Liverpool John Moores University

School of Computing Mathematical Sciences

E-COMMERCE SYSTEM
ANALYSIS, DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT
By

Chris Nwaigwe Jr
22 April, 2010

Abstract: E-Commerce has become a necessity for businesses, especially small

businesses looking to maximize profit by using cost effective online marketing
strategies. Adequate system analysis and design methods are required to achieve fully
functioning user-friendly and re-scalable e-Commerce systems. This study covers the
review of current e-commerce system analysis, design and implementation
methodologies. The role of e-Commerce in businesses, the legal and security issues
involved in developing e-Commerce systems, e-Commerce system architecture, design
and development strategies are critically evaluated and the most suitable methods
applied in the development of Divine Foods e-Commerce system.

Keywords: e-Commerce system, e-Commerce Architecture, Systems Development

Life Cycle, Database Design, System Security

Acknowledgements

In writing this report, I have to thank the management of Divine Foods, especially
Mrs. Rachel Davidson, Mr. T Ladipo and Richard Bola. Despite their busy schedule
they took the time to comprehensively specify the requirements of the Divine Foods
E-commerce system. My gratitude also goes to the other staff/personnel at DFs who
also helped by completing the questionnaire with great pace.
During the period of project research, I was guided and encouraged by my supervisor,
Mike Baskett of Liverpool John Moores University. His guidance and assistance were
great factors that facilitated the completion of this report. He always had a clear idea
about what to do and gave me extremely helpful suggestions when I was in need of
them.

I would like to say thanks to all the academic staff that taught and guided me
throughout my ICT and Multimedia Computing course at Liverpool John Moores
University. I would want to thank my sister, mum, friends and family for supporting
me throughout my studies.

Chris Nwaigwe
April, 2010

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 8
Subjects to be studied .......................................................................................................... 8
Background ...................................................................................................................... 8
Target Audience .............................................................................................................. 9
Problems to be addressed ............................................................................................... 9
Aims, milestones and initial ideas. ..................................................................................... 9
Initial Ideas .................................................................................................................... 10
Software and hardware constraints. ............................................................................ 10
An outline plan of action and a time table. .................................................................. 11
Milestones ....................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 2: Literature Review .............................................................................................. 13
Introduction to e-Commerce Systems .............................................................................. 13
Information and communication technology and business ............................................ 14
EDI .................................................................................................................................. 15
EFT .................................................................................................................................. 15
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) ........................................................................ 15
e-Commerce Systems: Case Studies ................................................................................. 18
ASDA ............................................................................................................................... 18
Tesco .............................................................................................................................. 19
e-Commerce Success and Failure ................................................................................. 20
Requirements of an e-commerce system .................................................................... 20
e-Commerce Advantages and Disavdantages ............................................................. 21
Advantages .................................................................................................................... 21
Disadvantages .............................................................................................................. 22
E-Commerce System Security ........................................................................................ 23
Risk Analysis ................................................................................................................ 23
Types of e-commerce system attack ........................................................................ 23
Securing E-Commerce Systems ..................................................................................... 25
Legal and Ethical Issues involved in e-Commerce ..................................................... 26
Electronic Transactions ............................................................................................. 27
Privacy & Security ....................................................................................................... 28
Copyright & Trademark ............................................................................................. 29
4

Conforming to e-Commerce Legal and Ethical Issues ............................................... 29

Contracting online ....................................................................................................... 29
Advertising ................................................................................................................... 30
Compliance with the Data protection Act ............................................................... 30
Distance Selling Regulations ..................................................................................... 30
E-Commerce Marketing Strategies ............................................................................... 31
Internet Marketing .......................................................................................................... 31
Branding ........................................................................................................................ 32
Literature Review Conclusion ....................................................................................... 33
Research methodology ................................................................................................... 34
Qualitative Research ................................................................................................... 34
Quantitative research ................................................................................................. 35
Chosen Research Method and Justification ................................................................ 37
Systems Development Life Cycle .................................................................................. 39
SPIRAL LIFECYCLE ....................................................................................................... 39
RAPID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT (RAD) / PROTOTYPING LIFECYCLE ....... 40
V-Shaped SDLC ............................................................................................................. 41
Chosen SDLC Method: The Waterfall Model ........................................................... 42
Work breakdown structure ....................................................................................... 43
System Development Life Cycle flowchart for Divine Foods ........................................... 46
Chapter 3: Requirement Analysis ..................................................................................... 47
Background on DFs ......................................................................................................... 47
Review of company current systems of business operations ................................. 48
Problem identification ................................................................................................... 50
Project specification and outline .................................................................................. 52
Project objectives of E-commerce On-line ordering system ............................... 52
End-User Requirements ................................................................................................. 54
Benefits of the Proposed System .................................................................................. 57
System Analysis and Design Methodologies ............................................................... 58
SSADM ............................................................................................................................ 58
Data Flow Diagrams ............................................................................................................ 60
Chapter 4: Design ................................................................................................................ 62
System Functional Requirements ................................................................................ 62
System Technical Specification ..................................................................................... 63
5

Database Design Models ................................................................................................ 66

Object Oriented Databases. ....................................................................................... 66
Relational DBMS (RDBMS) ......................................................................................... 67
Object-Relational DBMS (ORDBMS) ......................................................................... 69
The differences between the three Database Design approaches ..................... 70
Justification of Selected Database Model ................................................................ 72
Justification of Chosen Implementation tools ........................................................... 73
PHP vs ASP.NET ............................................................................................................ 73
MySQL vs Microsoft SQL server, Oracle, Access and DB2 ..................................... 74
Platform comparison ......................................................................................................... 74
FrontPage Vs Dreamweaver ...................................................................................... 75
AJAX ................................................................................................................................ 76
Justification of Use ............................................................................................................ 77
Data Modelling ................................................................................................................. 78
Entities and Attributes ............................................................................................... 78
Normalisation .................................................................................................................. 79
The Normal Forms ........................................................................................................ 79
First Normal Form (1NF) ............................................................................................. 79
Second Normal Form (2NF) ......................................................................................... 79
Third Normal Form (3NF) ........................................................................................... 80
Fourth Normal Form (4NF) ......................................................................................... 80
Applying Normalisation to DFs e-Commerce system ............................................ 80
Entity Relationship Diagrams ....................................................................................... 82
Entity Types .................................................................................................................. 83
UML Diagrams .................................................................................................................. 85
UML Class Diagram ...................................................................................................... 85
UML: Use Case Diagram .................................................................................................. 86
UML Activity Diagrams ............................................................................................... 88
Database Data Definition ........................................................................................... 89
Website Design ................................................................................................................ 94
Page Layout ................................................................................................................... 94
Web Design Issues ....................................................................................................... 95
Flow Chart Diagrams ................................................................................................... 97
Web Story Board .......................................................................................................... 97
6

Chapter 5: Implementation ............................................................................................. 102

Creating the Database ................................................................................................... 102
Website Design .............................................................................................................. 103
Web Design in Photoshop ........................................................................................ 103
Slicing in Adobe Fireworks ...................................................................................... 106
Coding in Dreamweaver ........................................................................................... 107
The Final Web Page Preview in Browser .............................................................. 110
Chapter 6: Evaluation and Testing ................................................................................. 114
Further Work ................................................................................................................. 116
Chapter 5: References & Bibliography .......................................................................... 117
References ...................................................................................................................... 117
Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 121
Useful Websites .......................................................................................................... 122
Chapter 7: Appendix ......................................................................................................... 124
The Login Page 2 ............................................................................................................. 143
Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 168
DFs user questionnaire/survey questions ...................................................................... 168
Appendix E ...................................................................................................................... 171
Log Book ...................................................................................................................... 171

Chapter 1 Introduction
Subjects to be studied
e-Commerce System Analysis, Design and Implementation
This study covers the analysis, design and implementation of an e-Commerce system
using common web practices, system analysis and design methodologies. The main
subject areas of interest are database design and web development; these subject areas
encapsulate the different database development strategies, web 2.0 development
methods and standards, e-Commerce systems architecture, design and implementation
as well as other subject areas studied during the school academic year which are
relevant to this project.
Background
The aim of this project is to develop an e-Commerce system which will enable sales
and marketing of products and services online. This system must be reliable, secure,
re-scalable, and user friendly. The stakeholder of the proposed e-Commerce system:
Divine Foods (herein known as DFs) is a local, family run food manufacturing
company based in South East London. Established in 2004, its main purpose is the
production, sales and distribution of traditional African food products.
The company is primarily controlled by Ms Rachel Davidson, she is supported by
two of her daughters and six fulltime employees; they operate from a small corner
shop, handling over 50 orders every week. The company has grown reasonably since
its conception four years ago and is still growing exponentially with customers now
scattered across the UK. This local company now operates both on a Business-toBusiness (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C) basis where other businesses can
make wholesale purchases and private customers can place individual orders.
There are currently twelve fulltime and several part-time employees. There are about
7 major product lines and 67 products offered by DFs, they have several suppliers in
Africa, Europe and North America that provide the raw resources needed to
manufacture their products.
DFs have over 700 customers around UK, carrying out an average of 50 in-store
transactions and 7 telephone orders daily.
8

Target Audience
This system is aimed at the current and potential customers of DFs. Current customers
will be advised and encouraged to use the online ordering system, while online
marketing strategies will be utilised for the acquisition new users and retention of
existing users of the system. The website is intended for users around the UK, though
users from other countries can register and access the website, orders can only be
accepted by management once they are certain products can be delivered without
violating any international trade laws.
Problems to be addressed
DFs is growing continuously, with more customers, products and orders. All records
are currently held on a manual filing system; as a result of this expansion this system
of operation is becoming ineffective. Data retrieval is difficult, sometimes impossible
Customers are usually left waiting for orders due to delays in order processing and
payment arrangements; the consequence being decreased income from sales revenue.
There is a lack of competitive edge as major competitors have already taken
advantage of the online environment, using some sort of e-Business and/or ordering
systems. Since DFs operate a traditional brick and mortar business, they are limited
to certain geographical areas of the UK. This system of operation makes targeting a
larger geographical area and competition with major rivals almost impossible.
This growth has brought on many problems as the workload on the owner and
employees has increased tremendously in the last year. In some cases, customers are
left waiting for their orders due to delays and/or errors stemming from manual data
entry and paper based filing system. In other cases orders have had to be declined as
the company cannot guarantee they can meet these orders; due to shortage in staff and
the costs of hiring more staff.
Aims, milestones and initial ideas.
Given the problems faced by DFs the aim of this project is to develop an e-Commerce
system that will automate several processes and provide around-the-clock availability
of products and services to customers; enabling customers to place orders online,
providing efficient communication channels as well as marketing and advertising
techniques (e.g. Emails, newsletters, banner ads etc). This system will store detailed
9

information of products, customers and orders and also offer more flexible and easier
methods of payment.
The website will provide a form of interaction with users; i.e
i.

By incorporating a recipe blog into the website where users can post or view
recipe posts by other users

ii.

By integrating with social networking websites such as facebook or twitter

Initial Ideas
The e-Commerce system can be built using either one of the following database
management systems; Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle 11g, IBM
DB2 MYSQL along with either of the following web scripting languages: PHP,
ASP.NET, HTML, PEARL.
Whichever one of these methods is used, the website will incorporate a very unique
and professional design that makes it distinct from that of DFs competitors. The
system will offer both the customers and DFs more convenient alternative payment
options other than cash on delivery method. The system will create advertising
avenues by;
i.

creating a mailing list (with user permission), which will email monthly offers
to registered users

ii.

Using clear headers to optimize search engine indexing

Software and hardware constraints.

No specialist hardware or software system will be required in the implementation of
this project. Readily available Database Management programs such as Microsoft
Access and/or SQL Server, MYSQL etc will be used; Web developments programs
such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, PHP, and ASP.NET may also be
used for implementation. The database and website will be developed on a local
network using the Apache server, and then a username and password will be required

10

for access to LJMU SQL and PHP servers in order to transfer the developed system
by FTP to the hosting server.
Ajax and JavaScript programs will be used to add styles and for validation, i.e.
validation of customer registration details. The specific software for implementation
will be chosen during the Analysis stage of the project and reasons for the chosen
method of implementation will be explained in detail.
An outline plan of action and a time table.
The success of this project will be monitored through a number of ways:
i.

Use of action/project plan and timetables where there will be set monthly
targets and milestones. The action plan will be discussed in details in further
sections of this report.

ii.

Performance indicators in form of the number and quality of tasks

accomplished will be used, a log book is being used where all actions and/or
milestones are documented enabling effective supervision.

iii.

Meetings with Divine Foods: Regular meetings will be held with the
management of DFs to discuss progress in the project and obstacles
encountered.

iv.

Narrative reporting: There will be regular narrative reporting every 60 days

where a summary of the planned and executed critical activities are recounted

Milestones
The key stages of this project include:
i.

Action Plan: Detailed project plan.

ii.

The Analysis of the current system - methods of operation, etc. Analysis of the
proposed system Financial analysis, feasibility studies, possible solutions to
current problems etc.

iii.

Detailed Specification of the required system, end-user requirements and

system deliverables

iv.

Design: System designs, ER Diagrams, database table definitions etc.

11

v.

Implementation: Based on the design

vi.

Testing: Black box testing, white box testing, alpha and beta testing.

vii.

System Evaluation

The action plan will be developed in accordance with the above mentioned
milestones.
The initial plans discussed above are subject to changes after an in-depth interview
with the owner and employees of DFs. Questionnaires will be sent out to ensure the
end-user requirement is thoroughly understood. These interviews and subsequent
analysis will enable both the system designers and the end-users reach a compromise
on the system deliverables if all the desired or sometimes ambiguous user
requirements cannot be met.
Conclusion
This report aims to investigate the practices and issues involved in the development of
e-Commerce systems. It summarizes the authors six months research in e-Commerce
systems analysis, design and implementation methods while developing an eCommerce system for Divine Foods (DFs).
The rest of this report is structured as follows: Firstly, some literature regarding eCommerce systems, e-Commerce legal issues, Systems development life cycle
(SDLC) is reviewed in the next section. Then the System analysis section which
reviews the companys operations and its relation to IT systems, from here the
problems they currently encounter with the current operational methods are
established and the possible solutions to their current limitations are identified. Tasks
to be carried in order to achieve the proposed solution are also described in this
section. The requirement specifications of the proposed system are developed, based
on the employees opinions, captured by interviews and questionnaire.
Furthermore, based on client requirement, a database and a website are designed to
capture and store product, order, customer and other transactional information; enable
users and prospective customers gain uninterrupted access company and product
information

12

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction to e-Commerce Systems
Kalakota and Whinston define e-commerce as the buying and selling of information,
products and services via computer networks; [1] the computer networks primarily
being the internet. Others however use the term to encompass not only the buying and
selling described above but also the use of internet technologies such as email and
intranets to exchange or share information either within the firm or with external
stakeholders. [2] Other definitions believe e-Commerce also refers to the procedures,
policies and strategies required to support the incorporation of electronic interaction
to the business environment. A More comprehensive definition of e-Commerce would
be: the ability to perform business transactions and complete contracts involving the
exchange of goods and services between two or more parties using electronic, internet
and/or telecommunication tools, policies, strategies and techniques.
As we leap into the twenty first century, it seems as though everyone is on the internet
and more companies are establishing online presence to maintain their competitive
edge. Due to high speed internet connections, the internet has become an essential
tool for any business to compete domestically or globally.
The rapid growth of the internet has completely changed the way most businesses
operate. The internet has enable e-Commerce that offers businesses and customers a
unique channel to deliver and purchase goods and services. E-commerce uses internetworked computers to create and transform business relationships.
Electronic commerce can be categorised into several groups: a few of which are listed
below although more forms of e-commerce exist: Business-to-Business (B2B),
Business-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), [3]. B2B e-commerce is
hugely rooted in electronic data interchange (EDI) networks established between
organisations and their manufactures/suppliers within a specific industry. Ecommerce
enables companies to conduct their business from prospecting to order processing and
delivery online.
B2B e-commerce includes the use of exchanges on internet-based marketplaces in
which participating companies can purchase or sell a variety of products, some
generic across industries and others specific to a given industry [4].
13

Besides B2B and B2C transactions, e-commerce transactions and interactions may
have other types:
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce is used in organizations that provide
private sales and auctions between individual consumers.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce allows networked peer computers to share data and
processingwith each other directly; can be used in C2C, B2B, and B2C e-commerce.
Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Consumer (G2C) e-commerce
enable government organizations to provide information, interaction, business, and
services to companies and consumers respectively.
Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) e-commerce organizations provide
some products or services to client businesses that maintain their own customers.
eBay, for example, provides a virtual marketplace to its customers (business and
individuals) that sell products through eBay to their own customers.
Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) makes possible e-commerce transactions and
activities to be conducted in a wireless environment, for example, buying products
and services from a web site on a cell phone.
Location-based Commerce (L-commerce) provides m-commerce transactions
targeted at individuals in specific locations and at specific times, like navigation
systems in cars.
Intra-business e-commerce includes all internal organizational activities that involve
the exchange of goods, services, or information.
Collaborative Commerce (C-commerce) creates an environment where individuals or
groups communicate or collaborate online.
Information and communication technology and business
The use of Information and Communication Technology (IT/ICT) systems is an
integral part of work. It is estimated that 20 million of workers in the UK use some
form of ICT at work. Thus Keeping ICT running and delivering value is crucial to
business health. [5]

14

Enterprise systems are IT/ICT systems that connect the different functions of a
business. Examples of enterprise systems include Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management
(SCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), etc. They are the integration tools that
(if properly implemented) could increase productivity by automating work process,
maintaining a single picture of corporate data and satisfying regulatory compliance
requirements. ICT further facilitates e-Commerce by providing channels for ecommerce architectures such as Electronic data interchange (EDI) and Electronic
Funds transfer (EFT).

EDI

EDI involves the exchange of information from one company to another using a
computer network, such as the Internet. Electronic data interchange involves
computer-to-computer exchanges of invoices, orders, and other business documents
and therefore effects cost savings and improve efficiency because it minimizes the
errors that can occur if the same information has to be typed into computers more than
once. At the same time, EDI provides an easily accessible mechanism for companies
to buy, sell, and trade information. In the B2B market, major corporations have
embraced EDI systems, and in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency and
competitiveness. In the retail market, the use of EDI systems allows the retailer to
implement quick response strategies that can reduce the time they must hold
merchandise in inventory, which can result in substantial cost savings for the retailer.

EFT

EFT is a method of transferring funds automatically from one organisation or

individual to another by electronic means, such as electronic funds transfer at point
of sale (EFTPOS), which provides for the automatic transfer of money from buyer to
seller at the time of sale.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a software platform embedded with

best practices", providing the best ways to do the business based on common
business practices or academic theory [6]. The aim of an ERP is to improve the cooperation and interaction between all departments in organisations (such as product
15

planning, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and customer service department).

As an enabling key technology, as well as being an effective managerial tool, ERP
allow companies to integrate at all levels and to utilise important ERP applications
such as supply-chain management (SCM), accounting and financial management,
human resources management (HRM) and customer relationship management
(CRM). Such applications represent large, complex, computerised and integrated
information systems which can strongly influence long-term business success [7].
ERP packages evolved into their present form from the accounting tools that the large
corporations implemented for payroll processing in the 50's. Bernroider E, Tang N [7]
highlighted the fact that their functionality expanded into tracking stock levels, at first
for the purpose of financial controlling, and later covering the entire process of stock
management. Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) in the 70s automated the
production process, by scheduling operations and material purchasing based on the
forecasted and current requirements of finished goods, and the constraints of the
production facility. Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP-II) systems in the 80's
coordinated the entire process, from planning the purchase of materials and parts, as
well as requirements-based production capacity planning, to distribution. The term
ERP was first used by Gartner Group in the early 90's, and included multiple
applications that automated parts of business. [7]
B2C e-Commerce is the main area of interest in this project; it is mainly concerned
with the provision of uninterrupted access to an organizations goods and services to
consumers, with minimal or no geographical boundaries. This is traditionally
achieved by creating a virtual shop online; an example of such e-commerce
architecture would include components such as shopping carts, product catalogs,
order forms and payment mechanisms with relationships between these components.
[8]
The major benefit of e-Commerce systems to small businesses like Divine Foods is
that the costs of setting up a virtual business online is considerably low compared to
that required to set up a traditional physical business premise, (i.e. costs incurred from
rent, wages, daily operational costs etc.).

16

Having a virtual online shop considerably reduces the problems of geographical

barriers, creating access to a larger customer base for organizations as the online shop
will be available to internet users anywhere in the world (unless otherwise restricted
to a certain country or geographical area) as opposed to customers visiting the
business premises to make purchases.
Web applications provide business solutions that improve the quality of goods and
services, increase the speed of service delivery; an e-commerce system will reduce the
cost of DFs business operations as fewer staff will be needed to handle telephone
orders and carry out manual data input operations. However, many ventures into web
application development fail because the systems are very complex and the users
requirements are continuously changing.
A new changing trend in e-commerce is associated with utilization of the Internetrelated technology and software for improving communication, information sharing,
collaboration, and functionality of the Web, which is commonly defined as Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 means proliferation of connectivity and interactivity of web-delivered
content that allows users to besides obtaining information from a web site own the
data on the Internet, gain control over this data, and add value to the web site as they
use it. The key Web 2.0 applications and services include [9]
i.

Blog (web-log): a webpage consisting of brief user opinions, views, and

information, or links (also called posts), arranged chronologically within a
menu-driven format.

ii.

Wiki: a webpage or set of web pages that can be easily edited by anyone who
is allowed access. A well-known example is Wikipedia, the free Internet
encyclopedia.

iii.

Podcast: audio recordings, usually in MP3 format, of talks, interviews and

lectures, which can be played either on a desktop computer or on a wide range
of handheld MP3 devices.

iv.

Multimedia sharing: services that facilitate the storage and sharing of

multimedia content such as video (YouTube), photos (Flickr), and podcasts
(Odeo).

17

v.

Social

networking:

professional

and

social

networking

sites

like

facebook.com and myspace. com that facilitate meeting people, finding like
minds, and sharing content.
vi.

RSS: a family of formats which allow users to find out about updates to the
content of RSS-enabled websites, blogs or podcasts without actually having to
go and visit the site. Information from the website (typically, a new storys
title and synopsis, along with the originating websites name) is collected
within a feed (which uses the RSS format) and piped to the user in a process
known as syndication.

e-Commerce Systems: Case Studies

ASDA

ASDA is a part of the Wal-Mart group. ASDA were initially reluctant to invest
heavily into e-Commerce and online food delivery in the UK, but soon realised the
world is increasingly turning into a digital age and application of interactive web
solutions to their business choices were essential to maintaining a competitive edge.
[10] Since adopting e-commerce systems, especially between 2007 and 2008 ASDA
Grocery business grew from 180m to 300m, and Ecommerce and online home
shopping played a big part in this growth. [10] Technology deployed by the company
enabled customers to change the way they shop for example; ASDA took advantage
of emerging e-commerce techniques in improving tesco.com usability issues, this
enabled customers to cut online shopping time from an average of 1 hour to 30
minutes. [11] ASDA have used an online website to provide over 3 million homes
with over 600 general merchandise products. [10]
Ecommerce continues to be the fastest growing area of the ASDA business and the
firm is said it had invested more than 7m on e-commerce operations recently. The
benefits of such investment in e-Commerce became evident when roughly one-third
of UK households instantly had access to its online shopping service as a result. As a
result of ASDAs investment in e-Commerce, customer satisfaction scores have taken
a big leap and customer retention rates have also made big steps forward. [70]

18

Tesco

Tesco is regarded as UKs major online retailer. [11] In what the company called
"another excellent year" for its online food business, Tesco.com profits hit 124
million in the year to 23 February after improved order picking systems led to more
efficiency. Sales jumped 36 percent to 1.6 billion.
Tesco has invested heavily in IT and e-commerce over the years and this has played a
strong role in improving sales, the supply chain, and efficiency across the company.
The company has an in-house designed supply chain application, running on IBM
system p servers based on Unix.
In a year where profits rose 11 percent to 2.8 billion, chief executive Terry Leahy
thanked the breadth of the group and the strength of our business model for
delivering strong results. [12] The company's online sales grew across all its
divisions. Tesco, which serves over two-thirds of the online grocery market,
registered its one millionth web customer, a 20% increase on the previous year.
The company's two-year old warehouse in Croydon, which serves south-east London
customers only and is the first dedicated online hub, became profitable in 2008. The
warehouse handles orders with a value of over 1 million per week. [12]
Sales in non-food business Tesco Direct increased to 180 million from a virtual
standing start. The business, which is part of Tesco's general merchandise division
and has 11,000 items for sale online, had start-up costs and initial operating losses
totalling around 25m this year. Tesco said it is aiming to absorb these losses. [12]

19

e-Commerce Success and Failure

The Internet has completely changed the way most businesses operate. E-commerce
uses inter-networked computers to create and transform business relationships. Web
applications provide business solutions that improve the quality of goods and services,
increase the speed of service delivery, and reduce the cost of business operations.
However, many ventures into web application development fail because the systems
are very complex and the user requirements are continuously hanging. Inefficient
communication between the end user and the developer is another contributing factor.
To successfully accomplish the development of a web application, one needs to
visually model the system s architecture. A visual model helps in coherently grasping
the changing user requirements and effectively communicates them to the
development team. Requirements analysis along with abstraction (i.e.,removing
unnecessary details) are critical factors in web application development. [13] It is
easier and more cost effective to correct an error at the requirement or design stage
than at the implementation or maintenance stage. Further, formal (i.e. rigorous)
specification provides unambiguous, precise and correct understanding of the user s
requirements.

Requirements of an e-commerce system

There are some requirements that have to be met by any solution that offers to deliver
e-commerce functionalities, some of these which are specific to DFs e-commerce
system are outlined in:
i.

Security. The database system has to be secure to prevent unauthorized

access, theft and/or disruption to data and services held and offered by the
system.

ii.

Scalability. The system will begin offering its service to a small number of
users but must be capable of being upgraded to a serve larger number of users
and process more transactions.

iii.

Robustness. The system should be able to operate and handle various types of
data needed to function properly.

20

iv.

Extensibility. The system should be able to increase the number of services

without disrupting the rest of the services offered.

v.

Traceability. The system should provide on request, details of when and

where and transaction took place (i.e order history).

vi.

Integrity of information. The data contained in the database system must be

preserved against malicious or unintentional attacks. Data held must not be
redundant.

vii.

Flexibility. The system should be able to adapt to the ever-changing

requirements of a dynamic environment.

e-Commerce Advantages and Disavdantages

Advantages

The potential benefits of e-commerce are enormous. For the consumer Cyberspace
provides an environment of near perfect competition in which prices from many
suppliers can be compared within seconds; sites such as Dealtime.com and
comparthemarket.com enable consumers to find the best online deal for whatever they
want - free of charge. For the elderly, disabled or those simply short of time, goods
may be ordered online and delivered to their doorstep. The majority of e-commerce
models employ a real world shopping metaphor complete with shopping trolley and
checkout for ease of use even by the regular everyday internet users.
Cyberspace means businesses are no longer limited to a specific geographical
location; they have a potential worldwide audience, this has in turn led to value
creation.
As previously mentioned, the main reason for the growth and proliferation of ecommerce (pervasiveness and inexorability) is its ability to create value for an
organization that implemented the e-commerce solutions, for the customers of this
organization, and for its partners and suppliers. Value creation represents the
potential or expected and actual monetary and non-monetary results of utilizing an ecommerce business model. The main monetary results of value creation include
21

revenue enhancement through sales growth and price differentiation, and cost
reduction related to cost of goods sold, operating costs saved as a result of the system,
and asset intensity reduction
Revenue enhancement is the first aspect of value creation. E-commerce develops a
new online channel for selling a companys products and services along with existing
traditional channels. This potentially generates additional sales volume through this
channel, and, at the same time, can facilitate product sales through the existing
channels. For example, this is shown by ASDA and Tescos use of their existing
shops to act as processing centres for online food orders as opposed to developing a
separate warehouse for dealing with online orders. [10,11,12]
The revenue increase may be also associated with the ability to quickly adjust prices
depending on customer segments (for example, repeat customers will pay a higher
price than new customers will or prices of products expiring soon could be reduced
instead of

disposing the products) or by increasing prices through building the

companys brand name recognition on the Internet. In addition, e-commerce can

enable quick matching of customer demand with existing supply of products, and,
thus, provide better knowledge of what prices need to be established and promoted.
Besides the opportunity of increased revenue, e-commerce is also an important source
of cost reduction. This is the second aspect of value creation through e-commerce.
The cost of goods sold through online web sites may be reduced by providing a direct
selling channel to the customers and reducing the need for intermediaries like
wholesalers and retailers. The cost of staff wages for paying staff to deal with
telephone orders or manual entering and processing orders can be severely reduced by
an e-commerce system. E-Commerce creates opportunities for asset intensity
reduction, which means (a) reducing capital costs by effective, speedy disposition
(selling) of unnecessary or old equipment as well as excess or obsolete inventory, and
(b) more effectively using existing space by reducing inventory clutters with ecommerce.
Disadvantages

Some products cannot be represented in Cyberspace as effectively as others. Books,

CDs and software sell well across the internet because the customer has a clear idea of
what he is getting. Goods such as clothes and audio equipment fare less well because
22

consumers like to experience them (by trying them on or listening to them) before
buying.
Legislation Dilemma: Electronic transactions separate e-business from traditional
types of businesses. When a transaction takes place, who has jurisdiction? Who has
the authority to apply law over the transaction?
For example, UK e-Commerce legislature requires organisations to comply with the
laws of every other country they provide services to. A little legislation can go a long
way toward helping parties to establish better boundaries to work within. When a
transaction that takes place between two different parties located in two different
countries goes wrong then a number of complex questions arise.

E-Commerce System Security

Risk Analysis

E-commerce system is an electronic system that automates the exchange of goods and
services over the Internet in a secure environment. E-commerce systems security is
more exacting for reasons of necessity to connection of internal and external
processes. Creating an infrastructure to protect a company, its trading partners, and its
customers is crucial if businesses are realized the full potential of the Internet. As
questions can be introduced for example what components are most critical but
vulnerable, what information is confidential and needs to be protected, how will
confidentiality be ensured, what authentication system should be used, what intrusion
detection systems should be installed, who has authority and responsibility for
installing and configuring critical e-business infrastructure, what plans need to be in
place to ensure continuity or minimum disruption of service etc. [14]
Due to the anonymous nature of the internet, E-Commerce raises concerns on issues
such as trust, security and privacy.
Types of e-commerce system attack

Below are a few types of attacks aimed at e-commerce systems.

i.

Background attacks: hacker changes background of e-shop web sites.

ii.

SQL Injection: is subset of the unverified/unauthorized user input

vulnerability and the idea is to convince the application to run SQL code that
23

was not intended. Hacker can gain access to protected data, users accounts,
delete data in tables etc. SQL injection is the name given to a vulnerability
caused by poor input validation in an application. It's a serious vulnerability,
which can lead to a high level of compromise - usually the ability to run any
database query.
iii.

Admin Control Panel Vulnerabilities: The merchant's Control Panel on a

shopping cart is possibly a weakness in an e-commerce system. It's often
assumed that users will behave, and it's often possible for a user of a control
panel to elevate their privileges.

iv.

Weak Login Forms Vulnerability: Most shopping carts have two login pages,
one for customers, and one for merchants. Either of these secured areas may
be accessed by an account with a weak login combination. An attacker can
perform a brute force attack via the login form, using a proxy or a script on a
shared server to mask their identity.

v.

Price Manipulation: this occurs when hackers are able to change prices on the
website. Internet traders sometimes must find a balance between ease-of-use
for the customer, and security restrictions at the point of purchase. Payment
solutions and shopping carts offer various security features, but often they
prove too inflexible and the extra security is not enabled. If a customer does
manage to alter the price of an order, or mark an unpaid order as paid, it might
go undetected by the website software.

vi.

Buffer overflows: is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to store

data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer. The result is that the extra
data overwrites adjacent memory locations.

vii.

Data Leakage Vulnerability: Database-driven websites are very common, and

the parameters of a database query can often be seen in the URL of web
pages.When information is passed in the URL in this way, a malicious user
can iterate through the sequence and extract information that's held in the
website database.

viii.

Denial of Service Attack: It's hard to control access to a public web server.
Although it's possible to try and control access by IP address, in practice a
24

malicious user can connect via almost unlimited free dial-up accounts,
originating from their country of choice. An e-commerce website may have
performance-intensive pages. Repeated, high-frequency requests to such pages
may cause such a strain on the web server as to severely disrupt normal
service for other users. This is a Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.
ix.

Spam Relaying and Harvesting: Contact forms sometimes contain the email
address of the recipient for the email, and this can be modified in the browser,
in order to relay spam or anonymous mail, or to "bomb" mailboxes by
overloading their capacity.

x.

Cross-site scripting: (XSS) occurs when an attacker introduces malicious

scripts to a dynamic form that allows the attacker to capture the private session
information.

xi.

Remote command execution: command execution refers to attackers

attempting to use an existing website to execute OS commands on a web
server. By inserting system level commands into an HTTP request to the target
web server, users may be able to execute system level commands, create
system faults, or steal sensitive information from your system, if security holes
exist.

xii.

Weak Authentication and Authorization: hackers are able to gain access to

information system and read, rewrite or delete data.

i.

Viruses: hacker sends viruses to corrupt business data.

ii.

Spamming: is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately

send unsolicited bulk messages.

Despite these threats posed to e-Commerce applications, there are several methods
and technologies to help server, network administrators and web developers to protect
systems against any of the attacks mentioned above.

Securing E-Commerce Systems

25

Given the possible threats to e-Commerce system, there have been recent security
developments to combat and eradicate such threats. Some of the protection measures
include and are not limited to:

i.

Regular Data Backup: regular data backup is an important condition of any

efficient and safe information system. In the event of an attack, files backed up
and stored off-site can be re-instated, preventing the organisation from losing
its entire data. Data backup have to be realized so that all data have to be
renewable from backup.

ii.

Use of Antivirus and anti-spyware protection: Customers should be

encouraged to use antivirus and anti-spyware protection on their individual
computers and servers.

iii.

User training: User training is a vital security measure as it enhances user

knowledge and responsibility.

iv.

Use of Encryption: Encryption techniques should be used to protect sensitive

information such as user passwords. E-commerce currently offers secure
server and encryption technology as a solution to the security risks associated
with transmitting data through Cyberspace. Encryption is a representation of
information in a form such that only the sender and intended recipient can
interpret it. The commonly used public key encryption involves two keys for
each user; a public one, made freely available, and a private one known only
to the user. Sensitive information (e.g. a credit card number) is encoded using
the intended recipient's public key before transmission, even if intercepted by
a hacker it is thus useless without the corresponding private key. [15]

Legal and Ethical Issues involved in e-Commerce

A recent survey reported that there are approximately 100 countries now enjoy
internet access, 20 million Internet hosts worldwide and over 1.8 billion internet users
[16]. Due to the ever increasing internet population and the anonymity of online
users; certain regulatory and legal issues have to be adhered to in order to develop
26

efficient e-commerce systems. As a result, strategies must be implemented that

conform to e-commerce rules and regulations. Questions arising form development of
e-Commerce systems include and are no limited to: How does copyright apply to
digital content? How can national e-Commerce laws apply to activities in cyberspace?
How to ensure privacy and data protection exist on the Web?
E-commerce presents a world of opportunity for doing businesses, reaching global
markets and purchasing without leaving the home or office. E-commerce can provide
opportunities to improve business processes, just as phones, faxes and mobile
communications have in the past. However, just as any new business tool has
associated issues and risks so does e-commerce.
The issue of law on the Internet is a complex one. Between the two all-or-nothing
extremes lies a broad spectrum of possibilities [17]. Many people revel in the freedom
to express themselves and the freedom from prohibitions such as zoning restrictions
that the Internet apparently affords. Without law, however, the Internet would be no
place to conduct business. Laws give people certainties about their rights and
responsibilities: they make life more predictable. According to Thomas Vartanian,
"Without predictability, business will not be able to act efficiently, or price services
effectively," [18].
Electronic Transactions

Some federal, state and territory governments encourage the adoption of electronic
commerce by enacting and enabling legalisation. In the UK many bills and acts have
been passed to resolve legal issues and make electronic transaction more
authenticated, such as The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002
[19]. The Directive was introduced to clarify and harmonise the rules of on-line
business throughout Europe with the aim of boosting consumer confidence. The EC
Directive enables contractual dealings, such as offers, acceptances and invitations, to
be conducted electronically, also allowing people to use an electronic signature to
satisfy any legal requirement.
This directive has as expected boosted electronic commerce as an effective tool for
businesses to increase their efficiency. This has reduced administrative duties, storage

27

and operational costs for businesses. In McGinty's words," This is why it is crucial
that we ensure the legal infrastructure around cyberspace is beyond doubt" [18].
Under the e-commerce directive, Organisations have the responsibility to deal with
some of the legal issues such as how to form contracts, abide by consumer protection
laws, create privacy policies and protect databases. At the moment, there are no
comprehensive set of laws or regulations that exist on an international level electronic
commerce. [19] This is mainly due to the difficulty in establishing uniform worldwide
laws for e-commerce, as different countries have different legislation; what is
considered illegal in UK might not be so in India hence the need for some legislation
within individual countries.
Since this system development is an E-commerce system which involves sales of
products via the internet, the website must ensure its in compliance with the EC
Directive. Because the trader and customer are not face to face at any point, with
business conducted remotely, regardless of location, the website must ensure that
online contracts can be completed and are legally binding. The e-commerce website
Privacy & Security

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 apply to unsolicited

electronic marketing messages sent by telephone, fax, email or text. The Privacy and
Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (the regulations) give rules that
govern electronic marketing .
This legislature sets the standards for email marketing. The e-commerce system
should make provisions for subscribers to opt out of direct marketing emails.
Individual and corporate subscribers can register their objection to receiving
unsolicited direct marketing faxes by registering their number with the Fax Preference
Service.
Unsolicited marketing material by electronic mail (this includes texts, picture
messages and emails) should only be sent if the person has chosen to receive them,
unless the email address was obtained as a result of a commercial relationship. The
individual should always be given the opportunity to stop receiving the emails. [20]

28

The e-commerce system must also ensure the safety and security of a customer's
personal information. The e-commerce system should provide the customers with
information regarding the use of their personal information, and incorporate security
procedures to limit access to customer information by unauthorised parties. Privacy
policies and procedures should be clearly explained to customers. Customer data must
be collected, stored and manipulated in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998
[21]
Copyright & Trademark

A trademark can be owned by an individual, a company, or any sort of legal entity.

When someone else tries to use that trademark (e.g., your distinctive name or logo)
without authorisation, it could be considered an illegal dilution of the distinctive
trademark. If someone uses a trademark in such a way as to dilute the distinctive
quality of the mark or trade on the owner's reputation, the trademark owner may seek
damages.
A number of important recent developments have occurred in the field of copyright
and related issues that have far-reaching implications for the industry, and are being
addressed in legislatures, judiciaries and international forums. During the last couple
of years, new laws have passed in some countries to ensure effective protection and
enforcement of rights in the digital era. Such example is the UK copyright law which
was amended in November, 2009 to include web and digital content. [22]

Conforming to e-Commerce Legal and Ethical Issues
The E-commerce Regulations identify specific information about businesses that must
be provided to recipients of online services, and set down guidelines regarding
advertising and promotions. All these information must be on the website
Contracting online

Since all the contracts are online by electronic means, customers should be able to
print and store a copy of the terms and conditions.
All technical steps required to conclude the contract, e.g. ethical methods such as
'click this box', opt in or out, organisations terms and conditions, etc.
29

The website must be able to conclude contracts online and customers must be
informed whether an order can be met or not. Customers should be able to go back
and correct any mistakes made in their order before the order is placed.
Once a customer has placed an order electronically, their orders must be
acknowledged with a receipt.

Advertising

Or the system concerned advertising is a major form of revenue, therefore there are
advertising regulations (usually set by OFCOM in the UK) which will affect the
system in design. Commercial adverts must clearly identify the person on whose
behalf the marketing communication is sent, together with any promotional offer.
The Regulations also cover "unsolicited commercial communications", commonly
referred to as spam. They require that these communications are identifiable from the
subject line of the email, without the need to read the rest of the message. SMS
messages are not covered for these
Compliance with the Data protection Act

The proposed system will allow users register and log-on to the website. The personal
information collected during registration must be secure and in compliance with the
Data protection Act of 1998. i.e. Personal data held must be accurate and not held for
longer than its required.
Distance Selling Regulations

The Distance Selling Regulations are designed to protect customers who are not
physically present with the seller at the time of purchase. They cover purchases made
via email and the internet, together with telephone and mail order.
Under the Regulations, customers of the proposed system will have the right to have:

details in writing about the supplier and the terms of the transaction

written confirmation of their orders

further information, including a notice of cancellation rights, the complaints

procedure, after-sales services and guarantees

delivery within 30 days unless otherwise agreed

30

Consumers will have a cooling-off period of seven working days in which to cancel
the contract, starting from when the goods are received, without having to give a
reason. If no details of the cooling-off period have been given by the supplier to the
consumer, it is extended to three months.
The right to withdraw can be exercised by the consumer even after the goods have
been delivered, or the services have been provided. The consumer is entitled to
receive a full refund for a cancelled contract within 30 days.

To comply with the general information requirements of the E-commerce

Regulations, this system must:

Display the business' name, geographic address and other contact details
including your email address

Display details of any publicly available register in which you are entered,
together with your registration number or equivalent

Display the particulars of the supervisory body if the service is subject to an

authorisation scheme

Display details of any professional body with which you are registered

Display VAT registration number

All prices must be clear and indicate whether they include tax and delivery costs. The
website must alo have a 'Legal info' page of the site where the T&Cs of the company
can be found.

E-Commerce Marketing Strategies

The following marketing strategies will enable the proposed system grow growing by
delivering compelling, effective B2C marketing campaigns that connect, motivate and
drive consumers to act.

Internet Marketing
Helps in developing a direct contact between the consumer and business house and
also allows the business to advertise and sell their products and services in an ease
way. The B2C campaigns employ strategies and tactics such as targeted offers and
31

coupons; limited time deals, discounts, and/or vouchers to mobilize target markets to
buy, both online and offline. The system will recognize the importance of customer
loyalty and combine merchandising and education to keep customers coming back
using newsletters, web 2.0 techniques in the form of recipe blogs .
Branding

Giving the proposed system a unique identity amidst all the competition in the market
is tough. Heres where branding can help; personifying the business by leveraging on
brand awareness to build stronger relationships with customers. Ideally, the brand
should influence every aspect of the business operation because the successful brands
of today will be those capable of producing customer-centric business models
consistently.

32

Literature Review Conclusion

E-commerce has become a significant element in the modern global economic

environment. It represents the use of a computer network, primarily the Internet, to
buy and sell products, services, information, and communication. E-commerce is also
an application of technology using the Internet. In addition, it is a tool for increasing
efficiency and lowering costs in organizations.
Having reviewed the types of e-commerce system, their architecture, advantages,
disadvantages, legal and ethical issues, the next section of this report investigates the
research methods to be used in requirements gathering for the development of the
proposed DFs system.

33

Research methodology
A research methodology is needed for requirements gathering on the proposed
system. In order to fully understand the end-user requirements, which will be the basis
of the system design and implementation; a suitable research methodology and system
analysis method must be employed. This section of the report will critically evaluate
the current research methods in use and select the best method most suited for this
project. There are three basic research paradigms -- positivism (quantitative, scientific
approach), interpretivism, and critical science [23]

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research explores attitudes, behaviour and experiences through such

methods as interviews or focus groups. It attempts to get an in-depth opinion from
participants. As it is attitudes, behaviour and experiences which are important, fewer
people take part in the research, but the contact with these people tends to last a lot
longer. Under the umbrella of qualitative research there are many different
methodologies. [25]
Unlike quantitative research, there is no overarching framework for how qualitative
research should be conducted; rather each type of qualitative research is guided by
particular philosophical stances that are taken in relation by the research to each
phenomenon (O'Brien, n. d.). [24]
Qualitative research is a type of scientific research. In general terms, scientific
research consists of an investigation that:
i.

seeks answers to a question

ii.

Systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the

question

iii.

collects evidence

iv.

produces findings that were not determined in advance

v.

produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries

of the study

34

Qualitative research shares these characteristics. Additionally, it seeks to understand a

given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it
involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific
information about the values, opinions, behaviours, and social contexts of particular
populations.
There are three main methods of data collection:

Interactive interviewing
Written descriptions by participants
Observation

People asked to verbally described their

experiences of phenomenon.
People asked to write descriptions of their
experiences of phenomenon.
Descriptive observations of verbal and
non-verbal behavior.

Analysis begins when the data is first collected and is used to guide decisions related
to further data collection.

Quantitative research

This type of research typically includes customer surveys and questionnaires. These
can be conducted face-to-face with a clipboard and pen, over the telephone, via post
or email, online. Survey questions are usually carefully considered so that the results
will provide meaningful data (which is not usually the case).
Features of Qualitative and Quantitative research methodologies
James Neil, [26] discussed the features and comparisons of both methods of research
as shown below;

Qualitative

Quantitative
The aim is to classify features, count

The aim is a complete, detailed them,

description.

and

construct

statistical

models in an attempt to explain

what is observed.
35

Researcher may only know roughly

in advance what he/she is looking
for.

Researcher

knows

clearly

in

advance what he/she is looking for.

Recommended during earlier phases Recommended during latter phases

of research projects.

of research projects.

The design emerges as the study All aspects of the study are carefully
unfolds.

designed before data is collected.

Researcher is the data gathering

instrument.

Researcher uses tools, such as

questionnaires

or

equipment

to

collect numerical data.

Data is in the form of words, Data is in the form of numbers and

pictures or objects.
Subjective

statistics.

individuals Objective

seeks

precise

interpretation of events is important measurement & analysis of target

,e.g., uses participant observation, concepts,
in-depth interviews etc.

e.g.,

uses

surveys,

questionnaires etc.

Qualitative data is more 'rich', time Quantitative data is more efficient,

consuming, and less able to be able to test hypotheses, but may
generalized.
Researcher

miss contextual detail.

tends

to

become Researcher

subjectively immersed in the subject objectively

matter.

tends
separated

to

remain
from

the

subject matter.

Critical science, or the critical approach, explores the social world, critiques it, and
seeks to empower the individual to overcome problems in the social world. Critical
science enables people to understand how society functions and methods by which
unsatisfactory aspects can be changed. [27]

36

Chosen Research Method and Justification

The chosen research methodology for the proposed DFs e-Commerce system is the
qualitative method; it is the most complete research methodology for the proposed
system, as the requirement specification needs to be generated from qualitative data; a
view ascertained by Donald Campbell All research ultimately has a qualitative
grounding"

and Fred Kerlinger "There's no such thing as qualitative data.

Everything is either 1 or 0" [28]

Qualitative methods are typically more flexible; allowing greater spontaneity and
adaptation of the interaction between the researcher and the study participant. For
example, qualitative methods ask mostly open-ended questions that are not
necessarily worded in exactly the same way with each participant. With open-ended
questions, participants are free to respond in their own words; with DFs system, these
questions will be well structured with responses simply yes or no.. Such method
of using questions with abstract answers will eliminate ambiguous responses, which
may have led to poor system requirement specification. In addition, with qualitative
methods, the relationship between the researcher and the participant is often less
formal than in quantitative research. Participants have the opportunity to respond
more elaborately and in greater detail than is typically the case with quantitative
methods. In turn, researchers have the opportunity to respond immediately to what
participants say by tailoring subsequent questions to information the participant has
provided. [29]
Qualitative research methods generate statistics from target audience, usually a small
number of system end-users. This method is more suited to the proposed system as it
will target the customers and staff of DFs as opposed to collecting random
information for system requirements analysis from users of other e-Commerce
systems. Quantitative research not suited for this project as it generates statistics
through the use of large-scale survey research, using methods such as questionnaires
or structured interviews. This could include stopping individuals on the streets, or
sending questionnaires by post. Though this type of research reaches many more
people, the results will be a set of conflicting and/or redundant data.

37

The methods that will be employed in the requirements gathering for DFs system
include;
i.

Participant observation is appropriate for collecting data on naturally

occurring behaviors in their usual contexts.

ii.

Daily business operations and data structures will be observed.

iii.

In-depth interviews are optimal for collecting data on individuals personal

histories, perspectives. These interviews will be conducted with the owner,
staffs and selected customers of DFs. The strength of qualitative research is its
ability to provide complex textual descriptions from interviews an
questionnaires of how people experience a given research issue. It provides
information about the human side of an issue that is, the often
contradictory behaviours, beliefs, opinions, emotions, and relationships of
individuals. Qualitative methods are also effective in identifying intangible
factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicity,
and religion.

38

Systems Development Life Cycle

The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a systematic approach for
application development or system development. SDLC is the process of building the
system that result in a high quality, cost-effective, within time and efficient
application that is cheap to maintain, easy to enhance and that can work effectively.
[30] It is divided in several phases and each phase comprised of multiple steps, and
they are as follows:

It is a conceptual model used in project management that

describes the stages involved in an information system development project from an

initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Various
SDLC methodologies have been developed to guide the processes involved including
the waterfall model (the original SDLC method), rapid application development
(RAD), joint application development (JAD), the fountain model and the spiral
model.

SPIRAL LIFECYCLE

The spiral model starts with an initial pass through a standard waterfall lifecycle,
using a subset of the total requirements to develop a robust prototype. After an
evaluation period, the cycle is initiated again, adding new functionality and releasing
the next prototype. This process continues, with the prototype becoming larger and
larger with each iteration. Hence, the spiral.
The theory is that the set of requirements is hierarchical in nature, with additional
functionality building on the first efforts. This is a sound practice for systems where
the entire problem is well defined from the start, such as modeling and simulating
39

software. Business-oriented database projects do not enjoy this advantage. Most of the
functions in a database solution are essentially
independent of one another, although they may make use of common data. As a
result, the prototype suffers from the same flaws as the prototyping lifecycle
described below. For this reason, the spiral lifecycle is not considered for this
database project.
Spiral Model Strengths
Provides early indication of insurmountable risks, without much cost. Users see the
system early because of rapid prototyping tools, critical high-risk functions are
developed first. The design does not have to be perfect, users can be closely tied to all
lifecycle steps early and frequent feedback from users. cumulative costs assessed
frequently
Spiral Model Weaknesses
Time spent for evaluating risks too large for small or low-risk Projects. Time spent
planning, resetting objectives, doing risk analysis and prototyping may be excessive.
The model is complex, risk assessment expertise is required, spiral may continue
indefinitely. Developers must be reassigned during non-development phase activities.
May be hard to define objective, verifiable milestones that indicate readiness to
proceed through the next iteration
RAPID APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT (RAD) / PROTOTYPING LIFECYCLE

RAD is, in essence, the try before you buy approach to software development. The
theory is that end users can produce better feedback when examining a live system, as
opposed to working strictly with documentation. RAD-based development cycles
have resulted in a lower level of rejection when the application is placed into
production, but this success most often comes at the expense of a dramatic overruns in
project costs and schedule. The RAD approach was made possible with significant
advances in software development environments to allow rapid generation and change
of screens and other user interface features. The end user is allowed to work with the
screens online, as if in a production environment. This leaves little to the imagination,
and a significant number of errors are caught using this process. For this reason a pure
40

RAD approach will not be used on this project, but instead a blend limited
prototyping will me mixed with requirements and design development during a
conventional waterfall lifecycle (an example will be the web site story board which
will be modelled in PowerPoint).
RAD Strengths
Reduced cycle time and improved productivity with fewer people means lower costs.
Time-box approach mitigates cost and schedule risk. Customer involved throughout
the complete cycle minimizes risk of not achieving customer satisfaction and business
needs. Focus moves from documentation to code (WYSIWYG). Uses modelling
concepts to capture information about business, data, and processes.
RAD Weaknesses
Accelerated development process must give quick responses to the user. Risk of never
achieving closure, hard to use with legacy systems. Requires a system that can be
modularized, developers and customers must be committed to rapid-fire activities in
an abbreviated time frame.

V-Shaped SDLC

A variant of the Waterfall that emphasizes the verification and validation of the
product. Testing of the product is planned in parallel with a corresponding phase of
development.

41

V-Shaped Strengths
Emphasize planning for verification and validation of the product in early stages of
product development. Each deliverable must be testable, project management can
track progress by milestones. Easy to use
V-Shaped Weaknesses
Does not easily handle concurrent events, does not handle iterations or phases, does
not easily handle dynamic changes in requirements, does not contain risk analysis
activities
Chosen SDLC Method: The Waterfall Model

The oldest model, that was originally regarded as "the Systems Development Life
Cycle" is the waterfall model; a sequence of stages in which the output of each stage
becomes the input for the next.
These stages generally follow the same basic steps but many different waterfall
methodologies give the steps different names and the numbers of steps seem to vary
depending on the system involved. The image below is the classic Waterfall model
methodology which will be used in the development of Divine Foods System; the
image illustrates the various phases involved in development life cycle.

42

Waterfall Strengths
Easy to understand, easy to use
Provides structure to inexperienced staff
Milestones are well understood
Sets requirements stability
Good for management control (plan, staff, track)
Works well when quality is more important than cost or Schedule

Work breakdown structure

The reasons for the selection of the waterfall SDLC is justified in this section. The
work breakdown structure of proposed system fits perfectly into this design method,
this is elaborated below.
Feasibility
A feasibility study will be carried out to determine if the project can be undertaken
and delivered, this study also evaluates the methods of implementation to ensure there
are adequate resources to develop the Divine Foods System. This study determines if
the project gets the go-ahead from the stakeholders. If the project is to proceed, the
feasibility study will produce a project plan for the future stages of development.
Requirement Analysis and Design
The goal of systems analysis is to gather relevant information on the proposed system,
users products and services and determine the problem(s) with the current operational
methods and attempt to fix the highlighted problems. This step involves breaking
down the system in different pieces and using diagrams such as DFDs and Use-case
diagrams to analyze the situation, analyzing project goals, breaking down what needs
to be created and attempting to engage users so that definite requirements can be
defined.

43

Analysis gathers the requirements for the system. This stage includes a detailed study
of the business needs of the organization. Options for changing the business process
may be considered. Design focuses on high level design like, what programs are
needed and how are they going to interact, low-level design (how the individual
programs are going to work), interface design (what are the interfaces going to look
like) and data design (what data will be required). During these phases, the software's
overall structure is defined. Analysis and Design are very crucial in the whole
development cycle. Much care is taken during this phase. The logical system of the
product is developed in this phase.
In systems design section of DFs e-commerce system, and operations are described in
detail, including screen layouts, process diagrams (UML activity diagrams, UML
class diagram, DFD, ERD) and other documentation.
The design stage takes as its initial input the requirements identified in the approved
requirements document. For each requirement, a set of one or more design elements
will be produced as a result of interviews, workshops, and/or prototype efforts.
Design elements describe the desired software features in detail, and generally include
functional hierarchy diagrams, screen layout diagrams, tables of business rules,
business process diagrams, pseudocode, and a complete entity-relationship diagram
with a full data dictionary. These design elements are intended to describe the
software in sufficient detail that skilled programmers may develop the software with
minimal additional input.
Implementation
In this phase the designs are translated into code. The system will be developed
according to the pre-determined functions and designs. The database will be
developed and website created using different high level programming languages like
MySQL, PHP.

Testing
In this phase the system is tested. This stage of the development life cycle will run
almost concurrently with the system implementation. Components of the system (i.e
database and website links) will be tested as they are created. At the end of the
44

project, the overall DFs system will be tested to ensure that interfaces between
modules work (integration testing), the system works on the intended platform and
with the expected volume of data (volume testing) and that the system does what the
user requires (acceptance/beta testing).
Maintenance
Inevitably the system will need maintenance. Software will definitely undergo change
once it is delivered to the customer. There are many reasons for the change. Change
could happen because of some unexpected input values into the system. A good ecommerce system should be able to accommodate changes that could happen during
the post implementation period. The possible further development options will be
discussed in the Evaluation section of this report.

45

System Development Life Cycle flowchart for Divine Foods

46

Chapter 3: Requirement Analysis

Background on DFs

Divine Foods is a family run food manufacturing company based in South East
London. It was established as a petty African food producer five years ago by Mrs.
Rachel Davidson who acts as the manager; all processes and operations were carried
out in a London residential area. The main purpose of this organisation is the
production, sales and distribution of traditional African foods although a few other
categories of products have been added to their range.
Over the years the company has expanded reasonably and is still growing
exponentially with customers now scattered across the UK; the acquisition of several
new customers meant the business needed its own premises. As a result, a commercial
property was purchased two years ago where all food production, cash transactions,
administrative duties and all other operations are accomplished. The manager
currently has six fulltime and several part-time employees who assist with the day to
day running of the business; she is also assisted in food preparation by two of her
daughters.
This local company now operates both on a Business-to-Business (B2B) and
Business-to-Customer (B2C) basis where other businesses can make wholesale
purchases and private customers can place individual orders.

47

Review of company current systems of business operations

DFs operate in an agile market characterized by high variety and low volume
production systems. Their customers orders vary and it is understood that no one
order is ever the same, this implies that their customers require a high level of
customization and flexibility. In order keep up with customer requests, DFs has to
react with speed and agility to customer order demands.
After a several formal interviews with relevant personnel (both key users and other
administrative staff) it was observed that this company operates on an entirely manual
filed-based system; this is a very strenuous method of operation as records of
transactions with suppliers, product information, customer and order details are
manually stored, making retrieval of information very difficult. There are no
automatic processes or procedures, no ordering, e-commerce, accounting or payroll
system. Poor computer skills amongst staff, opposition to change and disinclination to
learn new procedures were cited as the main reasons why the management has been
reluctant to change or upgrade the current system. Current staffs have basic
understanding of the internet and some Microsoft office packages (e.g. Ms Word).
Divine Foods have several suppliers in Africa, Europe and America who provide the
resources needed for food manufacturing. Orders are placed on monthly basis
although the frequency of order changes depending on customer demand. When
orders are delivered, product manufacturing (or simply food production) is carried out
on large scale basis according their existing product stock-list. All products are
manufactured from raw materials purchased from suppliers in compliance with the
Food Standards Agency (FSA) standards which include the display of allergy and
nutritional contents on product packaging. [31] Manufactured products are preserved
for sale to customers. Product information including date of manufacture, use by date,
quantity in stock, ingredients, recommended serving methods, etc are manually
entered and stored in the product folder for future reference.
Orders are taken from customers over the phone or in store. Orders made in-stored are
picked up by customers, sometimes instantly if the orders can be met. Telephone
orders are becoming more popular with customers who order in bulk as transportation
of large quantities of products purchased in-store can be inconvenient since most
48

products are perishable. When telephone orders are received an employee refers to the
product folder for information on the ordered product; if the product(s) are in stock
and the order can be met, then the customer is contacted and a delivery date is agreed
upon. The order details which include delivery address, customer name, product
details, delivery date etc are then entered and stored in the order folder. Payment is
taken by the deliveryman on delivery, then an invoice and/or receipt is issued.

Once an individual or a business places an order they are given the option of being
registered as a customer where details such as customer name, address, telephone
number, etc are collected and stored in the customer folder. Registered customers who
regularly place orders are offered discounts and several incentives on sometimes
monthly basis.

49

Problem identification

The incessant growth of Divine Foods has brought on many problems; particularly
since they operate on a manual file-based system. The workloads on the owner and
employees have increased tremendously in the last year; customers are usually left
waiting for orders due to delays in order processing and payment arrangements.
Sometimes orders have to be declined as the company cannot guarantee they can meet
these orders, with administrative duties taking the most of staff time. The manual data
entry method has in the past, resulted in drastic loss in revenue from product sale; in
some errors arising from manual data entry have led to delays and cancellation of
orders as DFs could either not retrieve the customer and/or order information. In other
cases orders have had to be declined as the company cannot guarantee they can meet
these orders; due to the quantity of orders to be processed, shortage of staff and the
costs of hiring more staff.
A lot of employee time that should be spent on product optimisation or marketing
strategies are usually exerted on administrative duties; most times employees
physically go through the store-room or through incomprehensible product stock
folders to check for available product stock, due to the absence of a system to monitor
product inventory levels.
Since all records are currently held on a manual filing system, processes are carried
out manually i.e. orders are placed on the phone, order details manually stored and
payment being received by the delivery man when orders are delivered. This system
of operation makes targeting a larger geographical area and competition with major
rivals almost impossible. When large amounts of orders are received it usually creates
a back-log of order details to be entered into the filing system taking several weeks
and numerous staff time to resolve; thus costing the management lots of money in
employee salaries and overtime.
Divine Foods do not carry out credit/debit card transactions as this requires a
merchant account with a bank; therefore all orders made on the phone are paid for on
delivery. Not only does this create a geographic restriction on trade as they can only
accept orders for delivery in London, it also leads to losses of income/revenue as
targeting a wider geographical area will lead to more customers therefore more
50

income; this being a benefit of an e-commerce system. There is a maximum price of

500 on each order made on the phone to minimise losses to the business should a
customer refuse to pay for items on delivery; this limits the amount of money that can
be generated from individual orders and therefore affects the overall income of Divine
Foods. This method of operation has made insuring Divine Foods a real problem as
insurers are unwilling to provide cover due to their risky business methods.
Data retrieval is another major problem. Since Divine Foods offer discounts and
promotions to specific registered customers on monthly basis; it is usually difficult to
retrieve selected customer details from their manual filing system. In most cases
customers are never informed about any offers albeit this being an important customer
acquisition and retention technique intended to lure new customers and keep existing
customers interested in the companys products.
It is difficult to refer to order information or track orders due to the large amount of
records being held on file. When there are back-logs of orders to be recorded, it is
virtually impossible to track these orders leaving customers disillusioned with the
delivery services and Divine Foods in general.

51

Project specification and outline

Given the problems faced by DFs the aim of this project is to assist DFs in reviewing
their current business methods, designing and developing an e-Commerce system that
will automate several processes and provide around-the-clock availability of products
and services to customers; enabling customers to place orders online, providing
efficient communication channels as well as marketing and advertising techniques
(e.g. Emails, newsletters, banner ads etc). This system will include a database
component that will store detailed information of products, customers and orders and
also offer more flexible and easier methods of payment.
Project objectives of E-commerce On-line ordering system

i.

E-Commerce has made purchasing easier by a very larger margin. When it

comes to online ordering, customers are always looking for the preeminent
online ordering websites and the most competitive prices. A major objective of
this system is to provide access to customers of DFs products.

ii.

Customers are very sceptical about sharing their personal details with the
company, so the system must be trustworthy. The system should offer secure
connections to enable encryption and decryption of sensitive information (e.g.
customer passwords, credit card details) using Secure Lockets Layer (SSL).

iii.

This system will consist of a Database Management System (DBMS) to store

product information, order details, customer details and a front end client
website to enable users access the products held and place orders. The system
will be built on mySQL and PHP programming languages to carry out
automatic functions like invoicing, searching, encryption and decryption etc.

iv.

Although adequate training will be provided to the users of the system on

completion of the project to enable easy update of information held, the
system must be user-friendly.

v.

This system is expected to lead to a sharp increase in sales, as average value of

internet orders is generally higher than that of telephone orders and there will
be alternative payment methods therefore eradicating the 500 restriction on
orders.
52

vi.

This system will provide around-the-clock availability of products and

services to customers; it will be very effective as there will be no busy phone
lines and a broader audience can be targeted online.

vii.

The online system is expected to be very cost effective as there will be no

need for too many in-house staff; there will be a massive reduction in
personnel salary bills as majority of the current fulltime and part-time
employees who handle most telephone orders and administrative duties will no
longer be needed as a result of the new online ordering system; thus saving the
company thousands of pounds annually.

53

End-User Requirements

From the analysis of problems faced by DFs previous sections as the results from Q1Q10 on the questionnaire (see appendix C and D) an end-user requirement was drawn
up with solutions to address and resolve the current limitations of DFs. The
management of Divine foods was initially asked for an end-user requirement, the user
requirement specified was faltering; though most of these requirements support the
broad organisation needs the others were ill defined wish list of system deliverables.
This is mainly due to their poor knowledge of IT and E-commerce systems.

Divine Foods require an E-Commerce system in form of a website that will automate
several processes; enabling customers to place orders online and provide efficient
communication, marketing and advertising techniques (e.g. Emails, newsletters,
banner ads etc). This system should hold detailed information of products, customers
and orders and also offer more flexible and alternative methods of payment. The
system should be secure and available 24 hours a day. The system should be easy to
use and in-house staff should be able to update the system following adequate
training. The system should comply with all legalities, DPA 1998, EU E-Commerce
Directive and all other relevant legislations.

The system should include a robust and secure database management system that can
hold and manipulate data. This system will store information on customers, products
and orders. The system should contain automatic procedures to handle day-to-day
necessary transactions e.g. calculation of total amount due on orders. The system
should automatically generate order acknowledgement letters and invoices for
customers as soon as an order is received. Once an order has been marked for delivery
indicating the customer requirements can be met, the system should automatically
generate and Email order acceptance letters as well as delivery information and
receipt (where necessary) as required by the EU Directive on E-comm. 1998/9

54

The system should allow customers to register and set up personal accounts online.
Customers should be able to create profiles, communicate with fellow customers, save
favourite products and recipes, post reviews on products and also upload product
recipes.
DFs require a system that can keep track of and easily reference previous orders or
invoices, monitor product sales rates (i.e the most purchased products). The total
number of products ordered by each customer should be recorded as this is required
for promotion purposes.
DFs require a professionally designed website product page. The product page needs
to be designed as a marketing tool. Since the products are the major items on offer,
the system should portray these products in an enticing fashion to customers.
Training procedure and help: if possible the potential new system should have an in
built user guide to offer instructions on how to use the system can be manipulated (i.e
entering new product details.
User friendly/simplicity: the new system should be easy and simple to use and the
interfaces should be user intuitive and user friendly, without long tiring steps to
perform a single activity, this could help reduce errors and user frustration that occur
as a result of system complexity.
Affordability/functionality: from the interviews and questionnaire, it is noted that
majority of DFs staff are of the opinion that cost is an important factor to consider in
selecting a new system, however a higher percentage indicate that functionality and
user friendliness are extremely important considerations in selecting a system, thus
the new system must be able to perform (in terms of scope and coverage of work
required by DFs) but still be within the a reasonable budget.
Better security rights: the new system must allow read and write only access rights to
the relevant personnel, this reduces the chances of unauthorised access to data; thus
regulating usage.
Compatibility: Since DFs do not have any computer hardware or infrastructure they
require a system that can be deployed over any operating system or computer
hardware they decide to purchase for use with the proposed system. Implementation
55

programs should be easily available and affordable. Open source software will be
used on the server to ensure the final system is not bound to a particular server-based
operating system.
It is imperative that the most modern web browser technologies are used to create the
site. This includes such strategies as using div tags and cascading style sheets to lay
out the pages, adding Ajax-style programming on layer presentations to make them
interactive and embedding Flash presentations to display animations, pictures and rich
media.

56

Benefits of the Proposed System

Direct Benefits
i.

Increased Cash Flow: Tripling of orders made by customers as a result of the

new system

ii.

Reduction in personnel salary bills

iii.

A minimum 20% increase in overall profitability and revenue as a result of

more efficient system and more customers.

Indirect Benefits
i.

Increased accuracy of Customer and order information

ii.

Reduction in costs from errors.

iii.

User Friendliness and ease of use due to 24 hours availability of the system

Intangible benefits
i.

Good Company Image as a result of the system means more customers

therefore more sales.

57

System Analysis and Design Methodologies

Certain system analysis and design methodologies exits to enable system designers
really understand and model system requirements and data flows. These
methodologies and briefly reviewed below. Some of them will be applied to the DFs
e-commerce system.

SSADM

SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology) is a methodology. a

system of ways of doing things especially regular and orderly procedures), used in the
analysis and design stages of systems development.
SSADM (in common with other structured methodologies) adopts a prescriptive
approach to information systems development in that it specifies in advance the
modules, stages and tasks which have to be carried out, the deliverables to be
produced and furthermore the techniques used to produce the deliverables. [32]
SSADM adopts the Waterfall SDLC discussed earlier; where each phase has to be
completed and signed off before subsequent phases can begin. SSADM is one
example of a structured methodologies, a variety of others include:
STRADIS: (Structured Analysis, Design and Implementation of Information
Systems) a methodology developed by Gane and Sarson (1979). The methodology is
based on the philosophy of top down functional decomposition and relies on the use
of Data Flow Diagrams. [32]
YSM: (Yourdon Systems Method,Yourdon, 1993). YSM is similar to STRADIS in its
use of functional decomposition, however a middle-out approach is dopted and
slightly more emphasis is placed on the importance of data structures. [33]
MERISE: (Quang and Chartier-Kastler, 1991)The methodology is widely used in ISE
in France, Spain and Switzerland. MERISE consists of three cycles, the decision
cycle, the life cycle and the abstraction cycle. The abstraction cycle is the key; in this
cycle both data and processes are viewed firstly at the conceptual level, then the
logical or organisational level and finally at the physical or operational level. [34]

58

EUROMETHOD: Euromethod could be described as a framework for the integration

of existing european methodologies rather than as a methodology in its own right.
"SSADM has been used by the government in computing since its launch in 1981. It
was commissioned by the CCTA (Central Computing and Telecommunications
Agency) in a bid to standardise the many and varied IT projects being developed
across government departments.
SSADM revolves around the use of three key techniques, namely Logical Data
Modelling, Data Flow Modelling and Entity/Event Modelling.

Logical Data Modelling; This is the process of identifying, modelling and

documenting the data requirements of a business information system. A
Logical Data Model consists of a Logical Data Structure (LDS - The SSADM
terminology

for

an

Entity-Relationship

Model)

and

the

associated

documentation. LDS s represent Entities (things about which a business needs

to record information) and Relationships (necessary associations between
entities).

Data Flow modelling; this is the process of identifying, modelling and

documenting how data flows around a business information system. A Data
Flow Model consists of a set of integrated Data Flow Diagrams supported by
appropriate documentation. DFDs represent processes (activities which
transform data from one form to another), data stores (holding areas for data),
external entities (things which send data into a system or receive data from a
system and finally data flows (routes by which data can flow).

Entity Event Modelling; This is the process of identifying, modelling and

documenting the business events which affect each entity and the sequence in
which these events occur. An Entity/Event Model consists of a set of Entity
Life Histories (one for each entity) and appropriate supporting documentation

59

Data Flow Diagrams

Data flow diagrams (DFDs) will be used to describe how the DFs e-commerce system
transforms information. A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is used to show the
relationships among the business processes within an organization to external
systems, external organizations, customers, other business processes. [33]
DFDs define how information is processed and stored and identify how the
information flows through the processes. [34] The DFs data flow diagram will enable
understanding of:
i.

The data processes involved in the system, where these processes pass
through, where they come from and where they go.

ii.

The inputs: what happens to the data once it enters the system?

iii.

The Outputs: what happens before data leaves the system?

iv.

Any delays occurring between the inputs and outputs (i.e., identifying the need
for data stores).

The following symbols are generally used with DFDs:

i.

Data flow is represented by a labelled arrow

ii.

Processes are represented by labelled circles (bubbles)

iii.

Information sources and sinks are represented by boxes

iv.

Files are represented by a double line

v.

Process represents a task in the system that processes data or performs some
action based on the data.

vi.

Data Store represents a repository where data is saved or retrieved, but not
changed. Examples of data stores include a database.

vii.

External Interactor represents an entity that exists outside the system being
modelled and which interacts with the system at an entry point: it is either the

60

source or destination of data. In this case, a human using the DFs e-commerce
system is the external entity.

61

Chapter 4: Design

System Functional Requirements

After interviewing the site's stakeholder, the next step was to create a functional
requirements document. The functional requirements are driven by business
requirements specified by DFs; functional requirements describe what the website
needs to do, and not how it does it; that will be explained in the Technical
Requirements document. The primary functional requirements of the DFs website are
elaborated below;

62

The site should present a simple interface that represents DFs as a reputable, modern
and exquisite provider of food products. DFs stressed the need for website's visual
design to reflect its branding, including the logo, colours, common images, and other
graphical elements that are used in existing marketing materials.
The home page should lead users to site's most important features; Latest products
and product offers should be accessible from here to capture attention. Product details
such as price, quantity in stock etc should be easy to change without having to directly
edit the site's web pages.
Users should be able to create profiles and user accounts; the website should include a
My Account page where customers can find order history, edit account details, reset
password, etc. Users should be allowed to post recipes and comments on the recipe
blog, any website user should be able to review products. Users should be given an
option to sign up for newsletter upon registration; this being a customer retention
strategy to keep users informed of special offers and newly added products.
The website should be built to support all modern web browsers and operating
systems to reach the broadest possible audience. The site should be functionally
identical and, as closely as possible, visually identical on all web browsers and
operating systems identified as being in common use by the target audience.
All server software should be available on multiple server platforms in the event of
later migration to another server operating system.
The functional requirements document was shared and reviewed with the stakeholder
who was satisfied.

System Technical Specification

The functional requirements described above were transformed into technical

requirements to show how each page will be modelled, detailed descriptions of site
features, descriptions of requirement infrastructure, such as selected server software,
requirements for web browser compatibility. Here are some technical specifications
for the DFs website;

63

The home page, which will include the following elements:

A graphical banner incorporating the company name and logo and an appropriate

picture pictures relevant to their area of business.

Links to social networking websites such as facebook and twitter.

A navigational interface that presents links to other critical web pages.

A data entry form that allows the website visitor to search for products

Links product categories, terms and conditions and contact us pages

A graphical display of three most recent products, where data for the media is stored
in a server-side database.

The site will be hosted initially on a local server with the Apple Mac OSX operating
system using Apache and PHP, but should be portable to Windows and other operating
systems that are compatible with Apache and PHP. The final website will be hosted on
the university cmsproj folder. All server software should be available on multiple server
platforms in the event of later migration to another server operating system. The site will
be built using PHP as the application server and all web pages will be built as PHP files.
A common look and feel will be achieved with the use of PHP-based header and footer
files.
The final website comprises of the following pages;
The Home page: with navigational links to all other pages and a data entry form that
allows visitors to search for products directly from here.
The Products Page: which dynamically displays products and their details such as
name and price.
The About Us page: which provides website visitors with information on DFs
The More Services page: which displays all the services covered by DFs.
The Recipe Blog page: which allows the DFs customers to post and review product
recipes.
The Special Offers Page: This page dynamically displays all the DFs products on
offer.

64

65

Database Design Models

In this section of this report, we examine review and select a database design method
for the development of DFs e-Commerce system.
Object Oriented Databases.

Object-oriented databases employ a data model that supports object-oriented features

and abstract data types. OO databases provide unique object identifiers (OIDs) so that
the objects can be easily identified. This is similar to a primary key in the relational
model. Object-oriented databases utilize the power of object-oriented programming
languages to provide excellent database programming capability. The data in objectoriented database management systems (OODBMSs) is managed through two sets of
relations, one describing the interrelations of data items and another describing the
abstract relationships (inheritance). These systems employ both relation types to
couple data items with procedural methods (encapsulation). As a result, a direct
relationship is established between the application data model and the database data
model. The strong connection between application and database results in less code,
more natural data structures, and better maintainability and reusability of code. OO
languages, such as C++ or Java, are able to reduce code size by not having to translate
code into a database sublanguage such as SQL and ODBC or JDBC [35, 36].

The need for object-oriented databases:

The increased emphasis on process integration is a driving force for the adoption of
object-oriented

database

systems.

For

example,

the

Computer

Integrated

Manufacturing (CIM) area is focusing heavily on using object-oriented database

technology as the process integration framework. Advanced office automation
systems use object-oriented database systems to handle hypermedia data. Hospital
patient care tracking systems use object-oriented database technologies for ease of
use. All of these applications are characterized by having to manage complex, highly
interrelated information, which is the strength of object-oriented database systems.
Clearly, relational database technology has failed to handle the needs of complex
information systems. The problem with relational database systems is that they
66

require the application developer to force an information model into tables where
relationships between entities are defined by values.
Features of OODB
Object-Oriented DBMS (OODBMS) are DBMS which are based on an ObjectOriented Data Model. Such data models are often inspired by OO programming
languages, such as SmallTalk or C++. OODBMS are capable of storing complex
objects, I.e., objects that are composed of other objects, and/or multi-valued attributes.
The great advantage of OODBMS is that it is not necessary to transform the UML
classes into a logical schema (e.g.,relational). Their main disadvantage is that the
technology is immature and they are only used in niche applications, such as CAD.
Greater support for complex objects; No query language is required you just retrieve
individual objects like some giant key/value store.
No relational referential integrity: though you may have one object contain a
reference to another object.

Draw Backs
A key difference between relational databases and OO databases is the way in which
relationships are handled. In OO databases, the relationships are represented explicitly
with OIDs, which improves the data access performance. In relational databases,
relationships among tuples are specified by attributes having the same domain.
The main drawback of OODBMSs has been poor performance. Unlike RDBMSs,
query optimization for OODBMs is highly complex. OODBMSs also suffer from
problems of scalability, and are unable to support large-scale systems.
Relational DBMS (RDBMS)

The relational model was formally introduced by Dr. E. F. Codd in 1970 [2] and has
evolved since then, through a series of writings and later through implementations by
IBM and others. A relational database is composed of many relations in the form of
two-dimensional tables of rows and columns containing related tuples. Organizing
data into tables, the form in which data is presented to the user and the programmer, is
known as the logical view of the database. The stored data on a computer disk system
67

is called the internal view. The rows (tuples) are called records and the columns
(fields in the record) are called attributes. Each column has a data type (i.e., int, float,
date). There are various restrictions on the data that can be stored in a relational
database. These are called constraints. The constraints are domain constraints, key
constraints, entity integrity constraints, and referential integrity constraints. These
constraints ensure that there are no ambiguous tuples in the database.
RDBMSs use Structured Query Language (SQL, currently SQL2) as the data
definition language (DDL) and the data manipulation language (DML). SQL includes
statements for data definition, modification, querying and constraint specification.
The types of queries vary from simple single-table queries to complicated multi-table
queries involving joins, nesting, set union/differences, and others. All processing is
based on values in fields of records.
The main disadvantages of Relational Databases include their inability to handle
application areas like spatial databases objects e.g database applications involving
images, or special types databases (e.g. involving complex numbers, arrays, etc.) and
other applications that involve complex interrelationships of data. The SQL standard
enables users to easily migrate their database applications between database systems.
In addition, users can access data stored in two or more RDBMSs without changing
the database sub-language (SQL). The other merits include rapid data access and large
storage capacity [3].

68

Object-Relational DBMS (ORDBMS)

The main objective of ORDBMS design was to achieve the benefits of both the
relational and the object models such as scalability and support for rich data types.
ORDBMSs employ a data model that attempts to incorporate OO features into
RDBMS. All database information is stored in tables, but some of the tabular entries
may have richer data structure, termed abstract data types (ADTs). The ORDBMS
has the relational model in it because the data is stored in the form of tables having
rows and columns and SQL is used as the query language and the result of a query is
also table or tuples (rows). The characteristics of ORDBMSs include;

Base datatype extension,

Support complex objects,

Inheritance, and

Rule Systems [39]

ORDBMSs allow users to define data types, functions and operators. As a result, the
functionality of the ORDBMSs increases along with their performance.
An example schema of a product relation which ORDBMS supports is:
Product (productID, name, description, address, picture)
The extra attribute "picture" is not present in the traditional EMPLOYEE type of
relation of RDBMS. The datatype of "picture" is "image".
Object-relational extensions to relational DBMSs capture much of the advantages of
OODB, yet retain the relation as the fundamental abstraction. Object-Relational data
modeling supports some object-oriented concepts, while still supporting some
relational concepts:

Inheritance -- one table can have an IS-A relationship with another table.
Likewise custom data types support inheritance.

Distinction between a class and an object (instance of a class) that goes

beyond simply the distinction between a table and a row.

Custom or complex data types.

69

Relational query language.

Referential integrity.

The differences between the three Database Design approaches

Table 1: A Comparison of Database Management Systems

Criteria

RDBMS

ODBMS

ORDBMS

Defining standard

SQL2

ODMG-2.0

SQL3 (in process)

Does not support; It

Support for object- is difficult to map
oriented features

program object to

Limited

Supports extensively mostly to new data

types

the database
OK
Usage

support;

for

programmers; some Easy to use except

Easy to use

SQL access for end for some extensions

users
Supports

Support for complex Does not support

relationships

abstract datatypes

wide

variety of datatypes
and

data

complex

with
inter-

relationships

Performance

Product maturity

The use of SQL

Very

good Relatively

performance

Relatively old and

so very mature

Abstract

datatypes

and

complex
relationships

less Expected to perform

performance
This concept is few
years old and so
relatively mature

Supports

very well

Still in development
stage so immature.

Extensive supports OQL is similar to SQL3

is

being

70

SQL

SQL,

but

additional

with developed with OO

features features

Complex incorporated in it

like

objects and objectoriented features.

Its dependence on It can handle all

SQL,
Advantages

relatively types

simple

of

complex

query applications,

optimization hence reusability of code,

good performance

less coding

Low

to

query

applications

and

complex
ability

to

handle

large and complex

applications

performance

Inability to handle due

Disadvantages

Ability

to

complex

complex

query optimization,

applications

inability to support

Low performance in
web applications

large-scale systems
It is considered to
be highly successful Presently
Support
vendors

lacking All major RDBMS

from so the market size is vendor support due vendors

very large but many to

vast

size

vendors are moving RDBMS market

are

after

of this so has very

good future

towards ORDBMS
Source: International Data Corporation, 1997 [40]

71

Justification of Selected Database Model

Based on the comparisons above, the selected database model for the implementation
of the e-Commerce system is the object relational model.
ORDBMS employ a data model that adds object oriented ideas to tables." All
persistent (database) information is still in tables, but some of the tabular entries can
have richer data structure. ORDBMS is a compromise between RDBMS and
OODBMS. ORDBMS maintains a relational feel while associated with new data
types that are not present in RDBMS. These data types for example, indexing,
storage, and retrieve records of multimedia contents (e.g., pictures). It is very
important that the database can store and easily retrieve pictures as this is an
important aspect of buying and selling online.
The regular feel of RDBMS is not lost when using ORDBMS as data is stored in
tables of rows and columns, and SQL is the language for data definition,
manipulation, and query. The target and result of a query are still tables or tuples.
The main attraction to this method of design is the fact that ORDBMS can handle
complex data as many unstructured and relational database unfriendly data types will
be used throughout this system.
Dr. Michael Stonebraker, Chief Technology Officer of Informix Software, has
classified the DBMS applications into four types: simple data without query, simple
data with query, complex data without query, and complex data with query. These
four types describe file systems, Relational DBMSs, Object-Oriented DBMSs, and
object-Relational DBMS, respectively. This is why he terms ORDBMSs as "the next
wave" [41].

72

Justification of Chosen Implementation tools

PHP vs ASP.NET

PHP is one of the most widely used Web programming languages today. PHP is a
powerful server-side scripting language that can be used to create dynamic websites
and applications. PHP began as Personal Home Page, a simple Perl hack written by
Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. Today, PHP has come to mean PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor. The chosen implementation method was selected based on the
following criteria;

Cost
PHP is an open source program. Keeping with the notion of using the least expensive
hardware to develop the Dfs e-commerce system, PHP is regarded as the most
suitable scritping language. It requires no start up costs, neither are costs incurred
over the lifetime of the application. The Apache/PHP/MySQL combination on
provides cheap, low-end hardware and local server in form of WAMP (for windows )
and IMAP (for Mac). This is not the case for /ASP/SQL Servers.

Open source software

Much of the major consumer software is distributed without cost today; e-mail clients,
Web browsers, games, and even full-service office suites are all being given away as
fast as their makers can whip up Web versions or set up FTP servers. PHP is an open
source program; one of the end-user requirements was a system built on open-source
programs.

Popularity
PHP has become one of the most widely used Web programming languages today.
[203] PHP is a powerful server-side scripting language that can be used to create
dynamic websites and applications. With over 4.5 million PHP developers and over
73

22 million Internet domains using PHP, it is easy to see the popularity of this
technology.

Platform Compatibility
PHP is platform independent, meaning it works with a wide range of operating
systems. ASP.Net is window based and only compatible with mostly Windows-based
DBMS.

Connection to Database
PHP allows connection to several types of databases as opposed to ASP.NET [39]

MySQL vs Microsoft SQL server, Oracle, Access and DB2

Platform comparison
SQL Server only works on Windows-based platforms. In comparison with SQL
Server the flexibility of MYSQL enables its deployment across various platforms.
Cost and licensing
The most obvious and enduring difference between MySQL and SQL Server is the
price tag. MySQL and its attendant client libraries are free under the GNU Public
License; all other database packages listed above require some form of payment for
acquisition.
Access is a Single-User Application while MYSQL is a Multi-User Application using
authentication for security

74


FrontPage Vs Dreamweaver

FrontPage has been built on top of the highly successful Microsoft Office suite. It
benefits from having a similar appearance to Microsoft Word and many of the other
Office based programs. Such a close resemblance to other office programs provides
an an easy-to-use menu system. Yet again this is only available on the Windows
platform.

[101]

FrontPage has many uses similar to a word processor. The functionality for inserting
images, tables and formatting text are very similar. So the step-up from a well known
word processor, to an equally well known web editor is not that daunting. FrontPage
also has an abundance of ready to use templates, particularly useful for the novice
user.
Adobe Dreamweaver products have been designed specifically with web design in
mind and Dreamweaver is the industry standard for web editors. Dreamweaver has a
nice blend of advanced tools mixed in with a tasteful graphical user interface.
Dreamweaver CS4, the most recent version, is part of the Adobe Creative Suite CS4
Master Collection. The tight integration between applications in the Suite is
encouraging as other web development programs such as Photoshop, fireworks, flash
etc can easily integrate with Dreamweaver. It is available on cross platforms.
Dreamweaver has an extensive collection of advanced tools and may at times be a
little too complex for those who wish to merely edit pages. Fortunately, Macromedia
Contribute is available and is part of the Macromedia Studio suite and enables easy
website maintenance. "Non techies" can edit the content of pages, whilst the coding
part of the page is protected - so no banana skins here!
75

FrontPage's simplicity and ease of use often generates lots of unwanted code which
can be difficult to manage. It has been designed specifically for Internet Explorer
(I.E.) and does not fully abide by the World Wide Web Standards. This means the
web pages look perfect in I.E. but often slightly out of sync in other leading browsers
such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Another drawback of FrontPage is that
web servers need FrontPage extensions to get some features to work.
Dreamweaver is not as easy to use and may look a little foreign and intimidating to
the novice user. The lack of beginner tools and usability may frustrate inexperienced
users. Dreamweaver is also a little pricier than FrontPage.
Dreamweaver is a professional level web editor. It has been designed to be used in a
commercial environment and benefits from having advanced web design tools.
FrontPage on the other hand was intended for the average home user with a modest
interest

in

web

design.

It

is

ideal

for

beginners.

Given the reasons cited above, Dreamweaver will be used as the web editor for this ecommerce project.
AJAX

Ajax (shorthand for asynchronous JavaScript and XML) [35] is a group of interrelated
web development btechniques used on the client-side to create interactive web
applications. With Ajax, web applications can retrieve data from the server
asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behaviour
of the existing page. The use of Ajax techniques has led to an increase in interactive
or dynamic interfaces on web pages. Data are usually retrieved using the
XMLHttpRequest object. Despite the name, the use of XML is not actually required,
nor do the requests need to be asynchronous. [36]
Like DHTML and LAMP, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a group of
technologies. Ajax uses a combination of HTML and CSS to mark up and style
information. The DOM is accessed with JavaScript to dynamically display, and to
allow the user to interact with the information presented. JavaScript and the

76

XMLHttpRequest object provide a method for exchanging data asynchronously

between browser and server to avoid full page reloads.
Ajax isnt a technology. Its really several technologies, each flourishing in its own
right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporates:

Justification of Use
An Ajax application eliminates the start-stop-start-stop nature of interaction on the
Web by introducing an intermediary an Ajax engine between the user and the
server.
Instead of loading a webpage, at the start of the session, the browser loads an Ajax
engine written in JavaScript and usually tucked away in a hidden frame. This
engine is responsible for both rendering the interface the user sees and communicating
with the server on the users behalf. The Ajax engine allows the users interaction
with the application to happen asynchronously independent of communication with
the server. [36]

77

Data Modelling

Entities and Attributes

This is a preliminary sketch of the entities and attributes involved in the DFs database.
This draft is subject to changes after certain design strategies and methodologies are
applied to it. Normalisation will be applied to all tables and relationships in the
system.

ORDER

PRODUCT

CUSTOMER

TROLLEY

order_code

product_id

user_name

id

user_name

product_cat

password

user_name

product_id

product_name

first_name

product_id

product_name

product_desc

last_name

product_name

price

price

company

price

quantity

quantity_stock

address_1

quantity

date

product_details

address_2

date

order_amount

product_image

city

order_status
PRODUCT_CAT

man_date

county

cat_id

expiry_date

postcode

cat_name

serving_idea
UNREG_CUSTOMER country

description

unreg_id

telephone

user_name

mobile

address

fax

timestamp

email

reg_date
purchases
logins

78

Normalisation

According to Microsoft Corporation, Normalization is the process of organizing data

in a database. This includes creating tables and establishing relationships between
those tables according to rules designed both to protect the data and to make the
database more flexible by eliminating redundancy and inconsistent dependency.
[37] Normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There
are two goals of the normalization process: eliminating redundant data (for example,
storing the same data in more than one table) and ensuring data dependencies make
sense (only storing related data in a table). Both of these are worthy goals as they
reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensure that data is logically
stored. The goal of database normalization is to ensure that every non-key column in
every table is directly dependent on the key, the whole key and nothing but the key
and with this goal come benefits in the form of reduced redundancies, fewer
anomalies, and improved efficiencies.
The Normal Forms
The database community has developed a series of guidelines for ensuring that
databases are normalized. These are referred to as normal forms and are numbered
from one (the lowest form of normalization, referred to as first normal form or 1NF)
through five (fifth normal form or 5NF). In practical applications, you'll often see
1NF, 2NF, and 3NF along with the occasional 4NF.
First Normal Form (1NF)
First normal form (1NF) sets the very basic rules for an organized database:
i.

Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table.

ii.

Create separate tables for each group of related data and identify each row
with a unique column or set of columns (the primary key).

Second Normal Form (2NF)

Second normal form (2NF) further addresses the concept of removing duplicative
data:
i.

Meet all the requirements of the first normal form.

79

ii.

Remove subsets of data that apply to multiple rows of a table and place them
in separate tables.

iii.

Create relationships between these new tables and their predecessors through
the use of foreign keys.

Third Normal Form (3NF)

Third normal form (3NF) goes one large step further:
i.

Meet all the requirements of the second normal form.

ii.

Remove columns that are not dependent upon the primary key.

Fourth Normal Form (4NF)

Finally, fourth normal form (4NF) has one additional requirement:
i.

Meet all the requirements of the third normal form.

ii.

A relation is in 4NF if it has no multi-valued dependencies.

Applying Normalisation to DFs e-Commerce system

DFs Example:

Assumption: A customer can have multiple orders and an order can include multiple
products.
0NF
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustomerID, OrderNo, ProdCode, ProdDesc, Qty, CustAddress, DateOrdered)
Achieving 1NF - remove multivalued attributes
CUSTOMER (CustomerID, CustAddress)
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustName, OrderNo, ProdCode, ProdDesc, Qty, DateOrdered)
2NF - remove partial dependencies
CUSTOMER (CustomerID, CustAddress)
ORDER LINE (OrderNo, ProdNo, Qty, DateOrdered)
PRODUCT (ProdNo, ProdDesc)
ORDER (OrderNo, CustomerID)

80

As above
Assumption: A customer can have multiple orders but an order can be for only 1 product. CustomerID
and OrderNo preassigned as keys.
0NF
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustomerID, OrderNo, ProdNo, ProdDesc, Qty, CustAddress, DateOrdered)

1NF - remove multivalued dependencies

CUSTOMER (CustomerID, CustAddress)
ORDER (CustomerID, OrderNo, ProdNo, ProdDesc, Qty, DateOrdered)

2NF - remove partial dependencies

CUSTOMER (CustomerID, CustAddress)
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustomerID, OrderNo)
ORDER (OrderNo, ProdNo, ProdDesc, Qty, DateOrdered)

3NF - remove transitive dependencies

CUSTOMER (Customer ID, CustAddress)
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustomerIDs, OrderNo)
ORDER (OrderNo, ProdNo, Qty, DateOrdered)
PRODUCT (ProdNo, ProdDesc)

BCNF - resolve intrakey dependencies

CUSTOMER (CustName, CustAddress)
CUSTOMER ORDER (CustName, OrderNo) - CustName becomes just a foreign key
ORDER (OrderNo, ProdNo, Qty, DateOrdered)
PRODUCT (ProdNo, ProdDesc)

The same normalisation rules will be applied all over the database system where
many-to-many relationships occur. Therefore more entities will be created from the
original draft. A more comprehensive UML class diagram will be used to model the
entire system in further sections.

81

Entity Relationship Diagrams

Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD)s may be considered as graphical representations

of data definitions. Information modelling is concerned with the definition of data
within the system in terms of its meaning, composition and relationships.
DFDs show the flow of information through the system but play no part in defining
the information, apart from being a useful place from which to access data definitions.
Flows and stores on DFDs are essentially representations of information that is
defined elsewhere.
While the DFD models the active processing of information by the system, the ERD
models the static relationships amongst this information that are preserved and
maintained by the system. The ERD shows how items of data relate, statically, to each
other. ERDs cannot exist in a hierarchy, instead, either a single ERD is produced for
the entire system analysis or design (when the ERD is considered to relate to the
entire DFD hierarchy), and/or ERDs can be produced as companions to specific DFDs
that contain a large quantity of stored data, and contain the processes that create,
update, or otherwise maintain the stored data.

82

Initial draft of an ERD model for DFs

Buy SmartDraw!- purchased copies print this
document without a watermark .
Entity
Types or call 1-800-768-3729.
Visit www.smartdraw.com

An entity type is any type of object that we wish to store data about. In an entityrelationship diagram an entity type is shown as a box. In Fig. 3.1, CUSTOMER is an
entity type. Each entity type is shown once. There may be many entity types in an
entity-relationship diagram as shown above. The name of an entity type is singular
since it represents a type.
An entity type is considered to be a set of objects. For this reason some people use the
alternative term entity set. An entity is simply one member or example or element or
instance of the type or set. So an entity is one individual within an entity type. For
example, within the entity type CUSTOMER, J. Smith might be one entity. He is an
83

individual entity within the type, an element in the set, an instance of the type
'customer'.

An entity type CUSTOMER and one of its attributes Cus_no

Attributes
The data that we want to keep about each entity within an entity type is contained in
attributes. An attribute is some quality about the entities that we are interested in and
want to hold on the database. In the above diagram, the cus_no is an attribute.
Primary Key
In database design, an attribute is usually used to identify each entity from all the
others in the entity type. This attribute is known as the primary key. In some cases,
more than one attribute are used as primary keys to identify the entities. Primary keys
must be unique in each entity.

84

UML Diagrams
UML Class Diagram

Visual modeling is a way of thinking about problems using modeling organized

around real-world ideas [38].
Models are useful for understanding problems, communicating with project team
members (customers, domain experts, analysts, designers, etc.), modelling enterprises,
preparing documentation, and designing programs and databases. UML Models
promote better understanding of the requirements by filtering out nonessential details
and establishing the most suitable architectural basis for design. Software systems that
have been thoroughly modeled tend to be more maintainable systems.

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a language used to specify, visualize, and

document the artefacts of system under development.

UML is an attempt to standardize the artefacts of analysis and design: semantic

models, syntactic notation, and diagrams. It provides a very robust notation, which
grows from analysis into design.
Certain elements of the notation (e.g., classes, associations, aggregations, inheritance)
are introduced during analysis. Other elements of the notation (e.g., containment
implementation indicators and properties) are introduced during design. Use-Case
Diagrams model the user requirements and their interactions with the system at high
level of abstraction. They are useful for early requirements analysis because they
enforce the identification of the different users and uses of a system while at the same
time being easily understood by customers [39]. In addition, Class, Instance,
Sequence, Collaboration, Class State, Activity, and Implementation Diagrams are also
present. UML can be used to model most aspects of a system. The activity flow model
has been successfully adapted to industrial projects including a leading German
organization in the banking sector [40].

85

UML: Use Case Diagram

An important part of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) is the facilities for
drawing use case diagrams. Use cases are used during the analysis phase of a project
to identify and partition system functionality. They separate the system into actors
and use cases. Actors represent roles that can are played by users of the system. Those
users can be humans, other computers, pieces of hardware, or even other software
systems. The only criterion is that they must be external to the part of the system
being partitioned into use cases. They must supply stimuli to that part of the system,
and the must receive outputs from it.
Use cases describe the behavior of the system when one of these actors sends one
particular stimulus. This behaviour is described textually. It describes the inputs from
86

and outputs to other actors, and the behaviours that convert the inputs to the outputs.
The text of the use case also usually describes everything that can go wrong during
the course of the specified behaviour, and what remedial action the system will take.

87

UML Activity Diagrams

UML activity diagrams are intended to model both computational and organisational
processes (i.e. workows) [40, 41]. However, if activity diagrams are to
succeed as a standard in the area of organisational process modeling, they should
compare favorably to the languages currently used for this purpose, that is, those
supported by existing Workow Management Systems (WFMS).

88

Database Data Definition

In this section, the attributes and domains of each entity is defined. The
implementation of this system will be strongly rooted on this design.
Table structure for table customers
Field

Type

Null Default

customer_id

int(11)

No

89

title

enum('Other', 'Chief', 'Dr', 'Ms', 'Miss', 'Mrs', 'Mr')

No

first_name

varchar(60)

No

last_name

varchar(60)

No

email_add

varchar(60)

No

login_pword

varchar(10)

No

address_line_1

varchar(40)

No

address_line_2

varchar(30)

No

town_city

varchar(30)

No

post_code

varchar(7)

No

county

varchar(30)

No

country

varchar(40)

No

telephone

varchar(15)

No

org_or_ind

enum('Individual', 'Organisation')

No Individual

organisation_name

varchar(30)

Yes NULL

newsletter

enum('No', 'Yes')

No Yes

other_info

varchar(250)

Yes NULL

Table structure for table delivery

Field

Type

Null Default

delivery_ref

int(6)

No

order_code

int(6)

No

tracking_no

varchar(30) Yes NULL

date_shipped

date

Yes NULL

ex_delivery_date date

Yes NULL

delivery_details varchar(150) Yes NULL

Table structure for table delivery_items
Field

Type Null Default

delivery_item_id int(6) No
delivery_ref

int(6) No

odrer_item_id

int(6) No

Table structure for table invoice

90

Field

Type

Null Default

invoice_number int(6)

No

order_code

int(6)

No

invoice_date

date

No

invoice_details varchar(150) No
Table structure for table invoice_line
Field

Type

Null Default

invoice_line_id int(6)

No

order_item_id

int(6)

No

invoice_number int(6)

No

product_code

varchar(5)

No

derived_cost

decimal(10,0) No

VAT

decimal(10,0) No

total_cost

decimal(10,0) No

other_details

varchar(150) Yes NULL

Table structure for table newsletter_customers

Field

Type

Null Default

news_customer_id int(6)

No

customer_id

int(6)

No

more_details

varchar(150) Yes NULL

Table structure for table orders

Field

Type

Null Default

order_code int(6)

No

customer_id int(6)

No

order_date

No

date

order_details varchar(150) Yes NULL

Table structure for table order_items
Field

Type

Null Default

order_item_id

int(6)

No

product_code

varchar(5)

No

91

product_quantity double

No 1

order_code

int(6)

No

unit_sale_price

decimal(10,0) No

sub_total

decimal(10,0) No

more_details

decimal(10,0) Yes NULL

Table structure for table payment

Field

Type

Null Default

payment_ref

int(6)

No

invoice_number

int(6)

No

payment_method_code varchar(5)

No

payment_date

date

No

amount

decimal(10,0) No

Table structure for table payment_method

Field

Type

Null Default

payment_mehod_code enum('CHEQ', 'DBTCD', 'CRDCD', 'PAYP') No PAYP

p_method_desc

varchar(40)

No

more_info

varchar(100)

Yes NULL

Table structure for table products

Field

Type

Null Default

product_code

varchar(5)

No

product_name

varchar(30)

No

product_description varchar(250) No
p_cat_code

varchar(5)

No

units_in_stock

int(11)

No

unit_sale_price

decimal(10,0) Yes NULL

date_manf

date

No

expiry_date

date

No

serving_sug

varchar(100) Yes NULL

p_picture

(50)

nutrional_content

varchar(100) Yes NULL

No

Enter product picture

name92

92

Table structure for table product_category

Field

Type

p_cat_code varchar(5)

Null Default
No

p_cat_name varchar(30) No
p_cat_desc

varchar(100) Yes NULL

more_details varchar(150) Yes NULL

Table structure for table recipe
Field

Type

Null Default

recipe_ref

int(6)

No

product_code varchar(5)

No

recipe_name varchar(50)

No

recipe_desc

varchar(2500) No

recipe_author varchar(30)

Yes NULL

date_added

No

date

93

Website Design

Page Layout

There are several types of layouts can be used to structure web pages. Some of these
different page layouts are discussed below.

One-Tier Site:
All the information is on one page.

Two-Tier Site:
On the main page, there is a link to each
of the six items.

94

Three-Tier Site:
On the main page, there is a link to a
page

for

each

category.

The advantage of a one-tier site is that there are no internal links, and there is no
navigation. Everything is right there on that page. This is perfect for sites that have
very little information on them.

The two-tier site allows for a fair bit more information, but if you have a large site, it
will confront the visitor with an unsightly "Wall of Links". [42]
The DFs e-Commerce system will be a three-tier site. This format was chosen, as it
the most suitable for an e-commerce themed website. This system will enable
categorization of similar objects into the same page.

Web Design Issues

This web site acts as the store front for the products and service to be sold by DFs
online. The site users are assumed to be window shoppers and browsers. An effective
e-commerce web site's aim is to convert these browsers into buyers. This is what this
system is designed to achieve.
95

The web site will be designed to gently lead the users through the learning and sales
process. Sales text must be grammatically sound and spelled correctly. Poor spelling
loses credibility points straight away.
There will be plenty of well laid out textual content on the site to attract search
engines as well as to inform prospective clients.
Attracting search engines and targeted site traffic is a vital requirement of the system,
so the system must be built using keywords and clear headers to achieve this.
Cross Browser Compatibility
Internet Explorer isn't the only browser on the market. There are currently over 100
different brands of Internet browser currently available. IE's major competitor is
Firefox and what looks good in Internet Explorer may look terrible or even crash
other browsers. The website should be viewable on the most popular browsers such as
Firefox, Google chrome and IE.
Between these three browsers, over 90% of the internet market will be covered. By
paying attention to even simple things like browser compatibility issues, sales
potentials can be increased.
The use of images
All images used should clearly depict the product/service and where possible, pictures
must be optimised for clarity and for rapid download if necessary.
Images are a wonderful medium to assist in the online sale of DFs products/services,
especially useful to those clients with poor literacy levels or who are in a rush.
Site Navigation.
Site navigation will be simple and all the questions a customer may ask will be
answered along the way. Where possible, the "three click rule" will be used- that is, a
visitor should be able to access any information regarding DFs product or service
within 3 clicks of any other area of your web site. Pay close attention to cross-browser
compatibility issues as many complex menu systems play havoc with browsers.
About Us Page.
96

The "About Us" page is crucial to boosting consumer confidence. It provides a

summary of DFs business, commitments and direction. Online business is no different
to traditional business in that there needs to be a form reassurance to the site visitors.
Therefore this page will provide other contact details for DFs and other various
registrations, associations and affiliations.
Flow Chart Diagrams

Web site flow chart diagrams will be used to model the divine foods e-commerce
website. This will show the navigational structure of the website. As explained earlier
a 3-Tier design approach will be used in the system development for DFs.

Fig 3.1 This is the navigational flow chart of DFs e-Commerce system.

Web Story Board

A prototype website will be developed using PowerPoint. This method was chosen
instead of the traditional skeletal storyboard approach to ensure the stake holder stay
informed on the overall website appearance.

97

Fig 3.2: Showing prototype design

Fig 3.2 was the initail design of the website storyboard. Following meetings with DFs, this design was
changed to the one below.

Fig 3.3: This the colour scheme and web design layout for the Home page so far
agreed with DFs. The overall page layout is not expected to change, but certain
colours on the page may change.

98

99

The product page

The product page was modelled to show the look and feel of the most imporatant page
of the website according to DFs. Subsequent site pages will look similar and follow
the same trends

100

101

Chapter 5: Implementation

The DFs e-commerce system will be implemented using the selected programs
justified in the design section. The database will be created using the data definition
and the website designed according to the web flowchart and story board.
The entire system will be created on a local server using WAMP/Apache. The final
system will be transferred to the host server by FTP. The web address of the system
on completion will be:

Creating the Database

The database tables were created and populated with data using Navicat 8 Lite; a free
DBMS for MySQL. Entity relationships and foreign keys were defined. This was a
simple procedure as the data to be entered were already defined.

All SQL codes and schema are included in the appendix of this report.

102

Website Design

Changes to Design
Some of the colours used in the design of the preliminary storyboard generated were
changed due to requests from DFs.
The structure of the home page also had to be changed to facilitate and comply with to
web 2.0 Standards

Web Design in Photoshop

This stage of implementation is not as straight forward as the database creation. Web
site standards have to be obeyed; the appropriate page sizes must be used to achieve
the best results. Web page sizes depend on the type of system being developed. For
this system, a page size of 1024 X 848 pixels will be used to ensure it can be
displayed by most computer screens.
Due to the professional nature of the system to be developed, the website was
designed using Adobe CS4 Master Collection.
The web design started in Adobe Photoshop CS4, where the website template was
built to be exported for slicing.
Fig 4.1 shows how Photoshop was used to re-create the story board prototype that was
created in the design section.

103

Fig 4.1: DFs e-commerce system, Home screen

104

Most pages of the website were created this way and then re-used in Dreamweaver to
generate subsequent pages.

Fig 4.2 The Product page

Fig 4.3 Special Offers page

105

Slicing in Adobe Fireworks

The designed web pages were exported to Fireworks for slicing in preparation for
coding in Dreamweaver. This process involves exporting the static (e.g. page
background, side bars) and some dynamic parts (e.g. picture placeholders) of the
website as picture files (JPG, PNG and GIF formats) to the images folder of the DFs
e-commerce web folder.
An advantage of using fireworks is that it automatically generates HTML tags and
CSS style sheets for every component sliced.

Fig 4.4: Showing the sliced home page in Fireworks

This procedure was repeated for the other pages in the website.

106

Coding in Dreamweaver

The web pages sliced in fireworks are finally exported into Dreamweaver for coding.
Dreamweaver has

all the required programming languages for this system

development such as; PHP, JSP, XML, CSS and AJAX as built-in functions which is
of an advantage as it allows all coding to be done on here.

Fig 4.5 Dreamweaver supported languages.

At this stage of the implementation, the HTML and PHP codes are written, the
website is connected to the database using PHP scripts; Dynamic content is delivered
from information stored on products into the webpage.

107

Fig 4.6: Coding in Dreamweaver: showing connection with DivineFoods database.

Other activities carried out during this stage nclude:
i.

Updating the page properties to add a title and background color.

ii.

Incorporating the placeholder text from the original design into the home page.

iii.

Adding formatting styles and applying them to specific HTML tags.

iv.

Creating custom classes to add rules that will affect elements that reoccur on
the page.

v.

Using the Adobe BrowserLab service to check how different browsers render
the page on the Mac OS X and Windows XP platform.

vi.

Converting a static web page to a dynamic PHP-based page.

vii.

Breaking down the page into reusable elements such as the header and footer.

viii.

Querying data from the MySQL database on the server, and present that data
dynamically on the home page.

108

ix.

Creating a PHP page that queries and returns data from a MySQL database in
XML format.

x.

Creating a PHP page that retrieves and presents the data dynamically using the
Spry framework for Ajax

xi.

Creating the product PHP page that uses the form request functionality to
query and display data from a MySQL database on the server.

xii.

Configuring a existing PHP pages to use with InContext Editing, a service that
allows addition and maintenance of a web page within a web browser.

xiii.

PHP scripts were created to enable User account creation, user login, user
password encryption, admin account management, shopping basket, check out
and more ( see Appendix).

109

The Final Web Page Preview in Browser

Having successfully implemented the system according to the initial design, here final
previews of some of the web pages in a browser.

Fig 4.7: Website Home page preview in browser

110

Fig 4.8: Website recipe blog page preview in browser

111

Fig 4.9: Website products page preview in browser

112

Fig 4.10: Website special offers page preview in browser

113

Chapter 6: Evaluation and Testing

The analysis design and development of this system was deemed successful. This
assessment was made based on the functionality of the final system meeting the
requirements analysis. The system satisfactorily meets the core requirements set out
by DFs. Customers can easily register with the website using their email address as
the username along with secure encrypted passwords. Customers can adequately
manage their accounts online without any help from DFs; the system is robust enough
to handle large numbers of customers without crashing.
Though the initial specification evolved around web 1.0, the system was eventually
developed to web 2.0 standards; with facebook, twitter and Myspace elements
integrated into the site. There is a web blog where customers can interact with each
other, post recipes and comment on existing posts, products can also be reviewed. The
development of this system has resolved majority of the problems faced by DFs:
Processing time of the business and employee s transaction data was reduced. In the
past, employees managed order and delivery documents by writing directly on paper.
Moving the order and delivery system onto the Internet reduced the time needed to
process business/employee s transaction data by automating several processes that
would otherwise be carried out manually.
Product stock levels can be automatically monitored by the system, alerting the
management when products are running out of stock.
The extensive literature research carried out along with the systems analysis and
design methods employed enabled this system to be designed to a high standard an in
compliance with e-Commerce Regulations. Contracts can be started and finalised
online, the site incorporates DFs marketing identity, and clearly displays the
companys Terms and conditions an EC Directive requirement. Data flow diagrams
and UML class, activity and use case diagrams enabled the identification of data
processes and flows leading to the modelling and design of the overall system.
The system employs marketing strategy in form of form of regular newsletters with
promotional offers. The system with facilitate customer acquisition by using clear
page headers, descriptions and keywords to optimize search engine indexing.
114

Customer retention is achieved by providing personal user accounts and recipe blogs
to give customers reasons to always re-visit the website.
The overall time taken to develop the system was reduced by carrying-out testing
concurrently with implementation. Several types of testing were carried out as
specified in earlier sections of this report

115

Further Work

Though the overall system was a success, are certain areas that could be enhance even
further.
The e-Commerce system can be further improved to include band carry out card
transactions. Customers should be able to pay by credit/debit card directly to DFs.
This feature was not included in this system mainly because DFs do not currently
have a merchant account with any banks; this is required to process card transactions.
This system can also be improved further into a B2B application. This will enable
DFs to really take advantage of the benefits of e-Commerce by directly integrating
their e-commerce system to a warehouse distribution system of their suppliers.
Complete autonomy can be achieved by the DFs system this way as it will
automatically order from suppliers when product inventory is low. This element was
not included in this system as it would have been complicated; this is because most
products are manufactured by DFs using raw materials ordered from suppliers and
majority of these suppliers either do not carry out business online or they do not
possess the infrastructure to run e-business systems. Since this is the case, it would
have been impractical to develop a B2B system if it cannot fully integrate with
supplier systems or if these systems are absent.

116

Chapter 5: References & Bibliography

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123

Chapter 7: Appendix
Appendix A
SQL Database Scripts
/*
MySQL Data Transfer
Source Host: localhost
Source Database: divinefoods
Target Host: localhost
Target Database: divinefoods
*/

SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;
-- ----------------------------- Table structure for customers
-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `customers`;
CREATE TABLE `customers` (
`customer_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`title` enum('Other','Chief','Dr','Ms','Miss','Mrs','Mr') NOT NULL,
`first_name` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
`last_name` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
`email_add` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
`login_pword` varchar(10) NOT NULL,
`address_line_1` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
`address_line_2` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
`town_city` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
`post_code` varchar(7) NOT NULL,
`county` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
`country` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
`telephone` varchar(15) NOT NULL,
`org_or_ind` enum('Individual','Organisation') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'Individual',
`organisation_name` varchar(30) DEFAULT NULL,

124

`newsletter` enum('No','Yes') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'Yes',

`other_info` varchar(250) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`customer_id`),
KEY `customer_id` (`customer_id`,`title`,`first_name`,`last_name`,`email_add`,`telephone`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for delivery

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `delivery`;
CREATE TABLE `delivery` (
`delivery_ref` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`order_code` int(6) NOT NULL,
`tracking_no` varchar(30) DEFAULT NULL,
`date_shipped` date DEFAULT NULL,
`ex_delivery_date` date DEFAULT NULL,
`delivery_details` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`delivery_ref`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for delivery_items

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `delivery_items`;
CREATE TABLE `delivery_items` (
`delivery_item_id` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`delivery_ref` int(6) NOT NULL,
`odrer_item_id` int(6) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`delivery_item_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for invoice

-- ----------------------------

125

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `invoice`;

CREATE TABLE `invoice` (
`invoice_number` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`order_code` int(6) NOT NULL,
`invoice_date` date NOT NULL,
`invoice_details` varchar(150) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`invoice_number`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for invoice_line

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `invoice_line`;
CREATE TABLE `invoice_line` (
`invoice_line_id` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`order_item_id` int(6) NOT NULL,
`invoice_number` int(6) NOT NULL,
`product_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`derived_cost` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
`VAT` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
`total_cost` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
`other_details` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`invoice_line_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=2 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for newsletter_customers

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `newsletter_customers`;
CREATE TABLE `newsletter_customers` (
`news_customer_id` int(6) NOT NULL,
`customer_id` int(6) NOT NULL,
`more_details` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`news_customer_id`)

126

) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for order_items

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `order_items`;
CREATE TABLE `order_items` (
`order_item_id` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`product_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`product_quantity` double NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
`order_code` int(6) NOT NULL,
`unit_sale_price` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
`sub_total` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
`more_details` decimal(10,0) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`order_item_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=2 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for orders

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `orders`;
CREATE TABLE `orders` (
`order_code` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`customer_id` int(6) NOT NULL,
`order_date` date NOT NULL,
`order_details` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`order_code`),
KEY `customer_id` (`customer_id`),
CONSTRAINT `customer_id` FOREIGN KEY (`customer_id`) REFERENCES `customers` (`customer_id`) ON DELETE
CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for payment

127

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `payment`;

CREATE TABLE `payment` (
`payment_ref` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`invoice_number` int(6) NOT NULL,
`payment_method_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`payment_date` date NOT NULL,
`amount` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`payment_ref`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for payment_method

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `payment_method`;
CREATE TABLE `payment_method` (
`payment_mehod_code` enum('CHEQ','DBTCD','CRDCD','PAYP') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'PAYP',
`p_method_desc` varchar(40) NOT NULL,
`more_info` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`payment_mehod_code`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for product_category

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `product_category`;
CREATE TABLE `product_category` (
`p_cat_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`p_cat_name` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
`p_cat_desc` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
`more_details` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`p_cat_code`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

128

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for products

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `products`;
CREATE TABLE `products` (
`product_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`product_name` varchar(30) NOT NULL,
`product_description` varchar(250) NOT NULL,
`p_cat_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`units_in_stock` int(11) NOT NULL,
`unit_sale_price` decimal(10,0) DEFAULT NULL,
`date_manf` date NOT NULL,
`expiry_date` date NOT NULL,
`serving_sug` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
`p_picture` binary(50) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'Enter product picture name\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0',
`nutrional_content` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`product_code`),
KEY `product_name` (`product_name`,`unit_sale_price`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

-- ----------------------------- Table structure for recipe

-- ---------------------------DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `recipe`;
CREATE TABLE `recipe` (
`recipe_ref` int(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`product_code` varchar(5) NOT NULL,
`recipe_name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`recipe_desc` varchar(2500) NOT NULL,
`recipe_author` varchar(30) DEFAULT NULL,
`date_added` date NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`recipe_ref`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

129

-- ----------------------------- Records
-- ---------------------------INSERT INTO `invoice_line` VALUES ('1', '0', '0', '', '3', '1', '0', null);
INSERT INTO `order_items` VALUES ('1', 'dfff', '1', '0', '0', '0', null);
INSERT INTO `products` VALUES ('DFA01', 'Beef Suya', 'Spicy grilled beef. Full african flavour with spicy herbs, chilli',
'DFARI', '18', null, '2010-04-19', '2010-05-28', 'Serve warm, with chilled wine', 'beefsuya.jpg', '5% Fat, 20 % Sugar');

Apendix B
PHP Scripts
Admin Page

Admin Index PHP Page

<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

$self = WEB_ROOT . 'admin/index.php';

?>
<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $pageTitle; ?></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<link href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT;?>admin/include/admin.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo WEB_ROOT;?>library/common.js"></script>
<?php

130

$n = count($script);
for ($i = 0; $i < $n; $i++) {
if ($script[$i] != '') {
echo '<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="' . WEB_ROOT. 'admin/library/' . $script[$i]. '"></script>';
}
}
?>
</head>
<body>
<table width="750" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" class="graybox">
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><img src="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/include/banner-top.gif" width="750" height="75"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="150" valign="top" class="navArea"><p>&nbsp;</p>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/" class="leftnav">Home</a>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/category/" class="leftnav">Category</a>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/product/" class="leftnav">Product</a>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/order/?status=Paid" class="leftnav">Order</a>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/config/" class="leftnav">Shop Config</a>
<a href="<?php echo WEB_ROOT; ?>admin/user/" class="leftnav">User</a>
<a href="<?php echo $self; ?>?logout" class="leftnav">Logout</a>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p></td>
<td width="600" valign="top" class="contentArea"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20">
<tr>
<td>
<?php
require_once $content;
?>
</td>
</tr>

131

</table></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2010 - <?php echo date('Y'); ?> <a href="www.rhicsgraphics.com"> Chris
Nwaigwe</a></p>
</body>
</html

List Current Users

<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

$sql = "SELECT user_id, user_name, user_regdate, user_last_login

FROM tbl_user
ORDER BY user_name";
$result = dbQuery($sql);

?>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<form action="processUser.php?action=addUser" method="post" name="frmListUser" id="frmListUser">
<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" class="text">
<tr align="center" id="listTableHeader">
<td>User Name</td>
<td width="120">Register Date</td>
<td width="120">Last login</td>
<td width="120">Change Password</td>
<td width="70">Delete</td>
</tr>
<?php
while($row = dbFetchAssoc($result)) {

132

extract($row);

if ($i%2) {
$class = 'row1';
} else {
$class = 'row2';
}

$i += 1;
?>
<tr class="<?php echo $class; ?>">
<td><?php echo $user_name; ?></td>
<td width="120" align="center"><?php echo $user_regdate; ?></td>
<td width="120" align="center"><?php echo $user_last_login; ?></td>
<td width="120" align="center"><a href="javascript:changePassword(<?php echo $user_id; ?>);">Change Password</a></td>
<td width="70" align="center"><a href="javascript:deleteUser(<?php echo $user_id; ?>);">Delete</a></td>
</tr>
<?php
} // end while

?>
<tr>
<td colspan="5">&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" align="right"><input name="btnAddUser" type="button" id="btnAddUser" value="Add User" class="box"
onClick="addUser()"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</form>

Modify Users

133

<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

if (isset($_GET['userId']) && (int)$_GET['userId'] > 0) {

$userId = (int)$_GET['userId'];
} else {
header('Location: index.php');
}

$errorMessage = (isset($_GET['error']) && $_GET['error'] != '') ? $_GET['error'] : '&nbsp;';

$sql = "SELECT user_name

FROM tbl_user
WHERE user_id = $userId";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
extract(dbFetchAssoc($result));

?>
<p class="errorMessage"><?php echo $errorMessage; ?></p>
<form action="processUser.php?action=modify" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="frmAddUser"
id="frmAddUser">
<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" class="entryTable">
<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">User Name</td>
<td class="content"><input name="txtUserName" type="text" class="box" id="txtUserName" value="<?php echo
$user_name; ?>" size="20" maxlength="20">
<input name="hidUserId" type="hidden" id="hidUserId" value="<?php echo $userId; ?>"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">Password</td>
<td class="content"> <input name="txtPassword" type="password" class="box" id="txtPassword" size="20"
maxlength="20"></td>

134

</tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<input name="btnModifyUser" type="button" id="btnModifyUser" value="Modify User" onClick="checkAddUserForm();"
class="box">
&nbsp;&nbsp;<input name="btnCancel" type="button" id="btnCancel" value="Cancel"
onClick="window.location.href='index.php';" class="box">
</p>
</form>

Change User Password

<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

if (isset($_GET['userId']) && (int)$_GET['userId'] > 0) {

$userId = (int)$_GET['userId'];
} else {
header('Location: index.php');
}

$errorMessage = (isset($_GET['error']) && $_GET['error'] != '') ? $_GET['error'] : '&nbsp;';

$sql = "SELECT user_name

FROM tbl_user
WHERE user_id = $userId";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
extract(dbFetchAssoc($result));

?>
<p class="errorMessage"><?php echo $errorMessage; ?></p>
<form action="processUser.php?action=modify" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="frmAddUser"
id="frmAddUser">

135

<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" class="entryTable">

<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">User Name</td>
<td class="content"><input name="txtUserName" type="text" class="box" id="txtUserName" value="<?php echo
$user_name; ?>" size="20" maxlength="20">
<input name="hidUserId" type="hidden" id="hidUserId" value="<?php echo $userId; ?>"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">Password</td>
<td class="content"> <input name="txtPassword" type="password" class="box" id="txtPassword" size="20"
maxlength="20"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<input name="btnModifyUser" type="button" id="btnModifyUser" value="Modify User" onClick="checkAddUserForm();"
class="box">
&nbsp;&nbsp;<input name="btnCancel" type="button" id="btnCancel" value="Cancel"
onClick="window.location.href='index.php';" class="box">
</p>
</form>

Add User
<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

$errorMessage = (isset($_GET['error']) && $_GET['error'] != '') ? $_GET['error'] : '&nbsp;';

?>
<p class="errorMessage"><?php echo $errorMessage; ?></p>
<form action="processUser.php?action=add" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="frmAddUser"
id="frmAddUser">
<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" class="entryTable">
<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">User Name</td>
<td class="content"> <input name="txtUserName" type="text" class="box" id="txtUserName" size="20"
maxlength="20"></td>

136

</tr>
<tr>
<td width="150" class="label">Password</td>
<td class="content"> <input name="txtPassword" type="password" class="box" id="txtPassword" value="" size="20"
maxlength="20"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<input name="btnAddUser" type="button" id="btnAddUser" value="Add User" onClick="checkAddUserForm();"
class="box">
&nbsp;&nbsp;<input name="btnCancel" type="button" id="btnCancel" value="Cancel"
onClick="window.location.href='index.php';" class="box">
</p>
</form>

Javascript User Form Validation

function checkAddUserForm()
{
with (window.document.frmAddUser) {
if (isEmpty(txtUserName, 'Enter user name')) {
return;
} else if (isEmpty(txtPassword, 'Enter password')) {
return;
} else {
submit();
}
}
}

function addUser()
{
window.location.href = 'index.php?view=add';
}

137

function changePassword(userId)
{
window.location.href = 'index.php?view=modify&userId=' + userId;
}

function deleteUser(userId)
{
if (confirm('Delete this user?')) {
window.location.href = 'processUser.php?action=delete&userId=' + userId;
}
}

Adding, modifying and viewing Products

// JavaScript Document
function viewProduct()
{
with (window.document.frmListProduct) {
if (cboCategory.selectedIndex == 0) {
window.location.href = 'index.php';
} else {
window.location.href = 'index.php?catId=' +
cboCategory.options[cboCategory.selectedIndex].value;
}
}
}

function checkAddProductForm()
{
with (window.document.frmAddProduct) {
if (cboCategory.selectedIndex == 0) {
alert('Choose the product category');
cboCategory.focus();
return;

138

} else if (isEmpty(txtName, 'Enter Product name')) {

return;
} else {
submit();
}
}
}

function addProduct(catId)
{
window.location.href = 'index.php?view=add&catId=' + catId;
}

function modifyProduct(productId)
{
window.location.href = 'index.php?view=modify&productCode=' + productCode;
}

function deleteProduct(productId, catId)

{
if (confirm('Delete this product?')) {
window.location.href = 'processProduct.php?action=deleteProduct&productCode=' + productCode +
'&catId=' + catId;
}
}

function deleteImage(productId)
{
if (confirm('Delete this image')) {
window.location.href = 'processProduct.php?action=deleteImage&productCode=' + productCode;
}
}

139

Order Functions: Viewing Modifying and Deleting Orders:

// JavaScript Document

function viewOrder()
{
statusList = window.document.frmOrderList.cboOrderStatus;
status

= statusList.options[statusList.selectedIndex].value;

if (status != '') {
window.location.href = 'index.php?status=' + status;
} else {
window.location.href = 'index.php';
}
}

function modifyOrderStatus(orderId)
{
statusList = window.document.frmOrder.cboOrderStatus;
status

= statusList.options[statusList.selectedIndex].value;

window.location.href = 'processOrder.php?action=modify&oid=' + orderId + '&status=' + status;

}

function deleteOrder(orderId)
{

140

Web Site Functionality PHP Scripts

Customer Registration

<?php
// Connects to your Database
mysql_connect("localhost", "root") or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("divinefoods") or die(mysql_error());
//This code runs if the form has been submitted
if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
//This makes sure they did not leave any fields blank
if (!$_POST['username'] | !$_POST['pass'] | !$_POST['pass2'] ) {
die('You did not complete all of the required fields');
}
// checks if the username is in use
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$_POST['username'] = addslashes($_POST['username']);
}
$usercheck = $_POST['username'];
$check = mysql_query("SELECT username FROM users WHERE username =
'$usercheck'")
or die(mysql_error());
$check2 = mysql_num_rows($check);
//if the name exists it gives an error
if ($check2 != 0) {
die('Sorry, the username '.$_POST['username'].' is already in use.');
}
// this makes sure both passwords entered match
if ($_POST['pass'] != $_POST['pass2']) {
die('Your passwords did not match. ');
}
// here we encrypt the password and add slashes if needed
$_POST['pass'] = md5($_POST['pass']);
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$_POST['pass'] = addslashes($_POST['pass']);
$_POST['username'] = addslashes($_POST['username']);
}
// now we insert it into the database
$insert = "INSERT INTO users (username, password)
VALUES ('".$_POST['username']."', '".$_POST['pass']."')";
$add_member = mysql_query($insert);
?>
<h1>Registered</h1>
<p>Thank you, you have registered - you may now login</a>.</p>
141

<?php
}
else
{
?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method="post">
<table border="0">
<tr><td>Username:</td><td>
<input type="text" name="username" maxlength="60">
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Password:</td><td>
<input type="password" name="pass" maxlength="10">
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Confirm Password:</td><td>
<input type="password" name="pass2" maxlength="10">
</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan=2><input type="submit" name="submit"
value="Register"></th></tr> </table>
</form>
<?php
}
?>

User Login
//Checks if there is a login cookie
if(isset($_COOKIE['ID_my_site']))
//if there is, it logs you in and directes you to the members page
{
$username = $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];
$pass = $_COOKIE['Key_my_site'];
$check = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username
= '$username'")or die(mysql_error());
while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $check ))
{
if ($pass != $info['password'])
{
}
else
{
header("Location: members.php");
}
}
}
//if the login form is submitted
if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted
142

// makes sure they filled it in

if(!$_POST['username'] | !$_POST['pass']) {
die('You did not fill in a required field.');
}
// checks it against the database
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$_POST['email'] = addslashes($_POST['email']);
}
$check = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username =
'".$_POST['username']."'")or die(mysql_error());
//Gives error if user dosen't exist
$check2 = mysql_num_rows($check);
if ($check2 == 0) {
die('That user does not exist in our database. <a href=add.php>Click
Here to Register</a>');
}
while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $check ))
{
$_POST['pass'] = stripslashes($_POST['pass']);
$info['password'] = stripslashes($info['password']);
$_POST['pass'] = md5($_POST['pass']);
//gives error if the password is wrong
if ($_POST['pass'] != $info['password']) {
die('Incorrect password, please try again.');
}
The Login Page 2
else
{
// if login is ok then we add a cookie
$_POST['username'] = stripslashes($_POST['username']);
$hour = time() + 3600;
setcookie(ID_my_site, $_POST['username'], $hour);
setcookie(Key_my_site, $_POST['pass'], $hour);
//then redirect them to the members area
header("Location: members.php");
}
}
}
else
{
// if they are not logged in
?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="post">
<table border="0">
<tr><td colspan=2><h1>Login</h1></td></tr>
143

<tr><td>Username:</td><td>
<input type="text" name="username" maxlength="40">
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Password:</td><td>
<input type="password" name="pass" maxlength="50">
</td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" align="right">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login">
</td></tr>
</table>
</form>
<?php
}
?>

Customer Account Area

<?php
// Connects to your Database
mysql_connect("your.hostaddress.com", "username", "password") or
die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("Database_Name") or die(mysql_error());
//checks cookies to make sure they are logged in
if(isset($_COOKIE['ID_my_site']))
{
$username = $_COOKIE['ID_my_site'];
$pass = $_COOKIE['Key_my_site'];
$check = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username
= '$username'")or die(mysql_error());
while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $check ))
{
//if the cookie has the wrong password, they are taken to the login page
if ($pass != $info['password'])
{
header("Location: login.php");
}
//otherwise they are shown the admin area
else
{
echo "Admin Area<p>";
echo "Your Content<p>";
echo "<a href=logout.php>Logout</a>";
}
}
}
else
//if the cookie does not exist, they are taken to the login screen
{
144

header("Location: login.php");
}

Customer Log Out

<?php
$past = time() - 100;
//this makes the time in the past to destroy the cookie
setcookie(ID_my_site, gone, $past);
setcookie(Key_my_site, gone, $past);
header("Location: login.php");
?>

Order Processing
<?php
require_once '../../library/config.php';
require_once '../library/functions.php';

checkUser();

$action = isset($_GET['action']) ? $_GET['action'] : '';

switch ($action) {
case 'modify' :
modifyOrder();
break;

default :
// if action is not defined or unknown
// move to main category page
header('Location: index.php');
}

145

function modifyOrder()
{
if (!isset($_GET['oid']) || (int)$_GET['oid'] <= 0
|| !isset($_GET['status']) || $_GET['status'] == '') {
header('Location: index.php');
}

$orderId = (int)$_GET['oid'];
$status = $_GET['status'];

$sql = "UPDATE tbl_order

SET od_status = '$status', od_last_update = NOW()
WHERE od_id = $orderId";
$result = dbQuery($sql);

header("Location: index.php?view=list&status=$status");
}

?>

146

Displaying the Product List

<?php
if (!defined('WEB_ROOT')) {
exit;
}

if (isset($_GET['status']) && $_GET['status'] != '') {

$status = $_GET['status'];
$sql2 = " AND od_status = '$status'";
$queryString = "&status=$status";
} else {
$status = '';
$sql2 = '';
$queryString = '';
}

// for paging
// how many rows to show per page
$rowsPerPage = 4;

?>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<form action="processOrder.php" method="post" name="frmOrderList" id="frmOrderList">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" class="text">
<tr align="center">
<td align="right">View</td>
<td width="75"><select name="cboOrderStatus" class="box" id="cboOrderStatus" onChange="viewOrder();">
<option value="" selected>All</option>
<?php echo $orderOption; ?>
</select></td>
</tr>
</table>

147

<table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" class="text">

<tr align="center" id="listTableHeader">
<td width="60">Order #</td>
<td>Customer Name</td>
<td width="60">Amount</td>
<td width="150">Order Time</td>
<td width="70">Status</td>
</tr>
<?php
$parentId = 0;
if (dbNumRows($result) > 0) {
$i = 0;

while($row = dbFetchAssoc($result)) {
extract($row);
$name = $od_shipping_first_name . ' ' . $od_shipping_last_name;

if ($i%2) {
$class = 'row1';
} else {
$class = 'row2';
}

$i += 1;
?>
<tr class="<?php echo $class; ?>">
<td width="60"><a href="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>?view=detail&oid=<?php echo $od_id; ?>"><?php echo
$od_id; ?></a></td>
<td><?php echo $name ?></td>
<td width="60" align="right"><?php echo displayAmount($od_amount); ?></td>
<td width="150" align="center"><?php echo $od_date; ?></td>
<td width="70" align="center"><?php echo $od_status; ?></td>
</tr>

148

<?php
} // end while

?>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" align="center">
<?php
echo $pagingLink;
?></td>
</tr>
<?php
} else {
?>
<tr>
<td colspan="5" align="center">No Orders Found </td>
</tr>
<?php
}
?>

</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</form>

Paypal Payment Script

<?php
// this page only process a POST from paypal website
// so make sure that the one requesting this page comes
// from paypal. we can do this by checking the remote address
// the IP must begin with 66.135.197.
if (strpos($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'], '66.135.197.') === false) {
exit;
}

149

require_once './paypal.inc.php';

// repost the variables we get to paypal site

// for validation purpose
$result = fsockPost($paypal['url'], $_POST);

//check the ipn result received back from paypal

if (eregi("VERIFIED", $result)) {

require_once '../../library/config.php';

// check that the invoice has not been previously processed

$sql = "SELECT od_status
FROM tbl_order
WHERE od_id = {$_POST['invoice']}";

$result = dbQuery($sql);

// if no invoice with such number is found, exit

if (dbNumRows($result) == 0) {
exit;
} else {

$row = dbFetchAssoc($result);

// process this order only if the status is still 'New'

if ($row['od_status'] !== 'New') {
exit;
} else {

// check that the buyer sent the right amount of money

$sql = "SELECT SUM(pd_price * od_qty) AS subtotal
FROM tbl_order_item oi, tbl_product p

150

WHERE oi.od_id = {$_POST['invoice']} AND oi.pd_id = p.pd_id

GROUP by oi.od_id";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
$row

= dbFetchAssoc($result);

$subTotal = $row['subtotal'];
$total

= $subTotal + $shopConfig['shippingCost'];

if ($_POST['payment_gross'] != $total) {
exit;
} else {

$invoice = $_POST['invoice'];
$memo

= $_POST['memo'];

if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$memo = addslashes($memo);
}

// ok, so this order looks perfectly okay

// now we can update the order status to 'Paid'
// update the memo too
$sql = "UPDATE tbl_order
SET od_status = 'Paid', od_memo = '$memo', od_last_update = NOW()
WHERE od_id = $invoice";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
}
}
}

} else {
exit;
}

151

?>

Shopping Cart Functions

<?php
require_once 'config.php';
function addToCart()
{
// make sure the product id exist
if (isset($_GET['p']) && (int)$_GET['p'] > 0) {
$productId = (int)$_GET['p'];
} else {
header('Location: index.php');
}

// does the product exist ?

$sql = "SELECT pd_id, pd_qty
FROM tbl_product
WHERE pd_id = $productId";
$result = dbQuery($sql);

if (dbNumRows($result) != 1) {
// the product doesn't exist
header('Location: cart.php');
} else {
// how many of this product we
// have in stock
$row = dbFetchAssoc($result);
$currentStock = $row['pd_qty'];

if ($currentStock == 0) {
// we no longer have this product in stock
// show the error message
setError('The product you requested is no longer in stock');

152

header('Location: cart.php');
exit;
}

// current session id
$sid = session_id();

// check if the product is already

// in cart table for this session
$sql = "SELECT pd_id
FROM tbl_cart
WHERE pd_id = $productId AND ct_session_id = '$sid'";
$result = dbQuery($sql);

if (dbNumRows($result) == 0) {
// put the product in cart table
$sql = "INSERT INTO tbl_cart (pd_id, ct_qty, ct_session_id, ct_date)
VALUES ($productId, 1, '$sid', NOW())";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
} else {
// update product quantity in cart table
$sql = "UPDATE tbl_cart
SET ct_qty = ct_qty + 1
WHERE ct_session_id = '$sid' AND pd_id = $productId";

$result = dbQuery($sql);
}

// an extra job for us here is to remove abandoned carts.

// right now the best option is to call this function here
deleteAbandonedCart();

153

header('Location: ' . $_SESSION['shop_return_url']);

}

/*
Get all item in current session
from shopping cart table
*/
function getCartContent()
{
$cartContent = array();

$sid = session_id();
$sql = "SELECT ct_id, ct.pd_id, ct_qty, pd_name, pd_price, pd_thumbnail, pd.cat_id
FROM tbl_cart ct, tbl_product pd, tbl_category cat
WHERE ct_session_id = '$sid' AND ct.pd_id = pd.pd_id AND cat.cat_id = pd.cat_id";

$result = dbQuery($sql);

while ($row = dbFetchAssoc($result)) {

if ($row['pd_thumbnail']) {
$row['pd_thumbnail'] = WEB_ROOT . 'images/product/' . $row['pd_thumbnail'];
} else {
$row['pd_thumbnail'] = WEB_ROOT . 'images/no-image-small.png';
}
$cartContent[] = $row;
}

return $cartContent;
}

/*
Remove an item from the cart
*/
function deleteFromCart($cartId = 0)

154

{
if (!$cartId && isset($_GET['cid']) && (int)$_GET['cid'] > 0) {
$cartId = (int)$_GET['cid'];
}

if ($cartId) {
$sql = "DELETE FROM tbl_cart
WHERE ct_id = $cartId";

$result = dbQuery($sql);
}

header('Location: cart.php');
}

/*
Update item quantity in shopping cart
*/
function updateCart()
{
$cartId

= $_POST['hidCartId'];

$productId = $_POST['hidProductId'];
$itemQty

= $_POST['txtQty'];

$numItem

= count($itemQty);

$numDeleted = 0;
$notice

= '';

for ($i = 0; $i < $numItem; $i++) {

$newQty = (int)$itemQty[$i];
if ($newQty < 1) {
// remove this item from shopping cart
deleteFromCart($cartId[$i]);
$numDeleted += 1;
} else {

155

// check current stock

$sql = "SELECT pd_name, pd_qty
FROM tbl_product
WHERE pd_id = {$productId[$i]}";
$result = dbQuery($sql);
$row

= dbFetchAssoc($result);

if ($newQty > $row['pd_qty']) {

// we only have this much in stock
$newQty = $row['pd_qty'];

// if the customer put more than

// we have in stock, give a notice
if ($row['pd_qty'] > 0) {
setError('The quantity you have requested is more than we currently have
in stock. The number available is indicated in the &quot;Quantity&quot; box. ');
} else {
// the product is no longer in stock
setError('Sorry, but the product you want (' . $row['pd_name'] . ') is no
longer in stock');

// remove this item from shopping cart

deleteFromCart($cartId[$i]);
$numDeleted += 1;
}
}

// update product quantity

$sql = "UPDATE tbl_cart
SET ct_qty = $newQty
WHERE ct_id = {$cartId[$i]}";

dbQuery($sql);
}
}

156

if ($numDeleted == $numItem) {
// if all item deleted return to the last page that
// the customer visited before going to shopping cart
header("Location: $returnUrl" . $_SESSION['shop_return_url']);
} else {
header('Location: cart.php');
}

exit;
}

function isCartEmpty()
{
$isEmpty = false;

$sid = session_id();
$sql = "SELECT ct_id
FROM tbl_cart ct
WHERE ct_session_id = '$sid'";

$result = dbQuery($sql);

if (dbNumRows($result) == 0) {
$isEmpty = true;
}

return $isEmpty;
}

/*
Delete all cart entries older than one day
*/
function deleteAbandonedCart()

157

{
$yesterday = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', mktime(0,0,0, date('m'), date('d') - 1, date('Y')));
$sql = "DELETE FROM tbl_cart
WHERE ct_date < '$yesterday'";
dbQuery($sql);
}

?>

Connecting to the database

<?php
require_once 'config.php';

$dbConn = mysql_connect ($localhost, $dbroot,) or die ('MySQL connect failed. ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($divinefoods) or die('Cannot select database. ' . mysql_error());

function dbQuery($sql)
{
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die(mysql_error());

return $result;
}

function dbAffectedRows()
{
global $dbConn;

return mysql_affected_rows($dbConn);
}

function dbFetchArray($result, $resultType = MYSQL_NUM) {

return mysql_fetch_array($result, $resultType);
}

158

function dbFetchAssoc($result)
{
return mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
}

function dbFetchRow($result)
{
return mysql_fetch_row($result);
}

function dbFreeResult($result)
{
return mysql_free_result($result);
}

function dbNumRows($result)
{
return mysql_num_rows($result);
}

function dbSelect($dbName)
{
return mysql_select_db($dbName);
}

function dbInsertId()
{
return mysql_insert_id();
}
?>

Divine Foods e-Commerce website CSS style sheet

159

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Divine Foods Online | African foods online</title>
<style type="text/css" media="all">
<!--

body {
background-color: #323232;
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
font-size: 100%;
}
.leftbarlinks {
font-size: 90%;
color: #400000;
text-decoration: none;
background-color: #FFC;
text-indent: 50px;
height: 311px;
width: 230px;
margin-top: 6px;
padding-top: 6px;
}
.p {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
font-size: inherit;
font-family: inherit;
font-weight: inherit;
text-align: inherit;
color: inherit;

160

line-height: inherit;
vertical-align: top;
}
p{
padding-top:0px;
margin-top:0px;
}
img {
border:0px;
}
div {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
font-family:verdana; font-size:12px;
}
.AbsWrap {
width: 100%;
position: relative;
}
.rowWrap {
width: 100%;
}
.clearfloat {
clear:both;
height:0px;
}
a:link, a:visited{
COLOR:inherit;
text-decoration:inherit;
}
#main {
width:1024px;
margin: 0px auto 0px auto;
border: 0px solid #f0f0f0;

161

background-image: url(images/bg_home.gif);
}
#home_r1_c1 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:0px;
width:1024px;
height:169px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;
}
#home_r8_c2 {
margin-left:18px;
margin-top:314px;
width:2px;
height:270px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#home_r5_c3 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:310px;
width:234px;
height:275px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;
}
.sidebarlinks {
}
#colwrap1 {
float:left;

162

width:577px;
margin-top:0px;
margin-left:0px;
border: 0px solid #f0f0f0;

}
#home_r4_c4 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:5px;
width:576px;
height:291px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#home_r7_c4 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:0px;
width:576px;
height:194px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#home_r10_c5 {
margin-left:25px;
margin-top:17px;
width:552px;
height:51px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

163

}
#colwrap2 {
float:left;
width:180px;
margin-top:0px;
margin-left:0px;
border: 0px solid #f0f0f0;

}
#home_r3_c7 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:4px;
width:131px;
height:38px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#home_r6_c7 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:0px;
width:180px;
height:542px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#home_r12_c1 {
margin-left:0px;
margin-top:0px;
width:1024px;

164

height:50px;
margin-bottom:0px;
float:left;
display:inline;

}
#nav {
font-size: 100%;
line-height: 30px;
font-weight: bold;
text-transform: uppercase;
color: #fff;
background-color: #FFF;
text-indent: 70px;
width: 1024px;
padding-bottom: 0px;
border-bottom-width: medium;
border-bottom-style: outset;
border-bottom-color: #004269;
background-image: url(images/nav.jpg);
height: 200px;
}
#nav a {
color: #FFF;
text-decoration: none;
}
.seperator {
color: #323232;
}

-->
</style>

<!--[if IE]>

165

<style type="text/css" media="all">.borderitem {border-style:solid;}</style>

<![endif]-->
</head>

<body bgcolor="#E8B57B" text="#240000" link="#0000CC" vlink="#CC0033">

<div id="main">
<img src="images/header2.jpg" alt="" height="167" id="home_r1_c1" />
<div id="nav">HOME
<span class="seperator">-- ---</span> ABOUT US
<span class="seperator">---- - -</span>
PRODUCTS
<span class="seperator">- - - -</span> SPECIAL OFFERS
<span class="seperator">--- --</span>
FREE RECIPES
<span class="seperator">--- --</span> MY ACCOUNT
<span class="seperator">--- ---</span>
MORE SERVICES </div>
<br class="clearfloat" />
<img src="images/home_r8_c2.png" id="home_r8_c2" alt="" />
<img src="images/adspace_home.gif" id="home_r5_c3" alt="" />
<div id="colwrap1"><img src="images/foodsplash_home.png" alt="" name="splashmiddle" id="home_r4_c4"
/><img src="images/home_r7_c4.gif" id="home_r7_c4" alt="" /><img src="images/facebook_twitter_box.gif"
id="home_r10_c5" alt="" /><img src="images/twitterbtn_home.png" width="60" height="49" /></div>
<div id="colwrap2"><img src="images/home_r3_c7.png" id="home_r3_c7" alt="" /><br class="clearfloat" />
<img src="images/home_r6_c7.jpg" id="home_r6_c7" alt="" />
<br class="clearfloat" />
</div>
<img src="images/home_r12_c1.jpg" id="home_r12_c1" alt="" />
<br class="clearfloat" />
</div>

</body>
</html>

166

Appendix C
Picture Formats Used
GIF: This acronym stands for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF files are the best choice for
images that contain continuous tones, without a lot of color changes or gradients. Solid
colors, text, and vector graphics look good exported as GIF files. GIF files support
transparency. You can also export an animation that contains a series of states (frames) as an
animated GIF. When exporting files in the GIF format, you can reduce the file size by
reducing the number of colors used in an image.
JPEG: This acronym stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. The JPEG format is best
used for pixel-based image content that is photo realistic, such as photos taken with a digital
camera. JPEG files do not support transparency. When you export JPEG files, the degree of
compression can be adjusted by selecting the level of quality, which allows you to find a
good balance between file size and image quality. Files exported in the JPEG format are
compressed and lose some of their original image information, which cannot be restored
(and sometimes results in artifacts and lower image quality.) However, when you export
files as JPEG, the codec typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in
quality.
PNG: This acronym stands for Portable Network Graphics PNG files are a bit newer than
GIF and JPEG formats, so their display is not supported in older browsers. PNG files offer
the crisp photo-realism of JPEG files, with the added advantage of supporting transparency.
Logos and high-quality photographic images are usually best when exported to the PNG
format. Unlike JPEG files, files exported in the PNG format use lossless data compression,
which means the exact original data can be reconstructed from previously compressed data.
It's important to note that there's a difference between PNG files created in Fireworks (which
contain the document's editable data, layers, text, and so on) versus PNG files that are
exported from other programs (which contain only the image data and are not editable).

167

Appendix D
DFs user questionnaire/survey questions
Q1. Which system of operation do you use currently use?

Q2. How satisfied are you with your current system?

Very

Unsatisfied

Neutral

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Unsatisfied

Q3. How well does your system satisfy your needs in terms of: ? (If necessary give details in Q9?)
Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Very poor

Data entry?

Retrieving data?

General user friendliness

Q4. Based on your system, what are your views on the following: (If necessary give details in Q9?)
Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Very Poor

Adequacy of data?

Relevance of data?

Links with other databases/system?

Q5. How does your system contribute to your productivity in terms of: (If necessary give details in Q9?)

Accuracy

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Very poor

168

Timeliness

Q6. On selecting a new system, please rank the importance of the following: (If necessary give details in Q9)
Very important

Important

Not important

Cost

Functionality

Usability/User friendliness

Q7. Please rank the causes of errors and problems encountered while using your system: (If necessary give details in Q9)
High

Low

System complexity

Links with other systems

Other users (possibly as a result of lack of set standards)

Q8. Please highlight any requirements from the e-commerce system that will enhance your business

Q9. If Necessary please elaborate on your answers from Q2 to Q7

169

Q10. Do you feel this survey was adequate? If not please highlight other issues not captured by the survey, with possible
solutions

170

Appendix E
Log Book
Please refer to attached copies of the personal log book

171