Prentice Hall, Chapter 12 Building E-Commerce Applications and Infrastructure

Prentice Hall, Learning Objectives Describe the landscape and framework of EC application development Describe the major EC applications and list their major functionalities Describe the EC architecture development process List the EC application development options and the approaches for option selection

Prentice Hall, Learning Objectives (cont.) Describe the major activities in system analysis and design Describe the role of application service providers (ASPs) Describe catalogs, Web servers, carts, chatting, and telephony for EC

Prentice Hall, Learning Objectives (cont.) Understand the issue of connecting EC applications to databases, other applications and networks, and to business partners Describe site usability and management Describe the process of storefront development Build a simple storefront using templates

Prentice Hall, Building EC Applications: Some Examples (cont.) United Parcel Service (UPS) services the masses Online package tracking saved the company $2 per customer service phone call ($ millions annually) Site provides customers information on Cost Transit time Location of nearest drop off facility Scheduling package pickup

Prentice Hall, Figure 12-2 GM’s TradeXchange

Prentice Hall, Figure 12-3 EC Application Development Process

Prentice Hall, Landscape and Framework of EC Application Development Development process Step 1: EC architecture creation--systems analysis approach Step 2: Select a development option Step 3: Installing, connecting, and more Step 4: Deployment Step 5: Operation and maintenance

Prentice Hall, Landscape and Framework of EC Application Development (cont.) Project management Development process is complex and must be properly managed Team formed to manage the process and vendors Collaborations with business partners is critical Appropriate management includes periodic evaluations of system performance

Prentice Hall, Major EC Applications and Their Functionalities A storefront—built on seller’s server B2C storefronts Discover, search and compare products Select product ad negotiate price Aid in evaluation of products and services Payment of purchase and order processing Order confirmation Guest book for comments and contacts Credit verification system Arrange delivery (tracking)

Prentice Hall, Major EC Applications and Their Functionalities (cont.) A storefront—built on seller’s server Suppliers’ sell-side in B2B Personalized catalogs B2B payment gate Electronic contract negotiation Product configuration Ability to use m-commerce Affiliate program capabilities Integration with corporate back-end systems

Prentice Hall, Major EC Applications and Their Functionalities (cont.) A storefront—built on seller’s server—sell-side auctions E-procurement and reverse auctions Personalized aggregation of catalogs

Prentice Hall, Major EC Applications and Their Functionalities (cont.) Personalized pages Security and privacy protection Integration capabilities Searching and indexing Modularity Performance caching Openness Polls and evaluations service Servers Enterprise portals

Prentice Hall, Major EC Applications and Their Functionalities (cont.) Collaboration services Community services Web-automated workflow Integrated business process solutions Data mining Transaction flow Language translation Central coordination of global logistics Integration services Negotiation mechanisms Comprehensive links Exchanges

Prentice Hall, Developing an EC Architecture The 6 steps of development are: Step 1: Define business goals and vision Step 2: Define the information architecture Step 3: Define data architecture Step 4: Define your application architecture Step 5: Define the EC technical architecture Step 6: Define the organization architecture

Prentice Hall, Development Strategies for EC Applications Advantages Availability of many off-the-shelf packages Saves time Requires few dedicated personnel Not the first and only user Disadvantages Software doesn’t exactly fit needs Loss of control over improvements and versions Difficult to integrate Vendors may drop product or go out of business Buy the applications (turnkey approach)

Prentice Hall, Development Strategies for EC Applications (cont.) Lease Types of leasing vendors Lease the application from an outsourcer and install it on company premises Use an application system provider (ASP) In-house development: insourcing Development approaches Build from scratch Build from components Prototyping methodology

Prentice Hall, Development Strategies for EC Applications (cont.) Other development options Join an e-marketplace or exchange Join a third-party or reverse auction Joint ventures Join a consortia Hybrid approach

Prentice Hall, Outsourcing and Applications Service Providers Outsourcing Internet malls ISPs Telecommunication companies Software houses Outsourcers and others

Prentice Hall, Applications Service Providers Benefits to the ASP vendor Companies generate revenues from sources other than connectivity and transport Lucrative Web site hosting Web design consulting Hosted applications with access charges

Prentice Hall, Applications Service Providers (cont.) Benefits to the leasing companies Saves time and various expenses in the initial development stage (i.e., labor costs) Reduces software maintenance, upgrading applications, and training time Reduces time-too-market Enhances ability to adapt to changing market conditions

Prentice Hall, Table 12-1 Benefits and Risks of Using an ASP

Prentice Hall, Criteria for Selecting a Development Approach Functionalities of development packages and criteria of choice Information requirements User friendliness Hardware and software resources Installation Maintenance services Security Vendor quality and track record Estimating costs Measuring benefits Personnel Forecasting and planning for technology evolution Criteria

Prentice Hall, Criteria for Selecting a Development Approach (cont.) Scaling Sizing Performance throughput Reliability Security Database format and portability Application and data storage Scope of service Support services Integration Criteria (cont.)

Prentice Hall, System Analysis Activities and Tools Requirements analysis Methods for determining requirements Joint Application Development (JAD) Modeling approaches may be based on: Activity/process Use case/object-oriented Interprocess

Prentice Hall, System Analysis Activities and Tools (cont.) Component-based development Components evolved from objects of object-oriented methodology They are much larger than objects and now serve as plug-and-play building blocks for developing large complex systems Reasons for using components Code reusability Support for heterogeneous infrastructures and platforms Rapid assembly of new business applications

Prentice Hall, System Analysis Activities and Tools (cont.) Enterprise application integration Aims to integrate applications (including internal applications) that have been developed by different organizations If source code is unavailable (altering the application is not possible), EAI becomes the glue between the applications

Prentice Hall, Figure 12-6 Levels of Enterprise Integration

Prentice Hall, Electronic Catalogs, Shopping Carts Electronic catalogs, shopping carts, and merchant servers Templates or wizards for creating storefronts and catalog pages E-shopping carts Web-based order forms Database for maintaining product descriptions, etc. Integration with 3 rd party software—taxes, shipping, etc. Electronic payment systems

Prentice Hall, Web Chatting, Webcasting, and Internet Telephony Web chatting Communication centers Customer service Community discussion Video chat Webcasting Text streams Ambient Webcasts Streaming audio Internet telephony

Prentice Hall, EC Suites Suite—combined set of tools giving builder and users: Greater flexibility Specialization Customization Integration Support for complete functionality

Prentice Hall, EC Suites IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite Web server for catalog management Application server for security Reverse auctions Exchanges Contracts EC suite server sell-side ordering and auctions Database server HTTP interface

Prentice Hall, IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite Delivers an open, standards-based solution platform with integrated components for building e-marketplace Facilitates operational efficiency and high return on investment Uses Java and XML technologies to aggregate sellers’ catalogs Provides optimal customization and flexibility Incorporates e-marketplace functionality

Prentice Hall, Figure Web to Database Connection

Prentice Hall, Connecting to Databases, Legacy Systems, and Business Partners Connecting to business partners Critical to success of EC, especially for B2B applications Issues to be dealt with: Connectivity Compatibility Security Scalability

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection Steps in selecting software package 1: Identification of suitable packages 2: Determination of detailed evaluation criteria 3: Evaluation of candidate packages 4: Choosing a package 5: Negotiating the contract

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Identification of suitable packages Sources of information about packages Hardware vendors User groups Technical and trade publications Consultants experienced with an application area or industry Friends and competitors Preliminary evaluation criteria to eliminate all but a few of the most promising packages

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Determination of evaluation criteria Must determine in detail what one must know about the packages and how important each criteria is Characteristics of the vendor Functional requirements of the system Technical requirements the software must satisfy Amount and quality of documentation provided Vendor support of package

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Determination of evaluation criteria (cont.) Requirements for purchase (RFP) is developed including: Information about the vendor How long the vendor has been in the EC software business Number of employees, financial and location of its sales and support offices First release date of system being considered Date of last revision List of companies using the software to contact as references

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Determination of evaluation criteria (cont.) Project team develops essential functional requirements the systems must satisfy (RFP) Mandatory requirements Desired features Stated as questions about the characterizes of the package Ease with which software can be tailored to fit company’s current needs or enhanced in the future

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Evaluation of candidate packages RFP is sent to short list of qualified vendors Responses generate massive volumes of information for evaluation to determine Gaps between the company’s needs Capabilities of the proposed application packages To help determine which package, may use a table (see Table 12-2)

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) CriteriaWeightsSystem ASystem BSystem C Support for Java standards XML SSL Shoppingcart Catalogs Taxation Personalization

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Choosing the package once the short list has been prepared Determine how the packages might be modified to remove any discrepancies with the company’s desired EC application Most important factor is additional development effort required to tailor the system: To company’s needs To integrate with company’s environment

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Choosing the package (cont.) People are likely to have to adapt to the software Significant changes in how they do their jobs Commitment is necessary for the system to succeed Project team should verify that: Users of the system support the decision to buy the selected package and agree to make it work IS people who will support the system agree that the system will work in their environment and that they can support is satisfactorily

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Contract negotiation (EC managers and/or IS department) Specifies the price of the software Determines the type and amount of support to be provided Integral part of purchase process Company’s power is in being able to choose another vendor’s product Concessions from vendor must be negotiated before final decision on which package to buy

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Service level agreements (SLAs) Formal agreements regarding the division of work between a company and its vendors SLA can achieve facilitation and coordination by: Defining the partners’ responsibilities Providing a framework for designing support services Allowing the company to retain as much control as possible over their own system

Prentice Hall, Vendor and Software Selection (cont.) Service level agreements (SLAs) (cont.) Four steps for establishing SLA Defining levels Dividing computing responsibility at each level Designing the details of the service levels Implementing service levels

Prentice Hall, Site Management and Usage Analysis Implementation of evaluation devices Collecting and analyzing statistics Hits per pageview What can you get from pageviews Pageviews by time bucket Pageviews by customer logging status Pageviews by referrer Pageviews by visitor’s hardware platform, OS, browser Pageviews by visitor’s host

Prentice Hall, Site Management and Usage Analysis (cont.) Usability: the measure of quality of a user’s experience when interacting with a product or system Ease of learning Efficiency of use Memorability Error frequency and severity Subjective satisfaction

Prentice Hall, Site Management and Usage Analysis (cont.) E-commerce management tools Patrol for e-business management Measures Web response time Firewall administration Application servers: Patrol for Microsoft Open market Netscape

Prentice Hall, Site Management and Usage Analysis (cont.) E-commerce management tools (cont.) MainView for e-business management Manages mainframe-based EC applications Monitors mainframe network connections Systems administration Service assurance center for e-business— methodology, products, and services designed to optimize performance and availability of business applications

Prentice Hall, Process of Storefront Development Issues to be addressed before choosing the proper solution include: Customers Merchandising Sales service Promotion Transaction processing Marketing data and analysis Branding

Prentice Hall, Process of Storefront Development (cont.) Availability and fast loading Simplicity of site structure Use of shopping cart Good navigation Globalization Maximizing ways to order and pay Establishing credibility Offering personalized service Pre- and post sales support Realistic pricing Design guidelines

Prentice Hall, Managerial Issues It is the business issues that count In-house or outsource Consider an ASP Do a detailed EC architecture study Security and ethics Choosing a vendor/software