CMT302 E-Commerce and Innovation

{`Cardiff School of Computer Science and Informatics
Coursework Assessment Pro-forma
Assessment Title: Coursework 2		
`}

Assignment INSTRUCTIONS

For this coursework, you are asked to complete the following tasks:

  1. Develop a functioning e-commerce website suitable for the chosen business/enterprise.
  2. Write a 1000 words (±10%) report, which analyses the outcomes of the work, accomplished for Task 1 above.

1. E-commerce website:

Design and implement a functional e-commerce website for a business/ organisation. This can be for either the business/ organisation which you presented for your coursework last semester (you can choose to adapt your original proposal), or for a different venture.

Your e-commerce website should contain all the necessary functionality that is typical for a venture of this kind, including customer accounts and login. Please note, however, that although you must have provision for the payment processing facility, you are not required to have it fully working (i.e. the actual payment does not have to go through).

You are free to choose how you want to implement your website, i.e. you can use the tools and technologies covered this semester (e.g. Flask); other exiting e-commerce frameworks; or develop it from 'scratch’ by deploying own coding (e.g. PHP).

You must host all parts of your website on our School's servers (e.g. 'Project' or 'OpenShift'), i.e. all web pages of your website must be on our local server and no redirects to external websites are allowed. Therefore, "general" website builders, such as wix.com or squarespace.com are not suitable for this coursework. If unsure, please ask! Moreover, the website must be deployed on the server before the coursework's deadline, and the URL of your website must be provided in your report.

2. Report:

Write a report that analyses the outcomes of developing an e-commerce website for a chosen business/ organisation. Your analysis should focus on the assessment of the suitability of the deployed website for the chosen business, but you will need to develop this focus further, e.g. you might want to examine how such aspects as service quality, quality of service, usability, security, etc. have been achieved, and how the implementation decisions fulfil the business aims and objectives.

2.2.Report requirements and rules:

Your report must:

- Contain complete URL of your website, hosted on one of the School's servers. For example, if your website is hosted on the Project web server, the url is expected to be: http://project.cs.cf.ac.uk/YourUserName/cmt302_cw2/ (where 'YourUserName' is your university mail name).

- NOT exceed the specified word count limit, i.e. 1000 words ±10%. The assessor may stop reading if any part of your submission goes over the word limit.

- Be a PDF file. Other file types will not be accepted.

- Use a reasonable font size (e.g. Times New Roman 12 pt or equivalent);

- Have 1.5 line spacing (except for your Reference section, which can use single line spacing).

- You must include your student number. Please include it on the first/ title page, as well as in the header or footer of each page.

Please note: to allow anonymous marking, DO NOT include your name.

If and where relevant, your report should use all of the standard scholarly mechanisms to make reference to the ideas of others. Our School recommends using the Harvard referencing system.

Please note that you may be penalised (e.g. your mark may be capped below 70%) for not complying with the coursework requirements, for poor spelling or grammar, using inconsistent referencing, or for poor presentation. Note: This is not a group assignment and evidence of group work may be penalised.

Learning Outcomes Assessed

1. Understand the concept of Innovation and what this means within the context of the IT industry.

2. Demonstrate understanding of entrepreneurial activities, and critically analyse and appraise business opportunities, using a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, methods and tools.

4. Appreciate risks involved in managing a high-tech enterprise, including concepts and methodologies for information risk assessment, assurance and management.

6. Understand the concepts, techniques and underpinning technologies associated with E-Commerce in the modern environment, including appreciation of the role and importance of system security, system quality, quality of service, usability and suitability for particular type of business.

7. Design, implement and deploy an e-commerce system, using a variety of modern techniques and technologies; and evaluate the outcomes.

Criteria for assessment

Credit will be awarded against the following criteria:

- Appropriateness of the choice of focus, aspects and issues, examined in the report (scoping and fit with the brief).

- Clarity, completness and conciseness.

- Quality of analysis and argument, and in particular, strength of argumentation, supported by judicious use of citation if and where appropriate.

- Overall quality of your report, including: report structure; attention to proof-reading; and, if appropriate, correct and consistent use of references.

- Attention to detail and compliance with the coursework requirements.