CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY APP - AN ANDROID E-BROCHURE

: this paper is providing a review of Android Application which serves the purpose of gaining information about the co-operative society. It includes the collection of information about the bank i.e. the co-operative society and various services used within the co-operative society. It is an informative android mobile application. Android is a platform which consists of an operating system and a Software Development Kit (SDK) for handheld devices. This system is being developed by using the Android Application Development tool i.e. the Eclipse ADT. It is a small attempt to reduce the paper usage and cost of publishing the brochure for the sake of the same.


INTRODUCTION
This App is an informative Android Application i.e. the Electronic Brochure including certain details and features of the co-operative society which will be an organization similar to bank. The application will contain different layouts and activities which will be designed and developed to represent the brochure. The application will include various schemes, activities, addresses, etc. of the cooperative society aiming to provide services to the customers. It will also include the SMS service for customers to send feedback, reviews, comments, etc. The application will involve the GPS location in order to locate different branches of the co-operative society. Also, the Charity Donation will be included if any customer is interested in being the part of society through his/her small pay. The most significant part of any application or product is that it should be easily accessible to the end users. It can be fulfilled by implementing 'Navigation Drawer' in the application. Navigation Drawer will enable the user to jump from one activity to another at any instance.

RELATED WORK
The current scenario of providing brochure is paper based. If we consider any firm or organizations like school, colleges, restaurants, banks, hospitals, etc., then it becomes a necessary part to provide each and every information about that organization. The traditional way is to use the paper. The brochures are being published each and every year to provide information about the firm. For certain updates, new brochures are printed, thus wasting the paper used for previous ones. Therefore, the concept of "Electronic Brochure" by the means of Android Application will help to overcome this wastage. Also, the cost of publishing the brochure and purchasing it is frequent. Whereas, the development and usage of a mobile application is a one-time investment.
One can simply download the updates whenever required. Android Development Tool (ADT) provides us with numerous tools and their advancements with the combination of XML and Java programming languages [1]. Android includes various features such as short message service functionality (messaging) which is of utmost importance in this application. The XML part focuses on the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the application whereas Java focuses on the functioning of that interface. Maximum layout part is done by the XML code. Whenever it comes to perform any task, say, by clicking on a particular option, its corresponding activity or application page should be displayed, then Java code is responsible for it. It is convenient to update our Android Application as per the newly added Android features [1]. Also, the Android Application will attract the customers due its convenience and will enable them to cope up with the technology [2]. They will be habitual with the Android Application and will appreciate more of it. Another significant feature used in mobile applications is location based service (LBS). It is usually integrated with maps to provide better experience to the customers about their location. The feature like GPS location will improve the usage of the application. The value added services by the means of LBS (Location Based Services) will help the people to contribute towards Developing India by promoting the wireless technology [4].

PROPOSED SYSTEM
Android is a Linux-based software system which is free to download and open source software. It contains something which is endless and limitless. It provides amazing GUI by the means of Android 4.0 and onwards for the users to feel it lively. It provides numerous opportunities to the developers to work with zeal in this development environment. It has versions which enables any application to be installed on the mobile phones from lower to higher configuration. It simply provides everything a developer wishes to build and a customer or user wishes to utilize. Hence, the Eclipse ADT (Android Development Tool) is being chosen. It enables the developer to work in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It provides an interface to various technologies like GPS Location, Payment Gateway, etc. (which will be implemented in this application). The overall proposed system seems to be more advanced and more enhanced by the means of Android functionalities. The proposed system will provide numerous services to customers imbibing android based technologies.

WORKING
The following figure depicts the working of modules for the application. The application is broadly segregated into four modules namely, SMS Service, GPS Location, Charity Donation and Navigation Drawer (which is not shown in fig., but will be implemented). Each module reflects the features of Android along with providence of services to the customers. The description of the modules is given below: i. SMS Service: The customers can send their reviews, feedbacks, comments, etc. through SMS Service module. The main objective of including this service is that if any customer wants to open an account in this co-operative society, then he/she will simply send an SMS reflecting his/her wish. In turn, the organization will contact that customer for further procedure by the means of contact number received through an SMS.
ii. GPS Location: If there exists various branches of the Co-operative Society, then it becomes difficult to search for each location, every time the customer wants to visit. Therefore, the GPS location with predefined destinations of all the branches will be implemented in this system. Whenever the customer will desire to visit the branch, then on one click, the route will be displayed and he/she will simply have to follow the path.
iii. Charity Donation: This module includes "Payment Gateway" which enables the transactions within different accounts. Here, the objective of the payment gateway is to make donation to Co-operative Society (provided that the organization wants transactions to be done on small scale only). If any customer wants to donate his/her small pay to the society, then it can be done using this module. The module will contain a form and a Submit option. This activity will link the application to the gateway where further transactions will be carried on.
iv. Navigation Drawer: In fig. 4.1, it is shown that all the modules and their sub-modules are connected and linked with each other. This can be made possible by enabling Navigation Drawer in the application. The Drawer Menu will contain all the fragments of application and the customer can jump from one activity to another whenever he/she wants, very conveniently. This provides ease of access reflecting the features of developing application.

PROJECT SCOPE
The current scenario of information brochure is that a brochure (which is very close to the booklet) is being published using high quality paper. It is made available to the users, thus providing information about the firm. Then there comes the time when the information needs to be updated. For the sake of this, everytime new brochure is published, thus increasing the garbage by the old ones. Also, the cost of implementation is increases gradually. Hence, it is always better to install an Android App and check for the updates. This will reduce the frequent cost of implementation. It is a one-time investment which increases the scope of project. Also, the paper brochure lacks the multimedia part. There is no provision for interactive videos and multimedia services on paper. The application which is an 'Electronic Brochure', does this with sophistication. The customer cannot contact the organization by the means of textual brochure. The customer cannot find the route to different branches reading the addresses given. He/she will definitely require an interface which will take him/her to the exact location. The application provides this on just one click. There are number of services which differentiate the application from traditional practices, thus increasing the scope of project.

Application and Implementation
The application will be implemented in the Co-operative Society, for which it will be specifically designed. It will help the organization to promote its services efficiently and grab the attraction of the customers with a touch of technology. The organizations can be banks, hotels, schools, colleges, hospitals, transportation, etc.

CONCLUSION
The proposed system will help in reducing the paper work along with its implementation cost. It will take the informatory brochure to electronic level and will enhance the use of technology to great extent. Eventually, it is a small step towards 'Digital India'.