Final Project Idea

01 Nov 2023

Overview

In every bustling university campus, the issue of lost and found items has long posed a challenge for students, staff, and administrators. The frequent misplacement of personal belongings, from textbooks to electronic devices, not only causes stress and inconvenience for individuals but also adds to the workload of the university’s lost and found department. In an effort to streamline the process of reporting, identifying, and retrieving lost items, our proposed solution is a digital catalog website for the university. This online platform will serve as a centralized hub where users can efficiently report lost items, search for their missing belongings, and conveniently claim found items, ultimately simplifying the lost and found process, reducing administrative burdens, and reuniting owners with their possessions more effectively.

Mockup page ideas

  1. Landing page: Displays a sign in page, sign up page, recent or featured found items, a search bar for users to type in the item they are looking for, and a “Report a Lost Item” button.
  2. Item found detail page: Displays a description as well as when and where it was found, tags, contact information from the user that found them. photo of the item, and a button for the visiting user to claim their lost item.
  3. Item lost detail page: Displays a textbox for the user to describe their lost item, an optional photo, a textbox to show the date, time and where it was lost, and tags for organizing the item into proper categories so users have easy access to determine what item was found or lost.
  4. User profile page: Allows users to view and edit their profile information. Displays a list of items they have reported as lost or found.
  5. Admin dashboard: Acessible only by administrators, it displays statistics about the number of lost and found items, claims, and resolutions. Allows administrators to manage reported items, including marking items as claimed or resolved.

Use case ideas

The Lost and Found Digital Catalog website for the university offers a versatile set of use cases to cater to the needs of students, faculty, and staff. Students can report lost items through the platform, providing detailed descriptions and attaching images for easier identification. They can also search the catalog for their missing belongings and claim found items that match their descriptions. Faculty and staff can similarly report and search for items. Additionally, administrators can manage the catalog, mark items as claimed or resolved. Furthermore, the platform provides statistics and insights for administrators to track the number of reported items, claims, and resolutions. This comprehensive approach ensures that the Lost and Found Digital Catalog not only simplifies the process for those who have lost or found items but also efficiently manages the entire workflow for university administrators.

Beyond the basics

Individual users will be able to see and update their catalog of either lost or found items. The entire database of lost or found items on the administrators end is then updated to track statistics of the overall catalog of items lost or found in Manoa.