JamFree

Inspiration

Have you ever had to stand in line and tediously fill out your information for contact tracing at your favorite local restaurant? Have you ever asked yourself what's the point of traffic jams at restaurants which rather than reducing the risk of contributing to the spreading of the outbreak ends up increasing social contact and germ propagation? If yes, JamFree is for you!

What it does

JamFree is a web application that supports small businesses and restaurants during the pandemic by completely automating contact tracing in order to minimize physical exposure and eliminate the possibility of human error in the event where tracing back on customer visits is necessary. This application helps support local restaurants and small businesses by alleviating the pressure and negative impact this pandemic has had on their business.

In order to accomplish this goal, here's how it would be used:

Customer creates an account by filling out the required information restaurants would use for contact tracing such as name, email, and phone number.
A QR code is generated by our application
Restaurants also create a JamFree account with the possibility of integrating with their favorite POS software
Upon arrival at their favorite restaurant, the restaurant staff would scan the customer's QR code from our application
Customer visit has now been recorded on the restaurant's POS as well as JamFree's records

How we built it

We divided the project into two main components; the front-end with react components to make things interactive while the back-end used Express to create a REST API that interacts with a cockroach database. The whole project was deployed using amazon-web services (serverless servers for a quick and efficient deployment).

Challenges we ran into

We had to figure out how to complete the integration of QR codes for the first time, how to integrate our application with third-party software such as Square or Shopify (OAuth), and how to level out the playing field with the adaptability of new technologies and different languages used across the team.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully and simply integrated or app with POS software (e.g. using a free Square Account and Square APIs in order to access the customer base of restaurants while keeping everything centralized and easily accessible).

What we learned

We became familiar with OAuth 2.0 Protocols, React, and Node. Half of our team was compromised of first-time hackers who had to quickly become familiar with the technologies we used. We learnt that coding can be a pain in the behind but it is well worth it in the end! Teamwork makes the dream work ;)

What's next for JamFree

We are planning to improve and expand on our services in order to provide them to local restaurants. We will start by integrating it into one of our teammate's family-owned restaurant as well as pitch it to our local parishes to make things safer and easier. We are looking into integrating geofencing in the future in order to provide targeted advertisements and better support our clients in this difficult time for small businesses.