DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FOOD MENU DIRECTORATE SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study is to develop an ICT assisted menu directorate system, whereby someone could be able to choose a meal, get the list of ingredients to cook the meal and follow a step by step help in order to cook the meal. In the other hand, it will also consist of a food time table, where certain meal will be designated for a certain time. Analysis involved a detailed study of the current system, leading to specifications of a new system. The existing system of Menu Directorate System is highly manual; the chef or cook thinks about a specific meal he or she wants to cook, determines the ingredients he or she wants to use, he or she then collects the ingredients before starting the cooking process. There is no definite database in this system; the only thing the chef or cook may do is to write down the ingredients in a book for reference purpose and forming a timetable. The development ICT assisted menu directorate system involved many phases. The approach used is a top-down one concentrating on what first, then how and moving to successive levels of details. The first phase started with a detailed study of the problems and prospects of cooking a meal. In the course of this study, many problems were discovered to have hindered the effectiveness of the existing manual system. These problems, information needs, and activities were documented and later used as the basis for system design, which immediately followed the first phase. The design phase was concerned primarily with the specification of the system elements in a manner that best met the voter's registration need. During this phase, strict adherence was made on proven software engineering principles and practices. To implement this design, a computer program was then written and tested. It is hoped that effective implementation of this software product would eliminate many problems discovered during systems investigation.