Parking Lot System: Django React fullstack

Parking Lot System Design Specification

System Overview

• Purpose: Manage parking operations—entries, exits, payments, reservations, capacity, and reporting.
• Users: Admins, attendants, and customers.
• Core Features:
  • Lot management: zones, capacity, pricing rules, operating hours
  • Vehicle lifecycle: entry, session tracking, exit, fee calculation
  • Reservations: pre-booking, penalties
  • Payments: cash/card/manual record, gateway integration-ready
  • Accounts & roles: RBAC
  • Reports: occupancy, revenue, peak times
  • Audit & logs

Architecture

High-level Components

• Frontend: React SPA with role-based views
• Backend: Django + Django REST Framework
• Database: MySQL or MongoDB
• Auth: JWT-based stateless authentication
• Deployment: Dockerized services, CI/CD via GitHub Actions

Component Interaction

React calls Django REST APIs → Django applies business rules → Database persists data.

Background tasks handled via Celery + Redis.

Data Model

MySQL Schema

• ParkingLot: id, name, address, timezone, is_active
• Zone: id, lot_id, name, capacity, vehicle_type_allowed, is_active
• PricingRule: id, lot_id, vehicle_type, base_rate, hourly_rate, grace_period_minutes, daily_max, night_rate, effective_from, effective_to
• Vehicle: id, plate_number, vehicle_type, owner_name, owner_contact
• ParkingSession: id, lot_id, zone_id, vehicle_id, entry_time, exit_time, status, calculated_fee, payment_status, ticket_number
• Reservation: id, lot_id, zone_id, vehicle_id, start_time, end_time, status, deposit_amount, no_show_fee
• Payment: id, session_id, amount, method, transaction_ref, timestamp, status
• User: id, username, email, password_hash, role, is_active
• AuditLog: id, user_id, entity_type, entity_id, action, timestamp, changes

MongoDB Schema

• parking_lots: { _id, name, address, timezone, is_active, zones: [...] }
• pricing_rules: { _id, lot_id, vehicle_type, base_rate, hourly_rate, ... }
• vehicles: { _id, plate_number, vehicle_type, owner }
• sessions: { _id, lot_id, zone_id, vehicle_id, entry_time, exit_time, status, fee }
• reservations: { _id, lot_id, zone_id, vehicle_id, start_time, end_time, status }
• payments: { _id, session_id, amount, method, transaction_ref, timestamp, status }
• users: { _id, username, email, password_hash, role, is_active }
• audit_logs: { _id, user_id, entity_type, entity_id, action, timestamp, changes }

API Design (Django REST Framework)

Auth

• POST /api/auth/login
• POST /api/auth/refresh
• POST /api/auth/logout

Parking Lots & Zones

• GET /api/lots
• POST /api/lots
• GET /api/lots/{id}
• PATCH /api/lots/{id}
• GET /api/lots/{id}/zones
• POST /api/lots/{id}/zones
• PATCH /api/zones/{id}

Pricing Rules

• GET /api/lots/{id}/pricing
• POST /api/lots/{id}/pricing
• PATCH /api/pricing/{id}

Vehicles

• GET /api/vehicles?plate=...
• POST /api/vehicles
• PATCH /api/vehicles/{id}

Parking Sessions

• POST /api/sessions/entry
• POST /api/sessions/{id}/exit
• GET /api/sessions?status=ACTIVE
• GET /api/sessions/{id}

Reservations

• POST /api/reservations
• GET /api/reservations
• PATCH /api/reservations/{id}/cancel

Payments

• POST /api/payments
• GET /api/payments?session_id=...

Reports

• GET /api/reports/occupancy
• GET /api/reports/revenue
• GET /api/reports/peak-hours

Audit Logs

• GET /api/audit

Business Rules

• Capacity enforcement: Zone capacity must not be exceeded.
• Pricing calculation: Fee = base_rate + hourly_rate × billable_hours, with grace period and daily cap.