Internet Developments
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Description of applications of on-line database systems including:
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Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line Database
Software and related issues:
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Content Management Systems;
Customer Relationship Management; &
E-commerce Platforms.
cost effectiveness, security,
flexibility and adaptability,
ongoing support and development by a community of users.
Description of applications and features of Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI):
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transaction standardisation,
translation software,
communications, and legal restrictions.
Database Connectivity
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Description and exemplification of the
requirements for connection to database:
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server username/password,
server address,
database name.
Description of use of a server-based database
management tool/application:
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to connect a database client to a database server
to create/modify/delete table structures
Structured Query Language
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Exemplification and application of the uses of
SQL to create simple and complex queries:
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Data Manipulation Language (DML) — Insert, Update,
Delete
Data Query Language (DQL)
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Keywords or clauses of the select statement — Select,
From, Where, Order By
Logical Operators — Is Null, Between, In, Like, Exists,
Unique, All and Any
Negating Conditions with the Not Operator — Not Equal,
Not Between, Not In, Not Like, Is Not Null, Not Exists,
Not Unique
Aggregate Functions — Count, Sum, Max, Min, Avg
Sorting and Grouping Data — Group By, Order By
Equi-joins/inner joins
Application Development
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Description and exemplification of server-side scripting
language for server connection, database selection,
execution of SQL queries and extraction of results.
Description and exemplification of forms processing to
insert and amend data.
Description of structure of HTML forms including:
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the <form> element and its action and method attributes
the <input> element and its type, name and value attributes
the <button> element and its type, name and value attributes
Description of an on-line database system
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An online database system is any database system which is accessed via a
client/server network. A typical ODBS consists of a web server, a scripting
language and a database management system and its associated database
or databases. The databases are typically relational files which hold data.
Typically, a client web browser is used to request a page from the web
server. The resulting page is generated by the web server, the scripting
language and the database backend. When the client browser requests a
page from a web site, the following steps occur:
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The web server receives the request via HTTP for a particular web page and
resolves and retrieves the requested file.
Depending on the nature of the file (i.e., if contains scripted code), it is
processed using the scripting engine.
The script is executed and performs database queries as necessary.
The scripting language engine uses the results of the database queries to
construct an HTML document, returning it to the web server and, finally, to the
client.
Description of an on-line database system
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PHP is a server-side scripting language. With PHP installed,
your Web server will be able to read a new kind of file
(called a "PHP script") that can do things like retrieve upto-the-minute information from a database and insert it
into a Web page before sending it to the browser that
requested it. PHP is completely free to download and use.
To retrieve information from a database, you first need to
have a database management system. That's where Oracle
SQL comes in. Oracle SQL is a relational database
management system- RDBMS. Oracle SQL makes
information really easy to get at using server-side scripting
languages like PHP.
Description of an on-line database system – the
architecture.
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An online database system is made up of a number of
different servers. A server is a term that can have multiple
meanings in computing. It can mean a computer system used
as the centre of a network and it can be a piece of software
which provides some kind of service.
A typical small hardware web server will consist of two
server programs (a web server and a database server) and
at least one scripting language.
The web server is the application which receives all
requests from clients for content.
Description of an on-line database system –
Advantages
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Customers go to the web site to check out the status of
their order, and also to see this week's special offers and
price list.
Sales representatives come to the site to view collections
of orders, shipments, warehouse stock, the status of
orders, and the latest list of sales bonuses for items in the
catalogue.
Managers log in to the site to review summaries of sales
details, sales performance, targets and so on.
Other people may also be served through the Web site suppliers, sales vendors, investors … the mind reels at the
possibilities.
Description of an on-line database system –
Disadvantages
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The main disadvantages of Online database
systems relation to the hardware and
infrastructure required to operate them and the
security of the software and data used by the
system.
The cost of the hardware used by an online
database system will relate directly to the size of
the organisation, the number of expected users
of the system and the amount of data stored.
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A small organisation with a few thousand customers and
perhaps less than fifty simultaneous users can happily
operate a database server and web server on a
dedicated desktop PC.
Description of an on-line database system –
Disadvantages
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An additional cost for smaller systems is factoring in "scalability"
into the design of the system. As an organisation grows it gains
users and requires greater amounts of data storage and processing
power. Some organisations build in this capability to "scale" their
online database system in response to the growth in their business.
This scalability normally involves some cost in terms of the
hardware and software used.
A large organisation with thousands of simultaneous users will
require multiple dedicated web and database servers, each
carefully configured and synchronised, to ensure that the same
data is available to all users.
Essentially, the larger the organisation, the more costly the ODBS
will be and the more complex the system will be to design,
implement and maintain.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management Systems
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A content management system (CMS) is a
computer software system for organising and
allowing collaborative creation of documents and
other web content.
A content management system is a web application
used for managing websites and web content.
They can be used for storage and single sourcing
of documentation for an organisation.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management Systems
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CMS packages are designed to assist web
masters with the three main challenges of
managing large web sites:
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Content Ownership/contribution
Structured Data - separating content from
style
Dynamic delivery/Interactive - managing
interactive web sites
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management Systems
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Content Ownership Contribution
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If a CMS is not used then there is often a delay
between content generation and content publication.
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Consider an announcement from the research and
development unit in a large company.
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The R and D unit write the announcement and then email it to
the web master. The master then reads the announcement,
generates the HTML code, links the announcement into the
existing site code and then uploads the changed files to the
web site.
Content management systems help to remove this
bottleneck by empowering users to create their own
content and, depending on their security privileges, publish
the content on the live web site. The user creates the
content using the tools provided by the CMS and can upload
images and other content items as required.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management Systems
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Users of the CMS can be allocated differing levels of access.
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Some may just view content, others create it for others to approve, and
others may be allowed to created and publish content or approve content
posted by other users for publication.
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The concept of multiple authorship is an important one when you
consider that some web sites run to thousands of pages.
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By allowing levels of users to contribute and manage content the CMS
provides the web master with a set of tools which devolve the process
of content generation and management to departments with in the
organisation, therefore, freeing the web master of this responsibility
and allowing him/her to focus on other tasks.
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In addition, this content creation places ownership of the content with
the contributing users. These users can be directly responsible for
updating and maintaining their content and accountable when content is
incorrect, flawed or contains errors.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Structured Data
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The essence of any content management system is the separation of
content from presentation. It should be possible for the web master
to change the entire look and feel of the web site without changing the
content. This is achieved by separating the content entirely from the
presentation of the pages.
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What is content? Content is any data stored within the site. This
includes all the posts from users, articles, news features, file
downloads, forum sessions and so on but also includes the structure of
the site such as the site map (how the site links together), the menus
and navigation presented to the users, and configuration information
about the site (such as the site address, the database server etc). The
essential information required to connect to a database server is
normally held in a configuration file and the remaining data stored the
relational database.
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This separation allows the web master to completely change the
presentation of the data on the site with changing the data. This is
achieved by changing the template/stylesheet used by the content
management system to present the data.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Dynamic Delivery/Interactivity
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A static web site provides few, if any, tools to encourage
interaction with the site's audience.
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In order to attract visitors and keep them coming back,
a site has to have constantly updating content and an
opportunity for visitors to interact with the site. Web
sites are not there to be looked at. They are there to be
interacted with. If an organisation puts up an electronic
version of a static brochure, no one will come back. Most
organisations' brochures and information are fairly dull
documents. So are static web sites. In order to be
successful, web sites need to be lively, interesting and
informative.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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NEWS
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News management using a CMS relates to the management of articles,
press releases, content items which make up part of a web site. There
are a number of common features of news management which most
content management systems possess to a greater or lesser extend.
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The CMS will allow administrators and other users with the correct
access privileges to create, amend and delete news posts.
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News items and other content can be scheduled to become live and to
expire at particular times. This allows content authors to create
content in advance and to specify when that content will become
available to users.
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Web sites can be kept current by specifying expiry dates for content this sets a lifespan for the content. In some situations it is better
retain old content as an archive than remove it from the system
entirely.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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CMS offer some control over the order on news articles or posts.
Often there is a default order for these items, such by title or date
of posting. With most CMS’s it is possible to change this order to meet
the needs of the organisation.
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Access controls permit or deny access to content based on the access
privileges of specific users. When news posts or other content access
are created they can be allocated user level i.e. only for registered
users. This allows all users of privilege "registered" and above to
access this content.
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Most content management systems provide tools to manage the media
elements which are a major part of a successful web site. The CMS
tools allow the user to upload, move and delete media files without
requiring additional FTP software.
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In addition, more advanced CMS systems allow additional information
to be stored with the media elements to assist content creators. This
metadata may content details of the media element author, a
description of the element, an easy to refer to name as so on.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Forums
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A forum is a facility of the content management systems
for holding discussions. A sense of virtual community
often develops around forums that have regular users.
Technology, computer games, and politics are popular
areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a
huge number of different topics.
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Forums are also commonly referred to as web forums,
message boards, discussion boards, discussion forums,
discussion groups, bulletin boards or simply forums.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Forums
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If a CMS based web site it to be truly interactive then a
forum of some kind is essential.
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The barebones definition of a forum is the ability for
people to start threads and reply to other people's
threads.
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Someone posts a message which is visible to everyone, you
read it and then have the option to post a reply which will
also be visible to everyone, thus a discussion can build up
without all users having to be online at the same time.
However, most forum software provides considerably
more than this.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Forums
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Most forum software allows more than one forum to be created. These
forums are containers for threads started by the user community.
Depending on the permissions of community users as defined by the
forum's web master, they can post replies to existing threads and
start new threads as they wish.
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Users of the CMS site register using a username and a password, and
possibly an e-mail address for validation purposes. In these types of
CMS based forums, the members are often able to customise both how
their posts display to others and how the board appears to them.
Username-based software may provide for anonymity by allowing
visitors to post without registration.
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The CMS will allow the forum administrator or moderator to edit,
delete, move or otherwise modify any thread on the forum.
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Threads in a forum are either flat (posts are listed in chronological
order) or threaded (each post is made in reply to a parent post).
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Ratings
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In content management systems, rating means a
reputation system, it is a type of collaborative tool
which attempts to determine ratings for a collection of
content items and/or users, given a collection of opinions
held by users about those content items / users.
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A rating system allows the users of a site to express
their opinion about content items available within the
site. Users give a rating to content items, forum posts,
individual users, in fact just about any element of the
CMS content can be rated.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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There are a number of different styles of rating systems:
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Karma is used to reflect a general opinion about a user. Each user
starts with a Karma of zero. Registered users can increase or decrease
this karma rating by one, often in response to forum posts or
comments made by the user. Over time user will gain a positive or
negative karma rating from the votes of his or her peers.
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Number ratings scales allow each user to rate an element of content
using a numbered scale. The number of votes and the average rating
can then be shown with the content item so that users can determine
the rating score of the item and how representative the rating is.
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CMSs can automatically generate ratings using preset criteria. For
example, a user of the system can automatically be ranked according
to the number of posts they make to a forum. The system
automatically rewards the user for his/her participation with the
system by awarding them with a rank. The more a user contributes to
the CMS the greater the status of the award.
Description of an on-line database system – Content
Management System
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Templates
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Templates are essential when constructing a web site using a content
management system. The content is already separated from the
branding or presentation but the only way to make your web site look
different from every other site constructed using the same CMS is to
develop and apply your own unique template.
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A template consists of two main elements: the layout of the web page
and the styles used with in it. The layout is normally coded using a web
based programming language (such as PHP or ASP) and the styles are
stored in a standard cascading style sheet (.css).
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Most CMS template systems make extensive use of cascading style
sheets to create a consistent look and feel to the CMS generated web
site. This means that consistent styles for titles, headings, body text,
hyperlinks etc, will be established by the CSS.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Customer relationship management (CRM) is a straightforward
idea. Collect all available information about customers and use it.
The primary objective of a CRM program is the continuous
improvement of the relationships between a business and its
customers.
CRM software connects as many points as possible concerning a
customer's experience with the company. From marketing to
customer service, CRM emphasises the importance of collecting
customer data at each step of the business/customer relationship.
After collection, the customer data is distributed to various
departments within each business, so CRM includes not only data
collection on a massive scale, but also the development of
communication channels in order to make the most of the collected
data.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Advantages
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Faster sales:
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Easier marketing:
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Quite simply, CRM removes some of the guesswork from the sales
process because of the information made available by data
collection.
As business staff compile data on the behaviour of customers
from different socioeconomic backgrounds and areas, the
marketing department should find it easier to determine how to
market products to those different groups.
Increased cross sales:
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As a business increases the scope and depth of its customer data
collection, opportunities for cross sales among existing customers
should become more noticeable. Cross selling involves identifying
customers who have purchased a specific product in order to sell
them similar or related products. Amazon.co.uk is one of many
retailers who use this method to generate extra sales.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Any CRM application consists of the three
parts:
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Operational CRM
Analytical CRM
Collaborative CRM
Each part meets a particular business need
and supports the development and
maintenance of customer relationships.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Operational CRM:
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Operational CRM means supporting the "front office" business
processes, which include customer contact. Tasks resulting from these
processes are forwarded to employees responsible for them, as well as
the information necessary for carrying out the tasks and interfaces to
back-end applications are being provided and activities with customers
are being documented for further reference.
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Operational CRM provides the following benefits:
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Delivers personalised and efficient marketing, sales, and service through
multi-channel collaboration. Each customer's experience of interacting with
the business is tailored personalised. The business knows which products
the customer previously purchased, when the customer's birthday is, how
frequently the customer makes purchases and can, therefore, make the
customer feel as if the business knows then very well.
Enables a 360-degree view of your customer while you are interacting with
them. When any of the staff employed by a business are dealing with a
customer, that customer's complete history and details can be displayed on
screen, allowing the staff member to understand the customer's needs.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Operational CRM – Sales Force Automation:
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SFA automates some of the company's critical sales and sales force
management functions. These functions typically include:
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Lead/account management: managing sales leads
Contact management: managing the contact details of customers and
suppliers.
Quote management: the production and storage of quotes for customers.
Forecasting: projecting future sales based on existing customer information.
Sales administration: deal with the mechanics of sales, processing payments,
invoices, receipts etc.
Keeping track of customer preferences, buying habits, and demographics:
Performance management: allows the management of a business to track the
performance of staff.
SFA tools are designed to improve field sales productivity. It is vital
that all sales personnel are connected to the SFA tools. This might
mean that traveling sales people are connected to the system via a
laptop internet connection or mobile phone and so on.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Operational CRM – Customer Services and Support:
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CSS automates some service requests, complaints, product returns,
and information requests.
Using technology to address the needs of customer service and
support is important, especially for businesses receiving a high volume
of customer calls, e-mails, and other customer interactions.
Here are some common characteristics of these applications:
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All transactions happen in real-time;
Due to its high volume and underlying patterns, the data is highly
structured;
Uptime must be close to 100% to sustain critical operations (e.g.
reservations);
Backup and recovery must be robust with minimal loss of data;
Reporting is often done in batch processes and as such is static and not in
real time.
Key infrastructure requirements of CSS include computer telephony
integration (CTI) which provides high volume processing capability, and
reliability.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Operational CRM – Enterprise Marketing Automation:
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EMA provides information about the business environment, including
competitors, industry trends, and environmental variables such as
interest rates and so on. It is the execution side of advertising
campaign and lead management. The intent of EMA applications is to
improve marketing campaign efficiencies.
An EMA system will examine the existing customer data held by an
organisation and identify likely candidates for marketing. This is known
as customer segmentation and involves dividing a customer base into
groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to
marketing, such as age, gender, interests, spending habits, and so on.
Traditional segmentation focuses on identifying customer groups based
on demographics and attributes such as attitude and psychological
profiles. Value-based segmentation, on the other hand, looks at groups
of customers in terms of the revenue they generate and the costs of
establishing and maintaining relationships with them.
Once the target group or groups have been identified, the marketing
campaign can be managed using the EMA tools. The concept of EMA is
that better targeting of marketing will increase its effectiveness and
increase revenues based on responses.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Analytical CRM:
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In analytical CRM systems, data gathered within operational
CRM and/or other sources is analysed to segment customers or
to identify potential to enhance client relationship. Analytics
CRM tools are concerned with discovering new information
about customers and finding ways to add value to the
relationship by targeting additional products or services.
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Customer analysis typically can lead to targeted campaigns to
increase the amount of spending from each customer.
Examples of campaigns directed towards customers are:
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Acquisition: Identify cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
Retention: Retaining customers who may leave due to the length of
time they have been customers or those who may leave because
they have a better offer from a competitor.
Information: Providing timely and regular information to
customers.
Modification: Altering details of the transactional nature of the
customers' relationship.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Analytical CRM:
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At the foundation of Analytical CRM are customer-based data and
approaches. Data must be organised and managed at the customer level
with historical detail covering purchasing and returns behaviour,
contacts with customer service, payment behaviour, and marketing
response behaviour. This initial data gathering is the function of the
operational CRM.
The goal is to maximize the value of your customers over the entire
relationship with the customer, not for a single marketing campaign.
The analytical CRM software tools can be used to intelligently mine the
CRM database for information about customers and produce a variety
of information. The output of this analysis can be lists of customers
for marketing purposes, customer support and so on.
Analytical CRM tools import data from the CRM database and other
sources. These collated data sources are then used to generate a
number of subsets of data (called data marts) which are used by a
particular group of employees (such as the marketing team or customer
support team). These data marts might include historical data, analysis
of sales, measurements of the performance of particular sales people
and so on.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Collaborative CRM:
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Collaborative CRM is an approach to customer relationship management (CRM) in
which the various departments of a company, such as sales, technical support,
and marketing, share any information they collect from interactions with
customers. For example, customer feedback gathered from a technical support
session could inform marketing staff about products and services that might be
of interest to the customer. The purpose of collaboration is to improve the
quality of customer service, and, as a result, increase customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
Collaborative CRM provides the following benefits:
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Enables efficient productive customer interactions across all means of communication
(i.e. web, email, telephone, postal etc.)
Enables web collaboration to reduce customer service costs. Features, such a support
ticket system, allow multiple departments to support a customer and reduce costs by
limiting communication to a web-based format.
Integrates call centres enabling multi-channel personal customer interaction. Any call
centre staff member can interact with a customer while viewing a complete record of all
customer details and previous interactions.
Integrates view of the customer while interaction at the transaction level. All staff can
view order history and current support status for the customer.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Purposes
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CRM, in its broadest sense, means managing all
interactions and business with customers. This includes
improving customer service. A good CRM program will
allow a business to acquire customers, service the
customer, increase the value of the customer to the
company, retain good customers, and determine which
customers can be retained or given a higher level of
service.
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The CRM tools can also provide a fast mechanism for
managing and scheduling follow-up sales calls to assess
how happy customers are with a product, repurchase
probabilities, repurchase times, and repurchase
frequencies as well as provide a mechanism to track all
points of contact between a customer and the company.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Purposes
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The business can use CRM tools to help to identify potential
problems quickly, before they occur and to provide a userfriendly mechanism for registering customer complaints. Once
registered the CRM tools offer a fast mechanism for handling
problems and complaints.
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CRM tools can also help by:
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Using internet cookies to track customer interests and personalise
which products are offered to the customer accordingly.
Providing a fast mechanism for managing and scheduling
maintenance, repair, and on-going support.
The CRM can be integrated into other systems within the
business to provide accounting and production information to
customers when they want it.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Privacy Concerns
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Increase use of CRM technologies makes it difficult for people
to control the information that's captured about their
personal life and activities. Data supplied by an individual for
one purpose can easily be used for another, entirely different
purpose.
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There's a growing trend for customers to opt out of marketing
schemes, and legislation is beginning to prohibit the use of
traditional communications such as mass mailing and emailing.
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Recent research shows that 78% of people are concerned
about companies holding information on them.
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The Data Protect Act provides some level of protection to
customers in the UK but in an increasingly global market
consumer privacy is becoming a major consideration.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Ethical Concerns
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Ethical problems can occur a company tries to anticipate the needs of
individual customers. This sounds like a good idea, and it is a good thing
when it works correctly, but a business has to be careful that it
doesn't pigeonhole people in ways to which they might take exception.
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Customers, by definition, decide what their needs are; a CRM
application can't make those decisions for them. A company and its
computer software can never know an individual customer's future
objectives based on his or her past actions. It can only guess at the
objectives of groups or classes of customers based on statistical
analysis. Reaching conclusions about individuals based on the groups or
classes they happen to belong to is an uncertain business at best. It's
a process that statisticians refer to as discrimination. This is a neutral
term in a description of statistical techniques, but anywhere else, it
can easily imply a stance that is morally and legally objectionable.
Discrimination is such a sensitive subject that the mere hint of
unfairness in separating one group of customers from another to treat
them differently has the potential to lead to adverse publicity and
legal action.
Description of an on-line database system –
Customer Relationship Management
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Ethical Concerns
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As long as the message which goes out is consistent, it's
not a problem. If there appear to be inconsistencies, the
company's integrity is called into question. Very few
companies have experimented with customizing the
pages of their web sites for individual customers, and
for good reason. If a customer suspects that a company
is trying to hide something by removing information
from the web pages it shows, he/she can easily find this
out by having someone else look at the same web pages.
But if a customer is forced to obscure his/her identity
to get around a company's CRM system, this not only
negates the CRM efforts but means that the company's
CRM efforts are being used against them, and for all
practical purposes, a company has no way to find out
that its customers are doing this.
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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E-Commerce
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Electronic Commerce (also referred to as EC, e-commerce eCommerce
or ecommerce) consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling,
marketing and servicing of products or services over electronic
systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.
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The information technology industry might see it as an electronic
business application aimed at commercial transactions; in this context,
it can involve electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, emarketing, online marketing, online transaction processing, electronic
data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and
automated data collection systems.
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Electronic commerce typically uses electronic communications
technology of the WWW, at some point in the transaction's lifecycle,
although of course electronic commerce frequently depends on
computer technologies other than the World Wide Web, such as
databases, and e-mail, and on other non-computer technologies, such as
transportation for physical goods sold via e-commerce.
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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E-Commerce
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Today, it encompasses a very wide range of business activities and
processes, from e-banking to offshore manufacturing to e-logistics.
The ever growing dependence of modern industries on electronically
enabled business processes gave impetus to the growth and
development of supporting systems, including backend systems,
applications and middleware.
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Examples are broadband and fiber-optic networks, supply-chain management
software, customer relationship management software, inventory control
systems and financial accounting software.
When the Web first became well-known among the general public in
1994, many journalists and pundits forecast that e-commerce would
soon become a major economic sector. However, it took about four
years for security protocols (like HTTPS) to become sufficiently
developed and widely deployed. Subsequently, between 1998 and 2000,
a substantial number of businesses in the United States and Western
Europe developed rudimentary web sites.
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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In many cases, an e-commerce company will survive not only based on its
product. Such factors include:
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Sufficient work done in market research and analysis. E-commerce is not exempt
from good business planning and the fundamental laws of supply and demand.
Business failure is as much a reality in e-commerce as in any other form of
business.
A good management team armed with information technology strategy. A
company's IT strategy should be a part of the business re-design process.
Providing an easy and secured way for customers to effect transactions. Credit
cards are the most popular means of sending payments on the internet,
accounting for 90% of online purchases. In the past, card numbers were
transferred securely between the customer and merchant through independent
payment gateways. Such independent payment gateways are still used by most
small and home businesses. Most merchants today process credit card
transactions on site through arrangements made with commercial banks or credit
cards companies.
Providing reliability and security. Parallel servers, hardware redundancy, fail-safe
technology, information encryption, and firewalls can enhance this requirement.
Providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship, defined as ensuring
that all employees, suppliers, and partners have a complete view, and the same
view, of the customer. However, customers may not appreciate the big brother
experience.
Constructing a commercially sound business model.
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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A successful e-commerce organization must also provide an
enjoyable and rewarding experience to its customers. Many
factors go into making this possible. Such factors include:
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Providing value to customers. Vendors can achieve this by offering
a product or product-line that attracts potential customers at a
competitive price, as in non-electronic commerce.
Providing service and performance. Offering a responsive, userfriendly purchasing experience, just like a flesh-and-blood
retailer, may go some way to achieving these goals.
Providing an incentive for customers to buy and to return. Sales
promotions to this end can involve coupons, special offers, and
discounts. Cross-linked websites and advertising affiliate programs
can also help.
Providing personal attention. Personalized web sites, purchase
suggestions, and personalized special offers may go some of the
way to substituting for the face-to-face human interaction found
at a traditional point of sale.
Providing a sense of community. Chat rooms, discussion boards,
soliciting customer input and loyalty programs (sometimes called
affinity programs) can help in this respect.
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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Even if a provider of E-commerce goods and services rigorously
follows these "key factors" to devise an exemplary e-commerce
strategy, problems can still arise. Sources of such problems
include:
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Failure to understand customers, why they buy and how they buy. Even
a product with a sound value proposition can fail if producers and
retailers do not understand customer habits, expectations, and
motivations.
Failure to consider the competitive situation.
Inability to predict environmental reaction. What will competitors do?
Will they introduce competitive brands or competitive web sites? Will
they supplement their service offerings? Will they try to sabotage a
competitor's site? Will price wars break out? What will the
government do?
Over-estimation of resource competence. Can staff, hardware,
software, and processes handle the proposed strategy? Have e-tailers
failed to develop employee and management skills?
Failure to coordinate. If existing reporting and control relationships do
not suffice, one can move towards a flat, accountable, and flexible
organizational structure, which may or may not aid coordination
Description of an on-line database system –
E-Commerce
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Consumers have accepted the e-commerce business model less
readily than its proponents originally expected. Several reasons
might account for the slow uptake, including:
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Concerns about security. Many people will not use credit cards over the
Internet due to concerns about theft and credit card fraud.
Lack of instant gratification with most e-purchases (non-digital
purchases). Much of a consumer's reward for purchasing a product lies
in the instant gratification of using and displaying that product. This
reward does not exist when one's purchase does not arrive for days or
weeks.
The problem of access to web commerce, mainly for poor households
and for developing countries. Low penetration rates of Internet access
in some sectors greatly reduces the potential for e-commerce.
The social aspect of shopping. Some people enjoy talking to sales staff,
to other shoppers, or to their cohorts: this social reward side of retail
therapy does not exist to the same extent in online shopping.
Poorly designed, bug-infested e-Commerce web sites that frustrate
online shoppers and drive them away.
Inconsistent return policies among e-tailers or difficulties in
exchange/return.
Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line
Database Software and related issues
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Open Source Software: an antonym for closed source
software and refers to any computer software whose
source code is available under a license (or arrangement
such as the public domain) that permits users to study,
change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in
modified or unmodified form.
Closed source code must be hidden from the public and
competitors who might otherwise reproduce or modify the
code, either to resell the product or for other malicious
reasons. Software companies that follow the closed source
model see it as a way to protect their products from
software piracy or misuse, from reverse engineering and
duplication, and to maintain competitive advantage and
vendor lock-in. Closed source software usually is developed
and maintained by a relatively small team who produce their
"product" in a compiled executable state, which is what the
market is allowed access to
Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line
Database Software and related issues
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cost effectiveness
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Making money through traditional methods, such as sale
of the use of individual copies and patent royalty
payment, is more difficult and sometimes impractical
with open-source software. Some closed-source
advocates see open-source software as damaging to the
market of commercial software. This complaint is
countered by a large number of alternative funding
streams such as:
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giving away the software and charging for installation and
support;
make the software available as open-source so that people
will be more likely to purchase a related product or service
you do sell;
cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a
product, so it makes sense to share development costs.
Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line
Database Software and related issues

Security
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Some people believe that closed source software is more
secure than open source software. With any given piece of
software, it's much easier for a black hat to find and exploit
security holes in any given piece of software when he has the
source code than without it.
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Other people believe that open source software is more secure
than closed source software. The availability of open source
code leads to faster discovery of security issues, and faster
resolution of these issues. They point to the exploitation of
proprietary software such as Internet Explorer. But others
claim that such software is exploited because it has a large
market share—making it an attractive target for attackers—
and claim that open-source software would also be exploited if
it attracted the attention of those attackers.
Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line
Database Software and related issues
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Flexibility and Adaptability,
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Open source software can be changed by the
owner of the software not just the developer.
Closed source software can only be changed by
the original developer.
Comparison of Open Source and Commercial On-line
Database Software and related issues
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Ongoing support and development by a community of users .
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Closed-source software vendors typically provide a "one-stop shop" for
all support matters: since the vendor developed the software (and
appropriately licensed any included components that were developed by
others), the vendor also provides all necessary support functions.
Nobody else can provide the level of support that the original vendor
does, simply because nobody else has the requisite access to the
source code (not just to understand how it works, but to make
modifications and fix bugs).
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Open-source offers an alternative model, where easy access to the
source code allows the proliferation of a multitude of alternative
support organizations, each remaining small enough to remain
responsive to the needs of its own set of customers. With ready
access to the source code, anybody can find a bug or shortcoming in
the software, and submit a patch for it all the way back to the original
software developers, who in turn can very quickly decide whether the
patch is worth accepting or not. It is often said that the more eyes
looking for bugs reduce them, and with more people looking for bugs,
then looking to exploit them, it is no wonder bug fixes may be faster
for open source projects.
Description of applications and features of
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
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EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. It is a technique for
businesses to exchange information in an electronic format,
rather than via paper documents.
EDI offers the prospect of easy and cheap communication of
structured information throughout the corporate community, and
is capable of achieving much closer working relationships between
previously remote organisations.
A more careful definition of EDI is 'the exchange of documents in
standardised electronic form, between organisations, in an
automated manner, directly from a computer application in one
organisation to an application in another'.
Despite being relatively unknown, in this era of technologies such
as the Internet and the World Wide Web, EDI is still the data
format used by the vast majority of electronic commerce
transactions in the world.
Description of applications and features of
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
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How does it work?
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The sender creates the application file using their own
Application System. The file is then translated into an
EDI standard format and the file created is a
Transaction set. The transaction set is a single business
document. There are hundreds of Transaction Sets
available and transaction sets are defined EDI
standards. Purchase orders, invoices and shipment
notices are all examples of transaction sets.
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This file is then transmitted either through a value
added network (such as the Internet) or via a direct
connection to the receiving business. The receiver takes
the transaction set and translates the file from the EDI
standard format to a file that can be used by the
receiving Application System. Thus the cycle of EDI
continues.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Translation Software
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Flat Files
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Some translation software packages require users to
create a separate file following a specific format,
normally by executing a query on the data held in their
database and storing the results in a file.
That file, typically referred to as a flat file, is a
specially formatted American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII) text file.
A flat file forces the standardisation of data from
various files and in different formats so that the EDI
translation software can locate and use the data to
either create an EDI-formatted message or translate
the data in such a message back into a flat file.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Translation Software
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Transaction Set Mapper
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That program cross-references the contents of the
user-defined flat file with an EDI standard transaction
set and subsequently translates the flat-file information
into the desired transaction set. Essentially, a
transaction set mapper automates the process of
generating the transaction set from the application
software database.
A transaction set mapper offers two primary benefits:
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it reduces the amount of application interface programming
by editing data before it is accepted by the application
software, and
it reduces the amount of maintenance programming in
support of the application system interface programs.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Application System Interface
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Application system interface software has a vital role in
both outgoing and incoming data flows.
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During the outgoing flow, it extracts data from your
application system and places it in a flat file for subsequent
conversion into EDI-formatted data prior to transmission to
one or more trading partners. The application system interface
software removes the requirement for a user to manually
create the flat file required by the translation software.
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When the data flow is reversed, the application system
interface software extracts data from a flat file and prepares
it for acceptance by your application program. In short,
application system interface software either reads or writes
flat files of information that are used to pass information
between a trading partner's application system and EDI
translation software.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Communication Software
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EDI Value-Added Network (VAN) is a private network
provider that is hired by a company to facilitate electronic
data interchange or provide other network services. Before
the arrival of the www, some companies hired value-added
networks to move data from their company to other
companies. With the arrival of the www, many companies
now find it more cost-efficient to move their data over the
Internet instead of paying the minimum monthly fees and
per-text character charges made by VAN providers.
In response, contemporary value-added network providers
now focus on offering EDI translation, encryption, secure email, management reporting, and other extra services for
their customers.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Communication Software
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The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed two sets of
security protocols for transmitting EDI over the Internet (EDI INT): the
AS1 and the AS2 protocols. Using software that has been developed
around these standards, businesses can securely transmit and receive EDI
transaction set data over the Internet.
The "AS" stands for "Applicability Statement" and uses existing standards
in a manner that facilitates ease of use in product development. AS1
utilizes the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mechanism to securely
transfer packages of data. The AS2 is an adjustment to the AS1 that
extends the specifications by adding Secure Hyper Text Transmission
Protocol (HTTPS).
The AS2 specification describes the secure transmission of EDI data in
batch mode over the Internet using HTTPS. It is a specification relating to
securing and transporting data, not on validating or processing the data.
The transported data is then dispatched to the appropriate processor
based upon its content-type. This means that EDI translation software is
still needed to process the "raw EDI" data.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Communication Software
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Rather than sending/receiving data via a VAN (Value Added
Network), the data is sent/received via the Internet in
accordance with AS1/AS2 security features and
imported/exported into the user's application system.
A long term benefit of using EDI INT is the significant
reduction and in some cases elimination of the traditional
communication costs associated with VANs. A secondary
benefit is in the decreased "turn-around" time for business
transactions. Traditional EDI is "batch" processed in that
messages are grouped together and sent/received at
intervals throughout the day. With the AS1 standard, the
time is reduced to the transfer time for e-mail, while with
AS2, the time has been reduced to nearly instantaneous
with direct HTTPS transfers.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Communication Software
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To exchange information using EDI, documents
must be translated into a format that complies
with an EDI standard. Mapping is the initial
process that describes how each element of the
original document, such as a purchase order or
invoice, relates to an "EDI transaction" that
complies with the standard being used. The
translation software uses this mapping to
translate the EDI transactions so they can be
used by the receiving organization.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Benefits
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The key benefits include:
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Elimination of keying errors and lost documents.
Fewer discrepancies.
Faster reconciliation process.
Faster payment.
Elimination of duplicate paper processes and associated costs.
Reduction of storage costs as archiving moves to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
and other electronic storage media.
Less people power devoted to printing, sorting, mailing, coding and
inputting.
Lower postage costs.
Improved flow of information and improved response rate.
More time spent on selling/negotiating instead of on paperwork.
Better inventory management.
More effective and in-depth sales and management reports.
Electronic "paper trail" and ad tracking.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Standards
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There are two major sets of EDI standards:
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UN/EDIFACT is the only international standard and is used in most areas of the
world outside of North America.
ANSI ASC X12 (X12) is popular in North America and used elsewhere worldwide.
These standards prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements
used in the exchange of documents and forms, such as purchase orders and
invoices.
Each standard defines many different document types: Purchase Orders,
Shipping Instructions, Educational Institution Record, and so on.
The standard says which pieces of information are mandatory for a
particular document, which pieces are optional and give the rules for the
structure of the document. The standards are like building regulations.
Just as two kitchens can be built "to regulation" but look completely
different, two EDI documents can follow the same standard and contain
different sets of information.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Standards
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A standard is a method of coding data to facilitate
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). It provides:
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Rules of syntax
Definition of the data organisation
Editing rules and conventions
Published public documentation (i.e. a Standards Manual)
This provides the user with:
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An open system - where trade is possible with anyone who uses
the same standard
Reduced implementation effort - the implementation of a
standard can, itself, be standardised
Third party interfaces - software and network applications can
be written that address specific business needs and conform
to a single standard
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Standards
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UN/EDIFACT stands for United Nations/Electronic Data
Interchange For Administration, Commerce, and Transport.
The work of maintenance and further development of this
standard is done through UN/CEFACT, the United Nations Centre
for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business under the UN
Economic Commission for Europe. EDIFACT has been adopted by
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the
ISO 9735.
UN/EDIFACT provides the following:
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a set of syntax rules to structure data (i.e. details of how transactions
sets are to be composed),
an interactive exchange protocol (I-EDI),
standard messages (allows multi-country and multi-industry exchange).
UN/EDIFACT is commonly used by the travel and tourism industries
including airlines. The following is an example EDIFACT transaction set
(message) user to answer a request for product availability (in this
case the availability of flights).
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – Standards
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ANSI ASC X12 is the official designation of the US National
standards body for the development and maintenance of EDI
standards for the United States. The X12 Standards manual
includes:
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Transaction Set Tables - Transaction Sets are commonly used business
transactions (PO, Invoice, etc.). They are made up of Segments which
are made up of Data Elements.
Segment Directory - A listing of all possible segments.
Data Element Dictionary - A definition for all possible data elements.
Code Sources - ANSI ASC X12 allows industry specific codes. These
codes are not maintained by the ANSI ASC X12 committee but by
industry organizations. A list of where to obtain these industry codes
can be found in the ASC X12 Standards manual.
Interactive Control Structure - These are syntax rules at the
application level that have been agreed upon by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) for Electronic Data
Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport (EDIFACT).
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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XML (Extensible Markup Language) is an initiative that allows
information and services to be encoded with meaningful structure
and semantics that computers and humans can understand. XML is
great for information exchange, as it can easily be extended to
include user-specified and industry-specific tags. XML is a
specification and standard that both Netscape and Microsoft have
endorsed and are including in their latest web browser products.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has traditionally used unique
segment identifiers like tokens (see above) to separate and
identify data items within messages. So replacing those same
segments with Web tokens allows XML to express EDI and carry
EDI via Web delivery methods. This moves EDI from being a
ridged and static format into the dynamic mainstream of
computing and the Internet.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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The disadvantage of traditional EDI is its own fixed
structures and inflexibility. XML/EDI adds three additional
key components which give it greater flexibility:
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Rule templates,
Software Agents, and
Global repositories.
These three components transform traditional EDI into
XML/EDI that allows full dynamic electronic trading
between business partners. Traditional EDI is very static,
what XML/EDI provides is a dynamic process that can be
infinitely extended by adding customised tokens.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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XML itself provides the foundation. The Web was based on the abilities of
the HTML language, itself a very limited subset of the original and highly
complex SGML document syntax.
XML conveys contents and structure, not presentation and behaviour. The
structure of XML documents can be (but need not be) formally described
in a Document Type Definition (DTD).
To put it simply, each logical part (known as an XML element) is marked
up/surrounded by tags. Together with attributes, tags are used to
structure information. XML elements may be repeated and nested at any
depth to allow, for instance, several <orderlines> in an <order>.
The XML syntax has rapidly imposed itself as a popular format for
exchange of information on the web. Around this syntax, a large set of
companion standards and tools are being developed. The acronym XML
often refers to the whole family of standards and products built around
the XML syntax; they are often written in the Java programming language.
XML Document Object Model, XML Schema, XLink/XPointer, Extensible
Style Sheets Language (XSL), Resource Description Framework (RDF) are
some of these companion standards.
XML elements replace or supplement existing EDI segment identifiers.
XML also brings with it all the capabilities and transport layers of the Web
and the Internet in general.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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Document Type Definitions: A Document Type Definition (DTD) is
a formal description of the full structure of an XML document
(such as an XML/EDI message) with relevant sets of values
(allowed and defaulted values).
It is used for example to check the syntactical and structural
validity of an incoming XML/EDI message (e.g. correct sequence
and nesting of XML/EDI elements) and validate the transmitted
values - by comparing them with the allowed values listed in the
DTD.In that sense, DTDs play a role similar to the existing UNSM
(United Nations/EDIFACT Standard Message) specifications (e.g.
structure of a message type - however without the functional
description).EDI provides the ability to express data in a simple
format and send it to someone else so they can interpret the
information they have just received. XML/EDI provides 100%
backward compatibility to existing EDI transactions.
This means that businesses not have to discard their existing
investment in EDI systems and knowledge.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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XML is a mechanism for transmitting data and not
behaviour. XML does not define the processes
associated with the data but the rule templates
can do this. The Rule Templates define the
processes associated with the XML data. Rule
templates are business process descriptors.
Templates are globally referenced (i.e. held in
repository) or travel along inside the XML as a
special section and set of tokens, and can be
easily read and interpreted, they look rather like
a spreadsheet in layout and content. The rule
template defines the business processes
associated with the XMl/EDI document.
Description of applications and features of Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) – XML
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Software Agents
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Software agents serve several functions. First, they
interpret the Rule Templates for performing the work
needed.
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Second, they interact with the definition of the XML
transaction data and the destination business application
system to integrate each specific task. This means that
the Software Agent uses data from the XML
transaction set and the destination system to map and
convert data as required.
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Third, they look up and attach the right template for
existing jobs by accessing the Global Repository.