Web Commerce Development

DIS 302: E-Business

 Web Applications
• Web applications have much in common with other
Information Systems applications
• However the nature of the Web places other
demands on the applications
– the applications are directly accessible by customers
and suppliers and so significant performance and
security issues arise
• Effective Web development teams are often diverse
in nature - as are stakeholder groups
• To achieve client satisfaction requires a high degree
of collaboration between stakeholder groups
 Web Development Team Composition
• Project leader - A producer type figure that coordinates the
team and project.
• Systems Analysts - Gathering requirements for the Web site.
• Web designers - Web site design.
• Graphic designer - Detailed design of logos and icons, etc.
• Content providers - Provide the actual information content
for the Web site.
• Technical developers - Web site development.
• Web marketing specialists - Build in the marketing
techniques to the Web site.
• Representative users/customers - to make sure the system is
acceptable and fulfils the requirements.
 Web Technology Basics
• The Internet is the network of networks which provides the
mechanism for communication - the supporting infrastructure

• The model that the Internet is based upon was first developed in
the 1960s as a US Defense Department Network called ARPAnet

• The World Wide Web is the hypertext (HTML) environment that

makes the Internet a user friendly place

• HTML was developed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, it was

intended to form the basis for a user friendly, dynamic database
system
 Web Technologies
• Browsers
– Used for accessing the World Wide Web
– Allows input of Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
– A connection is made to the remote computer using the URL
– HTML code is returned to the client and displayed in browser

• Search engines & meta-search engines

– Software systems located on the Web that collect and order
information from the Web
– Keyword searches that produce a list of ‘finds’
– Variety of search engines – specialist subjects, geographical focus
etc.
– Meta –search engines access a number of search engines in one go
 Web Technologies
• Hypertext and hyperlinks
– The method of linking between or within Web pages
– Links can be imposed on text or pictures
• HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
– Web communication protocol
– Handles the transfer of data over the Internet
• Web sites
– A Web site is the pages of information on a computer on the
Internet
– Web sites must have unique addresses
• M-commerce
– Mobile e-commerce for communication, banking, shopping etc.
 Web Technologies
• Web authoring tools
– For developing Web pages eg. Microsoft’s
Frontpage
• XML
– A more powerful Web development language than
HTML
• Web programming languages
– Web pages can have scripts (short programs)
embedded in them
– They add extra functionality and interactivity to the
Web pages – such as form validation
– Examples include VBScript, Jscript, Java Applets
 Assessing The Feasibility Of Web
Commerce
• While the costs of a project may be immediate, the
benefits may take several years to be realised
• Projects vary in their complexity which is determined
by:
· The scope of the project
· The size of the project
· The number of users and range of users
· Geographic distribution of users
· The type (complexity) of functionality required in the
system
 Types Of Project
• Static document publishing systems
– used for Intranet applications to put company
documentation on the Web and to provide
information to customers
– they are relatively simple systems because they are
not connected to databases although they can
include multimedia systems
• Dynamic Web applications
– can include forms for input of customer details
which are then stored to a simple database or file
 Types Of Project
– querying facilities, e.g to find staff telephone
extension numbers, may also be present
• Complex Web applications
– provide a fully interactive interface which connects
to one or more databases
– They can complete transactions such as adding,
amending or deleting
 Web Site Maturity
• If there are no Web applications in the
organisation the project will involve work at a
strategic level to define the goals of the
system
• If the site is relatively mature and working
well then later projects will be additions that
will not usually require the same broad
planning phases, although some strategic
planning will still be required
 Expertise
• The less expertise there is for any IS project within an
organisation the higher the risk associated with the project
• Expertise can save a great amount of time as it
– improves the chances of completing tasks correctly
– working appropriately
– using suitable tools
– estimating better and so on
• If expertise does not exist within the organisation the expertise
has to be brought into the organisation
– This can alleviate some of the problems but adds complexity since the
organisation has to source suitable consultants or vendors and assess
their performance
 Web Development Strategies
• There are a number of approaches that can be
used in the development of Web sites:
– Plan the entire site and strictly regulate its
distributed development
– Plan the core of the Web site (out-sourcing or in-
house) and make no further changes
– Plan the core of the Web site and let user
departments develop their own neighbourhoods
 Web Development Strategies
– Plan the core of the Web site and loosely regulate
the development of the rest of the Web site
– Allow unregulated development of the entire Web
site (not recommended!)
– Plan the entire Web site, develop the core and then
incrementally develop the rest of site
 Defining the Users
One of the issues with e-commerce is knowing the user
Different users accessing Web sites are for example:
– Surfer
– Buyer
– Member and Non-member customers
– Dissatisfied customers
– Recipient of goods (may not be the purchaser)
– Suppliers
– Internal users
 Cultural Issues
• Local languages, laws, conventions and customs
must be taken into account when marketing to
different countries using the Web e.g. the
portrayal of women in Muslim countries.

• Failure to observe appropriate standards will

result in lost business … serious infringements
could result in other penalties
 Effective Design
• The usual principles of interface design apply here
– judicious use of colour, effects etc.
• Avoid clutter and overloading the screen, remember that
the mouse is not a precision instrument
• Remember too that many people have both ordinary and
colour vision defects.
• Metaphors are useful e.g. a virtual mall
• Easy navigation is essential, ideally no more than three
mouse clicks away from anything
• Similar principles apply to input forms - make life as easy
as possible for the user and ensure that all inputs are valid
 Marketing Techniques
A Web Site should:
· Have a clear strategy and aim.
· Have a clear and easy to use design.
· Have creative and memorable features. E.g. chat, IP
voice, animation, graphic design, online community
etc.
· Relevant and recent content.
· Be registered with search engines.
 Marketing Techniques
· Be promoted off-line.
· A relevant and easy to remember domain name.
· These may help
· On-line events - such as chatting with a celebrity.
· Give something away - this could be a gift or just
useful information.
 Web Site Effectiveness
• Number of people aware of the site (percentage of
customers);
• Number of hits on the site (visitors);
• Number of active visitors (visitors who interact with the
site);
• Number of purchases;
• Number of repurchases (people who purchase
repeatedly).
 Remember the problem may not be the web site … it may
lie in off line promotion etc. A comprehensive analysis is
required
 Summary
• The external nature of Web applications have created new
challenges for systems developers.
• Most real applications now require the use of Web
scripting languages to add functionality to sites as HTML is
no longer sufficient.
• Web site development complexity depends on a number of
factors of which the degree of functionality and integration
with other applications are the most important
• Good Web design is essential for user satisfaction
• Measuring the effectiveness of Web sites involves much
more than hit rates.