Terms Of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

Project Title: E-Commerce (Internet Application - Dynamic Website)

Project Supervisor: Sandro Sampio

Date: 17/10/06

Project Aims

The purpose of this project is to develop an internet application which will be a dynamic website (E-Commerce website), that provides a service to customers who wish to purchase music online either in a downloadable format or have their compact disc posted out to them.

Project Deliverables

As my project falls under the system development category the outcome of this project will be a fully functional E-Commerce website. The website will be dynamic in style as there will be a specific degree of interaction between the users/customers as and the application.

Overview of project

As this project progresses and the theory side of things are completed, I will be identifying and analysing requirements for an Asian music online store. This will require me undertaking research and gathering my findings on the E-Commerce industry and also looking at similar kind of websites that offer the same service.

Once this website has been designed, implemented and tested, users should be able to view a catalogue of CD's/Music from a variety of Asian music genres. The website will also allow users to search for music on the website by entering their specific criteria and then the application displaying the results if any. Users will be able to search through search tab that will match criteria against attributes such as artist names, album titles, track titles and music genres too. In more general terms the user will be allowed to navigate around the website, listen to samples of audio and purchase music in either or both of the procedures mentioned above.

The programming languages that will be used to produce the dynamic website will include: HTML, XHTML and PHP. The websites database will be developed through SQL.

The whole website will contain a backend database which will hold all details including those of music details and user/customer details. This is will be essential when it comes to the functionality of the website overall.

The website will also need to have a secure payment method/procedure which can allow users to pay for music purchased and then allow the funds to be transferred into the desired business account. As internet fraud is a major issue today, the transaction system in place needs to ensure that all details all dealt in private and with confidentiality making the whole process a secure and safe one. Having already researched different payment method/procedures I have come to the conclusion that the best one to integrate into the website will be through a PayPal system. Even though this is not as an effective and efficient system as a straight credit/card system, it is still serves a good purpose to the site and what is wanted in terms of the payment method.

Technical Challenge

I am going to encounter many technical challenges through the progress of this project. This includes:

* Creating an internet application (dynamic website) through the use of a number of high level programming languages, and combining all of these in a successful manner which will allow the website to function properly.

* Designing and implementing the website with HCI issues in consideration. The website to be created will need to be user friendly and be in the easiest and simplest form for the user. Therefore it is essential that it is designed with HCI in mind so the user can experience can be the best possible.

* A fully operational database that will hold a variety of data such as music and customer details. The database should also be able to respond to certain search criteria