$ (Money) For Quick Help + Will Contribute BACK to community

[house]

Hello everyone. Hopefully the title will have enticed some of the more seasoned veterans of osC to dive into this thread... because I am in the need a some crafty modifications of osC that I personally cannot do, though it doesn't appear to me to be overly taxing on a skilled osC professional.

 

That being said, please be aware that I have a very short time-line for completion... no more than 1 week. I previously had someone working on it, whom unfortunately never was able to get around to it because of his or her busy schedule (it happens).

 

Below is an overview of what I am looking for, and will be able to provide more of a one-on-one approach with _you_ if you are able and willing to take on this small task. And as mentioned in the topic, I fully plan on making these modifications a contribution package within the community section of osC, so please keep that in mind while developing.

 

I originally posted this thread: http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29096 (though outdated now by this one you're reading), however as you'll see, I got no response. I'm sure it's because of my lack of detail for the project, or that this is so unique, and/or difficult in nature, that nobody was up to the challenge.

 

Here is the situation in a nutshell:

I am going to be delivering food from restaurants (that do not currently have delivery services) to hotels, businesses, and eventually residential. Seeing that 'restaurants', or any other service that provides a hand-delivered service, allows for the option of tipping the driver. I'm sure you all are familiar with this processes and also know that this is not currently an option within the default osC package, nor are there any contributions at this point even similar. I need this 'function-ability' to be added to the admin section, such that when my partner (driver) calls me to tell me how much tip they just left on their credit card... I can add that 'back' into the total (non-taxed of course) and finish the credit card processing.

 

This doesn't sound too hard to be honest. Though the next few requests may be trying...

 

We are starting off with delivery from 5 restaurants. Obviously I'm using the 'manufacturer' for the Restaurant names, to help in searching and sorting from the catalog (menus) section. When a person orders the food, they'll be talked-through the process of verifying name/address/phone/etc... Down to the comments section of the order ("No mayo on that cheeseburger please").

 

Seeing as one person could conceivably order food from each restaurant, there would need to be restaurant-specific comments... (That will be used later when we fax the orders to the restaurant). Granted, we'll have the options of adding salad dressing @ $0.25 per take-out cup, and things of that nature, but true comments about their food preparation are crucial to the order.

 

Next comes the back-end...

Once the order has been taken, and the individual restaurant comments taken, we'll need to prepare a fax sheet for each restaurant they ordered from. I figure the 'invoice' section should do just fine for what we need, however it currently has no need to be separated by restaurant (manufacturer) I need it to be. The goal of this section (restaurant fax sheet) is to print and fax to the restaurant THEIR particular order, so 1) They do not see what other orders people are placing with other restaurants, and 2) Not to confuse the chefs when getting an order.

 

Ideally the restaurant gets a fax, preps the food, and stores it for us to pick it up... and staples the order to the delivery page for my driver to pick up the order. Conceivably the driver could have up to 5 orders, 5 restaurants, and 5 stapled orders. Each restaurants fax should have the item, options, comments and total prices (after tax), restaurant sub-total, and finally the Total for delivery. At the bottom of the page will be this same information repeated again with the option for driver delivery 'tip' split into two sections. One that's titled 'Customer' and the other titled 'Driver', such that the customer may leave a tip on the bottom, and get a copy for themselves as receipt. This will ensure the customer gets a paper receipt, and the driver stays honest with amount of Tip they were given.

 

Reporting:

Twice a week we are going to have the need to send a report to the restaurants detailing orders we placed to them, and the money we owe them. Some thoughtful planning will have to go into this section, as we'll need the ability to sort the reports first by date-range, then by restaurant, deducting our discount we have per restaurant (some are different than others), and giving a tally (with line-item orders). This report can be basic and bare-minimum as we can 'spice' it up later... though this functionality is quite crucial to continuing business with the restaurants.

 

Ordering Process:

As it stands, I will be the phone operator, and thus the traditional customer going through the process of the site, ordering the food. We would like to keep as much information about the people as possible, just like it is currently set up, though not everyone will have an email address... and we know that no email = no order (without modification). I need some advice in this area to move forward, because all I can come up with is... Using either an email address, or a phone number as the unique identifying field, that upon a new call, I can say "have you ordered with us before? -- (If yes) Can I have your email address or phone number"... and I'll be logged in (because we'll use the same password for all of them).

 

Once we go 'live' and (see closing notes), the customer will simply be prompted to enter their email address or phone number (with no password). If it is an email address, they'll be logged in and have a password automatically created and entered into the database, and telling them what it is... write it down... etc. If it is a phone number, it will let them right on in, as well, generating password for them to use later on. These will obviously only happen if they've not logged before, and/or the password is the same as our master password we'll use.

 

In Closing:

Remember that for now the menus (catalog) will not be made available to the public, and just used as an intranet (with live credit-card processing), though we are going to want the ability to do so. Though we will have to restrict ordering to certain times of the day (which is another story in itself... though would be more work for you in the near future as well).

 

Recap of Needs:

1) Ability to Add Driver?s Tip to Total before running credit card

2) Modify unique record to also allow for telephone number

3) Create Restaurant Faxes (with restaurant-specific comments)

4) Modify ?Invoice? pages to allow for Customer/Driver receipts

5) Create Reports (filtered for each restaurant and specific time-frame)

6) Give back to community as a ?Delivery? Package

 

(Future Needs):

1) Make available to public, but under certain time-restrictions for ordering

2) Modify for public-use (getting email/phone number to produce passwords upon first-time use.

 

 

Ok, that?s a lot longer than I was expecting, and hopefully I?ve not lost anyone due to the length of this post, though it?s hard to skimp on information when I?m trying to find the best coder for the job.

 

If you are interested in taking on this project, please private-message me, and I?ll get back to you within the hour. If you would prefer I call you, please provide your telephone number (folks over-seas? sorry I don?t have a world-phone we?ll have to stick to Email).

 

Thanks to everyone that follows up.

[Mark Russell]

house,

 

You've got a reasonable set of requirements defined, though they seem to be a force fit into osC. You might be better off paying to develop from scratch. What is motivating you to use osC?

 

Mark

[house]

Well, I've used osC for quite some time now, and am very comfortable using the administrative functions, as well as feel the learning curve (for let's say a secretary) to pick up on this, is very small. Plus the community is so strong, and knowledgable... I just feel as if this is a great pick for what I need... though with just a few hacks.

 

:wink:

[house]

For those that may be interested in this project (which I've to date only received one bid for development), my Card Processsor (Card Service International) does not allow for adding a 'tip' to an authorized card if you're signed up for the 'Internet Package' (as most of us will be), rather we can only charge the amount that has been authorized.

 

However, if you are signed up as a 'Terminal Package' (using the standard punch-key terminal) and you are also set up as a 'Restaurant Applicant', you have the ability to go back and add a tip ammount.

 

This being said, I will be changing the requirements up a touch from the above, such that the 'tip' for credit cards will be part of the checkout process... So when confirming Shipping/Handeling fees (etc) they also will have the ability to punch in a "Tip Amount for Driver". With a simple note saying "If you so wish to tip our drivers using your credit card, our system is only set up to do so during the final transaction, otherwise, you may offer to tip via cash, or we may run a seperate charge to your account for your tip". (or something along those lines).

 

Thanks again for those interested in taking on this project.

[cybercon]

house-

I am doing a pizza parlor with delivery. We are preparing to add CC payment, but have not yet done that, but will in the next week. In the meantime I have done the backgrond work so I cn just make a simple change and Tipping can be done.

 

To accomplish the tip issue created a "hidden" product called TIP. In the check out page there is a link that says "If you would like to add a tip for the driver to your charge please click here. It takes them to a product_info page with an attribute dropdown giving them choices from $2.00 to $13.00. They add that to the cart and that is that.