Chapter 4, Ecommerce

8/12/2019 Chapter 4, Ecommerce

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Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as PrenticeHall

Slide 4-2

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

E-commerce

Kenneth C. LaudonCarol Guercio Traver

Business. technology. society.


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Slide 4-3

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 4

Building an E-commerce Web Site


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Building an E-commerce Site:

A Systematic Approach

Most important management challengesin building a successful e-commerce site

are:Developing a clear understanding ofbusiness objectives

Knowing how to choose the righttechnology to achieve those objectives


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Pieces of the Site-Building Puzzle

Main areas where you will need to makedecisions in building a site include:

Human resources and organizational

capabilitiescreating a team that has theskill set to build and manage a successfulsite

HardwareSoftware

Telecommunications

Site desi n


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Slide 4-6


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Planning: The Systems

Development Life Cycle

Methodology for understandingbusiness objectives of a system anddesigning an appropriate solution

Five major steps in SDLC1. Systems analysis/planning

2. Systems design

3. Building the system

4. Testing

5. Implementation


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Web Site Systems Development Life CycleFigure 4.2, Page 203


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Identifying Business Objectives,

System Functionality, and

Information RequirementsBusiness objectives:

List of capabilities you want your site to have

System functionalities:

List of information system capabilities needed

to achieve business objectives

Information requirements:

Information elements that system must

produce in order to achieve business


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Business Objectives, System Functionality,

and Information Requirements for a Typical E-

commerce Site


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Systems Design: Hardware and

Software Platforms

System design specification:

Description of main components of a system

and their relationship to one another

Two components of system design:Logical design

Data flow diagrams, processing functions,

databases, backup procedure.Physical design

Translate logical design into physical

components.


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Logical Design for a Simple Web

SiteFigure 4.3 (a), Page 206


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ys ca es gn or a mp e eSite

Figure 4.3 (b), Page 206


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Building the System: In-House

versus Outsourcing

Outsourcing: Hiring vendors to provideservices involved in building site

Build own vs. outsourcing:

Build your own requires team with diverse skillset; choice of software tools; both risks andpossible benefits

Host own vs. outsourcing Hosting: Hosting company responsible for

ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for monthlyfee

Co-location: Firm purchases or leases Webserver (with control over its operation), but


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Choices in Building and Hosting

Figure 4.4, Page 207


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Testing

Unit testing

Testing suits program modules one at a time

System testing

Testing the site as a whole, in a way the typical user

will use

Acceptance testing

Verify according to business objectives


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Implementation, and

Maintenance

Implementation and maintenance:

Maintenance is ongoing

Costs of maintenance parallel todevelopment costs

Benchmarking: Comparing site to

competitors in terms of response

speed, quality of layout, and design

Slide 4-17


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Factors in Web Site Optimization

Figure 4.7, Page 213


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Websites Budgets

How much you spend on a website depends

on what you want to do it.

Si l M lti ti d W b


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Simple versus Multi-tiered Web

Site Architecture

System architecture:

Arrangement of software, machinery, and

tasks in an information system needed to

achieve a specific functionality

Two-tier architecture

Web server and database server

Multi-tier architecture

Web application servers

Backend, legacy databases


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Two-Tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(a), Page 216


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Multi-tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(b), Page 216


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Web Server Software

All e-commerce sites require basic Webserver software to answer HTTP requests

from customers

Apache

Leading Web server software (50% of

market)

Works only with UNIX, Linux OSs

Microsofts Internet Information Server (IIS)

Second major Web server software (35% of

B i F ti lit P id d b


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Basic Functionality Provided by

Web Servers

Table 4.3, Page 218


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Site Management Tools

Basic site management toolsIncluded in all Web servers

Verify that links on pages are still valid

Identify orphan files

Third-party software and services for

advanced site managementMonitor customer purchases, marketing

campaign effectiveness, etc.

e.g. WebTrends


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Dynamic Page Generation Tools

Dynamic page generation:Contents of Web page stored as objects in database

and fetched when needed

Common tools:

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)ASP (Active Server Pages)JSP (Java Server Pages)

AdvantagesLowers menu costsPermits easy online market segmentationEnables cost-free price discriminationEnables Web content management system (WCMS)


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Application Servers

Web application servers:

Provide specific business functionalityrequired for a Web site

Middleware

Isolate business applications from Web

servers and databasesSingle-function applications increasingly being

replaced by integrated software tools thatcombine all functionality needed for e-commerce site

Application Servers and Their


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Application Servers and Their

Functions

E M h t S


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E-commerce Merchant Server

Software Provides the basic functionality for online salesOnline catalog

Shopping cart

Credit card processing Merchant server software packages:

Offer integrated environment

E-commerce merchant servicese.g. Yahoos Small Business Merchant Solutions

Open source Web building tools:

e.g. Apache Web server, MySQL, PHP, PERL


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Online catalog

List of products available on a website

It allows shopper to set aside desired

purchases in preparation for checkout, review

what they have selected, edit their selections

as necessary, and then actually make thepurchase by clicking a button.

Shopping cart


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Choosing an E-commerce Suit

Key factors to consider are:

Functionality

Support for different business models

Business process modeling tools Visual site management tools and reporting

Performance and scalability

Connectivity to existing business systems

Compliance with standards

Global and multicultural capability

Local sales tax and shipping rules


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Slide 4-32

Documents

Chapter 4, Ecommerce