Topic 5

Topic X Wireless
5 E-commerce
Website
Development
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Explain the processes involved in developing an e-commerce website;
2. Examine the major considerations involved in choosing a web server
and e-commerce merchant server software;
3. Describe the issues involved in choosing the most appropriate
hardware for an e-commerce site; and
4. Identify additional tools that can be used to improve website
performance.
X INTRODUCTION
Do you know that developing a successful e-commerce website requires a keen
understanding of business, technology, and social issues? In many firms today,
e-commerce is just too important to be left totally to technologists and
programmers.
This topic will describe the processes involved in developing an e-commerce

website. The major considerations involved in choosing the software and
hardware for a successful e-commerce website will also be discussed, followed
by an explanation of other tools that can be used to improve website
performance.
128 X TOPIC 5 WIRELESS E-COMMERCE WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
5.1 BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE

WEBSITE
Let us assume that you are a manager for a medium-sized, industrial parts firm
of around 10,000 employees worldwide, operating in ten countries in Europe,
Asia, and North America. Senior management has given you a budget of RM1
million to build an e-commerce site within one year. The purpose of this site is to
offer products and services to over 20,000 customers, who are mostly from small
machine and metal-fabricating shops around the world. Where do you start?
In order to prepare for the above task, it is vital for you to take into consideration
the following two most important management challenges in building a
successful e-commerce site:
(a) Developing a clear understanding of the business objectives which requires
managers to build a plan for developing their firms site; and
(b) Knowing how to choose the right technology to achieve those objectives which
requires the manager to understand some of the basic elements of e-commerce
infrastructure.
Let us look at both challenges in the following sections.
5.1.1 Developing an E-Commerce Website

The first thing that you must consider when deciding to develop a website for
your firm is having a site development plan and some understanding of the basic
e-commerce infrastructure issues such as cost, capability, and constraints.
Without a plan and knowledge base, you will not be able to make sound
management decisions about e-commerce within your firm.
You must be aware of the main areas where you will need to make decisions
such as:
(a) Skilled Individuals

In terms of organisational and human resources, you will have to form a
team of individuals who possess the skill needed to develop and manage a
successful e-commerce site. This team will make the key decisions about
technology, site design, as well as the social and information policies that
will be applied on your site. The entire development process must be
closely managed in order to avoid disasters that have occurred at some
other firms.
TOPIC 5 WIRELESS E-COMMERCE WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT W 129
(b) Websites Hardware, Software and Telecommunications Infrastructure

You will also need to make decisions about your websites hardware,
software, and telecommunications infrastructure. While you will have
technical advisors to help you to make these decisions, ultimately the
operation of the site is at your own responsibility.
(c) Customers Preference

The customers demands should drive your choices of technology. Your
customers will look for technology that enables them to find what they
want easily. Usually, they prefer to purchase and receive the product in a
short period of time.
(d) Design of Website

You also have to consider your sites design carefully. Once you have
identified the key decision areas, start planning for the project.
5.1.2 System Development Life Cycle

The second step in developing an e-commerce site will be creating a plan
document. One of the methodologies for developing an e-commerce site plan is
called as the systems development life cycle as explained below.
The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for

understanding the business objectives of any system and designing an
appropriate solution. Adopting a life cycle methodology does not
guarantee success, but it is far better than having no plan at all. The
SDLC method helps in creating documents that communicate to senior
management the objectives of the site, important milestones, and the uses
of the e-commerce site.
The steps involved in SDLC method are as shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1: The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) method
(a) System Analysis

The functional analysis step of the SDLC tries to answer the question,
What do we want the e-commerce site to do?. We will assume here that
you have identified a business strategy and chosen a business model to
achieve your strategic objectives. But how do you translate your strategies,
business models, and ideas into a working e-commerce site?
One way to start is by identifying the specific business objectives for

your site, and then developing a list of system functionalities and
information requirements. There are nine basic business objectives that
an e-commerce site must deliver. These objectives must be translated
into a description of system functionalities and ultimately into a set of
precise information requirements.
Let us look at the definitions for the following three terms shown below.
Business objectives are simply a list of capabilities you want your site
to have.
System functionalities are a list of the types of information systems

capabilities you will need to achieve your business objectives.
Information requirements are the information needed to support a

business or other activity.
You will need to provide the above lists to system developers and
programmers so that they know what you as the manager expect them to
do.
To a large extent, the business objectives of an e-commerce site are not

different from those of an ordinary retail store. The real difference lies in the
system functionalities and information requirements: In an e-commerce site,
the business objectives must be provided entirely in digital form without
buildings or salespeople, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(b) System Design

Once you have identified the business objectives and system functionalities,
and have developed a list of precise information requirements, you can
begin to consider just how all this functionality will be delivered. You must
come up with a system design specification, which is a description of the
main components in a system and their relationship to one another. The
system design itself can be broken down into two components, which is
explained further in the following section:
(i) A logical design; and
(ii) A physical design.
A logical design includes a data flow diagram that describes the flow of
information at your e-commerce site, the processing functions that
must be performed, and the databases that will be used. The logical design
also includes a description of the security and emergency backup
procedures that will be instituted, and the controls that will be used in the
system.
A physical design translates the logical design into physical components.

For instance, the physical design details the specific model of server to be
purchased, the software to be used, the size of the telecommunications link
that will be required, the way the system will be back-ed up and protected
form outsiders, and so on.
SELF-CHECK 5.1
What are the differences between the logical design and physical
design?
(c) System Building

Now that you have a clear idea of both the logical and physical design for
your site, you can begin considering how to actually build the site. There
are many choices here. They range from outsourcing everything (including
the actual system analysis and design) to building everything in-house.
Let us look at the definition given for outsourcing.
Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring an outside vendor to

provide the services involved in building the site that you cannot
perform with in-house personnel.
You also have a second decision to make: Will you host or operate the site
on your firms own servers or will you outsource the hosting to a web host
provider? These decisions are independent of each other, but they are
usually considered at the same time. There are some vendors who will
design, build, and host your site, while others will only either:
x Build; or
x Host.
Let us look in depth of the decisions made by the managers.
(i) Build your Own Versus Outsourcing

Let us take the building decision first. If you elect to build your own
site, you will need a multi-skilled staff of programmers, graphic
artists, web designers, and managers. You will also have to select and
purchase hardware and software tools. There are a broad variety of
tools available for building your own e-commerce site such as:
x Tools that Help you Build Everything from Scratch

Tools like Dreamweaver and Front Page helps you to build your
site by scratch. The decision to build your own site entirely has a
number of risks. Given the complexity of features such as

shopping carts, credit card authentication and processing,
inventory management, and order processing, the costs involved
are high, as are the risks of doing a poor job.
You will be reinventing what other specialised firms have already

built, and your staff may face a long, difficult learning curve,
delaying your entry to market. Your efforts could fail. On the
positive side, you may be better able to build a site that does
exactly what you want, and more importantly, develop the in-
house knowledge to allow you to change the site rapidly if
necessary due to a changing business environment.
Brick-and-mortar retailers in need of an e-commerce site generally

design the site themselves (because they already have the skilled
staff in place and have an extensive investment in IT capital such
as databases and telecommunications) but they use outside
vendors and consultants to build the sophisticated e-commerce
applications. Small start-ups may build their own sites from
scratch using the in-house technical people in an effort to keep
costs low.
x Top of the Line Prepackaged Site-building Tools

These tools can create sophisticated sites which are customised to
your needs. If you choose more expensive site-building packages,
you will be purchasing state of the art software that is well-tested.
You could get to market sooner.
However, in order to make a sound decision, you will have to

evaluate many different packages and this can take a long time.
You may have to modify the packages to fit your business needs
and perhaps hire additional outside vendors to modify the
package. Costs rise rapidly as modifications mount. Medium size
start-ups will often purchase a sophisticated package and then
modify it to suit their needs.
x Pre-built Templates
Templates that merely require you to input text, graphics, and
other data. If you choose the template route, you will be limited to
the functionality already built into the templates, and you will not
be able to add to the functionality or change it. Very small mom
and pop firms seeking simple storefronts will use templates.
ACTIVITY 5.1
You are planning to develop an e-commerce site for your business

organisation. Would you build your own or outsource to other
vendors? State your reasons.
(ii) Host your Own Versus Outsourcing

Now let us look at the hosting decision. Most businesses choose to
outsource hosting and to pay a company to host their website, which
means that the hosting company is responsible for ensuring the site is
live, or accessible 24 hours a day. By agreeing to a monthly fee, the
business need not concern itself with many of the technical aspects of
setting up a web server and maintaining it, or with staffing needs.
You can also choose to co-locate. Let us look below in order to find
out what is meant by co-locate.
With a co-location agreement, your firm purchases or leases a

web server (and has total control over its operation), but locates
the server in a vendors physical facility. The vendor maintains
the facility, communication lines, and the machinery.
The disadvantage of outsourcing hosting is that as the online business

grows, the company may need more power and services than the
hosting company can provide. That is why some corporations prefer
to do their own hosting. When you host your own site, you are in total
control of the operation. Keep in mind that your costs may be higher
than if you had used a large outsourcing firm. You will have to
purchase hardware and software, have a physical facility, lease
communications lines, hire a staff and build security and backup
capabilities.
SELF-CHECK 5.2
What are the advantages of outsourcing hosting? Discuss.

(d) Testing
Once the system has been built and programmed, you will have to engage in
a testing process. Depending on the size of the system, this could be fairly
difficult and lengthy. Testing is required whether the system is outsourced or
built-in house. A complex e-commerce site can have thousands of pathways
through the site, each of which must be documented and then tested.
Let us look at the types of testing involved in the e-commerce website:
(i) Unit Testing

Unit testing involves testing the sites programme modules one at a
time.
(ii) System Testing

System testing involves testing the site as a whole in a way the typical
user would when using the site. Because there is no truly typical
user, system testing requires that every conceivable path be tested.
(iii) Acceptance Testing

Finally, acceptance testing requires that the firms key personnel and
managers in marketing, production, sales and general management
actually use the system as installed on a test Internet or intranet
server. This acceptance test verifies that the business objectives of the
system as originally conceived are in fact working. The process of
testing and rebuilding can cost as high as 50% of the total cost
involved in a software effort.
(e) Implementation and Maintenance

Most people unfamiliar with systems erroneously think that once an
information system is installed, the process is over. In fact, while the
beginning of the process is over, the operational life of a system is just
beginning. Systems break down for a variety of reasons and most of them
are unpredictable. Therefore, they need continual checking, testing and
repair.
Systems maintenance is vital, but sometimes not budgeted for. In general,

the annual system maintenance cost will roughly parallel the development
cost. A RM40,000 e-commerce site will likely require a RM40,000 annual
expenditure to maintain.
Why does it cost so much to maintain an e-commerce site? Unlike payroll

systems, e-commerce sites are always in a process of change, improvement
and correction.
Studies of traditional systems maintenance have found the following patterns:

(i) About 20% of the time is devoted to de-bugging codes and responding to
emergency situations. For example, a new server was installed by your ISP,
and this made all your hypertext links lost and CGI scripts which disabled
the site is down!;
(ii) Another 20% of the time is concerned with changes in reports, data files,
and links to back-end databases; and
(iii) The remaining 60% of maintenance time is devoted to general administration
(making product and price changes in the catalogue) and making changes
and enhancements to the system.
The processes involved in e-commerce sites are never finished. They are always
in the process of being built and rebuilt. They are truly dynamic; much more so
than the payroll systems.
ACTIVITY 5.2
Most companies are not very keen to build an e-commerce site due to
high implementation and maintenance cost.
Do you agree with the above statement? Discuss with your course
mates.
The long-term success of an e-commerce site will depend on a dedicated team of

employees (the Web team) whose sole job is to monitor and adapt the site to
changing market conditions. The Web team must be multi-skilled; it will
typically include programmers, designers and business managers drawn from
marketing, production and sales support.
Let us look at the tasks performed by the Web team:

(i) Listen to customers feedback on the site and respond promptly to that
feedback as necessary;
(ii) Develop a systematic monitoring and testing plan to be followed weekly to
ensure all the links are operating, prices are correct, and pages are updated.
A large business may have thousands of web pages and many of them
interlinked that require systematic monitoring; and
(iii) Benchmarking (refer below for its definition) and keeping the site current
on pricing and promotions.
Benchmarking is a process in which the site is compared with those of

competitors in terms of response speed, quality of layout and design.
To get more information about creating an e-commerce website, visit the

following websites:
x http://ecommerce.snowseed.com/
x http://www.ecommerce-digest.com/ecommerce-web-site-design-
portal.html
x http://build-website.com/
ACTIVITY 5.3
Visit some of the online stores in the Choice Mall website

(www.choicemall.com). Answer the following questions:
1. What are some of the benefits of online malls to the participating
vendors and shoppers?
2. Do you think it is better for shoppers to use a mall or use a search
engine website, like Google, to locate stores providing product of
interests? State your reasons.
EXERCISE 5.1
1. Define the system development life cycle.

2. Describe the steps involved in creating an e-commerce site.
5.2 CHOOSING SERVER SOFTWARE

As a business manager in charge of building the site, you will need to know some
basic information about e-commerce software. The more sophisticated the
software is and the more ways you can sell the goods and services, the more
effective your business will be. This section will describe the software needed to
operate a contemporary e-commerce site.
5.2.1 Simple versus Multi-tiered Website Architecture

Prior to the development of e-commerce, websites simply delivered web pages to
users who were making requests through their browsers for HTML pages.
Website software was appropriately quite simple. It consisted of a server
machine running basic web server software. We might call this arrangement of
software, machinery and tasks in an information system needed to achieve a
specific functionality as website architecture. It is much like a homes architecture
which refers to the arrangement of building materials to achieve a particular
functionality.
However, the development of e-commerce required a great deal of functionality,

such as the following:
(a) Ability to respond to user input (name and address forms);
(b) Take customer orders for goods and services;
(c) Clear credit card transactions on the fly;
(d) Consult price and product databases; and
(e) Adjust advertising on the screen based on user characteristics.
This kind of extended functionality required the development of web application

servers (refer below) and multi-tiered system architecture to handle the
processing loads.
Web application servers are specialised software programmes that perform

a wide variety of transaction processing required by e-commerce.
In addition to having specialised application servers, e-commerce sites must be

able to pull information from and add information to pre-existing corporate
databases. These older databases that predate the e-commerce era are called
back-end or legacy databases. Corporations have made massive investments in

these systems to store their information on customers, products, employees, and
vendors. These back-end systems constitute an additional layer in a multi-tiered
site.
Let us look at the different types of architecture tier existing in e-commerce:
(a) Simple or Two-tier Architecture

In two-tier architecture, also known as simple-tier architecture, a web
server responds to requests for web pages and a database server provides
back-end data storage.
(b) Multi-tier Architecture

In multi-tier architecture, in contrast, the Web server is linked to a middle-
tier layer that typically includes a series of application servers that perform
specific tasks, as well as to a back-end layer of existing corporate systems
containing product, customer, and pricing information. A multi-tiered site
typically employs several or more physical computers, each running some
of the software applications and sharing the workload across many
physical computers.
In the remainder of this section, we will describe basic web server software
functionality and the various types of web application servers.
5.2.2 Web Server Software

All e-commerce sites require basic web server software to answer request from
customers for HTML and XML pages. When you choose web server software,
you will also be choosing an operating system for your sites computers. The
leading web server software, with over 50% of the market, is Apache HTTP,
which works only with the Unix operating system.
Unix is the original programming language of the Internet and the Web. Apache
is free and can be downloaded from many sites on the web, and comes
installed on most IBM Web servers. Literally, thousands of programmers have
worked on Apache over the years. Thus, it is extremely stable and there are
thousands of utility software programmes written for Apache that can
provide all the functionality required for a contemporary e-commerce site. In
order to use Apache, you will require staffs that are knowledgeable in the
operation of the Unix operating system or its PC variant, Linux.
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is the second major web server
software available, with about 35% of the market. IIS is based on the Windows
operating system and is compatible with a wide selection of Microsoft utility and
support programmes. There are also at least 100 other smaller providers of web
server software, most of them are based on Unix or Sun Solaris operating system.
Note that the choice of web server has little effect on users on your system.
The pages they see will look the same regardless of the development
environment. There are many advantages to the Microsoft suite of development
tools; they are integrated, powerful, and easy to use. The Unix operating system,
on the other hand, is exceptionally reliable and stable. There is a worldwide open
software community that develops and tests Unix-based web server software.
Basic functionalities provided by all web servers (refer to Figure 5.2) are as
follows:
(a) Processing of HTTP Request

This processing receives and responds to client requests for HTML pages.
(b) Security Services (Secure Socket Layer)

These services verify the username and password.
(c) File Transfer Protocol

This protocol permits transfer of very large files from server to server.
(d) Search Engine

The search engine indexes the site content through its keyword-search
capability.
(e) Data Capture

The data log files of all visits, time, duration and referral source.
(f) Mail
E-mail makes it possible to send, receive and store e-mail messages.
(g) Site Management Tools

These tools calculate and display key site statistics, such as unique visitors,
page requests and origin of requests; check links on pages.
Figure 5.2: Basic functionality provided by all web servers
Let us look at the different types of tools used in the management of a web
server:
(a) Site Management Tools

Site management tools are essential if you want to keep your site working,
and if you want to understand how well it is working. Site management
tools verify that links on pages are still valid and also identify orphan files,
or files on the site that are not linked to any pages. By surveying the links
on a website, a site management tool can quickly report on potential
problems and errors that users may encounter.
Links to URLs that have moved or been deleted are called as dead links and
these can cause error to messages for users trying to access that link.
Regularly checking that all links on a site are operational helps prevent
irritated users who may take their business elsewhere to a better-
functioning site.
Additional site management software and services, such as those provided

by Webtrends.com, can be purchased in order to more effectively monitor
customer purchases and marketing campaign effectiveness, as well as keep
track of standard hit counts and page visit information.
(b) Dynamic Page Generation Tools

One of the most important innovations in website operation has been the
development of dynamic page generation tools. The content of successful
e-commerce sites is always changing, often day by day. There are new
products and promotions, changing prices, new events, and stories of
successful users.
E-commerce sites must intensively interact with users, who not only
request pages, but also request product, price, availability, and inventory
information. One of the most dynamic sites is eBay.com, in which the
content will be changing minute by minute. E-commerce sites are dynamic,
just like the real markets.
The dynamic and complex nature of e-commerce sites requires a number of

specialised software applications in addition to static HTML pages, such as
dynamic page generation software. With dynamic page generation, the
contents of a webpage are stored as objects in a database, rather than being
hard-coded in HTML.
When the user requests a webpage, the contents for that page are then
fetched from the database. The objects are retrieved from the database
using CGI (Common Gateway Interface), ASP (Active Server Pages), JSP
(Java Server Pages) or other server-side programmes. This technique is
much more efficient than working directly in HTML code. It is much easier
to change the contents of a database than it is to change the coding of an
HTML page.
A standard data access method called as Open Database Connectivity

(ODBC) makes it possible to access any data from any application,
regardless of which database is used. ODBC is supported by most of the
large database suppliers such as Oracle, Sybase, and IBM. ODBC makes it
possible for HTML pages to be linked to back-end corporate databases,
regardless of who manufactured the database.
Websites must be able to pull information from, and add information to

these databases. For example, when a customer clicks on a picture of a
digital camera, the site can access the product catalogue database stored in
a DB2 database, and access the inventory database stored in an Oracle
database to confirm that the camera are still in stock and report the current
price.
Dynamic page generation gives e-commerce several significant capabilities

that generate cost and profitability advantages over traditional commerce.
Dynamic page generation lowers the menu costs (refer below).
Menu costs are the costs incurred by merchants for changing product
descriptions and prices.
Dynamic page generation also permits easy online market segmentation the
ability to sell the same product to different markets. The same capability
makes it possible for nearly cost-free price discrimination, which is the
ability to sell the same product to different customers at different prices.
For instance, you might want to sell the same product to corporations and
government agencies but use different marketing themes. Based on a cookie
you placed on client files, or in response to a question on your site that asks
visitors if they are from a government agency or a corporation, you would
be able to use different marketing and promotional materials for corporate
clients and government clients. You might want to reward loyal customers
with lower prices and charge full price to first-time buyers.
In summary, dynamic page generation allows you to approach different

customers with different messages and prices.
5.2.3 Application Servers

So, do you know what is meant by the term application servers? Refer below in
order to find out its meaning.
Web application servers are software programmes that provide the specific
business functionality required of a website. The basic idea of
application servers is to isolate the business applications from the details
of displaying web pages to users on the front end and the details of
connecting the databases on the back-end. Application servers are a kind of
middleware software that provides the glue connecting traditional
corporate systems to the customer as well as providing all the
functionality needed to conduct e-commerce.
In the early years, a number of software firms developed specific separate

programmes for each function, but increasingly these specific programmes are
being replaced by integrated software tools that combine all the needed
functionality for an e-commerce site into a single development environment, a
packaged software approach.
Some of the wide varieties of application servers (as shown in Figure 5.3)
available in the marketplace are as follows:
(a) Catalogue display provides a database for product descriptions and prices;
(b) Transaction processing accepts order and clears payments;
(c) Proxy server monitors and controls access to main web server; implements
firewall protection;
(d) Mail server manages Internet e-mail;
(e) Databases server stores customer, product and price information; and
(f) Auction server provides a transaction environment for conducting online
auctions.
Figure 5.3: Types of application servers
There are several thousand software vendors that provide application server
software. For Linux and Unix environments, many of these capabilities are
available free on the Internet from various sites. Most businesses faced with this
bewildering array of choices, choose to use integrated software tools called as
merchant server software.
5.2.4 E-commerce Merchant Server Software

Functionality
E-commerce merchant server software provides the basic functionality needed
for online sales, including an online catalogue (refer to Figure 5.4), order taking
via an online shopping cart and online credit card processing.
Figure 5.4: Online catalogue

Source: http://www.onlinecatalogs.com/
Let us look at Figure 5.5 which illustrates the three functionality of e-commerce
merchant server software.
Figure 5.5: E-commerce merchant server software functionality

The three functionality of e-commerce merchant server software is explained in

detail in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1: E-commerce Merchant Server Software Functionality
Function Description
Online A company that wants to sell products on the web must have an online
Catalogue catalogue, which lists all of its products available on its website. Merchant
server software typically includes a database capability that will allow
construction of a customised online catalogue. The complexity and
sophistication of the catalogue will vary depending on the size of the
company and its product lines.
Small companies, or companies with small product lines, may post a

simple list with text descriptions and perhaps colour photos. A larger site
might decide to add sound, animations, or videos (useful for product
demonstrations) to the catalogue, or interactivity, such as customer
service representatives available via Instant Messaging (IM) to answer the
questions.
Shopping Online shopping carts are much like their real-world equivalent; both
Carts allow shoppers to set aside desired purchases in preparation for checkout.
The difference is that the online variety is part of a merchant server
software programme residing on the web server. Shopping cart data is
automatically stored by the merchant server software.
Online shopping carts allows consumers to do the following:

(i) Select merchandise;
(ii) Review what they have selected;
(iii) Edit their selections as necessary; and
(iv) Make the purchase by clicking a button.
Credit Card A sites shopping cart typically works in conjunction with credit card
Processing processing software, which verifies the shopper s credit card and then
puts through the debit to the card and the credit to the companys
account at checkout. Integrated e-commerce software suites typically
supply the software for this function. Otherwise, you will have to make
arrangements with a variety of credit card processing banks and
intermediaries.
Let us look at the definition provided for the term Merchant server software
package.
Merchant server software package, which is an e-commerce server suite, is

an integrated environment that provides most of the functionality and
capabilities needed to develop sophisticated customer centric-site.
E-commerce server suite is easier, faster and more cost-effective that a collection of
disparate software applications. Generally, there are three types of e-commerce
suite based on price and functionality and they are:
(a) Basic Suites

These suites are used for elementary e-commerce business applications and
are provided by Bizland, Hypermart and Yahoo! Merchant Solution.
(b) Midrange Suites

These suites are provided by IBMs Websphere Commerce Express Edition
and Microsofts Commerce Server.
(c) High-end Enterprise Suites

These suites are provided by IBMs Websphere Commerce Professional and
Enterprise Edition and Broadvision Commerce.
You can visit these websites to get more information about server software:
x Shopping Cart Software http//www.make-a-store.com/

x Web Server Software http://www.apache.org
x Application Server Software http://wwws.sun.com/software/
ACTIVITY 5.4
1. Explain how promoting products on the Web is different from

using mass media promotion or personal contact.
2. Imagine that you wanted to create an e-commerce website, what
would you take into consideration in terms of the following
elements:
x Web server; and
x Merchant server software.
EXERCISE 5.2
(a) What are the main differences between single-tier and multi-
tier website architecture?
(b) Name five basic functionalities that a Web server should provide.
(c) What is a dynamic server software?
The next section will discuss the hardware you will need to handle the demands
of the software.
5.3 CHOOSING THE HARDWARE FOR AN

E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
As the manager in charge of building an e-commerce site, you will be held
accountable for its performance. Whether you host your own site or outsource
the hosting and operation of your site, you will need to understand certain
aspects of the computing hardware platform.
Before we go in depth of the points of hardware platform, let us take a moment

to read the definition provided below for it.
The hardware platform refers to all the underlying computing

equipment that the system uses to achieve its e-commerce functionality.
Your objective is to have enough platform capacity to meet peak demand

(avoiding an overload condition). However, you need to make sure that there is
not so much platform, which will be a waste of money. Failing to meet peak
demand can mean your site is slow, or actually crashes. You need to bear in mind
that the website may be your only or principal source of cash flow.
To answer the following questions, you will need to understand the various
factors that affect the speed, capacity, and scalability of an e-commerce site:
(a) How much computing and telecommunications capacity is enough to meet
peak demand?
(b) How many hits per day can your site sustain?
In the following sections, you will look at the demand and supply sides of the
hardware platform.
5.3.1 Right-sizing The Hardware Platform: The

Demand Side
The most important factor affecting the speed of your site is the demand that
customers put on the site. In considering the demand, the following factors
should be taken into account:
(a) The Number of Simultaneous Web Visitors

In general, the load created by an individual customer on a server is
typically quite limited and short-lived. A web session initiated by the
typical user is stateless, meaning that the server does not have to
maintain an ongoing, dedicated interaction with the client. A web session
typically begins with a page request, then a server replies, and the session is
ended.
Nevertheless, system performance does degrade as more and more

simultaneous users request service. Fortunately, degradation (measured as
transactions per second and latency or delay in response) is fairly
graceful over a wide range, up until peak load is reached and service
quality becomes unacceptable.
In general, a robust single-processor web server (for example, with a

Pentium III or Xeon processor at 500 MHz), serving only static web pages,
can handle about 8,000 concurrent users. Serving up static web pages is I/O
intensive, which means it requires input/output operations rather than
heavy-duty processing power. As a result, website performance is
constrained primarily by the servers input/output (I/O) limitations and
the telecommunications connection, rather than speed of the processor.
Below we discuss some of the steps you can take to ensure you stay within
an acceptable service quality. One step is to simply purchase a server with
faster CPU processors or more CPU processors, or larger hard disk drives.
However, the improvement that results is not linear and at some point
becomes cost ineffective.
(b) The User Profile

Let us look at the definition provided for the second factor to be considered
on the demand side.
User profile refers to the nature of customer requests and customer

behaviour on your site. For example, how many pages customers request
and the kind of service they want to be delivered in the website.
An Intel study founds that nearly 80% of visitors to the typical e-commerce site
simply browse requesting static web pages.Web servers can be very efficient at
serving static web pages. However, as customers request more advanced
services, such as searches of site, registration, order-taking via shopping carts,
or downloads of large multimedia audio and video files, all of which require
more processing power, performance can deteriorate rapidly.
(c) The Nature of Your Sites Content

If your site uses dynamic page generation, then the load on the processor
rises rapidly and performance will degrade. Dynamic page generation and
business logic (such as a shopping cart) are CPU-intensive operations that
they require a great deal of processing power. Microsoft has estimated that
its web server software operating on a 200 MHz Pentium II can handle only
about 400 concurrent users of dynamic ASP pages (Microsoft, 1999). Any
interaction with the user requiring access to a database filling out forms,
adding to carts, purchasing, and questionnaires puts a heavy processing
load on the server.
(d) The Telecommunications Link

A final factor to consider is the telecommunications link that your site has
to the Web, and also the changing nature of the client connection to the
Web. The number of hits per second your site can handle depends on the
bandwidth connection between your server and the Web. The larger the
bandwidth available, the more customers can simultaneously hit your site.
For example, if your connection to the Web is a 150 Kbps, just like the DSL
line, the maximum number of visitors per second for 1 kilobyte files is
probably about ten. Most businesses host their sites at an ISP or other
providers that contractually is (or should be) obligated to provide enough
bandwidth for their site to meet the peak demands. However, there are no
guarantees and ISPs can blame web congestion for their own bandwidth
limitations. Check your ISPs bandwidth and your site performance daily.
While server bandwidth connections are less a constraint today with the
wide spread deployment of fibre optic cables, the connection to the client is
improving. This means they will be able to make far more frequent requests
and demand far richer content and experiences from your site. This
demand will translate quickly into dynamic content and the need for
additional capacity.
5.3.2 Right-sizing The Hardware Platform: The

Supply Side
Once you estimate the likely demand on your site, you will need to consider how
to scale up your site to meet the demand. Let us look at what is meant by the
term scalability.
Scalabilit refers to the ability of a site to increase in size as demand

warrants.
There are three steps you can take to meet the demands for service at your site:
x Scale hardware vertically;
x Scale hardware horizontally; and
x Improve the processing architecture of the site.
We will look in detail of the above steps in the following points.
(a) Scale Hardware Vertically

Vertical scaling refers to increasing the processing power of individual
components. You can scale your site vertically by upgrading the servers
from a single processor to multiple processors.
For instance, you can change your hardware from a single processor
Pentium III, to a dual processor with two Pentium Ills or Xeon processor.
You can keep adding up to 20 processors to a machine and changing chip
speeds as well.
There are two drawbacks to vertical scaling and they are:

(a) It can become expensive to purchase new machines with every growth
cycle; and
(b) Your entire site becomes dependent on a small number of very powerful
machines. Let us assume that you have two machines and if one goes
down, half of your site or perhaps your entire site may become unavailable.
(c) Scale Hardware Horizontally.
Horizontal scaling refers to employing multiple computers to share the

workload. Horizontal scaling involves adding multiple single processor servers
to your site and balancing the load among the servers. You can also then
partition the load so that some servers handle only requests for HTML or ASP
pages, while others are dedicated to handling database applications. You will
need special load-balancing software, which are provided by a variety of vendors
such as Cisco, Microsoft, and IBM, to direct incoming requests to various servers.
There are many advantages to horizontal scaling and they are:
(a) It is inexpensive and often can be accomplished by using older computers

that otherwise would be disposed of.
(b) Horizontal scaling also introduces redundancy. If one machine fails,

chances are that another machine can pick up the load dynamically.
However, when your site grows from a single machine to perhaps ten to
twenty machines, the size of the physical facility required increases and
there is added management complexity.
(c) Improve the Process Architecture of the Site

A third alternative improving the processing architecture is a combination
of vertical and horizontal scaling, combined with artful design decisions.
Most of these steps involve the following:
(i) Split or Separate the Workload

Splitting the workload into I/O-intensive activities (such as serving
web pages), and CPU-intensive activities (such as taking orders).
(ii) Fine-Tune the Servers

Once you have this work separated, you can fine-tune the servers for
each type of load. One of the least expensive fine-tuning steps is to
simply add RAM to a few servers and store all your HTML pages in
RAM. This reduces load on your hard drives and increases the speed
dramatically. RAM is thousands of times faster than hard disks and is
inexpensive.
(iii) Move the Activities

Then, move your CPU-intensive activities, such as order-taking, onto
a high-end, multiple processor server that is totally dedicated to
handling orders and accessing the necessary databases.
Taking these steps can permit you to reduce the number of servers required
to service 10,000 concurrent users from 100 down to 20, according to one
estimate.
5.4 OTHER E-COMMERCE SITE TOOLS

Now that you understand the key factors that affect the speed, capacity, and
scalability of your site, we will look at some other important requirements
needed for your website.
First of all, let us look at the elements which produce worst e-commerce sites:
(a) Make it difficult to find information about products;
(b) Complicate the process to make a purchase;
(c) Have missing pages and broken links;
(d) Have confusing navigation structures; and
(e) Have annoying graphics or sounds that you cannot turn off.
In order to create a successful e-commerce site design, which does not have the
elements mentioned earlier, the following important factors need to be taken into
consideration (refer to Figure 5.6):
(a) Functionality
Functionality pages that work, load quickly, and point the customer toward
your product offerings.
(b) Informational
Informational links that customers can easily find to discover more about
you and your products.
(c) Ease of Use

Ease of use by simple fool-proof navigation.
(d) Redundant Navigation

Redundant navigation alternates navigation to the same content.
(e) Ease of Purchase

Ease of purchase of one or two clicks to purchase.
(f) Multi Browser Functionality

Multi browser functionality site works with the most popular browsers.
(g) Simple Graphics

Simple graphics avoid distracting, obnoxious graphics and sounds that the
user cannot control.
(h) Legible Text

Legible text avoids backgrounds that distort text or make it illegible.
Figure 5.6: Factors in successful e-commerce site design
Let us concentrate on the tools used in e-commerce and they are divided into the
following:
x Tools for interactivity and active content; and
x Personalisation tools.
Let us look into the explanations and examples provided for each of the tools.
(a) Tools for Interactivity and Active Content

Simple interactions such as a customer submitting a name, along with
more complex interactions involving credit cards, user s preferences, and
users responses to prompts, all require special programmes. Here is a
brief description of some commonly used software tools for achieving high
levels of site interactivity:
(i) Web 2.0 Design Elements

Web 2.0 combines the capabilities of two or more application in the
website design such as:
x Widgets
Widgets, also called as gadgets or plug-ins or snippets, are small,
pre-built chunk of code that execute automatically in a HTML
webpage. They are mostly free and available for download on the
web such as Google Gadgets and Yahoo Widgets. Millions of
social network and blog pages use widgets to present users with
the content drawn for the web.
x Mashups
Another application of Web 2.0 is mashups, which involve pulling
functionality and data from one programme and including it in
another. For example, the use of Google Map data and combine it
with other data. If you are running a budget guesthouse website,
you can download Goggle Map to your website so visitor can get
a sense of the neighbourhood. The purpose of this application is to
enhance users interactivity with your site.
(ii) Common Gateway Interface (CGI)

CGI is a set of standards for communication between a browser and a
programme running on a server that allows for interaction between
the user and the server. CGI permits an executable programme to
access all the information within incoming requests from clients.
The programme can then generate all the output required to make up
the return page (HTML, script code, text, etcetera) and send it back to
the client via the Web server. CGI programmes can be written in
nearly any programming languages as long as they conform to CGI
standards. Generally, CGI programmes are used with Unix servers.
For instance, if the user clicks on the button Display the Contents of
My Shopping Cart, the server receives this request and executes a
CGI programme. The CGI programme retrieves the contents of the
shopping cart from the database and returns it to the server. The
server sends a HTML page that display the contents of the shopping
cart on the users screen.
(iii) Active Server Pages (ASP)

ASP is Microsofts version of server side programming for Windows.
ASP enables developers to easily create and open records from a
database and execute programmes within an HTML page, as well as
handle all the various forms of interactivity found on e-commerce
sites. Like CGI, ASP permits an interaction to take place between the
browser and the server.
(iv) Java, Java Server Pages (JSP) and JavaScript

Let us look at these three components separately in order to gain a
clearer concept:
x Java
Java is a programming language that allows programmers to
create interactivity and active content on the client machine,
thereby saving considerable load on the server. Java programmes
(known as Java applets) could be downloaded to the client over
the Web and executed entirely on the clients computer.
When the browser accesses a page with an applet, a request is sent

to the server to download and execute the programme and
allocate page space to display the results of the programme. Java
can be used to display interesting graphics, create interactive
environments, and directly access the web server.
x Java Server Pages

Java Server Pages (JSP), like CGI and ASP, is a webpage coding
standard that allows developers to use a combination of HTML,
JSP scripts, and Java to dynamically generate web pages in
response to the user requests. JSP uses Java servlets, small Java
programmes that are specified in the webpage and run on the
Web server to modify the webpage before it is sent to the user
who requested it. JSP are supported by most of the popular
application servers on the market today.
x JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language invented by Netscape that
is used to control the objects on a HTML page and handle
interactions with the browser. It is most commonly used to handle
verification and validation of user input, as well as to implement
business logic.
For instance, JavaScript can be used on customer registration

forms to confirm that a valid phone number, zip code, or even e-
mail address has been given. Before a user completes a form, the
e-mail address given can be tested for validity.
(v) ActiveX and VBScript

Microsoft invented the ActiveX programming language to compete
with Java and VBScript to compete with JavaScript. When the browser
receives a HTML page with an ActiveX control, the browser simply
executes the programme. Unlike Java, however, ActiveX has full

access to all the clientss resources, printers, networks and hard
drives. VBScript performs in the same way as JavaScript. Of course,
ActiveX and VBScript work only if you are using Internet Explorer.
Otherwise, that part of the screen is blank.
(b) Personalisation Tools

The two elements of e-commerce that potentially can make it nearly as
powerful as the traditional market place and perhaps even more powerful
than direct mail or huge suburban shopping mall are personalisation and
customisation.
Let us look at the definitions provided for both of the elements mentioned
above.
Personalisation i s the ability to treat people base on their personal

qualities and prior history with your site.
Customisation is the ability to change the product to better fit the

needs of the customer.
There are a number of methods for achieving personalisation and

customisation. The primary method is through the placement of cookie (refer
below) files on the users client machine.
A cookie is a small text placed on the users client machine that

can contain any kind of information about the customer, such as
customer ID, campaign ID, or purchases at the site.
The customers prior history can be accessed from a database when the user
returns to the site, or goes further into the site. Information gathered on prior
visits can then be used to personalise the visit and customise the products.
For instance, when a user returns to a site, you can read the cookie in order to
find the customers ID, look the ID up in a database of names, and greet the
customer, such as Hello Mary! Glad to have you return.
You can visit the following websites to get more information about
hardware and various tools for E-commerce website:
(a) Computer hardware:

x www.tamingthebeast.net/training/ittraining.htm
(b) Desktop Utilities and Webmaster CGI Scripts:

x http://www.applytools.com
x http://webdeveloper.com/
SELF-CHECK 5.3
(a) Outline the main differences between a desktop PC and a

computer that would be suitable as a web server for a small
website.
(b) What are the additional tools used to improve the performance
of a website?
EXERCISE 5.3
1. Define scalability.
2. Describe the various scaling methods.
3. What are the eight most important factors in website design?
x The factors that must be considered when building an e-commerce site are:
(i) Hardware architecture;
(ii) Software;
(iii) Telecommunication capacity;
(iv) Website design;
(v) Human resource; and

(vi) Organisational capabilities.
x The processes that should be taken into account in building an e-commerce

website are:
(i) System analysis;
(ii) System design;
(iii) System building;
(iv) Testing; and
(v) Implementation and maintenance.
x There are many issues involved in the development of e-commerce website in

terms of the following element: the software and hardware of the website.
x There are various additional tools that can improve the website performance
such as Common Gateway Interface, Active Server Pages, Java, Java Script
and ActiveX.
Active server page Mashups

Activex Merchant server software
Benchmarking Multi-tiered architecture
Common gateway interface Outsourcing
Customisation Personalisation
Dynamic page tools Site management tools
Hardware platform System development life cycle
Horizontal scaling Vertical scaling
Java Web application servers
Java server pages Website architecture
Javascript Widgets

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This topic will describe the processes involved in developing an e-commerce

5.1 BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE

Let us look at both challenges in the following sections.

5.1.1 Developing an E-Commerce Website

(a) Skilled Individuals

(b) Websites Hardware, Software and Telecommunications Infrastructure

(c) Customers Preference

(d) Design of Website

5.1.2 System Development Life Cycle

The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a methodology for

The steps involved in SDLC method are as shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1: The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) method

(a) System Analysis

One way to start is by identifying the specific business objectives for

System functionalities are a list of the types of information systems

Information requirements are the information needed to support a

To a large extent, the business objectives of an e-commerce site are not

(b) System Design

A physical design translates the logical design into physical components.

(c) System Building

Let us look at the definition given for outsourcing.

Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring an outside vendor to

Let us look in depth of the decisions made by the managers.

(i) Build your Own Versus Outsourcing

x Tools that Help you Build Everything from Scratch

number of risks. Given the complexity of features such as

You will be reinventing what other specialised firms have already

Brick-and-mortar retailers in need of an e-commerce site generally

x Top of the Line Prepackaged Site-building Tools

However, in order to make a sound decision, you will have to

You are planning to develop an e-commerce site for your business

(ii) Host your Own Versus Outsourcing

With a co-location agreement, your firm purchases or leases a

The disadvantage of outsourcing hosting is that as the online business

What are the advantages of outsourcing hosting? Discuss.

Let us look at the types of testing involved in the e-commerce website:

(i) Unit Testing

(ii) System Testing

(iii) Acceptance Testing

(e) Implementation and Maintenance

Systems maintenance is vital, but sometimes not budgeted for. In general,

Why does it cost so much to maintain an e-commerce site? Unlike payroll

Studies of traditional systems maintenance have found the following patterns:

The long-term success of an e-commerce site will depend on a dedicated team of

Let us look at the tasks performed by the Web team:

Benchmarking is a process in which the site is compared with those of

To get more information about creating an e-commerce website, visit the

Visit some of the online stores in the Choice Mall website

1. Define the system development life cycle.

5.2 CHOOSING SERVER SOFTWARE

5.2.1 Simple versus Multi-tiered Website Architecture

However, the development of e-commerce required a great deal of functionality,

This kind of extended functionality required the development of web application

Web application servers are specialised software programmes that perform

In addition to having specialised application servers, e-commerce sites must be

back-end or legacy databases. Corporations have made massive investments in

Let us look at the different types of architecture tier existing in e-commerce:

(a) Simple or Two-tier Architecture

(b) Multi-tier Architecture

5.2.2 Web Server Software

(a) Processing of HTTP Request

(b) Security Services (Secure Socket Layer)

(c) File Transfer Protocol