Transcript presentation1 - University of Worcester

COMP 3121
E-Business and
E-commerce Technologies
Richard Henson
University of Worcester
September 2011
Week 1: On-line Trading Processes
and underpinning Technologies

Objectives:
Clarify concepts of e-business and e-commerce
Explain the basic processes required for a
business transaction to take place
Translate a business transaction into its on-line
equivalent processes
Identify the technologies required to service
each business process on-line
Produce a web page to sell a product online
E-commerce and E-business
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Much misunderstanding about these terms
E-commerce is about using digital
technologies to sell products online
E-business is about going beyond this, and
using digital technologies for:
 putting business information selectively on the
web
 engaging selectively with information systems of
partner organisations
 e-marketing
 managing customer relationships online
Focussing on E-commerce…
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E-business is fascinating, and is the main
growth area for existing, successful, on-line
businesses
However, for many businesses to first stage is
to be able to trade online
This means developing an e-commerce
website…
 To create an illusion of a face-face equivalent
transaction VIA COMPUTER SCREEN!!!
Breaking Down a
Business Transaction

In a nutshell:
1.
2.
3.
Buyer selects goods or service
Buyer and seller agree a price
Buyer makes payment
Business Transactions – why
use technology?

Historically, the transaction is agreed:
face to face
if people were unable to/didn’t want to
meet, via third party

Early intervention of Technology: the
telephone:
Advantage: “face-face” transactions were
possible over any distance
Fast Forward…
The Digital Revolution

Early 1990s business information:
 stored digitally
 processed by digital computer

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Late 1990s, www - Objective: need a virtual
equivalent of face-face interaction
Requirement: business processes of a manual
transaction need to have
 effective behind-the-screens processing
 effective on-line data input-output through interactive
screens – designed to be appropriate for all users
 rapid-response on-line database support

Challenge for e-commerce technologies…
Pre E-commerce
computerized
business processes
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B2B communications mostly paper-based
Electronic Information systems for INTERNAL
use only
Electronic -> paper and vice versa for
communications between businesses
OBVIOUSLY wasteful…
Activities involved in B2B ecommerce (1)
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The business develops, builds, nurtures a
good working relationship with its suppliers.
This will initially be face-face, not online
Trusted suppliers provide secure access to
parts of their information systems/Intranets to
all for checking for product availability, etc.
Supplier
Business
Activities involved in B2B
e-commerce (2)

In return, the business provides secure
access to parts of its information
systems/Intranet to trusted suppliers

business
Suppliers
can send invoices supplier
The business can make payments…

B2C E-commerce (www selling
direct to the customer)

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Business markets products via website and
the Internet
Business communicates information relating
to ordering and payment electronically directly
to the customer via secure Internet line
Secure Internet
link
E-Business - seller
Consumer - buyer
Basics of Web-based on-line
Transactions
(apply to B2B and B2C)

Need create web-compliant IT processes
that emulate the four basic processes of
buying:
1. buyer finds goods/service on web pages within
vendor’s website; compares with other vendors
2. buyer makes selections with assistance of a
shopping cart and support software
3. buyer selects an electronic method of payment
4. once payment has been authorised, the product
or service is supplied
The challenge of
online trading
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Degree of challenge will depend on the size of the
business and current level of IT use…
Large companies will certainly have a sophisticated
IT setup
“Others” tend to be known as SMEs
 SME = Small & Medium Sized Enterprise

Level of IT use by an SME will depend on the type of
business and “enterprise” of the SMT/board) As
compared to:
 a large company (>250 employees)
 A microbusiness (<5 employees)
Issues for SMEs wishing to
trade on-line

HUGE range of take up of IT
 many businesses were computerised in the 80s and
early 90s – but that’s as far as they went…
» unless updated, system not compatible with the www
» only larger and more enterprising businesses used e-commerce
before the web was available…
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 some may even now still be paper-based!
Where to start with an e-commerce system?
 Of particular interest if creating one for an independent study…
 First stop….SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
» need to systematically establish and agree what the existing processes
are!!!
SMEs and Systems Analysis
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By now, larger businesses have
effective e-commerce and e-business
systems
otherwise would be out of business…
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Existing SMEs or new businesses…
may not be familiar with close analysis of
their business processes
may be initially reluctant to disclose
information…
Discussion (in small Groups)
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Why are SMEs more likely to keep their
business processes to themselves?
Issues with Existing System?
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Learning from “mistakes”
In practice, systems do not always work as
expected…
 makes sense to establish strengths/weaknesses and failures
of existing system
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Make use of this information when developing the
new system…
Issues for Businesses thinking
of on-line trading
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Considerable issues and initial costs
involved
why bother? Will there be a sufficient ROI?
Useful to conduct a risk analysis – starting
by looking at how different parts of the
business will be affected when making
such a bold change…
Question 1 for SME: How much
of existing information system
can/will still be used?

Obviously it saves time and effort if
existing digital data can be reused
 If system is paper-based data will have to
be inputted but there will still be a system.
What is it?
 If system has an internal computerised
system?
» which part(s) are/are not www compatible
» which part(s) are/are not not secure
If existing system paperbased? (still true for some
microbusinesses)
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Costs involved in setting up and managing an
all singing all dancing system will be huge!
May be best just carry on with a paper-based
system as before, but can go to the first stage
of on-line trading by:
 receiving orders via email
 printing out such orders and processing them
through the existing paper-based system
 ask business to think about a digital information
system…
If existing system paperbased? (continued)
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SME still needs a web site
 to display products
 to provide an email address for orders
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Still need email to receive orders
Still need web hosting and website
management
Still need to advertise web presence
If existing information system is
computerised, but not www
compatible
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Three choices:
 keep the new web-based operation separate from
any existing internal computerised system?
 integrate internal information system with new webbased operation
 keep separate initially and integrate later
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In each case, website will be much more
sophisticated than the simple products list &
email address that may be acceptable to a
previously paper-based SME!
SME chooses keep www system
& Internal system separate…
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Web based system completely new
Existing computerised information system
remains as it is, separate from the Internet!
But… the systems need to communicate…
 EITHER print out and re-key
» retrograde step?
» labour intensive and expensive?
 OR develop a computerised interface
» major software project?
» very expensive but ultimately saves on labour costs (ROI)
The FULL WORKS!
Integrated Int & Ext Systems
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Not a light undertaking! Need to:
 develop new www-based link to the Internet
 provide a www-based user interface (Intranet)
 re-engineer the internal computerised system into
www format
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Disadvantages:
 may be expensive/time consuming to implement
 Could compromise security of internal systems
 will be disruptive to staff in the short term
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Advantages:
 should be inexpensive to run (ROI)
 reduces/minimises unit cost per transaction (ROI)
Other Issues for SMEs
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May lack computer expertise (especially if
mostly paper-based at the moment)
May be concerned about exposing their
information to the world
On-line payment systems may be perceived
as inherently not secure
May not think it is worth the expense!
 would the reduction in transaction costs be enough
to justify their technology investment
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May be also worried about… ?
Group Exercise on SME
Issues
One plays the role of SME boss
 Others pull out issues that may concern
him/her regarding on-line trading
 One person makes a note of issues
discussed…
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B2C: the consumer end of the
Internet revolution!
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SMEs could now conduct direct businessconsumer transactions (B2C e-commerce)
 impossible before this date because consumers
simply didn’t possess the technology
 technology that makes B2C possible had been
building for at least 10 years
 Leapt into the public domain in 1995-6 (US), two
years later (UK)
 now sometimes the case that consumers have more
technology in their homes (including small
networks!) than the small business!
Activities EXPECTED
by B2C consumers
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Business produces a website, available
worldwide 24/7, via the Internet
 provides information about products/services
 gives customers options to buy its products
 collects information about its customers
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Website has a built-in system that includes:
 On-line ordering
 On-line payment via credit card/switch, etc.
 Payment in a range of currencies
 Automatic handling of taxation issues
Scope of this module
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NOT an introductory e-commerce module
 COMP2113 looked at the business processes, and
wider issues involved
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Seeks to integrate relevant business data
from an existing system with a web-based ecommerce system
 a MUCH more complex undertaking!!!
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Even so, security issues are not covered in
depth
 if you want to cover this as well, try COMP3123…
BREAK…
(20 minutes)
From now on,
it gets Technical!!!
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Prior knowledge requirements:
 relational databases
 HTML, and VB/Java scripting
 basics of client-server networks
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Covered only as revision and knowledge
equivalent to the following will be assumed:
 Web Design COMP1141 pref COMP2121
 Database COMP1112 pref. COMP2001
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Programming and scripting experience, e.g.
COMP1131 or 1132 will also be very useful…
What makes up the Internet?
900 million Server computers!
Internet Servers
Very powerful
 Managed 24 hours a day
 Secure operating system, MUST BE
properly configured …
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breed of UNIX (e.g. LINUX)
Windows Server (2000?/2003/2008)
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Should therefore be impossible for
such persons to access private data
Security of Internet Servers
900 million Internet server
 Security depends on management and
configuration…
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are there enough trustworthy UNIX and
Windows Server experts
to manage all access to the 900 million
computers properly (?)
to protect the servers (and their data)
against hackers/cyberterrorists, etc. (?)
Essential Technologies
underpinning B2C E-commerce
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Internet and www infrastructure (governed by
International bodies)
Web Server software
 Web Site hosting systems that will support static
and dynamic web pages
 Interaction with managed data storage
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Web Browser software
 Environment for HTML, CSS, programming scripts
that give the user their browsing experience
Essential Technologies
underpinning B2C E-commerce
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Database – Web Server connectivity
software
Database Management System & system
for recording and retrieving customer
information
System for recording customer behaviour
whilst browsing website
 controversial – cookies outlawed by French
government as an infringement of privacy!
Internet Protocols
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Networks are very complex, and so is the
software (protocols) used to manage them!
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A simplified model of network protocols
regards communication as taking place
through 4 software layers (actually 7):
 Application layer - FTP, HTTP, SMTP, POP3
 Transport or Host-Host - TCP protocol
 Internet layer - IP protocol
 Physical Network access layer
Application Layer Internet
Protocols and the WWW
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The application layer give the Internet its
functionality
The www makes use of HTTP (hypertext
transfer protocol)
Other important application layer protocols:
 FTP (file transfer protocol)
» to upload/download files between user computer and a remote
computer via the Internet
 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
» Used for sending email messages through the Internet
More about the
World Wide Web
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More than 8 billion interlinked web pages
each created using the HTML language
standard
HTTP protocol used for linking and
transferring web pages
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Uniform Resource Locator (URL) system
used for uniquely identifying individual
web pages
Web Server
Software
 Runs on a Unix or Windows server
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stores web pages
makes web pages available to remote
computers using either HTTP or other
application layer protocols
exercises control over who accesses those
web pages, and who can edit/delete them
runs scripts and provides database
interaction
Web Browser
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Software
translates HTML code into a visual screen
output
executes programs written in given
programming languages e.g.
» JavaScript
» VBScript
» “run-time” code (ActiveX)
interacts with web server using the HTTP
(and FTP) protocol
How a Static Web Page
gets displayed
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First of all, the
relevant HTML
document must be
retrieved:
 user types the URL
into a one-line text
window in browser
 Browser passes
the text to the
remote web server
(via default Internet
gateway)
How a Static Web Page gets
displayed (2)
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Web server locates
the file for that web
page in its own
storage folders
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File containing
HTML etc code
copied back to
default gateway and
routed to the IP
address of the local
computer
How a Static Web Page gets
displayed (3)
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File suffix checked
by browser…
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If .htm or .html suffix:
 HTML etc. code is
read & processed by
local CPU using a
program called an
interpreter
 Results of processing
passed to graphics
card CPU
How a Static Web Page gets
displayed (4)
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results of conversion
converted into binary
display signals by the
CPU and graphics
card
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Signals transmitted
to screen and the
converted HTML
data is displayed
Client-side scripting &
dynamic Web Pages
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Berners-Lee’s original intention for the HTML model
was to use text, links, and graphics
 soon became even more sophisticated:
» embedded JavaScript, VBScript, or code from other languages
» HTML forms allowed interaction with databases
» templates and Cascading Style Sheets provide scope for a huge range
of formatting options
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Now possible to display virtually anything
 very wide range of multimedia and special effects
available…
 Relational databases allow query and retrieval of complex
data structures
Server-side Scripts
& dynamic Web pages
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This time, the programming code is sent to
and runs at the web server end…
 creates a web page for the client end with a table
to display the data
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If the data picked up from the server has
been changed (e.g. by use of SQL query)…
 the client display is changed
 web pages become “dynamic”
» i.e. readily changeable without changing the web page code
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Effect:
 by triggering SQL commands on the server, local
web page appears to interact with a database
All of these skills will be
explored in this module over
the coming weeks
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Practical for this week: static web pages in
the Visual Studio environment…
Then (fun bit!) creating something dynamic
with embedded scripting 
See you next week, and we’ll take this a little
further…?