The problem
In 2020 most veterinary clinics in Nigeria still booked appointments by hand and kept them in paper files. I set out to build a mobile app that lets pet owners book with a clinic near them, at a time that suits them.
Research
I compared two existing booking systems, Vetstoria and VetO, to see what each did well and where they fell short. I then ran an online survey, which 41 people across African countries answered. 82.9% of them said they would rather book through a mobile app.
Design
From the survey I wrote the functional requirements, then drew the use case diagram, the system architecture, the entity relationship diagram and a storyboard before wireframing the screens.
The build
I built the app in Java in Android Studio, working in short Agile iterations. Pet owners can sign up, sign in, book an appointment with a clinic and manage their profile. Vets have their own side of the app, where they see their appointments and keep a profile.
I tested it with functional tests, unit tests in JUnit and a performance test.
Where it ended
Vet Book was my final-year project for the BSc in Information Technology at Middlesex University Dubai, submitted in July 2020. Some features were not finished in time, including the location screen and notifications for cancelled bookings. The report lists them as future work.
