

Figure B-1. Register Page

Login

After customer clicks "login" button in the homepage, he can key in his account and password. Then, system will show the login message (see Figure B-2).

Figure B-2. Login Process

Find Movie

Customer can find movie by selecting movie category (see Figure B-3).

Figure B-3. Find Movie Process

Movie Information

After customer selects a movie, he can view the movie information (see Figure B-4).

Figure B-4. Movie Information Page

Online Movie

Customer can watch the movie online (see Figure B-5). When customer watches the movie, the mobile screen will automatically turn into horizontal mode.

Figure B-5. Online Movie