Q2. Summarise your understanding and describe its relevance ...

Q2. Summarize your understanding and describe its relevance (250 words max) in either your study at university or in your work environment;

Answer:

The e-commerce website brings people very convenient way to have transaction online. In order to put the business onto Internet, many thing should be considered.

Firstly, types of the website should be defined, for instance, is the website CRM, SCM, ERP, Workflow Management, Price Comparsion... etc?

Secondly, the selection of SDLC is considered, such as, Agile and Rapid Evolutionary Prototyping Approach. These SDLC(s) makes use of prototypes and are suitable for up-to-date changing environment so that the end product should match users' requirement.

Then, a prototype can be developed. The way to build it, ROR should be a good choice as ROR obeys OO and MVC approaches. To work with OO smoothly, UML is suggested to use because UML, namely, UseCase, Class, Sequence... diagrams make OO understandable and clear. MVC defines Model, View and Controller. Model interacts with backend database and View presents user interface when Controller interacts with View and Model. MVC divides a html page into three in term of functionality instead of a tranditional html where everything is done.

When the prototype is built, end users can review it until all requiements are met. For example, some enhancements like VoiceXML, multiple threads and software agents can be utilized.

After the website is finalized, connection method and hardware platform should be determined. Is VPN, Intranet, Externet...etc selected? Is either Connectionless or Connection-Oriented protocol chosen? Is either P2P or Grid computing used? Is it run on Mobilephone?

Then, security and payment method should also be concerned. The following questions are the examples. Should NIDS, HIDS, Firewall or AntiVirus be implemented? Are there any encryption like RSA or SSL or authentication like SET? Accept VISA? Work with PayPal or Verisign? Any e-certification or e-ID? Allow cookies?

Finally, it should be considered how to make the website have high ranking, for example, giving the website better and more precise keyword description or advertising the website in online communities.

If all the above points are implemented, then the website is successfully.