WEB APPLICATIONS RHODA MAFULEKA

DEVELOPMENT
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Learning Outcome 1:
Evaluate the benefits of
web applications to an
organization

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a. The different functions of web applications

 It runs on different types of platforms.

 Data is secure and easy to take Backup.

 You can easily update the application.

 You can easily use low specifications of PC’s or smartphones.

 It eliminates compatibility issues as a user can access the same version.

 With the help of SaaS, they reduce software piracy in subscription-based

web applications.

 With a web application, employees can work from anywhere by using

internet access.

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b. The benefits and drawbacks of web applications

Cost-Effective Development Costs

With web-based applications, users access the system via a uniform environment—the
web browser. While the user interaction with the application needs to be thoroughly
tested on different web browsers, the application itself needs only be developed for a
single operating system. There’s no need to develop and test it on all possible operating
system versions and configurations. This makes development and troubleshooting much
easier.

Accessible Anywhere

Unlike traditional applications, web systems are accessible anytime, anywhere, via a PC
with an Internet connection, putting the user in charge of where and when they access
the application.

Easily Customizable – Ability to Incorporate Modern Design Schemes

The user interface of web-based applications is easier to customize, than a desktop

application. This makes it simpler to update the look and feel of the application, along
with providing a unique and exciting way to present data to the user.

Easier Sharing of Data between Different Computer Systems

Using common internet technologies based on industry-wide standards, it’s possible to

achieve a far greater level of data sharing between applications versus traditional
isolated desktop systems. It is far easier to get an online shopping application to integrate
with a web-based accounting application, than it is to get two traditional isolated
desktop systems to talk to each other.

Quick and Easy Installation and Maintenance

With web-based applications, installation and maintenance becomes less complicated.

Once a new version or upgrade is installed on the host server, all users can access it
immediately. There is no need to upgrade each client PC. Rolling out new software can
be accomplished more seamlessly, requiring only that users have up-to-date browsers.
As the upgrades are only performed by an experienced professional to a single server,
the results are more predictable and reliable.

Security

Most web-based applications are installed on dedicated web servers, which can be
monitored by an experienced IT professional. As a result, there is no need to maintain
multiple client computers. Secured connections can also be implemented, thus ensuring
the protection of your sensitive company data. Since the data is centralized, it is
extremely secure and very easy to backup.

Direct Access

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Users have direct access to the latest information wherever they are located. This data is
always up to date

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c. Assessment of organizational functions that would benefit from using web

technology (e.g. updating and maintaining communication and marketing
material, web mail, online sales, auctions, discussions, blogs, submission systems,
payroll, etc.)
Updating and maintaining communication and marketing material
Electronic communication can be defined as, the communication which
uses electronic media to transmit the information or message using computers, e-
mail, telephone, video calling, FAX machine
E-marketing is a process of planning and executing the conception, distribution,
promotion, and pricing of products and services in a computerized, networked
environment, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web, to facilitate
exchanges and satisfy customer demands.
Web mail
Organizations can benefit through Web Mail (or web-based email) which is an
email service that can be accessed using a standard web browser. It contrasts
with email service accessible through a specialized email client software.
Examples of webmail providers are AOL Mail, Gmail, Mail fence,
Outlook.com/Hotmail.com, Yahoo! Mail and Ice Warp Mail Server
Online sales
Organizations can benefit through Online shopping which is a form of electronic
commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller
over the Internet using a web browser. Consumers find a product of interest by
visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative
vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's
availability and pricing at different e-retailers
Auctions
An e-auction is a transaction between sellers (the auctioneers) and bidders
(suppliers in business to business scenarios) that takes place on an electronic
marketplace. It can occur business to business, business to consumer, or consumer
to consumer, and allows suppliers to bid online against each other for contracts
against a published specification.
Discussions
E-Discussions are used to improve practice and overcome challenges in a critical
development area, to prepare documentation, or to help plan for events. An E-
Discussion occurs in a dedicated online discussion space, such as on
an organization's social networking platform
Blogs
Blogging is an inexpensive way for small businesses to drive traffic to their site,
enhance inbound marketing efforts and attract more perspective customers. A
blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published
on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries
(posts)
Submission systems

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A submission management system is a software system that streamlines and eases

out the collection, tracking and management of electronic submissions.
Information can be received, authenticated, tracked, stored, and distributed
electronically. Submission management systems can be web-based system
operating in a browser environment. Submissions are completed electronically
creating an efficient real-time process that saves time for both the submitter and
recipient. Usually a submission management system can take in a high volume of
data at fast rate.
Payroll
Payroll is the process of paying a company's employees, which can include the
tracking of hours worked, the calculation of employee's pay, and the distribution
of payments via direct deposit directly to their account or by check.

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d. Security and access considerations on web applications (e.g. confidentiality of data

and account credentials, vulnerability to criminal activity, hacking, spoofing, malware)

Confidentiality of data and account credentials

Confidentiality refers to the websites owner’s agreement to handle, store, and share
websites data to ensure that information obtained from and about web participants is
not improperly divulged.

Vulnerability to criminal activity

Cybercrime or computer-oriented crime, is a crime that involves a computer and a

network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be
the target. Cybercrime may threaten a person, company or a nation's security and
financial health.

e.g cybercrimes

Hacking

Is an attempt to exploit a computer system or a private network inside a computer. Simply

put, it is the unauthorized access to or control over computer network security systems for
some illicit purpose

Spoofing

Spoofing is the act of disguising a communication from an unknown source as being from
a known, trusted source. Spoofing can apply to emails, phone calls, and websites, or can
be more technical, such as a computer spoofing an IP address, Address Resolution
Protocol (ARP), or Domain Name System (DNS) server.

Spoofing can be used to gain access to a target’s personal information, spread malware
through infected links or attachments, bypass network access controls, or redistribute
traffic to conduct a denial-of-service attack.

Malware

These are malicious software’s whose aim is to damage/ steal computer system files

i. viruses

A computer virus is a malicious program that self-replicates by copying itself to another

program. In other words, the computer virus spreads by itself into other executable code
or documents. The purpose of creating a computer virus is to infect vulnerable systems,
gain admin control and steal user sensitive data. Hackers design computer viruses with
malicious intent and prey on online users by tricking them.

ii. Worms

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A computer worm is a type of malicious software program whose primary function is to

infect other computers while remaining active on infected systems.

A computer worm is self-replicating malware that duplicates itself to spread to

uninfected computers. Worms often use parts of an operating system that are automatic
and invisible to the user. It is common for worms to be noticed only when their
uncontrolled replication consumes system resources, slowing or halting other tasks

iii. Trojan Horse

is a type of malicious code or software that looks legitimate but can take control of your
computer. A Trojan is designed to damage, disrupt, steal, or in general inflict some other
harmful action on your data or network. A Trojan acts like a bona fide application or file
to trick you. It seeks to deceive you into loading and executing the malware on your
device. Once installed, a Trojan can perform the action it was designed for.

iv. Spyware

Is unwanted software that infiltrates your computing device, stealing your internet usage
data and sensitive information. Spyware is classified as a type of malware — malicious
software designed to gain access to or damage your computer, often without your
knowledge

v. Adware

Adware is unwanted software designed to throw advertisements up on your screen, most

often within a web browser. Adware generates revenue for its developer by
automatically displaying online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on
a screen that pops up in the user’s face during the installation process. And that’s when
you start seeing dubious miracle weight loss programs

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e. Ethical issues and organizational responsibilities associated with the storage and
processing of personal data

 The physical material containing personal data must be kept under lock and
key when not in use.

 The physical material may only be accessible to persons in positions of trust.

 The physical material must be destroyed responsibly when the purpose of

storing it has lapsed.
 Data must be collected and used fairly and inside the law
 Data must only be held and used for the reasons given to the Information
Commissioner
 Data can only be used for those registered purposes. You cannot give it away
or sell it unless you said you would initially. For example, your school could not
sell pupils' data to a book or uniform supplier without permission
 The data held must be acceptable, appropriate and not beyond what is
necessary when compared with the purpose for which the data is held
 Data must be accurate and be kept up to date. For example, making sure
data subjects' contact numbers are current
 Data must not be kept longer than is necessary. This rule means that it would
be wrong to keep information about past customers longer than a few years
at most
 Data must be kept safe and secure, for example, personal data should not be
left open to be viewed by just anyone

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Learning Outcome 2:
Analyse how to design
and implement a web
application

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A. Potential impact of common applications on an e-commerce business

POSITIVE IMPACTS

1. Overcome Geographical Limitations

If you have a physical store, you are limited by the geographical area that you can
service. With an e-commerce website, the whole world is your playground. Additionally,
the advent of m-commerce, i.e., e-commerce on mobile devices, has dissolved every
remaining limitation of geography.

2. Gain New Customers with Search Engine Visibility

Physical retail is driven by branding and relationships. In addition to these two drivers,
online retail is also driven by traffic from search engines. It is not unusual for customers to
follow a link in search engine results and land on an e-commerce website that they have
never heard of. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping point for some e-
commerce businesses.

3. Lower Costs
One of the most tangible positives of e-commerce is the lowered cost. A part of these
lowered costs could be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices. Here
are some of the ways that costs can be reduced with e-commerce:

Advertising and marketing: Organic search engine traffic, pay-per-click, and social
media traffic are some of the advertising channels that can be cost-effective.

Personnel: The automation of checkout, billing, payments, inventory management, and

other operational processes lowers the number of employees required to run an e-
commerce setup.

Real estate: An e-commerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location.

4. Locate the Product Quicker

It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle or scouting for the
desired product. On an e-commerce website, customers can click through intuitive
navigation or use a search box to narrow down their product search immediately. Some
websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat
purchase.

5. Eliminate Travel Time and Cost

It is not unusual for customers to travel long distances to reach their preferred physical
store. E-commerce allows them to visit the same store virtually, with just a few mouse
clicks.

6. Provide Comparison Shopping

E-commerce facilitates comparison shopping. There are several online services that allow
customers to browse multiple e-commerce merchants and find the best prices.

7. Provide Abundant Information

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There are limitations to the amount of information that can be displayed in a physical
store. It is difficult to equip employees to respond to customers who require information
across product lines. E-commerce websites can make additional information easily
available to customers. Most of this information is provided by vendors and does not cost
anything to create or maintain.

8. Remain Open All the Time

Store timings are now 24/7/365. E-commerce websites can run all the time. From the
merchant's point of view, this increases the number of orders they receive. From the
customer's point of view, an "always open" store is more convenient.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS

1. Privacy
It is easy to collect a lot of personal information from a consumer using an e-commerce
website. Since all online transactions are recorded, it's relatively easy to create an online
profile of the buyer, and use that to send targeted advertisements. However, many will
agree that this is an intrusion on a consumer's right to privacy. This means small businesses
aiming to establish an online presence using e-commerce need to be aware of the
legislation that applies, as mistakes can be costly both in terms of fines and customer
trust.

2. Security
Another negative effect of e-commerce is its effect on consumers' security. Online
transactions are inherently more insecure than those conducted in person because
there's no way to guarantee that the person making the payment is the actual owner of
the credit card used. At the same time, when the customer inputs the payment
information they risk a third party intercepting it if the website doesn't comply with the
adequate security measures, giving rise to credit card fraud and identity theft. Merchants
need to be aware of the risks electronic transactions carry, and work towards securing
the systems to the highest standards.

3. Price Wars
Merchants used to selling at their shop may often find selling online an extremely
competitive marketplace. Their products are displayed alongside competitive offers,
often from different countries or bigger retailers with access to better wholesale prices.
This can affect the retailer negatively, as they cannot sell as much as they expected to
actually make a profit, or the consumer's when online stores cut corners in order to
become more competitive or products are purchased from illegitimate retailers because
they had the best price.

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4. Returns And Complaints

Selling online means usually a higher return rate on products than when the purchase
was conducted in person. This is due partly to the fact that customers haven't seen the
goods in person prior to purchase, but also to the fact that many online shoppers buy
things on impulse, and by the time they receive them at their home they have changed
their mind and make use of favorable return policies. While a big retailer would have no
problem accommodating this, it can be highly disruptive for a small business with limited
stock management.

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B. Comparing common e-commerce business application target audiences: business-

to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B) (e.g. buy-side and sell-side B2B, e-
marketplace B2B), consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and consumer-to-business (C2B)

1. Business - to-consumer (B2C)

Businesses selling to the general public typically through catalogs utilizing shopping
cart software. B2C is the indirect trade between the company and consumers.
It provides direct selling through online. Refers to the process of selling products
and services directly between consumers who are the end-users of its products or
services. Most companies that sell directly to consumers can be referred to as B2C
companies.
If you want to sell goods and services to customer so that anybody can purchase
any products directly from supplier’s website.
The advantage to B2C selling is you are targeting a vast and varied market. You
might appeal to a large number of consumers or specialize in selling to a niche
group. The disadvantage of B2C selling is the consumer base is large and
segmented. You must determine who needs your product or service and get the
attention of the consumer group that is most likely to be a prospective customer.

2. Business – to – business (B2B) (e.g. buy-side and sell-side B2B)

B2B can be open to all interested parties or limited to specific, pre-qualified
participants (private electronic market).
Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to
distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. The advantage to B2B selling is that
you are dealing with a target market that stays in need of products and services
to keep the business moving. Some products are, by nature, more suitable for a
business-to-business transaction. For instance, general consumers have little use
for large-scale business machines, raw materials or raw commodities. The
disadvantage to B2B selling is that the market is smaller, compared to the general
public.
Buy side e-commerce
Buy side e- commerce refers to transactions to procure resources needed by an
organisation from its suppliers.
They are e-commerce transactions between a purchasing organization and it
suppliers, possibly through intermediaries.
Sell side e-commerce
Sell side e-commerce refers to transactions involved with selling products to an
Organisations customer.
3. Consumer – to - consumer (C2C)
It facilitates the online transaction of goods or services between two people.
Though there is no visible intermediary involved but the parties cannot carry out
the transactions without the platform which is provided by the online market
maker such as eBay.

C2C e-commerce is a type of trade relations where both sellers and buyers are
consumers, not businesses. It presupposes interaction between parties through a

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third one, mostly an online auction or trade website. Various internet resources
help sellers and buyers to find each other by charging a small fee or commission.
Outstanding example of C2C e-commerce sites is AmazonThe main advantage
of C2C business is that sellers and buyers are reachable. It is also effortless and
handy and does not take much time to use. Moreover, it is possible for one
customer to be a seller as well as a buyer. What is more, it provides a rich social
linking. Buyers benefit greatly from using C2C websites mostly because of the
reduced price. What is more, they can deal with different sellers. Besides this,
searches using criteria are available. For example, it is possible to select the best
sellers, most popular products or offers from your area and much more. One more
important thing is that users may choose the best proposal, contacting you directly
without intermediary assistance. The main pros of C2C for vendors are high
profitability due to direct sales. Sellers avail themselves mostly through overhead
cost reduction. For entrepreneurs, this means that there is no need to spend
money on facilities like rent, office supplies or salaries. Furthermore, this type of e-
commerce broadens the range of potential clients as it covers not only national
but also the international market. That the transaction cost is not high is definitely
a plus. Last, but not least, is efficiency in selling personal or unique goods, including
handmade products. E-commerce is not considered the safest place. It is
generally associated with fraud and deceit. Buyers and sellers may not be
confident in their counterparts. In addition, swindlers may use a famous brand on
their sites to mislead users. And there is always the danger of identity theft.

The main disadvantage of buying on C2C e-commerce is lack of quality control.

No one is going to guarantee that the purchased item is of high quality or worth
the money paid. Another thing is the absence of the warranty that ordinary shops
have. Refunds are very rare, so if something goes wrong, there’s no recourse
against dishonest seller. Nevertheless, some C2C sites as eBay or Amazon provide
strict policies to protect their users. While selling via C2C sites you cannot be
guaranteed of payment. In most cases, parties stop their cooperation after a
transaction is completed. Thereby, information is not shared that can lead to
improper shipping.

Consumer – to - business (C2B)

 A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and within hours companies
review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews
the bids and selects the company that will complete the project. C2B empowers
consumers around the world by providing the meeting ground and platform for
such transactions.

 C2B or Consumer- to- Business is a business model where the end consumers
create products and services which are consumed by businesses and
organizations. It is diametrically opposite to the popular concept of B2C or
Business- to- Consumer where the companies make goods and services available
to the end consumers.

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 In C2B, the companies typically pay for the product or service. However, it can
assume different forms like an idea generated by an individual (like an innovative
business practice) which may be used and implemented by an organization.
Another possible form of C2B is where a consumer specifies a need and the various
businesses compete or bid to fulfil that need.

E-COMMERCE EXAMPLES

 An individual purchases a book on the Internet.

 A government employee reserves a hotel room over the Internet.
 A business buys office supplies on-line or through an electronic auction.
 A manufacturing plant orders electronic components from another plant within
the company using the company's intranet.

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C. Common e-commerce applications and their modes of operation, including

applications for wholesale and retail (e-tailing), marketing, finance, manufacturing,
auctions, order and delivery, payment systems, customer support systems

1. Wholesale and retail (e-tailing)

E-tail is a form of ecommerce which allows customers to directly buy goods or services
from a seller over the internet using a web browser. There are numerous applications for
retail as well as wholesale in the case of e-commerce. Here comes e-retailing or may be
called as online retailing. This refers to the selling of goods and other services through
electronic stores from business to consumers. These are designed and equipped using a
shopping cart model and electronic catalog Mobile commerce describes purchasing
from an online retailer mobile optimized online site or app. Electronic retailing (E-tailing)
is the sale of goods and services through the Internet. E-tailing can include business-to-
business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales of products and services. E-tailing
requires companies to tailor their business models to capture Internet sales, which can
include building out distribution channels such as warehouses, Internet webpages, and
product shipping centers. Electronic retailing includes a broad range of companies and
industries. However, there are similarities between most e-tailing companies that include
an engaging website, online marketing strategy, efficient distribution of products or
services, and customer data analytics. Ecommerce has numerous applications in this
sector. E-retailing is basically a B2C, and in some cases, a B2B sale of goods and services
through online stores designed using virtual shopping carts and electronic catalogs. A
subset of retail ecommerce is m-commerce, or mobile commerce, wherein a consumer
purchases goods and services using their mobile device through the mobile optimized
site of the retailer. These retailers use the E-payment method: they accept payment
through credit or debit cards, online wallets or internet banking, without printing paper
invoices or receipts.

2. Marketing
Using web and e-commerce, data collection about the following are possible

1. Preferences

2. Behavior

3. Needs

4. Buying patterns

Is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the internet to deliver promoting
marketing messages to consumers? The marketing activities like price fixing, product
feature, and its enhancement, negotiation, and the relationship with the customer can
be made using these. This refers to the gathering of data about consumer behaviors,
preferences, needs, buying patterns and so on. It helps marketing activities like fixing
price, negotiating, enhancing product features, and building strong customer
relationships as this data can be leveraged to provide customers a tailored and
enhanced purchase experience.

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3. Finance
ECommerce is being used by the financial companies to a large extent. By the name
finance, we know that there will be customers and transactions. The customers can
check the balance in their savings account, as well as their loan account. There are
features like transferring of money from and to their own accounts, paying off bills online
and also e-banking. Online stock trading is also another feature of e-commerce. Banks
and other financial institutions are using e-commerce to a significant extent. Customers
can check account balances, transfer money to other accounts held by them or others,
pay bills through internet banking, pay insurance premiums, and so on. Individuals can
also carry out trading in stocks online, and get information about stocks to trade in from
websites that display news, charts, performance reports and analyst ratings of companies

Manufacturing

Ecommerce is included and used in the chain operations (supply) of a company. There
are companies that form the electronic exchange. This is by providing buying and selling
items together, trading market information and the information of runback office like
inventory control. This is a way that speeds up the flow of finished goods and the raw
materials among the business community members Supply chain operations also use
ecommerce; usually, a few companies form a group and create an electronic exchange
and facilitate purchase and sale of goods, exchange of market information, back office
information like inventory control, and so on. This enables the smooth flow of raw materials
and finished products among the member companies and also with other businesses.

Auctions

Ecommerce customer to customer is direct selling of goods among customers. It includes

electronic auctions that involve bidding system. Bidding allows prospective buyers to bid
an item. In Airline Company they give bidding opportunity for customers to quote the
price for a seat on a specific route, date and time. Online auctions bring together
numerous people from various geographical locations and enable trading of items at
negotiated prices, implemented with e-commerce technologies. It enables more people
to participate in auctions.

Order and delivery

It involves ordering and delivering of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer
of money and data to execute transactions.

Payment systems,

It involves means of payment. E.g. paying for electricity or paying for a flight online. is a
way of making transactions or paying for goods and services through an electronic
medium, without the use of checks or cash

Customer support systems

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Ecommerce support system is commonly perceived as some technical system that helps
ecommerce business owner perform day to day operation with maximum efficiency and
with effectiveness

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D. E-commerce recommendation applications

Recommender systems are being used by an ever-increasing number of E-commerce

sites to help consumers find products to purchase Recommender systems are used by E-
commerce sites to suggest products to their customers and to provide consumers with
information to help them decide which products to purchase. The products can be
recommended based on the top overall sellers on a site, on the demographics of the
consumer, or on an analysis of the past buying behavior of the consumer as a prediction
for future buying behavior

ADVANTAGES

DRIVE TRAFFIC

A recommendation engine can bring traffic to your site.

PROVIDE RELEVANT MATERIAL

By analyzing the customer’s present site use and his previous browsing history, a
recommendation engine can deliver appropriate product suggestions as he stores. The
data is gathered in real-time so the software can respond as his shopping habits change.

ENGAGE CUSTOMERS

Consumers end up being more engaged in the website when individualized item
recommendations are made. They are able to dive even more deeply into the product
line without needing to carry out search after search.

TRANSFORM SHOPPERS TO CLIENTS

Converting buyers into consumers takes an unique touch. Individualized communications

from a recommendation engine reveal your customer that he is valued as an individual.
In turn, this engenders his loyalty.

INCREASE AVERAGE ORDER VALUE

Average order values generally go up when a recommendation engine in uses to show

tailored alternatives. Advanced metrics and reporting can definitively reveal the
efficiency of a project.

BOOST NUMBER OF ITEMS PER ORDER

In addition to the average order value rising, the number of products per order likewise
typically increases when a recommendation engine is used. When the customer is
revealed options that fulfill his interest, he is most likely to add choices to his purchase.

CONTROL RETAILING AND INVENTORY RULES

A recommendation engine can add your very own marketing and inventory control
directives to the customer’s profile to feature items that are promotionally prices, on

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clearance or overstocked. It offers you’re the versatility to regulate exactly what items
are highlighted by the recommendation system.

LOWER WORK AND OVERHEAD

The volume of data required to create an individual shopping experience for each
customer is typically far too huge to be handled manually. Utilizing an engine automates
this process, reducing the workload of your IT staff and your spending plan.

PROVIDE REPORTS

Providing guides is an integral part of a personalization system. Providing the client

precise and up to the minute reporting permits him to make solid choices about his
website and the direction of a project.

OFFER RECOMMENDATIONS AND DIRECTION

An experienced carrier can provide suggestions on ways to utilize the data gathered
and reported to

Disadvantage

1. May recommend things you do not need

2. Sellers may lose customers if the customers do not agree with the
recommendations

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E. Degree and nature of impact, challenges and benefits of common applications for
businesses, including implications for small and medium enterprises (SME)

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, are defined as enterprises whose headcounts fall
below certain limits. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are non-subsidiary,
independent firms which employ less than a given number of employees. This number
varies across countries. The most frequent upper limit designating an SME is 250
employees, as in the European Union. However, some countries set the limit at 200
employees, while the United States considers SMEs to include firms with fewer than 500
employees. Small firms are generally those with fewer than 50 employees, while micro-
enterprises have at most 10, or in some cases 5, workers. Financial assets are also used to
define SMEs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a very heterogeneous group of businesses
usually operating:

 in the service,
 trade
 agri-business
 Manufacturing sectors.
They include a wide variety of firms such as:

 village handicraft makers

 small machine shops,
 And computer software firms that possess a wide range of sophistication and skills.
Some are dynamic, innovative, and growth-oriented while others are satisfied to remain
small and perhaps family owned.

SMEs usually operate in the formal sector of the economy and employ mainly wage-
earning workers.

SMEs are often classified by the number of employees and/or by the value of their assets.

Advantages

1. 99% of the world’s economic enterprises are smes

2. around the world, smes account for 55-95% of country gdp

3. More than 50% of the world’s labor force is employed by smes

4. globally, smes generate the largest number of new employment opportunies

each year

5. smes are the most dynamic components of the world economy

6. smes are essential for economic and social progress

7. SME sector is the largest provider of employment in most countries, especially of

new jobs

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8. SMEs are a major source of technological iinnovation and new Product.

9. SMEs tend to employ poor and low-income workers

10. SMEs are sometimes the only source of employment in poor regions and rural areas

11. Self-employment is the only source of income for many poor

12. SMEs play a particularly important role in developing countries where poverty is
most severe

Disadvantages

They have more difficulties to find funding

Normally, SMEs do not have the financial power that large companies have. For
this reason, they will usually need external financing, which will also be more limited
and in worse conditions, without the ability to access financial instruments
available to large corporations, such as listing on stock markets, capital increases,
etc.

It may be difficult to reach a large number of customers and earn their trust.

The task of reaching its customers can be very hard for an SME. The financial power
of large companies allows them to make themselves known through mass media
by advertising, but for small and medium companies, reaching a significant
number of customers can be a task that requires years of effort. In addition, being
less well-known than its larger competitors, SMEs may find it more difficult to
convey to their customers the security that a large company can offer them.

The costs are higher

SMEs will have enormous impediments to benefit from the economy of scale,
which will cause costs to be higher in certain types of business, as well as creating
difficulties to adjust the prices offered to users.

It is not easy to endure prolonged periods of crisis

Despite being more flexible in dealing with changes, the lack of financial
capability can cause major problems for an SME if it is forced to endure long
periods of crisis. For this reason, during economic depressions, small and medium-
sized enterprises often face enormous difficulties to survive, which causes the
closing of many of them.

Low bargaining power with suppliers and customers.

Being a large company, and therefore generating huge amounts of business,

provides a position of power when negotiating with suppliers and customers. For
an SME, it is much more difficult to achieve beneficial conditions and are often
forced to give in more than they would like.

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Access to less skilled personnel.

Given the greater limitations that an SME usually offers to develop a career (there
will be fewer possibilities of advancement), it will be more difficult to attract
talented and well-prepared workers who will usually be more tempted to develop
their skills in a large enterprise. However, this does not mean that an SME cannot
attract talent, but will often have to offer other incentives.

They will have more difficulty in accessing technology

Unfortunately, and again for financial reasons, an SME will have more difficulties
to adapt to technological changes, which could lead to obsolescence. However,
there are very interesting technological solutions that SMEs can access.

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Learning Outcome 3:
Analyse the merits and
limitations of open-source
software

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Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer software in which source code is

released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study,
change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.

a. The GNU/Open Manifesto

The GNU Manifesto

The GNU Manifesto was written by Richard Stallman in 1985 to ask for support in
developing the GNU operating system.

What's GNU? Gnu's Not UNIX!

GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete Unix-compatible
software system which I am writing so that I can give it away free to everyone who can
use it. Several other volunteers are helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs
and equipment are greatly needed.

GNU will be able to run UNIX programs, but will not be identical to UNIX. We will make all
improvements that are convenient, based on our experience with other operating
systems. In particular, we plan to have longer file names, file version numbers, a
crushproof file system, file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display
support

GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with virtual memory, because
they are the easiest machines to make it run on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller
machines will be left to someone who wants to use it on them.

To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the g in the word “GNU” when it is the
name of this project.

Why I Must Write GNU

I consider that the Golden Rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other
people who like it. Software sellers want to divide the users and conquer them, making
each user agree not to share with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this
way. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license
agreement.

Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix

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A system compatible with Unix would be convenient for many other people to adopt.

How GNU Will Be Available

GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and redistribute
GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its further redistribution. That is to
say, proprietary modifications will not be allowed..

Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help

I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to help.

Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system software. It may
enable them to make more money, but it requires them to feel in conflict with other
programmers in general rather than feel as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship
among programmers is the sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically
used essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The purchaser of software
must choose between friendship and obeying the law. Naturally, many decide that
friendship is more important. But those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with
either choice. They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making
money.

By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be hospitable to
everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an example to inspire and a
banner to rally others to join us in sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is
impossible if we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I talk to, this
is an important happiness that money cannot replace.

How You Can Contribute

(Nowadays, for software tasks to work on, see the High Priority Projects list and the GNU
Help Wanted list, the general task list for GNU software packages. For other ways to help,
see the guide to helping the GNU operating system.)

I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. I'm asking
individuals for donations of programs and work.

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One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run on them
at an early date. The machines should be complete, ready to use systems, approved for
use in a residential area, and not in need of sophisticated cooling or power.

I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for GNU. For
most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard to coordinate; the
independently written parts would not work together. But for the particular task of
replacing Unix, this problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility
programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface specifications are
fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for
a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system,
then these utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy to create
a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will be a feasible task. (The
kernel will require closer communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.)

If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or part time. The salary
won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm looking for people for whom building
community spirit is as important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling
dedicated people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the
need to make a living in another way.

Why All Computer Users Will Benefit

Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like
air.(3)

This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license. It means that
much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will be avoided. This effort can
go instead into advancing the state of the art.

Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user who needs
changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, or hire any available
programmer or company to make them for him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of
one programmer or company which owns the sources and is in sole position to make
changes.

Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by encouraging

all students to study and improve the system code. Harvard's computer lab used to have

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the policy that no program could be installed on the system if its sources were not on
public display, and upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very
much inspired by this.

Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what one is or is
not entitled to do with it will be lifted.

Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of copies,
always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome mechanisms
necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a person must pay for. And
only a police state can force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where
air must be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be
fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if
everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever
take the mask off are outrageous. It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and
chuck the masks.

Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as breathing, and as

productive. It ought to be as free.

Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals

“Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't rely on any support.”

“You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the support.”

If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without service, a
company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU free ought to be
profitable.(4)

We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work and mere
handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on from a software vendor. If your
problem is not shared by enough people, the vendor will tell you to get lost.

If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to have all the
necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any available person to fix your problem;
you are not at the mercy of any individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of
consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is still possible for there to

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be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on distribution

arrangements. GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them.

Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding: doing
things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know how.

Such services could be provided by companies that sell just handholding and repair
service. If it is true that users would rather spend money and get a product with service,
they will also be willing to buy the service having got the product free. The service
companies will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any particular one.
Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program
without paying for the service.

“You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must charge for the
program to support that.”

“It's no use advertising a program people can get free.”

There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to inform
numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But it may be true that one can
reach more microcomputer users with advertising. If this is really so, a business which
advertises the service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful
enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users who benefit from the
advertising pay for it.

On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such companies don't
succeed, this will show that advertising was not really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it
that free market advocates don't want to let the free market decide this?(5)

“My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a competitive edge.”

GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition. You will not
be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your competitors be able to get an
edge over you. You and they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in
this one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's
tough on you. If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being pushed
into the expensive business of selling operating systems.

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I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many manufacturers and
users, reducing the cost to each.

“Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?”

If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. Creativity can be a social

contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the results. If programmers deserve
to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be
punished if they restrict the use of these programs.

“Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?”

There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize one's income,
as long as one does not use means that are destructive. But the means customary in the
field of software today are based on destruction.

Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is destructive

because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that the program can be used.
This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity derives from the program. When there
is a deliberate choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.

The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become wealthier is
that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the mutual destructiveness.
This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result
if everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so.
Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not justify depriving the
world in general of all or part of that creativity.

“Won't programmers starve?”

I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot manage

to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But we are not, as a result,
condemned to spend our lives standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do
something else.

But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit assumption: that
without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly
it is all or nothing.

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The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be possible for them to get
paid for programming; just not paid as much as now.

Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is the most common
basis(7) because it brings in the most money. If it were prohibited, or rejected by the
customer, software business would move to other bases of organization which are now
used less often. There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.

Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is now. But that is not
an argument against the change. It is not considered an injustice that sales clerks make
the salaries that they now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an
injustice either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than that.)

“Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?”

“Control over the use of one's ideas” really constitutes control over other people's lives;
and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.

People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights(8) carefully (such as
lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual property. The kinds of supposed
intellectual property rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts
of legislation for specific purposes.

For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to disclose the
details of their inventions. Its purpose was to help society rather than to help inventors. At
the time, the life span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of
advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers,
for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up
production, the patents often do not do much harm. They do not obstruct most
individuals who use patented products.

The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors frequently copied other
authors at length in works of nonfiction. This practice was useful, and is the only way many
authors' works have survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for
the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was invented—books,
which could be copied economically only on a printing press—it did little harm, and did
not obstruct most of the individuals who read the books.

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All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society because it was thought,
rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would benefit by granting them. But in any
particular situation, we have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What
kind of act are we licensing a person to do?

The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred years ago. The
fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one neighbor to another, the fact
that a program has both source code and object code which are distinct, and the fact
that a program is used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in
which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially
and spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the law enables
him to.

“Competition makes things get done better.”

The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we encourage

everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this way, it does a good job; but its
defenders are wrong in assuming it always works this way. If the runners forget why the
reward is offered and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other
strategies—such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into a fist fight, they will all
finish late.

Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a fist fight. Sad to say,
the only referee we've got does not seem to object to fights; he just regulates them (“For
every ten yards you run, you can fire one shot”). He really ought to break them up, and
penalize runners for even trying to fight.

“Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?”

Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive. Programming
has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the people who are best at it. There
is no shortage of professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope
of making a living that way.

But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the situation. Pay
for programmers will not disappear, only become less. So the right question is, will anyone
program with a reduced monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will.

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For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the Artificial
Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had anywhere else. They got
many kinds of nonmonetary rewards: fame and appreciation, for example. And
creativity is also fun, a reward in itself.

Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting work for a lot
of money.

What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than riches; but if given
a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will come to expect and demand it. Low-
paying organizations do poorly in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not
have to do badly if the high-paying ones are banned.

“We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop helping our
neighbors, we have to obey.”

You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. Remember: millions
for defense, but not a cent for tribute!

“Programmers need to make a living somehow.”

In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that programmers could
make a living without selling the right to use a program. This way is customary now
because it brings programmers and businessmen the most money, not because it is the
only way to make a living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here are
a number of examples.

A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of operating systems
onto the new hardware.

The sale of teaching, handholding and maintenance services could also employ
programmers.

People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware(9), asking for donations
from satisfied users, or selling handholding services. I have met people who are already
working this way successfully.

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Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group would contract
with programming companies to write programs that the group's members would like to
use.

All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:

Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the price as a software
tax. The government gives this to an agency like the NSF to spend on software
development.

But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development himself, he can
take a credit against the tax. He can donate to the project of his own choosing—often,
chosen because he hopes to use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any
amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.

The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the tax, weighted
according to the amount they will be taxed on.

The consequences:

 The computer-using community supports software development.

 This community decides what level of support is needed.

 Users who care which projects their share is spent on can choose this for
themselves.

In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the postscarcity world, where
nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living. People will be free to devote
themselves to activities that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary
ten hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot repair and
asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able to make a living from
programming.

We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society must do
for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has translated itself into leisure for workers
because much nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. The
main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition. Free
software will greatly reduce these drains in the area of software production. We must do
this, in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.

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b. Software as a service

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party

provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet.
SaaS is one of three main categories of cloud computing, a software distribution model
in which a service provider hosts applications for customers and makes them available
to these customers via the internet.

SaaS advantages for enterprise IT

 Because the applications delivered via SaaS are available over the internet, users
can usually access the software from any devices and locations that have internet
connectivity.
 The ability to run on both mobile devices and computers contrasts with many
traditional enterprise applications’ computer-only availability. SaaS offerings also
tend to support MacOS, iOS, and Android, not just Windows—as well as run on all
of the major browsers.
 Another benefit is easy scalability. Cloud services in general allow enterprises to
ramp services and/or features up or down as needed, and SaaS is no different.
That’s especially important for enterprises whose businesses are cyclical in nature,
as well as for organizations that are growing quickly.
 SaaS customers also benefit from the fact that service providers can make
automatic updates in software—often on a weekly or monthly basis—so
enterprises don’t need to worry about buying new releases when they are
available or installing patches such as security updates. This can be especially
appealing to organizations with limited IT staff to handle these tasks.
 Convenient, on-demand service with little or no installation of customer software
required.
 Lower costs from:
 the pass-along to the customer of cost savings from the networked distribution
and implementation of SaaS services at a lower cost than that of on-site
software distribution;
 use-based or subscription services geared to the level of customer use; and
 the avoidance of large upfront software license fees and capital expenditures
on computing infrastructure needed to run additional on-site software.
 Better collection, storage and processing of large quantities and varieties of
customer data.
 Greater elasticity, allowing the customer to rapidly expand and contract its use of
the service without incurring unnecessary hardware upgrade or expansion costs.
 Multi-location and multi-deviceaccess to the SaaS service, allowing for more
productive and flexible use of the service software.
 Availability of professional data management services, including security
scanning, regulatory and technical compliance checking, data backup and
disaster recovery, as an integral part of its SaaS services.
 Availability of redundant SaaS processing and backup facilities that minimize the
risk of catastrophic failure or destruction of data.

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SaaS risks and challenges

 Network dependency and the service disruptions, data bottlenecks, browser

security vulnerabilities and other limitations of the internet or other networks
 The customer's lack of control over:
 security for customer data received, processed and output by the SaaS provider's
software system, database and network, including control over the preservation
of data confidentiality, privacy, integrity and
 breaches of data security and loss of data;
 Failures to backup customer data.
 The provider's reserving the right to change or delete SaaS application
programming interfaces without assurances that these changes will not adversely
affect service performance.
 Similar to other cloud services, users of SaaS rely their service providers to be up
and running at all times so that they can access applications as needed. They also
depend on the providers to ensure that the software is kept up to date in terms of
new features, security patches, and other changes.
 Change the location of the files, which tend to reside in the enterprise’s own
datacenter.

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c. Different open source licence agreements and their implications (e.g. GNU,
Apache, CC, MIT, etc.)

 GNU General Public License

Richard Stallman created the GPL to protect the GNU software from becoming
proprietary
GPL is a copyleft license. This means that any software that is written based on any
GPL component must be released as open source. The result is that any software
that uses any GPL open source component (regardless of its percentage in the
entire code) is required to release its full source code and all of the rights to modify
and distribute the entire code.

 The Apache License

The Apache License is an open source software license released by the Apache
Software Foundation (ASF). The Apache License allows you to freely use, modify,
and distribute any Apache licensed product. However, while doing so, you’re
required to follow the terms of the Apache License.
 CC (CREATIVE COMMONS)
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that
enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used
when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a
work that they have created. CC provides an author flexibility (for example, they
might choose to allow only non-commercial uses of their own work) and protects
the people who use or redistribute an author’s work from concerns of copyright
infringement as long as they abide by the conditions that are specified in the
license by which the author distributes the work
 MIT LICENSE (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

MIT is one of the most permissive free software licenses. Basically, you can do
whatever you want with software licensed under the MIT license - only if you add
a copy of the original MIT license and copyright notice to it. Its simplicity is the
reason behind its high adoption rate among developers.

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d. Benefits and limitations of open-source

Benefits
 Lower costs??
 No vendor lock-in
 Increased potential of adaptation and innovation
 Highly interactive if you wish to network with greater community
 Reduction in time and effort if you just want to be a consumer
 Quality of software
 Security
 Easier to locate and fix “bugs”
 Creativity
Limitations
 Vulnerable to malicious users.

Many people have access to the source code of open source software,
but not all of them have good intentions. While a lot of people utilize their
access to spot defects and make improvements to the program, others use
this privilege to exploit the product’s vulnerabilities and create bugs that
can infect hardware, steal
 Might not be as user-friendly as commercial versions.

This is not true for all open source software since many of them (such as
LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox and the Android operating system) are incredibly
easy to use. However, there are several programs which are created mainly
to cater to the developer’s wishes and bring his ideas to life. As a result, not
much attention is given to the software’s user interface, making it difficult
to use especially for those who aren’t really tech-savvy.

 Don’t come with extensive support.

Since it’s developed by numerous people, users exactly don’t have a

specific person or company they can point a finger to.
 Not as user friendly as commercial software
 Adequate support from IT department?
 OSS is a work-in-progress
 Lack of technical ability
 Fear of the unknown

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e. Obligations associated with ‘share-alike’ clauses in licences

Share-alike is a copyright licensing term, originally used by the Creative

Commons project, to describe works or licences that require copies or adaptations of
the work to be released under the same or similar licence as the original. If you alter,
transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the
same or similar license to the original.

You are free to:

 Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

 Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even
commercially.

 The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms: (obligations)

 Attribution - you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license,
and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner,
but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

 ShareAlike - if you transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your
contributions under the same license as the original.

 No additional restrictions - you may not apply legal terms or technological

measures

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Learning Outcome 4:
Analyse the methods of
hosting and deploying
web applications

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a. Web architectures (1-tier, 2-tier, 3-tier, etc.)

Web architecture is the conceptual structure of the World Wide Web.

A “tier” can also be referred to as a “layer”.

Presentation Layer: It is also known as Client layer. This is the layer we see when we use a
software. By using this layer we can access the webpages. The main functionality of this
layer is to communicate with Application layer. This layer passes the information which is
given by the user in terms of keyboard actions, mouse clicks to the Application Layer.
Application Layer: It is also known as Business Logic Layer which is also known as logical
layer. It controls an application’s functionality by performing detailed processing. This
layer acts as a mediator between the Presentation and the Database layer.

Data Layer: The data is stored in this layer. Application layer communicates with
Database layer to retrieve the data. It contains methods that connects the database
and performs required action e.g.: insert, update, delete etc.

One Tier Architecture:

One tier architecture has all the layers such as Presentation, Business, and Data Access
layers in a single software package. 1 tier where the Client, Server, and Database all
reside on the same machine

Two Tier Architecture:

This is where you have direct communication between a client and a server with no
intermediary.
The Two-tier architecture is divided into two parts:

1. Client Application (Client Tier)

2. Database (Data Tier)

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Client system handles both Presentation and Application layers and Server system
handles Database layer. It is also known as client server application. The communication
takes place between the Client and the Server. Client system sends the request to the
Server system and the Server system processes the request and sends back the data to
the Client System

Three-Tier Architecture:

Three Tier application AKA Web Based application

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The Three-tier architecture is divided into three parts:

1. Presentation layer (Client Tier)

2. Application layer (Business Tier)
2. Database layer (Data Tier)

Client system handles Presentation layer, Application server handles Application layer
and Server system handles Database layer.

N-Tier application.

N-Tier application AKA Distributed application. It is similar to three tier architecture but
number of application servers are increased and represented in individual tiers in order
to distributed the business logic so that the logic will be distributed.

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b. Cloud versus non-cloud

Cloud: storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your
computer's hard drive Cloud Computing provides us means of accessing the
applications as utilities over the Internet. It allows us to create, configure, and customize
the applications online. Applications such as e-mail, web conferencing

Non Cloud: storing and accessing data and programs without the use of Internet but with
computer's hard drive
Non Cloud/In-house

Pros Cons

Gives you physical control over Requires a capital investment in hardware and

your backup. infrastructure.

Keeps critical data in-house. No Needs space in your office for a rack or server

third party has access to your room/closet, in addition to dedicated IT support.

information.

No need to rely on an Internet May be more susceptible to data loss during disaster

connection for access to data. situations due to its in-house location. How often you

take the data offsite will reflect how much data you’ll

lose in an emergency.

Can be more cost-effective for No uptime or recovery time guarantees.

small to mid-sized companies.

Cloud

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Pros Cons

No need for onsite The costs of the data recovery could outweigh the benefits for

hardware or capital companies that are not as dependent on uptime and instant

expenses. Well-suited to recovery.

smaller companies that

may outgrow storage too

quickly.

Storage can be added as Organization may have a limit to data that can be stored in the

needed. Solutions are often cloud due to storage availability and cost.

on-demand, so you only

pay for what you need.

Backup and restore can be If the Internet goes down on your side or on your cloud provider’s

initiated from anywhere, side, you won’t have access to any of your information.

using any computer,

tablet, or smartphone.

Data can be backed up in Full data recovery could prove very time-consuming and

the cloud as regularly as 15- impactful on systems. However, if a Datto is used, recovery can

minute intervals, minimizing occur in minutes.

data losses in disaster

situations. Small data set

recovery time is improved.

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c. Linux apache versus Windows IIS

Apache is the most popular Web server software. It enables a computer to host one or
more websites that can be accessed over the Internet using a Web browser.

ADVANTAGES

1. It is free and open-source software that can be used on any operating system,
including Linux, UNIX, Windows and Mac OS.
2. Bug fixing and the development of new features is handled by the developer
community and managed by the Apache Software Foundation, a nonprofit
corporation which supports the Apache Web server.
3. Apache is a very feature-rich Web server. Features are introduced as modules that
extend the core functionality. Some of the modules come with Apache itself, while
others can be manually installed. Since the code is open, anyone can create and
publish a new module with additional functionalities.
DISADVANTAGES
1. Although Apache Web server has generally good performance, it consumes a lot
of CPU and memory because of the two main reasons. One reason is a big number
of included features which are not being used, while the other is the fact that it is
a process-based server. That means that each connection requires a separate
thread.
2. Sometimes a little hard to patch.
3. If you're not careful with the settings, you can easily provide too much information
about your server to people you don't want to.

Windows IIS

Stands for "Internet Information Services." IIS is a web server software package designed
for Windows Server. It is used for hosting websites and other content on the Web.

Microsoft’s Internet Information Services provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for
managing websites and the associated users. It provides a visual means of creating,
configuring, and publishing sites on the web. The IIS Manager tool allows web
administrators to modify website options, such as default pages, error pages, logging
settings, security settings, and performance optimizations.

IIS can serve both standard HTML webpages and dynamic webpages.

ADVANTAGES

1. The server itself is free, but it can run only on Windows operating systems, thus
incurring indirect licensing costs.
2. Microsoft IIS handles has a good number of features. Similar to Apache, features
are included as extensions. However, IIS extensions are developed only by
Microsoft.

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DISADVANTAGES

1. IIS is a proprietary software, meaning that the code is closed and not available to
public. New features, bug fixes and support is provided by Microsoft.
2. Unlike Apache, IIS is installed on Windows operating systems.

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d. Different deployment methods

Software deployment refers to the process of running an application on a server or

device.

1. Cloud
2. Non cloud (Read Note above)

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e. Web interfaces versus SSL PuTTy interface

A Web user interface allows the user to interact with content or software running on a
remote server through a Web browser. The content or Web page is downloaded from
the Web server and the user can interact with this content in a Web browser, which acts
as a client. Web interfaces allow users to control and interact with their software
installation through a web browser

SSL PuTTY interface is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and
network file transfer application.
PuTTY is an SSH and telnet client, developed originally by Simon Tatham for the Windows
platform. PuTTY is open source software that is available with source code and is
developed and supported by a group of volunteers

PuTTY is a free implementation of SSH and Telnet for Windows and UNIX platforms. PuTTY
has no definitive meaning, though "tty" is the name for a terminal in the Unix tradition. It
assists in the establishment of a secure connection over the internet. It does not require
installation.

It is an open source software and is easily available with its source code. It provides a
range of customization options related to the display configurations

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Learning Outcome 5:
Analyse the methods of
testing the accessibility of
web applications

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a. Opportunities for testing, error handling, and reporting in web applications

Web Application Testing

Web application testing, a software testing technique exclusively adopted to test the
applications that are hosted on web in which the application interfaces and other
functionalities are tested.
1. Functionality Testing
 Verify there is no dead page or invalid redirects.
 First check all the validations on each field.
 Verify the workflow of the system.
2. Usability testing - To verify how the application is easy to use with.
 Test the navigation and controls.
 Content checking.
 Check for user intuition.
3. Interface testing - Performed to verify the interface and the dataflow from one
system to other.
4. Compatibility testing- Compatibility testing is performed based on the context of
the application.
 Browser compatibility
 Operating system compatibility
 Compatible to various devices like notebook, mobile, etc.
5. Performance testing - Performed to verify the server response time and
throughput under various load conditions.
 Load testing - conducted to understand the behavior of the system under
a specific load.
 Stress testing - It is performed to find the upper limit capacity of the system
and also to determine how the system performs if the current load goes
well above the expected maximum.
 Soak testing - Soak Testing also known as endurance testing, is performed
to determine the system parameters under continuous expected load. The
main aim is to discover the system's performance under sustained use.
 Spike testing - Spike testing is performed by increasing the number of users
suddenly by a very large amount and measuring the performance of the
system. The main aim is to determine whether the system will be able to
sustain the work load.

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6. Security testing - Performed to verify if the application is secured on web as data

theft and unauthorized access are more common issues and below are some of
the techniques to verify the security level of the system.
 Insecure Direct Object References
 Sensitive Data Exposure
 Invalidated Redirects and Forwards
Error handling
Refers to the anticipation, detection, and resolution of programming, application, and
communications errors.
Reporting
The main goal of web reporting is presenting data an actionable format via
the web. Reporting as a whole, is used in an early part of the data analysis process and
serves to present data in a visual and often interactive way for further data discovery or
data analysis

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b. Assessing the severity of an error

The error severity levels provide a quick reference for you about the nature of
the error.

 Fatal. A severe error that causes your system to crash, resulting in the loss
or corruption of unsaved data.
 Error. A severe error that might cause the loss or corruption of unsaved
data. Immediate action must be taken to prevent losing data.
 Warning. Action must be taken at some stage to prevent a severe error
from occurring in the future.
 Info. An informative message, usually describing server activity. No
action is necessary.

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c. The process of reviewing and testing web applications

Web Application Testing

Web application testing, a software testing technique exclusively adopted to test the
applications that are hosted on web in which the application interfaces and other
functionalities are tested.
1. Functionality Testing
 Verify there is no dead page or invalid redirects.
 First check all the validations on each field.
 Verify the workflow of the system.
2. Usability testing - To verify how the application is easy to use with.
 Test the navigation and controls.
 Content checking.
 Check for user intuition.
3. Interface testing - Performed to verify the interface and the dataflow from one
system to other.
4. Compatibility testing- Compatibility testing is performed based on the context of
the application.
 Browser compatibility
 Operating system compatibility
 Compatible to various devices like notebook, mobile, etc.
5. Performance testing - Performed to verify the server response time and
throughput under various load conditions.
 Load testing - conducted to understand the behavior of the system under
a specific load.
 Stress testing - It is performed to find the upper limit capacity of the system
and also to determine how the system performs if the current load goes
well above the expected maximum.
 Soak testing - Soak Testing also known as endurance testing, is performed
to determine the system parameters under continuous expected load. The
main aim is to discover the system's performance under sustained use.
 Spike testing - Spike testing is performed by increasing the number of users
suddenly by a very large amount and measuring the performance of the
system. The main aim is to determine whether the system will be able to
sustain the work load.

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6. Security testing - Performed to verify if the application is secured on web as data

theft and unauthorized access are more common issues and below are some of
the techniques to verify the security level of the system.
 Insecure Direct Object References
 Sensitive Data Exposure
 Invalidated Redirects and Forwards

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d. Methods to ensure that accessibility, performance, functionality, compatibility,

bugs, security, and usability needs have been met (e.g. metrics, analysis tools,
uservoice, concept feedback, use of online questionnaires, e-mail feedback,
surveys, etc.)

Metrics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data
for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. This metric measures the
average connect time for all pages in the transaction.
Analysis tools
Web analytics tools collect data to show you how visitors arrive at your website
and what they do once they’re there. These tools let you compare data over time
to see patterns. This data also lets you measure performance against benchmarks
and goals to see how your website is performing, where performance can be
improved, and the effects of the actions you take to improve it. E.g. Google
Analytics, Content Analytics Tools
User voice
User Voice creates simple customer engagement tools that help companies
understand and interact with their customers more positively and build customer
relationships that last
Concept feedback
Gives you a look inside your users’ minds, and you can use that information to
improve their experience, reduce drop-offs, and boost conversions. While
analytics tools show you what is happening, website feedback—feedback that
you collect directly on your website
Online questionnaires
an online questionnaire is a web-based survey that companies and other
organizations use to both deliver information and collect information from their
customers or another target audience (stakeholders, employees, potential
customers).
Email feedback
Email feedback is a process of collecting feedback through email. More often,
the email contains a link to the brief feedback survey questionnaire, or sometimes
it includes an embedded survey that is sent to the targeted audience.
Surveys
A data collection method where surveys or questionnaires are sent over the
internet to a sample of respondents and they can respond to this survey over the
World Wide Web. Respondents can be sent web surveys via various mediums such
as email, embedded over the website, social media, etc. In web surveys,
respondents answer the questionnaire with the help of a web browser and
the survey responses are stored in web-based databases.

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e. Differences between qualitative and quantitative measures and their

interpretation

Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data on

websites (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or
experiences. Qualitative measurement focuses on collecting information that is
not numerical. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or
generate new ideas for research.

Qualitative research is the opposite of quantitative research, which involves

collecting and analyzing numerical data for statistical analysis.

Qualitative research is used most often to gain a stronger understanding of the

underlying principles of a subject. The focus of qualitative research is on opinions
and motivations. Qualitative research is used to create insight into the problem
presented in the work or paper. It can also help develop ideas or hypotheses at
the start of quantitative research. In this instance it is done in order to help focus
the study itself.

Quantitative Research Quantitative research is the process of collecting and

analyzing numerical data. It can be used to find patterns and averages, make
predictions, test causal relationships, and generalize results to wider populations.
Quantitative research is defined as a systematic investigation of phenomena by
gathering quantifiable data and performing statistical, mathematical, or
computational techniques.

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Advantages of Qualitative Measurements

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Advantages of Quantitative Measurements

Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement

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Resources
Textbooks on ABMA Education eLibrary
Fowler, S. and Stanwick, V., 2004. Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices
for WebBased Software. Morgan Kaufmann.
Gustafson, J.M., 2013. HTML5 Web Application Development by Example Beginner's
Guide:
Learn How to Build Rich, Interactive Web Applications From the Ground up Using
HTML5, CSS3,
and JQuery. Packt Publishing.
Jaiswal, S., Kumar, R., 2015. Learning Django Web Development. Packt Publishing.
Vora, P., 2009. Web Application Design Patterns. Burlington: Morgan Kaufmann.
Journals
ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB)
International Journal of Web Applications, DLINE.
International Journal of Web Information Systems.

Websites
Shklar, L. and Rosen, R., 2009. Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and
Practices.
2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons. [online] Available at:
<http://www.ce.uniroma2.it/courses/PRSI/WebApplication.pdf> [Accessed 7
November 2016]
Shinde, V., n.d. Software Testing Help, n.d. Web Testing: Complete Guide on Testing
Web
Applications. Software Testing Help. [online] Available at:
<www.softwaretestinghelp.com/webapplication-testing/> [Accessed 7 November
2016]
Stallman, R., 1985. The GNU Manifesto. [online] Available at:
<www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.en.html> [Accessed 7 November 2016]
DiFeterici, G., 2012. Chapter 1: Design Patterns: Tried and Trusted Solutions. In
DiFeterici, G., 2012.
The Web Designer’s Roadmap. Collingwood: SitePoint Pty, pp. 1-21.
Shawnhayden.[online]
Available at: <http://shawnhayden.com/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/2012/09/process1- sample.pdf> [Accessed 7 November 2016]
Kohan, B., n.d. Guide to Web Application Development: Guides, Resources, and Best
Practices.

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Comentum. [online] Available at: <www.comentum.com/guide-to-web-

applicationdevelopment.html> [Accessed 7 November 2016]
Meier, J. D., et al., 2003. Chapter 4: Design Guidelines for Secure Web Applications. In
Curphey,
M., Scambray, J., Olson, E. and Howard, M., 2003. Improving Web Application
Security: Threats
and Countermeasures. Redmond: Microsoft, pp. 69-98. Microsoft Developer Network.
[online]
Available at: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff648647.aspx> [Accessed 7
November
2016]
Other
PMI Information Systems Community of Practice. [online] Available at:
<http://is.vc.pmi.org/Public/Home.aspx> [Accessed 7 November 2016].

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