DEVICE MANAGEMENT

Device management

E-commerce website features and functionality

The e-commerce site is named “The family store” as it sells clothes and shoes for men, women and kids. The home page is designed with a slideshow and a picture with limited contents to make it look attractive. Background of the home page is in a different color which makes it even more usable and attractive. To create a mood for the user to purchase the product, the slideshow displays pictures of models with creative and fashionable attire. Home page is the cover for every website. Depending on the design and attractiveness of the home page, the customers prepare their mind to purchase a product from the site. In the case of this e-commerce site, it is attractive to a considerable extent. The picture below the contents is added appropriately so as to let the customer experience the joy on purchasing a product from the site.

Product catalog is yet another page available on the menu bar. It displays the products that are currently available in the inventory. The main feature in this page is the categorization. Users are free to choose their requirement based on three categories namely kids, men and women. Additionally, featured products, latest products and top ten products are few more categories available in this e-commerce website. The functionality lies in the display of the attire along with its price (inclusive of tax and exclusive of tax). The website seems to target only specific groups of people. Therefore, there is an option to change the currency type to Australian dollar or American dollar.

View cart is the next page in the site where the list of purchased items is displayed. Additionally, it insists users to create new accounts and use their account to purchase the product and order for shipment. Billing is done at this page. This page is very user – friendly particularly because the users need not have to navigate different pages for billing and creating accounts for them. Instead, all these functions can be done in just one page. To register on the site, there is a separate page for registration which is called “My account”. Here, the user can directly update their billing address. There are not too many fields to update. With necessary information retrieved from the customer, shopping can be done at an ease.

Similar to any other e-commerce websites, there are individual pages in the name of “about us” and “contact us”. These pages are self – explanatory. For every page, the footer lists three options namely privacy policy, terms of use and delivery and shipping discussion forum. These clearly show that the website adheres to specific regulations in order to ensure security in the billing and shipment process.

The key features of this site are as follows (Flashmint, 2008):

• Convenient navigation
• Easy to use design
• Presence of contact information
• Compatibility of web browsers
• Images wherever appropriate
• Sign up form

These features can certainly let the site to build its list of clients and enjoy successful online business.

Security and privacy issues

Security and privacy are serious issues in case of an e-commerce site. The family store is highly concerned about privacy because it does not want the customer to face any issues and at the same time, the site has to remain free from any virus or malware so that the shopping process goes smooth and neither user nor owner faces problems in the access (Raghallaigh, 2010). To ensure privacy, the site has performed the following:

• Maintained a back up of the entire system
• Guarantees higher degree of protection to the user details
• Secure programming is done with appropriate encryption technologies and SSL certificates
• Managed the activities of cookies to a better extent

In addition to all these, the site has clearly mentioned the level of privacy that the user can experience with the help of “privacy policy” page. It is rather clear that the customer information is not saved after the product is delivered and the customer information is never leaked out to any other parties. Therefore, the registration could be done at an ease and the user need not have to worry about the privacy and security issues.

The website builds trust of the consumers. This trust has increased the user’s loyalty to purchase products. As there is a transparency in the operations performed by the site and between site and user, users might probably develop their willingness to access this site to buy the necessary products. Furthermore, the site has deployed various e-commerce strategies that aim at securing the operations. For the purpose of privacy protection, special investments have been done. Data integrity and authentication measures are taken to ensure consistency and correctness of information shared by the customer with the site. Due to the increased use of hacking technologies, the website uses hash functions which will probably avoid redundancy of information and access of information from unauthorized sources. Additional measures are taken to secure the site and these are mentioned below:

• Overcome denial of service (DoS) attack
• Overcome phishing attacks
• Escape from social engineering
• Implemented multi – layered security protocols

These measures guarantee the presence of high degree of protection (Erickson, 2012). The site basically appears easy to handle and the registration page does not ask for entry of sensitive information. This implies that it is feasible to build customer relationships if the security schemes are strengthened.

Backend integration and legacy system issues

Whenever it comes to an e-commerce website, it is prone to legacy system issues. The backend of the site has individual databases to add users, update product list, authenticate user login and integrate with new technologies that are appended to the e-commerce systems. To manage the operations, backend is integrated with the help of relational database models. Legacy system issues were faced during backend integration. The maintenance cost for the hardware and software associated with the old legacy system incurred huge amounts (Bisbal et al, 1999). Therefore, the configuration was primarily changed so as to eliminate legacy system issues in terms of cost.

The next issue is the incompatibility of data in the legacy systems as with newer systems. To manage this issue, conversion of the data was carried out and the legacy system was developed in such a way that the necessary technologies were embedded and ultimately, it would support all forms of data. In most of the cases, it has been decided to avoid out – of – date systems as that would remain expensive in terms of integration as well as operations with it (Bisbal et al, 1999). Replacement of legacy system was highly recommended. As soon as the e-commerce website gains demand and becomes commonly used among the target groups, it has been decided to replace the legacy system with a complete package for business use. This will automatically increase the flexibility in using the system.

The database population is thoroughly analyzed. Different migration methods were applied to the current system and the migration method was chosen in such a way that it would lessen the costs as well as enhance the overall performance of the website. Currently, legacy environment is present and the data is transmitted to the destination system by means of gateways. Therefore, changes to the existing legacy information system (LIS) are made. LIS coping strategies are adopted within the chosen budget (Rea, n.d). The back end integration is done with front – end application and it is believed that the integration would display the presence of security technologies. Currently, maintenance of the system would be the basic expense. At the initial phase, the issues are limited. However, in due course of time, it is observed that the issues would grow huge and there will be a need to quickly manage the integration as well as legacy system issues so as to ensure consistent operation.

Development of fully functional entity

The family store is currently a partly operated entity and the increase in demands would probably cause the need to develop a live and fully functional entity that would be open to all users around the world. This section is used to evaluate the expenses involved for this transformation.

Each of these items is subjected to changes. Depending on the level of friendliness of the market with the e-commerce website, the growth of the site would vary. Over and above, extra costs would be incurred for security technologies and migration of the systems. It is always suggested to develop a budget and evaluate the expenses accordingly. It will certainly give a better insight on the flow of business.

Additional features

The e-commerce website created at present has certain basic features that are required for online business. For instance, shopping cart and registration of users are all commonly implemented features. Still, there are additional features over and above the basic requirements. About Us page is not specified in the basic requirements. Still, this page has been added in an aim to ensure transparency to the customers as well as it would build trust and customers would rely on the service offered by the website.

This page is not filled with too many contents. Limited contents that will suffice the customers are present. To produce better ease to the customers, Contact Us page has also been added. In order to avoid confusions in assisting customers, the Contact Us page has categorized the types of enquiries. Suppose that the customer wanted to complain, there is a separate email address for it. If the enquiry deals with the status of the product or billing, customers can either access the phone number or email address. The basic requirement was a discussion forum but this has been converted into feedback area where there is a subdomain created and users can give their feedbacks on the service or products at that area.

International enquiries have separate areas to communicate. Other enquiries are categorized into corporate sales, business development and partnerships, careers and press relations. Eventually, the address of the company is also provided. This will build confidence among the customers and there will be a better understanding exchanged between customer and company. Delivery and shipping is also added as an individual page. The contents given in this page will avoid any sort of hassles that develop in the transactions. For instance, when the customer has made the payment through credit card, there is a different condition in terms of delivery and communication. Likewise, bulk orders will have different terms and conditions.

The ultimate aim of any e-commerce website is to communicate with the customers and build the customer base regularly so that the sales rate would increase and it would also boost the company to look out for innovative products. The administrator of this site works with this aim and has clearly understood the intention of the site thereby letting the restrictions aside.

Features not implemented

There are certain features that are not implemented on this e-commerce site. For instance, users of e-commerce site would prefer a slide to choose their products. Some might want to search a particular product or some might look for products within a particular price range. Others might require sorted list of products so that they can pick the latest one. The search option is customized in majority of the e-commerce websites but it is not implemented in this site.

Secondly, users can choose the product and add it to the cart but the picture cannot be zoomed. This will set as a great disadvantage. When the picture is clicked, it will only show a small sized picture of the product. This might add inconvenience to the user. Thirdly, every product does have description which is limited to one line. Therefore, users might not have a clear picture of the product. This will particularly influence the decisions of the users. Finally, returns and refunds are not appended to this website. There are privacy policies and terms of usage but no information on returns and refunds. These might be expected by users. Therefore, this option needs to be added in the upcoming phases of the project.

Deviation from original plans

The first deviation from the original plan lies in the payment interface. The e-commerce website is functional in terms of customer registration, product booking and booking. However, the merchant interface is not properly set. When we choose Paypal as the payment method, it displays a message that the Paypal merchant email is not set. This parameter should be configured. The second deviation is that a product catalogue is not designed. Instead, few products are simply listed with limited information about it. Although there are many categories, there is limited number of products. The final deviation is that the e-commerce website has added two more pages namely “about us” and “contact us”. These pages are actually advantageous for the site. Yet, it is supposed to be a deviation from the actual plan made earlier.

The ultimate objective is to concentrate on the sales. Therefore, the home page does not contain sufficient information that will motivate the user to navigate further. This part should also be worked upon. If the organization interviews the users on the usability, it would be possible to identify that there are no adequate contents, search features and sitemap for the site. Hence, it would not give a proper direction to the users on the usability of the site.

Challenges

Usage of Joomla made the development of the site a bit complicated on various aspects. Following are some of the challenges that were faced during the development of the site:

• Integration with legacy systems was extremely tougher
• Using Joomla demanded maintenance of constant backups to avoid budgetary issues
• Using add-ons to the existing site with the help of Joomla application is rather difficult. It demands the developer to gain assistance from Joomla experts in order to obtain the desired result.
• Configuration of Joomla was rather time consuming
• Although it has an open content management system, it does not remain effective in blogging and managing discussion forums
• The modules and components that are appropriate for the e-commerce site could not be uploaded as the environment failed to support them.
• The development environment demanded the developer to update the code as and when required but the coding process remained complicated with the use of Joomla. Therefore, constant updates were avoided and the site did not look afresh at several times. It did contain the same information with no new contents.

On the whole, Joomla was an easy – to – use platform to develop an e-commerce site. It also has several templates which can be used to build the site (Brian, 2007). The primary problem lies in coding and development sections. As the requirements might keep changing depending on the environmental needs, Joomla would not serve as the right platform. If Joomla is the only platform available to build the site, then it requires an expert to handle the entire development process. Else, the process will be elongated and the necessary plans would not be implemented within the stipulated time.

Budgeting and scheduling are the major challenges that are found to be faced by the Joomla developers, in general (Brian, 2007). When the site turns into a fully functional entity, there will definitely be a need to integrate decision support systems, information systems, inventory systems, financial management systems and lot more depending on the demand. In such cases, the level of support that Joomla would guarantee to the developer is unknown. It is only recommended to seek expert advice before proceeding on to a new sitemap or a better design to the site. Installation and configuration of Joomla also took longer times. As soon as it was uploaded on the system, it was time consuming to configure on each and every system so as to handle the e-commerce website.

Features in the next phase

The features that are planned to be implemented in the next phase are as follows:

• Addition of more number of products with catchy contents and picture that can be zoomed
• Addition of new security technologies
• Advanced search feature that will ensure ease to the users in terms of usability and flexibility
• Gift vouchers claiming process online
• Careers at The Family Store
• Online chat with a representative
• Marketing on social media
• Addition of review options for the customers to directly review the product
• Blog entries
• Compatibility of the website on various operating systems including Android so that users can purchase the products right from their mobile phones
• News feed so that users can remain updated about latest fashions
• Website page where the user can directly check the status of shipment of their products

When the website decides to become fully functional, it is essential to update the site with the features that are mentioned above. That will provide a better experience to the users as well as build the reputation of the company. The shopping experience of the customers can be shared on appropriate pages and discussion forums. Additionally, the website will have administrators with varied access levels. As a result, protection is guaranteed and results would remain effective (Butler, 2012).

Usage of Joomla CMS

Currently, Joomla has been used as the primary application to manage the e-commerce website. Upon development of the site into a fully functional entity, the features that are to be added are mentioned above. They can be implemented with Joomla. Following are few areas where Joomla would greatly help in the development.

• As already mentioned, there is a plan to enable users to search according to price, color and size. Therefore, this dropdown menu can be created with the support of Joomla.
• For instant message and addition of chat support system, Joomla has an extension directory that lists various modules that will perform this operation
• Since there is a plan to move to mobile ecommerce too, Joomla’s extensions can allow communication between the front end and back end so that the customers are communicated rightly
• It is always important to analyze the popularity of the site in the market. This can be done with the help of reviews, traffic rate and other analytic tools. However, Joomla has a plugin that will list the statistics of most viewed product, popular contents and type of products that are widely preferred by the users.
• Joomla can also be used as a marketing tool to reach the target audience.

Plan for live implementation

For the live implementation, it will consume a longer time due to the numerous new features that need to be appended. The current site has an easy to use interface but very limited pages. This will not give a better idea to the user about the intention of the site. Hence, the whole site has to be revised in terms of design, features, functionality and terms of usage. Following is the timeline consisting of list of activities and its priority in addition to the duration for completion:

Benefits of the site

The site is built with an aim to enable ease to the customers in choosing the best and innovative products right from their place. Hence, there are several benefits for the customers, stakeholders and administrators.

Benefits for customers

• Flexibility in choosing the product of their choice
• Ease in purchasing from any platform due to the site compatibility
• Clarity as the site ensures transparency with the customers in its operations
• Reliability on the site as there is possibility to know the status of order, availability of live chat, etc.
• Clear product pages

Benefits to the stakeholders

• Increased sales
• Better demand and awareness of the site on the target markets
• Financial growth
• Secured operations that will support longevity of the site
• Ease of use

Benefits to the site

Whenever there is an increase in the demand of the product, it obviously implies that the traffic has grown to a greater extent. In such a case, there is a need to constantly update the system and arrange for new products as and when required. With the payment interfaces, the gateway ensures secured transactions. Hence, there will never be problems that are based on payment transfer or credit / debit of amount from the account. There is yet another benefit as a result of increase in demand. It is the competitiveness. As long as the site is customizable and has an impressive interface, it is easily feasible for the site to go viral and hit the market. The site will even get a chance to dominate the market and overtake the competitors that currently rule the market. The implementation of this site will also produce a better sales ratio and profit margin which will lead to expansion of the site across various geographical regions. Automatically, there is an improvement in the customer base. Marketing on various platforms would let people aware of the presence of this e-commerce site in the market. There would also be a better interactivity between the site and the customers.

Links and resources

The site is built with the help of Joomla CMS. The design is developed with the help of other e-commerce websites like amazon.com and flipkart.com. This is to understand the overall structure of the site and the necessary pages that would improve the functionality of the website. The basic information that should be present in an e-commerce website is identified by referring to several other sites of the same industry. Following are the other areas for which resources are used to build this site:

• Joomla tutorials and guides (Joomla, n.d)
• Importance of CMS for an e-commerce system
• Phases of site development and implementation
• Vulnerability of a site to security and privacy issues
• Guide to develop an e-commerce website
• Interface for an e-commerce website

Generally, the layout of a site will be depending on the interests of the developer. However, resources were used to identify the layout that will suit the end users and grab their attention to access the site and carry on with purchases. Links are used to connect the site to payment gateways. The final action of this site is checkout where the billing is done and the product is forwarded to shipping process.

In order to remain clear on site implementation, separate links and resources were used to identify the commonly committed mistakes during development process. These are referred so as to avoid those mistakes in this site development. The importance of contents was also determined. Accordingly, the contents for the site are developed and these catchy contents are the basis for motivating the users to prefer this site to purchase products. The basic infrastructure that is needed to carry on with the e-commerce website is identified with the help of journals and books. It is ensured that these are present in this scenario too. For the next stage of development, resources are used to revise the design and implement new modules and make the best use of Joomla CMS. The practical environment of the e-commerce website is visualized and the possible ways to overcome the practical difficulties are developed. A contingency plan is developed and deployed to the developers so that the site will remain free from errors and easy to use by all the users.

References

Flashmint (2008), 10 key features for a perfect website [online]. Available from: http://www.flashmint.com/wp/2008/11/10-key-features-for-a-perfect-website/ [Accessed on 29^th May 2013]

Raghallaigh, E. (2010), Security issues in e-commerce [online]. Available from: http://webscience.ie/blog/2010/security-issues-in-e-commerce/ [Accessed 29^th May 2013]

Erickson, C. (2012), How to stay safe on ecommerce sites [online] Available from: http://mashable.com/2012/10/09/ecommerce-security-tips/ [Accessed 29^th May 2013]

Bisbal, J., Lawless, D., Wu, B. and Grimson, J. (1999), Legacy information systems: Issues and directions [online]. Available from: http://csis.pace.edu/~marchese/CS775/Proj1/legacyinfosys_directions.pdf [Accessed 29th May 2013]

Rea, W. M., Problems with legacy systems [online]. Available from: http://www.ehow.com/about_5545039_problems-legacy-systems.html [Accessed 29th May 2013]

Brian (2007), Why Joomla sucks and WordPress doesn’t [online]. Available from: http://www.blogohblog.com/why-joomla-sucks-and-wordpress-doesnt/ [Accessed 29^th May 2013]

Butler, C. (2012) Everything you wanted to know about e-commerce but didn’t realize you should ask [online]. Available from: http://www.newfangled.com/everything_you_ever_wanted_to_know_about_ecommerce_but_didnt_realize_you_should_ask [Accessed 29th May 2013]

Camassa, L. (2010), eCommerce development timeline [online]. Available from http://www.practicalecommerce.com/blogs/post/750-eCommerce-Development-Timeline [Accessed 29th May 2013]

Reynolds, J. (2004), The complete e-commerce book, CMP Books.

Joomla, Joomla for beginners [online]. Available from: http://docs.joomla.org/Beginners [Accessed 29th May 2013]