PaperlessWorld Project Overview

Introduction:
Picture a retail store where you swipe your credit card, sign your name, and then smile as the cashier confirms that your receipt has not been printed, but has been deposited into your PaperlessWorld account on the web.  You don’t have to stuff the receipt in your pocket, check it against your credit card bills, or file it in case you need to return something.  Your receipt is securely stored in your account online and you can instantly find it at any point in the future.
Description of Business:
PaperlessWorld provides a service for consumers to manage their receipts on the web.  This will reduce the unnecessary clutter of paper receipts and provide a tool with which consumers can instantly search through their entire history of transactions.  PaperlessWorld will earn money by packaging and selling market research reports about user purchasing behavior.  Additionally, PaperlessWorld will support a unique form of targeted advertising.
Consumer behavior has traditionally been stored in independent silos of data, handled by various credit card companies and retailers.  PaperlessWorld will be able to identify what a given user purchases, regardless of what credit card is used or where the purchase occurs. For example, PaperlessWorld will be able to identify interesting trends such as users who purchase GAP jeans also tend to purchase iPods (fictional example).  PaperlessWorld will also allow retailers to display Internet advertisements directly to users who purchase particular products, regardless of where those products were purchased.  
Overview of Project Requirements:
The deliverable for the Software Engineering course will entail three major components, outlined below with examples of key requirements (not an exhaustive list).  The goal is to create a working prototype of the service that will eventually be used to launch PaperlessWorld, starting with the Cornell Store.  PaperlessWorld is looking for smart and passionate developers and will highly consider all Software Engineering students working on the project as potential future employees at the startup company.
Database:  The database design will be central to the operation of PaperlessWorld.  It needs to scale such that the database can grow with minimal design changes, even when the transaction volume grows exponentially.  The following are examples of requirements:
Representation for individual consumers
Representation for retailers, both by parent company and unique location
Ability to query by SKU# (product identifier), date, individual, retailer, etc.
Ability to generate large reports, both pre-defined and user-defined
Consumer-Facing Website:  The website design will be the face of PaperlessWorld and will be extremely influential in the company’s success.  The following are a few key requirements.
Ability to use currently available login ID’s (OpenID, Windows Live ID, Gmail, etc.)
User-specific homepage with an overview of recent transactions, etc.
Ability to filter and search through all historical purchases
Ability to create a one-page, printable receipt based on any transaction
Generic tabs for company info: “About PaperlessWorld”, “Investors”, “Press”, etc.
API for Retailers:  The API will provide an interface into PaperlessWorld for retailers to deposit and query receipts at the time of a transaction.  This needs to be a secure API.
Ability to create a receipt (providing user, product, price and store information)
Ability to query recent receipts from a particular consumer at a particular retailer
Ability to pull up a specific receipt by providing a unique identifier
Technology Platform: One key aspect of the database, website, and API is that they must be built on a platform that requires a small initial investment and is extremely scalable.  Likely candidates include cloud computing platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Contact Info:
Please direct any questions or inquiries to Keith Cowing via email (krc24@cornell.edu) or cell phone (607-227-3620).