Aim

In this assessment you are required to critically evaluate e-commerce models, tools and techniques and apply them to new e-business systems. In addition, comprehensively evaluate and produce a business report on an e-Business Website Development solution for an existing e-business.

Students should learn the following skills in assessment Part A and Part B:

•    Critical thinking and innovative analysis to formulate suitable abstract models;

•    Evaluate e-business problems in organisations;

•    Develop solutions meeting future e-business needs;

•    Identify e-business problems and requirements;

Introduction

Write a research report, of about 4000 words in length, on evaluating an existing e-business system and developing a prototype for an improved e-business solution:

The assignment comprises of two parts (Part A, worth 20% and Part B, worth 30%).

The  first part  (Part  A)  of this  assignment  is  to  evaluate  an  existing  e-business  system.  The discussion will take the form of a well-researched e-business evaluation report, and at no time may degenerate into the author’s unsupported opinion. The point of the exercise is to identify drawbacks present in the existing e-business system and suggest an improved e-business solution that you would develop as an e-commerce website prototype in Part B of the assignment. You would justify the improvements in e-business system using various e-business performance metrics and visualisation of e-business data. Your report should be well supported with in-text citations and full references from respected sources. You should include academic journals, books, theses, trade magazines and well-respected sources of related Internet material as you find to be relevant. There should be a minimum number of FIVE (5) relevant references in your report, and only ONE (1) of these sources may be from a website. You must follow proper Harvard style referencing; including inline citation.

In the second part (Part B) of this assignment, you will develop ane-commerce website prototype as an improvede-business solution for a business enterprise you have evaluated in Part A. You will also prepare a planning and development report for the e-commerce website.

Note:

As discussed in class and online, resources that may be of use have been posted onto the course website.

Part A: E-Business Evaluation Report (minimum 1500 words) due: Week 8

The report  for Part A contributes  (up to) 20% of your final mark. The report must include discussion of the following:

1. how is the existing e-business system used by the organisation (e-business model) 2. the drawbacks of the existing system (SWOT Analysis) (e-business model)

3. how an improved e-business solution is proposed to be developed (solution architecture)

4. the technology used in the development of the solution (solution architecture)

5. identification of the ethical, and legal implications of the solution (data security and privacy)

6. how the change would have an impact on the staff and organisation (process, service, decisions).

Week 8 deliverables: An electronic copy of report to be uploaded to Moodle and Turnitin. (See Moodle for due dates).

E-Business Systems Report Assignment Part B (30%)

Part B: Planning & Development Report (minimum 2500 words)

Part B contributes (up to) 30% of your final mark. It consists of a report that you would develop as an improved e-business solution for a business enterprise you have evaluated in Part A.

Report: Website Planning and Development Report (30 marks total)

The report will consist of at least the following:

a)     Website Plan (10 marks)

a)   Clearly  identify the  goals  of the business  (1 mark),  target  market  and  demand (1 mark), and specific objectives of the website (2 marks) for an improved e-business solution.

b)  Provide a reliable analysis of needs, which must include both business and

stakeholder requirements for the use of the website as an improvement of their e- business solution (3 marks).

c)   Identify any THREE appropriate metrics (using Web Analytics) to measure the objectives of the website developed (3 marks).

Note: You are required to explain how you will make use of the visualisation of e- business data for the above.

b)    Website Development (14 marks)

d)  Detail the system development lifecycle for the website: requires a

methodology description (2 marks), followed by justification of the chosen methodology (2 marks).

e)   Provide clear reasons for choices made with screenshots of your website   developed for the following aspects, and report limitations inherent in these choices (1 mark each = 10 marks):

i)         development tools and PHP/scripting language(s).

ii)        payment systems.

iii)       database.

iv)       security and privacy management.

v)        ethical and legal implications.

vi)       customer service and communications.

vii)      website style and aesthetic design.

viii)     website structure.

ix)       inclusions (e.g. media, links, community, documentation).

x)        compatibility and scalability.

Note:        You  are  required  to  incorporate  visualisation  of  e-business  data  to

justify  the improvements  made  in  the  proposed  e-business website. Refer to the workshop textbook for SAS visual analytics on SAS Viya.

s) Report Presentation (6 marks)

f) The report will address the following qualitative features/concerns (6 marks):

i) a title page and table of contents, and lists of tables/figures, as required (2 marks)

ii) appropriate use of headings, tables/graphs/images, appendices and references. (1 mark) iii) correct spelling and grammar throughout report. (1 mark)

iv) logical structure to the report - complete, consistent and comprehensible. (2 marks)

Week 12 deliverables: An electronic copy of Report B to be uploaded to

Moodle and Turnitin. (See Moodle for due date and time). Please attach a copy of the Marking guide to your softcopy of submitted report.

E-Business Prototype & Demonstration Part C (30% + 10%)

Aim:

In this assessment you are required to:

•   Compare and contrast various types of web enabled strategies and associated software for modelling a new e-business system;

•   Develop an e-business system from design through to implementing technologies and standards for your e-business prototype scenario;

•   Demonstrate your e-Business Website including Prototype developed, with effective use of Web analytics.

Website: E-Commerce Website Prototype (40 marks total)

1)  Prototype Functionality (30 marks)

The e-commerce website prototype will contain at least the following functionality:

a)  All information about the company a reasonable person might require before undertaking an e-commerce transaction (1 marks).

b)  Requirements  for  customers  to  provide  personal  or  sensitive  information  are appropriate and there is appropriate reassurance about the security (1 marks) and privacy (1 marks) of that information.

c)  All product information (1 marks) and information on ethical and legal

implications  (1 mark) that a reasonable person might require before undertaking a transaction.

d)  Shopping cart design is appropriate to meet business information and customer usage needs (2 marks).

e)  All the customisation of the product,  service  and/or price that  a reasonable customer might expect (2 marks).

f)   All the payment (3 marks) and delivery options (3 marks) that would be generally appropriate, convenient and reassuring to the reasonable customer.

g)  A clear indication of a commitment to after-sales customer support and service (2 marks).

h)  An appropriate and functional database to store product information (1 mark),

customer information (1 mark) and transaction information (1 mark).

i)   Consistent, aesthetically pleasing design (1 mark) promoting the brand (1 mark).

j)     Error-free, tested and functional website with quick loading of pages (1 mark), and several  easy-to-use navigation options (1 mark).

k)    Any THREE Web Analytics metrics that measure the objectives of the website developed (6 marks).

2)  Website Demonstration (10 marks)

Students  are  required  to  comprehensively  give  an  in-class  demonstration  of their website to the tutor individually, and answer questions raised during the demo:

a)   Website features: each  student must successfully  demonstrate  the features of  the e- commerce prototype website (7 marks) and explain them in a clear manner (e.g. complete, concise, informative and interesting) (1 mark).

b) Questions: each student must appropriately answer questions on how the website meets business or customer needs (2 marks).