Project Homework: Introduction to E-Commerce Web Sites
Background
Throughout this course, you will be working on several aspects of the implementation of an e-commerce Web site using a tutorial or template of your choosing. The work will include the development of an E-Commerce Implementation Plan document, as well as some actual development work on an e-commerce prototype Web site. Additional information and the deliverables for each Individual Project will be provided in the homework description for the project.
Project Selection
The first step will be to select an organization as the target for your e-commerce implementation plan and prototype e-commerce Web site. This organization will be used as the basis for each of the homeworks throughout the course and should conform to the following guidelines:
1. Nontrivial: The selected organization should be large enough to allow reasonable exercise of the e-commerce implementation planning process.
2. Domain knowledge: You should be familiar enough with the organization to allow focus on the planning tasks without significant time required for domain education.
3. Accessibility: You should have good access to the people and other information that are related to the organization because this will be an important part of the planning process.
Note: The selected organization may already have an e-commerce site and can still be used as the basis for the projects in this course. The following is an example of the features of an e-commerce Web site created for a company that sells shoes:
1. The Web site allows the buyer to review all different types of shoes.
2. The Web site allows your company to list different types of shoes.
3. The Web site should have the registration page for the users.
4. The Web site should have Add to Cart functionality.
5. The Web site allows users to check out the shoes and provide the confirmation.
In addition to the organization selection, you must select a tutorial or template e-commerce Web site to use as the code base for your prototype e-commerce Web site. The purpose of the Web site development in this course is to help you learn about the major components found in e-commerce Web sites and how they are coded. Your prototype will be built from the code you select. This code should meet the following requirements:
1. Uses the latest version of Visual Studio for development
2. Includes representation of product catalog, shopping cart, checkout, payment, and customer accounts. These features do not have to be fully functional. There must be at least pages that represent this type of functionality.
3. Uses a database
4. Available for public use
Note: The code you use does not need to be fully functional. It should demonstrate the basics of how an e-commerce site should work and it should be sufficiently complete to allow you to create the prototype site for your project by modifying the code and Web design. Try searches for "Visual Studio e-commerce Web site" or "Visual Studio e-commerce tutorial" as initial searches or other similar searches. You will want a relatively simple Web site so you can focus on the changes required. Take some time to review some potential sites and make sure you have access to the complete codebase for the site.
Select an organization and sample e-commerce code that fits these requirements, and submit your proposal to your instructor before proceeding further with the homeworks in the course. Approval should be sought within the first several days of the course. Your instructor will tell you how to submit this proposal and what notification will be given for project approval.
After your instructor has approved your sample code selection, you should begin working with the code. Make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Visual Studio, then download your sample code and load the project into Visual Studio. Spend some time looking around in the code so you begin to get familiar with the code. If possible, build the sample project to ensure it is compatible with your version of Visual Studio.
Details
For the homeworks in this course, you will develop a comprehensive E-Commerce Implementation Plan document and a prototype e-commerce Web site. Your first task in this process will be to select an organization and sample e-commerce code to use as the basis of your project. You will also create the shell document for the final project deliverable that you will be working on during each unit. As you proceed through each project phase, you will add content to each section of the final document to gradually complete the final project deliverable. You will also work on the prototype e-commerce Web site and show demonstrable progress as part of each weekly deliverable.
Project Deliverables
Create a Word document with the following details:
1) Title Page
a. Course number and name
b. Project name
c. Student name
d. Date
2) Table of Contents (TOC)
a. Use autogenerated TOC
b. Should be on a separate page
c. Maximum of 3 levels deep
d. Be sure to update the fields of the TOC so that it is up-to-date before submitting your project
3) Project Outline
a. Brief description of the organization and its products
b. List of items that the organization sells
c. How many users are expected to use this e-commerce site?
d. Description of the Web site selected as the codebase for the prototype e-commerce Web site including the URL of the site. Note: This must have been approved by the instructor.
4) Architecture (Please refer to your unit resources to complete the following activities)
a. E-commerce site deployment architecture; using Visio to create a high-level network diagram.
b. Benefits of deploying e-commerce site on cloud compared to on-premise
c. How the load balancing should be handled?
d. Requirements
5) Prototype Design.
6) Prototype Branding.
7) Prototype Database.
8) Prototype Deployment and Maintenance.
Format your homework according to the following formatting requirements:
o The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
o The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
o Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.