Electronic Commerce Engineering

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Electronic Commerce

Lecture 4

Engineering

Laudon & Traver: Chapter 4 Building an E-commerce Web Site

Site

Slide 4-1

Building an E-commerce Site: A Systematic Approach

Systematic Approach

Two most important management challenges in building a successful e-commerce site are:

Developing a clear understanding of p g g business objectives

Knowing how to choose the right Knowing how to choose the right

technology to achieve those objectives

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Pieces of the Site-Building Puzzle

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

building a site include:

Human resources and organizational

capabilities—creating a team that has the skill set capabilities creating a team that has the skill set to build and manage a successful site

Hardware Hardware

Software

Telecommunications Telecommunications

Site design

Slide 4-5

The Systems Development Life Cycle

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for understanding the business

bj ti f t d d i i

objectives of a system and designing an appropriate solution

Fi j t i th SDLC

Five major steps in the SDLC are:

Systems analysis/planning

Systems design

Building the system

Testing

Implementation

Slide 4-6

p

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Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Figure 4.2, Page 195

Slide 4-7

System Analysis/Planning: Identifying System Analysis/Planning: Identifying

Business Objectives, System Functionality,

d I f ti R i t

and Information Requirements

Business objectives: a list of capabilities you

Business objectives: a list of capabilities you want your site to have

System functionalities: a list of the types of

System functionalities: a list of the types of information system capabilities you will need to achieve your business objectives

to achieve your business objectives

Information requirements: the information

l t th t th t t d i

elements that the system must produce in

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Systems Analysis: Business Objectives Systems Analysis: Business Objectives, System Functionality, and Information

Requirements for a Typical E-commerce Site

Table 4.1, Page 196

Slide 4-9

Systems Design: Hardware and Software Platforms

System design specification: a description of the main components of a system and their p y

relationship to one another

System design can be broken down into two parts:

Logical design – data flow diagram,

processing functions to be performed and processing functions to be performed, and database to be used

Physical design translates logical design into

Physical design – translates logical design into physical components (HW, SW, link capacity)

Slide 4-10

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A Logical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (a), Page 198

Slide 4-11

A Physical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (b), Page 198

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Building the System: In-House versus Outsourcing

Outsourcing

Outsourcing: hiring an outside vendor to provide services involved in building the site g

The build your own versus outsourcing decision:

Build your own requires team with diverse skill set;

choice of software tools; both risks and possible benefits

Host your own versus outsourcing

Hosting: hosting company is responsible for ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for monthly fee , y

Co-location: firm purchases or leases a Web server (with control over its operation), but server is located i t d ’ h i l f ilit

Slide 4-13

in at vendor’s physical facility

Choices in Building and Hosting

Figure 4.4, Page 201

Slide 4-15

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Testing, Implementation, and Maintenance

Testing: Includes unit testing, system testing, and acceptance testing by management personnel

Implementation and maintenance:

Maintenance is ongoing

Need continual checking, testing, and repair

Maintenance cost roughly equals development g y q p cost

Benchmarking: process by which site is g p y

compared to those of competitors in terms of response speed, quality of layout, and design

Slide 4-16

y y g

Factors in Web Site Optimization

Figure 4.7, Page 205

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Simple versus Multi-tiered Web Site Architecture

Architecture

System architecture: refers to the arrangement of software machinery and tasks in an information software, machinery, and tasks in an information system needed to achieve a specific functionality

Two-tier architecture: Web server responds to p requests for Web pages and a database server provides backend data storage

M lti ti hit t W b i li k d t

Multi-tier architecture: Web server is linked to a middle-tier layer that typically includes a series of application servers that perform specific tasks, as application servers that perform specific tasks, as well as to a backend layer of existing corporate systems

Slide 4-18

Two-Tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(a), Page 207 Figure 4.9(a), Page 207

Slide 4-19

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Multi-tier E-commerce Architecture

Figure 4.9(b), Page 207 Figure 4.9(b), Page 207

Slide 4-20

Web Server Software

All e-commerce sites require basic Web server software to answer HTTP requests server software to answer HTTP requests from customers

Apache is the leading Web server software;

works with UNIX, Linux, and Windows operating systems

operating systems

Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) is the second major Web server software

the second major Web server software

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Advantages of Each Web Server Software

Choice of Web server software has no effect

th l k f W b d li d t

on the look of Web pages delivered to customers

Advantages

Microsoft’s development suite: integrated, p g , powerful, and easy to use

Unix’s suite: exceptionally reliable and

Unix s suite: exceptionally reliable and stable

Slide 4-22

Basic Functionality Provided by Web Servers

Table 4.3, Page 209

Slide 4-23

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Site Management Tools

All Web servers contain basic site

management tools that verify that links on management tools that verify that links on pages are still valid and also identify orphan files

files

Additional site management software and services such as those provided by

services such as those provided by

Webtrends.com can be purchased to monitor customer purchases, marketing campaign p , g p g effectiveness, and keeping track of standard hit counts and page visit info

Slide 4-24

Dynamic Page Generation Tools

Driven by the fact that it’s easier to change the

Driven by the fact that it s easier to change the contents of a database than it’s to change the code of an HTML page.

D i ti t t f W b

Dynamic page generation: contents of Web page are stored as objects in a database rather than being hard-coded in HTML, and are fetched when needed from database

when needed from database

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

P ( ) t g ) (

Pages), etc.

Lowers menu costs (costs incurred for changing

product descriptions and prices), permits easy

online market segmentation (can sell same

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Application Servers

W b li ti ft

Web application servers: software programs that provide specific business functionality

i d f W b it required of a Web site

Basic idea: to isolate the business

applications from the details of displaying Web pages to users on front end and details of connecting to databases on back end.

Are an example of middleware software p

A number of different types available, providing a variety of functionality

Slide 4-26

providing a variety of functionality

Application Servers and Their Functions

Table 4.4, Page 212

Slide 4-27

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E-commerce Merchant Server Software Functionality

Functionality

Provides the basic functionality needed for online sales, including:

Online catalog g

Shopping cart

Credit card processing

Slide 4-28

Merchant Server Software Packages (E- commerce Suites))

Offer integrated environment that provides functionality and capabilities needed to develop sophisticated,

customer centric site customer-centric site

Ranging from basic packages provided by Bizland, Hypermart, and Yahoo! Small Business Merchant Hypermart, and Yahoo! Small Business Merchant Solutions, to midrange suites by IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Professional Entry Edition and MS’s

Commerce Server 2002 to high end solutions by IBM’s Commerce Server 2002, to high-end solutions by IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Professional Edition,

Broadvision One-to-One Commerce, InterWorld’s

Commerce Exchange, and others.

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Merchant Server Software Packages (E- commerce Suites))

Key factors to consider in choosing include:

Functionality

Support for different business models

Business process modeling tools p g

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

Slide 4-30

Choosing the Hardware for an E-commerce Site

Hardware platform: refers to all the underlying

ti i t th t th t t

computing equipment that the system uses to achieve e-commerce functionality

Objective to have enough platform capacity to meet peak demand but not so much that you are wasting money

Important to understand the different factors p that affect speed, capacity, and scalability of a site

Slide 4-31

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Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform:

The Demand Side

Demand that customers put on a site the most important factor affecting the speed of a site important factor affecting the speed of a site

Factors involved in demand include:

Number of simultaneous users in peak periods p p

Nature of customer requests (user profile)

Type of content (dynamic versus static Web yp ( y pages)

Required security

N b f i i i

Number of items in inventory

Number of page requests

S d f l li ti

Slide 4-32

Speed of legacy applications

Factors in Right-sizing an E-commerce Platform

Table 4.6, Page 217

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Degradation in Performance as Number of Users Increases

Figure 4.12 (a), Page 218

Slide 4-34

Degradation in Performance as Number of Users Increases

Figure 4.12 (a), Page 218

Slide 4-35

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The Relationship of Bandwidth to Hits

Figure 4.14, Page 221

Slide 4-36

SOURCE: IBM, 2003.

Right-Sizing Your Hardware Platform:

The Supply Side The Supply Side

Scalability: refers to the ability of a site to increase in size as demand warrants

increase in size as demand warrants

Ways to scale hardware:

V ti ll i th i f

Vertically: increase the processing power of individual components

Horizontally: employ multiple computers to

Horizontally: employ multiple computers to share the workload

Improve processing architecture: combining Improve processing architecture: combining

vertical and horizontal scaling and using artful

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Vertical and Horizontal Scaling Techniques

Table 4.8, Page 222

Slide 4-38

Vertically Scaling a System

Figure 4 15 Page 222 Figure 4.15, Page 222

Slide 4-39

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Horizontally Scaling a System

Figure 4.16, Page 223 Figure 4.16, Page 223

Slide 4-40

Improving the Processing Architecture of Your Site

Table 4.9, Page 224

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Web Site Design: Basic Business Considerations

Considerations

Other important requirements for your site such as coherent Web site design building active as coherent Web site design, building active content and interactivity into your site (track customers who come, leave, and return; track

t th h t it t li

customers throughout your site to personalize and customize their experience)

To achieve basic business functionality of a Web

To achieve basic business functionality of a Web site, need to be aware of design guidelines and software tools that can build active content and functionality

functionality

Poorly designed Web sites drive customers away

Slide 4-42

E-commerce Web Site

Features that Annoy

Annoy

Customers

Figure 4.17, Page 225

SOURCE: Based on data from Hostway Corporation’s survey, Consumers’ Pet Peeves about

Slide 4-43

Commercial Web Sites, Hostway Corporation, 2005.

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The Eight Most Important Factors in Successful E-commerce Site Design g

Table 4.10, Page 226

Slide 4-44

Tools for Interactivity and Active Content

CGI (Common Gateway Interface): Set of standards for

i i b b d

communication between a browser and a program running on a server that allows for interaction between the user and the server

the user and the server

ASP (Active Server Pages): Enables programmers using Microsoft’s IIS package to build dynamic pages

Java: Allows programmers to create interactivity and active content on the client computer

JSP (J S P ) Si il t CGI d ASP

JSP (Java Server Pages): Similar to CGI and ASP;

allows developers to use a combination of HTML, JSP

scripts, and Java to dynamically generate Web pages in p , y y g p g

response to user requests

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Tools for Interactivity and Active Content (cont’d)

( )

ActiveX: Programming language invented by

Mi ft t t ith J

Microsoft to compete with Java

VBScript: Programming language invented by Microsoft to compete with JavaScript

ColdFusion: An integrated server-side g

environment for developing interactive Web applications pp

Slide 4-46

Insight on Technology: Using Ajax and Flash For Fast Forms and High-Speed Flash For Fast Forms and High Speed

Interactivity Class Discussion Class Discussion

What is Ajax? How does it work?

Compare Ajax to the traditional client/server Web model

How does Google Maps use Ajax?

What are some alternative ways to achieve

What are some alternative ways to achieve the same results as Ajax?

Slide 4-47

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Personalization Tools

Personalization: Ability to treat people based on their personal qualities and prior history on their personal qualities and prior history with your site

Customization: Ability to change the product

Customization: Ability to change the product to better fit the needs of the customer

C ki th i th d f hi i

Cookies the primary method for achieving personalization and customization

Slide 4-48

The Information Policy Set

Privacy policy: Set of public statements declaring how site will treat customers’

declaring how site will treat customers

personal information that is gathered by site

Accessibility rules: Set of design objectives

Accessibility rules: Set of design objectives that ensure disabled users can affectively access site

access site

Electronic Commerce Engineering

219322 219322

Electronic Commerce

Lecture 4

Engineering

Laudon & Traver: Chapter 4 Building an E-commerce Web Site

Site

Slide 4-1

Building an E-commerce Site: A Systematic Approach

Systematic Approach

 Two most important management challenges in building a successful e-commerce site are:

 Developing a clear understanding of p g g business objectives

 Knowing how to choose the right Knowing how to choose the right

technology to achieve those objectives

Pieces of the Site-Building Puzzle

 Main areas where you will need to make decisions in building a site include:

building a site include:

 Human resources and organizational

capabilities—creating a team that has the skill set capabilities creating a team that has the skill set to build and manage a successful site

 Hardware Hardware

 Software

 Telecommunications Telecommunications

 Site design

Slide 4-5

The Systems Development Life Cycle

 Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for understanding the business

bj ti f t d d i i

objectives of a system and designing an appropriate solution

Fi j t i th SDLC

 Five major steps in the SDLC are:

 Systems analysis/planning

 Systems design

 Building the system

 Testing

 Implementation

Slide 4-6

p

Web Site Systems Development Life Cycle

Figure 4.2, Page 195

Slide 4-7

System Analysis/Planning: Identifying System Analysis/Planning: Identifying

Business Objectives, System Functionality,

d I f ti R i t

and Information Requirements

 Business objectives: a list of capabilities you

 Business objectives: a list of capabilities you want your site to have

 System functionalities: a list of the types of

 System functionalities: a list of the types of information system capabilities you will need to achieve your business objectives

to achieve your business objectives

 Information requirements: the information

l t th t th t t d i

elements that the system must produce in

Systems Analysis: Business Objectives Systems Analysis: Business Objectives, System Functionality, and Information

Requirements for a Typical E-commerce Site

Table 4.1, Page 196

Slide 4-9

Systems Design: Hardware and Software Platforms

 System design specification: a description of the main components of a system and their p y

relationship to one another

 System design can be broken down into two parts:

 Logical design – data flow diagram,

processing functions to be performed and processing functions to be performed, and database to be used

 Physical design translates logical design into

 Physical design – translates logical design into physical components (HW, SW, link capacity)

Slide 4-10

A Logical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (a), Page 198

Slide 4-11

A Physical Design for a Simple Web Site

Figure 4.3 (b), Page 198

Building the System: In-House versus Outsourcing

Outsourcing

 Outsourcing: hiring an outside vendor to provide services involved in building the site g

 The build your own versus outsourcing decision:

 Build your own requires team with diverse skill set;

choice of software tools; both risks and possible benefits

 Host your own versus outsourcing

 Host your own versus outsourcing

 Hosting: hosting company is responsible for ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for monthly fee , y

 Co-location: firm purchases or leases a Web server (with control over its operation), but server is located i t d ’ h i l f ilit

Two most important management challenges in building a successful e-commerce site are:

Developing a clear understanding of p g g business objectives

Knowing how to choose the right Knowing how to choose the right

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

Human resources and organizational

Hardware Hardware

Software

Telecommunications Telecommunications

Site design

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for understanding the business

Five major steps in the SDLC are:

Systems analysis/planning

Systems design

Building the system

Testing

Implementation

Business objectives: a list of capabilities you

Business objectives: a list of capabilities you want your site to have

System functionalities: a list of the types of

System functionalities: a list of the types of information system capabilities you will need to achieve your business objectives

Information requirements: the information

System design specification: a description of the main components of a system and their p y

System design can be broken down into two parts:

Logical design – data flow diagram,

Physical design translates logical design into

Physical design – translates logical design into physical components (HW, SW, link capacity)

Outsourcing: hiring an outside vendor to provide services involved in building the site g

The build your own versus outsourcing decision:

Build your own requires team with diverse skill set;

Host your own versus outsourcing

Host your own versus outsourcing

Hosting: hosting company is responsible for ensuring site is accessible 24/7, for monthly fee , y

Co-location: firm purchases or leases a Web server (with control over its operation), but server is located i t d ’ h i l f ilit

Testing: Includes unit testing, system testing, and acceptance testing by management personnel

Implementation and maintenance:

Maintenance is ongoing

Need continual checking, testing, and repair

Maintenance cost roughly equals development g y q p cost

Benchmarking: process by which site is g p y

System architecture: refers to the arrangement of software machinery and tasks in an information software, machinery, and tasks in an information system needed to achieve a specific functionality

Two-tier architecture: Web server responds to p requests for Web pages and a database server provides backend data storage

Multi-tier architecture: Web server is linked to a middle-tier layer that typically includes a series of application servers that perform specific tasks, as application servers that perform specific tasks, as well as to a backend layer of existing corporate systems

All e-commerce sites require basic Web server software to answer HTTP requests server software to answer HTTP requests from customers

Apache is the leading Web server software;

Apache is the leading Web server software;

Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) is the second major Web server software

Choice of Web server software has no effect

Advantages

Microsoft’s development suite: integrated, p g , powerful, and easy to use

Unix’s suite: exceptionally reliable and

Unix s suite: exceptionally reliable and stable

All Web servers contain basic site

Additional site management software and services such as those provided by

Driven by the fact that it’s easier to change the

Driven by the fact that it s easier to change the contents of a database than it’s to change the code of an HTML page.

Dynamic page generation: contents of Web page are stored as objects in a database rather than being hard-coded in HTML, and are fetched when needed from database

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

Lowers menu costs (costs incurred for changing