Guidelines for a successful website:
1. Build for users (useful for the user, not necessarily the company).
2. Make it useful e.g., usability test).
3. Make information easy to find.
4. Accomodate all users, including those with disabilities.
5. Build a comprehensive, responsive, and effective site.
6. Measure the site against the best of its peer group.
7. Build trust; be up front about security, privacy, and marketing policies.
8. Assign ownership to users, but work as a team with the technical people.
9. Set priorities; do the most beneficial stuff first.
10. Watch for new developments and encoreage innovation.
A well-developed website not only adds to the vallue of products or services being offered, but it also enhances the worth of the company.As a developer or project team member, we must have a clear understanding of the project (application) requirements and need to consider all the elements of the e-commerce system. This is including people, hardware architecture, standards, software applications, networks, site design, original capabilities and project team.
It is important that an organization have the correct development strategy to get more profit on its investment. (you may refer to text book, chapter 13, page 688)
System Development Life Cycle leads developers through six phases: planning, analysis, design, testing, implementation and maintenance. The SDLC is the basis for development of the majority of traditional business systems. (see Kendall and Kendall [2011]). However, with new tools today, it could help us in developing a better application, especially for e-commerce development.
The major steps are:
1. Identifying, justifying, and planning EC System
- plan new project, align it with organization's main objectives.
- identify user's/ customers requirements + project requirements.
- justify plan, benefits of the project, and cost.
2.Creating an EC Architecture
- plan for organizing the underlying infrastructure and aplications of a site. It specifies the following:
3. Select Development option
During this phase, there are several options to be selected such as:
- build the system in-house?
- or to out-sourcing system (vendor)?
- or may be to rent a system?
- Enter into a partnership or alliance
- Join a third-party e-marketplace or an exchange
- Use a combination of approaches
- etc.
4. Installing, Testing, Integrating, and deploying EC Applications.
–unit
testing
Testing application software modules one at a
time
–integration
testing
Testing the combination of application modules
acting in concert
–usability
testing
Testing the quality of the user’s experience
when interacting with a Web site
–acceptance
testing
Determining whether a Web site meets the
original business objectives and vision
5. Operations, Maintenance, and Updates.
- time, effort and money to monitor/maintain an EC or EC project site. For example, to edit or update e-catalog: price, details, picture or maybe to create a new product. Sometimes we might want to ad a new promotion on our site.
