Online Shopping Software Systems Information Technology Essay

Online Shopping Software Systems Information Technology Essay Nowadays everyone is busy with their works; they dont 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 customers 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 manufacturers packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). 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.  Its 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 buil d 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-stores products available to customers 247 online. The online website will also contain all the products 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 users 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 projects 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 projects 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 clients 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 · 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