boarding house program

my family is putting up a private dormitory with a restaurant, internet station, and laundry service. i was wondering if it's possible to develop a web-based program in PHP that will allow us to monitor everything?

the program should do the following:
(1)Billing
--> generate monthly bills for each resident (lodging fee, electric bill, internet/computer usage, laundry service fee, etc)
--> allow residents to view their bills online
(2)Restaurant Menu
--> allow residents to view the menu for the day
--> allow residents to place reservations
(3)Catalogue
--> allow landlord to input important information about each resident
--> allow landlord to monitor each resident's accountabilities
--> allow resident to update personal information
(4)Tracker
--> allow residents to submit their weekly schedule so that their guardians/parents will know their whereabaouts
(5) Internet Station
--> keep track of the internet/computer usage of residents
--> usage must be added to the overall monthly bill of the resident

so far these are all the important tasks i want the program to do. by the way, i'm very new to programming. i only know basic html but i really would like to learn PHP programming.
please give me suggestions on where to begin with this project and the tools i will need in making this program. i think i will need MySQL for the catalogue of residents.

Thanks in advance!

WOW - that is a very large program you want and yes it is possible to do with PHP (though there will probably be parts that would be better done in other languages). Are you sure you want to do the coding - the input and output, database, admin sections, crons, tracking, can be done but are you willing to put in the time and effort needed? This project could easily take an experienced programmer a year to write. If you will need it before then - maybe it would be better for you to look into open source or *choke* proprietary solutions.

If you do want to do this - break it up into modules. The way you have it grouped is fine. Then pick one of the modules and start breaking it down. I'll use the restarant one as an example since it seems to be the easiest.

what you want -


What that translates to on a high level
1) need a resident table in the database
2) need an administrative area where the cook can submit the future menus (probably should save it to the database - maybe a menu table).
3) need a login system that can currently handle the super user, the cook and the resident. must be flexable enough to work with the other modules in the future
4) need a webpage to display the current days menu
5) need a reservation system - again it will probably need interaction with the database. Maybe a resv table that will hold the resident, the date and the meal..

That is off the top of my head. Each area will of course have to be fleshed out with increasing detail. Please be sure to think (draw and diagram if needed) these things before you ever sit down to code. The tighter the details and specifics you figure out in the planning stage the better.

Note - There are many frameworks available that may be helpful to you (I have never used one - but it is another option). Since you are a beginner - I am unsure if they will help or hinder you as you code.

One framework a friend of mine is particularly passionate about is symfony. I have never used it, but from what my friend has said it is very powerful.

^^ That is me by the way - took to long to think and type my answer :S -

thanks lig for your suggestion great input...

yeah it's a very big project. i hope i can manage to finish it. fortunately i'm not under time pressure. the building is still under construction.

i've read about UML to make things easier. i'll try to submit my model as soon as i'm done making one.

thanks again...

by the way it's me. it took me a long time to compose my first message.