Design City Trip Management App in the Kuala Lumpur Context During Pandemic Covid-19: A Preliminary Research Case

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is challenging for travel agency manager to manage multiple city trips simultaneously, at the same time practice standard operating procedure (SOP). There are numerous mobile applications used by travel agency to enhance customer service quality, however there is a lack of mobile application (app) for city tour management to assist manager in managing multiple trips and maintain SOP. The purpose of this study is to provide a mobile platform that enables managers to obtain real-time trip information of any registered car driver while monitoring car drivers and current trip status. The primary sources of data are based on earlier study to capture user requirements. It has also identified issues include poor communication and time coordination between the manager, driver and tour guide. Observation and document analysis are the secondary sources of data. By observing existing mobile applications including e-hailing and tourism apps, main features are identified, and extensional part are presented. Document analysis as research tool to understand Covid-19 SOP in Malaysia. The research findings help to conceptualize user requirements and user interfaces are designed. Device-based testing is adopted in a research case to validate the functional requirements of the app. The manager found the app is usable and capable to monitor multiple trips simultaneously by viewing real-time data to achieve zero-physical contact with the car driver. However, a permanent network connection is required to update data. For future work, app possesses offline and online capability features will be proposed to resolve the issue.