yang
DESCRIPTION
relavent to health care systemTRANSCRIPT
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The candidate confirms that the work submitted is their own and the appropriate credit has been given where reference
has been made to the work of others.
I understand that failure to attribute material which is obtained from another source may be considered as plagiarism.
(Signature of student)_____________________________________________
Web based contract generating application
for ZEYA Import & Export Company
XIANG YANG
BSc Computing (with Industry)
Session (2006/2007)
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SUMMARY
The aim of this project was to produce an interactive web application that could be used
by ZEYA import & export Business Company to help with the management of the
contract data and simplify the process of generating a contract.
Usability was a central focus of the project as the application needed to be easy to set up
and maintain by users with little or no technical expertise. Research into different
development methodologies identified the Rapid Application Development as the most
suitable development model to follow throughout the development.
For precisely requirement analysis and get the best evaluation of the web application,
users are highly involved into the development process. In another words, this web
application is made from the feed back of the users.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would firstly like to thank my Supervisor DR Raymond S K Kwan for his time commitments
and guidance throughout this project. The guidance was extremely valuable and has had a
significant impact on the quality of this report.
The same, I would like to thank my Assessor Dr PM Hill for her productive feedback from the
mid-project report. The feedback really opened my eyes to the extensive work required to achieve
a good mark and motivated me to put more time and effort into this project.
I would also like to thank the customers of the company who involved throughout the
development for their participation and the enthusiasm they showed for this project.
A final thank you goes to my room mate Sanjeeva, who helps me for checking my English
spelling and structure with in this project
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Catalogue
SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................3 PROJECT TITLE: ..........................................................................................................................6
PROBLEM INDENTIFICATION: .................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................7
1.1 Aim:.....................................................................................................................................7
1.2 objectives: ...........................................................................................................................7
1.3 minimum requirements: .....................................................................................................7
1.4 Time Schedules: ..................................................................................................................8
1.5 Relevance to degree program: ............................................................................................9
1.6 Methodologies:..................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 2 background reading ................................................................................................11
2.1 Introduction:.....................................................................................................................11
2.2 researching related existing products: .............................................................................11
2.3 development tools: ............................................................................................................12
2.3.1 JavaScript: .............................................................................................................12
2.3.2 Pre Hypertext Processor (PHP) .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3.3 ASP .........................................................................................................................12
2.3.4 JSP..........................................................................................................................13
2.4 Database............................................................................................................................13
2.4.1 MySQL database ....................................................................................................13
2.4.2 PostgreSQL ............................................................................................................14
2.4.3. MS SQL Server .....................................................................................................14
2.5 Web server ........................................................................................................................14 2.6 MY CHOICE: JSP + MYSQL + apache..........................................................................14
2.7 Database structure............................................................................................................15
2.8 Usability ............................................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 3 Methodologies analysis ............................................................................................17
3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................17
3.2 Project management .........................................................................................................17
3.2.1 Rapid Application Development: ..................................................................................18
3.2.2 Evolutionary Development .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3 Prototyping ....................................................................................................................19
3.3 Chosen Methodology ........................................................................................................19
Chapter 4 Analysis .........................................................................................................................21
4.1 Introduction:.....................................................................................................................21
4.2 processes of generating an import & export business contract: ......................................21
4.3 The current inconveniences within the processes of generating the contract. ................22
4.4 Functional requirements ..................................................................................................23
4.5 Non-functional requirements ...........................................................................................23
4.6 Additional requirement in the feed back from the customer interview: .........................23
4.7 Use case and the class structure analysis: ........................................................................24
4.8 Threat analysis: ................................................................................................................24
4.8.1 Security development approach.............................................................................24
4.8.2 The security problem from the customer requirement. ........................................25
4.8.3 Vulnerability: SQL injection .................................................................................25
4.9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................25
Chapter 5 Design............................................................................................................................26
5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................26
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5.2 Data...................................................................................................................................26
5.2.1 Database Schema ...........................................................................................................26
5.2.2 ER-Diagram...................................................................................................................28
5.3 Form Design......................................................................................................................30
5.4 Web interface for contract generator...............................................................................30
5.5 The administrator interface .............................................................................................31
5.6 The process of generate the contract................................................................................32
Chapter 6 Implementation.............................................................................................................33
6.1 Introduction:.....................................................................................................................33
6.2 interface ............................................................................................................................33
6.3 Database connection .........................................................................................................34
6.4 List Products.....................................................................................................................36
6.5 SECURITY .......................................................................................................................38
6.6 User manual......................................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 7 EVALUATION.........................................................................................................40
7.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................40
7.2 Testing group ....................................................................................................................40
7.3 Effectiveness of testing......................................................................................................40
7.4 meeting user requirement.................................................................................................41
7.4.1 Functional requirement .........................................................................................41
7.4.2 Un-functional requirement ....................................................................................42
7.4.3 Additional requirement from the customer. ..........................................................43
7.5 meet the minimum requirement .......................................................................................43
7.6 Effectiveness of methodology ...........................................................................................44
7.7 Time management and schedule ......................................................................................45
7.8 Possible improvements .....................................................................................................45
Chapter 8 Summary.......................................................................................................................47
References ......................................................................................................................................47
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PROJECT TITLE:
Web based contract generating application for ZEYA Import & Export Company
PROBLEM INDENTIFICATION:
At the present time, information management and dissemination is an important issue for all
business and organization. The World Wide Web has revolutionized how information is managed
and distributed by providing an on line portal to share information. Most of the Business
especially the long distance business such as Import& export business around the world has
already taken advantage of this. In order to gain the most chance to business, they are putting
their products on the web page; list their company web site link at the top of the search engine
and commercial web site as many as possible.
However, for some small company, with the more and more business they get, generating contract
is becoming a serious problem and a main factor to constraint the company’s evolution.
According to the work experience I gained from the ZEYA Company, generating a contract is a
very complicated, reduplicative and boring process. It is also the most important and rigorous
processes in the whole business. A single mistake (like a digit in the price) may bring a significant
financial loss. It usually takes considerable time to generate the contact by their general process
which may limit the amount of business that this company capable to handle at the same time,
and even more badly, it is easy to make mistake.
Therefore, I believe that a web application would improve this situation and enlarge the business
opportunity.
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CHAPTER 1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION
1.1 Aim:
The project analyses the current inconveniences of generating an import & export business
contract, and then suggest a possible solution based on computing technique to make the
processes more efficient, secure, and easier to be maintained.
1.2 objectives:
1. Research the current processes of generating the overseas business contract with the
company manager.
2. Research and discuss the problem and inconvenience of going through these business
processes.
3. Research and choose a development methodology to follow.
4. Establish a list of user requirements for how to improve this process.
5. Research the need for a web application amongst generating a contract
6. Design a web based application to incorporate the requirements of the user.
7. To implement the web based application design for “ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD”.
8. Evaluate the application in terms of usability and meeting the user requirements.
1.3 minimum requirements:
1. Develop a web based application for “ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD” what will make the
customer go through all the processes of making a contract online, and keep it efficient and
secure.
2. Build an appropriate database for manage these contracts
3. Produce a report of how the project has been carried out.
Further research and work to be carried out on this project, time permitting may
Include:
• Incorporate the list of generic requirements in to the web application produced
for “ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD” to make it customizable and appropriate for the
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needs of all types import and export business company.
• Produce a user manual to support the use of the application
1.4 Time Schedules:
A table outlining the project schedule and milestones for each time period:
Dates Task Milestones
10-10-06 -
21-10-06
Identify Minimum Aims and
Requirements
Submit 21-10-06
22-10-06 -
27-11-06
Background Reading Background Reading
Summary section
22-10-06 -
27-11-06
Research existing solutions Summary section
14-11-06 -
27-11-06
Methodologies Methodologies section
28-11-06 -
09-12-06
Mid project report Submit 09-12-06
10-12-06 - 22-01-07 Christmas break and exam period
23-01-07 -
05-02-07
Requirements Analysis Report
30-01-07 -
05-03-07
Design of solution Design section
20-02-07 -
09-04-07
Implementation of
deliverable product
Implementation section
06-03-07 -
19-03-07
Progress meeting Submit 17-03-07
10-04-07 - User testing of User testing section
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16-04-07 solution
03-04-07 -
30-04-07
Evaluation Evaluation section
Collate and write the report Submit 03-05-06
The above table shows the final project schedule. I split the project up into a series of small
sections and specify time periods for each section to commence and finish. This schedule is
affected by the coursework and examination tasks. But fortunately, the time schedule hasn’t been
changed for collision.
Also, the time schedule considered about my final year schedule, and I was trying to make it even
and reasonable. For instance I decided that I would spend more time in semester two on the
project than semester one (Will Design and implement and evaluate the whole web application on
semester two) because I have only 3 module to finish at semester two but 5 in semester one.
Another thing is I left a gap in the development of this project over the Christmas period to
review for 5 examinations at the beginning of January. The work then recommenced after these
examinations.
(APPENDIX A CONTAINS THE GANTT CHART)
1.5 Relevance to degree program:
For the business analysis, I practiced the knowledge and skills that I have learned from the
business school (LUBS2150/LUBS2550).Creating a business report about the import and export
business give me a great chance to utilize these skills by studying the business requirements and
contract processes.
Within BSc Computing (Industry) I have studied three database modules including ‘Database
Principles and Practice’ and most recently ‘Advanced Databases’ (DB11/ DB21/ DB31).
Creating a web application with content management functionality should enable me to utilize
these skills by applying a database behind my web application. Development methodologies and
requirements gathering have also been studied in various Information System modules including
Is11, as well as a ‘Software Project Management’ module (SE24). My programming skills in
java and HMTL have also been aptly tested in many modules including ‘Object Orientated
Programming’ (SE20) and ‘Human Computer Interaction’ (SY33/SY23), and will be further put
to the test in this project.
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This project would not only utilize the skills learnt from this university but expand this
knowledge to include interactive features.
1.6 Methodologies:
According to the background reading about the project methodologies, “RAD” will be the main
methodology of this project and “prototyping” will also be used in some of the key processes.
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CHAPTER 2 background reading
2.1 Introduction:
This chapter will report on the background reading carried out to find a solution to the user’s
problem. It investigates and studies the user’s problem, and researches what would constitute a
usable web application. It also researches the language of development, web server, database and
server-side technology that may need to be utilized to devise an appropriate solution to the
problem. It discusses advantages and disadvantages of each technology to solve the problem and
presents justification for the chosen technology.
2.2 researching related existing products:
Through searching on the internet search engine, for instance, Google is apparent that
there are only a few web pages that are associating with the topic “contract generator”,
and none of them can solve the problem for my customer. This situation can be predicted.
According to my research and feed back from interview, contract is a very “personal”
step in the import & export business trading. Unlike e-bay and similar trading system, the
import & export business is usually much bigger (amount of trading products, total price,
etc.). There is a result of comparison between an E-bay trading record and exporting
business.
E-bay Exporting business
products Dog chew Dog chew
Amount 1 pack 20,000 pack
Kind 1 20
Is the product feature is the
same from the last time
Yes NO
Total price 1 pound 16050 pound
Size 1 delivery box 2 container
Is the delivery approach is
the same from the last time
Yes No
Do the customer require
delivery date
Some times, but not strict Yes, and have to be on time
Will the price change Some time All the time
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frequently
According to this form, the differences between the import & export business and the E-bay are
quite clear. The trading products in e-bay usually have a constant feature and trade with small
amount. Therefore, a general trading platform can be created and applied to trade almost all kinds
of products. However, import & export business is usually trading a large amount of products,
and each product is made to base on the customer requirement. As the result, in order to meet all
the customer’s requirements and be truly useful to deal with the problems, the contract generator
has to be “personal”.
2.3 development tools:
2.3.1 JavaScript:
JavaScript is the most popular client side scripting language and like all scripting languages can be
embedded within HTML. It is an object orientated programming language that is freely available
and can be used to add interactivity to web pages. It is open source and a cross platform system
supported by both Windows and Linux servers, thus making it a realistic choice for my project.
Rather than the script being processed on the server, all processing is carried out in the client’s
browser. All major browsers like IE, Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape and Opera will sufficiently be able
to process these scripts without the need for a JavaScript application. JavaScript is also able to
detect which browser the user is using and load a page designed particularly for that browser. This
is beneficial as it will ensure all customers from different parts of the world who may use various
web browsers would view the best possible version of the website.
From an advanced point of view JavaScript is a language I have some experience of using (from
sy23). It has a similar syntax t of Java, so that it should therefore speed up the learning process.
JavaScript’s main draw back is that it requires an API (Application Programming Interface) to
connect java programmes to a database, which is unfriendly to some web browsers and fire wall. It
is also true that JavaScript is in decline and being replaced by languages such as PHP and Perl etc
2.3.3 ASP
Active server pages (ASP), it is a technology that enables user to make dynamic and interactive
web pages. ASP uses server-side scripting to dynamically produce web pages that are not affected
by the type of browser the web site visitor is using. The building language of ASP is VBScript,
although user can still use other scripting language such like Jscript (Microsoft’s version of
JavaScript).
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The extension of the ASP page is .asp instead of .html. When the ASP page is requested by a
browser, the web server knows to interpret any ASP code contained within the web page before
sending the HTML to the Brower. By this way, all the ASP code is running on the web server and
none of them will ever be passed to the web browser. Which mean any web pages containing ASP
can not be run by just simply opening the page in the web browser. The page must be requested
through a web server that supports ASP. As the result, ASP web pages is very efficient to execute
and no client-side constraints. Besides, it provides security as ASP code cannot be viewed from the
browser and clever ASP programming can reduce network traffic.
The biggest drawback of ASP is that, it runs most under “windows servers” that is much expensive
and ASP is not really a good choice if cross-platform compatibility is required unless you have 3rd
part software.
2.3.4 JSP
In response to ASP, Sun Microsystems gave the world Java Server Pages (JSP). Obviously, it is
entirely based in java programming language, supports the same modularity, reusability,
platform-independence, and access to java APIs as Java. Therefore it offers developers the
advantages of developing in java in a more relaxed script-like environment. Unlike ASP which
relies primarily on Microsoft technology, JSP is designed to be platform and server independent
(support any web server, including Apache, Netscape and IIS), created from a broader community
of tool, server, and database vendors.
JSP is efficient, convenient (server engines typically have build-in infrastructures to handle
parsing/decoding HTML from data, reading/setting HTTP headers, session tracking),
portable( write once, it can be run anywhere through the server) and free.
There are two main disadvantages of it:
1. Need for a server engine.
2. high learning curve: need the java skills( since I am learning java, so it is not a problem for
me )
2.4 Database
2.4.1 MySQL database
MySQL is a free open source software, widely available and with good technical support. It is
supported by many Operating Systems including Windows, Linux and Mac and can be used with
both Apache and Windows web servers. It can also handle medium amounts of data and provides
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appropriate security through user authorisation and access privileges.
MySQL merges perfectly with PHP, Perl and ASP making it ideal for managing the content of a
web application. These server side scripts can therefore be used to interact with a MySQL database
to retrieve and add information to a database. Furthermore, MySQL is a database to which I have
had some experience using in both DB21 and DB31 computing modules. This experience could
prove vital during the development stage.
2.4.2 PostgreSQL
According to the experience I had in sy23 with using prostgreAQL, it is difficult to me to use than
MySQL and it is slower. It is an open source, platform independent database management system
similar to MySQL, but less widely used. It is designed for large databases and includes more
advanced features than MySQL such as the use of triggers.
2.4.3. MS SQL Server
MS SQL server is a platform dependant database management system that runs only on ISS
servers, which I had some experience in the coursework of DB 21 as well. It is designed for large
databases and handles multiple users. Database queries in it are easy to use and extremely well. It is
also easily maintained through the Enterprise Manager GUI. The disadvantage of MS SQL is that it
is not open source and expensive to purchase.
2.5 Web server
Apache:
A public-domain open source web server, which is developed based on the NCSA http web server
at 1995. Apache is now maintained by an open community of developers and it is free. It is the
server that used in the exercise of the school computing, and I had a lot of experience from the
coursework associate with it.
2.6 MY CHOICE: JSP + MYSQL + apache
It is highly liked that I will use JSP rather than PHP or ASP. The most benefit for using JSP in my
project is that JSP inherits most of the advantages from java: easy and efficient to developing web
site. In addition, it supports using component “java bean” to provide support for long-term
persistence (can be recursively read or written to capture their publicly available state), and further
reduce the development time. For the database software, although I personally prefer MS SQL
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server, however it is not free software, and I may be able to use it out of the university, I decide to
use MYSQL database instead.
Besides, I personally had some experience with java, java script and JSP languages, and all these
languages and ,MYSQL software have already been well installed in the school of computing’
computers. There for, choosing them will save a lot of time for me to install and get use to them, so
that the total project time can be saved. Time is money, which means the cost of the development
can be reduced as well.
2.7 Database structure
In order to deal the considerable data (products in each contract, the contract itself and the customer
details), the database structure should be carefully designed.
In this project, the data table of customer, products and the contracts are required to be related to
each other. In this way, user can query any data related to the key data easily.
For example, if the company manager wants to analyse the products of customer A, then, the
system is able to select all the products that ordered by customer A in the history. Another useful
example would be that the system is able to select all the contracts that contains product A, when
the company manager wants to do some marketing.
The best way to design these relationships is to use entity relational diagram.
An entity relationship diagram helps illustrate the conceptual design of the database showing high
level abstractions, relationships and cardinalities between each relation. Its main advantages are:
• It maps well to the relational model. The constructs used in the ER model can easily be
transformed into relational tables.
• It is simple and easy to understand with a minimum of training. Therefore, the model can
be used by the database designer to communicate the design to the end user.
• In addition, the model can be used as a design plan by the database developer to implement
a data model in specific database management software.
In the diagram there are two main special entity types:
Associative entities (also known as intersection entities) are entities used to associate two or more
entities in order to reconcile a many-to-many relationship.
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Subtypes entities are used in generalization hierarchies to represent a subset of instances of their
parent entity, called the super type, but which have attributes or relationships that apply only to the
subset.
There are three types of relationship that can be modelled: one-to-one (1:1); one- to- many (1: M);
and many-to-many (N: M). A 1:1 relationship is where one instance of an entity relates to exactly
one instance of another entity. A 1: M relationship means an instance of one entity can relate to
multiple instances of another entity. A N: M relationship (many to many relationship) means
multiple instance of one entity can be relate to multiple instances of another entity.
In this project, a single product can be sold in many contracts; conversely, a single contract can
contain many products. Here the cardinality for the relationship between contract and product is M,
and the cardinality between product and contract is N. Many-to-many relationships cannot be
directly translated to relational tables but instead must be transformed into two or more
one-to-many relationships using associative entities. As the reason, there would be some
associative entities created in my database system in order to deal with the many to many
relationships.
Also, the database needs to be normalized, in order to get the precise structure and increase the
database reaction speed. Normalisation is to say that if the same field was stored in two tables, we
might forget to update the data in both tables. Therefore, in a database with out normalization,
when the table of data are increasing by the future requirement, it will cost a lot of time and money
to change a single field. Esen Ozkaran states that normalization should be a reversible process to
maintain consistency, so that if you return to the original form of the database you can do so
without losing or altering any data.
2.8 Usability
As the interface is a part of my project and it is the middle ware that links the customer with the
application, usability is an important factor that has to be well considered. The importance of
usability should not be underestimated in what is becoming an increasingly competitive business
environment. If a user can not effectively operate your website they will simply stop using it. The
knowledge of increasing the usability of my interface would be based on my study from the GI11.
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CHAPTER 3 Methodologies analysis
3.1 INTRODUCTION
In order to design a useful web based application of generating the Import & export business
contract, it is necessary to demonstrate how the new components may be implemented and
evaluate the usage of them to the customers of ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD.
“Methodology is collection of procedures, techniques, tools and documentation aids which will
help system developers in their effort to produce a new information system” said by Sha Avison.
Without using methodology, system is often poorly designed and hard be accepted by the users.
Also, it is difficult to estimate project completion dates and software development projects almost
always overran. Methodologies provide a more systematic approach to software development. It
helps developer defining task more clearly and offering a greater management for controlling the
project. With it help, developer would avoid waste and schedule overruns.
As the result, this project will also follow a methodology and all the methodologies will be
studied and compared in order to find the best methodology for my project.
3.2 Project management
There are three General Paradigms:
• The Waterfall Approach:
After each stage in the life cycle is complete it is “signed-off and development
goes on to the next stage. No two stages can run asynchronously.
• Iterative Development :
The activities are interleaved. An initial system is developed rapidly from high
level specifications. This is refined, with customer input, in subsequent iterations.
• Component Based
It Assumes use of some pre-built components, development focuses on architecture and
integration of components rather than building from scratch.
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However, there is no one methodology fit for all the software development, based on the
following reasons, it has to be flexible:
• Each methodology has their own advantages and disadvantages under conditions.
• Different technology require different techniques.
• Every individual is unique.
• Every team is unique.
• Your external needs vary.
• Project categories vary.
The advantages and disadvantages of some relative methodologies are researched and reported as
follow:
3.2.1 Rapid Application Development:
Application Development refers to the developing of programming applications and differs from
programming itself in that it has a higher level of responsibility, including for requirement
capturing and testing. Rapid Application Development (RAD) was a response to non-agile
processes developed in the 1970s, such as the Waterfall model. The problem with previous
methodologies was that applications took so long to build that requirements had changed before
the system was complete, often resulting in unusable systems. Starting with the ideas of Barry
Boehm and Scott Shultz, James Martin developed the Rapid Application Development approach
during the 1980s at IBM and finally formalized it by publishing a book in 1991.
Compare this new approach to the normal waterfall model, it requires faster speed of
development and increased quality. The speed increases can be achieved using a variety of
methods including, rapid prototyping, virtualization of system related routines, the use of CASE
tool and other techniques. The system is divided up into a number of components or time boxes
that are developed separately. Time boxes basically specify a development start time and end time.
Within each of these time boxes functionality is added to the system very quickly until the end of
the time box is reached, which cannot be extended nor additional resources allocated. The first time
box will therefore implement all the high level user requirements first to ensure the main
functionality of the system is implemented. The second and third time boxes will then proceed to
implement lower and more detailed user requirement. About The quality, as defined by RAD, is
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both the degree to which a delivered application meets the needs of users as well as the degree to
which a delivered system has low maintenance costs. RAD increases quality through the
involvement of the user in the analysis and design stages. Some systems also deliver advantages
of interoperability, extensibility, and portability.
But, every thing has two aspects. RAD reduced Scalability, and reduced features. Reduced
scalability occurs because a RAD developed application starts as a prototype and evolves into a
finished application; reduced features occur due to time boxing, because the implementation of
the time boxing can not be extended, features are pushed to later versions or discarded in order to
finish a release in a short amount of time.
3.2.3 Prototyping
Compare with waterfall approach, Prototyping involves the user more than the Waterfall model and
like the Evolutionary Development and RAD it also allows for changes in requirements, thus
reducing the projects risk of failure.
Usually developer will provide number of prototypes to let the user comment on, and then enhance
the one they like the best.
This approach indeed dramatically reduces the risk of getting the requirement wrong, but while
that, the develop time will be wasted by implementing things that user decide not to use.
Obviously the advantages of this approach are user is involved more during the development, and it
is easy to gain the trust from the customer. However its drawbacks are also significant. Because
there are no clearly defined stages management, it made more difficult to control the development
process and it could take some time for the user and developer to both agree on a set of
requirements. “At what point would you need to say enough is enough and implement the system?”
will become a confusing problem.
3.3 Chosen Methodology
In this project, since it is for business, use the requirements from the customer would be the most
important. Getting the requirement wrong would seriously reduce the usability of this application
and even cause a failure to the business. In addition, with the deeper understanding of this
application by both the developer and the customers, requirements may change frequently during
the project.
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For these reasons, due to the time limit, the RAD with prototyping some key features to the
customer (e.g. interface) will be good structure to develop my project.
Iterative and in time feedback from the RAD will significantly reduce the project risk and lead the
project to fit the customer requirements mostly. Additionally, the development will also try to
utilize the advantages of prototyping by integrating it within the implementation stage of the
Waterfall model to receive feedback from the user on design and required functionality of the
system.
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Chapter 4 Analysis
4.1 Introduction:
In the section2, the result of the background research which is carried out by the developer will be
discussed. The current approach of generating the import & export business contract will be
examined, highlighting any downfalls, and providing justifications regarding the production of a
new system. It investigates the user’s problem in greater depth and researches what constitute a
usable web based application. It also studies the requirements from some important customer of
ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD that may need to be special concerned with in building the
application.
4.2 processes of generating an import & export business contract:
Based on my research and the interview result from the manager of ZEYA Import & export
CO.LTD, the following are the general processes of generating the import & export business
contract and the containing of each step:
1. After the overseas customer confirmed with the products they want, they will send an offer with:
a. Product_id;
b. Name of the product;
c. Product specification (which includes size, Wight, colour and special magnitude for each
product);
d. Packing information,
• Packing of product: there are only limited kinds of packing: •PVC bag+head; •POLYBAG;
•Printed bag; •Blister pack; •Opp bag+header; •PE bag.
• inner packing: none; inner box; inner ploy bag
• amount of carton
e. Unit price
f. Price condition: FOB SHANGHAI or CNF or CIF
g. Price
h. Minimum amount
The information will be reorganised into a contract structure by the employee in the company
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and becoming the reference for further negotiation.
2. After customer confirmed about all the information, they will sign a business contact with the
company and decide a contract_id.
3. Contract usually contains three pieces, which are:
• Sale confirmation: contains all the product information, packing information and price
information.
• Shipment: contains product information, amount, and quantity, price per pack and total
price for each product.
• Invoice: contains product information and all the price information.
• There will be a confirmation from the customhouse (which is not concerned by my project)
(A contract example is attached at the end of the report)
4.3 The current inconveniences within the processes of generating the contract.
1) After the sales person in ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD received the offer from customer),
they need to copy down all the information from the email/fax. And type them in to a excel file.
Usually, different customer has different type for sending offer, which means sales person needs
to spend a lot of time to find the right information from the offer and this kind of information
can’t be learned from previous customer. As the result, the working time has been increased and
it is very hard and taking a long time for a new employee becomes an experience sales person.
2) Currently, company Discusses with customer about the detail on phone or through email.
However, there are enormous detail within each contract (e.g. changing in the price of the
products, the feature of the products, the amount and packing type, etc.), and even more badly,
these processes are iterative. Therefore, discussing it on phone will be an annoying work that the
sales person needs to talk with the customer on phone for long time and taking mass information.
Obviously, time is wasted and there is a great chance to make mistake. Email is also not a best
way to negotiate, as an asynchronous communication tools, it takes too long to finfish the
discussion and it is impossible to make sure that the customer received the emails on time,
nevertheless it is good for company to save it as evidence, and reduce the chance to make
mistake.
(3) Since the system of the company does not contain a database, the information is usually saved
23
in a folder which will be copied several times later and transfer to different computer as backup.
It caused a very low secure data protection and it is not easy to maintain.
(4)As customer is the god in a business, all the features of the products are flexible, so even a
single product from different customer may have variable features. For the good of the business,
it requires any new modification from the previous offer will be announced to both customer and
the sales person in the company as soon as possible. This problem will be discussed at the
database design section.
4.4 Functional requirements
According to the requirements from the manager of ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD, and those
problems are represented above, the web based application should have following factions.
1. Allows user to enter and modify the details of the offer.
2. After the sales person confirmed the offer, the well structured contract will be generated
automatically.
3. The detail of the contract can be changed at any time before the final decision.
4. Details of the contract can’t be changed after the final decision.
5. Details of the contract can be printed out on an A4 size paper.
6. The entered details of the contract will be saved to the database after modification.
7. If the product is selected by the same customer with similar features, the details of the
products will be generated automatically so the user would not take time to enter them
again.
( the contract out put has been attached in the appendix H)
4.5 Non-functional requirements
• Easy to use
• The processes need to be as efficiency as possible
• Easy to modify any details on the contract
• Secure
4.6 Additional requirement in the feed back from the customer interview:
Once the contract has been modified by either the customer himself or the
manager from the ZEYA Company, an email should be sent to notice the other
one
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4.7 Use case and the class structure analysis:
Based on the analysis of the customer requirement, the use cases of the two main kinds of
users are decided. All the use cases are separated into to different level. By the book,
there are 3 different levels: “must do”, could do and may do. Must do is represent the use
cases that is required by the customer, which are usually the basic functions of the web
application. “Could do” are the functions which would increase the performance of the
web application, but will take time and increase the cost of development. “May do” are
some functions would slightly improve the convenience for customer, but only be added
into the system if there are spare times and spare development cost.
(An UML diagram of the use cases is attached in the appendix C)
Class diagram would help developer to design the application system. It shows all the
classes in the application in detail (components and method), and also describe the
relationships between each classes.
(An UML diagram of the class diagram is attached in the appendix C)
4.8 Threat analysis:
4.8.1 Security development approach
Security issue is also an important part of this project. The details of the contract, the customer
details and the products information are all high level privacy of the company. In order to avoid
divulge the business information, a comprehensive secure protection are needed. And for
achieving it, a suitable security development approach should be integrated with the development
of the project from the very beginning till to the final step.
But, obviously, the approach that just adds the security part into steps of project development is
not good enough. (Analyse requirements�design the solution� implement functionality�add
security features � fix bugs� ship product).
The development approach used by Microsoft group has been studied for improving the approach
to design my project.
“SECURITY from Day One” Microsoft’s Approach used in my project:
1: Concept: Consider the security questions during interviews of getting the customer requirement.
Finish the threat analysis before move on to the design part.
2: Design complete: review the security problem and the security functions
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3: Test plans complete: data mutation and least privacy tests. Also do some external review :Use
tools such like “splint” to review the old defects, secure coding guidelines and test the check-in
functions and
4: code complete: security push: stand in the attacker’s aspect and try to attack the system.
5: ship: Security audit; learn and refine the system.
6 post ship
4.8.2 The security problem from the customer requirement.
1: Not all the user of the web site can generate a contract. Customers should be investigated and
accepted by the manager form the company before they get the right to generate the contract.
2: Both administrator and customers need to login to the system every time. And there should be
a checking (username and password are preferred) for each log in.
4.8.3 Vulnerability: SQL injection
SQL injection is a technique that exploits a security vulnerability happening in the database layer of
an application. The vulnerability is present when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string
literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and
thereby unexpectedly executed.
In this project, SQL injection should be clearly avoided from the log-in system
4.9 Conclusion
The incontinence of the current contract generating processes is can’t be neglected, and
none of the existing web application could fully solve all the requirements from my
customer. According to the feed back from interviewing the company manager and the
key customers of this company, a comprehensive analysis about the features of the final
product has been studied.
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Chapter 5 Design
5.1 Introduction
Followed the methodology I have chosen at the analyzing stage, I quickly designed a prototype,
which contains the screen shot of the web page, the description of some important features and
the core buttons would be put on the pages. Then I send them to the customers and the manager
of the ZEYA Company with a shot report attached to introduce how to use this web application
and the functions it has. (The initial design is in the appendix B). After that I modified and
improved my work according to the feed back I received from users and repeat the process again.
This section will document how to use the software I chose to design the web application and
integrate the interface with the database behind. In addition, the data base structure and some
additional functions designing will also be reported.
5.2 Data
The product’s data, customer details, and the contracts will be stored in a MYSQL database
because it is freely available (this has been discussed in the analysing part), compatible with
chosen language –JSP and the tomcat server. In addition, since all the relative software has been
installed and well set on both LINUX and WINDOWS operation systems in the school of
computing desktops, MYSQL is very convenience to set up, and can be designed at any where in
my department. In order to determine the structure of the database, a data store which is fulfil the
customer requirements need to be firstly defined. An entity relational diagram could be used to
represent the comprehensive structure of the database after the creation of the table schemas to
outline the information to be stored. Off course, this database will also consider about the further
incoming details.
5.2.1 Database Schema
All the details in this database are based on my understanding of the company requirements and
the feed backs I got from the customers. Almost all of them will synchronize with the input data
on the web application interface. The database schema is listed at follow:
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� User( id varchar(15) not null, firstname varchar(15) not null, lastname varchar(15) not null,
tel_number1 varchar(30) not null, tel_number2 varchar (30), companyname varchar(50) not
null, country varchar (30) not null, address varchar(100) primary key (account_id))
� Customer ( id varchar(15) not null, firstname varchar(15) not null, lastname varchar(15) not
null, tel_number1 varchar(30) not null, tel_number2 varchar (30), companyname varchar(50)
not null, country varchar (30) not null, address varchar(100) primary key (account_id))
� Products (product_id varchar (15) not null, product_name varchar (30) not null,
productspecification blob, quantity varchar (15) not null, unitprice float not null, ctns float
not null, l float not null, w float not null, h float not null, gw float not null, primary key
( product_id))
� Ccontract (order_id varchar (30) not null , telnumber varchar (30) not null, shippingDate
varchar (30) not null, from varchar(50) not null, to varchar (50) not null , insurance Boolean,
meansOfTransport varchar (50), dateOfFianlDesision date, primary key (order_id))
� Pcontract (order_id varchar (30) not null, telnumber varchar (30) not null, shippingDate
varchar (30) not null, from varchar(50) not null, to varchar (50) not null , insurance Boolean,
meansOfTransport varchar (50), dateOfFianlDesision date, primary key (order_id))
� Admin (username varchar (30) not null primary key, password varchar (30))
� Log_in(id varchar(30) not null, password varchar(30))
� sell (order_id varchar(30) , product_id varchar (30))
� generate( order_id varchar(30) , id varchar(30))
Each entity in the database should also have a unique identifier to identify specific instances of
each entity. In this example of the customer table this could be a customer_id because the web
application will check every input id and make sure that it is unique. This will help when using
SQL to query the database. An ER diagram also helps to model the relationship between each
entity
The foreign key is underlined
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5.2.2 ER-Diagram
Base on the conception of the ER diagram we discussed in the chapter 2, the ER diagram below
shows the relationships between each entity in the project in detail:
user Customer
id …
lastname
firstname
id
… lastname
Promote
to
do
Log-in admin
Controlled
by
generate
p.contract
c.contract
sell
products
id
Saved as
Order_id
product_id
User_id id
passowrd
Shipmentdate ….
… ctns quality product_id passowrd
insurance Order_id
firstname
Order_id
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The entity relationship diagram shows the basic database structure.
“Customer” is a table that inherit from “user”. They have exactly the same entities. Customer is
the high level user, who is directly promoted by administrator. Only the users in the customer
table have the right to generate contract. Both customer and user can be offered further authorities
in future, and their authorization is clearly separated by this database structure. It will be much
more convenient for the developer to do the future improvement.
On the other hand, there are two types of contract data in the database. Customer and
administrator can only review and change the “c.contract”( the contract which are processing).
But based on the customer requirement, for the “p.contract” (already made a final agreement),
they can be only reviewed but modified. In order to achieve this, “p.contract” is a table that
inherit from “c.contract”. When a contract is during discussing, its data would be saved into the
“c.contract” table, and then the data is transferred into the “p.contract” as reference after the
agreement has been made.
Since there are several products sell in one contract and these products may be sold at other
different contracts (N: M), one extra table “sell” is created for storing the relation ship between
each contract and products. The table “generate” is created by the same reason, and it stores the
relation ship between each contract and customer. This middleware table will be useful when
query some particular products from the specific contract.
30
The tables in the proposed database structure are related together through the use of the primary
keys and foreign keys, emphasised in the database schema. Each table in that database includes a
primary key to uniquely identify each record in the database. This is necessary as records can
have the same value for fields such as ‘product_id’. In order to form a relationship between two
tables the joining tables must also contain the primary key of the table it is forming a relationship
with. This key is usually referred to as a foreign key. Using primary keys and foreign keys in this
way will enforce referential integrity by ensuring no record can be added to a table unless the
foreign key in that relation points to a valid record in the other relation.
5.3 Form Design
The online form is the data entry interface that will allows web site users and web site
administrators to add and amend data stored in the database. According to the research result that
is discussed in the previous chapters, the forms on the web site provides an easy way for the user
to update the database by hiding the coding and avoiding the need of any prior or special
knowledge from the user. Additionally, unnecessary complication of these forms such like
graphics would be also mostly avoided. To conclusion, these forms would provide the user with
an easy mechanism to manage the database and allow the user to effortlessly control the functions
of the web application. Appendix D contains designs of some of the forms, with a statement to
describe which generic requirement it fulfils, which kind of user will implement them and the
tables in the database that will be affected.
5.4 Web interface for contract generator
The coding structure of JSP is like “java embedded in the html”. As the result, CSS (Cascading
Stylesheets ) is still the main approach to design the layout.
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The above picture shows the main lay out design of the web site which contains the contract
generator. The company logo is placed clearly on the top left and the company name with some
graphics would be placed right of it. Web-site navigation is contained in a long bar that appear at
the top where blow the company name and given more emphasis by blending into the graphic.
Bottom navigation is created to hold links such as “contract us” and “about us”. In my project, in
order to follow the concepts of usability, all the pages have the same constant lay out. All the
information will be shown on the main content area and it has a fixed size so that it will not break
the web page architecture.
(A detailed design of those pages required to meet the generic set of user requirements are
contained in appendix F.)
5.5 The administrator interface
The administration interface is only intended for a limited number of users in control the content.
In this case, the manager from the ZEYA pet company is the only one administrator. Therefore,
the design of the layout would be as simple as possible and only emphasis on practicality.
32
The picture above is the main page of the administrator interface. Obviously, in order to
increase the usability, there are only buttons on the page which links to the main user
cases for the administrator.
(More administrator interfaces are described in the appendix F)
5.6 The process of generate the contract
By following the principle of usability, all the options of the processes should be clearly
out lined on the interface, and customer can go back to any process by simply click the
buttons.
All the processes are designed through activity diagrams. The diagram shows all the links
between each step. It also points out the options or an alternative way of process.
(All the activity diagrams are attached in the appendix C)
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Chapter 6 Implementation
6.1 Introduction:
The implementation section of the project is the development of the designs produced
during the design phase, documented in section 5 above. By showing a series of screen
shots, code snippets and descriptions, this section will represent how to carry out the
design and makes the some of the key functions in the design part come true.
6.2 interface
JSP is just like java embedded in HTML, so that we can first develop the web page using
HTML skills and then integrate it with the java code and change the extension of the file
into “.jsp”
External .CSS
As we discussed in the analyzing part, CSS is the main technique to control the out put of
the web page. In order to unify the web page feature and the future development, I use
external CSS. External CSS is placing CSS in a separate file allows the web designer to
completely differentiate between content (html) and design (CSS). CSS code is saved
with a “.css” file extension, and then referenced in the HTML using the <link> instead of
<style>. By using external style sheet, designer can change the out put of all the pages by
modify one file.
These are part of my CSS file (business.css).
body {
background-color: #FFFFF0;
font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
font-size: 18px;
color: #00008B;
}
a { font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: #483D8B; text-decoration:
underline}
a:hover { font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: #A52A2A;
background-color: #FAEBD7}
h1 { font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; color: #A52A2A }
h2 { font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; color: #A52A2A }
hr{ color:brown; background-color:tan; width:90%; height:2px; }
table {
font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
font-size: 18px;
color: #00008B;
margin-top: 0px;
margin-right: 0px;
34
margin-bottom: 0px;
margin-left: 0px;
padding-top: 0px;
padding-right: 0px;
padding-bottom: 0px;
padding-left: 0px;
}
.note {
font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;
color: purple;
font-weight: bold;
}
…
Then, when need it, load it in the beginning of the html page.
<html>
<head>
<title>Document Title</title>
<link REL="StyleSheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="business.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1 ALIGN="center">log-in </h1>
…
Then the “log-in” will met the style of h1 in the business.css file.
6.3 Database connection
Database connection is widely used in this project, it interacts with the interface closely (store the
data entered from the interface and shows the data inside to the interface.)
The following java bean will make the web application connect with the MYSQL database
package com;
35
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import com.mysql.jdbc.*;
public class ConnectManager {
public static java.sql.Connection getConn() throws InstantiationException,
IllegalAccessException, ClassNotFoundException,SQLException{
String driverName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";
String userName="root";
String userPwd="txj999";
String dbName="business";
String tableName="user";
String
url="jdbc:mysql://localhost/"+dbName+"?user="+userName+"&password="+userPwd;
Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
java.sql.Connection conn=DriverManager.getConnection(url);
java.sql.Statement statement =conn.createStatement();
return conn;
}
}
This java bean represent how to connect to the database, it contains all the database information
such like the name of database driver, and username and password. It can be used at any time
when the web application needs to connect with the database. If the connection requirement (such
like the password) has been modified, we only need to change the code in the java bean.
The following jsp is an example to show how to use this java bean to connect the database:
<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=GB18030"
pageEncoding="GB18030" import="com.*" import="java.sql.*"%>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
36
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=GB18030">
<title>Insert title here</title>
</head>
<body>
<%
java.sql.Connection con=ConnectManager.getConn();
out.print("connection successed");
con.close();
%>
</body>
</html>
6.4 List Products
There is important function of the contract generator that is list the products details with in a
required contract, so that these details can be reviewed or modified by customers. These products
details should be placed in a structured and constant form. In order to achieve this, another java
been is needed:
Products_list.jsp
…
<h3><center> your products details in this contracts </center> </h3>
…
<%//code following are create a form header to describe the information would be shown in this column
%>
<tr>
<td align= center>product id</td><td align= center>product_name</td>
<td align= center>product_description</td>
<td align= center>price</td><td align= center>w</td>
<td align= center>l</td><td align= center>h</td>
<td align= center>packing type</td>
…
37
</tr>
<%
// save all the products detail into vector as cache
Vector vector = new Vector() ;
Vector=db_products.list_products();
Size=vector.size();
%>
<%
// load the products detail from the vector and display them in the browser
<for i = 0 ;I <vector.size() ; i ++)
{
products= (products ) vector.elementAt (i);
%>
<tr>
<td align=center><font size=2>
<% //print the information get from the database and place them in a form at a constant place
out.print(product.getProduct_id());%><.font></td>
<td align=center><font size=2>
<%out.print(product.getProduct_name());%><.font></td>
<td align=center><font size=2>
<%out.print(product.getProduct_description());%><.font></td>
<td align=center><font size=2>
<%out.print(product.getProduct_price());%><.font></td>
…
(The out put of this page is attached in appendix F)
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6.5 SECURITY
The basic one is to check if the user’s input username password is correct. So we use the
following bean to connect the database and check the input username and password with the one
stored in the database
Log-in bean
public class UserManager {
public static void checkuser(User user)throws Exception,SQLException{
java.sql.Connection conn=ConnectManager.getConn();
java.sql.Statement statement = conn.createStatement();
Statement stmt = null;
ResultSet rs = null;
try {
stmt = conn.createStatement();
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT accountname FROM user where
name=\'"+user.accountName+"\' and password=");
// Now do something with the ResultSet ....
if ( rs!=null) {out.print “ username or password is incorrect}
} …
finally {
if (rs != null) {
try {
rs.close();
} catch (SQLException sqlEx) { // ignore }
rs = null;
}
if (stmt != null) {
try {
stmt.close();
} catch (SQLException sqlEx) { // ignore }
stmt = null; }
39
Now, in order to avoid SQL injection we discussed in the analysis part, we need to improve the
code:
Instead of :
Connection con = (acquire Connection)
Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT accountname FROM user where name= '" + userName + "';");
Use the following:
Connection con = (acquire Connection)
PreparedStatement pstmt = con.prepareStatement("SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = ? ");
pstmt.setString(1, accountName);
ResultSet rset = pstmt.executeQuery();
6.6 User manual
A user manual was written after completion of the testing phase to help support the use of the
administration facility. It is link on the web page, and it will help to guide user to finish the
contract generation process, even it is the first time for the user to use.
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CHAPTER 7 EVALUATION
7.1 Introduction
In this chapter, it will describe the feed back from the testing of the solution and evaluate if it is
successful. It discusses the success of the solution in the meeting the user requirements and
usability principles. It will also evaluate the chosen methodology and the development process.
Additionally, this chapter will analyse how this project can be improved and some alternative
solutions.
7.2 Testing group
Myself, of course, is the first tester of the project.
Some of my friend, who have no idea what the import & export contract is.
In order to evaluate the solution, some key customers of this company have been invited to test
the contract generator web application.
These customers are involved into the development at the very beginning. They have already
given a feedback to the first prototype and the initial application which just had the key functions.
The reason for them to involve much is because they are the main business partners of ZEYA
Company, which means, in future, they will be the main users of my web application. Therefore,
their feed back is the best criteria to evaluate my project.
They tested the web application separately, and each of them at least went through the contract
generating process once.
7.3 Effectiveness of testing
The testing process involved both a user inspection and user testing of the application to evaluate
if it meets the system requirements and solves the problem. It was also designed to identify any
errors along the way so that corrective action could be taken to solve them. As listed in 7.2 in this
chapter, there are three kinds of tester and the approach for them to test is different.
� For myself: test all the functions and the entire possible requirement.
� For my friends: some prepared tasks have been given them one for each, and they tried to
carry out the task with out any help.
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� For the customer: free test, most of them chose to test it by creating a new contract with
realistic data.
In conclusion converging both testing groups worked extremely well as both gained useful results
that were similar thus making them more reliable and trustworthy.
7.4 meeting user requirement
ZEYA company requirements of the web application were agreed early in the development life
cycle. The requirements gathering phase identified 7 functional requirements or CSFs (Critical
Success Factors) that needed to be incorporated in a web application for it to be successful in
solving their problem. There were also four non-essential requirements desired and one more
additional requirement from the feed back of the customer.
7.4.1 Functional requirement
Allows user to enter and modify the details of the offer.
This was achieved through the integration of the database and the user interface. The user is able
to add, edit and delete contract details stored in the c.contract table. User feed back are also
shown that it is very connivance for user to edit the details of the contract, buttons for each option
are always shown on a clear place and the guide for each process is easy to follow.
After the sales person confirmed the offer, the well structured contract will be generated
automatically.
This function was achieved by using JSP. When the customer conformed the offer, the java code
embed inside the JSP will generate a contract form in a required A4 size automatically. The
architecture of the contract is constant, and it is given by the company manager. The content of
the contract will be based on the data that is loaded from the database.
The detail of the contract can be changed at any time before the final decision.
This was achieved by using the “edit” function in the customer main page. After the customer log
in the system successfully, there will be an option button on web page. By clicking this button,
customer will be required to select one current contract that need to be edit. And then all the
contract details will be loaded from database by JSP code and shown on the browser. After that,
42
customer is able to review and change any details of the contract, and all the changes will be
saved into the database and rewrite the previous data.
Details of the contract can’t be changed after the final decision.
This was achieved by the database structure. Once a contract have made the final agreement, all
the contract detail will be erased form the c.contract and transferred in to the p.contract. Because,
JSP code for edit contract only loads data from the c.contract, as the result, a finished contract is
not able to edit anymore.
Details of the contract can be printed out on an A4 size paper.
Because the contract will be automatically generated in to an A4 size form, so it can be printed on
an A4 size paper directly.
The entered details of the contract will be saved to the database after modification.
This was achieved by JSP code. The interface in linked with the MYSQL database, and once the
customer confirmed a modification, the data associates with it will be saved into the database.
If the product is selected by the same customer with similar features, the details of the
products will be generated automatically so the user would not take time to enter them
again.
This requirement hasn’t been achieved in the final solution yet. According to my analysis, it
need to read the input from the interface instantly and saved into vector, and compare with the
data in the vector with the data in the database. If the data in the database is similar with the
data in the vector, then the program will list the similar product as an option for customer to
decide. If the customer accepted it, then all the details of the product will be loaded from the
database and placed into the interface. The implementation of it is quite complex, and I haven’t
found a good approach to solve it.
7.4.2 Un-functional requirement
Easy to use
This was achieved by following the principle of usability. As we decided in the design part, this
web application does not require users to have any special ability to finish the process. On the
other hand, all the option are clearly listed out in the interface and the contract can be created by
simply clicking buttons and entering related data into the text-field of the interface. In addition,
43
there is a clear guide on the web page to help user go through the process.
The conclusion of the customer feed back about the usability: The buttons for each function are
clearly placed on the interface. It takes only a little time for the user to get use to the application.
With the guide on the web page, the entire customer could finish the process of generating a
contract even for the first time.
The processes need to be as efficiency as possible
According to the statistic from the entire user’s record, the average time for a new user to finish
the whole process is 25 minutes and the average time for normal user (used the system about 3
times) is only 10-15 minutes.
According to the result, this web application is efficient, and this result is accepted by the ZEYA
company manager.
Secure
This was achieved by the login checking. Besides, by following the security development
approach, some of the vulnerabilities have been avoided, such like the SQL injection.
7.4.3 Additional requirement from the customer.
Once the contract has been modified by either the customer himself or the manager from the
ZEYA Company, an email should be sent to notice the other one
This requirement hasn’t been achieved. It requires a automatically email system that will send a email
to the related customer or manager of the company once the data of the contract ha been modified. I
haven’t found a feasible solution for it.
Alternatively, I created an email button on the web page, so that the user can send emails through it.
7.5 meet the minimum requirement
All three minimum requirements specified in section 1.3 of this report have been successfully
met.
Develop a web based application for “ZEYA Import & export CO.LTD” what will make the
customer go through all the processes of making a contract online, and keep it efficient and
secure.
As covered in this chapter, the web application about generating contract has been successfully
developed. Although it hasn’t covered the entire requirement asked by the ZEYA company, but it
is still can finish the contract generating process.
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Build an appropriate database for manage these contracts
A well structured has been created based on the project analysis. As the evaluation of it covered in
this chapter before, this database will help the interface to achieve the use cases, and achieve the
customer requirements.
Produce a report of how the project has been carried out.
The detail of how the contract generator is created is covered in the analysis part, the design part
and the implementation part of this project report.
7.6 Effectiveness of methodology
The methodology followed to develop a solution to the problem identified was the RAD（Rapid Application Development ） This was also to be combined with prototyping to
gain the users thoughts on the progress of the development early in the production
process. The RAD model with iterative feedback was chosen for its advantages in
providing faster development life cycle and keeps the project development stick tight
with the customer requirement. It also encouraged greater user involvement than other
methodologies and allowed some changes in user requirements during the development.
The RAD model proved to be the correct development approach. With developing this project, I
have to study 7 other modules at the same time. As the result, I have to finish some course works
of these modules and this will interrupt my project development. By using RAD, I can quickly
finish some functions of my project and send to the customer for feed back, and I was able to do
the coursework while I was waiting for the customer feedback. With this short development life
cycle, I can manage my time more flexible. The decision to include iterative feedback proved
vital in the development process. Although there was no basic user requirement changes during
the development process, but I have got a lot of valuable suggestion about my web application
especially the interface from the customer. For example, the requirement that an email should be
send to notice the other side of the business right after the contract details is changed is one of my
customer’s suggestion. He made this suggestion after he looked at my prototype of the web
application. At last, this requirement has been agreed by the entire user and even the manager of
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the ZEYA Company and added as an additional requirement.
Finally, the user’s acceptance of the final application in the evaluation phase can prove that the
chosen methodology is a right choice.
7.7 Time management and schedule By following the methodology RAD, the development of the web application has been separated
into several small sections. Because of this benefit, the time schedule about the “design of
solution” and “Implementation of deliverable” hasn’t been affected by the course work a lot.
The final schedule allocates an extension of 2 weeks for the background reading and delays the
requirements gathering stage by 4 weeks. The reason for this change is because I arranged an
interview meeting with the key customer of the ZEYA Company in UK, in order to insure its
success, more preparation time were needed. To allow for these changes to take effect without
causing the delay of the mid report, “research existing solution was allocated only 2 weeks
instead of the initial 4.
Although the project development did exactly follow the time schedule, however, it is helpful to
plan to design my project. At least, by using this time schedule, I haven’t waited until the very
last to rush the work.
7.8 Possible improvements
Firstly, the improvements of this project would be achieving the unfinished functional
requirement: If the product is selected by the same customer with similar features, the
details of the products will be generated automatically so the user would not take time to
enter them again. And the additional requirement from the customer: Once the contract
has been modified by either the customer himself or the manager from the ZEYA
Company, an email should be sent to notice the other one.
Another improvement to the functionality would include allowing the user to do statistic of the
past contract. An example would be, by some simple processes, user can get a statistic about
what’s the totally amount of dog chew they have traded with the ZEYA Company, or what is the
increasing percentage of the shipping prices.
The most important improvement for this web application would be adding a video talk function.
According to the research, the best way to negotiate business is talking face to face. However,
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face to face talking is very difficult in long distance business. Therefore, enable to negotiate on
the video and decide the details of the contract through the current functions would be a great
improvement.
Finally, it would be very difficult for this web application to generate a different type of contract (for
example: computer business contract). With the development of the ZEYA Company, there will be
more types of import and export business trading operating. There fore, I would be a good idea to
Incorporate the list of generic requirements in to the web application produced for “ZEYA Import
& export CO.LTD” to make it customizable and appropriate for the needs of all types import and
export business company.
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Chapter 8 Summary
The aim of this project is to reduce the contract generating time for ZEYA import &
export Company, and my project is a web application which is trying to achieve this goal.
The development focused primarily on the usability of such an application, under strict
usability guidelines, and the functionality needs of the user. It was recognized early in the
project that a usable solution must utilize a database to drive the content of the
application and that this must be updated through an online administration facility.
The contract generator are successfully met most of the user requirement and did
improved a lot of the contract generating efficiency. The user testing and evaluation of
the application did affect much for the improvements and expansion. The application
could be developed further to include additional functionality and allow the user greater
control, and then brings benefits for the business.
References
1. Nielsen, Jakob, (2003), Usability 101: An Introduction to Usability,
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html [3rd February 2006]
2. Thomason, Larisa, (2004), Web Site Usability Checklist,
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/design_no4.htm [18th April 2006]
3. Brink, Tom, Gergle, Darren, Wood, Scott, (2002), Usability Evaluation, in:
Usability for the web: designing websites that work, pp. 405-441
4. Nielsen J, (1999), Site Design, in: Designing Web Usability, 1st ed, pp. 188-193
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5. Holzschlag, Molly E, (1998), The Art if Interface, in: Web by Design: the complete
guide!, pp. 77-83, Sybex
6. Nakano, Russell, (2002), Web Content Management: a collaborative approach,
Addison-Wesley
7. Netcraft (2005), November Web Server Survey 2005-
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/11/07/november_2005_web_server_survey.ht
ml [5th
December 2005]
8. Maxfield, Wade, (2001), MySQL and PHP from Scratch
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
10. Jones, Russel, A, (2000), Behind the Scenes – How Active Server Pages Work, in:
Mastering Active Server Pages 3, pp. 4-32, Sybex
11. Colburn, Rafe, (2003), Sams Teach Yourself CGI in 24 Hours
12. Dubois, Paul, (2003), Migrating from Microsoft Access to MySQL, version 1.01,
http://www.kitebird.com/articles/access-migrate.html [6th December 2005]
13. Jepson, B, PostgreSQL vs. MySQL: building better databases,
www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/09/jepson/ [6th
Decemeber 2005]
14. Avison, David, Shah, Hanifa, (1997), Information System Development life cycle,
in: The Information Systems Development Life Cycle: A first course in Information
Systems, pp. 67-87, McGraw-Hill
15.www.wikipedia.org
16. Avison, David, Fitzgerald, Guy, (2002), Methodologies, in: Information Systems
Development, Methodology, Techniques and Tools, 3rd ed, pp. 347-433, McGraw-Hill
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17. JSP web development technique and examples( Chinese book)
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Personal reflection Choosing a project title can be very difficult task. I believe that I was very lucky so that I can do
some thing I am interested in.
No matter how many excuse I found for myself and how tight time schedule I made at the very
beginning, I still left things after the mid mark. As the result, I had a busy second half term. The
professors who suggested us do the project in the front was right. I believe that if I do it everyday,
no matter it is 3hours or 20 minutes, the life for me in this semester would be much easier.
After finish the project, I have to say, RAD the chosen methodology was a right choice. The
process of it makes me well interacted with my customer.
Advice to new final year student
Because I have more modules to study at the first semester, I split the project into 30%/70%.
However, actually, it was not correct. I always find more things to research and study when I was
getting deep into this project. Therefore, to my opinion, 70%/30% is more reasonable. Because in
this way, you may save more time for unknown work (there must be a lot), and then you can have
a better time management for your final year project.
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Appendix A
The project gantt-chart diagram of the time schedule
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Appendix B Design
The architecture above shows how the initial design of the web application interface is. It has
been evaluated by the manager from the ZEYA Company, and acquired general acceptance.
Design2
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This is another initial design for the web application web page. Log in, account menu and
some products advertisements are placed at two sides. And the web-site navigation will
be placed along the top curve.
This design with a more fashion design was also agreed by the manager of the ZEYA
Company. How ever, it has been rejected by some of the main customer in UK.
According to the feed back from the customer, the reason they don’t like it is that they
prefer something classic, so that they can even predict what contains in each section of
the web page.
logo
Company name and some graphics
Ad
vertisem
ents
Log
in an
d acco
unt m
enu
Bottom navigation
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Appendix C UML All the UML has been done and sent to the manager from the ZEYA Company. I didn’t
start coding and building up the database system before I received the feed back.
These diagram shows in detail that how this contract generator is structured and how it
will help the user go through the process.
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This user case diagram shows the main user cases for the customer, and separates the user case by
different requirement level as we discuss in the analysis part.
Class diagram shows the classes of this web application in detail and represent the relationships
between each class.
Deployment/component diagram describes the components that integrate the whole system. And
middleware that links them with each other.
Following activity diagram will shows a comprehensive process of how the contract generator
works.
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57
The flow for user to log in
If the user is not a customer yet, then this is the flow for the user to register.
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After logged in , the flow for customer to edit their details
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The flow for web-site administrator to edit the customer details
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After customer log in successfully, the flow for them to review and edit contract details
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The main process: flow for a log-in customer to generate new contract
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The flow for the administrator edits the user detail.
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Appendix D DESIGN FORMS
Administration page for edit users
Like what designed is the design part, form is very simple web page, which may just contend
several buttons. However, because the administrator is the only user of it, so the usability is the
only evaluating criteria.
Edit user detail
Promote user
Delete user
Back to the main page
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Appendix F Interfaces The following pictures are the screen shot for some the final web application interface:
This page shows the contract edit page. The page structure is followed the design in the
design chapter. The form in the main content is loaded from the database, and the “add “,
“delete” button at the bottom of the form is to add or delete the selected products, and the
edit button on the right hand side, is for storing the changes into the database.
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This is the log in page for users.
APPENDIX H CONTRACT OUT PUT By following the user requirements, the out put contract should be an A4 size form.
The following forms are an example of the final out put.
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