ONLINE GEM AUCTION SYSTEM FOR NANDASIRI GEMS

Abstract

Internet in 21st century has already ushered revolutions from all areas of traditional brick and mortar businesses. In this light it is not surprising to see most auctions conducted today are in fact in the Internet arena. With the near ubiquitous availability of this medium you do not have to physically attend an auction to participate in that, any more. The importance of Online Auction systems is further attested by literally millions of dollars they generate in a matter of minutes from all over the Internet. In such a background is this attempt is made to marry this proven online auction business model with the local Gem industry. It s not an exaggeration to say that gems of Sri Lanka are woven to its history. Even in the ancient times Sri Lanka was renowned for her exotic gems. Marco Polo wrote of wonderful Ceylon gems. But without getting nostalgic about past if we take the present reality of Gem business in Sri Lanka it is evident that as a country it faces stiff competition from emerging gem markets all over the world and yet no considerable attempt is made to think outside the box of traditional business models. Even though Sri Lanka is yet a primary exporter of Gems it lacks a home-grown Gem auctioning platform which would really give immense value to many local gem dealers who cannot reach the valuable international markets. This is the void which can be filled with a well implemented online gem auction system. After studying about the local gem business with the help of Mr. M H Nandasiri who is taking the initiative to deploy the auction platform as separate business, basic requirements which should be satisfied by the new system was understood. Development of the auction system was done using object oriented approach utilizing emerging Grails platform which is based on industry proven Java technologies. System was developed using the Model-View-Controller architecture using Groovy programming language. Unified Modeling Language was used in the analysis and design stages of the project. The developed system consists of four main sub systems namely Registration system, Auctioning system, Messaging system and Feedback and Rating system. Implemented system was tested using a random sample of individuals and their response to the system was highly positive. Furthermore local gem dealers who tested the system were optimistic of the opportunity it can provide them to reach global markets without borders. After implementation was completed preliminary user satisfaction survey was done. The users of the system were highly satisfied of the project and how it can actually help them to buy genuine Sri Lankan gems from local gem dealers.