RateIt Engine

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Rate-It Engine

• Green Team Technologies
• CS 410 Spring 2007

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Organization Chart
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Overwhelmed By Choices?

• Who can repair the plumbing in your 50-year old
  house?
• Where do you get your hair cut?
• Who should press your suit for the big interview?
• Who would you trust to perform surgery on Fido?
• Where should you eat?

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Problem Statement

• Current service industry review websites do not
  provide a mechanism for reviews to be filtered
  based on user preference.

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Goal Statement

• To provide an easy way for content creators to
  add a review engine specifically targeting
  services to their website.

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Objectives

• Provide a mechanism for services and their
  associated reviews to be rated independently by
  users
• Recommend compatible services to user based on
  stated preferences and history of ratings
• License ratings engine to content creators for
  rapid development of websites

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Functional Aspects

• One-click up/down voting of services and reviews
  by any registered user
• User can view recommended services based on their
  preferences and personal ratings
• Anyone can read reviews
• Registered users can write reviews

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Process Flow Diagram
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In the Box

• Rate It Engine ready to run on specified
  webserver/database combination
• Customizable using industry standards to match
  existing look and feel of current website
• Support contract to help with installation and
  use of engine

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MFCD
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Revenue Model

• Licensing Fee
• 749 Per CPU
• Annual Support Contract
• 99 Per CPU

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Expected Revenue (1st Year)
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Expected Revenue
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Initial Startup Cost

• Web Hosting Service for 5.95 per month
• http//www.hostmonster.com/
• Domain Name registration for 8.95 per year
• http//www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp
• Web Developers/ Web Masters
• Salary survey done in Norfolk, VA (zip code
  23501)
• Median Salary 65,144
• http//salary.hotjobs.com/

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Internet Usage

• 210,080,067 Americans with internet
  accesshttp//www.internetworldstats.com/stats2.ht
  m
• 114.7 Growth from 2000 2007http//www.internet
  worldstats.com/stats.htm

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Reviewing of Restaurants
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Proof of Concept

• Restaurant Review Site
• Industry is huge
• Estimated Revenue of 537 billion in 2007
• Large base for restaurant reviews
• 935,000 Restaurants in US
• Restaurants have loyal patrons willing to write
  reviews/discuss experiences
• High incidence of repeat business

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http//www.restaurant.org/aboutus/faqs.cfm
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Less Time to Cook
Source Energy Information Administration, 1993
2001 Residential Energy Consumption Surveys.
http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/cookingtrends/coo
king.html
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Longer Working Hours

• The average employed American works a 46-hour
  work week.http//www.libraryspot.com/know/workwee
  k.htm

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Traveling

• Daily travel in US totals four trillion miles
• 14,500 annual miles per person
• 2.6 billion trips of 50 miles or
  morehttp//www.bts.gov/publications/highlights_of
  _the_2001_national_household_travel_survey/pdf/ent
  ire.pdf
• These people need to know where to eat

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Fast Food Facts

• 44 of all adults dine-out daily
  http//www.aarp.org/health/staying_healthy/eating
  /a2004-09-16-eatingout.html
• 20 of all meals prepared in a commercial
  settinghttp//www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.
  cfm?ArticleID138

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Potential Customer Base
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Functional Goals

• Provide complete view of restaurants
• Objective factual restaurant profile
• Location
• Genre
• Price
• Subjective consumer reviews
• Provide targeted advertising
• Advertising to the correct consumer
• Encourage community among users

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Current Ways to Find a Restaurant

• Yellow pages
• Word of mouth
• Traditional Internet Review Sites
• Need to sift through data
• Restaurants provide biased reviews
• Driving around town
• Expensive
• Inefficient
• Judging book by its cover

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Disadvantages of Traditional Review Formats

• The Yellow Pages do NOT tell you
• If the food is good
• If the staff is friendly
• If the prices are reasonable
• Even if the restaurant is in your immediate area
  (If you are out of town)

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Competition Matrix
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Risks
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Conclusion

• Rate It! Review Engine will enable website owners
  to quickly put in place a functional reviewing
  mechanism that encourages user participation and
  intelligently steers users towards compatible
  services.

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References

• http//www.scarboro.info/dining.htm
• http//www.libraryspot.com/know/workweek.htm
• http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/cookingtrends/coo
  king.html
• http//www.bts.gov/publications/highlights_of_the_
  2001_national_household_travel_survey/pdf/entire.p
  df
• http//www.aarp.org/health/staying_healthy/eating/
  a2004-09-16-eatingout.html
• http//www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.cfm?Arti
  cleID138
• http//www.restaurant.org/aboutus/faqs.cfm

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References (cont)

• http//www.internetworldstats.com/
• http//www.hostmonster.com/
• http//www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp
• http//salary.hotjobs.com/
• http//www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.ht
  ml
• http//www.wsworkshop.com/money/ad-revenue-models.
  html
• http//digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html