Assignment
Title - Development of an e-commerce website
Task description
You will develop a prototype (front end) of e-commerce website for a real or fictional business.
This assignment includes 2 parts:
- Assignment 2-1 is a system analysis and front-end website design document.
- Assignment 2-2 is a prototype of an e-commerce website which is built according to Asignment2-1. (The prototype may not fully operate, and you don't need to write programs.)
Objectives
Assignment 2-1
- You should outline the business background and its customers/visitors, and the aim of developing the website.
- You should analyse the business by utilizing at least 2 of the following tools
o SWOT analysis
o Audience analysis
o Environment analysis
o Risk analysis
o Scope analysis
o Structure chart
- You should determine the objectives to develop the website according to the above business analysis. The objectives include
o Online marketing - You should determine and discuss a marketing strategy in the context of the website.
o Online sale/purchase - The website should have at least 10 products within at least 4 categories. Visitors can complete purchase from viewing a catalogue through to receiving order confirmation.
o Customer centric design - You should analyse the targeted visitors, and develop solutions for usability, accessibility, interactivity, personalization, etc.
o Trust creation and maintenance - You should outline and explain types of trust that are relevant to the website.
o Other objectives, such as implementation of security, recruitment, special e-commerce environment, new e-payment system, etc.
- You should develop your solutions (functions, features and/or components of the site) for the above objectives. For example, catalogue, shopping cart and transaction processing are the basic functions for online sale. Business information, customer support/help, security statement, privacy policy, virtual community, etc. are examples for one or more objectives. Relating current technologies, such as Web 2.0, mobile technology and artificial Intelligence, will be a bonus. You should try to avoid functions, components or features that annoy the visitors.
- You should utilise a concept map to summarise the relationship among the above aim, objectives and solutions.
- You should design the website according to the above analysis, where o You should ustilise a navigation map hyperlink structure design, and o You should utilise story boards for web page design.
You should organise document contents logically.
You can revise or update the analysis/design document after it is submitted initially, and submit the updated version of Assignment2-1 together with Assignment2-2. In the updated version, changes must be highlighted or indicated clearly. Significant changes to the original analysis/design indicate a poor original analysis/design, and therefore you can't get additional marks from the revision work.
Assignment 2-2
You are required to build an e-commerce website by utilizing an authoring tool. Microsoft Expression Web 4 is recommended. Your website must be assessable without installing it to a server.
- Your website should completely and accurately implement the design in Assignment2-1.
- Your website should be user-friendly according to customer centered design.
- Hyperlinks in your website should be intuitive and functional. While programs for the back-end processing are not required, the site should explain the back-end processes, where appropriate. For example, you designed to include a search function, which allows a visitor to enter keywords and click a button or use the Enter key to activate a search. Although the search function may not actually operate, the site should respond with a dummy search result, or provide an explanation about what happens.