MGS 523  Introduction to Electronic Commerce  Seneca College, Toronto, Canada

MGS 523, Details of Major Project, Oct-Nov-Dec 2001
The project will commence the week of October 1^st and conclude the week of December 3^rd.

In groups of two, students will develop an internet presence for an organization.

Some students will do this project for a company and their solution will actually be running live on the Internet.

• These students will be picking companies with which they have considerable contact and are able to follow through all the steps. You do not have to worry about a permanent solution - the company should be made to understand that you are a student and cannot hold you responsible for a major part of their corporate marketing communications.

• These students will be picking companies with which it is not possible to do a "live" solution because of restrictions that the company might have limiting your involvement, or, because you cannot find a company that will allow you to do a live solution.

What is involved in doing the Project?
The project will include these elements:

An Executive Summary of the project.

This should be long enough that you can explain the basics of "what happened", but short enough that it can fit in less than 2 pages.

A Weekly report detailing the activities of each group member

It should be understood that this is a learning process and it is being done of a period of several weeks. Weekly reports help you, and the professor understand if you are in fact learning the steps as we go along.

This is necessary to let the professor know your progress and will allow for any advice to be given, as well as explaining any problems you are having so they can be dealt with BEFORE the deadline for completion.

After you have learned how to make a basic web page, your weekly report will be in the form of a web page which you will load up every week with additional information describing your progress to date.

Here is the list of people on each company

 www.witiger.com/senecacollege/MGS523/projectlist523~2001.htm

Budget

A comprehensive report that will include recommendations, a start-up budget and a monthly budget of recurring costs.

A budget is simply a way that managers plan how to spend money and on what things

Your budget would focus on the cost of starting up the web site

• eg. domain registration
• domain hosting (the ISP service)
• the cost of the "web person" to make the initial web pages

A well designed web site complete with a store front and where practical information/technical data using PDF files.

Each company will assign a contact person to assist the student(s). The contact person will be responsible for the site content. The students will assume responsibility for site design, with input from the organization.

The project's scope

In conjunction with the company determine the purpose of the site. It is not always obvious that the purpose is to sell product on-line. There are many other purposes of the web site. You have to determine these purpose by asking "probing" questions. Some examples of purposes of a web site include:

• To provide information to an existing client base
• To meet competitive pressure.
• To sell products or services
• Seems like an interesting project for the students so I' m participating
• My present site needs upgrading
• Information on how to better use the product
• Public Relations information to the media and public
• Building Brand Awareness

• What is the operating system (Windows, Mac, Other) and what version. (Win 95/98/NT/2000 or Mac OS7)
• Are they currently connected to the internet? How?
• dial-up access
• High speed (ISDN)
• cable
• wireless
• Do they have networked office computers?
• Do all computers need internet access?
• Intranets - we have not talked about this extensively but you should investigate the possibility of whether and internal internet structure could also be of advantage

The 5 Environments within which the company operates, and which effect the e-business solution.

• Competitive
• Review competitive web sites and store fronts.
• Economic
• the economic environment applies to how well the business is doing in the particular economy. For example some businesses are doing very well in the economy of 2000, some are highly stressed. Economic factors include employment, cost of living, wages
• Technological
• If your target company already has some kind of web site - Evaluate the content material. Is it adequate? Are graphics or pictures of the product/service important. Are they available in digital format or must they be scanned?
• If your target company does not have any web site presently - Evaluate what would be the best content material (text , images). Explain what graphics or pictures of the product/service important. Are they available in digital format or must they be scanned?
• Legal / Political
• Are there any regulations or legislation that applies to the content on the web site. Are there any litigation considerations (could they be sued for anything you may create for them - you do not have to know this in detail, just general awareness is acceptable)
• Sociocultural

Determine the number of products or services that will be included in the store. Is there an adequate description and graphics for each product

What is the standard measurement of sale: each, dozen, pound, hour, etc.

For the purposes of this project all sales will be considered as 'credit sales' and you WILL NOT consider credit card processing. This option will be available to the company once they have arranged to host the site.

Will the contact page have one primary email address for the company? Determine an appropriate name. Will it be an individual, or a position. What other information will you include on the contact page.

Do you intend to have a link page? This could include clients, organizations, suppliers, general information.
 

 
What is the anticipated marketing sector of the site.

• geographic sector
• demographic sector
• socio-cultural sector

Obtain adequate descriptions of the company, product, service, for meta tag identification.

Determine the availability of a domain name with the .com extension. Provide the company with several optional names, including the costs of registration.

Investigate suitable web hosting solutions. Provide several options both in Canada and the US. Your budget must include a recommended host and identify startup costs, monthly costs, method of payment, expandability, and any special resources available (ie. Video streaming).

Evaluate a cost effective method of connecting to an ISP. Take into consideration the frequency of on-line activities. Provide several solutions. The ISP must be in Toronto. Your budget must include a recommended ISP identify startup costs, monthly costs, and method of payment .

Provide timely updates on the project to the company and professor. Upload the project weekly to the designated Seneca server.

Designate one group member as the primary contact. Ensure that the company representative has your email address, home phone #, cell phone etc.

Carry out this project in a professional manner and be accountable to your group member, company contact person, and professor.

Ask questions of your professor, company contact, group member, and fellow students.

Have fun, gain confidence, and make valuable contacts.