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Online Shopping Software Systems Information Technology Essay

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Information Technology
Wordcount: 3797 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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Nowadays everyone is busy with their works; they don’t have much time to do shopping in the (busy) big super markets. In the stores we have to search in the each shelf to find our product so it takes more time and no guarantee of every product available in every store. Moreover, weather conditions are too bad so we cannot get our required products. Payment is also a big problem because we should stand in the queue for payment. Stores are not always opened (24/7).

Why It Has Come: To solve above mentioned problems, we can use Online Shopping method.  For customers it is not only because of the high level of convenience, but also because of the broader selection; competitive pricing and greater access to information. For organizations it increases their customer value and the building of sustainable capabilities, next to the increased profits. One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services with many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service.

A majority of consumers choose online shopping for a faster and more efficient shopping experience. Many researchers notify that the uniqueness of the web has dissolved and the need for the design, which will be user centered, is very important. Companies should always remember that there are certain things, such as understanding the customer’s wants and needs, living up to promises, never go out of style, because they give reason to come back. Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer’s packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation).

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Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items

Current Project Requirement:

Responsibilities/ Current Position:

We are responsible to create an Online Shopping Software System for our client Metro Super Stores. The main idea of online shopping is not just in having a good looking website that could be listed in a lot of search engines or the art behind the site. It’s not only just about disseminating information, because it is also about building relationships and making money.  Organizations that want to keep their customers or gain new ones should try to get rid of all mistakes and be more appealing to be more desirable for online shoppers.

2. Project Objectives

The main objective behind the project is to enable Metro superstore to expand their business by enabling customers to buy their products online via a safe and secured online payment method. This will help Metro superstore to attract more customers and increase their market. Also, Metro superstore will be able to make it efficient and convenient for its customers to purchase products and review them. Customers can avail numerous offers on products online and make their payment with the click of a button. Times are changing and it is becoming increasingly difficult for customers to find time to visit a shopping mall and go through a wide range of products. The online shopping cart system will make it easier for the customer to browse through this wide range of products and also compare them with similar products in the market. The project will also aim at receiving and then analyzing the feedback obtained from the customers to help maintain or uplift the quality of products and to build a better service for the customers. Metro superstore will aim to thus gain market monopoly and attract a wider range of customers. It will also enable Metro superstore to build a relationship with international customers from around the world.

The project aims at bridging the gap between Metro superstore and its customers. Customers will be able to purchase their desired products online from the comfort of their homes without having to go through the trouble of visiting the store physically. The customers will be able to create their account, browse through the products and add them to their virtual shopping cart. They can then check out having the options to pay online via safe and secured online transaction or pay as cash on delivery of the products.

An additional objective of this project is to make Metro super-store’s products available to customers 24×7 online. The online website will also contain all the product’s instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications and how-to guides. Customers will be able to post reviews after they have used the product which will enable other potential buyers to make decisions. Thus, the most crucial objective of this project is user’s convenience.

3. Project Scope

3.1 Project Brief

The project involves eight technical people working together, including a project manager. This Project has been handled by eight members and it is a big project, which is modularized into small parts and assigned to each member of the project. Moreover because of this, the project has been managed very well by the project manager. We are going to work for four months to develop an online-shopping for existing super stores called METRO. The main aim of the project is to deliver the software for online shopping with in the elapsed time.

Metro initially contacted our software solutions with their requirements and their need in having a website for their superstore. The website should give the information about the products and can facilitate the online shopping. The basic requirements of the website has been clearly mentioned by them so, that no future faults or misunderstandings. They also showed us the survey they conducted in the store from their customers. This survey proves that superstore needs an online shopping facility to their customers. It also states online shopping is the only alternative method to help customers in busy queues, parking area, shopping time and extra range of products available only in online. Based on the above things we agreed to make a website for the metro super stores.

3.2 Project Approach

Deliverables: This project delivers a user-friendly software (or) flat form for online shopping to the ‘METRO’ superstore. The software provides a website having all the facilities for the customers starting from price enquiries, offers, availability of stock, quality, store details, contacts and ordering the goods.

3.3 Exclusions.

Every project has its boundaries and it can only delivers outcomes and specifications within that boundary. The exclusions in our project are delivery department, managing the software after term time (6 months) and further upgrading (or) developing new products.

Delivery department: Delivering the goods in time and enquiries about the delivery will not be supported by the project team. All the shipping and delivery process is being deal by the super store.

Managing the software after term time: The project team will not be dealing with the software term time. Though it gives an assurance of guarantee for lifelong but managing the website is wholly controlled by the superstore management. We will be taking care of the site for the term time which is 6 months duration. In this period we will be teaching and sorting out any minor problems for the super store staff.

Upgrading the software: Upgrading the software and developing the new products is personally responsible by the superstore. The lightening software solutions will not be supporting any further upgrades for the website as a commitment of this project.

The above products have been clearly mentioned that they will not include as a part in the project and which is solely agreed by the management of the super store.

4. Project Deliverables

The products of the project will be:

Management & Quality:

M1 – Project Brief

M2 – Project Initiation Document

M3 – Highlight Reports

M4 – End of Project Report

Business:

B1 – Communications plan

B2 – Questionnaire (to support information gathering & ensure consistency)

B3 – Report for Project Board on current requirements/arrangements, and areas identified for further investigation/potential change

B4 – Report for Executive Board with recommendations for change

B5 – Implementation proposals

Actual Product of the project:

An user-friendly Online Shopping Software System

The major deliverables are broken down in the project plan into smaller deliverables and activities. 

User documentation

User training

5. Project Organization

5.1 Project Board

Project Sponsor:

Metro Super stores

Senior Responsible Owner:

Vishal Sharma

Project Management Board:

Johnson- Executive

Srikanth Nair

Rohit Singh

Suresh Peter

Sundar Raghavan

5.2 Project Team

Project Manager:

Prasnnaa Nachimuthu

Project Team Members:

Abid Ali Baig

Hari Vommi

Kalyan Kondapally

Mahitha Kolli

Rakesh Thatiparthy

Ronak Muchhala

Vijay Chekuri

5.3 The Project Organization Structure

Communication and Engagement team

Policy Team

Technical and procurement team

Legal Team

Project Board

Project Manager

Prasnnaa Nachimuthu

Project SRO

Vishal Sharma

5.4 Roles and Responsibilities

Project Board:

Approve Project Initiation Document, component plans and any subsequent changes

Ensure the business case remains sound throughout the project

Provide direction and determine priorities

Commit resources and resolve conflicts

Approve initiation and completion of stages

Responsibility for quality of deliverables/end-products

Senior Responsible Officer:

Responsible for ensuring that the project meets its objectives and delivers the projected benefits

Owner of the business changes, which will flow from the project’s recommendations.

Project Manager:

Responsible for providing support to Project Board and Team, monitoring progress and resource usage, maintaining project plan, establishing and operating arrangements for document version control, establishing and operating arrangements for handling project issues, and maintaining the Quality Log.

Project Team Members:

The Project Team, together with the Project Manager, will be responsible for researching and developing the business products of the project

To provide skills across work packages as required

6. Communication Plan

Communication

Purpose

Audience

Author

Mode Of Communication

Frequency

Monthly status report to project sponsor

To keep project sponsor informed of the project’s progress and key upcoming activities

Project sponsor

Executive

Committee

Project

Manager

Email

Posting on project website

Video conference

Monthly

Weekly schedule metrics

Monitor and report progress on scheduled tasks. Troubleshoot problem areas and solve issues as appropriate.

Project management

Others, as appropriate

Project Manager

Email

Posting on website

Group meetings

Weekly

Project team calendar

Keep project participants aware of key project dates and to help them manage their schedules. Maintain training calendars.

Project management team

Project

Coordinator

Post in project folders in Intranet

Daily

7. Quality Plan

The Software Product must includes the following qualities

Good enough product: The product is good enough which enables the Metro Super store to solve all critical problems which they encountered. The product should able to solve 70 to 80 % of the most common customer needs.

Cost: The cost of the software product is reasonable that comes under the budget of the client and meets the quality and standards which the client expects.

Easy to implement: The product is simple enough which makes Metro Super store to implement it easily without facing any problem. The product can be installed in several minutes instead of taking hours for installation.

Association of steady users: Staff of Metro Super store contributes their time to test our product, report about the error if they find any, request us for new features and develop new product functionality.

Standard Technology: The product should utilize the technologies which are widely in use such as Java, AJAX.

Upgrades: The product will be updated time to time which encourage the client’s ton use our product more often and in an interactive manner.

Scalability: The product has the ability to handle the large amount of work. It can help to increase the work.

Correctness: It indicates the correctness of algorithm which the product includes.

Deficiency of bugs: The product does not include any bug and produce the accurate result or output to the client.

Fault Tolerance: Continue to operate properly even if some of its component does not work.

Extensibility: Ability to extend the work. Extension can be done in 2 ways

Modifying the existing functionality.

Adding new functionality to the existing functionality.

Maintainability: It refers to the maintenance of the product in order to

Correct the defects.

Meeting the new requirements.

Endure related to the change in Environment

Responsible for the Quality of the product:

Project Manager is responsible for the quality of the product. He must make sure that the product meets all requirements which are specified by the client and the standards are met.

Acceptance Criteria:

Project Manager is responsible in identifying the acceptance criteria.

Acceptance is defined as acquiring the acknowledgement from the client that the product which is delivered to them meets all the requirements according to their specification.

Milestones

List the project milestones and deliverables for which customer acceptance will be sought:

Milestone

Deliverable

Name

Description

Name

Description

Online

Shopping Software System

Implementing the project management software package on new hardware .Providing access to the internet

Software Package installed

Implementation of General Ledger (GL), Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) software

Acceptance Milestones Table:

Criteria

Identify the criteria and standards to be met to achieve final customer acceptance for each deliverable.

Deliverable

Criteria

Standards

Software Package installed

System functionality:· GL tested & installed· AP tested & installed· AR tested & installed System Performance : System up-time· System response-time· Data transferred

System functionality:· GL operational with no errors· AP operational with no errors· AR operational with no errors System Performance : 99.9% system uptime· < 1 second response times· 100% data accuracy

Acceptance Criteria Table

8. Project Plan

Number

Tasks

Resource

Start Date

End Date

Duration

Milestone

1

Initiation

Everyone

06/09/2010

25/09/2010

20 days

1.1

Collect project ideas

Prasnnaa

06/09/2010

07/09/2010

2 days

1.2

Prioritize project ideas

Prasnnaa

08/09/2010

09/09/2010

2 days

1.3

Gather customer requirements

Prasnnaa

10/09/2010

10/09/2010

1 day

1.4

Submit the request and get approval for the proposal

Prasnnaa

11/09/2010

13/09/2010

3 days

Yes

1.5

Prepare the requirement document

Rakesh

13/09/2010

18/09/2010

6 days

1.6

Meeting for project kickoff

Everyone

19/09/2010

21/09/2010

2 days

1.7

Outline project plan

Rakesh

22/09/2010

23/09/2010

2 days

1.8

Assign resources to project plan tasks

Prasnnaa

24/09/2010

25/09/2010

2 days

2

Analysis

Kalyan, Mahitha

26/09/2010

05/10/2010

10 days

2.1

Create entity relationship diagram

Kalyan

26/09/2010

28/09/2010

3 days

2.2

Create Data Flow Diagram

Mahitha

29/09/2010

30/09/2010

2 days

2.3

Define data dictionary

Kalyan

01/10/2010

02/10/2010

2 days

2.4

Perform object-oriented analysis

Mahitha

03/10/2010

05/10/2010

3 days

3

Design

Rakesh, Vijay, Hari

06/10/2010

27/10/2010

22 days

3.1

Design data model

Rakesh

06/10/2010

09/10/2010

4 days

3.2

Write functional specifications

Vijay

10/10/2010

11/10/2010

2 days

3.3

Design storyboards and/or prototypes

Rakesh, Vijay

12/10/2010

12/10/2010

1 day

3.4

Write detailed design specifications

Rakesh, Vijay

13/10/2010

15/10/2010

3 days

3.5

Write documentation plan

Vijay

16/10/2010

17/10/2010

2 days

3.6

Write beta test plan

Hari

18/10/2010

19/10/2010

2 days

3.7

Write SQA test plan

Hari

20/10/2010

20/10/2010

1 day

3.8

Write SQA test cases

Hari

21/10/2010

21/10/2010

1 day

3.9

Write customer support plan

Rakesh

22/10/2010

23/10/2010

2 days

3.10

Write training plan

Hari

24/10/2010

25/10/2010

2 days

3.11

Write risk management plan

Vijay

26/10/2010

27/10/2010

2 days

4

Development

Ronak, Ali

28/10/2010

26/11/2010

30 days

4.1

Code application components

Ronak

28/10/2010

06/11/2010

10 days

4.2

Unit test

Ali

07/11/2010

10/11/2010

4 days

4.3

Integration test

Ali

11/11/2010

14/11/2010

4 days

4.4

Write documentation

Ronak, Ali

15/11/2010

21/11/2010

7 days

4.5

Write training courseware

Ronak

22/11/2010

26/11/2010

5 days

5

Software Quality Assurance (SQA)

Hari, Ali

27/11/2010

11/12/2010

15 days

5.1

System test

Hari

27/11/2010

01/12/2010

5 days

5.2

Track defects

Ali

02/12/2010

05/12/2010

4 days

5.3

Regression test

Hari, Ali

06/12/2010

11/12/2010

6 days

6

Manage Release and Change

Prasnnaa, Ronak

12/12/2010

16/12/2010

5 days

6.1

Configuration management

Prasnnaa

12/12/2010

13/12/2010

2 days

6.2

New full releases

Ronak

14/12/2010

14/12/2010

1 day

6.3

Maintenance releases

Ronak

15/12/2010

15/12/2010

1 day

6.4

Defect and enhancement tracking

Prasnnaa

16/12/2010

16/12/2010

1 day

7

Implementation

Everyone

17/12/2010

05/01/2011

20 days

7.1

Implement the website in beta test system

Ali, Rakesh

17/12/2010

18/12/2010

2 days

7.2

Conduct beta tests

Hari

19/12/2010

20/12/2010

2 days

7.3

Track defects and report to customer support

Ronak, Vijay

21/12/2010

21/12/2010

1 day

7.4

Gather requirements for customizations

Prasnnaa

22/12/2010

23/12/2010

2 days

7.5

Analysis (gap between customizations)

Mahitha

24/12/2010

25/12/2010

2 days

7.6

Design

Kalyan

26/12/2010

27/12/2010

2 days

7.7

Implement the customized website

Ali

28/12/2010

28/12/2010

1 day

7.8

Unit test adaptations

Rakesh

29/12/2010

30/12/2010

2 days

7.9

Integration test (Implementation)

Hari

31/12/2010

01/01/2011

2 days

7.10

Execute customer acceptance test procedure

Kalyan

02/01/2011

03/01/2011

2 days

7.11

Cutover testing to production

Everyone

04/01/2011

05/01/2011

2 days

Yes

 

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